text:
Copyright: What Are the Proper Terms for the Debate?
by Eric Flint | Jun 9, 2021 | Salvos Against Big Brother
Originally published in Jim Baen's Universe, Vol 1 Num 2, August 2006
I want to continue my discussion of copyright, which I began in last issue's column, before turning my attention to the issue of so-called "Digital Rights Management" itself. The reason I want to do so is because what lies at the heart of DRM is one set of answers to a few simple questions:
1) What sort of protection do authors require, to make sure that they can and will keep engaging in their labor?
2) Why do they need a particular sort of protection, as opposed to another?
3) For how long do they need it?
I'll address the first two of these questions in this column, and the third one in the next.
Let's start with the first one, whose answer is obvious. If you don't figure out a way to pay people to do labor such as writing fiction, one of two things will happen:
a) Some potential writers won't do it at all.
b) Most will, simply because they feel a personal urge to do so. But, because they can't make a living as authors, they will—certainly on average—never get all that good at it.
The second point, by the way, is much more important than the first. The number of people who set out to become writers for the purpose of making money is miniscule, and always has been. To be blunt, only a moron would take up being an author as a way to make a living, much less a good living. As careers go, for all but a tiny percentage, it is either impossible altogether except as a part-time occupation, or pays dismally and erratically even if you can manage to do it full-time.
I know a lot of authors, and I'm an author myself. I do not know a single one who set out to be an author because they thought it was a smart way to make money. Even some money, not to mention enough to live on. As far as that goes, setting out to be a professional author is one of worst careers you could choose.
Instead, they set out to write because they wanted to write, period. Getting paid was more important to them as a mark of success in terms of reaching an audience, than for the money itself—at least initially.
This fact has led some people to the conclusion that paying authors is unnecessary at all. This silly notion is particularly cherished by the "information wanna be fwee" crowd of pseudo-libertarians. "Good writing," they argue, "is driven from the heart." Grubby stuff like paying authors money simply prostitutes the noble art itself. (This is invariably their justification for engaging in willful and flagrant violations of copyright.)
Leaving aside issues of simple fairness, the notion is silly for what ought to be the most obvious reason of all. Whatever else it may be—call it "sublime literature" or anything downwind of that—writing is first of all a craft. A particularly difficult craft to learn, at that, as anyone who sets out to write learns very quickly.
Writing is like acting. Every literate person can write, just as any person—literate or not—can act. It does not thereby follow that they can do it well. That's a different kettle of fish entirely. Almost everybody has a cousin or whatever who can provide fairly good family entertainment at barbeques with their jokes or voice impersonations or antics. That doesn't mean they could make a living as a stand-up comic.
Doing something well requires two things. First, it requires an aptitude—or talent, if you prefer—for a particular sort of work or activity. Secondly, it requires practice.
This fact, so obvious to everyone with regard to almost anything else, often gets ignored when it comes to writing. It's amazing to me how many people have the screwiest ideas about writing. They seem to think that a person just sits down one day and, effortlessly, starts churning out good prose.
Well . . . yes, there have been a few individuals here and there who seem to have managed that feat. But "few" is the right word. The most common pattern, by far, is that it takes a person long hours—years, more often than not—before they learn how to write well enough that many other people want to read what they've written.
There's an old saw in science fiction—I've forgotten who first came up with it—that says you have to write a million words of crap before you write anything worth reading. That's a bit of an exaggeration, in my opinion. At least for me. I've gone back through my personal history and added it all up, and I can now strut around and say very proudly that I managed to start writing pretty good stuff after writing only (by my best count) about 400,000 words of crap.
But whether it's a quarter million or half a million or a million words of crap, there are almost no writers who've managed to start writing well without a lot of practice, false starts, and a learning experience. Nor does that end once they start getting published. Almost all writers continue to improve with practice, for a period of many years after they start getting published.
In short, in writing as in every other field of human endeavor, professionals are—on average, understanding that there are always some exceptions—better than amateurs.
Yes, yes, yes, there are always some exceptions. In any field of work, there are a few amateurs who are better than most professionals. To give one example, every year there are a few graduating amateur college athletes whom everyone knows are already better in their sport than most professionals—which is precisely why they get offered big contracts to "turn pro." But even then, every such extremely gifted amateur has to go through a sharp and steep learning curve before they really perform as a top professional athlete. And many never manage to make the transition at all.
And they're only individual exceptions to the rule, anyway, they're not the rule itself.
The rule is simple:
Put the best college football team on the field against any professional football team, and the pros will win at least nine times out of ten.
The same goes for writers.
If you don't believe me, when it comes to writing, take a look—your choice—at either the list of Nobel Prize winners for literature or any bestseller list. You will quickly discover that well over 90% of the authors on any such list are professional writers, not amateurs. And, if they do have a "principal" occupation other than being an author, it's usually one that is either closely connected to writing or, one way or another, allows them a great deal of time to work as a writer.
In his speeches on copyright—from which I will be quoting throughout these essays—Macaulay put it this way:
You cannot depend for literary instruction and amusement on the leisure of men occupied in the pursuits of active life. Such men may occasionally produce compositions of great merit. But you must not look to such men for works which require deep meditation and long research. Works of that kind you can expect only from persons who make literature the business of their lives. Of these persons few will be found among the rich and the noble. The rich and the noble are not impelled to intellectual exertion by necessity. They may be impelled to intellectual exertion by the desire of distinguishing themselves, or by the desire of benefiting the community. But it is generally within these walls that they seek to signalise themselves and to serve their fellow-creatures. Both their ambition and their public spirit, in a country like this, naturally take a political turn. It is then on men whose profession is literature, and whose private means are not ample, that you must rely for a supply of valuable books. Such men must be remunerated for their literary labour. And there are only two ways in which they can be remunerated. One of those ways is patronage; the other is copyright.
From there, Macaulay goes on to discuss the advantages of copyright over patronage. I will deal with that issue in a moment. But, for now, let me stick to the point at hand.
Which is simple: The fundamental purpose of copyright is not to pay authors. It is to make sure that society gets as many good books written as possible. Or, to put it another way, paying authors is a means to an end, not the end itself.
Immediately, some authors will raise an objection. "I work like anyone else, dammit. So I should get paid!"
Well, of course. But why should you get paid by copyright? Any form of labor should be renumerated, to be sure, or you have slavery. But work-for-hire (as the practice is called in publishing) takes care of that obligation just fine.
For those of you who are not writers and are wondering what "work-for-hire" means, it means exactly what most of you do for a living. You go to work every day, for which you get paid (as a rule) a sum of money determined by the length of time you work, adjusted for whatever level of skill you bring to the labor.
Why should writers get paid any differently? Why, to put it another way, should a writer be entitled to a share of the money earned by his or her product, when a waitress or a truck driver or an accountant or a steel worker is not?
When I was a machinist, I was paid by the hour. Let us say, for example, that I made a shaft to be used in a machine making parts for automobiles. I got paid for the work I did. But I did not get "royalties" which constituted a share of the sales eventually earned by the auto manufacturer because they used my shaft (among a multitude of other parts) to make their product.
So why should writers get royalties?
Well, there's an answer, but it's a bit complicated. First of all, it's because intellectual labor that can be easily reproduced poses a particular set of problems for remunerating the creator. Writers cannot, as painters and sculptors typically do, sell their actual product. A sculptor will spend weeks or months on a particular piece of art, and then sell that individual work to an individual customer. Once the sale is made, the piece of art is owned by the customer, not the sculptor—and, sure enough, sculptors do not get royalties.
But an artist can do that because the concrete, material object he or she produced has a value of its own. A piece of text, such as a novel manuscript, has no such value. (I leave aside the small collectors' market, which couldn't possibly support most writers—and wouldn't exist anyway, if books weren't published.)
The value of text is in the ability to reproduce it many times over for a large audience. But that same ability to be easily reproduced creates the problem. In a nutshell, if a "legitimate" publisher can reproduce the text, so can (theoretically, at least) anyone else.
Which, in fact, was exactly the situation in the English-speaking world prior to the institution of copyright. (I'm using the history of the English-speaking world with regard to copyright because I'm most familiar with it. But you could find a similar historical pattern anywhere.) Plays produced by Shakespeare or Ben Jonson could be produced by anyone who wanted to. The authors got their money—which was damn little—by selling the manuscript to a producer and then letting the producers fight it out over which one could put on the most popular performance.
That worked . . . badly, but well enough, so long as most literature took the form of plays and there was not yet a very well-developed publishing and distribution industry. The cost of putting on a play was and is very high, and the cost of obtaining the manuscript was a small part of it. That entry-level cost eliminated most potential chiselers.
As for poetry and other forms of literature, they were either produced by the author at his or her own expense, or paid for by a patron.
The first real copyright law in the English-speaking world was the so-called Statute of Anne, adopted by the British Parliament in 1709. That statute—which didn't actually take effect until 1710—vested authors with a legal monopoly of the work for a period of 14 years after it was copyrighted.
Why were authors given the monopoly instead of publishers? The reason is simple: somebody has to have the copyright, or society has no option except to rely on patronage. The problem with using work-for-hire as the basis for paying authors is that it won't work unless publishers have the ability to establish copyright—or you simply push the problem back a step. And, that being so, the British parliament (very correctly, in my opinion) decided that it was fairest to give the monopoly to the ultimate producer rather than to a middleman.
What's necessary to understand, however, is that at every step of the way the basic consideration was society's interest. In the absence of any over-riding social imperatives, authors and publishers have no more "right" to a legal monopoly than anyone else does. To put it another way, copyright does not exist simply to enable authors to make a living—which could and can be done several other ways—but to make a living in a way which is most beneficial to the society as a whole.
You can't ever lose sight of that framework.
The value of copyright, as Macaulay put it very well, is that while it is an evil, it is less evil than any of the alternatives. The only real alternative is patronage—public or private—and those have well-known drawbacks. Almost any form of patronage runs at least the risk that whoever the patron is—public or private—it will be the patron who determines what does and does not get produced. The advantage to copyright is that, at least potentially, it gives the author the ability to find his or her own market for the work.
Mind you, patronage continues to exist in publishing, and always has—a lot of it, in fact. To give some examples:
All publications by the government are paid for by the patronage (ultimately) of the taxpayer. That's why, with the exception of some material, usually classified for security reasons—whether properly or improperly, but that's a separate political issue I won't deal with here—everything published by the U.S. government printing office is automatically in the public domain.
A great deal of scholarly publications are paid for by patronage—or, at least, most of the cost is borne by patrons. To give a common example, university researchers who publish a book typically retain copyright and earn some money from the book. But, with a very few exceptions, they couldn't possibly afford to do the needed research and writing on the actual proceeds of the sales of the book. The real cost of the book is borne by the university, which pays them a salary to engage in research and writing.
To give yet another example, a great deal of political writing is paid for by patronage. That's especially true for writing which advance opinions or proposals that are outside the accepted mainstream.
There's nothing wrong with patronage, as such—as long as you don't let it take over the whole show. You need copyright, among other things, as a constant check against patronage getting too restricted.
All right, let me recapitulate. So far, I've addressed the first two of the three questions I posed at the beginning of this essay:
That leaves the third question, which is the critical one for the rest of what I'll be discussing in this essay:
I'll discuss the details involved in this question in my next essay. But for now, briefly, there are two answers to this question:
First, authors need to have enough protection to enable them to be able to make a living as full-time writers.
Second, that protection has to be long enough to provide them with a motivation to write for the public, and see doing so as a possible profession.
But that's it. Those are the only two legitimate concerns. Any term of copyright which exceeds that minimum necessary length, as Macaulay put it in the quote I cited in my last column, has no legitimate purpose. Once you cross that line, a necessary evil has simply become an evil—and the farther past that line you go, the more evil it gets.
At the onset of what I will call the "copyright era," which began in 1709 and has now lasted almost three centuries, the term of copyright was set at fourteen years. The newly-formed United States, in 1790, adopted in its first copyright law a modification of that, which allowed for copyright to be extended an additional fourteen years if the author chose to renew it. In 1831, Congress revised the law to allow for an initial copyright term of twenty-eight years, with the possibility of another fourteen years if the author chose to renew—i.e., they made copyright last for a possible total of forty-two years.
For reasons I will argue in my next column, Congress got it . . . pretty close to right at that point. Not quite, because the extension provisions create unnecessary complications and a provision needs to be added that ties copyright to the life of the author, or you get into a different kind of problem. My own position is basically that advanced by Macaulay in his 1841 speeches—a flat 42-year period of copyright (I'd simplify it and make that just forty years), with the provision that so long as the author is alive he or she retains copyright.
But that's for the next column. What I wanted to do in this essay is establish the basic parameters of the problem. That's critical because of the well-known old saw about debates:
Whoever sets the terms of the debate automatically wins the debate.
The reason the parameters are critical is because what has been happening in modern society is that the terms of the debate have been steadily (and stealthily, to call things by their right name) shifted back to the terms which the "perpetual natural right" theorists tried to advance in the middle of the 19th century to undermine copyright law.
One hundred and fifty years ago, men such as Macaulay in Britain and Justice McLean of the U.S Supreme Court, torpedoed that attempt.
I've already introduced you to Macaulay. I'll end this essay by giving Justice McLean his well-deserved credit. Here is a quote from his majority decision in the case of Wheaton vs. Peters, in which Wheaton advanced the argument that authors were entitled to perpetual property rights in their work:
"…since the statute of 8 Anne, the literary property of an author in his works can only be asserted under the statute. . . . That an author, at common law, has a property in his manuscript, and may obtain redress against any one who deprives him of it, or by improperly obtaining a copy endeavours to realise a profit by its publication cannot be doubted; but this is a very different right from that which asserts a perpetual and exclusive property in the future publication of the work, after the author shall have published it to the world."
Always remembers that the terms of a debate are what's critical. Copyright is about the needs of society, not about abstractions concerning "property" as such.
As before, I'll end this essay by urging everyone to read Macaulay's speeches. You can find them in this issue of Universe: a direct link to that article is available.
Look, folks, you may as well just bite the bullet and read the damn things. Because before I'm done, I will have quoted just about every word in them anyway. I told you at the beginning: There is nothing involved in the current disputes over copyright that Macaulay didn't answer a century and a half ago.
If I wanted to be philosophically pretentious, I'd close by citing Santayana's famous saw that those who remain ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. But having cleverly cited the old saw with that disclaimer, I can put it more simply still:
For Pete's sake, how many times do you insist on re-inventing the wheel?


Breaching the boundaries in a juxtaposition of typography, art, and science, Oded Ezer writes his own rules as an experimentalist with works of letters transformed into bizarre, zany, and mesmerizing shapes and designs from insects to cloned human sperm cells injected with typographic information into its DNA.
Working from his studio in Israel, Oded doesn't consider himself as a scientist or an artist, merely a typographer who attempts to explore new fields as a pioneer for typography in a similar manner as Graffiti and Street Artists are carving their way to be deemed as a true and mainstream form of art and communication, with the world at large as an audience.
Oded became thoroughly keyed-up with Typoplastic Surgeries for its possibilities, and literally began attaching letters to his own body and face.
Self portrait with an 'Alef' – early sketches for "The Typographer's Guide to the Galaxy" poster.
"The connection is between the letters to the face, kind of an evolution of both. I began the process in a graphical manner, but then I tried to implement it physically. So this augmentation, deformation of the body, the revelation of its typographical perspective is what turns me on." said Oded, in an interview with Eyal Fried.
Using biotechnological methods (think in the likes of Victor Frankenstein), Oded creates a form of new transgenic living creatures which are half-human sperm and half-letter by implanting typographic information into the DNA of cloned sperm cells.


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package org.apache.ignite.internal.processors.query.h2.twostep.messages;

import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
import org.apache.ignite.internal.util.typedef.internal.S;
import org.apache.ignite.plugin.extensions.communication.Message;
import org.apache.ignite.plugin.extensions.communication.MessageReader;
import org.apache.ignite.plugin.extensions.communication.MessageWriter;

/**
 * Cancel request.
 */
public class GridQueryCancelRequest implements Message {
    /** */
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 0L;

    /** */
    private long qryReqId;

    /**
     * Default constructor.
     */
    public GridQueryCancelRequest() {
        // No-op.
    }

    /**
     * @param qryReqId Query request ID.
     */
    public GridQueryCancelRequest(long qryReqId) {
        this.qryReqId = qryReqId;
    }

    /**
     * @return Query request ID.
     */
    public long queryRequestId() {
        return qryReqId;
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override public String toString() {
        return S.toString(GridQueryCancelRequest.class, this);
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override public boolean writeTo(ByteBuffer buf, MessageWriter writer) {
        writer.setBuffer(buf);

        if (!writer.isHeaderWritten()) {
            if (!writer.writeHeader(directType(), fieldsCount()))
                return false;

            writer.onHeaderWritten();
        }

        switch (writer.state()) {
            case 0:
                if (!writer.writeLong("qryReqId", qryReqId))
                    return false;

                writer.incrementState();

        }

        return true;
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override public boolean readFrom(ByteBuffer buf, MessageReader reader) {
        reader.setBuffer(buf);

        if (!reader.beforeMessageRead())
            return false;

        switch (reader.state()) {
            case 0:
                qryReqId = reader.readLong("qryReqId");

                if (!reader.isLastRead())
                    return false;

                reader.incrementState();

        }

        return reader.afterMessageRead(GridQueryCancelRequest.class);
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override public byte directType() {
        return 106;
    }

    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override public byte fieldsCount() {
        return 1;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Under the deal you can get a two-course lunch for $26 and a three-course meal for $42 at some of the city's best known eateries.
There's still time to enjoy New York City Restaurant Week. The semiannual event, which has been going on since July 23, lasts until Aug. 17.
Under the deal you can get a two-course lunch for $26 and a three-course meal for $42.
CELEBRITY CHEF: Will Christian Petroni be the next Food Network Star?
Many of the city's best known restaurants participate; among them at the Capital Grille, Il Mulino New York, Bar Boulud, '21' Club, Michael Jordan's Steakhouse, ABC Kitchen and Atlantic Grill at Lincoln Center. There are also lots of smaller, neighborhood hotspots to explore as well. The list can be searched by cuisine, price, and location. Reservations are highly recommended.
The full list can be found at nycgo.com/restaurant-week.
If you go, post an instagram of your meal and tag us, @lohud_food.


Have you ever imagines street lights offering mobile networks? Wouldn't it be great when the street lights give away high speed internet access? Well, that is what is planned by energy giant Phillips and Ericsson, who collaborate to bring forth 4G networks through the common lights on the street. This step would enhance mobile coverage in Europe like never before.
The idea is to develop LED emitting Philips lightpole site slim integrated with tiny cells and antenna that offer mobile connectivity in the surrounding places. The compact poles with LEDs placed at various places on the pole create diverse illuminating patterns are already being installed in Barcelona prior to the Mobile World Congress. Mobile operators can offer rent for their places on the pole and the cost of operations would be much reduced when compared to the method they are using now.
This is an amazing innovation which suffices the necessity of having mobile networks in the vicinity. Soon, we can expect to launch of such street light embedded networks in the UK. Both Phillips and Ericsson had announced at Mobile World Congress 2014 to jointly sort out the coverage and sustainability issues and in two years they have come up with this smart LED light poles.
We can wait for the launch of these lights in the UK in order to enjoy the best network facilities. With such brilliant innovations, the UK, which is considered low in offering internet connectivity can certainly become top mobile network providers in the world.
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Ecom Express launches its first All-women Delivery Center in the country
Gurugram, 02 December 2021: Ecom Express Limited, one of the leading technology-enabled end-to-end logistics solutions providers to the e-commerce industry, announced the launch of its first all-women Delivery Center in Delhi today. The all-women Delivery Center is an initiative towards empowering women and providing them financial independence while strengthening the company's Diversity and Inclusion agenda.
Women force have already been inducted in the Delivery Center and it will be the first time in the company that a 10-member team, exclusively comprising women from the ranks of Delivery Center Head to Delivery Associates, will be engaged independently in all operational activities.
Inaugurating the all-women delivery center, Manju Dhawan, Co-founder, Ecom Express Limited, said, ''The launch of our all-women delivery center is a conscious agenda and an extension of our continued effort to supporting women with opportunities that empower them to grow and economically elevate them. Our aim is to create more and more opportunities for female team members across roles, including front-line delivery role as we remain steadfast in our approach to support them and their career progression.''
Ecom Express is also planning to establish more all-women delivery centers in the near future. The firm is working on breaking the glass ceiling by bringing in the need of the hour ideas and business models. Today, Ecom Express has close to 2000 women working across its processing centers, hubs, centers, fulfillment centers and many women bikers as delivery associates across the country.
'I am pursuing my graduation and I look forward to create a good career for myself in the future. I was thrilled to explore this field and wondered if men can get into delivering goods, why can't women. I have always received positive response and in a year's time, have grown in my role with Ecom Express – from a part-time delivery partner to a full-time on-roll employee.," stated Kusum Jain, Delivery Associate at Ecom Express's all-women delivery center.
Ecom Express is looking to increase diversity across its supply chain to make it more inclusive. Several of its large facilities across the country have their operations for general shift entirely run by women. Sortation and fulfillment centers including Bilaspur (Haryana), Bhiwandi, Surat, Vijayawada, Guwahati and others have women staff take care of millions of shipments, contributing to a seamless e-commerce experience for customers.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Heavy duty starter 37MT 12 volt Delco. Remanufactured by Pro Rebuilders.
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Portview Construction was established in 1999.
The company has two directors Paul Monahan and Paul Cosgrove. Both directors have extensive experience in the building industry and use a hands on approach to manage and carry out projects to the full satisfaction of our clients.
We can provide a complete design and build package and obtain planning permission if required.
It is management policy of Portview Construction Ltd. in so far as is reasonably practicable, to seek and provide safe and healthy working conditions for the companys employees, providing information, training and supervision and to enlist the active support of all employees in achieving such conditions.
It is the policy of management at Portview Construction Ltd.


Here at Serra Gardendale Kia, we understand that your vehicle is an investment, and for that reason, we do our best to protect it for you. Every time that you bring your vehicle into our service department, you can rest easy knowing that it is in the hands of some of the best in the business. It doesn't matter what type of service your vehicle needs, either. Big or small, our technicians have got you covered.
One of the biggest reasons that Gardendale residents continue to turn to us is that we employ a team of certified technicians who have been trained to deal specifically with Kia vehicles. They have the ability to diagnose and repair any issues that arise, and have the skills and the knowledge to get the job done right the first time every time. It is just one ways that we ensure the best for you and your vehicle.
Another one of the benefits of utilizing our service department is that we make an easy-to-use scheduling form available right here on our website. That way, you can make an appointment at any time of the day. If your tire blows out during the night, as soon as you get home you can make an appointment and bring it in as soon as the next morning. We understand that it is crucial to have your vehicle operating properly at all times, and for that reason we do our best to get you in and out the door as quickly as we possibly can.
We understand that these authentic parts can be hard to come by, and if you prefer to take care of your vehicle's service on your own, you likely know that better than anyone. Thankfully for you, however, we share the wealth. You can purchase absolutely any of the parts that we have in stock, and if we don't have what you need, we can order it for you. As we said, your needs are our first priority here.
To experience the difference that we are capable of providing here at Serra Gardendale Kia, we highly suggest that you schedule a service appointment on our website today. Believe us, you'll be glad you did.


text:
E-mail: info@guatemalascension.org WhatsApp: (+502) 5050.5049 Skype: mayacosmosascension
Live it to Believe it
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS
A colonial city, a World Heritage Site and definitely one of the most magical and beautiful towns in Mexico. Full of colors, mountains, ethnic diversity, crafts, traditions and definitely highlighting its architectural treasures of baroque styles from the XVI - XVIII centuries. You will love SanCris.
The brother country of Mexico is a great country that has it all. From ancestral culture, archaeological sites and exorbitant nature; we know it very well and for us its most beautiful and important places are definitely to the South (Chiapas, Yucatan and Quintana Ro) and that´s why we visit:
CAñON DEL SUMIDERO
It is an impressive national park with rock formations formed over 130 million years ago based on calcium minerals (limestone) and marine colanders; assuming that in ancient times this region was below water. 15 million years ago the waters retreated, forming the mountains that we know today, an impressive place to have a deep connection with nature.
Definitely one of the most important Mayan archaeological and ceremonial sites in Mexico. Located in the heart of the humid Chiapas forest and very close to the city of San Cristobal de las Casas. Among its most important constructions stand the Palace of the Ascension; distinguished by its tower that rises through the heavens. The Temple of the Sun, the one of the Cross and the one of the Foliated Cross, which constitutes a group that surrounds the Plaza del Sol, as well as the mysterious Temple of the Inscriptions, in which the tomb of King Pakal was discovered in a sarcophagus beautifully carved.
YaxchilÁn & Bonampak
Two impressive Mayan cities in the same route. Yaxchilan means Piedras Verdes and is an archaeological site that can only be visited by crossing the great Usumacinta River (the largest in Central America) and the natural border between Guatemala/Mexico. It is a place famous for its sculptural art represented in stelae and lintels; It is also very large however your visit is based on its Great Plaza, Great Acropolis, small Acropolis, South Acropolis and its famous Building 19 also known as the labyrinth for its complex distribution of rooms. And Bonampak an archaeological zone located in the Heart of the Lacandon jungle, standing out its famous building of paintings; containing three cameras and representing the presentation ceremony by the family of the Ruler (heir to the throne) and the victualling of the Lord King by several of its servers. In addition to the impressive scene of the procession of the musicians and the scene of the battle and the trial of the prisoners; observing the presence of Chaan Muan II wearing jaguar skins.
CALAKMUL
Etymologically it means "Two Adjacent Mounds" and this is relative to its two immense structures that predominate in the jungle. It is a very important archaeological site and was deeply linked with Palenque himself. And with Tikal (Guatemala) he had a great political rivalry of almost a century of wars and fights. In this archaeological site we can observe an excellent unique urban planning, large ceremonial plazas and several residential complexes.
Cascades & waterfalls of Misol Ha, Agua Azul & Roberto Barrios:
Impressive waterfalls full of crystal clear water, blue and green (depending on the depth in which you are), in addition to natural pools of water and abundant nature. All are beautiful and we recommend you visit them all; however, we personally prefer Roberto Barrios. Since these waterfalls are not as touristy as the others and where you can enjoy much more silence and relaxation.
Accredited by the INGUAT (Guatemalan Tourism Institute).
Register number #2795-2013-D
Maya Cosmos Relics


2017-18: Appeared in 22 contests with one start as a senior guard…selected as a team captain…tallied 36 points, 23 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals…shot 33.3% (13-39) from the field, 38.5% (5-13) from downtown, and 62.5% (5-8) from the FT line…scored nine points with three rebounds, two assists and two steals in a lopsided victory over Rivier University on December 9th…added six points in a win at Rivier on January 13th…was 3-3 from the stripe with seven points versus Mount Ida College three days later…hit three-pointers in wins over University of Saint Joseph (2/3/18) and Albertus Magnus College (2/10/18)…for her career, appeared in 65 games with 65 points, 43 rebounds, 19 assists, and 17 steals.
2016-17: Played in 20 contests as a junior guard…played a total of 140 minutes while averaging 7.0 minutes per game…shot 67% from the line while tallying 11 rebounds, 6 steals, and 5 assists during her time this season…recorded 5 points, 1 rebound, and 1 steal in a win over Me-Farmington on November 21st…also tallied 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist in a win over Lasell College on December 1st.
2015-16: Played in 11 contests as a sophomore guard...played a total of 60 minutes while averaging 5.5 per game...shot 67% from the field and 100% from the line...had seven rebounds, four steals, and four assists during her time this season...tallied two points, three assists, and two steals in a win over St. Joseph's (Conn.) on January 30th...also scored two points with two rebounds in a win over Mt. Ida on February 6th.
2014-15: Played in 12 contests as a freshman guard...totaled 58 minutes on the season averaging 4.8 per game...shot 20% from the field and 71.4% from the line...netted her first two collegiate points in a 73-50 win over MIT on November 15th.
High School: Played three years of varsity basketball for Laughn Berthiaume at Gorham High School...selected as the Coaches' Award honoree her senior year and participated in the SMAA Senior All-Star Game...won Outstanding Athlete award for GHS in 2014 along with the Citizenship Award...also played varsity softball and soccer for GHS.
Personal: Emily Elizabeth DeLuca, born in Gorham, Maine...daughter of Tim and Laurie DeLuca...majoring in Exercise Science...also plays soccer for Saint Joseph's.


text:
Q: Can't use DB Transactions in Controllers in laravel (DB::beginTransaction) I have a DoctorsController which has a store method. I'm testing this method and I want my Models not to INSERT their data in testing environment. So I'm using DB::beginTransaction , DB::rollback() , DB::commit() methods in my controllers and my testing method to prevent INSERT queries. my problem is  => Database is having records while my tests are running. I don't want any INSERTS during tests.
My test code :
public function testStoreMethod()
{
    /*
     * Test when validation fails
     */
    $data = include_once('DoctorsControllerFormData.php');

    foreach($data as $item){
        DB::beginTransaction();
        $response = $this->call('POST', 'doctors', $item);
        $this->assertResponseStatus(400, "response's HTTP code is not 400 : " . implode('\n',array_flatten($item)));
        Log::debug($response);
        DB::rollback();
    }
}

My DoctorsController code snippet : (which calls UsersController's store method)
public function store()
{
    //some code
    DB::beginTransaction();
    try{
        /*
         * User Creation
         */
        $user = new UsersController();
        $user->setResource('doctor');
        $userID = $user->store();

        //some other code
    }catch (InputValidationFailedException $e){
        DB::rollback();
        return Response::make(json_encode(array('error' => $e->getErrors())), \Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response::HTTP_BAD_REQUEST);
    }catch(Exception $e){
        Log::error('Server Error at DoctorsController');
        DB::rollback();
        App::abort(500, $e->getMessage());
    }
}

My UsersController code snippet :
public function store()
{
    $user = new User;

    try{
        $inputs = Input::all();
        Log::info("input Data" . implode("\n", array_flatten(Input::all())));
        /*
         * User Creation
         */
        $v = Validator::make(
            $inputs,
            User::$rules
        );

        if($v->fails()) {
            Log::error('Validation Failed! ' . implode("\n", array_flatten($v->messages()->all())));
            throw new InputValidationFailedException($v);
        }
        $user->fname = Input::get('fname');//set first name
        $user->lname = Input::get('lname');//set last name
        $user->email = Input::get('email');//set email
        $user->cell = Input::get('cell');//set cell number
        $user->password = Hash::make(Input::get('password'));//set password
        $user->gender_id = Input::get('gender') == 'm' ? 1 : 0;//set gender
        $user->is_active = 0;//set activation status
        $user->role_id = ($this->resource == 'doctor') ? 1 : 2;
        $user->activation_time = 0;//set activation time default to 0
        $user->expiration_time = 0;//set expiration time default to 0
        //insert the user into DB
        $user->save();
    }catch (InputValidationFailedException $e){
        Log::info('User Validation Failed! ' . implode("\n", array_flatten($e->getErrors())));
        throw $e;
    }catch (Exception $e){
        Log::error('Server Error at UsersController!');
        throw $e;
    }

    return $user->id;
}

Thanks for your help.

A: If you're commiting the changes in your controller, then the DB:rollback in your test can't undo those changes because the transaction was finished there. That being said, you shouldn't really be using the the same database for testing, as you are for development. Laravel has Migrations & Seeding which you can use to refresh and reseed a dedicated testing database any time you run your tests.
If possible, I suggest using an in memory database to avoid writing to a persistent database altogether, as explained in the video linked below:

Laracasts - Test DBs in Memory

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Employee Pleads Guilty To COVID-19 Relief Fraud – CBS Tampa
MIAMI, Fla. (CW44 News At 10)– Fifty-eight-year-old Willie Curry, of Miami-Dade County, pled guilty yesterday in Miami federal court to a felony Information charging him with wire fraud in connection with his fraudulent application to the U.S. Small Business Administration for a low-interest COVID-19 relief loan.
According to the facts admitted at the change of plea, Curry, during 2019 and 2020, was employed on a full-time basis by Miami-Dade County as a Network Manager. As a County employee, Curry suffered no loss of salary due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, on June 24, 2020, Curry submitted to the SBA an EIDL application stating that he was the 100% owner of a sole proprietorship operating under the name "Will Curry Computers." In that application, Curry falsely and fraudulently certified that Will Curry Computers was established on January 1, 2015, and that during the 12-month period prior to January 31, 2020, Will Curry Computers had gross revenues of approximately $755,416, a cost of goods sold of approximately $170,664, and 10 employees. In reality, Curry established Will Curry Computers in 2020, it had only minimal gross revenues and cost of goods sold during the twelve-month period prior to January 31, 2020, and it had no employees.
READ MORE: Sarasota Man Arrested For Impersonating Law Enforcement
Based on the defendant's materially false and fraudulent EIDL application, the SBA disbursed a $10,000 advance and then $150,000 in loan proceeds to Curry's listed financial institution for Curry's benefit. The financial institution instead returned the money to the SBA, and after Curry was notified of this, he made numerous contacts to the SBA in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to have the money sent to an account he maintained at another financial institution. Ultimately his fraudulent efforts were uncovered by law enforcement.
Curry is scheduled for sentencing on November 17, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. before Senior United States District Judge James Lawrence King, where he faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, and Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite, Special Agent in Charge, Small Business Administration, Investigations Division's Eastern Region (SBA-OIG) announced the guilty plea.
READ MORE: Fourth Stimulus Check: Will There Be Another Relief Payment In 2021?
FBI Miami's Area Corruption Task Force, which includes task force officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department's Professional Compliance Bureau, Criminal Conspiracy Section, and SBA-OIG investigated this matter. Miami-Dade County Office of Inspector General and United States Secret Service provided invaluable assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward N. Stamm is prosecuting this case.
In March 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ("CARES") Act was enacted. It was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other sources of relief, the CARES Act authorized and provided funding to the SBA to provide Economic Injury Disaster Loans ("EIDLs") to eligible small businesses, including sole proprietorships and independent contractors, experiencing substantial financial disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow them to meet financial obligations and operating expenses that could otherwise have been met had the disaster not occurred. EIDL applications were submitted directly to the SBA via the SBA's on-line application website, and the applications were processed and the loans funded for qualifying applicants directly by the SBA.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department's response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
MORE NEWS: Patient Thanks Largo Medical Center Doctors For Saving His Life From COVID-19
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
#Employee #Pleads #Guilty #COVID19 #Relief #Fraud #CBS #Tampa
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text:
Q: jQuery Multi dimensional input array I have a table inside a form that looks as follows:
<input type="text" name="code[0]" id="code[0]"/>
<input type="text" name="name[0]" id="name[0]"/>
<input type="text" name="cost[0]" id="cost[0]"/>
<input type="text" name="quantity[0]" id="quantity[0]"/>
<input type="text" name="total[0]" id="total[0]" value=""/>

When the code changes, the name and cost should change according, the data is re-fetched form the server. That I have done.
One can delete a given row while at any given row by clicking the row. I need to get the row column and attach the delete command,which remove the selected row and re-update the remaining rows with the respective data.
My challenge is getting the correct row and column to update.
This is what I have done:

    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
    <title>JSP Page</title>
    <link href="jquery-ui.css" type="text/css"/>

<input type='text' value='0' id='sum'name="sum" />

A: Do this:
$("tr").click(function() {
    alert("deleting row "+$(this).index());
    $(this).remove();
});

Heres a live example on jsFiddle.
If you want do actually add the delete button to each row and have that button delete the row use this code:
$(function() {

window.deleteParentTr = function(theThis) {
    $(theThis).closest('tr').remove();
};
$("tr").append("<input value='delete' type='submit' onclick='window.deleteParentTr(this);' />	");
});

And the live example for that is here


After M2's bid to acquire iiNet was defeated by TPG earlier this year, the telco is now moving to merge with Vocus.
Vocus Communications and M2 Group have announced their intentions to merge and form the fourth-largest telecommunications provider in Australia, and the third-largest in New Zealand, with the companies claiming that the combined entity will be worth more than AU$3 billion.
The companies' Merger Implementation Agreement has gained the support of both boards, with the companies forecasting combined revenues of AU$1.8 billion for FY16, as well as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of AU$370 million.
Occurring via an M2 scheme of arrangement, the merger would be scrip based, wherein M2 shareholders will be given 1.625 Vocus shares per M2 share.
M2 chief executive Geoff Horth will be appointed CEO of the combined entity, while founder and CEO of Vocus, James Spencely, will take the role of executive director.
"The merger of Vocus and M2 is a compelling opportunity for all shareholders," said David Spence, chairman of Vocus, in a statement.
"The businesses combine Vocus' telecommunications infrastructure and corporate customer base with M2's demonstrated expertise in the consumer and SME segments. The merger creates the 4th-largest vertically integrated telecommunications company in Australia, and the 3rd largest in New Zealand."
M2 shareholders have yet to approve the deal, with a vote set to take place in early 2016. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) would thereafter also have to approve the deal before the scheme can take place.
According to the companies, M2 and Vocus will fit together well, as they have similar values and objectives.
"M2 and Vocus are an excellent fit, being highly complementary and culturally aligned," said Craig Farrow, chairman of M2.
"Both have successful track records of creating substantial value for shareholders and, together, we will retain this focus. Our ability as a merged company to capture future growth opportunities in Australia and New Zealand will be significantly enhanced."
The combined entity would provide retail internet, retail electricity and gas, corporate and wholesale internet and VoIP, datacentre and cloud services, domestic and international bandwidth, and dark fibre.
M2, which operates telco providers Dodo, iPrimus, and Commander, as well as energy provider Engin, in February recorded an 8 percent rise in revenue for the six months to December 2014 to AU$546.2 million, EBITDA up 14 percent to AU$86.1 million, and net profit after tax up 25 percent, to AU$38.5 million.
"Organic growth has been the sole contributor to revenue growth in the half," M2 told investors in a statement [PDF] at the time. "Profit has increased as a product of this organic growth, as well as synergies enacted in the previous fiscal year, and a dedicated program of internal improvement."
Vocus in August announced a full-year FY15 revenue increase of 62 percent to AU$149.8 million, EBITDA up 56 percent to AU$51.6 million, and a net profit after tax up 34 percent, to AU$18.1 million.
Vocus also attained Federal Court approval in June to acquire Amcom, after the latter's shareholders voted in favour of the AU$1.2 billion takeover, despite TPG's efforts to block the deal.
M2 had previously attempted to acquire rival telco iiNet, in April launching a predominately scrip AU$2.25 billion counter-bid and eclipsing TPG's initial all-cash offer of AU$1.4 billion in March. M2's offer was backed by iiNet, and would have seen 0.803 M2 shares swapped for each iiNet share, plus a AU$0.75 special dividend.
This resulted in TPG upping its offer the following month to a deal worth around AU$1.5 billion wherein TPG would pay AU$9.55 per iiNet share, incorporating a AU$8.80 cash or scrip consideration and AU$0.75 cash per share.
iiNet shareholders ultimately voted in favour of the TPG acquisition, with the ACCC and the Federal Court also approving the deal last month.
"While the ACCC was concerned that the acquisition of iiNet by TPG may lessen competition in the retail fixed broadband market, particularly in the short term, the ACCC concluded that this would not reach the threshold of a 'substantial' lessening of competition as required under section 50 of the Competition and Consumer Act," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
The consumer watchdog found that due to the continuing high level of competition within the fixed-line market from Telstra, Optus, and M2, the TPG-iiNet merger would not limit this -- as long as no other acquisitions are permitted in the future between these four companies.
"The ACCC has noted the growing consolidation in what will now become a relatively concentrated broadband market. Any future merger between two of the remaining four large suppliers of fixed broadband is likely to raise serious competition concerns," Sims said.


text:
Q: Is there a word for a person or group advocating a belief that has been disproven? What can I use in this sentence:
People who hold on to a belief despite evidence that disproves the belief are called ______.
For example:
"Freddy and his friends were ______, they were advocates for the Flat Earth Society, preaching that the Earth is flat like a mat in the hope of new proselytes."
Like dogmatists but specifically about a prior belief since disproven. I could use zealots or fanatics, but again they do not seem to cover the exact meaning I'm after, i.e., the active advocation of a disproven idea. I came across the term non-evidentialist but would prefer something without the negative prefix (if possible), and it is probably too wide a term. The word fundamentalists tend to have religious connotations, though it may fit as some beliefs can be advocated in a similar manner to religious fervour (hence the use of proselytes above). I quite like the word sheeple? Though again, not the right context. I'm wondering if the word I am after does not exist.

A: People who reject ideas in the face of widely accepted evidence can be called denialists. The term can be tailored to fit specific kinds of denialism depending on what commonly held views are being denied - examples include science denialists, Holocaust denialists, climate change denialists, or in your specific example, round-Earth denialists.
Your proposed term of sheeple doesn't really fit, as the term connotes people who mindlessly go along with commonly held beliefs without scrutinizing them. There is an aspect of being easily misled consistent with denialism, but there is also the connotation of belonging to a majority "flock". In fact, denialists may call other people sheeple for buying into commonly held beliefs. Denialism is often associated with "independent thinking" (regardless of how wrong or misguided those thoughts may be), which doesn't really fit with the mindless, accepting nature of sheeple. Sheeple generally accept the default worldview, but denialists actively reject it.

A: They are delusionalists.
The adjective delusional is defined by Lexico :

delusional [adjective]
Characterized by or holding false beliefs or judgements about external reality that are held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary ....

And Merriam-Webster adds the corresponding noun

delusionist [noun]:
one given to deluding or to having delusions

A: I think you have dismissed "fundamentalist" too quickly. In context (quote 1957) and when combined with an attributive noun (as per the quotes of 1960 and 2007) it is devoid of religious content.
From the OED:
fundamentalist (n.)

3. In non-religious contexts: a person who believes in the primacy of fundamental tenets or principles; a person who adheres strictly or dogmatically to the fundamental tenets or principles of any subject, discipline, or movement.
Sometimes with negative connotations of inflexibility or intolerance.
1957   Denton (Texas) Record-Chron. 15 Sept. iii. 13/3   'Our downfield blocking looks bad, and it could hurt us seriously if it doesn't improve,' said Collins, a dyed-in-the-wool fundamentalist when it comes to football.
1960   New Left Rev. May 6/2   Communist and Labour fundamentalists of the 'statist' variety.
2007   Esquire Sept. 89/2   As Peggy descends into madness, she pushes away her WASP-ish brother and sister-in-law and a fellow animal fundamentalist.


text:
Q: C# simple directX control I would like to implement basic 3D visualization in my winforms app using DirectX
My model:

*

*polygons with holes and thickness

*cylinders

*text 2D

*textures basic

*lighting

Scene control:

*

*zoom

*panning

*rotate

Is any "all in one" .net control that I can easy put on form and setup my model by adding shape primitives ?

A: I don't know if there is a control that has the exact functionality you want, but this sample contains a GraphicsDeviceControl which I've used in the past to obtain a similar control as the one you want. You'll have to add zoom, panning, rotate but this shouldn't be too difficult in 3D world.

A: Finally I've implemented Awesomium WebControl with html page using three.js library. This is allows me easily show 3d models (and dynamically generate model) using GPU acceleration (WebGL backend).


Good evening lovelies, hope everyone's having a good start to the week. I would like to introduce you to the perfect gift for your boyfriend this Valentines Day!
Daniel Wellington has been one of the most popular watch brands over the last year, you should also check out their Instagram account, they have some amazing shots of their watches.
Their pieces are classy, smart and great for every day wear. I think any guy would be flattered to receive this gift, it also comes in a pretty box...so yeah you're sorted ;) haha.
Hope you guys love the watch as much as I do, the one you can see here is the Classic Sheffield Men's Watch in Silver (get this one here).


On 7 July 2004, the EFTA Surveillance Authority delivered a reasoned opinion to Liechtenstein due to that country's failure to ensure full compliance with the Conditional Access Directive (98/84/EC).
The Conditional Access Directive aims to ensure the legal protection of conditional access systems for pay-TV in the European Economic Area. The Directive requires that EEA States take the measures necessary to prohibit, inter alia, the manufacture, sale, installation and marketing of equipment or software that provides access to pay-TV services without the authorisation of the service provider. The Directive also requires that the measures taken against such illegal activities be backed by effective and dissuasive sanctions. Liechtenstein has not yet taken the measures necessary to introduce such sanctions to discourage the illicit activities proscribed by the Directive. Liechtenstein was under an obligation to introduce the necessary sanctions in its national legal order by 1 October 2001.
The present reasoned opinion is the second that the Authority delivered to Liechtenstein for failing to implement the Conditional Access Directive. On 17 July 2003, the Authority sent a reasoned opinion regarding Liechtenstein's failure in general to take any measures incorporating the Directive. Subsequently, on 5 February 2004, Liechtenstein notified partial compliance with the Directive. The conformity assessment conducted by the Authority revealed that, at least Article 5 of the Directive, providing for sanctions for the breach of the prohibited activities, had not been transposed. Effective and dissuasive sanctions are an indispensable element for the achievement of the aims that the Directive pursues.
The purpose of a reasoned opinion is to give the State in question a last chance to take corrective measures before the Authority decides whether to bring the matter before the EFTA Court. In the case at hand, the Authority requests that the Liechtenstein Government take the necessary measures to comply with the reasoned opinion within two months.
For further information, please contact Mr. Niels Fenger, Director of Legal and Executive Affairs, on telephone (+32)(0)2 286 1830.