OBJECTIVE: To extend an existing computer programme for the evaluation and design of shift schedules (BASS 3) by integrating workload as well as economic aspects.
METHODS: The redesigned prototype BASS 4 includes a new module with a suitable and easily applicable screening method (EBA) for the assessment of the intensity of physical, emotional and cognitive workload components and their temporal patterns. Specified criterion functions based on these ratings allow for an adjustment of shift and rest duration according to the intensity of physical and mental workload. Furthermore, with regard to interactive effects both workload and temporal conditions, e.g. time of day, are taken into account. In a second new module, important economic aspects and criteria have been implemented. Different ergonomic solutions for scheduling problems can now also be evaluated with regard to their economic costs.
RESULTS: The new version of the computer programme (BASS 4) can now simultaneously take into account numerous ergonomic, legal, agreed and economic criteria for the design and evaluation of working hours.
CONCLUSIONS: BASS 4 can now be used as an instrument for the design and the evaluation of working hours with regard to legal, ergonomic and economic aspects at the shop floor as well as in administrative (e.g. health and safety inspection) and research problems.
Keywords: Shift work. Work hours. Planning. Workload. Software. Evaluation. Occupational health. Socioeconomic factors.
OBJETIVOS: Expandir um programa computacional existente para planejamento e avaliação dos horários de turnos (BASS 3) por meio da incorporação da carga de trabalho e características econômicas.
MÉTODOS: O protótipo BASS 4 contém um novo módulo com um método de triagem (EBA) conveniente e de fácil aplicação para a avaliação da intensidade dos componentes físico, emocional e cognitivo da carga de trabalho e seus padrões temporais. O uso de critérios específicos com base nestas avaliações possibilita ajustar a duração do turno e do descanso de acordo com a intensidade da carga de trabalho física e mental. Além disso, quanto aos efeitos interativos, tanto a carga de trabalho como os aspectos temporais, p. e., hora do dia, são considerados. Foram introduzidos em um outro módulo características e critérios econômicos de relevância. O novo programa permite também que sejam avaliadas diferentes soluções ergonômicas para problemas de planejamento segundo os custos financeiros.
RESULTADOS: A nova versão do programa (BASS 4) tem a capacidade agora de processar simultaneamente vários critérios econômicos, ergonômicos, legais e acordados para o planejamento e avaliação do horário de trabalho.
CONCLUSÕES: O BASS 4 pode ser usado agora como um instrumento para planejamento e avaliação dos horários de trabalho, incluindo-se características econômicas, ergonômicas e legais, no setor de produção e em questões administrativas (p.e. fiscalização da saúde e segurança) e relacionados à pesquisa.
Descritores: Trabalho em turnos. Jornada de trabalho. Planejamento. Carga de trabalho. Software. Avaliação. Saúde ocupacional. Fatores socioeconômicos.
A concept established in a previously developed computer programme for the design and evaluation of shift schedules, using a stepwise procedure for generating shift schedules (BASS 327,28), has shown to be suitable for the design of shift schedules for continuous and non-continuous work with regular or irregular work demands in different areas of application (e.g. public transport,30 manufacturing, health care and the services sector17). In addition to numerous legal, agreed and company specific requirements this programme takes into account ergonomic criteria related to the design of working hours and shift schedules.7,34,43 These include more physiologically/ biologically based criteria, e.g. the number of consecutive night shifts, as well as more psychosocially based criteria, e.g. concerning the interaction between working hours and leisure activities. However, according to feedback from small and medium sized enterprises, theoretical reasoning, and some recent research developments several aspects which have not yet been addressed adequately in this programme have been identified, and this seems to hold for computer aided design and evaluation of working time arrangements in general, as can be seen by looking at computer programmes available for this purpose in practice. The present paper will thus address the development of a new programme for which workload and economic aspects have been taken into account in more detail.
Also still missing in the ergonomic computer aided design and evaluation of working hours are economic criteria which support the designer in optimizing schedules, e.g. without negative economic effects such as higher costs. Again feedback from companies identified this as a serious deficiency for BASS 3: while common commercial scheduling programmes show a complete neglect of ergonomic criteria, ergonomic approaches to the scheduling problem have greatly neglected the economic aspects of the problem (for an exception see15). Companies wanted to know how much an ergonomically improved design would cost or to be able to estimate the costs associated with different designs. Since a combination of different programmes did not seem promising, an attempt should be made to simultaneously take into account economic criteria and ergonomic criteria in designing as well as in evaluating working hours.
Therefore, in a research and development project supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research under the program 'Innovative work design' an attempt has been made to develop workload and economic criteria/ requirements relevant for the design and evaluation of working hours and to integrate these criteria - along with existing legal, ergonomic and organizational requirements – in a software system for a computer aided design, evaluation and optimization of work schedules.
In the context of the design and the evaluation of working hours, the integration of criteria related to workload should include the effects of working conditions (e.g. jobs, tasks, equipment, environment), and of working time arrangements (e.g. constraints related to time on task, time of day) as well as their interactions in order to be able to adequately consider the relevant parameters of workload, i.e. intensity, duration and dynamics, and their interactions. At present, programmes for computer aided design of working hours are mainly able to consider aspects of time-related constraints by taking into account general recommendations (e.g. avoiding extended working days, providing for shorter nightshifts, or a fast forward rotation).15,22,27,28,37,42 In general this seems to be a promising strategy since these recommendations are based on empirical evidence, e.g. studies based on national surveys1,18,25,29 or aggregating across different studies12 indicating an increase in the accident risk for working hours beyond the normal working day.
Although observing such recommendations have already been shown to be an effective and preventive strategy for reducing the operators' risks of impairments imposed by their working hours, the results must remain insufficient without taking into account information about the nature of the task (e.g. mental or physical), the intensity and the extensity of workload, and their interaction. As has been demonstrated in some studies2,8,9,11 there are compensatory processes regarding performance and/or workload during night shifts. In addition, sometimes there are different job demands at night compared to those at day shifts. Considering such aspects factors apart from only time related ones become important. Therefore, some of the limitations of the above mentioned recommendations are due to the fact that the intensity of workload will always depend on the characteristics of the job at hand and therefore the context of application of a certain shift schedule.
Since the context of application serves as the primary source of information which determines the intensity of workload and its relevance for the design of shift schedules, a suitable instrument for the assessment of workload seemed to be necessary, i.e. suitable for practitioners at the shop floor, as they are the people who have to design shift schedules in practice.
There are certain specific requirements for the assessment of workload in the context of the design of working hours and therefore none of the existing instruments in workload assessment could be expected to assess the information required, i.e. the intensity of physical, emotional, and cognitive workload and their dynamics across the working day with a job adequate resolution, e.g. for each hour or quarter of an hour of work during each shift in the working day or week, or whatever resolution might be appropriate for the job under consideration. Further requirements would be that such an instrument should be usable for people responsible for the design of working hours in practice, at least at the level of a screening instrument (according to ISO 10075-320) while at the same time offering a possibility to be integrated into a computer programme for the design of working hours. Such an instrument has not been found; therefore a new and readily tailored instrument had to be developed.
Based on experiences with the evaluation and design of shift schedules in different areas of application and with available (German) instruments for task analysis and the assessment of workload,14,31,33,35 core items were collected, pre-selected and adapted according to expert ratings and pre-tested using different video taped work sequences. This led to a first version of a rating scale (EBA, German abbreviation for 'screening of workload at the workplace'39-41) with a total of 15 items on physical (6), emotional (4) and cognitive (5) workload components, an instruction how to use EBA and a form for filling in intensity ratings for each item in the appropriate resolution for a time-based assessment.
The suitability of this rating scale for the intended area of application was analysed in a field study in a manufacturing company (In the meantime more analyses in different fields of application have been performed, supporting the evidence gained from this study.). After giving a brief introduction on how to use the EBA rating scales, three ergonomics experts (researchers of the Industrial and Organisational Psychology Unit, Oldenburg) and three job experts (staff from the health, safety and environmental protection department) observed five different jobs (e.g. assembly, inspection) for about 20 minutes each and then filled in the rating scales for each job. This provided information about an integrative, not yet time related, assessment of workload as a first step to determine whether the items would be usable by different groups of raters, especially practitioners, and useful for discriminating between jobs. A time based assessment has been performed in a separate analysis,21 comparing the ratings of two observers with psychophysiological recordings taken from workers across complete shifts. Due to space limitations the results of this study cannot be presented here.
Integrating criteria related to workload requires not only the assessment of workload but also a model of how these assessments can be incorporated into the design of shift schedules. Therefore a criterion function had to be specified, taking into account the combination of the individual items and dimensions of the intensity of workload from the EBA, combined with the extensity dimensions of workload (i.e. duration, chronological position, sequence of work-rest periods, i.e. the dynamics of workload) for hours at work in a shift schedule.23,36 Based on theoretical reasoning derived from basic ergonomic workload concepts19,36 the integration of job based (i.e. taken from EBA) and time based workload aspects (e.g. circadian rhythms) has recently been carried out, using conceptual approaches based on results of exploratory analyses of workload dynamics from the ergonomics literature.3,9,13,23,25,32,34 For the development of the criterion function, firstly, EBA ratings for a typical work week in an appropriate resolution were aggregated applying a bottleneck model, i.e. avoiding compensation across the different aspects or items of workload. Secondly, depending on these results an aggregation for time on task was carried out taking into account the multiplicative relation between intensity and duration of workload. Thirdly, further aspects of chronology (i.e. time of day) were integrated. Next, a limit for the criterion function was established, with job and time based workload levels beyond this limit being assumed to result in impairments. Finally, the procedure of calculating this criterion function was integrated in BASS 4 and combined with the other criteria for the design and evaluation of working hours.
First results of such an integration of workload criteria into the design and evaluation of shift schedules will be presented.
These types of costs, which have to be specified according to the given context, will be applied to the economic evaluation of working hours. Different working time arrangements can then be compared based on these costs, as well as on the basis of total costs for each system. For the design and evaluation of work schedules these types of costs have been implemented as cost functions, using a linear optimization approach5 (also known as operations research; i.e. maximizing a linear function over a convex polyhedron). In the evaluation of generated or given shift schedules these costs will be considered and presented to the user on different levels of aggregation and in different styles of representation.
The suitability of the EBA rating as a workload screening instrument was analyzed using a 2x5x15 analysis of variance with two observer groups (3 ergonomics experts, 3 job experts), and five different jobs as between factors, and the 15 items of the EBA as a within factor. Greenhouse-Geiser corrections for violations of sphericity (including results for eGG)44 were applied where appropriate.
With regard to possible general differences in the ratings between the two groups of raters and/or the five jobs neither of the main effects nor their interaction were significant. However, the main effect for the Observer group factor was marginally significant, F(1, 25)=3.8, p=.063, indicating that both groups rated – in general – slightly differently. To understand this main effect, the significant interaction for Observer-group by Item, F(14, 350)=2.56, eGG=.09, p=.023, should be taken into account, indicating that there are differences in using (at least some of) the 15 items between both observer groups. A closer inspection of the results revealed a tendency towards more conservative ratings, i.e. indicating higher levels of workload for static muscular work or demands on information processing for the job experts (practitioners) group, which was most probably due to the practitioners' long time experience with the working conditions at hand. According to the non significant triple interaction (Item by Job by Observer group) there seemed to be no tendency for some experts to systematically rate some items at a different level for some jobs. These results would indicate an acceptable understanding and use of the concepts and items used in the EBA by practitioners as well as by ergonomics experts. The main effect for Items, F(14, 350)=31.59, eGG=.56, p<.001, and their interaction with Jobs, F(56, 350)=4.23, eGG=.41, p<.001, were highly significant. This reveals a suitable discrimination of different jobs by specific combinations or patterns of the items, especially since there is a non significant main effect for Jobs and therefore, a halo-effect (for Jobs) is unlikely to be operating for both ergonomics and job experts. As an example, Figure 1 shows the EBA ratings for an assembly and an inspection task, showing clear cut different profiles of workload.
Figure 2 shows an example for the concepts associated with the workload criterion function in the design and evaluation of working hours. This is illustrated by a shift designed to begin at 07:00 and lasting 8h. The indicated levels of workload (light bars in Figure 2) generally consist of job based workload assessments (EBA items for each hour of the shift aggregated across items on an hourly level), which are rather invariant across the whole shift. However, the resulting strain in the worker (resulting from the combination of job and time based workload, their interactions, accumulated for time on task; indicated by the bold line in Figure 2) is assumed to increase, since there is no break and thus no possibility for recuperation.
According to the conceptualized model and the example illustrated in Figure 2, the bold line would indicate that a shift duration of up to 7 hours would be acceptable, since during the 8th hour (and later on) the level of workload (in this case the strain within the worker) is beyond the specified limit (thin line in Figure 2). As there is no change in the job based level of workload during the first 3h the increase in strain is based on a feedback effect of a non compensated high level of workload over time, i.e. with no break and thus no recuperation, so that the next period (hour) of work will meet a reduced capacity for work, resulting in increased work strain and fatigue. In this case, this has been combined with a time based workload effect, e.g. a post lunch dip,10 which decreases working capacity as well.
Based on results like those presented in Figure 2 different interventions for the design of an acceptable shift schedule from a workload perspective would be possible: (1) limiting the duration of the shift to seven hours, (2) reducing the job based level of workload through a reorganization of working conditions, (3) implementing an additional shift group in order to distribute the job based workload to parallel shift groups, and/or (4) providing adequate rest breaks in order to provide for recuperation and thus interruptions of the feedback loop.
So far, relevant components of the criterion function have been identified, concepts for an integration of these components and for the required calculations have been drawn up and checked against theoretical reasoning and results from field studies and have been adapted where appropriate. Lack of space, the provisional nature of these function(s) and their status of being still subjected to further testing do not allow for an extensive treatment here.
The criterion function is now being implemented in the software programme and will soon be available for some first tests regarding the generation and optimization of shifts and shift schedules. In order to validate and improve the criterion function an investigation using a time series approach for an analysis of the relation of the EBA instrument with psychophysiological measures of work strain for a continuous workload assessment across complete shifts has recently been finished21 and will be used for adapting the criterion function where appropriate.
The implementation of the various time related cost functions now allows for a calculation of the costs associated with different shift schedules and with different solutions for a given scheduling problem. These differences usually arise from a different design of the shifts, e.g. with regard to their start and end times and the manning of the demands for workforce, resulting in different surcharges and allowances, whereas the sequence of shifts, i.e. the kind of rotation, seems to be of less importance. This of course will have to be further tested in the future. It would, however, be consistent with the observation that management generally does not care for or object to specific kinds of rotations in shift systems, their main concern usually is that the system works and that it does so at a low level of costs. The results gained with the new module so far support the hypothesis that from an economic point of view it does not make much of a difference whether a shift system is rotated slowly backward or fast forward.
As an example Figure 3 shows the results of the economic evaluation of two different solutions for a given problem of continuous shift work, one slowly backward rotated and the other one fast forward rotated. The ergonomic evaluation for both systems shows a lot of violations of the ergonomic criteria (indicated by the number and the kind of symbols in the shift schedules in Figure 3) for the slowly backward rotated system as opposed to only a few violations in the fast forward rotated system. However, the comparison of the economic costs (in €, or any other currency) for both solutions shows remarkable differences only in the costs for each individual shift group per week, within and between schedules. Since the groups are rotating in a four weeks cycle these differences balance out over a complete shift cycle in both systems, resulting in an indifference of total cost for both systems. These results clearly demonstrate that better shift rotas need not necessarily be associated with higher total costs, which is of importance in illustrating and supporting the ergonomic design of shift schedules from an economic point of view.
Going just one step beyond the results presented in Figure 3, one could assume that according to collective agreements surcharges need to be paid for weekly overtime (e.g. for more than 50 hours a week in this example). That would result in higher costs for the slowly backward rotated system (as presented in Figure 3) and in unchanged costs for the fast forward rotated system; even for a four week cycle. While the maximum of hours per week in the latter system is 50 hours (for group 1; see Figure 3, i.e. 6 x 8 hours + 2 hours on Sunday), it is 56 hours (group 2; see Figure 3, with 7 x 8 hours) for the slowly backward rotated system, making these surcharges applicable and thus resulting in higher total costs. Assuming non-linear increasing surcharges beyond the legal permissible 48h per week would lead to even greater differentials for both solutions. The sensitivity of the implemented functions thus definitely needs further testing.
Using the implemented cost functions now allows for the evaluation of the detailed and total costs of a system, but more important, also of the costs associated with any changes: it thus allows evaluating the costs associated with improvements regarding other criteria, which is always an important question when designing working hours according to ergonomic criteria. Another important step forward is that these functions can now be used in generating shifts and rotas, so that both ergonomic and economic criteria can be used for an optimization, showing the interdependencies in the results.
It should be noted, however, that the cost calculations at the moment do not take into account over head costs, e.g. for maintenance, repairs, and services, and do not consider any effects of a bad shift design, e.g. compensating for health effects or effects regarding the risk of errors or accidents. This, of course, would probably change the balance considerably, e.g. by implementing surcharges for more than three night shifts in a row. Since such costs are difficult to estimate and to specify they have been left aside for the time being. However, the system in general would be open for such improvements. And it would seem most interesting to try and add a macro-economic perspective to the business management perspective adopted here for the moment.
Computer aided design and evaluation of shift schedules should rather be regarded as a tool for supporting the designer than as an instrument for replacing her/his creativity, experience and professional qualification. This is especially true for the new aspects implemented in the programme BASS 4, because the more care is taken when assessing the job based workload or specifying of the relevant economic costs, the better the criteria will work and the better they will support the evaluation, generation, and optimization of shift schedules. According to the results for the integration of workload aspects the new EBA instrument seems to be a suitable and usable screening instrument for the intensity of workload and its temporal distribution for both ergonomics and job experts respectively. The concept of criterion functions, including the integration of job based and time based workload aspects, seems to be appropriate for an implementation into computer aided design and evaluation of shift schedules. However, further investigations, tests and adaptations will be necessary to improve the performance of the system. The new economics module allows for the assessment of the economic costs for a given or for alternative solutions for the design of a working time system and thus for the evaluation of the costs of (changes in) ergonomic criteria in the design of working time systems. This could be very helpful in convincing management that improvements in ergonomic design quality are not necessarily related to increased costs, but should, in the long run, result in economic benefits by avoiding the resulting costs of badly designed systems.
Integrating workload and economic aspects as criteria into computer aided design and evaluation of shift schedules can thus serve as a preventive strategy for improving workers' health and safety as well as the reliability and productivity of the work system. A fully operational version of BASS 4 (in German) will be available by the end of 2004.
Presented at the XVI International Symposium on Night and Shiftwork, November 2003. Santos, SP, Brazil.
Financial support: German Federal Ministry for Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany under Contract 01HW0130.


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text:
This is a growing collection of Go examples.

I will attempt to get them setup as `godoc` examples.
There are a few I'll need to convert to get started.

## How to use

Get the repo.

```
go get github.com/ldfritz/rapscallion-notebook
```

Ignore it if it complains about nothing to build.
Maybe I'll toss a snippet in later to satisfy that.

Then run the Go doc server.

```
godoc -http:8080
```

Visit the package in your browser.

```
http://localhost:8080/pkg/github.com/ldfritz/rapscallion-notebook/
```

## Testing the examples

If you are concerned about the accuracy of an example, you can test them.

Browse to the folder with the appropriate tests and run the test suite.

```
go test -v
```

## License

> MIT License
>
> Copyright (c) 2017 Luke Fritz
>
> Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
>
> The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
>
> THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
E-tailing
E-commerce »
E-tailing »
Wazir Advisors
Snapdeal tweaks strict return policy
While this may help Snapdeal attract more customers to its platform, industry experts says the policy may dissuade buyers from purchasing top-selling electronic items. Shambhavi Anand&Richa Maheshwari | ET Bureau | Updated: July 12, 2016, 13:01 IST
NEW DELHI: Returning smartphones, computers and other electronic products purchased from Snapdeal will be difficult, say sellers on the online marketplace, as to return an item, customers will have to furnish a document within seven days from the brand's authorised service centre declaring it defective.
While Snapdeal said the policy is old, several sellers ET spoke to said they weren't aware of it until they received an email on July 11.
"Electronic items: We require a document from the brand/OEM's service centre confirming that the delivered item was defective. We will carry out a quality check to validate the complaint before processing any request for refund/replacement. Returns/replacements will be accepted for only those items which are found to be faulty/defective," the company told its sellers in the email.
While this may address the concerns of sellers and help Snapdeal attract more of them to its platform, industry experts said the policy may dissuade buyers from purchasing top-selling electronic items from it and divert them to rivals such as Flipkart and Amazon.
With consumers having tasted the online experience and companies having spent a hefty amount to acquire customers, more and more ecommerce players will feel the need to cut costs or pass on the liability to the customers, the experts said.
"On an average, nearly 10-15 per cent of what they sell online comes back as return or for exchange which increases their delivery costs. This measure will reduce such cases to some extent and might also bring down the fraudulent cases," said Harminder Sahni, founder of Wazir Advisors.
The move has been welcomed by sellers. "The biggest change is removal of the 'no questions asked' policy and fixing seven days for returns. This will reduce irrational returns and frauds by buyers," said Sanjay Thakur of e-Seller Suraksha Forum, a group of online sellers across platforms.
"The only negative point is charging sellers for products not delivered to customers and those not accepted by customers."
Snapdeal has also revised the marketing fee for almost all categories of products effective July 14. While some categories have seen an increase ranging between 0.5% and 5.5% for others the marketing fee has been reduced in the range of 0.2-18%.
"Implementation of the revised standard marketing fee would result in change in the selling price of Product (s) listed by you, but your seller proceeds will not be impacted. However, if the revised selling price becomes more than the MRP, the selling price of the product(s) as listed by you shall not change and your seller proceeds shall be adjusted accordingly," the company wrote to sellers on the marketplace. on Monday afternoon informing them of its new policy. Snapdeal will bear the cost for reverse pickup and payment collection, while packaging and shipping will be borne by sellers. In case of replacement or exchange, reverse pick up costs will be borne by Snapdeal, as a part of its new policy.
In a press statement Vishal Chadha, senior vice president, market development, said: "We believe reduction in marketing fees will foster growth for our sellers. Reducing returns from the market by ensuring best in class logistics and technology advances is a key focus area for Snapdeal. While we share costs with our sellers in case of return; we will continue to forego marketing fees to reduce the costs for sellers."
Here's how Snapdeal's Gurgaon office looks like
Tags : E-commerce, E-tailing, SnapDeal, Return Policy, Wazir Advisors, Flipkart, electronic
Most Read in E-commerce
PM Modi unlikely to meet Jeff Bezos this time
My statement on Amazon misconstrued, govt welcomes all investments within regulations: Goyal
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to visit India next week
Policy changes, JioMart pose rising risks to global e-commerce players in India: Fitch

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This is the only payment method for all members. We will not accept cash. Direct debits can be setup by filling out the appropriate form when you are training next. You will need your BSB and account number.
$65 for a 1 hour private session. Available by appointment only.
CFA strongly believes in the programs we are offering and your experiences will be what keep you coming back for more.


I really love the retro look of the Sentimentals cartridge. It has a LOT of fun elements on it, and I especially love the card / envelope features. Lesson learned on this card: I need to lay out the elements on the page before I glue them down! I would have moved "work it" over to the right more. Oh well, details right?


This entry was posted in Community and tagged Op Ed, Research Week, wild pigs on April 3, 2014 by Wire Eagle.
Wild pigs, frequently referred to as feral swine or feral hogs, have been in North American for a long time—since the late 1500s, in fact, when the first wild pigs were introduced by Europeans. Since that time, small isolated populations have persisted throughout the Southeast, whether from accidental escapes from swine production operations or remnants from the bygone days of free-ranging domestic swine. In the last 20 or so years, these wild pigs have steadily increased their range and numbers in Alabama and throughout the United States, where they are now found in 47 states.


Cécile works in the Ecosystem Science team at the School of Geography and the Environment. She manages the Global Ecosystems Monitoring network's data gathering efforts, providing data gathering and analysis support to the 70+ plots we have scattered across the globe. She is also the founding director of oxfordbiochar.com.
Prior to working at Oxford University, Cécile completed an MSc in Environmental technology at Imperial College, worked as a consultant for Environmental Resources Management, completed a PhD at Oxford University and worked as a consultant for the UN-REDD team of the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organisation, and as a fellow of the Oxford Martin School.
Cécile combines years of experience in climate change policy analysis with a background in tropical ecology and thorough understanding of forest ecosystem functioning, providing a unique multidisciplinary approach to her work. Her current research focusses on the ecosystem functioning and carbon dynamics of tropical forests, and their responses to a rapidly changing climate. Member of the Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests, and Oxford Biodiversity Network, she is also an active supporter of the Martin School's Illegal Wildlife Trade program. At night, when her three children are asleep, Cécile illustrates a picture book on de-extinction.


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text:
Commentary on Canadian Issues
Condorcet Canada Initiative
← Pharmacare Now!
Unravelin' SNC-Lavalin →
TMX Dollars and Sense
Posted on 2018-06-28 by Ron McKinnon
© Trans Mountain Corporation
There are many sides to the story of the Trans Mountain Expansion project (TMX) and our federal government's offer to purchase the existing Trans Mountain pipeline — and related assets.
There is the need for Alberta, especially in these times of uncertainty around capricious US tariffs, to be able to export their resources to non-US markets; there are hundreds of thousands of Canadians, both in Alberta and elsewhere, who depend on the oil patch to pay their rent and feed their families. And the fact remains that our economy still runs on fossil fuels.
There is also real concern over climate change and meeting our Paris commitments, to which it should be emphasized that as part and parcel of approving TMX, Alberta committed to our Pan-Canadian Framework on Climate Change, which includes:
Putting a price on GHG emissions;
Ending pollution from coal-generated electricity by 2030;
Developing more renewable energy;
Reducing methane emissions by 45% by 2025.
They also, significantly, agreed to cap oil sands GHG emissions at 100 megatonnes/year CO2-equivalent.
Indigenous Consent
There are concerns, as well, about indigenous consent, and indigenous communities themselves are not of one mind on this; some are on board, some are not, and there are important questions that need to have their day in court.
Update 2018-08-30
Tsleil-Waututh Nation v. Canada; 2018-08-30
This is one of those important questions that has indeed had its day in court.
This Federal Court of Appeal decision (2018-08-30) sets aside the federal approval for the expansion project, citing serious deficiencies in the NEB process itself, in Crown v. Indigenous consultations, and particularly including failure of the NEB adequately to consider factors relating to marine transport.
"… Canada failed to fulfil the duty to consult owed to Indigenous peoples.
"… most of the flaws asserted against the Board's process and findings are without merit. However, the Board made one critical error. The Board unjustifiably defined the scope of the Project under review not to include Project-related tanker traffic. The unjustified exclusion of marine shipping from the scope of the Project led to successive, unacceptable deficiencies in the Board's report and recommendations…"
The government had hoped to fill in the gaps in the NEB process, as well as to avoid the consultation deficiency noted in the court's previous decision on the Northern Gateway project, by means of a special Ministerial panel that conducted additional hearings. In the end, however, the court considered that this was not enough.
This decision has the potential to quash the expansion project entirely, but, more likely, it will result in project delays while the noted deficiencies are properly addressed. And indeed, therein lies an opportunity to improve and clarify the kind of respectful discussion and process that must prevail for such projects.
This decision does NOT, in any case, affect the existing Trans Mountain and Puget Sound pipelines or related facilities, which continue on the whole as a viable, profitable business enterprise.
Then there is grave concern about protecting our BC coastal waters, and a lot of work has been done here: we know how dilbit behaves in water; we know how to clean it up; and we know that in over 60 years of operation there has not been a single cargo spill from Trans Mountain tankers. This is an exemplary safety record that we are further shoring up by doubling clean-up capability, creating additional bases for faster response, and requiring double-hulled tankers and double tethered-tug escorts, for example.
Transitioning to a New Economy
All of this was factored into the TMX decision as well as the offer to purchase.
© /Shutterstock
Alberta is, even now, as are we all, moving from a fossil-fuel economy into a sustainable 21st century green economy. But it takes time, and if you look at the millions of fossil-fuel vehicles: cars, trucks, buses, heavy equipment, trains, ships, and planes daily traversing our land, sea, and sky, and imagine simply stopping them all tomorrow, cold-turkey, you will understand that as we develop this new economy we must for a while still feed these dinosaurs of the old century.
TMX Business Risk
PM and Premiers Meeting on TMX, April 14, 2018
Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML) was originally willing to put up their $7.4 billion to build TMX — against the normal risks of a large construction project — until the BC government chose to challenge federal jurisdiction here. This introduced a huge new and untenable project risk. As KML Chairman and CEO Steve Kean noted: "a company cannot litigate its way to an in-service pipeline amidst jurisdictional differences between governments."
While we offered to protect them against this unusual risk, with the construction season hard upon us we also offered to buy them out, subject to immediate resumption of construction. We do not want to be in the pipeline business, but it is key to retaining support in our overall climate strategy that this project proceeds, and succeeds.
Purchase Valuation
The Trans Mountain pipeline has been well maintained and well operated throughout its 60-plus years. It is a profitable going concern with more business than it can handle, which will prevail well into the future even as we work to phase-out fossil fuels. These assets, upgraded over the years, have decades of remaining useful life, and, including engineering and development pertaining to the expansion, have been carefully evaluated by experts as a good buy at the negotiated price.
This is not an "expense," where money is spent never to be seen again. It is an investment in productive assets that will return value to Canada in many ways for many years, and which we will recover in full measure when we divest, probably after the jurisdictional dispute is resolved.
It is also not "instead" of things like investments in housing or indigenous water systems and the like, but "in addition" to these and to our many other on-going commitments in so many areas.
I recognize that not everyone agrees with this decision, but we remain committed to working with the provinces, territories, and indigenous peoples to find a balance that ensures a strong economy while taking leadership on the environment.
NEB: Release of Reconsideration Report; 2019-02-22
NEB: TMX Reconsideration Report; 2019-02-22
NEB: Update re Federal Appeal Court Decision; 2018-08-31
Citizen's Guide to Tanker Safety and Spill Response on BC's South Coast
Clearseas: Oil Tankers in Canadian Waters
WCMRC: Can spill response organizations clean up diluted bitumen?
Government of Canada Activities Related to Spill Management
General Risk Analysis and Intended Methods of Reducing Risks; Det Norske Veritas (U.S.A.), Inc.; 2013-11-25
NRCan: Interim Principles for Review of Energy Projects; 2016-01-27
NRCan: Ministerial Panel Report; 2016-11-01
Fed/BC: Joint Consultation and Accommodation Report; 2016-11
NEB: Trans Mountain Expansion Report; 2016-05
NEB: Website — Trans Mountain Expansion
This entry was posted in Climate Change, TMX. Bookmark the permalink.
Ron McKinnon MP
Coquitlam — Port Coquitlam,
42nd & 43rd Parliaments
As a Liberal MP, it must be noted that this website is a personal soapbox from which to comment on matters of personal, usually political, interest — the views expressed here do NOT necessarily represent the views or positions of the Liberal Party of Canada, our leadership, nor of our Parliamentary caucus.
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text:
Q: How to use the correct LWJGL DisplayMode in fullscreen? I was having issues making my program go fullscreen with:
Display.setFullscreen(true);

...but the following answer helped me: LWJGL Fullscreen not working
This answer suggested that I iterate through all the available DisplayModes and find the compatible ones. Here is the code I currently have:
if (!fullscreen)
    Display.setDisplayMode(new DisplayMode(width, height));
else {
    DisplayMode displayMode = null;
    DisplayMode[] modes = Display.getAvailableDisplayModes();
    ArrayList<String> compatibleModes = new ArrayList<String>();
    for (int i = 0; i < modes.length; i++) {
        System.out.println("Mode "+i+": "+modes[i].toString());
        if (modes[i].getWidth() == width && modes[i].getHeight() == height
                && modes[i].isFullscreenCapable()) {
            displayMode = modes[i];
            compatibleModes.add(modes[i].toString());
        }
    }
    if(compatibleModes.isEmpty()){
        System.out.println("No compatible display modes!");
        System.exit(-1);
    }
    System.out.println("Display Modes :: "+modes.length+" Total :: "+compatibleModes.size()+" Compatible :: "+displayMode.toString()+" Selected");
    for (String string : compatibleModes) {
        System.out.println("Compatible: "+string);
    }
    Display.setDisplayMode(displayMode);
    Display.setFullscreen(true);
}
Display.create(new PixelFormat(), attribs);

My console log shows: (I've omitted some irrelevant modes for clarity)
Mode 0: 1920 x 1080 x 32 @24Hz
Mode 5: 1920 x 1080 x 32 @23Hz
Mode 18: 1280 x 1024 x 32 @60Hz
Mode 19: 1920 x 1080 x 32 @59Hz
Mode 20: 1920 x 1080 x 32 @60Hz
Mode 21: 1920 x 1080 x 32 @50Hz
Mode 23: 1920 x 1200 x 32 @59Hz
Mode 25: 1920 x 1200 x 32 @60Hz
Mode 26: 1768 x 992 x 32 @24Hz
Mode 28: 1920 x 1440 x 32 @59Hz
Mode 29: 2560 x 1440 x 32 @59Hz <-- I have a 1440p monitor, why is this NOT compatible?
Mode 30: 1280 x 800 x 32 @60Hz
Mode 31: 1920 x 1440 x 32 @60Hz
Mode 49: 1600 x 1200 x 32 @59Hz
Mode 50: 1600 x 1200 x 32 @60Hz
Display Modes :: 53 Total :: 3 Compatible :: 1280 x 720 x 32 @60Hz Selected
Compatible: 1280 x 720 x 32 @50Hz
Compatible: 1280 x 720 x 32 @59Hz
Compatible: 1280 x 720 x 32 @60Hz

Full screen games work fine on my computer at 1440p, so why the mode isn't available I am not sure. When I launch the program, the screen is very blurry.
How can I fix this? Thank you in advance.

A: Maybe try using
Display.setDisplayModeAndFullscreen(Display.getDesktopDisplayMode());

Even if it doesn't solve the 1440p issue it is still a much neater way of getting a fullscreen displaymode.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
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Spies Freelancers Awards and Great Canadian Events
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Do you want to learn more about Deep Packet Inspection in Canada and who is using it? Deep Packet Inspection Canada is a website which is meant to be the largest repository of publicly accessible information concerning the use of deep packet inspection in Canada, so that Canadians gain insight into how the technology is used by Canadian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and why they are using the technology. I recommend this site if you want to learn more about service throttling and the hot issues being discussed around it.
Late last year, I was a participant in a conversation with game design students regarding freelance work. I came across a book today in my morning email travels which, while I haven't read it (but I probably will), was written by Canadian freelance illustrator and author Holly DeWolf. While many students are lucky and easily find work at established studios, it has been a topic of conversation about how schools don't really prepare their graduates for the freelance world.
Holly agrees with this line of thought, stating that "many institutions are not preparing students for the realities of the work world. It's important for freelance creative types to see themselves as a business in order to make it. There is a real need for recent graduates, freelance illustrators and designers plus self-taught artists to have the proper resources they need to make it as a self-employed creative".
To that end, Holly filled that need in the artistic community with her 2009 book, Breaking Into Freelance Illustration: The Guide For Artists Designers and Illustrators. This book helps readers to develop skills in the business side of artistic practice, addressing many questions which Holly found being asked throughout her many years as a post-NSAD graduate and mentor. This book has received some very good reviews on Amazon.ca, so I can feel confident in recommending this title even though I haven't yet personally read it. I have a huge stack of books already waiting for my perusal, and I feel that this one needs to shared with students and grads now, not when I have time to finally buy it and read it – especially as someone else just recommended another title I should read.
Don't forget that the Early Bird discount period for the Banff World Television Festival ends on April 20th – the festival is about far more than just television – check it out. Dentyne Gum has launched their new interactive site with a new AR contest – you could win $25 000.00 with the symbol on the pack of Dentyne gum you've purchased. Canada 3.0 Forum has just announced that David Usher (ex-Moist) has joined the great line-up of speakers for this year's event which will be MC'd by Global TV news anchor Kevin Newman. Taking place in Stratford on May 10 & 11, Canada 3.0 offers a unique opportunity to engage in seminars and discussions about Canada's future in the tech industry.
Congratulations are due to Waterloo tech company Dejero – creator of the new Dejero LIVE Platform, the company has been awarded a Broadcast Engineering Pick Hit award at the 2010 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) international tradeshow in Las Vegas. The Dejero LIVE Platform is a ground-breaking new way to broadcast live high-quality video without the high cost or complexity of satellite or microwave transmission. Dejero was selected from 1,500 companies that exhibited at NAB for their introduction of the Dejero LIVE Platform that is set to transform live television.
"Broadcast Engineering is a widely respected industry resource for broadcasters. It is very exciting for Dejero to win such a prestigious award at its first showing at NAB," said Ron Neumann, Dejero CEO. "This award highlights that Dejero's solution to go live faster, easier, and less expensively is resonating with the broadcast market."
With a long history, Pick Hits are the most prestigious technical awards given at NAB. A panel of independent judges, who are working broadcast professionals, toured the show floor for three days, looking for innovative products and technology. The judges then met to make their selections based on several criteria, including the technical and financial improvements the product can bring to a facility's operation. Broadcast Engineering editors and publishers have no vote in the selection process, and the Dejero LIVE Platform will be featured in a special article from the 2010 NAB Show that will appear in the June issue of Broadcast Engineering magazine.
Dejero's revolutionary Transmitter is about the size of an average briefcase. One cameraperson and the Dejero Live Mobile Transmitter can transmit from any location in cellphone range. Using patent pending technology, the Dejero LIVE Platform improves live interview talkback – transmitting with as low as 1 second latency.
Toronto – Interactive Ontario has announced that award-winning kids content creators Peter and Paul Reynolds, co-founders of FableVision, will be keynote speakers at INplay 2010, a conference about the art and business of kids interactivity, taking place May 18 and 19 in Toronto, Canada.
Through their keynote presentation: Stories That Matter, Stories That Move, Peter and Paul Reynolds return to their birthplace (Weston/Toronto) to recount their creative journeys, which have now touched millions around the globe with their 200-year mission to use media, storytelling and technology to move the world to a better place.
"Clever, creative and inspiring, the dynamic duo of FableVision co-founders and brothers Paul and Peter Reynolds are a bull's eye for the INplay closing keynote," says Lisa Lyons, President, Kids Can Press and founding partner/steering committee member of INplay. " The company name is exactly what they deliver; great content in the form of stories/fables for kids of all ages and a grand vision of the many platforms they can live on, all with a view to bettering the world along the way."
Located at the Boston Children's Museum, the FableVision team enjoys an international reputation for its unique brand of innovative, technology-delivered storytelling and learning told through websites, digital games, animation, and books.
Joining Peter and Paul Reynolds as keynote speakers at INplay 2010 is Jon Berrett, executive producer and Christian Jacobs, co-creator, director and writer of the hit kids TV show, Yo Gabba Gabba
More speakers you'll meet at INplay 2010:
• James Jones, VP, Digital Media & Gaming, Hasbro, Inc.
• Scott Traylor, Chief Kid, 360KID
• Irene Weibel, VP International Co-Productions and Development at Corus Entertainment/Nelvana Studio
• Jacob Blackstock, CEO / Creative Designer / Lead Designer, Bitstrips Inc.
• Amar Varma, Co-Founder, Xtreme Labs
• Judy Perry, Research Manager, MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program
• Robert Ferrari, VP Global Publishing & Business Development, Sanrio Digital & Typhoon Games Studio
• David Kleeman, President, American Centre for Children and Media
This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 10:27 am and is filed under Associations, Awards, Books, Business News, Careers, Contests, Digital Products, Education, Events, Government, National News, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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text:
Scientists use frog stem cells to create 'living, programmable organisms'
Visions of the future have long featured robots and cyborgs. We've seen robots, and even rudimentary human augmentation already, but now scientists have created the world's first living robots.
American researchers used cells from African clawed frogs to build biological machines from the ground up. Built from different biological tissues, scientists have brought into being "living, programmable organisms" and potentially opened up an ethical can of worms.
Researchers Sam Kriegman, Douglas Blackiston, Michael Levin and Josh Bongard explain their work in a paper entitled "A scalable pipeline for designing reconfigurable organisms" published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They say they have been able to use a cell-based construction toolkit to build living systems that has been designed using evolutionary algorithms.
In short, a computer generates various configurations of cells which are then let loose in a virtual environment. The designs that perform best are taken to the next stage and constructed from a collection of cells. Michael Levin, the director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, says:
These are entirely new lifeforms. They have never before existed on Earth. They are living, programmable organisms.
To get an idea of what the team has been able to create, take a look at a video shared by the Guardian. It shows what have been named "xenobots", built by scientists at the University of Vermont and Tufts University:
The xenobots designs are made up of between 500 and 1,000 skin and heart cells, with the latter allowing for movement as the Guardian explains:
Because heart cells spontaneously contract and relax, they behave like miniature engines that drive the robots along until their energy reserves run out. The cells have enough fuel inside them for the robots to survive for a week to 10 days before keeling over.
Various practical usages for the xenobots have been proposed, including clearing human arteries, cleaning microplastics from the oceans and gathering radioactive waste.
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the team says:
The behavioral competence of individual cells, and the propensity of cells to cooperate in groups, facilitate functional morphogenesis in novel circumstances. The lifeforms presented here, despite lacking nervous systems, following novel developmental trajectories, and being composed of materials from different tissues, nevertheless possess these self-organizing properties. These properties synergize with and support the behavior they were designed to exhibit. For instance, although signaling between cardiomyocytes was not enforced, emergent spontaneous coordination among the cardiac muscle cells produced coherent, phase-matched contractions which aided locomotion in the physically realized designs. Also, some of the designs, when combined, spontaneously and collectively aggregate detritus littered within their shared environment.
Using living tissue is often controversial, and in future work scientists may move towards using mammalian cells to allow robots to exist outside of water. But questions will be raised. As Thomas Douglas, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, posits:
There are interesting ethical questions about the moral status of these xenobots. At what point would they become beings with interests that ought to be protected? I think they'd acquire moral significance only if they included neural tissue that enabled some kind of mental life, such as the ability to experience pain.
He adds: "But some are more liberal about moral status. They think that all living creatures have interests that should be given some moral consideration. For these people, difficult questions could arise about whether these xenobots should be classified as living creatures or machines".


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The Pauline Smith Scholarship is in honor of the Club's long-serving executive secretary and first woman member. Public service was always important to Pauline. With substantial input from Pauline the Club's Scholarship Committee began working with the University of North Florida on developing the Pauline Smith Scholarship. For a number of years the Pauline Smith Scholarship was given to the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation applicant nominated by UNF. Again with input from Pauline, we have expanded eligibility for the Pauline Smith Scholarship. Applicants for the Pauline Smith Scholarship must be full-time students attending UNF or Jacksonville University who have completed two years of college; majoring in political science, public administration, public policy, or the equivalent; have a minimum G.P.A. of 3.25, and be nominated by the UNF Department of Political Science and Public Administration or the JU Public Policy Institute.
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AMES, Iowa — When it comes to temperament, some kids are as dependable as pickup trucks, while others are as touchy as high-end sports cars. This month's Science of Parenting podcast from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach examines the "engine" that drives a child and how parents can manage spirited children.
Temperament describes what is "under the hood" of a child, said author and licensed parent educator Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, who has a doctorate of education and is director of Parentchildhelp.com.
During the 30-minute Science of Parenting podcast, program host Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology and extension specialist at Iowa State, "parent-on-the-street" Mike Murray and Kurcinka discuss how parents can help children understand their temperament and use these traits in a positive way.
The podcast is available for free download from the Science of Parenting website or can be subscribed to in iTunes.
"When we talk about temperament and the kids with the Lamborghini engines, these are the spirited kids. By nature they are 'more.' They're normal, but they're more intense, more persistent, more sensitive, more energetic than the average child," Kurcinka said.
Intensity, persistence and sensitivity are valued in adults, but spirited children need some help in learning to use these traits well. The first step is the parents' attitude toward the child, Kurcinka said. Parents can view a spirited child as a stubborn, hyper brat, or they can see that child as incredibly sensitive and passionate with amazing energy.
Spirited children can learn to manage their intensity and be assertive, yet respectful to parents and other people, Kurcinka said.
The Science of Parenting podcasts offer research-based parenting advice from experts across the country. The monthly podcasts are available for free download from the Science of Parenting website, or can be subscribed to in iTunes. Each month a new, 30-minute Science of Parenting program will be available, as well as previous podcasts and other research-based parenting information.
Through the Science of Parenting blog, blogs.extension.iastate.edu/scienceofparenting, ISU Extension and Outreach specialists share and discuss research-based information and resources to help parents rear their children. Parents can join in the conversation and share thoughts and experiences, as well as how they handle parenting responsibilities.
What's Your Child's Behavior Style?
Learn more about Science of Parenting co-hosts Douglas Gentile and Mike Murray.


Author: Ida B. Wells-Barnett Mia Bay Henry Louis Gates Jr.
In this collection, Wells s anti lynching crusade comes alive Through brilliant social analysis, she exposed lynching as part of a larger framework of subjugation in which white people used violence as a deliberate tactic to combat black economic progress in the southern USA Wells won international renown for her investigative journalism, leading her on lecture tours aroIn this collection, Wells s anti lynching crusade comes alive Through brilliant social analysis, she exposed lynching as part of a larger framework of subjugation in which white people used violence as a deliberate tactic to combat black economic progress in the southern USA Wells won international renown for her investigative journalism, leading her on lecture tours around the Northern States and Europe, where she rallied support against lynching.Wells established herself as an advocate for social justice and human dignity by combining irrefutable evidence with deeply personal emotional appeal.This volume is edited and introduced by Wells biographer Mia Bay.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett Mia Bay Henry Louis Gates Jr. 132 Ida B. Wells-Barnett Mia Bay Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Posted by:Ida B. Wells-Barnett Mia Bay Henry Louis Gates Jr.
This was my reading for Black History Month and I tried to shut up and listen because it's not my history. But I am gobsmacked that there has ever been, maybe still needs to be, anti-lynching activists. Lynching seems indefensible. The heart of the book is the fourth chapter, particular the section entitled Red Record. If the book gets a little repetitive or long for you, I recommend making sure you read that part.
It's gets a bit repetitive because of it is a series of her writings roughly on the same topic over years and she does recycle a bit of her material - but that doesn't diminish the impact and importance of what she was writing about. An important figure in the history of civil rights who deserves to be read even now.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett Mia Bay Henry Louis Gates Jr.


If you're a writer, and you want people to read your work, common advice is to build a platform. If you write nonfiction this includes other things–credentials and such–but for fiction writers, a good starting place is social media.
Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and blogging.
Learning how to maintain a healthy newsletter is imperative for authors. Newletters come with a formidable advantage over social media–they simply show up in readers' inboxes. Social media requires a reader to do something first–they have to go to Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook, and then remember to check out your posts. Far better if your missives simply appear, but when they do, they need to either inform or entertain.
Your personal author newsletter is important, but you'll also need to find new readers. One way you can do this is to either borrow or rent a space in someone else's newsletter.
Many newsletters will provide this service, with names you've probably heard of, like Freebooksy, BookBub, and BookBarbarian. Some will charge, and some will provide this service for free, but they all have one thing in common–for effective newsletter promotion, you'll need to mark your book down to cheap or free. Readers have no incentive to allow promotions into their already crowded inboxes unless they're getting a good deal. Full-price books usually do better with pay-per-click advertising.


text:
Pens News and Notes…
Here are a couple press releases that came across my desk over the last two days. Sorry for the delay in getting them out, but as you have all probably seen, I have been concert mode for the better part of 48 hours.
First it was Sir Paul McCartney on Wednesday evening as he opened the CONSOL Energy Center with a bang! Then it was Ozzy and friends out at the First Niagra Pavilion for the Ozzfest. We had tons of fun at both events…
You can see some pics and videos from each event on our official facebook page. I will be adding more later…
In the meantime here is are the releases that have come along. First of all, the Penguins usually pick a different group of their alumni to honor during each summer's Penguins Alumni Charity Golf Classic and this year it is the goalies. I am a bit surprised that Tom Barrasso isn't on the list, but when it comes to Tommy B, nothing should shock us…
Penguins Alumni Salute Team's All-Time Goaltenders
Former Coaches & Players Tee Off for Charity on August 24
PITTSBURGH – Twelve former Pittsburgh Penguins goaltenders will join local alumni members as featured guests at the 13th Annual Penguins Alumni Charity Golf Classic on Tuesday, August 24 at Valley Brook Country Club in McMurray, PA.
More than 30 former players, coaches and general managers will be on hand as the Penguins Alumni Association will pay tribute to goaltenders throughout the team's history. The event raises funds for local children's charities.
Former goaltenders traveling to Pittsburgh for the event include first-ever Penguins netminders Les Binkley (1967-72) and Joe Daley (1967-70), Michel Dion (1981-85), Steve Guenette (1986-89), Paul Harrison (1981-82), Denis Herron (1972-75; 1976-79; 1982-86), Gary Inness (1973-76), Nick Ricci (1979-83), Roberto Romano (1982-87; 1993-94) and Dunc "The Rebel" Wilson (1976-78). Gilles Meloche (1985-88) and Ken Wregget (1992-98) will also attend.
Proceeds from the event will benefit Achieva, the Mario Lemieux Foundation and the Western PA School for the Deaf. Over the past 12 years, the event has donated over $300,000 to charity.
"It will be a wonderful time for reminiscing with old teammates while assisting a variety of children's charities," stated Penguins Alumni Association President Warren Young. "The alumni membership looks forward to this event each year."
Each foursome will be accompanied by one Penguins alumnus as they compete in the scramble-style tournament for prizes. In addition to 18 holes of golf, the event includes a cocktail party, dinner and silent and live auctions.
Speaking of alumni, the team is bringing back a member of the alumni to fill a vacancy on the Wilkes Barre-Scranton coaching staff. Alain Nasreddine has been added to the staff as an assistant coach. It is great to see him come back to the organization, as he was always a great help with the youngsters while he was here. I still have a bit of a foul taste about the way his time here ended. He left the line-up to be with his wife during the birth of one of their children and never got his job back… I guess that is life in the big NHL city…
Here is the release…
PENGUINS NAME ALAIN NASREDDINE ASSISTANT COACH
WITH WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON
The Pittsburgh Penguins have named Alain Nasreddine assistant coach with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.
Nasreddine, who played 15 years of professional hockey as a defenseman – which includes five seasons with the Penguins organization, will be making his coaching debut this season.
Nasreddine, 35, played for the Penguins organization from 2003-04 to the 2007-08 season. During that time he suited up in 56 games for Pittsburgh, notching five points (1G-4A).
Nasreddine played in 249 contests for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, totaling 55 points on 13 goals and 42 assists. He added seven points (3G-4A) in 57 postseason games, and helped the team earn two berths in the Calder Cup Final in 2003 and 2007.
Nasreddine, who was originally drafted by Florida in the sixth round (135th overall) of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, played for four NHL teams in his career – Chicago, Montreal, NY Islanders and Pittsburgh – and posted five points (1G-4A) and 84 penalty minutes in 74 games.
The Montreal, Quebec native also saw action in 850 combined games with Carolina, Portland, Fredericton, Quebec, Hamilton and Bridgeport of the AHL and Indianapolis of the International Hockey League. He played the last two seasons with Nuermberg of the German Elite League.
Nasreddine played four years of junior hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with Drummondville and Chicoutimi.
Also, for all of those who got up in arms over the fact that Sir Paul McCartney was sporting a "winged wheel" on his guitar on Wednesday evening…well, he rectified the situation last night…
Tagged: alain nasreddineconsol energy centerles binkleypaul mccartneyPenguinstom barrassowilkes barre-scranton penguins
1 Comment on this Post
I would have been shocked if Tommy B. was going to be there! 🙂
If I was the commissioner for one day…
Penguins Sign Forward Arron Asham


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By admin June 15, 2015 02:29
"With Tiger's dismal showing in the first round of the 2015 US Open yesterday and an anticipated disaster by him in the 2nd round, the once totally dominant figure in golf is dissipating into a "Death of a Salesman" role where you feel sorry for him as a golfer rather than idolize him." — Johnston Rhoades
"Woods Is Now A One-Man Soap Opera"
FORE — NOTABLE QUOTES
"Nobody ever wins the National Open.
Somebody else loses it."
—Bobby Jones [editor's note: Now known as the U.S. Open. Jones' axiom will be tested this month in Washington, June 15-21, at the 115th U.S. Open at Chamber's Bay.]
"I used to map out every step of my life,
and that's where a lot of my trouble came.
I used to say, 'By 18, I want to do this,
and by 20 I want to do that.'
That's not how it works.
Life never happens the way you plan."
—Michelle Wie, defending U.S. Women's Open champion and youngest player to make the cut in an LPGA tournament (2003 Kraft Nabisco Championship) at the age of 13 years, 5 months, 17 days, in GOLF magazine, June 2015.
'He might still be Mario Andretti,' said one swing coach,
'but he's not driving a Ferrari anymore."
—Writer Jim McCabe in GolfWeek, Feb. 2015.
2015 U.S. Open Odds for this coming week's championship
PLAYER ODDS
Rory McIlroy 7/1
Jordan Spieth 17/2
Tiger Woods 15/1
Phil Mickelson 25/1
Rickie Fowler 28/1
Ian Poulter 85/1
Ernie Els 125/1
Steve Sticker 150/1
Bradley Neil 2000/1
Gunn Yang 2000/1
—VegasINSIDER.com, as of 5-17-15, gambling odds
of selected players to win this month's U.S. Open at Chambers Bay
"He keeps me young."
—Butch Harmon, 70, referring to his student Rickie Fowler, 26,
winner of this year's Players Championship and first place money $1.8 million.
"The lighter your grip at the top of the backswing,
the greater the muscles in the arms stretch
and the farther and faster they can contract; thus,
you do have more zip [and power] in your swing at impact."
—John Zumerchik in NEWTON ON THE TEE: A Good Walk Through the Science of Golf.
"DJ's glassy-eyed avoidance look — that's gone,"
said one acquaintance. "He's way more present.
It's like he's a different person."
—Jaime Diaz, referencing Dustin Johnson's phenomenal come back on the PGA Tour after experiencing mental and physical exhaustion, in GolfDigest, June 2015.


In the middle of the night, two people are digging the grave of Yeon Woo. Yeon Woo who is trembling in fear inside the coffin appears on the world again with the help of the two people, but she has lost all the memories.
Nok Young explains to Yeon Woo who is in confusing state for not knowing who she is, that she was fainted during the divination rite to become a medium for inviting the spirit, and the shock that she suffered resulted in the losing of her memory.
Yoon Bo Kyung ascends the empty seat of cronw princes on behalf of Yeon Woo, and Yoon Dae Hyung clique fosters their ambition through her.
In the meantime, crown prince Lee Hwo who is more and more indifferent, just like the his heart that is getting more and more missing on Yeon Woo, has become an adult. Due to the mischief done by consort clan in and out of the palace, the situation of imperial court affairs become increasingly difficult.


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WWE officially taking ThunderDome to Yuengling Center
Mar 24, 2021 - by Marc Middleton
The WWE ThunderDome is headed to the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida.
WWE officially announced today that their new ThunderDome residency at the Yuengling Center will begin with the post-WrestleMania 37 edition of RAW on the USA Network, on Monday, April 12.
"WWE takes great pride in providing our fans and network partners with cutting-edge production and one of the most interactive atmospheres in all of television every single week," said Kevin Dunn, WWE Executive Producer & Chief, Global Television Production. "We look forward to the next iteration of the WWE ThunderDome at Yuengling Center as we continue to take the fan experience to a whole new level."
It was noted that more than 650,000 fans have registered for WWE ThunderDome crowds since last August.
WWE confirmed that they will continue to run closed-set tapings at the Yuengling Center, with COVID-19 protocols in place for talent, crew and employees.
There is no word yet on how long the Yuengling Center residency will run for. WWE's first ThunderDome residency was at the Amway Center in Orlando, which began last August. They then moved to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on December 11. The Yuengling Center will be the third ThunderDome venue of the COVID-19 era.
The Yuengling Center sits on the University of South Florida campus in Tampa, and was once known as the University of South Florida Sun Dome. The venue has a capacity of 10,411 when there are no COVID-19 protocols in place. The University of South Florida currently has three teams that call the Yuengling Center home – the South Florida Bulls men's basketball team, the South Florida Bulls women's basketball team, and the South Florida Bulls women's volleyball team. The teams are not currently playing due to the pandemic, so games will not be a problem for WWE.
WWE ran the Yuengling Center many years ago before there were bigger options in the area. The 1995 Royal Rumble pay-per-view was held in the arena, along with Saturday Night's Main Event in December 1985 and SNME in December 1988. WWE would have a short move from Tropicana Field to the Yuengling Center as the drive is around 30 minutes. It's been reported that WWE wanted to keep the ThunderDome in or near the Tampa area.
WWE will wrap their residency at Tropicana Field with upcoming tapings going into WrestleMania 37 Week. You can click here for details on their final events at Tropicana Field.
Stay tuned for more on WWE ThunderDome at the Yuengling Center. Below is the full announcement from WWE issued to us today:
WWE® THUNDERDOME™ TAKES OVER YUENGLING CENTER
STAMFORD, Conn., March 24, 2021 –WWE® (NYSE: WWE) will bring its world-class viewing experience, WWE ThunderDome, to Yuengling Center as it remains in Tampa with a new residency starting with Monday Night Raw® on April 12 at 8 pm ET on USA Network.
The move to Yuengling Center continues WWE's longstanding relationship with the state of Florida and marks the next phase of WWE ThunderDome, which launched to critical acclaim last August at Amway Center in Orlando and has continued over the past four months at Tropicana Field in Tampa. Yuengling Center sits on the campus of one of Florida's largest universities, the University of South Florida.
Featuring a state-of-the-art set, video boards, pyrotechnics, lasers, cutting-edge graphics and drone cameras, WWE ThunderDome provides an immersive viewing atmosphere and virtually brings thousands of fans into the arena via live video, in conjunction with The Famous Group and its proprietary technology, for every Monday Night Raw, Friday Night SmackDown® and WWE pay-per-view event. WWE ThunderDome received top honors at last year's Sportel Awards for Best Virtual Fan Experience.
"WWE has always been a highlight of our event mix and bringing this world-class residency to Yuengling Center only strengthens our relationship," said Kevin Preast, Executive Vice President of Event Management at Vinik Sports Group. "Hosting WWE ThunderDome is another step towards a full return of hosting more events in the area."
To date, more than 650,000 fans from around the world have registered to be part of WWE ThunderDome. Fans can register for their virtual seat to be part of upcoming WWE shows via www.WWEThunderDome.com or at WWE's Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages.
Raw, SmackDown and pay-per-view programming will be produced at Yuengling Center on closed sets with only essential personnel in attendance. WWE will continue to administer its health and safety protocols for talent, crew and employees in conjunction with each production, including PCR testing for COVID-19, social distancing and wearing masks.
ROH Issues Final Statement After Investigating Bully Ray Over Portland Fan Incident
Injured Impact star cleared to return to action
Damien Sandow Comments on Fan Reactions to His New "Macho Mandow" Gimmick
Update on the WWE IC Title Belt, Jack Swagger Wants Hulk Hogan Match, WWE Experience, Tyler Reks
The matches originally scheduled for NXT TakeOver will air on NXT


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Apartment, max 4 persons, Budapest Distance to the centre of town 4.9 km
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Welcome to my stop on the Anomaly blog tour hosted by YA Bound Book Tours.
Emma McGee (EM), Krista's 14-year-old daughter (KM), interviews Berk (B) – the seventeen-year-old Scientist-in-Training from Anomaly.
EM: Wow, you are seriously cute.
EM: No, I mean, like really cute. So much cuter than the boys in my school.
B: I am not really sure what to say in response to that.
EM: You even talk cute. That's so cute!
Krista McGee (KM): Emma, stop flirting and start interviewing.
EM: Fine, but technically, Mom, he isn't real, so it isn't flirting. Right, Berk?
EM: What kind of name is Berk, anyway?
B: It's short for berkelium.
EM: Well, thanks, that clears it right up.
EM: That was sarcasm. What in the world is berkelium?
B: It's an element on the period table of elements.
EM: Of course it is. So you're named after an element.
B: We all are. Thalli, for instance, is short for thallium.
EM: Oh, yeah. You kind of have a thing for Thalli, right?
B: I enjoy her company, yes.
EM: You know, Mom wrote Thalli to look just like me. So if you like Thalli, then it would only be logical that you'd like me. Right?
B: I have not seen Thalli for five years.
B: I left Pod C when I was twelve so I could study with the Scientists.
EM: Cute and smart. Do you like Taylor Swift?
EM: Fine. Sorry. I just really wish you weren't fictional. Really, really wish. But whatever. All right, so…you're studying with the Scientists?
B: Because I will one day take over.
EM: Because Scientists rule your world.
B: Yes, they are known as The Ten and they maintain peace and order in the State.
EM: So what do you do all day?
B: Every day is different. Right now, for instance, I am studying with Dr. Spires, learning about the water filtration system.
B: I'm afraid you are using terms I am unfamiliar with.
EM: Forget it. So what do you do for fun…or, uh, for not-work?
B: When I am not working, I am resting. Productivity is paramount in the State.
EM: You work and sleep? That's it??
B: What else is there?
EM: Oh my goodness. My mother has sucked the joy out of life. What are you thinking, Mom? This poor boy needs to go out. Now.
KM: Emma, it's a book.
EM: Where your main guy works and sleeps and has never heard of sarcasm?
KM: Thus the genre, dystopian – meaning dysfunctional world.
EM: Dysfunctional is right. He doesn't even know who Taylor Swift is! Just let me take out. He can go to the mall with my friends. Hannah, Nicole and I can totally introduce him to fun. And sarcasm. And Taylor Swift.
KM: I knew this was a bad idea. I apologize, Berk. Go ahead back to work. Best of luck learning to run the world.
B: Thank you. Good bye, Emma.
EM: The mall, Mom? Just for a few hours? Pleeease?
KM: This interview is over.
I came across this tour the other day and the more I read about Anomaly the more I want to read it. Thank you for the fun character interview, I am looking forward to more.
Don't forget to enter the tour giveaway. Krista McGee is giving away 5 print copies of Anomaly!!


Have you ever rushed through your day only to realise there was actually no real hurry?
Have you ever worried about what you'd said to a friend only to discover they'd never given it another thought?
Have you ever built yourself up into a stressful frenzy only to find that everything worked out perfectly and far better than you'd hoped?
You're working to self-imposed deadlines. The immediacy of social media and the Internet can make the rest of your life feel much more urgent than it is. This 'switched on' speed can quickly creep into our everyday lives and make us feel like someone's chasing us to the deadline of dinner (or later!), even on days when we're just not that busy. (You can read up on this in Crazy busy and Rushing woman's syndrome.) I was recently shocked to realise that only two of the 12 things on my 'to do' list actually had a real deadline attached to them (that is, I had to get something done by a certain time for someone else). The rest I was tackling with the same mad energy simply because my rushing has become habit.
I'm now trying this trick: Every morning (even if it's quickly in my head while I get ready), I look at my day and divide my tasks into THE REAL and THE REST. I look at only THE REAL (they're the must-do so my day works: drop off kids, go to meeting, collect kids, book tickets, for example). Then, once they're done or locked in, I can think about THE REST (the non-urgent: send those texts, clean out the cupboard, fold the washing, ring that friend …). There's something freeing about looking at only your biggest priorities and temporarily pushing aside the rest. Or getting your hardest stuff out the way before the better bits. Success expert Brian Tracy calls this 'eating the frog'! It can make a big difference to your stress and productivity.
"Buddha described the human mind as being filled with drunken monkeys, jumping around, screeching, chattering, carrying on endlessly. We all have monkey minds, Buddha said, with dozens of monkeys all clamoring for attention. Fear is an especially loud monkey, sounding the alarm incessantly, pointing out all the things we should be wary of and everything that could go wrong. Buddha showed his students how to meditate in order to tame the drunken monkeys in their minds. It's useless to fight with the monkeys or to try to banish them from your mind because, as we all know, that which you resist persists. Instead, Buddha said, if you will spend some time each day in quiet meditation — simply calm your mind by focusing on your breathing or a simple mantra — you can, over time, tame the monkeys.
BJ Gallagher also suggests engaging your monkey mind in calm conversation to quieten it down. And it's true. Lately, when I've felt wrung out, I've tried talking quietly to myself for as long as I can, just gently reminding myself that all is not lost and everything will be OK … I use soothing words, like those you'd speak to a child. It calms those crazy monkeys, for sure.
You're losing yourself in information. Hands up if your bedside tables or bookshelves are groaning with books and articles you've started and not finished, or bought and hoped to find time to read? Hands up if your Internet browser has so many windows open you can't even see which web sites are pleading you to peruse them! Instant and constant access to information can lead us down a rabbit hole of unread books and unattended articles. It's crazy-making when it gets out of control.
I now try to leave out only the book I'm reading and put the rest out of sight. And I really question whether the web site or article is actually worth reading before I leave it open in my browser. The same goes for e-courses and other online resources. Do I really need it? Will it really help me? Is it just another shiny solution to a problem I'm not even sure I have? The stress of a mounting reading or resource list ("I must get back to that!") can be just as draining as a real 'to do' list, and can leave us focusing only on what we think we need to 'fix'.
Connie suggests self-connection, presence, appreciation, acceptance, and inner awareness are the antidotes to this empty external searching. Going within to find your answers is a big topic—and arguably the holy grail of calm—so it's well worth thinking about for yourself.
You're missing the best bits. It's easy to get your needle stuck on the old record of everything that's wrong with you and your world. But focusing on the negative can mean you miss the positive. Focusing on the darkness can mean you miss the light within yourself and your life. Gratitude is a powerful way to wake up to everything that's working in your life, and running through a quick list of everything you're deeply grateful for (even the smallest thing) can quickly flip your mood from dark to light. Writing a nightly list of everything you're happy about is a good habit. It might feel odd at first, but it can certainly make you more joyful. Finally, surrendering and trusting that all will be well and that everything will work out how it's meant to, can also be powerfully peaceful (and fits nicely with the last point below).
There is an invisible energy force or field of infinite possibilities (commonly called the 'universe'.).
We are all part of this energy field. We are all connected to everything and everyone else in the universe.
We all impact the field and draw from it according to our beliefs and expectations. Whatever we focus on expands (appears).
The field gives us accurate and unlimited guidance.
Nothing is absolute. Only our thinking makes it so.
Feeling love for ourselves and everyone else brings us into alignment with the universe, from where we can clearly ask for what we want and it will come to us as 'ordered'.
These are just six ways we might be creating our own chaos. Can you add to this list?
Such a great point here, Natalie!! I love your posts because they always have so much information and research in them.
Now I realise that I don't have time to NOT do it!


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Color information hex 13748a: RGB percentage, decimal and hexa, CMYK, HSL proportion, color gradient, tints, shades, tons, palettes color and other inspirations!
The color hexa 13748a is equivalent in RGB decimal 19, 116, 138 is 19 of red, 116 of green and 138 of blue. It can also be represented by the HSL (hue, saturation and lightness) parameters, which are 0.531 of hue (53), 0.758 of saturation (75) and 0.308 of lightness (30).