Last fall, in Sunday School, we went through the book of Mark. Two themes that seemed to surface were that Jesus preached a lot about the kingdom of God, and that the kingdom He preached was upside down from what society, or maybe just the religious people of the day, considered important or normal. As a follow-up to that conversation in the fall I wanted to do a series on the Kingdom of God. After some research I found an article by Ryan Baltrip on preaching.com that will serve as a structure to set the series. In the article he talks about contrasts, what the kingdom of God, and what it isn't.
The Kingdom of God is really the central core of our faith. The Kingdom of God is what we live within as followers of Christ. As we read the New Testament, we find the followers of Christ are radically transformed by their faith, by the Spirit of God at work in them. From attitudes to action, Paul describes a people no longer content to just focus on the things of this world, but people who are living for an unseen world, a world not yet arrived in some sense of the word.
In the Old Testament we see God creating humanity with whom He walks and talks – a humanity made in His own image. From the fall onwards we see the story of redemption unfolding, God raising a nation from one man to be His witness to the surrounding people of His reality, of His right as deity. The people were to live under His rule, and ultimately, He promises to establish David's kingdom forever (Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever. 2 Samuel 7:16). But the fulfillment of that promise wasn't just an earthly lineage with an earthly king, it was to be fulfilled in the incarnation where God became human to dwell among us, and to ultimately die that we might live.
And in the New Testament we see Jesus constantly talking about the Kingdom of God. His first public proclamation after the temptation and withdrawing to Galilee – From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17). He, as the Messiah, had come to rescue His people and to sit on David's throne forever. In Philippians 2 we read For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11).
But what is the kingdom of God – how does it affect you and I? Is it just a call for people to make decisions for Christ and to read the Bible? The truth is that we are to be part of God's present, real and active rule on this earth. What is God calling us to be, to do? Do we really get His rule on earth? SO much of life seems random, that we fail to understand we can choose to see that randomness from another perspective, God's perspective. In our look at the Kingdom of God, we will look at ten tensions. Much of life is lived between two extremes. Self-image vacillates between the extremes of eating, from gluttony to starving ourselves. The best place, most healthy place is in the middles between the extremes, but sometimes it is a struggle to find that sweet spot. A guitar makes beautiful music because of the tension in the strings. Too much or too little and the note is sharp or flat, so it is with understanding our faith, understanding the Kingdom of God.
The First tension is Ideology vs. Person. While we may not have thought much about it, the kingdom of God has been predominately proclaimed as an ideology. Throughout the early 20th Century, the kingdom of God was taught as an idea. Liberalism made the kingdom a utopia brought about by social reforms and by fighting for social causes, while the person and work of Christ were minimized. In contemporary 21st Century, some theological undercurrents once again cast the kingdom of God as a utopian ideology that masks the person and work of Jesus Christ. Maybe not meaning to, they elevate the idea of the kingdom over the kingdom in a person. From such a perspective, the kingdom of God becomes an ideological idol that replaces Jesus Christ. We have liberation theology and ecology movements that seek to bring heaven on earth through what we do, when the Scriptures seem to say that heaven is already here on earth (Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven). While the pursuit of social justice and good ecology is good work to be involved with and in, it is not the basis of the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is found in a person, a ruler. Jesus did the work of the Kingdom in His death and resurrection. The kingdom, we discovered, is not a physical rule, but a spiritual rule. The call of Jesus is for all to surrender their lives to his rule – If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me (Luke 9:23). I have said it before, that the Kingdom of God is anywhere where the rule of God is in the heart. Remember the story of the sheep and Goats. There were people who were religious, but did not do anything as a result of their religiosity. They didn't make it. Those who were transformed by faith and as a result helped the poor, hungry, and sick, they did find God's pleasure upon them. Yes, there was a difference between what they did and did not do, but it wasn't the works that gained them approval – it was the heart attitude that led to the works of service.
The Kingdom of God is focused on the person of Christ. As Leslie Newbigin writes, "when the message of the kingdom is divorced from the Person of Jesus, it becomes a programme or an ideology, but not a gospel. In Pauline terms, the preaching of the Kingdom then becomes a preaching of the law." The Good News is that God has come to you with the offer of grace – grace through Christ. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). The free gift isn't just eternal life, it is connected to Jesus Christ our Lord, our Ruler.
The phrase I grew up with was Jesus our Savior and Lord. God saves, but He saves us so He can be Lord. The Kingdom of God isn't found in a building, a fancy program, or in the pages of a book – the Bible is not the kingdom of God – it is found in a person's heart. This is why when I talk about sin, I talk about how selfishness is the root of sin. The opposite of God's rule in our heart is our rule – selfishness. Jesus was disgusted by the rich people in the temple who would make a big show of putting a bunch of money in the offering. They weren't doing it because God rules in their hearts, they did it because they wanted everyone to see them and think they were special because of what they were doing. Yes they were giving, but it was out of selfishness, out of feeding their own egos. Jesus pointed out the widow who had a few pennies – her offering was truly significant because she truly gave it to God.
A number of years ago I was threatened by a person that their giving would stop if I didn't give in to their power struggle. I simply replied that their giving had no effect on me. When people give, they are giving to God. God is the one that looks after our needs. If they stopped their giving, it didn't matter because God supplies our needs, not their pocketbook. It is shocking, when you think about it, how easy it is to believe that God needs our stuff. He created the world the universe – God doesn't need our stuff to accomplish His purposes, but in our surrender to Him, as we give generously to Him, we find true freedom and blessing as a result.
The kingdom of God is fulfilled and established in the crucified, risen, and reigning Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God IS all about Jesus Christ as Lord of your life.
We are talking about the Kingdom of God. What have you come to understand so far?
As an older teenager we started a 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle on our ping pong table. It was huge, and I don't believe when we first set out the pieces that they all fit on the table – we had to use the bottom of the box for the first bit so there was room to work on colours and patterns. I would put an 8-track in the player, sometimes a record, and spend a lot of time searching the pieces, working the smaller sections, putting it all together. I am a border puzzler – I do the outside border first, then prominent colour features, then fill in the more difficult uniform pieces. We eventually finished it – it took time. And as you work on the puzzle, you constantly check the box top. When you can see the big, complete picture, you can find where the different sections are in relation to each other, you can even sometimes identify where an individual piece goes. It is much harder to take a puzzle and try to put the pieces together without knowing what the big picture is; and a puzzle without pieces is simple art you hang on a wall.
The second tension in understanding the Kingdom of God is the tension between the pieces of the kingdom puzzle or the big picture. Preaching, teaching and learning about the kingdom of God can be like putting together a puzzle. Week in and week out, the preacher challenges us to live our lives for Christ, but sometimes we don't get a real framework for understanding the kingdom of God. In other words, we need a kingdom worldview. For example, most studies focus on a specific text. We might examine a cluster of texts all related to a specific topic. But when the we move on to the next study, or the next biblical book, we forget to make the necessary connection between the various truths. As a result, we have a nice cluster of small puzzle pieces with little or no idea of how to arrange them or how to put them together in our minds and lives. The truth is, all these disconnected links interconnect and form a larger whole – "we can't see the forest because of the trees," for we are left without a proper view of the bigger picture.
God's Story: God had a plan from the beginning of time – Creation, the Fall, a people raised to be His witness, culminating in God incarnate – Jesus Christ. Jesus died for our redemption, and has ushered in a New Covenant, which is salvation through faith in Christ's finished work. God saves us to be part of His Kingdom, performing good works which He has prepared for us from the beginnings of time.
The Church: We find the context of this New Covenant is the church, though the application is found in our individual response to God's grace. The church's mission is the mission of God – redemption of humanity or, as Jesus said, "As we are going into the world, make disciples…" It is the body of Christ, of which God is the head, and we are the various parts. Together we do the work of God in the world.
Us: We are saved to become like Christ in our thoughts, words, and actions – conformed to the image of Christ (God did the work, the work of salvation is complete, accomplished through the life and death of Christ. God calls us and equips us for the work He has for us – indeed, he has a wonderful plan for us, for you as an individual.
A study released last fall – Renegotiating Faith – says it has evolved even more into a Universal Gnostic Religious Ethic (UGRE), where religion simply becomes a psychosocial cultural construct – God is not even needed. It is a religion behind all religions, a way of managing public spaces without judgement, the universal set of standards that all religions try to get at in their own imperfect way.
1) The Bible prescribes both personal and interpersonal spiritual disciplines.
2) Spiritual disciplines are activities. They are not attitudes.
3) Things that are practices taught or modeled in the Bible.
4) Spiritual disciplines found in Scripture are sufficient for knowing and experiencing God and for growing in Christlikeness.
5) Spiritual disciplines are derived from the gospel, not divorced from the gospel.
6) Spiritual disciplines are means and not ends. The end, that is, the purpose of practicing the disciplines, is godliness. "Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness" (1 Timothy 4:7, NASB).
Why do you do what you do? I have seen pictures of beautiful quilts, quilts that are works of arts. These quilts were made up of the typical little squares of colours by people who did not know each other, who did not know what the finished project would look like. They were simply given colours and suggestions of patterns, made their squares and then submitted them to the organizer. The end result was a work of art that really, was much more than the sum of the parts, because there was something more, something bigger at work. These people were busy doing what they were doing without really understanding or knowing the bigger picture. They didn't really know why they were doing what they were doing.
I think too often we labour and work and live in small areas, places where we are able to do our little projects, our creative pieces, and never really glimpse the bigger picture at work that we are part of. Life can feel very small and disconnected from bigger things, the bigger realities of life. Do you ever feel like life passes you by? Like, maybe, the things you are doing don't add to something beyond yourself, that it doesn't really matter?
Calling for a decision is an important part of the kingdom. When Jesus first announces the kingdom, he says, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is near" (Mark 1). He called upon those who heard his message to make a U-turn, to change their direction in life. He called for his disciples to come and follow Him (Matt. 4.19). He called for an immediate decision from them, and that is exactly how they responded. The kingdom of God calls for a decision from those who hear the message of Jesus Christ – deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me!
Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Ephesians 4:17,22-24 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord… that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self… and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
In the context of this call we always find transformation, about stopping and starting behavior and actions. We stop, put off, turn our back on unrighteousness, and we invite, embrace, and move into righteousness. We aren't just saved FROM something, but also saved FOR something, and that something isn't just a list of do and don'ts, but to be engaged within the kingdom of our Savior. Without this bigger vision, though, this transformation can devolve into Law. We simply do because it is the right thing to do. Unfortunately, the Law can't save. Law can't give hope. Law simply stands there and waits for us to fail, and then it becomes alive with the judgement – you blew it. Sinner. Penalty. Guilt. Shame. Who wants to live with that, like that? Who can live with that? There are people who have turned their back on the church, on Christ, because they did not understand this tension between decision and vision. They had the pendulum swung right over to decision, and they missed why they were doing what they were doing. And some in the church hit them with the Word of God and say, "You blew it. Sinner. Penalty. Guilt. Shame." And while those people are half right, they are wholly wrong.
We make the same mistake at salvation. As a pastor I call for decisions for Christ, to surrender to Christ, but I need to make sure you understand what the kingdom of God is all about. People call for decisions only on the basis of human sinfulness. People mark how sinful, how guilty, and how shameful we are, and then they relate that Christ died to take away our sin, shame, and guilt. Then, we will offer an invitation for anyone who wants to be free from sin and who wants to go to Heaven when they die, and so people will make decisions only to escape the negative consequences of sin and have no grander direction or purpose for their lives – it was just about escaping the judgement on sin, the dealing with the helplessness that comes from trying to do life, to be good, on our own strength. We talk about holiness, how your life needs to measure up to a different standard, the standard of God's character. And that is all true, but it is only half of the message of the kingdom. Leaving the Gospel there lacks a vision of the King who will fill every part of your life and every nanosecond of your day with fullness and purpose.
This kind of vision of the kingdom of God gives you the proper context for understanding your decision for Christ. Christ's call is to be a part of His kingdom, not just a momentary decision so that you can go to Heaven when you die. God's rule in your lives is not just a list of rules on an ancient stone tablet. When you surrender your life to Christ, yes, your sins are forgiven, but the Gospel opens you to a life of adventure, a life of transformation, a life of heaven on earth. Your life becomes part of what God is doing in the world – instead of just being an object of His love, of His redemption, you become an agent of His love, an ambassador of His redemption. You will understand, in a way you never did before, the reason for your creation, the purposes of why you are the way you are. Every aspect of your life – work, play, family, and relationships – can be a part of God's present, real, and active rule in this world.
The truth of the kingdom of God, is that God is Sovereign. His will cannot help but be accomplished. He is moving history from what was, to what will be, that life only consists of what He has ordained and allowed. History becomes, in reality "His Story". And as a follower of Christ you believe, you realize, that this life – the yesterdays, todays and tomorrows – are but a flash of a moment, yet they connect to the eternity in the life beyond death because of who you are in Christ. You know that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate you from the love your Creator has for you, that your Creator has made you with purpose and reason and strengths. You know that you are never outside of God's care, that nothing can come against you that hasn't come against Him, and that He has provided a way through it. You know that even in pain and loss, there is hope and redemption to be found. You know that it is okay to be emotional because God gave you emotions. You know that whenever you blow it, there is grace waiting for you to come back home, that there is a light on the porch waiting for your return.
There is this kingdom life, rooted in our spirit, that is real, much more real than the 5 senses we rely so much on each day. And the decision to follow Christ, to pursue holiness, to be transformed, is how we connect to this reality much bigger than us and our small little piece of life. If we think that we can do whatever we want because there are no consequences tomorrow for what we did today, we have accepted the lie that there is no vision. The best this world has to offer is community – love, togetherness, a band of brothers and sisters. Those are good things, great things, but they are not sustainable in this fallen world. They can't be upheld in this world that is rooted in sin, in selfishness. You have to open your eyes to the bigger reality that includes love and community, but goes beyond the limitations of time and space, to the eternal purposes of God rooted in Christ.
You are a prince, a princess in the kingdom of God. You are a warrior equipped with armour and weapons strong enough to pull down spiritual strongholds and defeat the worst of the spiritual enemies. You are the one God chooses to use to pull your fellow humanity from the brink of spiritual death, to speak words of life that God uses to redeem them. In the kingdom you lay claim to the riches of Christ, lie eternal in the presence of the One who Created you. So go, walk in the decision of surrender of Christ, but live with the vision of the kingdom.
When you think of the New Testament, what is the difference between the Gospels and the letters?
Who was Jesus? vs. Who is Jesus?
What is the difference between story and proposition?
Evangelical preaching, for the most part, follows a propositional preaching model. Most evangelical preaching textbooks teach students to follow a very linear, point-by-point sermon model as the vehicle for delivering truth.8 The propositional model encourages a thorough exegesis of the text to find the central theme or the "big idea" of the passage. Then, the rest of the sermon is build deductively around that theme, following the text point by point. The preacher is encouraged to find the main principles and the timeless truths of the text, to organize them in an orderly progression, and to then make applications of those points at the end.
So, we have Jesus, telling parables and stories of the kingdom of God, and Paul, who uses propositional argument – we need both. Let's not forget the Kingdom of God is story, with characters just like you and I in the plots.
Takeaway: We can't do any good thing to get obtain eternal life. The kingdom of God is something provided to us by God – we can't buy it.
Takeaway: A caution to those who think they are spiritual, and know so much about God and spirituality. If you do not honestly search for God, for truth, you may end up rejecting that which you are so proud of knowing.
Takeaway: The spiritual growth that happens in us and others is, in part, a mystery – the work of the Spirit. There is a time to take advantage of it, or to at least recognize that it is mature… We probably know better when it isn't….
Last week we were talking about the Kingdom of God as story. I think it is significant that when Jesus talked about the kingdom, he used story and illustrations. Think about it. People thought the Messiah was coming to establish a new, earthly kingdom, and that the Messiah would deliver them from the Romans and that he would sit on a throne in Jerusalem – a king from the line of David. When you think about that kind of kingdom, what kind of stories come to mind? Epic battles, warriors in shining armour, powerful weapons, divine strategy… and which of those things did Jesus talk about in His parables? Why didn't the people get what He was about? How did they miss what He was saying about the His mission, about what was written in the prophets? Why did they throw palm branches and coats on the road before Him on Palm Sunday, when it was obvious if you listened to Him that He wasn't coming to establish a kingdom centered in Jerusalem?
Jesus talked of pearls and swine, two brothers who went on different paths in life, servants looking after a master's vineyard and his banking while he was away. And when he did preach about the kingdom, he used words like poor in spirit, mourning, gentle, desire for righteousness, mercy, purity, peacemakers, and persecution. Just what kind of kingdom has those qualities, those stories. I think these stories give us clues, hints, truths even, of what the kingdom of God is, and what it isn't.
Wise with choices – I think one common thread in these stories is that people in the kingdom make wise choices. Whether it is what to do with money, or the simple understanding of using what you have, the people Christ talked about made wise choices of action. Sometimes the choice was obvious, sometimes maybe not so much, at least to our modern ear, but every day we are faced with choices to go, or do, or say, or think… follow God's lead if you want to make wise choices in the kingdom.
Wise with relationships – Another common thread in Christ's stories about the kingdom is that those who did well in the kingdom were wise in their relationships. The prodigal son knew that value of his father's integrity. When you read these stories, think about how people are interacting with one another.
So, what would the kingdom of God look like in your life?
The kingdom of God is like a man in a kitchen, who although he has no idea what he is doing, cooks a meal for his family.
The kingdom of God is like a man in a garage, who, on a warm and sunny Saturday, clears out his horde of "useful junk" he was saving for a repair job that would never come. He let go of his reliance on "stuff".
Are you making wise choices, the best choices, in God's kingdom?
How are you treating people in the kingdom?
Why are you doing what you are doing in God's kingdom?
In his last couple of sermons Pastor Steve has preached about the stories that Jesus told about the Kingdom of God, our response to those stories and then the challenge of living a Kingdom of God story out in our lives. He ended his sermon last week with the question: "What's your story?" Back in the day, we would call this our testimony and this story usually focused on how we came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Pastor Steve challenged us to consider how the story of our lives are changed because we know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
What's your story? What's our story? We all have a story of God at work in our lives – at least I hope we all have a story about how the life of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit – God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven – is being lived out in our every day lives. My focus today is on the challenge of what the author of the article that this sermon series is based upon calls the tension between the sacred and the secular. He says, "Preachers should teach their listeners that they are to be part of God's present, real and active rule on earth…and equip their listeners to see where and how their lives fit into the realm of God's kingdom rule." Before we go any further, when you hear the words "sacred" and "secular" what comes to mind? What does "sacred" mean to you? What does "secular" mean to you?
Sacred – 1a: dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; b: devoted exclusively to one service or use (as of a person or purpose). 2a: worthy of religious veneration: holy. b: entitled to reverence and respect.
Brothers and sisters, in light of all I have shared with you about God's mercies, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to God, a sacred offering that brings Him pleasure; this is your reasonable, essential worship. Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete…For in the same way that one body has so many different parts, each with different functions; we, too—the many—are different parts that form one body in the Anointed One. Each one of us is joined with one another, and we become together what we could not be alone…Love others well, and don't hide behind a mask; love authentically. Despise evil; pursue what is good as if your life depends on it. Live in true devotion to one another, loving each other as sisters and brothers. Be first to honor others by putting them first. Do not slack in your faithfulness and hard work. Let your spirit be on fire, bubbling up and boiling over, as you serve the Lord…If people mistreat or malign you, bless them. Always speak blessings, not curses. If some have cause to celebrate, join in the celebration. And if others are weeping, join in that as well. Work toward unity and live in harmony with one another. Avoid thinking you are better than others or wiser than the rest; instead, embrace common people and ordinary tasks…Never let evil get the best of you; instead, overpower evil with the good.
As we read in Romans 12, we give our individual lives to God as a sacred offering, but that life given to God cannot be lived alone or in isolation. We come together in community to worship, to share our common life in Christ and also to receive so we can live our daily lives as a signpost of God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We come together so we can learn to make space in our lives to allow God to act and to be shaped and formed to be reflections of Jesus (imago dei – image of God) in the places we find ourselves. Where the world is trying to shape us into its own mold we bring God's shape, God's life, God's love, God's grace, God's salvation, God's new creation.
I think one of the best things we can do for each other is to bless and commission one another to be God's witnesses, God's image in the power of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives (those little spoons from which we sample ice cream). I'm grateful that you pray for my work as regional chaplain with Correctional Services Canada. But here's the challenge. Let's pray for and commission one another to be that meeting place between sacred and secular where we each live our lives. The whole of our church experience is not what happens here but as God's "called out" ones to bring God's good news where we are – to be a sample spoon filled with life looks like when we live a life for God through which God's kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. Let's pray for Sherry in her work as a teacher, let's pray for Joyce as an education assistant, for Rick in his ongoing job search, let's pray for Lito in his work to make sure the poles that keep electrical lines in the air are in good repair, let's pray for Arleen as she cares for children in her daycare, Don as he does custodial work, Joan in her ministry of helps, Karen in her work at Parables, Bonnie in her work with older adults and in her studies, for Pastor Steve as he pastors and works for Boys Brigade, for Ben, Heather, Mica, Gen, Psalm and Jeremy as students, Jim and Winnifred and Bruce and Dorothy as they are out and about as seniors…You get the point. Our whole lives matter to God and when we leave this place God goes with us. In fact, God goes before us and is waiting for us to catch up with what He is doing!
Last week Pastor Debbie talked about the Kingdom of God in terms of Sacred and Secular. She doesn't see it as a tension to hold, but rather as an inclusive approach – wherever we go, whatever we do is sacred. With the follower of Christ, there is no secular. There is nothing we do or are involved in, or even are, that, for us, isn't sacred, because the heart of who we are, as a Christian, is "in Christ", or "Christ in us". So, we sing, "This is My Father's World, and to my listening ears, all nature sings, and round me rings, the music of the spheres." And that is, in part, what I mean when we hold things tension in the Kingdom of God – when you hold a coin, you hold both sides at the same time. With some of these topics, we can focus too much on one thing over the other – too heavenly minded to be earthly good, or too helps oriented at the expense of our personal stewardship and spiritual care.


We are proud to announce the winner of our "like us on facebook Red sox ticket contest! Congratulations to Colleen Dolan Reardon, we hope you enjoy your day at Fenway! "I never win anything!!! Prior to the contest I didn't know that Wareham Pediatrics was on facebook. Now that I do know, I think it is great that they put up advice and helpful information for parents. I can't wait to go home and tell the kids. They are going to be so excited. We went to the Pawsox opening game last night. David Ortiz was there! The kids had so much fun they didn't want to leave. If we hadn't won these tickets we most likely wouldn't go to a Red Sox game as a family." Their two children use WPA as their Medical Home. Grady is 11, plays for Wareham little league, and is a huge baseball fan. Emily is 7 and is a gymnast.
People often ask us, why we have put so much effort into getting people to like us. The answer is that we hope to use facebook as a means of providing information about our office (change in hours, availability of services) as well as general medical information (like Dr. Reynolds video on how to use your spacer correctly). See the list on facebook of 10 other patients who won gift cards. We also hope that other families will continue to "like us" on facebook. In the fall we will be giving away tickets to a Patriots game drawing from the list of people who have taken the time to like us.
Dr. Reynolds goes to the State House. On Friday April 12, Dr. Reynolds participated in the Boston Children's Hospital Innovations in Care Symposium at the State House. One of the topics discussed was the effort of Pediatric Physician Organization at Children's (PPOC) and practices like Wareham Pediatrics in improving the delivery of Well Child Care to their patients.
YMCA/New Bedford Healthy Living Event: Free food, fun and activities; 4/27/2013 from 12-4.
11th Annual Gleason Family YMCA 5K Road Race, May 18th 9 am more info.
Returning to work for breastfeeding mothers can be a stressful and difficult time. Michelle Brodeur, one of our lactation consultants has authored an essay to address many of the common questions and concerns that parents have regarding this. To see what Michelle has to say click here.
We would like to make you aware of a new resource on our website developed by our collaborators at the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Boston Children's Hospital. Check out the Grocery Shopping List (click here) complete with meal and snack ideas to help guide you with healthy eating ideas for your family.
New obesity treatment collaboration with Boston Children's Hospital. As you may remember from previous Soundings newsletters, Wareham Pediatric Associates was chosen as the site to trial a new method of teaching people how to lose weight. The Telehealth Initiative provides the teaching available at a subspecialty clinic at Boston Children's Hospital right in your own home, by video phone calls on a computer! We are pleased to report that we have enrolled 16 kids for the Telehealth Initiative with the Optimal Weight for Life Clinic at Boston Children's Hospital. That is 1/3 of the way to our total goal! If you know of an overweight child between the ages 10-17, who is interested in losing weight and learning about healthful eating, please contact our office. To learn more about this program click here. They will get support from three of the providers at WPA every 3 months, in addition you will get the personalized help of a dietician and a behaviorist by video phone calls. The goal is to have a tailored plan that helps children lose weight and adopt a healthy lifestyle that will keep the weight off as they grow. Our current participants are very enthusiastic to have access to teaching and coaching without having to drive to Boston. We look forward to hearing from you, in case you would like one of the places in our trial!
During the first 2 years of your child's life, there are several well child appointments. One purpose of these appointments is to provide developmental screening in an effort to identify delays in the normal process of learning new skills. Many families have questions about autism, especially as it has been in the news lately. Read this article, "Is My Child Autistic? Missed Milestones that Matter" to learn more about child development. Within this article are links to several very good resources about child development.


New Old Stock from 1950! One of Eversharp's final models, this is No. 913, and features a plastic body, and steel or chrome plated filled trim. The highlight of this pen is the flexible 14k nib.
Product Name Symphony 913. This was a variation on the model 713 which featured gold trim, this version has steel or chrome trim.
Nib 14k flexible nibs. These are small sized nibs but they are appropriate to the size of the pen. See writing sample below. Select nib and color from the pulldown menu.


text:
(26.4/50 ov, target 308)89/6
live • 14th Match, Group D • YODI • Basseterre
(36/50 ov, target 237)216/2
Aust U19 need 21 runs from 14 overs.
Nip it in the bud on the field - du Plessis
3yFirdose Moonda in Durban
Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma tons set up comfortable win for South Africa
10hSaurabh Somani
South Africa's accumulator and aggressor feed off each other in match-winning partnership
1hFirdose Moonda
Shikhar Dhawan's knock underlines his value in India's ODI side
39minHemant Brar
Rassie van der Dussen: 'We stayed in the fight longer, that was the difference between us and India'
2dFirdose Moonda
Covid-19 scare in India Under-19 camp, Yash Dhull and five others forced to miss match against Ireland
2hESPNcricinfo staff
Records tumble as Maxwell's 154* gives Melbourne Stars highest BBL score
8hAAP
Stats - Glenn Maxwell and Melbourne Stars' record-breaking act
5hSampath Bandarupalli
Babar Azam, Nat Sciver named captains of ICC's men's and women's T20I teams of the year
Travis Head moves up to career-best No. 5 in Test batters' rankings after Ashes heroics
Women's Ashes: Tightrope walk for teams with 'scattered' preparations leaving them undercooked
1dAndrew McGlashan
'Calm' restored to England squad after frustrating Women's Ashes build-up
1dValkerie Baynes
Beth Mooney suffers fractured jaw ahead of Ashes
1dESPNcricinfo staff
Jess Jonassen not feeling 'any extra expectation' with Georgia Wareham and Sophie Molineux absent
Lisa Keightley: 'We'll be thinking about the World Cup throughout this Ashes'
2dAlan Gardner
New Zealand limited-overs tour of Australia postponed
16hAlex Malcolm
Graham Thorpe under scrutiny amid reports that cigar smoking caused police intervention
Ottis Gibson to take over as Yorkshire's head coach
West Indies 'batting quality not there' - Phil Simmons
21hMatt Roller
The Buzz: Maxi only as good as Stoinis?
The SA camp and former Australia batsman Simon Katich have called on match officials to play a more proactive role to ensure that tensions between the two sides don't boil over
Firdose Moonda in Durban05-Mar-2018
The South African camp and former Australia batsman Simon Katich have called on the match officials to play a more proactive role in ensuring that tensions between the two sides don't boil over and lead to incidents such as the one between David Warner and Quinton de Kock on the fourth day in Durban.
With the teams pointing fingers at the other, it will be up to the on-field umpires - Kumar Dharmasena and S Ravi - and match referee Jeff Crowe to decide if the altercation merits disciplinary action. They have until 3pm on Tuesday to do so.
"The important thing is that match referee has to step in and nip this in the bud," Katich told ESPNcricinfo. "If it is allowed to keep going on, then things are going to get out of control as we saw in the tunnel. And we don't need that look for Test cricket."
The South Africa captain Faf du Plessis had suggested earlier that Dhamarsena and Ravi should have stepped in when Warner and de Kock were exchanging words on the field, which could have prevented the argument spilling over into the stairwell as players left the field for tea.
"I heard there was a lot of personal stuff on the field already. To and from. Who started it, I don't know," du Plessis said. "If it was happening on the field, it probably should have been nipped in the bud on the field already. Umpires play a big role in that, to make sure you don't let it get to that stage. There have been a lot of games where our bowlers will get penalised, or [pick up] demerit points if you step over the line."
While nothing was broadcast on the stump mic, several sources said they heard Warner and de Kock make comments of a "personal nature" to each other. Australia captain Steven Smith claimed de Kock "got quite personal and provoked an emotional response from Davey", but insiders close to the South African camp insist it was the other way around. The suggestion from South Africa is that the umpires were aware of what was being said but can sometimes be "too intimidated by Australia," to act.
"This is where the umpires need to step in as soon as they start to hear stuff," Katich said. "We have all heard about the stump mics being turned up and everything being heard, but initially, the umpires have got to be the ones to hear this stuff and put it to rest straight away; give the warnings to the skippers and get the skippers to control it. That obviously hasn't happened, and now it is tit for tat with the teams blaming each other for who started it."
Neither side is contesting the line was crossed, something that has become frequent in their bilateral contests. Most recently, on South Africa's tour to Australia in 2016, du Plessis was the centre of a ball-tampering storm when Fox Sports published footage of him shining the ball with saliva while he had a mint in his mouth. Du Plessis was fined 100% of his match fee but received massive support from team-mates and the opposition, with Smith saying such practices were common.
Du Plessis, however, was labelled a "cheat" in the Australian press, which he said he took personally, and there was a physical altercation when he was trailed by a Channel Nine television crew on arrival in Adelaide.
While South Africa are not saying so, this is an opportunity to get their own back. The CCTV footage from Kingsmead of Warner's aggressive confrontation of de Kock was first made public by a South African publication Independent Media.
Du Plessis hoped the incident would not detract from the quality of cricket on show in Durban. "It's generally isolated incidents - it's one incident now. You expect that playing against Australia," he said. "It's competitive cricket. As long as it stays on the field, its okay."
But Smith could not guarantee there wouldn't be more sparks during the series, but hoped his players would stay within acceptable limits. "There's going to be times when people can let their emotions get the better of themselves, it's part of playing the international game and playing at such a high intensity and with everything that comes with playing international sport," he said. "I'm not going to say nothing will ever happen again, but as far as I'm concerned we've just got to try to play within the spirit of the game."
Neither Smith nor du Plessis knew whether Warner and de Kock had put the issue to bed, but the pair shook hands at the end of the match. "Quinny is fine. You don't get a reaction out of Quinton anyway most of the time," du Plessis said. "When you look at him now, it's like nothing happened."
South Africa vs Australia
AUS tour of SA
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent
Terms of UsePrivacy PolicyYour California Privacy RightsChildren's Online Privacy PolicyInterest - Based AdsDo Not Sell My Personal InformationFeedback

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Prospection Secures $45 million to Accelerate Growth of its Powerful Healthcare Insights Technology
SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Global healthcare data technology company, Prospection, has successfully raised $45 million from institutional investors in a Series B round, cornerstoned by new investor Ellerston JAADE with participation from existing shareholders Main Sequence and Horizons Ventures.
Prospection uses real world data, powering evidence to deliver better patient outcomes. Its powerful AI algorithms follow millions of de-identified patients over time to search for patterns in their health and treatment journey. Uniquely, these algorithms can ingest multiple longitudinal patient and commercial datasets globally from varied sources such as governments, insurers, healthcare providers/institutions and health records, to produce rich and accurate insights at high speed.
These datasets are turned into actionable, medical insights to help determine the best treatment plan for a patient, locate patients who would benefit from improved therapeutic decisions and be written into publishable evidence for scientific journals.
Prospection was co-founded by three friends, Eric Chung (CEO), Dr Peter Cronin (Head of Data & Partnerships) and Ricky Chen (CTO) who were inspired to stop patients being on suboptimal medicines and even being harmed because they were on the wrong medical treatment.
"Real world data tells us today 10% of patients are on treatments that are harmful and 30% of patients are wasting time or money on a suboptimal treatment. Our insights have the power to change clinical behaviour by helping doctors select the best therapy for an individual patient. This financing gives us the ability to make a bigger impact and act on a global scale. We want to put every patient on the right treatment at the right time," said CEO Eric Chung.
Prospection has a growing customer-base which includes 36 multinational companies in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and China, and has an early presence in the United Kingdom and United States. Its technology is already being used by 17 of the top 20 pharma companies worldwide. In tandem with a growing customer base, annual recurring revenue for its SaaS subscription technology is growing rapidly.
"Recognising the value and impact real world evidence could have for patients very early on, Prospection's co-founders have built a rapidly growing global Australian technology company. We are pleased to be joining them on the journey and are very excited about the growth ahead," said Ellerston JAADE Investment Director David Leslie.
"A key challenge that Main Sequence aims to solve through its investments is creating more impactful and personalised healthcare. Prospection is a key part of achieving this goal and we're thrilled to continue our support of its journey to enhance patient care and offer healthcare providers tangible insights to determine the best treatment," said Bill Bartee, Managing Partner at Main Sequence.
The new funds will be used to expand Prospection's presence in the large UK and US healthcare markets, as well as build more product capabilities and use cases, including helping healthcare providers with clinical decision support during their patient appointments.
Prospection will invest in the platform to enable even more data sets to be ingested, further strengthening its commercial moat. The growth strategy also includes broadening its existing pharma company customer-base to support healthcare payors (insurance companies, Medicare etc), governments, physicians and patients.
Founded out of Sydney's Cicada Innovations in 2012, Prospection previously raised $10 million via a Series A round in February 2020. Prior to this, the Company was self-funded.
Learn more about Prospection at www.prospection.com
Catherine Strong, Citadel-MAGNUS
cstrong@citadelmagnus.com, +61 (0)406 759 268


Generally legally limited due to concerns about privacy and safety, the practice of altering perceptions of reality to include digital information, visuals, and other artificially generated sensory stimuli, Altered Reality (AR) is nonetheless a common technology among the governmental and military elite, who use it for sorting through large volumes of information quickly. In its ability to instantly recall and display old information, save new information, and personalize information, it is often considered essential to doing many of the high-information-volume tasks facing leaders within human-settled space.The Total Immersion Systems (TIS) used to control assault mechs, tanks, interceptors, and warships are modified versions of the more pedestrian civilian AR systems–which typically involve special eye augments, glasses, or contact lenses for the interface. The TIS, on the other hand, uses a helmet that induces signals straight into the brain, making it capable of both expanding the consciousness of the pilot to encompass views in all different directions and inducing in the pilot a deep focus most humans find difficult to achieve and maintain.
In most societies, AR is–because of its susceptibility to being hacked–seen as dangerous and irresponsible except for the most state of the art users; it is even stigmatized very often. The most notable exception is New Hong Kong, where the risks are readily accepted from the top to the bottom of society. This stigma does not include TIS usage, which is usually considered something different altogether, as it has all the protections that can be accommodated in a large piece of military hardware. The limits of size make light mechs and mech-infantry more vulnerable to hacking than their totally-immersive counterparts, which contributes to those military roles being considered less safe and desirable; this is to some extent mitigated by the honor and praise lavished on the mech-infantry and light mech units of the Knights by the twin orders' leadership.
Some civilians consider this double-standard unfair and wish for greater acceptance of non-military AR, but the stigma from the years of first the UN's dominion over Sol, and then the World Councils remains. During those years the world governments very nearly mandated the use of AR, but maintained massive digital secret police bureaus to monitor altered reality usage and punish those who did not fit the ideological-purity line of the state.
Posted in Background, Lions_of_Judah, Writing.Tagged Fictional_politics, Lions_of_Judah, Writing.


text:
Photo: Looking for More Votes, Ocean County Democrats Turn to 17 Year Olds to Win Important Jersey Elections in 2018
New Jersey News/Police Blotter/The Swamp
A photo posted to the Ocean County Democrats Facebook Page.
BRICK-The Ocean County Democrat Club has taken to Facebook this week to urge their followers to go out and register their children, their neighbor's children and any child they can find to vote. This week, they posted a photo depicting their desire for young teenagers in the voting booth.
That's because Democrats at the state level are pushing for a bill, NJ A1521 to pass into law to expand their voting base.
With voter fraud under more scrutiny than ever before in Jersey, it's likely that Democrats have exhausted other measures of increasing their ranks, including registering deceased voters and illegal aliens.
Related News: Man who shot 19-year-old inside car at Christiana Mall Parking Lot Arrested
According to Bill Track, A1521 is designated as the "New Voter Empowerment Act," permits any registered voter who is 17 years of age prior to the date on which a primary election for the general election is held to vote in that primary election if the registered voter attains 18 years of age on or before the day of the next succeeding general election.
A recent enactment allows certain 17 year-olds to register to vote. P.L.2015, c.222 amended N.J.S.A.19:31-5 to provide that a person who is at least 17 years of age may register to vote if the person will be at least 18 at the time of the election. Such persons are designated in the Statewide voter registration system as temporarily ineligible to vote until their 18th birthday.
Related News: Emmy Winning New York Governor Cuomo Once Mocked Young Man Who Died of COVID-19
"Make sure you get them registered and they vote," the Democrats said. "Your kids, your nieces and nephews, your friends kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids. It matters – to us and to their future."
Democrats are making a push to flip the Jersey Shore's second, third and fourth congressional districts in November. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has tagged the three districts as key battlegrounds in the fight to reclaim Congress.
Heated Senate Race Between Bob Hugin and Robert Menendez Erupts After Federal Corruption Case Mistrial
They are also working overtime to protect the tarnished image of disgraced incumbent Senator Robert Menendez who just barely skirted a conviction on political corruption charges with a hung jury, although his alleged co-conspirator Salomon Melgen however, was convicted.
During that trial, federal prosecutors alleged Menendez engaged in prostitution during his gifted trips to the Dominican Republic. The New York Post said claims Menendez even hired underaged hookers while on holiday were given credibility by the prosecution. According to the story, "Federal prosecutors said Monday that they aren't convinced claims U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez cavorted with underage hookers."
Related News: McDowell FCI inmates plead guilty to manufacturing prison shanks
It later continued, "Three women who made the prostitution allegations later recanted and said they were paid to level the charges. Neither Melgen nor Menendez was charged with soliciting underage prostitutes."
This year, the Democrats are hoping they can convince a new generation of teenagers to go out and vote after losing major portions of their minority voting base who are faring better economically under the Trump administration.
Menendez is being challenged by Republican Bob Hugin who has called Menendez "An embarrassment" to the State of New Jersey.
Wildwood Police say unemployed fisherman, landscaper turned to dealing drugs
Overnight power outage in Toms River caused by inattentive drunk driver police say
President Trump: James Comey is a Slimeball
Jackson Police Have Busy Friday Evening with Mental Health, Drug and Intoxication Activity


The data set "Total reserves in months of imports" for Grenada contains data from the year 1977 until 2016.
Grenada is #90 in the world.
In our database there are 14,928 data sets for Grenada. Here is a selection of some more data for Grenada.


The wiki pages have been updated with new contents. This wiki is now our documentation platform and should become the main reference when working with panStamps. Beta-testers may take these documentary base to start learning concepts and procedures, but please bear in mind that this is just a starting point. The wiki will need to be improved, enriched and re-structured in order to face real questions and help our future community. Thanks in advance for your feedback!


text:
We really have to pick up our game...
By nisskid, June 7, 2012 in Motorsports
Chef why not just get 16 Adelaide locals have a mid arvo session at the old Mitsubishi factory car park? Roll in, kill it, roll out
WPN-X7 209
Car:LS1 FC vert
I know I had a discussion with a few guys a while back about renting some industrial warehouses or dock areas and running a comp that was just for shits and giggles and was for video only - in other words, have 16 cars, a few judges and lots of cameras, the guys go out and have some fun, then have a crack at a top 16 layout, keep the location a secret where possible so there aren't any hangers-on, then put it up online. I'd still love to see that happen.
just quietly. thats a pretty sweet idea.
much like the comp DC (i think) had with all their pro riders/skaters/etc not long ago. purely to film in sweet spots, doing cool/utterly insane shit.
nisskid 670
Long Member
Car:R32 4dr, C33 & A31
^ There's a few reasons Aussie proximity is lacking. Not enough practice, not enough skill, drag races off the start line (lack of respect for opponent & crowd by not putting on a show). Safety is not the factor that limits proximity, judges want to see it but don't place enough emphasis on it, and if they do then the drivers simply aren't doing it.
NOTE: Above comments are sweeping generalisations and not aimed at any specific individuals in the Aussie scene.
Been emphasising it since about 2004...the problem is that when there's too much emphasis on proximity, the chase drivers just sacrifice angle in order to get in tight, which looks equally stupid as sitting 10 car lengths back.
i'm not sure what the problem with that is? i don't see the point of 2 cars being on the track together, if they aren't close. proximity should be enforced primarily, no one in the crowd cares if the guy behind is carrying 5 degrees less angle if he is on his door. from a technical point of view, proximity is a much harder skill than holding more angle, which is often simply a result of better car setup, especially if it's mid corner angle. that's not to say don't penalise someone for less angle, but if a driver asks you, well i have a slow car compared to the guy im against, should i hang back and try and keep the same angle, or should i trim the angle and get on his door? you'd be crazy to say the first one, and you'd be naive to ask for both.
lol there's no problem with it at all until, when there's a huge mismatch in terms of skill (or horsepower), the chase driver is literally gripping the track in order to keep up. I'm not talking about just trimming a bit of angle, I'm talking about people throwing it out the window. And I was actually saying that neither result is good.
lol if it's not clear to someone that straightening and gripping the course is completely different to trimming angle, then they shouldn't be anywhere near competitive drift.
Mindset/attitude change will see miles achieved instead of millimeters.
Cant get over the "we've already tried that" attitude of the "01'ers"
I'm not sure if that was aimed at me, but the "we've tried that" comes about because we HAVE been having the same discussions for a number of years. Hell I was pushing for an Australian Drift Association, so that the future of the sport was controlled by the drivers rather than the organisers, back in 2004. If someone wants to take it on and run with it, feel free.
Reality is for me, I've hung around in drift way more than I would have liked to, and probably certainly longer than a lot of other people would have liked me to. But you newer guys need to step up and start taking some of these positions if you want to have a say. Track owners aren't going to listen to a bunch of young blokes who can't even agree amongst themselves, let alone explain it to a track owner.
Ideally, it would simply involve the community having a change in attitude, and that's very important too - but until we have dedicated drift tracks, and dedicated track management who understand drift culture, you're still going to have to dance with the devil and deal with crusty old track owners and CAMS/AASA. And that means being organised and having either a group or one person to represent everyone's views.
VicDrift are a great example of how this can work (although I'm sure they have their frustrations too!), and the new DriftSA is too.
we're now getting into an area i never wanted to discuss in here in the first place, this isn't about organisation, events or tracks, it's about driver attitude when they go out and drift, for some people it might seem hard to understand that event organisation doesn't have to play much of a role in what goes on out at the track, and the quality of drifting that takes place, but at the end of the day it's true. i'm talking about working with what we have, people whinge so much about organisation, judging, track time, etc etc, but it's really not that hard, there is a stupid amount of good drifting to be done here, people just need to go out and f**king do it.
btw, this isn't to say the organisation part doesn't need scrutiny, but this is a separate subject.
Edited June 13, 2012 by nisskid
exhibit B:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C2gedX7wSc
this is considered the peak of drift in australia at the moment...
tsurikawa. 5
***ACT Reprezent***
Car:Sileighty
Who considers it that? The guys competing in it and the general public spectating probably do but most drifters have clued onto the fact that being top 16 at a national level event does not equal top 16 in Australia.
blind_injustice 24
Mobile Virgin Conversions
Car:GM Test pilot
Dont know about you tsurikawa but at least 1/2 of those guys are 'big names' in Australian drifting in my books.
What was with that comp? Too much grip on the track and not enough of a run up to pick the speed up, or was the camber of the track making it next to impossible to throw in a big entry?
Didnt see one smooth run from the whole lot.
Simon-S14 80
Simon-S14
Track Battle / ADGP
there was a huge run up... and really no excuse. ive done that section myself and its not overly difficult.
Laundo 2
to me it looked like a mix of not enough speed and camber of the road making those who did enter big enough spin.
lol and there is the answer from someone who DOES drift and knows, Thanks Simon.
im not pretending to be perfect. but i do practice a lot of backwards entries. i dont always get ir right. would be gay if i did haha. But for some of the guys in that vid they have never attempted a backwards entry before.
Iron Chef 56
Disappointingly small member
Car:Datsun, Lancer GLi
I agree, and yet they're still there. Certainly in state comps, that's going to be fairly common at the lower end. One international judge I worked with (a while back) at a local comp said judging here is literally a matter of counting the mistakes that each driver made, then awarding the win to whoever made less. Ouch.
What you're saying is that the cultural change needs to come from those within the sport. I completely agree on that point.
all they're asking for is a big entry, something exciting, if not one of them has ever practiced pushing a car to it's limits, or doing something exciting then it's a pretty bad sign for comp drift.
unfortunately that view isn't shared by everyone, but you'll find a lot aspire to be those top 16 drivers, instead of looking around them and aspiring to the awesome driving happening around them.
you didn't need an international judge to tell you that lol, you could have picked anyone out of any crowd at a drift event and they would have happily told you haha. once again, more examples, and nothing to do with organisation, just low quality drivers without enough experience making it high in the ranks.
it sounds like what you would love to see happen here nisskid is for maybe some Japanesse drivers to tour Australia which would expose those here to the style and skill of other drivers.
I think amongst the drift community there is an instant respect towards Japanese drivers and this is probably what would help others take notice.
Bloke 92
[#1000B]
That, or at the very least pull some of these judges aside and say "This is what you should be looking for".
So over this slow and late transition shit. Transitions should be made as soon and as quickly as possible.
antonio 114
Ghetto Superstar
Im not to sure if this has been said but in this whole discussion in regards to driving and power and skill and everything in that genre..
We make the drift track layouts complicated because level of driving is not good enough.
Here is in my opinion the worlds most basic professional drift track, with Judges scoring it to an incredibly fine line there is a hard push on the drivers is to accomplish the nearly impossible.. Heres 2 videos of 2 runs both not scoring a perfect run but making a basic looking track see incredibly difficult, with the requirements being thru the roof.
Second to the above i dont believe Australian vehicles are setup correctly in comparison to Japan either after watching D1GP in person D1SL in Person sitting onboard for a stack of laps with a D1GP driver and spectating at multiple different track's around the place Australians run oversized turbos and non stop clutch kick the flow into the corner and flow out is completely different..
Back to the videos...
Video 1 - Daigo Saito - Score 94.5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMfEfBKldPA&feature=relmfu
Video 2 - D-Koh-Kae - Score 88.5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luac5xUrn0U&feature=relmfu
Edited June 14, 2012 by antonioシ
ae86hachiroku 1
Car:AE86 Trueno
Problem is majority of Australia don't understand what a proper entry is.
Quit doing scandos for every single corner. Big entry or not your never going to get the same momentum push as a single throw in will give. People don't do it because it's harder to wash off speed from that one big slide then it is to trim it from a scando transition where it's already slowed itself down from the first initiation.
For the country to get better the left arm needs to start holding onto the steering wheel instead of standby on the handbrake more often.
MeZ 20
music make this thug calm down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otr2dZQZU54
These dudes grow up to end up driving cars like these
They built up to that level. Its obvious from watching that first video and comparing it to now days their skill has increased ten fold. I mean look they arent even entering over the crest and running along side the wall.
This shit doesnt happen over night, it really is a simple formula but so many people miss the mark.
well, let's take a local example, anyone see when leg had control over the cts car? unstoppable, in any conditions, chuck simon p (no disrespect to the guy, but he didn't come from the same basic fundamentals as leg) and he struggled in harsh conditions like wet etc.
we definitely have some great examples of talent in aus, it's just sad that means 2/10 of f**k all to who gets a drive in a decent car in comps.
i say that, but it will be awesome to see leg and a few other talents at WTAC, going up against kuma and suenaga.
I think you took my post the wrong way. I'm getting at look how that competition was run. It was f**king chilled as. Then look what they build it into... 10 years later.
Australias jumping in at the top end of the scale when we havent put in the ground work.
-Corporal- 5
It's not that you cant, It's just that you dont
That's an embarrassment
nah i was more saying we have some examples of local drivers who developed the same way a lot of the d1gp drivers did, ground up.
Jimmy_HR32 12
Car:HR32 4 door
i say that, but it will be awesome to see leg and a few other talents at WTAC
f**k yeah, Leg has an awesome style can't wait to see him back into it.
Veafo 0
I think we're too concerned about the minuscule stuff here in Australia. Look at your R32, it's beaten and has damage on most (if not all) of the panels. Why? Because you just get out there and drift. Even your C33 which has a stock engine (last I read on your YouTube channel) is drifted. In Japan the attitude seems to be "here's my RWD car and there is a corner. I'm going to try to drift". In Australia it seems to be more of a "Here's my RWD car, and there's a corner. I'd try to drift, but I don't have $3,000 rims, a gigantic turbocharger, 70mm widebody kit, perfectly stanced and flushed wheels, and probably wont look AWESOMESAUCE to the girls because of that. Well, better hold off for 6 months while I get all that stuff together".
There's too much emphasis on the way the cars look, which is odd considering drifting is a sport where damage is a guarantee over a period of time. Even the Hit and Run boys (probably my top rated club for AusDrifting) has many cars undergoing repainting, fitting of new bodykits, and a new phase which is yet to be unveiled.
It's odd that everyone seems to fully appreciate a beaten drift pig, but wouldn't want to own one. I would be proud to own a beaten up pig, as it would show that I have gone out again and again to throw my car into a magical trance sideways through a corner, without concern of how I look doing it.
Anyone got any videos of this leg guy? Wouldn't mind seeing what the fuss is aboot.
(Locky) 54
Lay rail :p
Car:kouki s14
newbie knows all, but doesnt know leg
As I said in my giant rant .... Lack of track days in NSW... get bored... do stuff on car... miss only trackday in 3 months... hate life
I haven't really been involved in the Australian drift scene ever. Most of the videos I've watched were from Japan/America, and even then it's been some 3 - 4 years since I've properly immersed myself in them.
it's true about the whole "drift pigs are cool" thing, yet no one wants to actually truly own one, every now and then someone will build a "missile" which has no resemblance to a real example of a battle car/missile, but likes to be part of the image. it's to do with people's disconnection with their convictions, people are more interested in the image they portray to others rather than being comfortable in doing what they want to do. i hear it that many times, people telling me they don't give a f**k what others think, yet all that is, is another layer of image being put up, looking cool by saying they don't give a shit. irony at it's best.
oh, and leg is Leighton Fine
Ah, Leighton Fine. Yeah I know who he is. I remember when his onevia was stolen some time ago. Great drifter.
NS.com Thug 27
Car:RX-7
That's Darren Appleton bro. Hahahaha.
Go To Topic Listing Motorsports


The Fantastic 4 make a triumphant return with Marvel's next generation of heroes - four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate universe, their physical forms altered in shocking ways. Their lives changed forever, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm must harness their incredible new powers and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy, the infamous Dr. Doom.
We were sent Science Experiment Kits to help understand the new and different abilities of the Fantastic 4. Callan and his cousins were able to play and learn over the holiday break.
The Human Torch's Combustible Candles - The Human Torch has the ability to set himself on fire and remain lit through internal combustion like a candle. After lighting a candle, heat transforms the wax through three different states of matter - solid, liquid, and gas.
Mr. Fantastic's Stretchy Slime - Stretchable slime and putties are viscoelastic liquids. The liquid becomes an elastic solid due to a combination of silicon and boric acid. The bonds can be stretched, snapped, and regrouped over and over again.
The Invisible Woman's Invisible Ink - Our eyes can see visible light in a spectrum from red to violet. Fluorescent ink like the Invisible Woman is undetectable to the human eye because of its radiation is ultra-violet which is outside of the range of light we see.
The Thing's Clobberin' Candy - The Thing got his rockhard skin after being bombarded by rocks and hot chemicals like rock candy! Sugar's crystal structure works like a solute with a liquid. When the two is mixed and heated, then cooled, the sugar molecules separate from the water, sticks together, and grow into a crystal form.


text:
namespace HealthCheck
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Status of the plug-in.
    /// </summary>
    public enum PluginStatus
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// The plug-in is initializing.
        /// </summary>
        Init,

        /// <summary>
        /// The plug-in has completed initializing but has not executed.
        /// </summary>
        Idle,

        /// <summary>
        /// The plug-in is executing but has not completed.
        /// </summary>
        Executing,

        /// <summary>
        /// The plug-in failed to complete the check due to an exception that could not be handled or
        /// was unexpected.
        /// </summary>
        TaskExecutionFailure
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Remote Technologies Incorporated (RTI) and D-Tools Renew Partnership to Deliver Detailed RTI Product Information to the Entire System Integrator™ User Community
Posted by Josh Carlson | Aug 30, 2013 |
MVP Program participation makes RTI product detail available for immediate use and specification by more than 4,400 current SI users
CONCORD, CA – August 28, 2013 — D-Tools Inc., the worldwide leader in system integration software today announced that Remote Technologies Incorporated (RTI) has renewed their agreement to participate in the D-Tools MVP program. As such, detailed information about the entire family of RTI products is available in the D-Tools product database, better enabling D-Tools System Integrator™ users to specify RTI products.
"We are pleased with the results we've historically achieved through the partnership we have with D-Tools, and are thrilled that information about our award-winning control systems will be readily available to the entire D-Tools SI community," said Matt Lust, Sales Manager for RTI. "The D-Tools MVP program provides us with an exceptional platform to further extend our reach by making it easier for integrators worldwide to specify our full line of products and utilize them more often in their client engagements."
The D-Tools Manufacturer Vantage Point (MVP) program helps to provide system integrators with the most up-to-date product information to over 4,400 companies using D-Tools System Integrator software. D-Tools MVP members are dedicated to helping companies streamline the design process and making it easier for system integrators and installers to provide accurate, professional proposals to their clients.
"RTI's professional product line gives our network of SIX software users an outstanding choice of control system options for their client engagements, and provides them a significant advantage in their respective marketplaces," said Adam Stone, President and CEO of D-Tools. "We are thrilled to have them onboard as a returning MVP partner."
Remote Technologies Incorporated (RTI) is a leading control systems manufacturer offering innovative, sophisticated, and user-friendly devices for professionally installed electronic systems. The company's wide array of award winning handheld and in-wall universal controllers, central processors, audio distribution systems, and accessories are marketed exclusively through a worldwide network of professional integrators. For complete control and monitoring over electronic systems from virtually anywhere in the world, the power of RTI is available on iPhone®, iPod touch®, iPad®, and Android™ devices through the company's RTiPanel application, just as the award-winning RTI Virtual Panel program offers access and control via any PC running Microsoft® Windows®. All RTI solutions are programmed through the company's world-renowned Integration Designer® software, easily allowing dealers to provide a completely customizable user interface for intuitive command over the entire electronics system.
Founded in 1992 with a committed focus on the custom installation market, RTI offers a number of award-winning support and incentive programs to its dealers, including educational opportunities through the Advanced Control University (ACU), and the popular Control Bucks and Dealer Accommodation programs. In addition, through RTI's Integration Partner Program, the company has reached out to manufacturers across the industry to ensure that RTI products integrate seamlessly with a wide variety of components and systems.
D-Tools, founded in 1998 and based in Concord, California, is a worldwide leader in accessible, highly accurate system design and documentation software. The company's flagship product, System Integrator™ (SI), is a total design solution that utilizes Autodesk® AutoCAD and Microsoft® Visio for comprehensive system design, documentation and project management. D-Tools SI allows residential and commercial integrators to streamline their business processes to increase overall revenues while reducing the time and costs associated with the installation and integration of low-voltage systems. Over 4,400 leading companies use D-Tools software to reduce time and costs and streamline the system integration process. D-Tools is a three time recipient of the Consumer Electronics Association's Mark of Excellence Award, Commercial Integrator BEST Award (2011, 2013), multiple recipient of Custom Retailer/Technology Integrator Excite Award (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), Multi-Room Audio Video Awards – Best Installation Aid, National Systems Contractors Association, Sound and Video Contractor Innovations in Technology for Business Productivity Award and CE Pro High Impact Award for Design Software.
More information about D-Tools can be obtained by calling (866) 386-6571, e-mailing info@d-tools.com, or visiting www.d-tools.com. Follow D-Tools on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DTools and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/beatool.
Tim Bigoness
D-Tools, Inc.
timb@d-tools.com
www.d-tools.com
Katye (McGregor) Bennett
KMB Communications
katye@kmbcomm.com
www.kmbcomm.com
PreviousD-Tools Goes Mobile: We Review the Surface Pro – Part 1
NextMonitor Audio and D-Tools Renew MVP Program Partnership
D-Tools Partners with Aim High Audio
D-Tools Case Study Featuring AudioPerfection Inc.
D-Tools to Host Upcoming Regional SI User Trainings in 2017
D-Tools Manufacturer Vantage Point Product and CEDIA News for August 2010


Roland VH-12-SV 12" electronic hi hats in Silver. These were the flagship Roland hi hats a few years back before the VH-13 came out. these are in really good shape but do not come with the original box or cables. They do come with the short cable that connects the two hats, anti-rotation parts and original manual. Comes with a 30 day warranty from Edrumcenter.


text:
namespace fmi4cpp::fmi2
{

std::unique_ptr<const model_description> parse_model_description(const std::string& fileName);

}

#endif //FMI4CPP_MODELDESCRIPTIONPARSER_HPP


(BROOME COUNTY, NY) Broome County has received reports of increased overdoses over the last 3-5 days.
The Addiction Center of Broome County (ACBC), Truth Pharm and Broome Opioid Awareness Council (BOAC) will be co-hosting a Narcan Training on Saturday, January 26 from 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. at ACBC located at 447 West State Street Binghamton, NY 13901. Community members can stop by anytime from 1pm-3pm and receive a free Narcan kit. Narcan is the drug used to reverse an overdose of opioids including heroin and prescription pain pills such as morphine, codeine, methadone and Vicodin. Participants will learn about overdose prevention and how to correctly administer Narcan.
Community members can also visit their local pharmacy and use the Naloxone Co-payment Assistance Program (N-CAP), no prior prescription from a medical provider is needed. Call your pharmacy ahead to ensure availability.
Walk in hours are also available at ACBC, Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) and Truth Pharm for a Narcan kit and education. Please contact those agencies for hours.
As always we encourage those with a substance use disorder to not use alone, have a Narcan kit available and if you are on the site of an overdose call 911.


text:
US component maker suffers data leak
Adafruit, the New York City-based open-source hardware component manufacturer recently disclosed it had experienced a data leak.
The company announced that the breach took place because of a GitHub repository being viewable by the public.
In its data leak advisory, Adafruit voiced its suspicions that the incident could potentially have allowed "unauthorised access" to private information held on certain users from 2019 or before.
The New York City company is well-known for producing hardware components dating back to its origins in 2005 and now designs, makes, and sells a wide range of well-received electronics products, accessories and tools. It was founded by the American electrical engineer Limor Fried, also known by her online handle "Ladyada".
Customer data retained in ex-employee GitHub repository
On March 4, Adafruit made a statement that a GitHub repository with public access contained a collection of data that comprised information on a selection of user accounts. Such information involved included full customer names, shipping, billing and email addresses and order placement details.
According to the technology manufacturer, the data set involved contained no user passwords or financial information like payment cards, but the disclosure of order details and could potentially be used by phishing actors and spammers to single out Adafruit's customers as victims of a cybercriminal campaign.
Curiously, the leaked information did not take place from the company's own GitHub repository but one belonging to an ex-employee of Adafruit. Evidence suggest that the ex-employee was employing real customer information for data analysis and training operations in their own dedicated GitHub repository.
Actions taken following a data leak
In its recent security Notification, Adafruit commented on its actions:
"Within 15 minutes of being notified about the inadvertent disclosure, Adafruit worked with the former employee, deleted the relevant GitHub repository and the Adafruit team began the forensic process to determine what and if there was any access and what type of data was involved."
At present the New York firm is unaware of any instances where the seized information has been misused by a threat actor. Adafruit added that it is only disclosing the data leak for the purposes of accountability and transparency.
Initially, the company opted not to contact every user by email regarding the notification. It explained that while the company ensures all security breaches are always published on the Adafruit blog and site security pages, no actions are required on the behalf of users in this instance as no payment card details, or passwords were put at risk in the leaked data analysis set.
Adafruit founder and her husband and MD for the firm, Phillip Torrone, commented in a joint statement:
"We evaluated the risk and consulted with our privacy lawyers and legal experts and took the approach that we thought appropriately mitigated any issues while being open and transparent and did not believe emailing directly was helpful in this case."
However, Adafruit later revised this stance and announced it would be contacting users via email.
The company has confirmed that it is now putting additional access controls and protocols in position to avoid data exposure in the future.
One way to prevent data leaks causing damage is by encrypting the data. This means that only designated recipients will be able to actually read the data, rendering it useless to anyone else. Galaxkey's platform encrypts emails and data shared which means you're protected from data being exposed. You can contact our team to find out more.
Click here to contact us!


text:
Story Lover's Society
New Release and Review: Wait With Me by Amy Daws
March 22, 2018 / Story Lovers Society
From Buzzfeed to Babble to Scary Mommy and even network television—the most anticipated social media viral sensation is LIVE!
The story of romance writer Amy Daws' relationship with a little tire shop in South Dakota is a refreshingly fun tale that ends in an auto shop romantic comedy that you have to read!
Daws' fans have loved watching this story trend, but more importantly, they are loving this 5-star read about a couple who meet outside of a tire shop…
When romance novelist, Kate Smith, finds her long lost writing mojo in the customer waiting area of a tire store, the complimentary coffee isn't the only things that's hot. But sexy mechanic, Miles Hudson, is just up for a friendly test-drive of her new book idea.
At least, that was the agreement…
This book is so amazing on so many different levels. First it's hilarious, sweet, sexy, and has just a hint of angst. It's also a little quirky and has a healthy dose of real. It's one of those books where you will actually laugh out loud while you are reading. If you don't follow this author on any social media you will thoroughly enjoy this fun, witty book. Just know that the writing in a tire store and the pizza delivery happened in real life! If you do follow Amy Daws on social media or seen any of the stories about how this book came about, you will love this book even more. I love how these characters are so realistic. You don't get to read about many sexy, swoon-worthy mechanics. It gives me hope to find one for me next time I need an oil change. I also feel like we get a glimpse into what it's like to be an author and constantly needing inspiration. This book also touches on perceptions, stereotypes, and misconceptions others have of certain professions. I love how she knocks them all down! If you want a quick and very fun read, then definitely read this book! There are very few books I wish I could give more than 5 stars to and this one is definitely one of them.
⬇⬇⬇
Amazon US ⎢Amazon UK ⎢ Amazon CA ⎢ Amazon AU
It all began when Daws went to Tires Tires Tires to get a new set of wheels on her car. She was suffering from writer's block, but apparently the complimentary coffee and cookies cured her. So she decided to bring in cars of friends and family so she could keep writing in the magical waiting room.
Her social media musings had her fans in stitches and it wasn't long before inspiration struck again. This time…Daws was to write a sexy romantic comedy about a romance novelist who sneaks into a tire shop and gets caught by a hot mechanic. You can imagine where the love story goes from here.
Eventually, the little tire shop opened their arms to Daws, even putting her release date on their marquee sign outside.
It wasn't long before Buzzfeed got wind of it. Then Scary Mommy. Then InspireMore and several other blogs with followers well into the millions. WGN News in Chicago, Fox 10 in Phoenix and Canada Public Radio are all talking about the adorable feel good story of how inspiration can strike in the strangest of places.
Check out these fun features:
Buzzfeed ⎢InspireMore ⎢ Babble ⎢ Scary Mommy
She slaps her hand on her knee and bellows gallantly, "But you know what, Miles, you're right! I should totally find a random hookup tonight."
"Whoa, I never said anything about random."
"Well, you're doing it, so why can't I?"
I narrow my eyes. "You don't seem like the random type."
"Maybe I should be." Her eyes narrow when she leans in and whispers against my lips. "Can I tell you a secret, Miles?"
"You can tell me anything, Mercedes."
She giggles and crooks her finger for me to lean in even closer. I'm so close I can smell the faint scent of her cherry lip gloss, and it's not helping the half boner having a party in my pants.
Her lips graze my ear when she whispers, "My writing makes me horny."
I nearly choke on my beer. "I'm sorry, what?"
"My writing makes me horny." She pulls back and nods her confirmation. "I'm serious. I have a sex toy that works really well and really fast, but I miss the heat of a man, ya know?"
My eyes scrunch together, and I rub my fingers in the sockets to make sure I'm awake and hearing this all correctly. "I mean…I don't really ever miss the heat of man, so I don't think I know exactly what you're saying."
"Fine, the heat of a woman." She rolls her eyes dramatically "You know what I'm talking about. The heat."
I frown and shake my head. "You're going to have to elaborate because I think of a lot of things when I think of women, but their body temperature isn't one of them."
"You asked for it." She laughs and leans in so she's speaking low and soft and directly into my ear. "The heat of a woman is so much more than temperature. It's the soft, sensual curves of the female form. The way your fingers dig into the meat of her thighs when she's wrapped around you. Her smooth, sunken tummy when she's on her back, the delicate bumps of her ribcage when she's throwing her head back in pleasure. Tight little nipples in pillows of creamy softness. The fact that you could fold yourself around her and envelop her body almost entirely and still want more. You're saying you don't miss that kind of heat?"
I blink slowly, recovering from what just happened. Her voice was a sensual, verbal caress straight on my cock. Then there was the warm heat of her breath on my ear. The deep husk of her tone. The way her warm palm rests softly on my thigh.
Fucking hell.
Amy Daws is an Amazon Top 100 bestselling author of the Harris Brothers Series and is most known for her punny, footy-playing, British playboys. The Harris Brothers and her London Lovers Series fuel her passion for all things London. When Amy's not writing, she's watching Gilmore Girls or singing karaoke in the living room with her daughter while Daddy awkward-smiles from a distance.
For more of Amy's work check out her social media links below or visit: http://www.amydawsauthor.com
Website/Newsletter: http://www.amydawsauthor.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/amydawsauthor
Facebook Fan Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/728136307274712/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amydawsauthor
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/amydawsauthor
Book and Main: https://bookandmainbites.com/amydaws
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/amy-daws
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/amydawsauthor/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/amydaws
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/amydawsauthor
Must Read, New Release, Reviews
← New Release: Wanderlust by Lauren Blakely
New Release and Review: Bad Boys After Dark: Brett by Melissa Foster →
New Release and Review: Escape with Me by Kristen Proby
New Release and Review: Not the Marrying Kind by Kathryn Nolan
New Release and Review: The Hot Mess and the Heartthrob by Pippa Grant
New Release and Review: Reputation by Adriana Locke
New Release and Review: The Relationship Pact by Adriana Locke


Travis Vandell, co-founder and CEO of UpShot Services, was named the winner of the Service Provider category during M&A Advisor's 5th annual 40 Under 40 Recognition Awards.
BDA announced that Justine Mannering, BDA managing director in New York, was named one of The M&A Advisor's 2013 "40 Under 40" for achieving significant success in the M&A industry while under the age of 40.
Dresner Partners' SVP Paul Hoffman has been named one of M&A Advisor's "40 Under 40" for 2013. During his 14-year career, Hoffman has closed transactions with a total value exceeding $7 billion.
FTI Consulting announced that two of its professionals, Brian Kennedy and Jason Abbott, were among the list of industry leaders honored with The M&A Advisor's 4th Annual 40 Under 40 recognition.
The M&A Advisor announced the winners of the 4th Annual 40 Under 40 Recognition Awards in the Dealmaker, Legal Advisor and Service Provider categories. The winners will be honored at an awards gala in October.


text:
paulfchristiano comments on Informed oversight through an entropy-maximization objective
paulfchristiano 5 Mar 2016 4:33 UTC
I like the idea of adding in additional constraints.
I think it is complicated a lot by the boundedness of the agent—finding the actual optimum will naturally be intractable, so the question is what it looks like to imperfectly optimize this objective. I'm not sure it does what we want (in the toy model from my post, I think that you may just end up with O(zxx) for a random z).
But I think the most fundamental difficulty is approximating the entropy during training.
One approach is to train a second model to estimate the density of d, and then use the density estimates to compute the payoff −log(d(y)). But this actually won't work here, for precisely the same reason that providing oversight is so hard. Our model for estimating the density of d also can't tell the difference between the good actions and the bad actions, even if d is exclusively outputting bad actions, and so can't actually penalize d for outputting a bad action (unless it also penalizes d for outputting a good action).
As far as I can tell, most approaches to training d run into this problem in one form or another.
paulfchristiano 19 Mar 2016 20:19 UTC
AFParent
finding the actual optimum will naturally be intractable, so the question is what it looks like to imperfectly optimize this objective
Actually even getting the actual optimum doesn't seem to really address the problem.
You are then OK if the unintended solutions are rare. But it's easy to imagine cases where they are dense (e.g. where good plans are highly constrained, but plans with a subtle bug in one step have lots of degrees of freedom in the other steps).
So at a minimum it seems like this will only address some cases, or would require some additional analysis.
jessicata 21 Mar 2016 1:08 UTC
This seems correct. While an approach like this could isolate one particular distribution over solutions to the problem as the optimal one, you also have to engineer the problem such that this distribution over solutions is desirable.
jessicata 5 Mar 2016 5:29 UTC
I propose training d using something like this:
Suppose d is outputting a binary string of length n. Then it starts by outputting a probability. The first bit gets sampled using this probability. The agent is told this bit, and then it outputs the probability for the next bit. Then the second bit gets sampled using this probability. And so on, until n bits are output. Now it's easy to estimate the entropy of d.
Perhaps outputting the distribution over strings bit-by-bit like this is difficult. But there are other ways of representing distributions that allows sampling from them and estimating their entropy. Consider the following algebraic data type, meant to represent distributions:
data Distr a where
Unit :: Distr ()
Flip :: Double -> Distr Bool
InvFmap :: (a <-> b) -> Distr a -> Distr b
Samp :: (a -> Distr b) -> Distr a -> Distr (a, b)
Unit is a delta distribution on (); Flip flips a coin with a certain probability; InvFmap composes a distribution with an invertible function (which could be represented as a pair of functions f and g; to run the invertible function on an input x, take f(x) and make sure that g(f(x))=x or else throw an error); Samp is similar to the monadic bind >>= but keeps the original sample of a around; a sample from Samp f a is (x, y) where x∼a and y∼f(x). The intention is to have everything be fully reversible, so there is no way to throw away information.
(note that it's also possible to have Unsamp :: (a -> Distr b) -> Distr (a, b) -> Distr a, intended as an inverse of Samp; I can give more details if you're interested).
How do you estimate the entropy of this distribution?
If you want to force the computation to end up with no garbage, then this significantly restricts the range of functions you compute, since the sampling process was invertible. In particular, they need to be functions such that you can compute the agent's entire computation history only given the output, which feels like a restriction that may be dodging the hard cases of the informed oversight problem.
If you allow the agent to end up with garbage, then you can calculate the probability of that particular garbage+outputs, but the entropy of that distribution will be unboundedly larger than the entropy of the distribution over outputs.
The approach I have in mind is (roughly) to let the agent output some number of bits of garbage, but penalize for the number of bits of garbage (so generating additional uniformly random garbage doesn't make a difference to the score). I think this can be done using autoencoders (use layer n+1 to compress layer n into a small number of bits of garbage). It's not clear whether this approach is practical for complex agents, though.
paulfchristiano 21 Mar 2016 1:37 UTC
In the OWF example, the garbage is necessarily low-entropy though (at least k bits short on entropy, where k is the size of advice needed to invert the OWF). Right?
Yes, that seems right. So this won't work for that example.
Additional note: I think you can implement the approach I sketched (which I'm calling "reversible probabilistic programming") using autoencoders. Represent each layer of the autoencoder by a single-layer neural net f : a -> Distr b and approximate inverse g : b -> Distr a. Given a distribution for the previous layer x : Distr a, get the distribution for the next layer by taking Unsamp g (InvFmap (\(x, y) -> (y, x)) (Samp f x)) :: Distr b. Compose a lot of these together to get a multi-layer generative model. This seems simple enough that there's probably a simple more direct way to estimate the entropy of a generative model represented by an autoencoder.
(actually, I think this might not work, because the inverses won't be very accurate, but maybe something like this works?)


Defining Features: Pump angled forward, Grey pump handle and valve lever.
9 Click here to enquire about this part.
10 Click here to enquire about this part.
11 Click here to enquire about this part.
12 Click here to enquire about this part.
13 Click here to enquire about this part.
14 Click here to enquire about this part.
15 Click here to enquire about this part.
19 Click here to enquire about this part.
20 Click here to enquire about this part.
22 Click here to enquire about this part.
23 Click here to enquire about this part.
24 Click here to enquire about this part.
25 Click here to enquire about this part.
26 Click here to enquire about this part.
27 Click here to enquire about this part.
28 Click here to enquire about this part.
31 Click here to enquire about this part.
35 Click here to enquire about this part.