Introduction: What is the main promise, obstacle, and solution of the paper, at the level that you address it? I.e. don't tell me that cats would be better off if their owners could only be more subservient (promise), cat owners don't know what their cats want from them (obstacle) and we contribute a tool that helps cats and cat owners communicate (solution). In addition to being too high level, the promise and the obstacle don't even entirely match up. Instead, tell me the specific communication problem you are probably working on (such as cats needing their litter box cleaned right away being fastidious), the specific obstacle (owners tend to place it where they can't smell it) and the specific solution (a litter box smell sensor smart phone app?). Then generalize (this is an instance of better cat/owner communication etc etc). I've only been a cat owner for less than a year, so those of you who know cats better can probably think of a better example :).
Section structure: Every section needs some sort of story, which you should lay out in an overview paragraph (if you feel your text is redundant, fix that later, first get the goals down in overview form). Then there's the section meat, and hopefully something at the end about what we learned. Not all that dissimilar from the whole paper. Every paragraph needs the same thing. Something along the lines of why the paragraph exists (i.e. a topic sentence that ties to the rest of the section in some way), the meat, and then an ending (what we learned). Again, redundancy is better at first and then you can streamline.
Related work: Each related work paragraph should start with a topic statement explaining what it is about (presumably with respect to those topics since you have established them as important). If there are other things you cover in related work, explain what they are and why you cover them in the paragraph where you touch on them. You might also try to end each related work paragraph with a summary sentence that restates the major benefit and open questions left by the work you just described. This should not be about your research, just about the gaps that are present.
Vocabulary: Papers often have jargon in them. For those of you who have a tendency to use too much jargon, pick a small number of new terms you will use, introduce them, and then use them consistently. For those of you who have a tendency to use too little jargon (i.e., if you find yourself saying 'our model' even when there are three different ones in your paper), follow the same advice :).
Keep a list of your writing quirks, whatever they are, as your editors uncover them for you. Inconsistent use of -? Lack of italics on latin? Forget to check that your reference program didn't introduce errors? Excess word phrases such as 'in order to'? When you get comments about wording, spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and formatting add them to a hit list of things you spend 10 minutes checking before you send out each draft (and especially before you submit!). This will make life much easier for your reviewers.
Cutting … that should probably be a whole separate post. Just remember that more concise writing is usually better writing, so you almost always should cut words before content.
Niggles: I always assume that if I have a niggle, so will my reviewers (kind of how if one student asks something in class, probably others have the same question). So if you have a niggle of a doubt about anything, add a comment to your paper, or try to address it, or talk it over with someone.
I'm sure I will have more, but this is a start (and feel free to add your own ideas in the comments).
I spent most of yesterday trekking through the jungle at Ananthagiri Hills with about ten people from the GHACand my two children. In between climbing old-creek beds off-trail, hiking through fields of torturous thorny grasses, telling stories to keep the kids happy and uncomplaining, and looking for and at stones, bees nests, peacock feathers, and even one scorpion, I found myself ruminating about the many relationships I and those around me have to the jungle here.
My friends and neighbors view even the small patches of jungle (Hindi for "forest") near my quarters as dangerous and not to be entered. When the children play there, a neighbor calls me warning of snakes. The children and adults do not enter the forest. When I invite them to learn more about snakes (through the GHAC's collaboration with the "Snake Sense" organization), the children jump at a chance to join me, but the adults will not accompany them. I must request permission to bring 5 children along with me, with no other supervisors. The event, associated with India's wonderful "Children's Day" holiday turns out to include a hike. We trek up and down a local hill, slide down a crack between boulders, challenge ourselves to pass along the edge of a large, highly angled stone, climb a tree. The children with me alternate between fear and enchantment, feelings of prowess and worries of inadequacy. At the end, each child receives a first aid kit and a reminder that they gain much from pushing their limits. Will they keep their adventurous nature?
Clearly, the GHAC views the jungle as a place for fun, adventure, exercise, and comradeship. On our hike yesterday, we launched ourselves from the edge of a hill up a mountainside through brush, thorns, and rocks. In contrast to my neighbors, concerns about snakes were not prominent. Indeed, from what I learned at snake sense, a dangerous encounter is unlikely (and likely to be precipitated in part by a lack of sense). The excitement of discovery, and the challenge of hiking these non-trails sustains my children through the beginning of the hike. As they begin to tire, I begin to notice that many trails snake through the woods and fields and across or along our path. Soon we are passed by herders walking their cattle down the trails. White birds fly among the cattle clearly benefiting from their presence. To these herders, the jungle and fields are not adventure but home and land. We continue on our way, unremarkable to those who share the space with us. Eventually, as we return, we pass the only "wildlife" we've seen besides a single scorpion: A lost goat bleating for its pack, unaccompanied.
At home, just down the road from our quarters, the workers who are helping with the campus expansion enter the forest frequently, it is their bathroom, washroom, and perhaps more. Behind the residence, the local organic farm is engaged in transforming parts of the forest into food. The forest sounds, smells and sights reflect these activities. It is clearly lived in, not just because of the trails that run through it and the plants that grow in it, but also because of the pervasive presence of garbage. In contrast, during our hike, garbage was rarely sighted: Those living on the land preserved its cleanliness. Why, I wonder? Fewer people? Different lifestyles? Perhaps a sense of environmentality that grows from using and being responsible for the land, benefiting from its preservation ?
At the end of our hike, we traveled to a local lake to relax, cool off and play. We share the surrounding coastline with those who simply live there and other visitors, but we have managed to find a corner of the lake that only one other person, a man chopping wood. The adults in our troupe of adventurers spend hours sharing food and playing in the water. We have brought no toys, boats, or other equipment. A half-full water bottle doubles as a ball for a while, then the play turns to tag. Meanwhile my son repeatedly splashes at those he knows will react by chasing him, throwing him into the water. I am struck by the sense of playfulness and community among this group of strangers who have just met and spent the day together. I think an american crowd might have more quickly run out of things to do, perhaps splashing, then splitting off into small groups swimming. I can't remember the last time I saw adults playing tag.
At the end I am left with a question: What creates these different relationships to the jungle, and how might they change? Agarwal's paper describes a particular transformation in one community's relationship to the Jungle. From viewing the forest as something that must, by necessity, be pillaged (and that is big enough to take it), one informant says "We protect our forests better than government can… For us, it is life… Just think of all the things we get from forests. If we don't safeguard the forest, who else will?" [1, p. 2]. After presenting this initial transformation, Agarwal spends much of the rest of his article deconstructing its genesis in the varied regulatory structures and enforcement mechanisms put into place in the decade over which the transformation takes place. He argues for the role of "intimate governance", rather than "government at a distance", in creating environmentality. What is promising about the specific success he observed is the way in which it "led to a cascade of changes in institutional, political, and social domains connected to the idea of community" [1, p. 21].
While my observations lack the scale or depth of Agarwals, it seems likely that the different relationships, ownership, and upbringings I observed also have a direct impact on the preservation and use of the forest. Given the interdependency of these factors, as well as the impact of relationships among stakeholders, community attitudes and identity (e.g., ), lasting behavior change seems unlikely without multi-faceted, multi-level solutions1.
1I have argued elsewhere that there are multiple reasons to consider multi-level, scalable projects that engage with governments, organizations and individuals in sustainability research (and, as an aside, that much of the research we do now on sustainable HCI may be lack valid motivations). The analysis here seems to provide additional evidence for the need to think more broadly about the work we do.
 Agarwal, A. (2005). Environmentality: Community, intimate governance, and the making of environmental subjects in Kumaon, India. Current Anthropology, 46(2).
 T.Dillahunt, J. Mankoff, E. Paulos. Understanding Conflict Between Landlords and Tenants: Implications for Energy Sensing and Feedback. In Proceedings of Ubicomp 2010.
I have been reading up on the discipline of futurism, which academically speaking provides methodological hints for exploring what may happen in the future. One of those approaches, monitoring, and in particular environmental scanning (looking for signs or indicators in large volumes of relevant information) can be of value .
Inspired by that and the work of Dourish & Bell in "Reading science fiction alongside ubiquitous computing," I have begun to work my way through a collection of science fiction, science, and non-fiction books that look forward into the future with respect to climate change. In choosing books, I explored a combination of indie fiction, activist monologues, mainstream science fiction, and scientific writing. In reading these books, I am particularly focusing on how they portray science (or what they say about it) and its interaction with other trends.
I have not had time to read many of the books I've found yet, but I have started on a few: Forty Signs of Rain (Robinson) depicts scientists at the NSF in the near future as they try to rethink the role of the organization as the climate reaches a tipping point; The Ultimate Choice (Hinsley) depicts a society in which population growth has eaten up the land needed to grow food and the government is forced to watch its people slowly starve or take more drastic measures; Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution (Rheingold) discusses the interaction between technology and the social nature of human society (but has only one paragraph that mentions climate change); The Windup Girl (Bacigalupi) portrays a world already changed for the worse by genetic engineering but relatively untouched by climate change; Flood (Baxter) posits a world that is slowly drowning in oceans rising at an exponentially increasing weight (non-anthropogenic climate change).
Some of these are books I just happened to read recently for pleasure or research while others were selected specifically for this project. All of them take very different perspectives on what may happen with the climate, and equally different perspectives on technology. For example, Robinson's book is set in a future whose technologies are exactly those of today, while Hinsley posits an Orwellian society in which most citizens are lucky to have food and a map is a technological luxury. Television, of course still exists, but only the state has modern technologies (and they, again, match todays). In Rheingold's book, the purpose is to explore cutting edge technology; the role of applications, and their interaction with culture and society society (specifically how to avoid threats to liberty, dignity, and quality of life while enabling tho promise of these technologies). Bacigalupi creates a rich portrayal of a world whose technological innovations are new engineered species (semi-human and others) that are at times indistinguishable from (or competitive with) existing species. In Baxter's world, technology is more prominent than in the other books, despite the fact that technological innovation has (almost) halted (after the creation of the ultimate music player, one which connects almost magically with the brain, without cords) due to the focus on surviving the disastrous consequences of the unstoppable flood. The most prominent technology in the novel is a 3d projection system that can render the earth and illustrate the coming catastrophe. Perhaps equally important is the solar powered mobile phones that allow climate scientists to "convene" virtually once each year as they pay witness to the disastrous flood overtaking the earth.
 Bell, W. (2003). Foundations of Futures Studies: Human science for a new era: History purposes and knowledge (Volume 1). Transaction Publishers.
 Dourish, P. & Bell, G. (2008). 'Resistance is Futile': Reading Science Fiction Alongside Ubiquitous Computing. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. In Press.
I am in Delhi for the week (mostly with family obligations), but I was able to sneak away for a few hours this afternoon (less time than I hoped) to visit the Center for the Study of Developing Societies, also home to innovative programs likeSarai and IM4Change.
I have been trying to get in touch with them for a few weeks, ever since a collaborator recommended I visit, and it was well worth the trip. I knew about their Hindawi project (which was one of the first attempts to localize the computer experience (specifically, RedHat, because open source meant possible to modify), and that they have a library of social science research.
When I got off the Delhi Metro and walked to their building, I found myself in a quiet area of Delhi. The complex is unassuming and not very guarded (how different from the experience of visiting more high-tech offices). I simply walked in and was taken quickly to the office of the one person I knew a name for, Mr. Ravikant (from the Sarai program). We had an interesting conversation about the Hindawi project and his studies of movies in Indian society, and then I headed off to the library.
The library is about 6 rooms packed with books, and when I arrived also hosted an art exhibit that took over much of the main room (and cut it in half, literally, via a diagonally placed window pane). Despite the whimsy of the room-sized exhibit, the mood in the room was rather serious. The library was run by an older man working on his PhD who pointed me at the room where I might find books on health and sustainability. I had less than an hour to explore it, so I moved quickly to pick out the most relevant books. I came downstairs, arms loaded, and was greeted by a frown and the information that I should be only picking up 4-5 books at a time. Undaunted, I started working my way through my finds only to learn 30 minutes later that the library was closing 15 minutes earlier than advertised.
In the end, I had time only to write down the references for the most interesting books, skim 2 or 3 of them, copy a few quotes, snap photos of a few pages, and so on. The collection was truly unique, with many books published in India or even self-published. I fear I will not be able to find many of these anywhere else. I end this post with a smattering of what I found.
After leaving the library, I ended up walking home beside a member of CSDS who works on media and journalism. His work attempts to translate information needed to improve the accuracy of indian journalism, and we had a long and interesting conversation about localization and stereotypes during my metro ride home (we overlapped for quite a ways). We had a very interesting conversation about his work on IM4Change and indian society overall. We talked about the difficulties I am having in developing an intuition for "india" and the fact that one reason for this is the diversity of who india is and where it is going — this requires a form of localized thinking that echoes the need to think at the individual level in assistive technology. It is not easy to hold on to both the specifics of one environment/context and also the generalities of a whole (and very diverse) set of societies/country. One interesting insight I gained from the conversation is to think about in what ways (and how universally) scarcity defines Indians. Overall, the visit was a reminder that I need to further immerse myself in Indian culture, especially rural culture, if I am to have anything useful to say about those settings. As we've learned in HCI, each user is unique. Similarly, in India, each locality is unique (there are 17 languages and over 800 dialects here, just to give a sense of the diversity of different regions across India). While good HCI eventually comes to conclusions that can generalize across users, it is often very effective to first get to know specific users very well. This becomes even more important when the user is foreign to the designer. I don't know if I'll get there in my short time here, but at least I have a sense of the road I need to travel now.
ML Dantwala (1996). Dillema's of Growth: The Indian Experience. Sage publications: Looked at agricultural policy; rural development. one chapter concerned with the adoption of high yield seeds.
Mahmood Mamdani (1972) The Myth of Population Control: Family, Caste and Class in an Indian Village. Monthly Review Press, New York.
B. K. Pradhan, M. R. Saluja, S. K. Singh. Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for India: Concepts, Construction and Applications. Sage Publications, New Delhi. Detailed modeling (input out put, and SAM ) for workers in india, exploring gender differences, etc.
Forests, Environment and tribal economy. Deforestation, impoverishment, and marginalisation in orissa. W. Farnandes, G. Menon, P. Viegas. Indian social institute, tribes of india series. 1988. Looks at tribes and forests. Tribal traditions, causes of deforestation, consequences, official solutions (10) devolpemnt progammes and people's solutions (11). Complements agarwal?
Human Development Report Uttar Pradesh — Lots of status on health spending & so on. Get the same for AP?
Tribal Health: Socio-Cultural Dimensions (1986). Edited Buddhadeb Chaudhuri. Inter-India Publications, New Delhi: Goes into great depth about medical anthropology in india. has a whole section on interaction of traditional and modern medical practices. Ch. 26 (p. 311- 321) deals specifically with the conflict between traditional medicine and a western program that was implemented, and how these interacted. "This study depicts the failure of state government health programs in motivating the Santals, whereas the health programs initiated through Sriniketan influenced the Santals in a positive way" (no surprise here!). In general the chapters in this book are short.
Sheila Zurbrigg (1984) Rakku's Story: Structures of ill-health and the source of change. Printed by George Joseph, on behalf of the author! She is a canadian doctor. Sems to be an ethnography, very interesting if I can get it. Available from Centre fro social action, gundappa BLock, 64 Peme Gowda Rd. Bangalore, 560 006 or Sheila Zurbrigg, 1120 the parkway, london, ontario, n6a 2×3 canada. Talks about the medical model of health and the fact that social factors (food distribution & access for example) have much more impact on overall health than individual disease, and in fact were responsible for improvements in world health before the germ model was even developed.
Om Parkash Sharma (2000). Rural Health and Medical Care in India (A sociological Study). Manak Publications Study of the "modern healthcare system" in india, focuses on Uttar Pradesh.
J. P. Naik (1977). An alternative system of health care service in india: Some proposals. Allied Publishers Private Limited.
Meera Chatterjee, 1988. Implementing health policy. Manohar, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Policy focused. Looks at community participation in health care (chapter 5) and the role of the private voluntary health sector (6) spreading primary health technology (7). Life without food? (8).
Ecology, Politics & Violent Conflict. Mohamed Suliman (Ed). ZED Books, 1998. International perspective on conflict driven by environmental issues.
Isomäki (r.) and Gandhi (m.) (2004). The book of trees. Other India Press. Global look at trees, written and published in india. seems more manual than introspection.
The stable owner where we ride each morning invited us to watch a Polo game. At the end of the game, a complete stranger came up to us and handed each of us a bag of chips and a box of mango juice, left over from what a student group at the same game had been given.
I forgot to bring any cash with me when I left for the game, in a rush, with a sleeping daughter in arms. When I exclaimed aloud about this without thinking, a passenger in the car, whom I barely knew offered me 1000 rupees with the vague notion that I would see him in the next day or so to pay him back.
The GHAC members we have meet invariably show the kids with snacks and candy and requests for photos. When we finally organized the cleanup of our local playground that the kids have been requesting since our hike to Ananthagiri hills, one GHAC organizer offered to attend and bring the leadership of GHAC with him to help. We assured him this was not necessary, but he and others at GHAC helped me to find gloves appropriate for picking up broken glass, and were generally supportive of me and full of praise and support for the kids in doing the cleanup.
Other families in the block have offered to watch the kids, include them regularly in happenings such as Pujas (as well as myself), and generally made us feel completely at home and as though we'd lived here for a long time already.
The staff at IIIT have worked hard to meet our every need, often coming to our flat to bring things to us if we were not able to come right away to their offices.
I'm sure if I stopped to think about this I could come up with many more examples, including many from our time at RGUKT, others from my interactions with the GHAC and Hyderabad Polo and Riding Club, and more. But my goal is not to document every example. Rather, it is to take note of how nice it feels to know that a neighbor is a friend, how friendly it feels to help and be helped by those around us, and how open and open hearted a society I find myself in.
For the most part I believe I am adjusting well to these differences, both as one who can give and as one who accepts help and affection from those around me. I want to adapt to this new way of doing things and hope to bring some of it back with me. However there is one thing that I find most difficult to change: One of my friends here asked me very nicely to please stop saying "Thank you." It makes her uncomfortable, and is abnormal to say it so often.
Each time I am touched or surprised by the givingness of people around me, calling it out and thanking them for it is my instinctual reaction. However, it is culturally awkward to do so (and perhaps would seem less necessary if it seemed more normal to me to be surrounded by such giving). So I will try to adapt, though I fear I could step wrongly in the other direction (or that I will simply find this change too hard). But allow me an indulgence, here on this blog, one that may help me to rein myself in later: Thank you, to everyone I meet here, for being who you are and doing what you do.
*I am not claiming that there is nothing negative here. For sure, we have been asked for money (beyond simple borrowing), stolen from, and beggars are also common. However, the overwhelming feeling is that of a positive, giving environment in which far more people reach out to help each other than the reverse.
*Photo credit: All photos by GHAC. Thanks for sharing!
I have been hoping for an opportunity to join the Greater Hyderabad Adventure Club (GHAC) on an outing ever since I discovered them two weeks ago. They have meetups ranging from local bird watching to multi-day trips that all seem exciting and fascinating. Today I finally was able to follow through. The meetup was slightly later than the usual 6:30 meeting time, and on a weekend when the kids were free. Equally important, the kids were excited: It involved both a hike and a chance to do something for mother earth (pick up litter). Both kids have been asking about volunteering recently and how children can be involved, and my son seems especially intrigued by the concept. Both children were very excited when I told them about the meetup, so we signed up. The day began with an alarm clock, a little horlicks (ovaltine) and a long wait at a local bakery after we were dropped off. Luckily, new friends showed up shortly and introduced themselves — both were as new to GHAC as us, and very friendly. Good thing too, as the usual hurry & wait of travel set in. Once we were settled in the bus, we were surrounded by friendly faces, many of whom offered the children food and drink as we drove. The GHAC is an organization that started three years ago. Because of the special nature of this trek (cleaning up), there were many folks involved who had helped found it or been involved for some time. Most other events have two organizers (a leader, and someone to mop up the crowed at the back end), who have been extensively trained in safety, outdoor survival knowledge, and so on, and are limited in size to a manageable number of folks accompanying those leaders (around 15 maximum). The club started small, but about a year ago began growing dramatically and now has over 5000 members, only about 100 of which are trained leaders. As a result, most meetups book up very very quickly after they are announced, even though there are many each week. This meetup, again unusual in nature, had no limit. In fact, a group of about 30 college students met us there and helped tremendously with the cleanup. After a quick stop for Idli and other breakfast yummies, and a long drive, we finally arrived at the temple marking the start of our walk. We headed down a set of steps into a valley near the temple and began picking up garbage.
The GHAC leaders helped to organize us (and the students when they arrived a few minutes later), provided special gloves and facemasks to anyone who wanted them, provided garbage bags, and generally kept things moving. The kids documented what we did with videos and photos, and had a great time exploring the forest. We helped make sure they avoided any spiders and snakes. The kids were far too noisy for me to worry much about the bears, boars, and other animals that live in the surrounding forest. I did run into one spider web myself, and discovered a VERY large spider walking down my neck a few minutes later. After seeing me doing a bit of a dance, someone suggested I just hold still and calmly grabbed its silk and moved it. Wish I'd had the presence of mind to think of that myself! It was BIG, though.
After ... the litter is in bags now instead of on the ground. In the background are most of the many college students who helped us.
Although we didn't spend much time touring, the organizers were kind enough to take us around a bit. We were surrounded by the constant sound of birdsong, and drank in the beauty of the surrounding forest while trying to ignore the litter that hadn't yet been cleaned up. Most beautiful of all to me was the eucalyptus grove. We did try to look for birds, but we heard them far more than we saw them. Instead, we saw boar tracks, a toad, a very large spider, and many kinds of plants. The organizers of the event did a great job of using it to educate as well as clean up. After the main cleanup, we piled the bags high and joined in a circle to pledge to protect the earth.
Next, we piled back into buses and traveled on to a beautiful overlook, where we discovered more litter. This time, we were able to gather more than half as much litter in 10 minutes (there was a lot, all in the same area) as we had in 3 hours before. The kids delighted in taking on the role of time keeper as we cleaned.
The event ended, after lunch and relaxation at the hill station's main resort hotel, with a long ride back to Hyderabad. This was a chance to talk and make friends with the wonderful group of people who helped the cleanup to happen. The children were playful, as were the grownups and we shared a great deal of laughter during the long drive home.
When we finally got back to our flat, it was long past dark. After a quick snack, I put the children to bed. When we stopped as usual to make wishes and thanks, the importance of an event like this was made abundantly clear. My children had absorbed its meaning far more deeply than I had imagined. Both children talked about how bad litter and plastic were. My son wanted to organize a cleanup of the play area near our flat that all the children use. My daughter planned to invent a special device the fairies could use to tell everyone on earth never to litter again. However, after finding out that plastic takes a long time to degrade, she wanted my reassurance that we would not gather the litter up simply to throw it in a landfill where it would continue to bother mother earth. Her fairies, she told us, needed material to make there houses, and couldn't we use the plastic for that and other projects?
Despite the joys of the day, there was one thing about the event that concerned me. My son refused to take an oath to help the earth when others did. Later, as he went to sleep, he asked me how he could possibly make up for all the bad things he does to mother earth (especially driving so much). It breaks my heart to think that by letting the kids know when we decide to take a train instead of fly, or bike instead of drive, I may have led my son to feel he was doing so much bad that he couldn't promise to help her. Perhaps I should never have done more than show the kids how beautiful the earth is at this age, letting the rest come when they were ready. For sure, striking the best balance is difficult.
Since I can't undo what's been done (and I'm not sure I know a way to describe the choices we've made in the past that's truthful without creating guilt), I tried instead to explain that the impact of what we did today was far greater than the garbage we picked up: If what we did ensures that the students and others who attend never litter again, or stops other visitors from littering, we've saved lifetimes of garbage from being thrown out. That sort of impact is bigger than any one person.
So my hope for my son (and all of us) is that we can again and again create the kind of waves that today's event did. If that happens enough, if enough people create waves, perhaps each of us can "make up" for the negatives inherent in today's lifestyle, or better yet change lifestyle and culture enough that living on this earth is once again a shared act of creation rather than destruction.


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HomeFeaturesClassic Clips – The Highwomen "The Chain", The Howard Stern Show, 2019
Classic Clips – The Highwomen "The Chain", The Howard Stern Show, 2019
November 26, 2021 Rick Bayles Features 0
The Highwomen came about following a conversation Amanda Shires had with producer Dave Cobb, during the making of her 2016 album 'My Piece of Land'. She thought of creating a female 'supergroup' in homage to the famous Highwaymen; Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, but also to raise the profile of women in country music and to get more radio play for female country artists. Cobb thought the idea had potential and introduced Shires to Brandi Carlile, who liked the idea and helped to take it forward. Maren Morris became the third member and, while the original idea was to leave the fourth spot open for a changing roster of guest musicians, a meeting with singer/songwriter Natalie Hemby convinced the other three that she was the final member they were looking for. It's a powerful combination as this great clip shows. Backed up by members of Carlile's band and Shire's husband, Jason Isbell, this clip was taken from a recording done for the Howard Stern Show and shows the beauty of their four part harmonies as well as the strength of each band members own voice.
'The Chain' is one of the songs from the classic Fleetwood Mac album 'Rumours' and is unusual in that its writing is credited to the whole band. It has become something of a theme song for Fleetwood Mac and is often used to open their live shows, so covering it is a brave move for any band. The Highwomen not only do a great job on their version, but they manage to give it their own twist and put a very distinctive stamp on it. Although this clip is barely two years old it has already become something of a classic, with The Highwomen's harmonies steadily building the song to a great climax and Shires' inspired fiddle playing all but eclipsing Lindsay Buckingham's guitar solo on the original version.
Amanda Shires
The Highwomen
About Rick Bayles	227 Articles
Now living the life of a political émigré in rural France and dreaming of the day I'll be able to sing those Cajun lyrics with an authentic accent!
Unsung Heroes of Americana – Glitterhouse Records
Jingle Bell Friday – what, we stayed up all night and still didn't get a delivery slot?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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In Elverta, CA, there are some things to be familiar with if you are thinking about a dumpster rental. Naturally, you may be unclear about how to rent a dumpster if you have never done so before. However, when you get your dumpster from 1 Stop Dumpster Rental, the experience will be incredibly easy.
You only need to call 888-279-5557 and acquire your quote for the dumpster dimensions you require. The roll-off dumpster will be sent to your site at the specific time you asked for and it will be picked up when you request. It involves no complex procedures, just a phone call.
You may want to know why one would plan to rent a dumpster in Elverta, CA.
To eliminate a lot of debris at your site, you will need a dumpster leasing unit. To have your debris removed, call 1 Stop Dumpster Rental at 888-279-5557.
At 1 Stop Dumpster Rental, the steps of renting a dumpster in Elverta, CA will be simplified.
In order to get a dumpster rental for your project in California, just go through the basic four steps mentioned above. Just fill up your dumpster with whatever debris you need to dispose of, and call 1 Stop Dumpster Rental to come recover the dumpster rental.
Renting a dumpster is costly, so take this into account to make sure you do not over-pay for your rental unit.
Look into fees from different organizations. Make sure you are doing price comparison for the exact same size.
Know what size your task requires, so you don't over pay for a big size. At 1 Stop Dumpster Rental we will guide you to figure out your size as well.
Decide how long you need the dumpster. The longer the period, the greater it will cost.
These are some suggestions that will assist you to save money when getting your dumpster rental from 1 Stop Dumpster Rental in California. In advance of calling 888-279-5557 for your dumpster rental, be sure to read these tips and ideas.


Chaucer, the specialty international (re)insurance group, has announced a new partnership with leading InsurTech, Concirrus, which is committed to driving technological change in the marine insurance market.
Quest Marine analyses billions of historical and real-time marine data to derive new behavioral factors that can be used to look at marine risk in a more targeted, intelligent way. Clients can then combine these insights with their existing underwriting expertise to develop their own enhanced view of marine risk, that not only enables more effective portfolio segmentation, but also a differentiated approach to risk selection and pricing to other market competitors.


Thailand is in south-east Asia, bordering Malaysia to the south, Myanmar (Burma) to the north, and Cambodia and Laos to the east.
It benefits from coastal stretches both in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Thailand.
Thailand is a popular country to visit ? Bangkok is a 24-hour city with hotels to match whilst smaller cities and coastal resorts have also made the most of the constant tourist trade. Travellers are becoming more sophisticated, however, which has resulted in a number of boutique hotels opening to cater for the discerning guest. For those who love the beach, try the luxury of Aleenta; a small, private beach hotel which houses just 17 suites and 2 private villas. With unspoilt beach on your doorstep, an infinity pool and romantic breakfast and dinner settings, beach-life rarely gets better.
Alternatively, go for the lights and sounds of Bangkok, where you could stay at the Ibrik City; a very chic hotel right in the middle of the business district and next to the famous "Blue Elephant" cooking school. With just three rooms, this is a modern yet homely hotel and great transport connections mean that this boutique hotel is the ideal base for days and nights in Bangkok.
Thailand is renowned for its ancient monuments, stupas and temples.
From the sheer architectural delight of the Phimai Temple, a Hindu/Buddhist temple, to the ancient stupas in the Sukothai Historical Park, there's much to learn about civilisations hundreds and thousands of years old and the way they affect the people of Thailand today. Don't miss the busy and colourful markets either, and make sure that you spend time sampling the fabulous food for which Thailand is so well known. Venture away from the beaches to the rivers and mountains of Thailand's interior to sample a simpler way of life, or take in the energy of Bangkok with a city visit.
You can hire a car to get around Thailand, but it may be easier to take the train. Bangkok city is serviced by a Sky train and boat service, so there's no need for any other transport to get you around. Outside Bangkok and closer to the coast, use the buses and trains to get about. The trains may be slower than you're used to, but they're comfortable.
On the other hand, the buses are fast and furious, but they are cheap and air-conditioned.
Chic Retreats is a collection of small, sophisticated hotels around the world that offer the traveller a true taste of luxury and service. Visit their website by clicking Boutique Hotels. .


Angelman syndrome is a genetic condition that causes developmental delay, neurological problems, and problems with the way the body and brain develop.
A blood test can detect 80 - 85% of children with Angelman syndrome by looking at the functioning of the UBE3A gene. Children who do not test positive on genetic testing can be diagnosed by an experienced clinician who evaluates for the symptoms of Angelman syndrome.
Many children are carry other diagnoses. The Angelman Syndrome Foundation has a Public Service Announcement about accurate diagnosis.
Angelman syndrome occurs in about 1 in every 15,000 babies born.
Most children with Angelman syndrome have severe intellectual disability. Most children have strengths in nonverbal reasoning and social interactions.
Children with Angelman syndrome usually have better comprehension of speech than expressive speech. Most children develop several words, but may communicate better through sign or assistive devices.
Children with Angelman syndrome learn motor skills like sitting, crawling, and walking later than other children. Most children do learn how to walk, but may need assistance or have a less coordinated gait than other children.
Many children with Angelman syndrome learn to play and interact with other children more slowly than other children. Many are social children, however, who are interested in interacting with others.
Most children with Angelman syndrome self-care skills slowly and require assistance from others.
Many children with Angelman syndrome have other health complications. It is important that these are recognized and treated. A child with Angelman syndrome who is physically healthy is more likely to do well in school and in other treatments. This contributes to more independence, better daily functioning, and better quality of life.
Despite many chronic health problems, Life expectancy for people with Angelman syndrome has increased dramatically in recent decades from 25 in 1983, to 60 today. Angelman syndrome itself does not get worse over time. However, how it affects a person may be different at different points in the person's life.
You can find resources for Angelman syndrome in our Resource Directory!


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Christine O'Donnell Now A Feminist. Sort Of.
Irin Carmon
Christine O'Donnell, meet Krystal Ball, who knows a thing or two about how to play the publication of "embarrassing" photos or material. But judging from O'Donnell's response to the publication of her ladybug-costumed makeout, maybe she already knows what's up.
Krystal Ball Sees A Future Of Women Embarrassed By Facebook Photos
If Krystal Ball wins her congressional race in Virginia, she'll be the youngest female…
O'Donnell is behind 21 points in the polls, a gap unlikely to close, and politically, liberals should be much more worried about, say, Nevada. But she must be feeling pretty lucky these days: Instead of talking about how her campaign threatened to "crush" a radio station for... taping an interview with her, we're talking about what kind of douche reacts that way to unmown grass and feeling kinda bad for O'Donnell.
She declined to discuss it with a sympathetic Sean Hannity, but did issue this statement:
This story is just another example of the sexism and slander that female candidates are forced to deal with. From Secretary Clinton, to Governor Palin, to soon-to-be Governor Haley, Christine's political opponents have been willing to engage in appalling and baseless attacks — all with the aim of distracting the press from covering the real issues in this race. Even the National Organization for Women gets it, but Christine's opponent disturbingly does not. As Chris Coons said on September 16th he would not condone personal attacks against Christine. Classless Coons goons have proven yet again to have no sense of common decency or common sense with their desperate attacks to get another rubber stamp for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda. Such attacks are truly shameful, but they will not distract us from making our case to Delaware voters — and keeping the focus on Chris Coons' record of higher taxes, increased spending, and as he has done again here, breaking his promises to the voters."
(Initially, it read like this. Feel free to earn her a few more Palin-points by mocking whoever doesn't know the difference between condemning and condoning.) O'Donnell has easy bait in condemning Gawker, but the tougher sell is linking it to Coons, who even in anyone's wildest imaginings wasn't plausibly involved, and if he hasn't condemned it yet, it's probably because he doesn't want to get entangled in it.
There's the warped implication that even the National Organization For Women, which helped codify the concept of sexism in public life, can see that O'Donnell has been slimed. (It's a bit like Pastor Eddie Long saying family-friendly workplace policies happened in spite of feminists.) Conservatives lately want to claim that feminism was their idea, only without the feminists and the inconvenient part about policies that help women other than their own. There's also the version where O'Donnell and Palin say they admire Gloria Steinem without any clear idea of what she stands for apart from their own vague notion of ladypower. Still, "feminism" is always there when you need it, albeit in twisted or diluted fashion.
Relationship Advice From Megachurch's Alleged Molester Pastor
Four men have accused muscle shirt-wearing, homosexual conversion-preaching multimillionaire…
Especially when one blog post seems to have turned a lot of people into feminists (or renewed their commitment to it), and there's some feminist-commissioned data available to O'Donnell's camp that doesn't require them to contort that much. A study commissioned this year by several women's political groups under the "Name It, Change It" banner found that sexist attacks significantly dented a theoretical female candidate's support, but that direct response helped them rebound: "The female candidate calling the discussion 'inappropriate' and 'meritless' and turning back to issues - and after a more direct counterattack that decried 'sexist, divisive rhetoric' as damaging to 'our political debate and our democracy.'"
In this case, it won't hurt O'Donnell, because the backlash has already been so severe, and because she was already a punchline to everyone but the most disingenuous or dim-bulbed Republicans, so she didn't have far to "fall," and because as alleged hypocrisies go, drunkenly making out with someone a decade after you went on TV to talk abstinence is not a slam dunk. And then there's the ick factor about the narrator. As Amanda Hess put it this morning, "A story that says, 'Christine O'Donnell thinks sex is bad. Guess what: It is!' doesn't exactly succeed on the old hypocrisy front."
By the way, The Village Voice's Foster Kamer appears to have unearthed the kisser-and-teller. You can join our founding editor in sending him your pubes. Or, you know, helping make sure he never gets laid (or something in the neighborhood of it) again.
O'Donnell Campaign On The Universal Condemnation Of The Gawker Story [Facebook]
Dustin Dominiak: The Guy Who Sleazed Christine O'Donnell, Says Friend (Updated) [Village Voice]
On Sex, Repression, And Hypocrisy [TBD]
Sean Hannity Asks Christine O'Donnell About Gawker's One Night Stand Story [Mediaite]
Sexist Insults Hurt Female Politicians [USAT]
Why You Care About Christine O'Donnell Getting To Third Base
So here's the deal: One time Christine O'Donnell got drunk and made out with a dude. They didn't do


The Financial Literacy Foundation was established by the Australian Government in June 2005 to give all Australians the opportunity to increase their financial knowledge and better manage their money.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is an independent statutory authority that was formed in 1995 to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974 and other acts. The ACCC promotes competition and fair trade in the market place to benefit consumers, business and the community. It also regulates national infrastructure industries.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission is Australia's corporate, markets and financial services regulator and contributes to Australia's economic reputation and wellbeing by ensuring that Australia's financial markets are fair and transparent, supported by confident and informed investors and consumers. ASIC is an independent Commonwealth Government body.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) independently and impartially resolves disputes between consumers, including some small businesses, and participating financial services providers. AFCA independent dispute resolution processes cover complaints about financial services including banking, credit, loans, general insurance, life insurance, financial planning, investments, stock broking, managed funds and pooled superannuation trusts.
The Institute of Actuaries of Australia is the sole professional body for actuaries in Australia. It is the public face of a learned profession, which represents the interests of its members within Government, the business community and the general public.
Insurance Statistics Australia (ISA) was established in 1988 by a group of Australian insurance companies wanting to produce management information of relevance to the pricing and profitability of selected classes of insurance business. Since its introduction, ISA has become an authoritative information source for the insurance industry, managing data on behalf of the ISA members and Insurance Council of Australia.
National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) is the peak professional body for insurance intermediaries and represents insurance brokerages, authorised representatives and underwriting agencies and wholesale brokerages licensed to operate in the life and general insurance sectors.
The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC) is a joint initiative of all Australian governments and the insurance industry. It's mission is to drive down Australia's unacceptably high level of vehicle theft. This will benefit the economic and social well-being of the nation.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is an independent Office which has responsibilities under the federal Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Emergency Management Australia sponsors a range of programs and activities that engage communities in building resilience to the effects of emergencies and disasters.


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The Mystery Winner of Tuesday's Primaries: Alvin Greene
By Steven James Snyder June 09, 2010
No money. No yard signs. No web site. And yet Alvin Greene of South Carolina wins the Democratic primary. (Via AP)
The hunt was on late Tuesday night to figure out the true identity of the man who defeated former judge and legislator Vic Rawl for the right to run against Republican U.S. Senator Jim DeMint. Even the Huffington Post put out a plea to its readers as the news came across the wires: "Do YOU know anything about Alvin Greene? Do you have any photos of him?"
All that was known about Greene in the immediate aftermath of his primary victory was that he was an unemployed military veteran. Some speculated that he had launched an ambitious ground campaign, going door to door.
But Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said she had not seen Greene since he had initially filed papers to run. And she had another, far less inspiring rationale for his victory: Voters who did not know either candidate and opted instead to pick alphabetically.
For her part, Fowler says the unknown Greene will be a far weaker candidate against tea partier DeMint.


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Southland Transportation wants you
Written by admin Wednesday, Sep 07 2022, 5:00 AM
Southland Transportation is looking for school bus drivers for the 2022-23 school year. (file photo)
SPONSORED CONTENT: Retired but still looking to get out of the house? Stay-at-home parent but want to make a little bit of extra cash? Or just looking for a change of pace?
If you are any of these things, good news because Southland Transportation wants you! They are looking for school bus drivers for the 2022-23 school year.
Perks of driving a school bus are plentiful but a few stand out in particular.
1. Holidays and summers off.
If the school kids get the day off then chances are you do too. This doesn't just mean the Christmas, Easter, and winter breaks. Parent-teacher interviews, prep days, and other school days off, you get to enjoy full days off. On top of it all, once summer rolls around you can soak up the sun whenever you want as you enjoy your two-month break.
2. It's not an eight-hour-a-day commitment.
This is a split shift. You pick the kids up in the morning and drop them off in the afternoon, the time in between is yours to run errands, work out, relax, or whatever you please!
Joshua Leach, a school bus driver for Southland Transportation says he uses the extra funds he makes from driving to run his own part-time business.
"I also run a part-time business on the side so it worked perfectly for my schedule. That injection of different funds from another source allows me to take on the part-time aspect of my other business. Without that, it would be very hard to run it and stay afloat with the way pricing is these days."
3. Your kids can ride along.
Need to bring your pre-school-aged kids on the bus with you? No worries, they can go for a morning/afternoon drive as well. No need to find a daycare or babysitter when they can ride along with you!
Erin White, a 10-year tenured bus driver for Southland Transportation experienced the benefits of this first hand.
"My husband changed career paths and my kids were little, they were four and two, and I knew that if I went back to my corporate job then that would be full-time daycare for them, and that just wasn't going to work out for us. So, I started driving the bus and over the years I've driven all over from Bragg Creek and Springbank and then out West towards Exshaw."
4. Seeing different parts of Alberta.
Part of the role as a bus driver can mean taking kids of all ages on trips across the great province of Alberta, whether it be on a field trip, a band competition, or a sports tournament.
Leach says that in the last year alone a bus driver has taken him to places he otherwise might not have gotten to see.
"In the last year alone, I've gone to several different camping locations throughout Kananaskis and around Cochrane. I've seen different sports complexes and stuff throughout the area where I would not have normally gone to, so it's been pretty cool."
5. Become a positive influence on children's lives.
Both Joshua Leach and Erin White believe that interacting with the kids is the best part of their jobs.
"Just seeing the kids happy, to be honest. When they get on my bus, I am particularly a nice and inviting person, we joke around and everything like that. So it's a very fun and inviting place for the kids and just knowing that they're happy Being a father myself, I know that's important for the kids," says Leach.
"I really love interacting with the kids on the bus. I think that it's my top bonus for the day. I really enjoy picking up those little kids and hearing all of the stories and listening to how their day was, for a lot of these kids mom and dad have left for work in the morning, so by the time they get to the bus, for me, opening the door and saying good morning to them is sometimes the first time they're seeing a grown up or an adult, and that really makes my day," says White.
If you are interested in becoming a school bus driver for Southland Transportation you can contact them locally at 403-932-7100.
Lifeguard shortage cools Banff hot spring pools
Latest in Sponsored
Vilem Zach just the latest celebrated artist to feature at Art Evolution


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Virtual Maths Shapes, Space and Measure, Levelling Survey - Rugby pitch
Interactive simulation using a level to take measurements to calculate the volume of earth to be excavated to create a flat rugby pitch.
Episode 153: WebJobs with Pranav Rastogi | Microsoft Azure Cloud Cover Show
In this episode Chris Risner and Haishi Bai are joined by Pranav Rastogi, Program Manager for the ASP.NET Team. Pranav starts by giving a brief overview of what Azure WebJobs are and what they can be used for. WebJobs provide a way to run background processes as part of your Azure Websites which al
Author(s): Haishi Bai, Chris
Roger Peters, Developer & Creator of "Word Search Little Books"
Roger is the founder of SmartyPantsCoding and creator of Word Search Little Books. Listen in on his dev story as he describes life as an independent mobile developer as well as how he creates cross platform apps using Xamarin.
Author(s): ChrisCaldwell
A Conversation with Professor Muhammad Yunus [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Muhammad Yunus | Muhammad Yunus (@Yunus_Centre) was born on 28 June 1940 in the village of Bathua, Chittagong, a seaport in Bangladesh. The third of fourteen children, he was educated at Dhaka University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. He then served as chairman of the economics department at Chittagong University before devoting his life to providing financial and social services to the poorest of the poor. He is the fou
PhET - Physics Education Technology at the University of Colorado
A collection of simulations and virtual labs focusing on first-year college physics. An interview with the award winning author can be found in About us at Phet VideoPhET provides fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena for free. We believe that our research-based approach- incorporating findings from prior research and our own testing- enables students to make connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying science, deepening their understanding and appreci
Duke Medicine Profiles: Michael M. Haglund, MD, PhD
Get to know Duke Medicine's spine surgeons. Learn more about Michael Haglund, MD at http://www.dukemedicine.org/find-doctors-physicians/michael-m-haglund-md-phd.
Forensic flavour
This case study describes the current trend for crime scene investigation drama and news stories of personal tragedies involving incorrect or missing data have been harnessed to capture the attention and inspire learning and enterprise skills in students studying database compilation
Author(s): Creator not set
2.1 Planning your search
Your approach to searching will depend to a great extent on what kind of person you are. In an ideal world, when searching for information for a specific purpose, we would all find what exactly we were looking for at the first attempt, especially if we are in a hurry. However, it's always a good idea to have some kind of plan when you are searching for information, if only to help you plan your time and make sure you find the information you need. If I was starting to search for material on h
Virtual Maths, Shapes, Space and Measure, Tan Table
Calculate the height of a building, Tan Table
Virtual Maths, Shapes Space and Measure, Surface of semi cylinder
Interactive simulation demonstrating how to calculate the surface area of a cover for an astro turf pitch including the ends by using a semi (half) cylinder.
Virtual Maths, Cylinder Voids - Calculating volume
Interactive simulation with exercises and video demonstrating the use of auger piling and showing how to calculate the volume of cocrete needed to fill the cylindrical voids.
"Math is the most important." Shuji Nakamura on what brought him to science
Shujia Nakamura, 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, was interviewed on 6 December 2014 at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 was awarded jointly to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".
Vitamins: In The Elderly & Pregnant
By: jgarrett TV and the media want you to "Take Your Vitamins" but is this always the case?
The University of Memphis - Joel
See how your donations to the University of Memphis directly affect the lives of students such as Joel. To see how you can contribute to the education of our students, please visit https://www.memphis.edu/development/
Next Generation Infrastructures part 2
We are becoming increasingly dependent on a secure, uninterrupted and affordable supply of energy, water, transport, telecommunication and information services. However, outdated or inadequate infrastructure—and the resulting congestion, power outages, and lack of access to safe water and roads—is a global concern. Huge investments are needed, but how we can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of these investments? The challenge can be summarized as the factor 8 question: 'Is it pos
by-nc-sa http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Sustainable Tourism Certification
A lecture on sustainable tourism
Author(s): Xavier Font,Leeds Metropolitan University
EHBO bij baby's en jonge kinderen
Geeft het jou ook een goed gevoel om je kind achter te laten bij een babysit die perfect op de hoogte is van de eerstehulptechnieken aan kinderen? Wat te doen bij brandwonden? Hoe te werk gaan bij verstikking? Wat te doen bij wiegendood? Wie bel je …
Our Story App for iOS
'Reading, even in the digital age, is probably one of the most important skills that children acquire. It can be an important source of pleasure which also develops vital language and social skills. It is fundamental to most school activities, it can also open up new worlds and give access to the wealth of human knowledge.This app that has been developed by child psychologists and other specialists at The Open University enables young children to take part in fun games which can help develop int
The Story of Wakefield
A basic skills learning resource booklet with interactive activities designed to introduce the Wakefield Museum.
Author(s): Davis, Samantha,Leeds Metropolitan University
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
Virtual Maths, Cylinder - Calculating Volume and Height
Interactive exercise demonstrating how to calculate the volume and height of a cylinder (includes links to other useful resources)


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Home/Mendoza Directory/Profile
Pengjie Gao
pgao@nd.edu
https://sites.google.com/site/gpengjie
Paul Gao first joined the University of Notre Dame in 2007, where he is currently the Professor of Finance at the University of Notre Dame. He was an associate professor of finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Business School, and a visiting senior economist at the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHSE). He has published in the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Financial Economics. He is the past winner of the prestigious Jensen Prizes, Fama-DFA Prize, Cowen Memorial Prize, CQA Research Award, and Q-Group Research Award. He serves as the associate editors for the Pacific Basin Finance Journal, and the Financial Management. He earned his doctoral degree in Financial Economics from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University in 2007.
Ph D, Northwestern University
"Municipal Borrowing Costs and State Policies for Distress Municipalities", (With Chang Lee, Dermot Murphy), Journal of Financial Economics, 132, 2019
"Financing Dies in Darkness? The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance", (With Chang Lee, Dermot Murphy), Journal of Financial Economics - Accepted (awaiting publication)
"What's in a (school) name? Racial discrimination in higher education bond markets", (With Casey Dougal, Bill Mayhew, Christopher Parsons), Journal of Financial Economics - Accepted (awaiting publication)
"Do Hedge Funds Exploit Rare Disaster Concerns?", (With George Gao, Zhaogang Song), Reivew of Financail Studies, 31, 2018
"The Global Relation Between Financial Distress and Equity Returns", (With Christopher Parsons, Jianfen Shen), Review of Financial Studies, 31, 2018
"Liquidity in a Market for Unique Assets: Specified Pool and TBA Trading in the Mortgage Backed Securities Market", (With Paul Schultz, Zhaogang Song), Journal of Finance, 72, 2017
"Sum of All FEARS: investor sentiment and asset prices", (With Zhi Da, Joseph Engelberg), Review of Financial Studies, 2014 - Accepted (awaiting publication)
"The Value of a Rolodex: CEO Pay and Personal Network", (With Joey Engelberg, Chris Parsons), Review of Financial Studies, 26, 2013
"Friends With Money", (With Joseph Engelberg, Christopher Parsons), Journal of Financial Economics, 2012
"In Search of Attention", (With Zhi Da, Joseph Engelberg), Journal of Finance, 2011
"Impatient Trading, Liquidity Provision and Mutual Fund Stock Selections", (With Zhi Da, Ravi Jagannathan), Review of Financial Studies, 2011
"Clientele Change, Liquidity shock, and the Return on Financially Distressed Stocks", (With Zhi Da), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 2010 - Accepted (awaiting publication)
"Jensen Prizes 1st, 2019", the Journal of Financial Economics , 2020
"Q-Group Research Award", Q-Group, 2013
"Fama/DFA Prize (2nd Prize) 2013", the Journal of Financial Economics,, 2013
"Crowell Memorial Prize", PanAgora Asset Management Academic Competition, 2010
"CQA Academic Competition, First Prize", Chicago Quantitative Alliance, 2009


Ah, John Olerud. I find his 2002 season to be the finest by a first baseman in all Mariner-dom.
Frist, the stats — playing in Safeco, he hit .300/.400/.490 that year (fun side fact: that's worth about 23 runs more than Raul Ibanez at first in KC and 12 runs more than Richie Sexson in Milwaukee). That's not all that impressive for a first baseman, but among Mariner first baseman it's really between him and Alvin Davis.
Davis' best offensive season might match or even get a little ahead of Olerud's, but he was never the defender that Olerud was. Davis was average or below average, and Olerud was good. That broke the tie for me, much in the same way it pushed Wilson ahead of Johjima.
My problem here is making a convincing argument about this. Olerud's fielding percentages were better than league average, and range factor isn't good enough for me to do much with it. But where we can apply rough defensive metrics across years — and I know you're going to blanch at this — by using something like Davenport's fielding runs, there's a huge gap, on the order of ten runs a year between the two.
I think this is going to be a problem we encounter frequently, that comparing defense way back is tough. But what evidence I can find suggests that Olerud was the better defender by a significant margin in 2002, and that's enough for me to put that season above the best of Alvin Davis' years.
It's a little sad that the best all-time all-Mariner season wasn't near Olerud's best season, or in that year nearly the best season by a first-baseman. Yet there it is.
Time has a nasty habit of making people forget the degree of things that occurred but weren't monumental. Alvin Davis was never the best player in baseball, and he played on some truly horrible Mariners teams in the 1980s, but we can't let time deceive us into not realizing just how good he was in 1989. It was a remarkable season – the best the organization has ever gotten from a first baseman.
Davis hit .305/.424/.496 with 21 home runs and 101 walks against just 49 strikeouts, and his raw numbers are actually very similar to John Olerud's in 2002 that you've noted above. On a per at-bat basis, they were practically the same hitter – good average, great plate discipline, gap power and the occasional long ball. So what was different? The run scoring environment of the day, and through that, the relative value of that same performance.
In 2002, the league average OPS for a player who spent half his time in Safeco Field was .747. In 1989, the league average OPS for a player who spent half his time in the Kingdome was .718. AD's .920 OPS was good for second best in the American League that year, .004 points behind Fred McGriff. They were the only two guys in the AL to post an OPS over .900. In 2002, Jim Thome led the AL with a 1.122 OPS, there were three other players over 1.000, and six more with an OPS between .900 and .999. Olerud's .893 OPS ranked 11th in the AL that year, and more importantly, it ranked behind Jim Thome, Jason Giambi, Mike Sweeney, Rafael Palmeiro, and Carlos Delgado.
Offensively, the 2002 John Olerud was the 7th best hitting first baseman in the league that year. His defense moves him past Palmeiro, Delgado, and Sweeney, but even with that adjustment, he's still not among the three best at his own position that year.
Alvin Davis, however, was as good as any other hitter in the league in 1989. If he was on a better team, he'd have finished in the top 7 in MVP voting. It's hard to make a case that Olerud even belonged in the top 20 in 2002.
Yes, John Olerud was a good defender and an underrated player during his time in Seattle, but Alvin Davis was as good as anyone else who stepped to the plate in 1989. In an era where teams weren't scoring more than 4.00 runs per game with regularity, Davis' offensive contributions were simply more valuable than a comparable performance from Olerud in '02, and we simply don't have enough evidence that Olerud's defensive value made up for that difference at the plate. And no, Davenport Fielding Runs don't count as evidence – they're beyond useless.
AD didn't earn the Mr. Mariner nickname out of pity or a lack of anyone else to carry the franchise. He earned it by being a premier, front line talent who put up some monstrous seasons in which there wasn't much else to get excited about. There's a reason I'm sad every time I hear someone else announced as #21 over the Safeco P.A. as time and a lack of diligence by the M's has eroded the memory of just how tremendous Alvin Davis really was. Let's not make that same mistake.
All fair points, but I'm still in the Olerud 2002 camp.
First, to the best-at-their-position or best-in-league-argument: I didn't consider this as a criteria. There are too many external factors at work here. Not to skip ahead too far, but we might never be able to select some positions if that's a serious consideration. If the M's tended to have good but not great 1b, and one year the league had a bumper crop of great ones, I don't see that we can't say the M's offering that year wasn't the best.
I want to return to the defensive argument. Let's toss Davenport's Fielding Runs out the door for a second. My larger point there is that it's really hard to compare fielding across time spans like that, because the tools that can do it – like Clay's Fielding Runs – necessarily operate at such a high level and with such macro statistics that when they try and work out who was good and bad, they break down.
So let me offer another way to look at this: Olerud played 152 games at first in 2002. Lou only started other players there twelve games all season, and despite Olerud's station-to-station baserunning which you'd think would get him pinch-runners, other players only appeared at first another 16 times. Olerud played 1,317 innings at first that year, tied with Bret Boone and only one inning behind Mike Cameron. Piniella kept his glove guys in when he could, and for Olerud to get the same respect afforded the 2002 Boone and Cameron, well, that's something.
The 1989 Alvin Davis didn't play first base as much. I can't argue that the best Mariner first-base season came from someone who only played 125 games there in a year without a labor interruption. Lefebvre started Jim Presley 18 times, a 37-year old Darnell Coles 11 times, and Dave Cochrane (!) 6 times. Alvin Davis played 1,077 innings at first — that's way less than Olerud did.
Davis was the team's DH 14 times, and didn't play at all in another 13 games. The M's brought in defensive subs another 22 times (though unlike in Olerud's case, we might not be able to presume they all subbed in for AD). We have to admit that Olerud played first base a lot more than AD did, and so we have to concede that even if they were exactly the same defensively, Olerud helped his team more by playing more.
Beyond that, unless there's an injury-related reason that I'm not remembering as I write this, the judgment of the men who made out their lineup cards should be taken as some evidence of their relative merit with the glove: Lou really had to have an overwhelming reason to not start Olerud or to pull him from a game, where AD was a lot more likely to start at DH, not start, and get subbed for when he did start. That's a big difference in how their managers viewed their defensive contributions.
Olerud also won a Gold Glove that year, and Davis never did.
Now, how much weight you want to assign to that is up to you, but I'm entirely comfortable putting it at ten runs, which is about what an average 1b to good 1b gets you, defensively.
Is that enough to put him over AD? For that, we have to go back to the offensive arguments. Now, the case for 89 Davis at 1B is pretty compelling, I totally admit: 2nd in the AL in on-base percentage, 5th in slugging percentage… but Olerud in 2002 was 7th in the AL in OBP, and… okay, his slugging wasn't in the top ten.
And your points about the different contexts and so far are all fine. But when I'm lazy and look them up with a stat that corrects for league and offensive positions and all of that, the difference is not that large at all. In terms of VORP, for instance, Alvin Davis's 1989 was worth 52 runs, while Olerud's 2002 is worth 48 (#1, AD 1989, #2, AD 1984, #3, Olerud 2002, $4 Bruce Bochte 2005).
I thought having read your argument that it would be a lot larger, but it's not. It's only four runs, and Olerud's increased playing time at first and his quality defense while out there makes up for that difference and then some.
I have to stick with Olerud. If we were arguing who the best first baseman in M's history was, I would answer "Alvin Davis" without hesitation. But in the terms we're discussing, which is who put up the best one-season performance at that position, I'm convinced that Olerud's 152 games in 2002 were a better year as a first baseman than Davis's 125 games.
I'm not saying that best-in-the-league has to be the ultimate deciding factor, but it needs to be in the conversation. Even if the offensive difference due to run environments is only half a dozen runs, there's added value in having the best or second best hitter in the league on the roster. As we've talked about in roster construction posts, it's much easier to make marginal upgrades than it is to go from good to great, and relative to the years they played, John Olerud was a good hitter while Alvin Davis was a great hitter.
Defensively, certainly, Olerud has Davis beat, but I'm not comfortable using managerial decisions to attempt to quantify the difference. If we did that, we'd have to conclude that Raul Ibanez is a superior defender since he plays everyday and John McLaren never takes him out for defensive purposes. Olerud was better with the glove? Was it enough to cancel out the fact that Alvin Davis was the second best hitter in the league that year, while Olerud wasn't even able to crack the top ten? I don't think so.
I'm unswayed. I don't think there's so much added value in being the #1 or #2 bat that it outweighs the difference in overall contribution here. It's like — if you can have a prime Carlos Beltran season, you get a top-tier bat and a good defender. His overall contribution might be the best in the league while his offense isn't the #1, and his defense might not even be #1.
Olerud played a whole season at first, hit really well, and played good defense. Davis played 75% of a season at first, hit better, and played significantly worse defense. In terms of total value, I have to hand it to Olerud.
While he may have outperformed him in rate statistics, counting stats do matter.
No one said that counting stats do not matter. This what is called a strawman.
Your hypothetical is also irrelevant because we have actual park and era-adjusted data for both and the actual difference in playing time was 12 games, not 28. Despite playing less, counting stats like VORP and BtRuns still put Davis ahead.
Grizz, where do you draw the line? How about a guy who played 120 games at a higher level? How about 100?
Again, here the difference is 12 games (154 to 142). Davis still finishes ahead of Olerud, which makes Davis' performance more impressive. Wherever the line is, Davis is above it.
I remember reading an ESPN article a while back (while he was still playing, of course) that noted how the number of errors by the infields that Olerud played with was significantly lower while he was there, and went back up after he left (specifically citing the Met's and the M's, I think). There's one measure that's not captured by any other fielding metric, as far as I'm aware.
His range fielding balls hit to him may not have been eye popping, but he saved his teams runs by being one of the best at fielding errant throws by other infielders.
I still think you are missing the point. The fact of the matter is that those other at-bats go to much worse players. So there is value in a good player simply playing. The team was hurt by AD's absence. Same with Olerud's however his didn't last as long. So who added more value to the team? Olerud.
You said "The injury to Davis should not be held against him as it was not his fault." You can't really blame someone for coming to the conclusion that you're saying the missed time (and the counting stats lost with it) don't matter.
Again, here the difference is 12 games (154 to 142).
Again, you're counting games he played at DH. He played 125 games at first base. Not playing the field makes a difference in his contribution, too.
No one is saying, as you seem to think, that the difference in games played makes the difference. As you say, if Davis's total value is still higher, then he was the best. All we're saying is that the rate contribution isn't the point, the total contribution is, and Davis doesn't get a break for missing games.
The best part about both of those guys?
Ask AD who was better…he'll say Olerud.
Olerud had the prettier swing, Davis was a much more iconic player on a team that needed it. AD…in a statistical wash (which this just may be.)…was the only true offensive guy on that team…he didn't have a Buhner/Boone/Martinez triumvirate to make sure he got fastballs in fastball counts.
Both, though, deserve to be remembered.
This segment is a lot of fun. Really good debate between these two guys.
I think I might have to go with Olerud though.
I still think you are missing the point. The fact of the matter is that those other at-bats go to much worse players. . . . So who added more value to the team? Olerud.
If only there was a metric that measured a player's value over a replacement player. You could call it VORP for short.
I feared Alvin Davis when he came to play in Oakland. He was a real difference maker as a hitter. As much as I admired John Olerud in his time here, I never saw him in the same light. Earlier in his career, yes.
But when it came to defense, Olerud was the master and I can easily believe that his defense was worth more than 10 runs per season. As far as I'm aware defensive metrics for first baseman do not measure errors saved on throws from other infielders. Olerud was the best I've seen at scooping throws from the dirt. He made it look so effortless that it was easy to overlook how difficult some of the plays were. I believe that Olerud was a large reason that the Mariners defenses of 2000-2003 were so highly regarded. And was it the 2002 team that set the record for fewest errors in a season? How much of that was Olerud responsible for? He was also an outstanding thrower for 1B. I don't think that he scored so well on range and that is probably the reason that he doesn't come out better overall in fielding metrics.
Safe to say, I would be quite happy with either Davis '89 or Olerud '02 playing 1B for the Mariners '08!
Who was the all-time most booed Mariner first baseman?
-Pete O'brien 1990 : The only million dollar Mariner.
-Richie Sexson 2008 : The worst Mariner of all time, adjusted for contract.
Who was the all-time Brett Boone all frosted tips team first baseman?
Re: 19 – Spanky, I guess there's been back and forth already on this, but I wanted to add that my instinct is to think something nearly opposite to you – that it's harder to have the mental toughness to excel on a lously team, putting up an excellent season performance in the misery of a losing clubhouse with lousy teammates in front of mostly empty bleachers. Both your instinct, and mine, are unsupported by data.
The AD memory this all jogs is not of AD himself, but rather J Michael Kenyon on his sports talk show of the time, advocating that since neither playing in Seattle nor being a Mariner was going to engender any great respect, the team should be renamed the New York Alvins.
Correction to my comment in 108.
It was actually the 2003 season when the Mariners set was is still the record for fewest team errors in a season, 65. Olerud manning 1B in either case.
It strikes me that the team of greatest Mariner seasons would be required to have an Edgar Martinez at DH, and so the games that you would be getting out of '89 Davis would be pretty exclusively at 1B. Does the discussion of 1B defense factor this in, or is the idea of a team not really considered in that way?
moocow – I recall talk like that and looked it up on Baseball-Reference this morning. The 1999 Mets had 60 fewer infield errors (not counting the catcher) than the 2000 Mets, which seems significant. However the 2000 Ms only had 20 fewer infield errors than the 1999 Ms. So I assumed the difference is too variable by player and luck to be of real significance.
VORP takes into account the amount of runs created above what a replacement-level player would given the same number of plate appearances. I could be mistaken but it still takes into account games played. So those extra games that AD didn't play that Olerud did does come into play.
In 2002, Olerud had a 403/490 line for a 140 OPS+. In 1989, Davis had a 424/496 line for a 152 OPS+. I looked for some comparables in both years….
In 2002, Magglio Ordonez had a 153 OPS+ from a line of 381/597.
In 1989, Julio Franco had a 137 OPS+ from a line of 386/462.
In either comparison, I'm pretty sure I like Davis enough to overcome the defensive inferiority.
As far as I'm aware defensive metrics for first baseman do not measure errors saved on throws from other infielders.
As much as I'm in the Olerud camp on this particular discussion, I think this particular factor gets overstated a lot since we can't really effectively measure it.
Olerud made a lot of nice plays going to his right, though.
I hope this isn't too off-topic, but I'm interested to know the answer and am too young to have followed his career: What happened to Alvin Davis? Why did he hit a wall at 30 and have to retire?
Except that Chone Smith and Mitchel Lichtman have effectively measured it, it would seem, from tangotiger's comment earlier in the thread. I grant that a lot of people have overstated its importance, though.
I would have to vote for Alvin Davis in 89′ because of how he ranked against the rest of the league that year. Not to take anything away from John Olerud, but Davis was the team that year. He did what he did surrounded by mediocrity, while JO had a pretty good team around him. As good as JO was, he never stood out as "the star" of that team. Alvin Davis was "the star" of the team, no question about it.
Tino's 95 should have been further discused though. He was pretty darn good too.
All we're saying is that the rate contribution isn't the point, the total contribution is, and Davis doesn't get a break for missing games.
The injury to Davis should not be held against him as it was not his fault. Even with the missed time, Davis still outperformed Olerud at the plate. The mere happenstance of the injury makes them appear closer than the actual level at which they hit that year.
In other words, Davis outperformed Olerud in the counting stats (or to use your term, "total contribution"), but what made Davis' season more impressive is the higher rate at which he produced (which the injury – something over which Davis had no control – obscures). In determining "greatest season," the rate of contribution should be a factor. No one said it should be the determinative factor.
Except that Chone Smith and Mitchel Lichtman have effectively measured it, it would seem, from tangotiger's comment earlier in the thread. I grant that a lot of people have overstated its importance, though.
Mea culpa! I meant to follow the link and got sidetracked.
Still, though, the range from best to worst is about 12 net errors (if I'm reading the data right), so that seems to jive with my idea of the overall effect being pretty small.
A player having to be "the star" of a particular team is a horrible criteria that potentially would keep us from nominating anyone from teams that had outstanding contributions from more than one player… like 1995, when you want Tino.
Why should we have discussed Tino's 1995? The two seasons we talked about are the contenders.
Plus, we'll talk about what we want to talk about.
I'm intrigued by this comment from Dave.
I'm not saying that best-in-the-league has to be the ultimate deciding factor, but it needs to be in the conversation.
Why would that be in the discussion, if OPS+ is a metric that is supposed to be balanced. If a player has an OPS+ of 175 but it is eighth best in the league one season, that is still better than an OPS+ of 140 that leads the league in another. You wouldn't give the 140 guy extra credit, would you?
And the thing is, OPS understates AD's contribution, because he, like Olerud, was heavy on the OBP side.
To be honest, they are fairly close- close enough that there really isn't a clear answer, because we can't do a rigorous examination of AD's defense in 1989. They are also fairly similar players- slow LHB 1B with good batting eyes and line-drive power, with AD having more power and walks, Olerud having more betting average and a better reputation for glovework.
I only heard Al Davis play, radio was my only option for the games back then aside from a rare trip to the park. It's hard to imagine a prettier back handed pick of a short hop than Olerud had, it was nearly a signature move. And he had such a command of the strike zone, I miss that cool look he'd give an ump when he disagreed with a call, didn't he get tossed once for looking hard at an ump? Hate to break down such a great numbers discussion with the anecdotal stuff, but I get all misty eyed sometimes for guys like Olerud when I have to watch our current team scuffle.
If we look at their whole careers, though, there are a couple of serious differences: Davis was a model of consistency, while Olerud interspersed great seasons — 1998 and especially 1993, which are peaks well above Davis's best (but not in Seattle) — with merely good ones; and Olerud made it to 36 as a full-time player, while Davis's last full-time season was at age 30 (and it was a very bad season).
Again, if you loved Olerud's command of the strike zone, you would have loved Davis's just as much.
I didn't mean any offense by the comment, I just think that a .293/.369/.551 season is pretty solid.
And my "star" comment about Mr. Mariner was only to point out that Olerud was just another guy in a group of guys that where having great success that year. Alvin Davis was about the only guy in 1989 that was putting up good numbers. I just remeber watching games back then and he was really pitched around. Other than Justin Leonard, there was a bunch of easy outs in that lineup.
If he was pitched around, that should be reflected in his OBP, so it's already accounted for as part of the discussion.
i think you mean Jeffrey Leonard, who had an OPS+ of 100 that year.
Great post, guys. Didn't think I could be talked out of '02 Olerud, but Dave makes a really compelling case for Alvin.
Excellent Post men! I can't for the riveting DH discussion with Edgar "the original Turbo" Martinez vs Jose "Turbo II" Vidro.
Okay, the big question is by just missing making it as your starting first baseman, is…whichever one of them didn't make it, now elligible to be a bench player on the 25 man roster you're putting together or will you be using actual bench players for that?
So, next up 01 Boone and 00 A Rod vs 96 A Rod?


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Q: Replacing busy loop and sleep in thread I have a Thread that calls a certain service.
The service defines a callback function that can be called multiple times
as long as there is data onProcessing().
The onCompletion() is called once it is finished.
public CallThread implements Runnable{
    public boolean isCompleted = false;
    public void run(){
        ResponseObserver response = new ResponseObserver(){
            public void onException(){
                //Errors could happen sometimes so the program should just issue another request
            }
            public void onCompletion(){
                isCompleted = true;
                //process the result
            }
            public void onProcessing(){
                //This could be called multiple time
            }
        }

            //Service is the object that calls the service
        Service service = getService();

        while(!isCompleted){
            //Request object is populated
            Request request = supplyRequest();

            service.getDetails(request, response);

            //How to remove this sleep
            Thread.sleep(10 * 1000);
        }
    }
}

I have created a busy loop that checks for the isCompleted and having it sleep.
What I am doing now..is to use sleep command to be able for the function to be completed
until issuing a next request.
I am not sure if this is optimal as sometimes..it does not take 10 seconds before
onCompletion() is called.
I just wanted the service to return something before I could issue another request.
Is there a way to optimized my code?

A: A CountDownLatch or CompletableFuture can be used to wait for a condition asynchronously:
public CallThread implements Runnable {
    public boolean isCompleted = false;

    @Override
    public void run() {
        // Try up to 5 calls

        for (int i = 0; i < 5; ++i) {
            // Create the observer
            MyResponseObserver observer = new MyResponseObserver();

            // Call the service
            service.getDetails(supplyRequest(), observer);

            try {
                // Wait for the result
                Boolean result = observer.completable.get();

                // Or wait with a timeout
                // observer.completable.get(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

                // Completed successfully
                isCompleted = true;
                return;
            } catch (ExecutionException e) {
                // Completed with exception. Retry.
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                return;
            }
        }
    }

    /** Response callback handler */
    private static class MyResponseObserver implements ResponseObserver {
        /** Result object (change Boolean to the type of your result) */
        public final CompletableFuture<Boolean> completable = new CompletableFuture<>();

        @Override
        public void onException() {
            // Signal an error
            completable.completeExceptionally(new Exception("Error"));
        }

        @Override
        public void onCompletion() {
            // Signal a result
            completable.complete(true);
        }

        @Override
        public void onProcessing() {
        }
    }
}

A: It's probably going to be some combination of CountDownLatch. Try following
public class CallThread implements Runnable {
    private final CountDownLatch completionLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);

    public void run(){
        callService();

        //Wait without timeout, bad idea
        try {
            completionLatch.await();
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    public void callService() {
        //Service is the object that calls the service
        Service service = getService();
        //Request object is populated
        ResponseObserver response = new MyResponseObserver(completionLatch);
        Request request = supplyRequest();
        service.getDetails(request, response);
    }

    class MyResponseObserver {
        private CountDownLatch completionLatch;

        MyResponseObserver(CountDownLatch latch) {
            this.completionLatch = latch;
        }

        public void onException(){
            /* Retry on exception */
            callService();
        }
        public void onCompletion(){
            completionLatch.countDown();
            //process the result
        }
        public void onProcessing(){
            //This could be called multiple time
        }
    };
}

Besides that you can probably also consider using Callable instead of Runnable since main is waiting for the processing, probably its better to do in main thread itself.  Below is a what it would look like
public CallThread implements Callable<MyResult> {
    private MyResult myResult;
    private final CountDownLatch completionLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);

    public MyResult call(){
        callService();

        //Wait without timeout, bad idea
        try {
            completionLatch.await();
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        return myResult;
    }

    public setMyResult(MyResult myResult) {
        this.myResult = myResult;
    }

    public void callService() {
        //Service is the object that calls the service
        Service service = getService();
        //Request object is populated
        ResponseObserver response = new MyResponseObserver(completionLatch);
        Request request = supplyRequest();
        service.getDetails(request, response);
    }

    class MyResponseObserver {
        private CountDownLatch completionLatch;

        MyResponseObserver(CountDownLatch latch) {
            this.completionLatch = latch;
        }

        public void onException(){
            /* Retry on exception */
            callService();
        }
        public void onCompletion(){
            completionLatch.countDown();
            //process the result
            setMyResult(result);

        }
        public void onProcessing(){
            //This could be called multiple time
        }
    };
}

in main()
...
FutureTask task = new FutureTask(new CallThead());
new Thread(task).start();

MyResult result = task.get();//blocks thead

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