text:
When Is Something So Bad It's Good?
Following my Guilty Pleasure Coasters post I got thinking - why do some of us choose to love things we know we shouldn't and on the back of that, when is something so bad that it actually becomes enjoyable? It's a subject that has been well explored when it comes to the medium of film, but I'd argue that the same can easily be applied to the theme park world - especially when you take a look at the many weird and wonderful dark rides of the world.
Random-as-fuck dark rides with decaying animatronics that are the stuff of nightmare fuel, coasters that threaten to fall apart as they bumble along the track and narratives that DEFINITELY ARE NOT RIPPING OFF DISNEY OK WHERE DID YOU GET THAT IDEA. All of these things have elements of what I would say it takes to shift over to the So Bad It's Good category as opposed to being just outright shite.
So let's have a look at what those elements are.
Oh yes, when I think of an attraction that sits well in the So Bad It's Good category one thing that's key for me is the WTF Factor. Any ride where you get to the end and, in the famous style of Krusty the Clown just turn to each other and go 'what the heck was that?' There's something kitschy about awkwardly moving animatronics that are crumbling before your very eyes, and usually and underlying sense of creepiness that is weirdly entertaining.
Look at something like Bermuda Triangle Alien Encounter at Movie Park Germany. It's a terrifying journey into an alien infested volcano where the ancient aliens are capturing humans and doing experiments on them or something? Yet - it's bloody amazing. After the first drop into the first glimpse of what lies within there's always an audible 'what the fuck is happening?' and the fact that each room just grows more and more bizarre just adds to that. Smiles all round!
Here's a trickier one - when something is painful it tends not to be a fun ride. I'm talking the more brutal of the Vekoma SLCs in the world and Volares. The one's that make you question your love for this hobby altogether. But there's a layer of brutality beyond that which transcends discomfort and all you can do is laugh at how ridiculously painful and uncomfortable the ride is.
I'm thinking the likes of Coaster Express, where you relentlessly shake, rattle and roll your way into a concussion by the end of the ride of even something like Eejanaika and the other S&S 4D coasters. How can you do anything but laugh when you pull into the station with a black eye from having inadvertently punched yourself in the face and having your foot end up comfortably in the crotch of the stranger next to you. Beautifully brutal, enjoyably unenjoyable.
The Simpsons and Universal know only too well this trope of many a budget theme park around the world as they hint with their 'Pirate Rip-Off Ride' poster in the queue for The Simpsons ride. Disneyland pretty much invented the theme park as we know it today, and along with it created a staple set of attractions that many a theme park have taken 'inspiration' from over the years. And there's nothing wrong with a little inspiration, but all it'll do is have those who've experienced the original make the comparison and ultimately realise that the Disney version is obviously better.
But then there are some rides that genuinely do not give a fuck. Complete, unashamed rip-offs of classic Disney attractions whose joy stems from the disbelief of the rider at the audacity of the park for going there. Funnily enough Europa Park is full of stuff like this - a lot of their older attractions like Piraten In Batavia with its section through the restaurant and Geisterschloss with its stretching portrait room.
And then you've got the likes of Alice Ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach which is clearly a homage to the Alice Dark Ride at Disneyland (only a lot trippier with an extra layer of kitsch from just existing in Blackpool). I love audacious rides like this that just give no fucks - it's one of the reasons why I'm so excited to visit China next season!
I LOVE when I can see that a park haven't had Disney or Universal levels of budget to work with, but fuck that, who needs budget to make a large scale dark ride extravaganza? When rides are created on a shoestring budget the end result usually ends up on the wrong end of the spectrum of strangeness in uncanny valley territory.
Probably the best example of this I can think of is the Hollywood Boat Tour at Phantasialand. I guess as this is a blatant rip off of the Great Movie Ride too it's always got the Disney Rip Off factor, but anybody who's ridden this one knows that the sheer joy of this attraction comes from the frankly grotesque low-budget animatronic characters. Good-witch Glinda who looks like she's doing an Ed Gein and wearing somebody else's skin as a mask, a definitely-not-JAWS shark that looks like it was created out of plasticine by a toddler and various other cross eyed, loose skinned monstrosities. The set and length of the ride are so huge that clearly budget was scrimped on the figures themselves, the end result being a boat ride into a Hollywood that wouldn't look out of place in the Upside Down.
Lastly, the complete absence of any sense of irony. If a ride is trying to be purposely bad then chances are it'll just be crap (although I don't think such a thing exists? Comment below if you can think of any!) What truly makes something So Bad It's Good is when it takes itself entirely seriously. When not one person working on the project took a step back and went, 'this is a bit shit, isn't it?' When the madness is so all encompassing that nobody was able to look at the bigger picture and go 'guys this has all gotten a bit weird'.
For example, Apiland at Parc du Bocasse. I'm sure whatever madman create this fuckery thought they were creating a beautiful ride of joy, for the children. What they've actually created is a train to nightmare town where one can only laugh to keep from crying. It's pretty much impossible to describe in words so watch a POV to get the picture - essentially you're on a journey through a beehive complete with LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF NOISY BEE ANIMATRONICS. It's impressive, sure, but the collective pneumatics of hundreds of bee animatronic wings drowning out the muffled playlist that struggles to emit from the on board audio system is just one of the many reasons why Apiland is so bloody amazing.
And it's the intent to create something good that does it. It tries so hard to be amazing and what results is a kind of Cronenbergian contortion of terrifying animtronics, narrative and sound - an assault on the senses if you will.
The best rides like this are kind of oblivious to their terribleness, so there's a balance of sympathy that goes along with the mockery that adds to the enjoyment without making it cruel.
With a move towards more high quality attractions in parks recently there's definitely a decline in these kinds of rides, especially in Europe anyway. Hopefully the ones that still exist will hold on to operate for a few more years to come!
Talk later xoxo,
chat theme parks
sven 09/11/2017, 04:06
I don't think the Hollywood Tour is a ripoff of the Great Movie Ride. They opened just one year apart, and I guess the whole building with two rides and the restaurant was longer in the making.
The Wizard of Oz scene was a "The Birds" scene, so this puppet was reused from there.
And about the Animatronics: When this was built you couldn't get anything better in Europe. I'm pretty sure they bought top of the line back then, but nowadays this looks pretty old as this ride was never plussed in any way. Keeping old attractions fresh is somehow nothing Phantasialand does.
Cupcakes and Coasters
London-based attractions industry professional and huge theme park nerd. Find me overusing the pumpkin emoji on Twitter or on the road to a theme park!
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Currently I am a second-year student at The College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, majoring in Game art/design. Unsure of exactly what to pursue in the arts, I initially went to community college, where I received an Associates degree in Fine Arts concentration summer of 2015. From there I learned about CCS and immediately knew this was the best choice for me.
Today, I explore characters and environments using digital mediums such as Maya, Zbrush, and Substance Painter. However, I still hold to my foundations through hand drawings.


Angels are everywhere but often, people aren't even aware of their presence. Even though you can't see them, angels are around you this very moment and will often leave signs to reassure us that they are not only with us, but also that all is well. Angels were sent down to Earth to learn certain things about the human condition and to guide humans on Earth. These angels are usually Spirit Guides in training, or Spirit Guides who have been sent back to Earth in order to learn and heal others. You can encounter them anywhere at any time. Often, the chance encounters with these angels have the power to change your life. While some angels can know and feel they are different and are often aware of their spiritual duties, others forget and have a hard time managing their life on Earth. Angels communicate with us in various ways. If you're wondering if an angel has tried to connect with you, it might be time to take a closer look at the signs around you. Here are five reasons why you're seeing angel signs.


text:
Olga Escalante (born 26 September 1962) is a Colombian sprinter. She competed in the women's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

References

External links

1962 births
Living people
Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Colombian female sprinters
Olympic athletes of Colombia
Place of birth missing (living people)
Pan American Games competitors for Colombia
Olympic female sprinters
20th-century Colombian women

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The Fourth Ideathon with Guest Speaker Mr. Kazuhisa Shibayama, Founder and CEO of WealthNavi Inc.
Mr. Kazuhisa Shibayama,
Founder and CEO of WealthNavi Inc.
Mr. Shibayama graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor of Laws, Harvard Law School, and INSEAD. He is an attorney registered with New York State. He worked for the Japanese Ministry of Finance and the U.K. Treasury, where his work ranged from budget preparation and tax system reform to banking system stabilization and multilateral trade negotiations. After spending nine years there, he joined McKinsey, where he managed the risk and assets of a portfolio valued at 10 trillion yen for Wall Street-based financial investors for a year and a half. In April 2015, Mr. Shibayama founded WealthNavi, wishing to build a next-generation financial infrastructure.
What Motivated Mr. Shibayama to Establish the Company?
Mr. Shibayama started his career at the Ministry of Finance followed by a stint at McKinsey before diving into entrepreneurship. In April 2015, he founded a Tokyo-based FinTech asset management firm WealthNavi.
At McKinsey, his main task was to support institutional investors with offices in Wall Street, managing as much as 10 trillion yen in assets. Mr. Shibayama was responsible for developing an algorithm based on an investment theory advocated by Nobel laureates to manage the risk and assets of a portfolio for the investors. Using the algorithm, he realized that the asset management formula would be the same whether it is 10 trillion yen or 1 million yen.
Around the same time, he learned that his parents-in-law in the United States had entrusted their asset management to their companies' benefit services. They had kept placing their salaries after deducting essential expenses and payments in long-term, diversified investments since they were young. He was shocked to learn that they had financial assets valued at almost 10 times that of his parents in Japan, who had just kept their salaries in bank accounts, despite the fact that both the parents are similar in terms of age, education and occupation.
These two findings prompted him to found the company, WealthNavi.
What Does WealthNavi Do?
WealthNavi offers an application that allows customers to use its asset management service powered by a robo-advisor. They can start with a minimum of 100,000 yen. Based on a customer's answers to six questions, the application will prepare a tailored investment plan, automatically optimizing the portfolio.
As of September 2018, 90,000 people have signed up for the service, and the total deposit is approximately 100 billion yen with an average investment of 1.1 million yen per person. Half of them are using a service enabling regular automatic transfers from a savings account, and their average monthly deposit is 32,000 yen. WealthNavi is primarily used by busy working-age people: 94% of the users are in their 20s to 50s. The financial service is highly appreciated among them as they are busy working and raising children.
Three Basics of Asset Management: Long-Term, Continuity, and Diversification
Behind the popularity of this kind of service is the fact that there is an increasing awareness of the significance of asset management due to a growing concern over a decrease in retirement bonuses and pension funds, in addition to the fact that few financial institutions have provided asset management services targeted at the working-age population.
To the question of what we should do about asset management, Mr. Shibayama replies that asset management could be reduced to three basics: long-term, continuity, and diversification–continued, diversified investment over time. He pointed out that the world economy had continued to expand while Japanese economic growth remained lackluster. He also taught us about the relationship between interest rates and bond prices and demonstrated the effectiveness of the three basics using WealthNavi's unique simulation results.
Competitive Edges of the Robo-Advisor
Even if we have understood the basics of asset management, we humans are easily influenced by emotions. We tend to become too sensitive to changes in stock prices and sell and buy short-term, whereas Robo-advisors manage assets simply based on the three basics, unaffected by emotions. This is why automated services like WealthNavi are highly appreciated among users.
As part of its continued efforts to improve the service, WealthNavi has been working with the Matsuo Lab., the University of Tokyo, to jointly develop AI-assisted asset management models. The company is endeavoring to improve the accuracy of robo-advisors' investment advice with the aim of creating a society where everyone can access the same level of asset management services enjoyed by private banking for wealthy investors.
In the Q&A session following his keynote speech, Mr. Shibayama kindly answered each of the wide-ranging question by participants at length, such as about his view on the future of AI, his business development plans going forward, and his way of finding out peers at the start-up stage.
I was impressed when the Q&A session surfaced issues and potentialities that can be shared among start-ups in restricted industry sectors like financial services and tourism.
AI has recently been used for various services in the tourism industry as well, such as providing recommendations on travel destinations. We are grateful to Mr. Shibayama for his inspiring speech on how he has managed to build a new financial service using AI.
The guest speaker in the next seminar is Ms. Fumiko Kato, CEO of WAmazing Inc.
The Third Ideathon "Tourism x IoT" Guest speaker Mr. Iwamoto Yoshiki, CEO of 81plus Inc.
The Fifth Ideathon with Guest Speaker Ms. Fumiko Kato, President & CEO of WAmazing, Inc.


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Q: Checking if a string contains a substring C++ I'm trying to make a program that checks if a string contains a substring of another string, but it's not working.
Here is my code:
#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>

using namespace std;

//Struct to store information
struct strings {
    char string1[20], string2[20];
} strings;

//Function to check if the strings are equal
void equalCheck(){
    int check = 0, i = 0;
    while (strings.string1[i] != '\0' || strings.string2[i] != '\0'){
        if (strings.string1[i] != strings.string2[i]){
            check = 1;
            break;
        }
        i++;
    }
    if (check == 0){
        cout << "The strings are equal" << endl;
    }
    else
        cout << "The strings are not equal" << endl;

}

//Function to check for a substring
void substringCheck(){
    if (strings.string1.find(strings.string2) != string::npos) {
        cout << "found!" << '\n';
    }

}

int main() {

    //Ask the user for two strings
    cout << "Please type the first string: ";
    cin >> strings.string1;
    cout << "Please type the second string: ";
    cin >> strings.string2;

    //Prints out the two strings
    //cout << "The two strings are " << strings.string1 << " and " << strings.string2;

    equalCheck();
    substringCheck();

    return 0;
}

This is the problem I get:

Any ideas?

A: Wouldn't it be easier for strings to have two std::string instead of two char[20]?
Then you would be able to say this with no problem:
if (strings.string1.find(strings.string2) != std::string::npos) {
    std::cout << "found!" << '\n';
}

char is not a class like std::string, it doesn't have any member functions. This means char[20].find doesn't exist. std::string is a class, however. And it does have a member function called std::string::find(), so doing this to a std::string is legal.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The for-profit college sector filed a lawsuit Thursday that seeks to halt new regulations of its industry.
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"This regulation, and the impact it will have on student access and opportunity, is so unacceptable and in violation of federal law that we were left with no choice but to file suit," said Steve Gunderson, president of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities.
Gunderson's association filed the lawsuit against Education Secretary Arne Duncan. It says the new rule is "unlawful, arbitrary, and irrational" and will needlessly harm millions of students who attend these schools.
Education Department spokeswoman Dorie Nolt said in a statement that the department is confident it is within its legal authority in issuing regulations "that will protect students and taxpayers' investments by bringing more accountability and transparency to career training programs."
For-profit colleges offer training in areas such as auto repair and nursing and have been popular with nontraditional students, including veterans. About 1.3 million students enrolled last spring at a for-profit school, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
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The regulations also didn't satisfy some critics of for-profit colleges who say the new rule doesn't stop colleges that offer poor quality programs where most of the students drop out.


Canadian retailer Roots has unveiled an innovative flagship store at Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Apart from excellent design, the main attraction and new feature of the store is it's customization workshop where people will be able to customize their jacket design.
Spanning more than 5,000 square feet on one level, the store is strategically positioned so it can be visible from Yorkdale's mall entrance to the Yorkdale TTC subway station.
Roots, as the synonym for premium local brand, introduces the cutting edge technologies in the retail world, so it is believed their in-store customization workshop will be number one plus when it comes to customers' experience. This interactive corner of the shop is digitally connected to The Roots Leather Factory, five kilometers away from the mall. People will be able to design their new jacket, using the options on the screens and even to pick the sort of tactile. There are, so called, in-store customization experts that will be there to guide customers through the whole process of designing. People will, also, have the option to put the monogram at any of the leather good pieces purchased.
A full range of seasonal footwear, jackets and leather bags is now available at one of the corners and future customers will be able to try it all on, in spacy and creatively designed dressing rooms. Each room represents different season (spring, summer, autumn and winter) and there are visuals on the walls showing the history of the brand. What you will love for sure, as well, are canoe paddles mounted to the walls that can be used to hang clothing.
The whole store has an open space concept, bright and clear, so the customers can easily spot the product they are looking for, at the other end of the store. Still, what dominates is a rustic style with wooden and leather pieces of furniture and Ontario cedar. You will even find the machine that made the first negative heel shoe, located near the footwear department.
But that is not all. The new Roots store even has two DJ booths and a speaker system for in-store events, while display tables can be combined to create a runway for fashion shows. They also wanted customers to feel at home, so you can relax at lounge area sitting on a Roots leather furniture, while drinking Roots-branded water bottles from their cooler. This area also has phone chargers. They really thought of everything.
As Roots expands internationally, the company will implement this same design globaly and into major markets as well. The good news is that the next location to get this incredible Roots enhanced experience will be Vancouver's CF Pacific Centre and it's happening this fall!


This baby jumper has been knitted using Baby Batik yarn in a mixture of cream, mauve, green and yellow. They yarn is variegated so the stripes formed are totally random. The jumper has a beautiful wave effect pattern to it. It is round neck and fastens on the left shoulder with two buttons.
I have made every effort to make the colours on screen as close as possible to the colours and of the products. However, colours can not be guaranteed and what i see on my screen may differ to what you see on yours.


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text:
The Schachen: A Secret Garden Nestled in the Bavarian Alps
by Toronto Botanical Garden
777 Lawrence Ave E
In 1901, the Munich Botanic Garden went out on a limb and up a mountain to create The Schachen Alpine Garden. The garden, located in the Wetterstein Mountains 1,850 metres above sea level, is open for a mere four months of the year, and is accessible by foot only after a three to four hour hike. This may seem like too much bother, but visitors claim that sore feet and achy knees are a small price to pay for the floristic splendour of the garden.
The Schachen Alpine Garden contains a diverse and ever-growing collection of alpine plants from around the world. Specimens come from Europe, the Carpathians, the Caucasus, Himalayas, the Arctic, and North America, South Africa, New Zealand and Patagonia. The cool, moist summers are particularly suited for the cultivation of plants from the summer monsoon areas of the Himalayas, with Meconopsis and Primula plants being the main attractions for visitors in July.
About Jenny Wainwright-Klein
Jenny grew up on the Zambian Copperbelt in Africa, and was interested in nature and plants from an early age. There were no plant nurseries where she lived, so everything in her parents' garden came from seed or cuttings.
Jenny qualified as a horticulturist in Cape Town, South Africa, in the early 80s, and left soon after to explore the landscaped gardens of the United Kingdom and Europe. For two years, she worked at the Royal Botanic Garden Kew. Here, she met her husband and moved to Germany with him in 1990.
In 1992, she started work in the Rock Garden (Alpinum) of the Munich Botanic Garden, and developed a fascination for alpine plants. Now, 27 years later, she is the supervisor of the alpine propagation unit and of the Schachen Alpine Garden. Last summer Jenny celebrated her 26th season in this garden.
Jenny loves to travel. She has completed eight seed-collecting expeditions to Lesotho, a country completely encircled by the Republic of South Africa, but separated from it by forbidding mountain ranges, and one such expedition to Georgia. She also travels extensively as a speaker, sharing her passion for alpine plants and environments across Europe and now in North America.
Canada Events Ontario Events Things to do in Toronto, Canada Toronto Seminars Toronto Home & Lifestyle Seminars
The Schachen: A Secret Garden Nestled in the Bavarian Alps at Toronto Botanical Garden
777 Lawrence Ave E, Toronto, ON M3C 1P2, Canada


text:
Q: what's the point of having an inner automorphisms? and different ways of thinking about it Am in my second year as a graduate student in theoretical physics. In my course on fiber formalism and connection formalism, we talk a little about inner automorphism. The definition is pretty clear, but since am not a purist of a mathematician, I need some tangible or different ways of thinking about this concept.
I can remember in linear algebra when something pretty similar occurs. It's when we want to calculate the eigenvalues of some transformation A, so we change the basis with an element g of the linear group and then apply the transformation A then the inverse of g. By doing so we get a new diagonal transformation with the eigenvalues attached on the diagonal.
My question is: inner automorphism seems very important in mathematics especially in physics, I want to know, besides the title, how mathematicians think about it? and why on principal bundles we define an adjoint representation of the structural group by an inner automorphism?
Sorry if am not rigorous in my explanations, I don't have the chance to talk to mathematicians.

A: Inner automorphisms are also known as conjugations. Given a group element $g\in G$, the function $gxg^{-1}$ is called conjugation by $g$. It's instructive to have some examples under our belt first:

*

*One example of this is, as you mention, changing basis in a vector space. If we represent a linear transformation by matrix $X$ with respect to one coordinate system, and by matrix $Y$ with respect to a a second, where the change-of-basis matrix is $B$, then $Y=BXB^{-1}$.

*Another example is permutations. These can be represented in two-line notation or cycle notation, for instance. The effect of $gxg^{-1}$ on $x$'s two-line notation is to apply $g$ to each element of both rows of this notation, or its effect on $x$'s cycle notation is to apply $g$ to each element of $x$'s cycles.

*Consider the symmetry group of a cube. It has 24 rotations and 24 (proper or improper) reflections. If $x$ is a rotation around an axis $\ell$, say, and $g$ is another symmetry, then $gxg^{-1}$ is a rotation (by the same angle as $x$) through the axis $g\ell$ (which we get by applying $g$ to the axis $\ell$). (One may make this statement more precise by interpreting the axes to be oriented, so angles uniquely specify rotations.) Or, if $x$ is a reflection across a plane $\Pi$, then $gxg^{-1}$ is a reflection across the plane $g\Pi$, where again we get $g\Pi$ by applying $g$ to the plane $\Pi$. (A cube also has improper reflection symmetries.)

The takeaway from these examples is this... Often, we think of a group as acting on some mathematical object, and thus on various features of that object, so the description of a group element $x$ can make reference to various features of the object (e.g. vertices, edges, faces of a cube). Then $gxg^{-1}$ has the same description as $x$, but with $g$ applied to all features referenced by $x$'s description! Thus, we can think of conjugation as "changing perspective" in some way.
One consequence is that conjugacy classes can be interpreted as all group elements that "do the same thing," or whose descriptions reference the same kinds of features in the same kind of way. So, for instance, if $x$ is a $120^{\circ}$ rotation around a cube vertex, then its conjugacy class $\{gxg^{-1}\mid x\in G\}$ consists of all $120^{\circ}$ rotations around cube vertices. If $x$ is a permutation with a certain cycle type, then its conjugacy class consists of all permutations with that cycle type. (At least, within the full symmetric group.)
It's interesting to look at an outer automorphism of e.g. $S_6$ and see how it alters cycle types of permutations. Or, look at outer automorphisms of $\mathrm{so}(8)$ (keyword "triality") and how it alters their spectral decompositions. Outer automorphisms may preserve the group's multiplication table, but they fundamentally alter what kind of "thing" a group element is.
The name for a Lie group acting on itself by conjugation (i.e. inner automorphisms) is the adjoint representation. This yields a linear action of the Lie group on its lie algebra, and differentiating again yields a representation of the lie algebra on itself (i.e. into its own algebra of endomorphisms). All of these are called the adjoint representation. Apparently physicists like to put nice mathematical objects into bundles (e.g. what physicists might call tensors mathematicians might call tensor fields) so we can extend these definitions to principal bundles.

A:
One example of this is, as you mention, changing basis in a vector space. If we represent a linear transformation by matrix X with respect to one coordinate system, and by matrix Y with respect to a a second, where the change-of-basis matrix is B, then Y=BXB−1.

In this example, In physics, we search most of the time for diagonalizable matrices so from what I've understood, the point of having inner automorphisms is to search for all the representations of the Lie algebra that can be diagonalizable, i.e. all the Y that can be written $B^{-1} X B$. And the point is to search for irreducible representations by using inner automorphisms which diagonal matrices give to us.

Another example is permutations. These can be represented in two-line notation or cycle notation, for instance. The effect of $gxg^{-1}$ on x's two-line notation is to apply g to each element of both rows of this notation, or its effect on x's cycle notation is to apply g to each element of x's cycles.

On this part, Am thinking about showing that 2 major conjugation classes can be derived; one is all the permutations that are somewhat abelian (we may think of it as trivial) and the other that is not abelian, i.e. all the permutations written in cycle notation, for example, that can commute and the others that cannot commute.


This special edition snowflake pet yurt is a wonderful space for your cat or small dog to snuggle in during the winter. It is a fun winter themed yurt, based off of our original 17" Pet Yurt by Tree Wise PETS. This unique pet home is easy to assemble, can store flat, and the cloth is machine washable for easy cleaning.
Yurts are structurally stable and offer efficient usable space for its base width. This 17" yurt is a cozy space perfectly sized to fit a cat up to 20 pounds, as certified by head of Quality Assurance, Baymax the cat.
Every pet yurt is handmade by the humans at Tree Wise PETS and is rigorously inspected by our four-legged testing team. We strive to use pet-friendly, natural materials that are non-toxic and easy to care for.
Don't forget to add a pillow to your pet's yurt!
For other holiday themes or to request a custom order, please contact us. We design and build all our products and are happy to discuss custom structures to fit your specific needs.
Tree Wise PETS is a branch of Tree Wise Designs, a crafter of human sized tree houses, yurts and other unique living spaces. Tree Wise Designs creates, builds and installs accommodations in a variety of environments to offer adventure lodging with all the comforts of home.


In case you didn't know Furby Boom can create little Furby babies called Furblings. These little creatures can live on your iPad or tablet and also live in the real world. There are more than 6 colors and patterns that match the colors of Furby Boom.
When the Furblings first came out there were six colors and patterns; Polka Dots, Blue Waves, Triangles, Pink Stripes, Peacock and Zig Zag Stripes. This summer saw the addition of Orange Stars. Like it's Furby Boom parent Orange Stars is an army green color with Orange Stars and a red eye mask. Stars is bold and adventurous and it's fun to watch Furby Boom interact with it's little Furbling.
Furby Furblings and Furby Boom creatures share a special connection: when you play with your Furblings creature, it talks, sings, or calls out for attention, and Furby Boom responds. Whatever your Furblings creature needs, a Furby Boom creature will know just what to do, say, or even sing! Not only does this cute Furblings creature talk to your Furby Boom creature, it also connects with the free Furby Boom app.
Furby Furblings are adorable with many colors and patterns to choose from like Polka Dots, Diamonds and more, collect them all!
Once you hatch your Furblings virtual egg, you can give it a fun name and decorate a virtual playroom with the unlocked accessories! There are lots of ways to interact with virtual Furby Furblings using the free Furby Boom app! You can play games with virtual Furblings together with a Furby Boom creature, mix up yummy smoothies for virtual Furblings to slurp down, and style virtual Furblings to look fabulous. Your virtual Furblings will add to your collection and help fill up your virtual Furblings city.


Backblaze Review - Is This Online Backup Service Worth Your Money?Backblaze Review - Is This Online Backup Service Worth Your Money?
Backblaze Review – Is This Online Backup Service Worth Your Money?
Backblaze is a major cloud storage and backup provider that tries to appeal to both home and business users.
In the market putting so much focus on businesses, Backblaze is trying to please everyone.
Backblaze is an online backup service that is intended to protect the information you hold on your computer.
With all providers in this market needing to stand out from the crowd, Backblaze places its emphasis on delivering a straightforward system that is user-friendly and unobtrusive. While that is great, it also means that the system is less feature-packed than some of its rivals.
Indeed, Backblaze does not have any sync capabilities and scheduling is also kept down to a bare minimum.
That doesn't mean that there are no features included with the Backblaze client, though. In fact, multiple backup options, external hard drive backup, smartphone access, and file sharing are all available.
Backblaze will also back up previous versions of files and retain them for 30 days. Unfortunately, there is no way to extend this versioning policy, and it doesn't quite reach the standard of some other solutions.
I suppose this isn't a great start to my Backblaze review, but will it get better?
The greatest strength of Backblaze is undoubtedly its ease of use. From my experience, it serves as the easiest and most user-friendly backup provider available on the market. This means that even the technophobes among us can safely back up their personal data without struggle.
I really like the front-end user interface included as it is uncluttered and extremely pleasing to observe. Perhaps this helps with the way that Backblaze backs up your files, which I found to be incredibly simple.
During my Backblaze review, I actually tested the backup process while some processor-intensive programs were running in the background.
Surprisingly, I found that the performance of the system didn't slow down at all.
The speed of this system is excellent, and I can say the same about the final backup and restoration process.
Backblaze delivers a suitably swift and a stable backup system, with the client automatically scanning your hard drive for files to backup. Furthermore, this is an unlimited backup service, which is always a very big positive.
Backblaze also makes it easy to backup USB or FireWire external drives, and will even detect them if they are connected during the initial backup process.
The automation of the system is highly impressive, and is undoubtedly one of the strongest suits of this software.
I also found customer service agents to be responsive, informed and helpful. This is always a good sign of a well-run organization and one that likes to take care of its customers.
With all these perks, will my Backblaze review also confirm that its system is safe?
This is one area where this provider somewhat disappointed me.
That is not to say that your data isn't safe with this backup service, but rather that it lacks many provisions that I personally like to see supported.
Firstly, Backblaze does offer private encryption, which can be accessed from the settings tab of the desktop client. This means that only you can decrypt your files - providing you with total reassurance.
However, there is a problem with this private encryption system.
For some strange reason, customer services require you to hand over your passphrase in order for the service to decrypt your files, before returning them back to you. Backblaze naturally reassures users that this passphrase is never recorded, and deleted once decryption has taken place.
All of this encryption, all of this security - just to hand everything to a human being. That's a security bottleneck if I ever saw one.
In my opinion, this completely neutralizes the entire point of having private encryption in the first place.
In terms of the actual encryption though, Backblaze uses AES 128-bit. This is slightly less sophisticated than the 256-bit system that's offered by some providers, but it is still virtually uncrackable. Therefore, you shouldn't be concerned about your data with regard to this system (but still, 256-bit would be neat).
It was also pleasing that Backblaze includes two-factor authentication, which protects your password against unauthorized access. Their system collaborates with Google Authenticator in order to deliver this functionality.
There are plenty of positive things to say about safety and security, but the one massive oversight with customer support stains an overall pleasing experience.
Backblaze has an extremely simple pricing policy. It simply charges $5 dollars per computer on a monthly basis, which means that it is one of the cheapest backup services around.
The company also offers sizeable discounts if you choose to sign up for a longer period - which is always welcomed.
Quite honestly, you will struggle to find a better deal anywhere in the industry in terms of affordability.
I liked a lot of things that Backblaze does, but the system is ultimately let down by several mistakes that should be addressed as soon as possible. The customer support handling your private keys means that the safety and security of the Backblaze system is ultimately compromised.
However, Backblaze does a lot of stuff extremely well - backing up data is swift and easy to operate, while unlimited backup is particularly welcome. The price of its services is reasonable, too.
But I cannot recommend this system as a market leader until the criticisms made in this review are properly addressed. It's a good option to retrieve your files in case of an issue - but it's not a super-secure option it should be.
Do you agree with the criticism in my Backblaze review? Let me know in the comment section below.
Just canceled this after painful customer service by Zendesk. I paid $50 and logged into the backblaze account to see the actual receipt. Their help says I got a "code" to purchase a license after uploading my data? and get charged 2x. So I bought myself a gift code? Hmmm But no code received, just charge on my credit card and emails my data will be deleted.
(01:06:56 AM) Zach: No I said there is no record of payment in the account. Because you have not purchased anything for your account. You purchased a prepaid code. That is not a license. And it is not account specific.
(01:07:58 AM) [email protected]: This is ridiculous. there is no code. I entered credit card info, I uploaded data.
Backblaze Review - Is This Online Backup Service Worth Your Money?


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Standard Admission Requirements 1. Completion of a successful interview with the registrar or designate of Delmar College of Hair and Esthetics. If, during the interview, it becomes evident that English language proficiency (both written and spoken) may not allow for successful completion of a desired program, a Wonderlic Basic Skills Level exam may be administered. 2. Minimum age 17. 3. Proof of high school diploma or equivalency from another province in Canada, or GED. Mature Admission Requirements 1. Completion of a successful interview with the registrar or designate of Delmar College of Hair and Esthetics. If, during the interview, it becomes evident that English language proficiency (both written and spoken) may not allow for successful completion of a program, a Wonderlic Basic Skills Level exam may be administered. 2. Minimum age 19. 3. Grade 10, as verified by transcript, or proof of employment in a job requiring English as the spoken language for a minimum of 2 years, if educational requirements are not met. International/ESL Students 1. Must meet the above standard or mature requirements, and additionally: - If high school transcripts are from another country, must pass a Wonderlic Basic Skills Level exam in addition to providing transcripts. - Write and submit the results of a TOEFL ESL English proficiency exam, if English is a second language.


The keyboard dock. It is quite small actually.
Free 32GB Micro SD card in the box. Asus bundled one for the first 10,000 tablets and this was apparently one of them. It is just Class 4 SD Card, but something is better than nothing. I would only use this to store data. So far, I have created a folder on the SD Card and am syncing it with the Asus Cloud Storage.
A reasonably small sized charger. The old tablet had a massive charger like for a laptop made 5 years ago.


text:
Solution or Problem?
John Gaver
This is the first in a three part series that will examine the failed "War on Drugs". Since it should now be obvious to even the most naive observer that the War on Drugs has been a complete and utter failure, this series will address the two questions that this raises - "Why does this insane War on Drugs continue?" and "Who benefits from it's continuation?" And, of course, no such thesis would be complete, without the presentation of a reasonable solution - in this case, a proven solution.
In this first part, we will examine the effects of this misguided policy and thoroughly debunk the excuses that its supporters use to justify continuation of this failed initiative. In the second part, we will take a somewhat surprising look at who benefits from the War on Drugs, their shrewd methods and their sinister motivation. In the final installment, we will present a proven workable alternative to the War on Drugs and show how controlled legalization of all drugs would solve the vast majority of the problems that today surround the distribution and use of illegal drugs.
Part 1 -
Excuses Without Substance
The War on Drugs is widely touted as a necessity, mostly by those who receive benefit from keeping drugs illegal, even though it has now become obvious that the real cause of almost all of the problems surrounding drugs, is the War on Drugs itself. So, the question then becomes, if this farce is so obvious, why do so many otherwise informed people allow it to continue? What possible excuse for continuing this insane policy could these parsimonious people offer, that would fool so many otherwise informed people into supporting such folly? Are you ready for a good one? Get this!
Supporters of the War on Drugs claim that they want to "protect our children."
RIGHT! Gimme a break!
Yet, as phony as that excuse obviously is, it seems that even normally well informed conservatives are not immune to it's allure. Just mention "children" and it's like turning off a light switch; except in this case, it's reason that is being turned off. At just the mention of the word "children", even conservatives start acting like liberals, saying things like, "the only reason that the War on Drugs has not been successful is that we haven't put enough money into it. We just need a little more time and a little more money." That's like the Democrats trying to make us believe that the only reason that socialism has never succeeded is because they just need a little more time and money.
These callous people, who care about nothing but themselves, always CLAIM to have our best interests at heart. But any reasonable person, who doesn't stop thinking at the mere mention of the word "children", should recognize that excuse as nothing but a smoke screen to deflect our attention from the fact that the War on Drugs has failed miserably and that it's continuation is what represents the greatest threat to our children!
In the end, it all comes down to money and power. If drugs were to be legalized, those in power, on both sides of the law, would lose significant money, power or both. The fact is, that the interests of those who would have us keep drugs illegal are purely selfish and in reality, they could care less about our best interests or that of our children. But the really sad part, is that these callous people who continuously mislead the public for their own benefit, exist on both sides of the law and in both parties.
Oh, their excuses all sound great, but the excuses have no substance.
They want to protect society from the violence surrounding the drug culture.
They want to protect our children.
They even want to protect us from ourselves! (But, they don't say that one in so many words. They use terms like, "for their own good" or "give them back their self respect". But, it means the same.)
And let's not forget their famous last resort excuse that they always fall back on, when all of their other excuses are eventually shot down, as always happens. You know the one I'm talking about - the "feel-good" excuse that you're not supposed to be able to deny them without sounding like you are cold and uncaring. They say that legalizing and regulating drugs would "send the wrong message to our children".
But, in the following text, I will demonstrate conclusively that even that excuse completely collapses under thorough examination. That's right. Despite the best efforts of the Drug War's most vocal advocates, EVERY last one of their excuses falls apart under the light of reasonable examination of the issue - and yes, that even includes their feel-good excuse.
In the final analysis, it should become obvious, to even the most naive, that there are NO EXCUSES and that the time has come to end the War on Drugs and end the excuses.
So, let's get down to business and see just how easy it is to debunk those excuses.
1. Stopping Violence —
To begin with, those who would have us continue this insane policy would also have us ignore the fact that the vast majority of the violence that they "claim" to want to stop, is violence that exists as a direct result of their vaunted War on Drugs.
That's right. Think about it. Most of the violence surrounding the War on Drugs can be traced directly back to the fact that our government has created a very lucrative black market for drugs. Of course, a black market can only exist if there are people who want a product bad enough to risk arrest to acquire that forbidden product.
Well, in the case of drugs, not only do the dealers have a market for their poison, they have a captive market. By that, I mean that drug users have an addiction that drives them to take whatever chances they must, in order to get their next "fix". The drug dealers know that no law will keep their customers from finding a source for their product and that once they have found a source, those customers will pay exorbitant prices. In other words, drugs are the ideal product for black market sales.
Do you think that such a black market would exist if the forbidden product were say, lemonade, apples or chocolate?... OK, so scratch chocolate. The point is that the drug dealers have some of the most highly motivated buyers that exist for any product on Earth.
In a mildly regulated free market, wherever you have a strong demand for a product, a legitimate businessman will step in to provide a supply to fill the void. But in an uncontrolled black market, the person who steps in to provide the supply is almost certainly going to be a person with no scruples against using violence to achieve his goals. But, in most free market situations, there is not such a wealth of motivated buyers and subsequently, not nearly as much profit to be made. It is those huge profits that have attracted the most violent types to the drug trade.
By taking drugs out of the legitimate market, where competition controls the price, the government has created a huge black market where the only thing that limits prices is the drug dealers' greed. As the prices and profits go ever higher, we see the worst elements of our society in control of this trade. They use whatever means necessary, including extreme violence, to protect their money machine. I might also mention here that they have no qualms about hooking as many of our children on drugs as possible.
So let's look at where this has led. In 1983, the year President Reagan declared the War on Drugs, 3,900 Americans died from drug overdoses (National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics of the US, 1983, Vol. II, Mortality - only available on paper) and 500 more died in drug-related murders (FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1983). Twelve years later, in 1995 after more than 10 million drug arrests and hundreds of billions of dollars spent on law enforcement, education, treatment, interdiction and increasingly harsh punishments 7,200 Americans died from drug over doses (National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics of the US, 1995, Vol. II, Mortality - 3.4MB download) and 1,900 died in drug-related murders (FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1995 - only available on paper). That's the highest death rates in both categories this century, and quite likely, in all of history.
Furthermore, in 1988, even though President Reagan, citing University of Michigan surveys, proclaimed the War on Drugs a success saying, "The message is out, and America's young people have heard it" (L.A. Times, 1/17/88), the facts show otherwise. Reagan and his people completely ignored the fact that the surveys that they cited, showing declining drug use among teens since the early 70's, actually showed that almost all of that reduction occurred before Reagan declared the War on Drugs. In fact, since the War on Drugs began, the teen drug death toll has risen by 25 percent. This is stopping violence???
To top it all off, a Justice Policy Institute report (reported by the L.A. Times and archived here by the Media Awareness Project) determined that on about February 15, 2001, the United States set a new World Record:
2 MILLION U.S. citizens behind bars!
The United States now has a greater percentage of its population in prison than any other nation on earth, including Russia and China or even Nazi Germany at the height of Jewish internment.
The United States has earned the distinction of having a quarter of the world's prison population, despite having less than 5% of the world's population.
Actually, according to another Justice Policy Institute report, roughly 1/4 of that increase in citizens behind bars are there as a result of increases in violent crime. The other 3/4 of that increase in prison population are nonviolent offenders. Drug arrests tripled in the United States between 1980 and 1997. Actually, while the number of persons imprisoned in state institutions for violent offenses nearly doubled from 1980 to 1997 (yes, violence is up), the number of nonviolent offenders in prison has tripled and the number of persons imprisoned for drug offenses has increased eleven-fold. Another JPI Report shows that more than 1/2 of the current US prison population are nonviolent offenders.
So, here we are, claiming to be a bastion of Freedom and Liberty and we incarcerate more of our population than any other nation on earth.
What's wrong with this picture?
The answer in a phrase - the War on Drugs.
2. Protecting Our Children —
Drugs both fund and empower organized crime. Not only do the drug dealers get rich from selling drugs, but they use their supply of drugs to leverage power over the users who buy from them.
For example, a 15 year old boy who has an expensive habit, learns from his dealer one day, that the only way that he can get his next fix is to carry a package across town. In a few weeks, they have him delivering drugs regularly (they place the risk on an under age courier or "mule"). If not that, then he's running numbers or stealing cars or worse. Eventually, he might even kill someone for the drug dealer, in order to get his next fix.
In another example, an attractive 17 year old girl with an expensive habit is told by the drug dealer that the only way that she can get her next fix is to "be nice" to a friend of the drug dealer. Before she turns 18, she's a full time hooker.
Nothing else gives the criminal elite such unbridled power over others, as their supply of illegal drugs. Nothing else presents a greater threat to our children than allowing this power to remain in the hands of these evil people.
But, it gets even worse. The drug dealers know that the easiest way to insure a continuous supply of new buyers, is to get children hooked on drugs and they know all the tricks. Remember this. Children just don't go out looking for their first drugs without being prodded by friends to do so. So the drug dealers get one of their young users, who they now have delivering drugs, to start selling drugs to his friends. They tell him to give away samples at first. The youngster calls those who won't try his drugs, "cowards." He's beginning to learn the fine art to being a pusher and he's only 13 years old.
Before long that little boy is making a hundred dollars a week or more selling drugs. He thinks that it sure beats mowing lawns all Saturday afternoon for $20. But, with so much cash, he soon learns that he needs a way to protect himself. He needs a gun. Even though every state has laws aimed at preventing children from buying a gun, that presents no problem. After all, his dealer can supply it (and no background checks).
So now, as a direct result of the government's War on Drugs, you have a 13 year old boy pushing drugs on other children and carrying a gun. And our government calls this "protecting our children".
Once again, I ask, "What's wrong with this picture?"
This is all because the War on Drugs has artificially inflated the price of drugs to the point that the worst elements of our society now have a strong profit motive for making drug addicts out of our children.
So once again, we see that the War on Drugs has created the problem, rather than solving it. Our children are at risk because the War on Drugs has emboldened and empowered the criminal element and given them motivation to hook as many children as possible on drugs.
It's not drugs that are the problem. Drugs are only the symptom. The real problem is the War on Drugs itself.
3. Protecting Us From Ourselves —
The supporters of the War on Drugs would like us to believe that the government's attack upon the source of drugs is also for the benefit of the drug users. Although, they use terms like, "for their own good" and "give them back their self respect", what they are really saying is, "we want to protect you from yourself."
But even that excuse has a hollow ring to it. Think about it. By such a statement, the government makes the ludicrous assumption that they are better suited to deal with an individual's problems than is the individual himself and his doctor. They must expect us to forget that in every other case where the government has tried to protect us from ourselves, they have failed miserably. Why should we think that it would be any different this time?
Of course, the way the government is going about taking care of these drug users and seeing to "their own good", belies the government's own excuse. To begin with, the only effect that the War on Drugs has had on drug users up to now is to turn many of them into criminals.
Many productive, gainfully employed Americans have had their lives turned upside-down, simply because they had in their possession, an amount of marijuana that would not have made the user as high as one beer. But, it gets much worse. Although the War on Drugs has not slowed down the flow of drugs nor decreased drug abuse, it has artificially increased the street price of drugs. This in turn, has forced many drug users, who have never committed any crime other than drug possession, to turn to violent crime, in order to afford to pay those artificially inflated prices. It should also be noted here, that those drug users, who are already committing violent crimes to support their habit, will have to commit even more crimes to afford those artificially inflated prices, as well.
Furthermore, the idea that, by arresting all of the drug dealers (which we have seen is a clearly impossible task), we are somehow helping drug users, is ludicrous, at best. To begin with, as we have already discussed, that would only drive he price of the existing drugs up, which in turn, would bring in more dealers, wanting to take advantage of the temporary windfall. In fact, shortly after police make major drug busts, there are usually very violent "turf wars", as drug dealers from other areas fight over who gets the right to the newly available turf. It us the drug users who usually get caught in the middle. The other thing wrong with that excuse is based upon the fact that different dealers "cut" their drugs differently. So if by chance, the police could some how manage to take most of the larger dealers off the streets, the addicted users would just temporarily go to other sources. Since the drugs would be of a different strength, the users end up having to readjust their dosage and almost always end up using more of the drug than they had before.
Although, I would feel very little sympathy for the drug users if either of the above were to happen, I somehow fail to understand just how the supporters of the War on Drugs can justify how turning drug users into hardened criminals is "for their own good" or how dying in a turf war or increasing their habit will "give them back their self respect."
In fact, this excuse is just as phony as the "stopping the violence" excuse. If the government really did have the best interests of the drug users in mind, they wouldn't be doing things that will just raise the cost of drugs even higher, thus forcing even more drug users to turn to criminal activities in order afford the government stimulated higher prices. They wouldn't be doing things that will just cause more drug users to die.
So, you can chalk this one up as just another baseless excuse for continuing this failed policy.
4. Sending the Wrong Message to Our Children —
The supporters of the War on Drugs have taken a page right out of the Liberal Play Book. Just like liberals, after all of their other excuses have gone down in flames, the people who derive financial or political benefit from the War on Drugs and their naive supporters always fall back on a "Feel Good" excuse that's supposed to make anyone who challenges them sound cold and heartless. In this case, that "feel good" excuse is that to legalize drugs would "send the wrong message to our children."
But, even this excuse is "FATALLY" flawed. I emphasize the word "FATALLY", because the message that we are sending our children today is often times exactly that - "FATAL".
You read about cases that prove this fact all the time, yet few people are willing to admit that we are already sending the wrong message to our children. So, exactly what is the FATAL message that we are sending our children?
Let's look at some recent examples, to demonstrate the message and then see if the message becomes clear.
Take the case of 18 year Plano, Texas teen, Rob Hill, who authorities "claim" died of acute narcotism, or the use of heroin. The headlines blazed, "Another Teen Drug Death." But, if you read all the way to the end of the article, which in every paper, is usually buried deep on page 23A, you will learn that he had a severe asthma attack, while under the influence of drugs. Of course, the fact that untreated severe asthma attacks are often fatal, had nothing to do with Hill's death. Nooo. And, pigs fly.
It's much more likely that Hill was afraid to call for help, when he started having trouble breathing, for fear of getting in trouble with the law for his drug use. In fact, had he called for help when he first started having trouble breathing, doctors would probably been able to relieve his asthma attack and bring him down from the drugs. In that case, Hill's drug use was only a contributing factor in his death and the real culprit was the War on Drugs itself and his fear of prosecution. Certainly, he should not have been using drugs. But, considering the fact that the War on Drugs has had absolutely zero effect on reducing over all drug use and that more teens are now using drugs than before the War on Drugs began, it would appear that not only was the War on Drugs responsible for Hill's death, but also partly responsible for his drug use in the first place. The fact remains that had he not feared prosecution, under the zero tolerance War on Drugs, he would likely be alive today.
Or how about the case of young Milan Malina, also of Plano, whose friends watched fearfully as their friend died (The New Heroin, Overdoses Mean Tragedy for Families, Dallas Morning News, 7/27/97). They watched and worried as Milan just lay there semiconscious, vomiting and feverish for hours, lungs filling with fluid. Only when he stopped breathing, did they decide that the situation was serious enough to to risk getting in trouble with the law and take him to the hospital. By the time that they finally got him to the hospital, Milan had been motionless for so long, lying on one side, that his blood had pooled on that side of his body. Doctors could have probably saved his life, had been taken to the hospital sooner. But he died, thanks to the War on Drugs, because his friends were afraid of going to jail. And now, not only is Malina dead, but the lives of his friends who lived are ruined.
Cases like these are repeated all over the country. These two incidents come from only one small town. By the way, I picked Plano, as an example, because it is representative of the kind of area where you would not expect to find a lot of drug usage. Plano is a rather affluent bedroom community outside of Dallas. If things like this are happening in just one small community like Plano, you can be sure that it's happening all across the country, in neighborhoods like yours, as well.
So considering this, what do you think is the FATAL message that we are currently sending our children?
Linda Sharp, whose 17 year old daughter died in a similar incident, where friends could have saved her life, put it all into perspective, saying, "So great, you let your friends die."
"Let your friends die..."
That's the message that we are sending our children today. Don't risk getting in trouble with the law. Just let your friends die.
With a message like that going out to our children today, where do the supporters of this failed War on Drugs find the audacity to claim that controlled legalization of drugs would send any worse message to our children than the one we are sending them now?
In the face of such facts, let's hear their feel-good excuse now. My response is that regardless of the message that controlled legalization would send our young people, it couldn't be any worse than "LET YOUR FRIENDS DIE!"
Sending the "wrong message" to our children is just another baseless excuse for supporting a failed program. It's time for a change. It's time to end the excuses.
In the end, there are no excuses. The War on Drugs has been a complete and total failure. Let's look at their track record. Since 1983:
Drug usage has not decreased at all.
But, more users are now children.
The availability of drugs is up.
Drug deaths are up sharply.
Drug related murders are up sharply beyond that.
Drug related crime, other than murder, is up sharply.
The lives of thousands of otherwise innocent people have been ruined.
The spread of AIDS was much worse than it would have been, had drugs been available through legal sources.
Drug dealers are making record profits.
Un-Constitutional government confiscation of private property, with absolutely NO EVIDENCE of wrongdoing is up dramatically.
in 2000, the US set a record and became the nation with the greatest percentage of its citizens in prison, and quite likely, the greatest incarceration rate in any country ever.
But, the most distressing thought of all is that, as a result of the War on Drugs, the Senator Kennedy (son of a bootlegger) of a few decades from now will probably be the son or daughter of one of today's drug dealers. Think about THAT!
Part 2 of this 3 part series looks at who it is that really benefits from continuing this failed policy and their shrewd methods and sinister motivations. Read it now by following this link:
The War on Drugs - Solution or Problem (Part 2)
Copyright 2001 John Gaver
Sign the Resolution for a Federal Commission on Drug Policy
Note: This resolution does not ask anyone to support any particular plan for solving the drug problem, and makes no mention of legalization. It only asks for an open and honest review of the nation's drug policy by our government - something that they have thus far resisted. They just don't want to confuse people with the facts.
Check out these excellent sources of information and commentary on this subject:
Drug War Facts - Just the Facts, but well sourced
America Locks Up 2 Millionth Inmate - It's a World Record!!!
Adolescent Drug Use and Drug Control Efforts
The War on Drugs Clock - It's ticking a shameful total
Recommendations of New Mexico Governor's Drug Policy Advisory Group
The Effective National Drug Control Strategy 1999
Justice Policy Institute
Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (FEAR)
National Center for Health Statistics - recommended only for experienced researchers
Bureau of Justice Statistics Report on Prison Population
Would you like to have John Gaver speak at your meeting or public function?


Feature updates, known issues, and open bugs.
Check here for the status of future features, known issues, and fixes in progress. If you come across any issues with Tenta not found in these notes, please let us know.


Welcome all curl hackers and fans to Stockholm 2018! We are hosting the curl up developers conference April 14-15 2018 in my home city in what now might really become an annual tradition. Remember Nuremberg 2017?
curl up 2018 will be another two full days event over a weekend and we will make an effort to keep the attendance fee at a minimum.
Presentations by core curl contributors on how things work, what we've done lately, what we're working on how, what we should work on in the future and blue-sky visions about what curl should become when it grows up. Everyone attending are encouraged to present something. All this, mixed with lots of discussions, Q&As and socializing.
This time, I hope you will also have the chance to arrive early and spend the Friday, or a part of it, working hands-on with other curl developers on actual programming/debugging curl features or bugs. The curl-hacking-Friday? While not firmly organized yet, I'd like to see this become reality. Let me know if that's something you'd be interested to participate on.
Anyone interested in curl, curl development or how to best use curl in application or solutions. Here's your chance to learn a lot and an excellent opportunity to influence the future of curl. And to get some short glimpses of a spring-time Stockholm when going back and forth to the curl up venue!
We will open up the "ticket booth" in January/February 2018, so just keep your eyes and ears open and you won't miss it! The general idea is to keep the fee at a minimum, ideally zero. Currently the exact price depends on how we manage to cover the remaining costs with friendly sponsors.
We are looking for sponsors. If your company is interested and willing to help us out, in any capacity, please contact me! Remember that our project has no funds of its own and we have no particular company backing.
We will spend the curl up 2018 weekend at Goto 10, which is near both the Skanstull and Gullmarsplan subway stations.
Action photo from curl up 2017 when Kamil Dudka spoke about Redhat's use of curl built with NSS.


The The Defra/Business Link Online Farming Service is a Defra initiative that aims to lighten the regulatory burden on farmers, reduce the number of duplicate requests for information, and offer innovative and efficient ways of working online.
It includes a number of online self-assessment tools that aim to help farmers comply with a broad range of legislative requirements and to improve their farm practices. These tools make reference to key industry documents, codes of practice and legislation. Therefore to make the tools more useful to farmers the ADLib resource is used to link a broad range of documents into the Defra tools. This means that as farmers work their way through the various modules they have access to relevant documents and information. This is not simply a case of linking to individual documents, in many instances there are 'deep links' to specific pages or paragraphs that are relevant to the issue being considered by the farmer at the time. This results in a very powerful means of signposting farmers to the most relevant information they need to run their business.
ADLib is also being used to provide guidance documents within the Business Link Farming Guides. This provides a simple way to access all the guidance and documents that are linked into the Defra tools.


Since 2008 Virtual Instruments has recognized that our partners are paramount to our success. Virtual Instruments and our partner community deliver unparalleled infrastructure performance analytics solutions to the largest and most complex physical, virtual and software defined data centers. Together, Virtual Instruments and our partners deliver solutions that guarantee the performance and availability of mission critical applications while minimizing total cost of ownership.
Our award winning VirtualWisdom and WorkloadWisdom platforms enable partners to design, implement and support solutions that de-risk and accelerate datacenter transformation initiatives, application and infrastructure rollouts, virtualization and cloud adoption, while empowering our customers to deliver the highest quality of service at the lowest cost.
The Virtual Instruments Partner Network (VIPN) is designed to recognize your expertise, reward you for the total impact you have in the marketplace while embedding a value add Infrastructure Performance Analytics practice into your portfolio that drives bottom line growth and differentiation. By providing customers an unbiased opinion, resellers combine their technology expertise with Virtual Instruments to deliver holistic solutions that address specific customer challenges in high-growth markets including storage, virtualization and cloud computing.
Virtual Instruments teams with industry-leading hardware and software companies to deliver best in class infrastructure management solutions. Global Alliance Partners integrate their offerings with Virtual Instruments technology, support or use products designed by Virtual Instruments, and/or resell Virtual Instruments solutions.
Virtual Instruments solutions are available or used worldwide through Virtual Instruments OEM partners, which include leading storage, server and data center providers. By leveraging Virtual Instruments solutions these partners deliver best in class storage and infrastructure solutions to a wide range of customers.
The Virtual Instruments Partner Portal is the primary access point for all resources available for partnering with Virtual Instruments. Find the information you need to stay ahead of the competition, close more deals and deliver value add performance management solutions to your customers.


Rapunzel and Ariel are best friends and they have been invited to a beautiful beach wedding. Help them both get dressed for it. Start with Ariel and put her hair in an elegant braided bun, dress her up in a light blue off shoulder dress with flower prints and accessorize with cute flowers in her hair and purple seashell shaped earrings. Rapunzel will look cute with some glamorous curls, pick for her a lavender dress with some ruffles on the top and a big purple flower in her hair. They also want to make a surprise for the bride and groom and decorate a bike for their photos. Pick some lovely pastel colors to paint it, choose the right flowers to put on it, hang some lights above and complete with colorful balloons, banners and Just Married signs. Have a blast playing this game!


Ahh... this an old work since 2003 for Arcana online Game base on Tarot card..
Wow, the skin looks great!
Woah beautiful !! Great coloring !
I love the designs and colors.
The detail here is mind boggling... awesome color.
you have a whole heck of a lot of talent.
amazing work, I adore colors you've used here. GREAT!!!!!
so beautiful done! this is inspiration di lux!
simply one of the best illustration i have seen. I fav it O_o.
sorry about my bas english.
lol. naked our not. its a really good pic. >3 its shiny and blinding. lol. shes cool too.
She's just beautiful! I love your version of this card.
Thus a beauty is born! very nice picture I love it!
Could you do a tutorial on colouring please?
I would love to do colouring like yours.
That is really beautiful! So pretty! I love the colors and the background and how you depict 'The Star'!
I'm looking foreward to some other tarot cards you may make!
Very beautiful. I love the design and the colors that you chose. The symbology is just fantastic. Great job.
i think the word you're looking for is symbolism. syyymmbolism.
No, I definitely meant "symbology". But symbolism works too.
Wow. Beauty in the truest way. A lovely rendition of the star card. Well done with all the traditional symbols included and intact. Truly well done.
I love this pic. Tarot is a small passion of mine and I would definately buy these as tarot cards if they were available. Your style and colour is amazing.
This is such a Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful Peice of art. I love how you put the water in with the legs And the stars above her head and all her wings/feathers.
beautiful picture :0 i love how you colored it.
Wow thats so incredible! its so awsome and the back ground is so great as well , Great work!
This is so beautiful i want to EAT it!!