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Cabinet Conclusions
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Cabinet in session
Privy Council Chamber
April 1953. PA-196460
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Special Interest Forums
What band would you wish to reunite?
By shipps,
July 18, 2010 in SLaM
CubsSuck1
Part of a recent interview with Corgan:
A lot of fans are very focused on the original lineup.
In that lineup you had two people who could play with a high level of musicianship, and two people who couldn't. And somehow that worked. James [iha] and D'arcy and Jimmy... fascinating people. Jimmy, world class drummer. James, very creative when he wanted to be. D'arcy had a really incredible intuitive sense. But that band was not built to last. Believe me, if that band had anything left in it, not only would I do it because it would be creatively interesting, but it would be incredibly financially lucrative. People say, "Well come on, just shake hands backstage and ride in separate buses." Part of my being and spiritual person is, I'm not gonna be in a band with people who don't like me.
Do you think this new incarnation is built to last?
I really hope it is, and I'm remiss to say that, because I don't know. I've had really weird things happen. People just up and freak out and whatever. Right now, it feels as good to me as the old band felt, in terms of our sorta emotional unity. We all seem sort of on the same page, there's no weird anything. Everybody sort of feels like, OK, I'm in the right place.' And I said to each of them, "We're at the right place in the right time."
Do you go online to see what the fans are saying about the new tracks?
No, but I still get a vibe. If I read anything from let's call it the "hardcore fanbase," they are stuck in '93. It's 17 years [later] and I don't know what they expect to have happen. It's sort of beautiful because what they are saying is, "You so touched me in that moment, I want more of that." But the thing that I find really insulting is there's a deeper message there which is "You'll never be better." To try to tell a man that he'll never improve beyond something he did when he was half-crocked on drugs or drama, that's just not right. When I look at Johnny Cash or Neil Young or Tom Waits, those guys have proven that by remaining vital to themselves, that at some point they are able to burst through with another period.
And another:
The band had such a great run in the '90s. What led to its dissolution, which really came at the height of things?
You know, all four of us were all from dysfunctional backgrounds. [Guitarist] James [iha] had the most normal background. But none of us were perfect people. We were not prepared for the attention. We had two people in the course of our ten years who had substance abuse issues. In addition to that, we were in band that not everyone understood what we were doing. Even though we were popular, we kept hearing that we were terrible, and that I couldn't sing. There was always this element of negativity surrounding even the best moments we had. Our videos were the only thing that most people agreed upon as a positive. It put a tremendous amount of pressure on us to continue to be successful. We just ran out of gas with the fairy dust. We had seven magical years and since then, it's been like, "What was that about?" I have a big mouth, and that hasn't helped. If I had kept my mouth shut, I think things would have been easier. That being said, I'm proud of the fact that we continued to pursue a musical goal even after the band broke up. I continue to pursue the original vision, which is kind of like the Rush thing. We want to push forward and continue to find new ground. I'm only now feeling comfortable. Now, I can do this as I've meant to do this all along, with a happy face and a full heart and deal with the pressure.
Edited July 18, 2010 by CubsSuck1
shipps 6 posts
FlaSoxxJim 4 posts
Quin 4 posts
QUOTE (CubsSuck1 @ Jul 18, 2010 -> 03:42 PM)
I do have to say, I miss Jimmy Chamberlain as I'm listening to these.
QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jul 18, 2010 -> 12:18 PM)
Soundgarden.
You sir, are in luck.
Too bad Cornell's voice is shot.
QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 18, 2010 -> 01:20 PM)
The original lineups of The Who and Zeppelin.
That's mine.
Neutral Milk Hotel.
WhiteSoxfan1986
Location:Lake View
The original Alice in Chains lineup with Layne Staley.
I'd have to say the Beatles, especially to see what their song writing would be as grandparents.
Rooftop Shots
Location:Southwest Chicago Suburb
QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 18, 2010 -> 08:50 PM)
They also crossed my mind, but for a different reason. Would be curious as to see what ticket prices would be along with the hype. Is was about 7 or 8 years ago when The Eagles toured, a friend told me that tickets were going for $250.00. I know some Beatles freaks that would pay absolutely ANTYHING if they were to go on tour. Heck, they had a nation wide countdown just for one new song (Free As A Bird) when Anthology was shown on TV. Could you imagine what the hype would be along with how much they would gross on a world tour with a new album??
Kyyle23
Location:Lake In The Hills, Illinois
For me, its Failure. I still can listen to Fantastic Planet from start to finish without feeling like any of it has gotten old to me.
knightni
Location:Niles, Michigan
hogan873
Location:Joliet, IL
QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 18, 2010 -> 01:18 PM)
This was my first thought as soon as I saw this thread. I'm a huge fan of Queen. Could you imagine if Freddie Mercury was still alive and writing songs today? Their last studio album Innuendo was a glimpse of their music into the 90s.
QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Jul 18, 2010 -> 09:42 PM)
Great point, it would be interesting. I wonder if they would even really tour in the sense. I could see a month in NY, a month in London, Rio, perhaps back in the USSR, etc. The world would come to them.
christ mccartney and ringo could do a tour just playing beatles songs and probably sell tickets for $500 a pop
DABearSoX
Location:Denver, CO
QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 06:32 PM)
Paul still tours and sells the nosebleed tickets for 75 bucks a pop...I just went this past thursday and I will tell you one thing...they were well worth it...that old man can sure put on a show.
BigEdWalsh
Location:Edmonds, WA. Originally from Maywood, IL
The Mothers of Invention....or maybe the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
FlaSoxxJim
QUOTE (DABearSoX @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:42 PM)
Didn't see him this time out, but caught the last few tours and they are always memorable shows.
Chi Town Sox
The original lineup of the Smashing Pumpkins
Man I was in in Denver for work a few years back when they were on their reunion tour and got to see them at Red Rocks, probably the best show I have ever seen (the venue definitely helped), seen them at the Horseshoe Casino a year later and they were TERRIBLE and then saw them a year later at Aragon and they were on again. It's almost as if they are hit or miss depending on if they really care or not.
This is my favorite of their "new" songs since they have reformed. Best song of the night at Red Rocks and ironically it was the first tune they played, it really set the tone for that gig
Edited July 19, 2010 by Chi Town Sox
The Mama's and the Papa's
QUOTE (Yoda @ Jul 18, 2010 -> 12:58 PM)
If the genie can bring back Stevie Ray Vaughan from the Heavens to play with Double Trouble than I would definitely be buying my first album in a good while.
Here's one for ya! How about a tour with S.R.V. and Hendrix playing together? Styles and personal music choices may clash, but some pretty serious guitar playing would be brought to the audience.
There may be some faster guitar players, but nobody can make a guitar "speak" to you in so many different ways and so many different levels than SRV, Hendrix and Jeff Beck.
Location:SW Suburbs
Thin Lizzy.
I never got to see them, and IMO they're one of the most underappreciated bands in rock history. They have so many great songs and are only remembered for MAYBE two of them (Boys Are Back In Town and Jailbreak).
QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 06:24 AM)
Last studio album when Freddy was a live. Made In Heaven was the last one, but I get what you're saying. The Show Must Go On is one of my all time favorite songs.
QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Jul 20, 2010 -> 07:22 AM)
A tour with Hendrix-Beck-Page-Clapton would be amazing.
QUOTE (The Critic @ Jul 20, 2010 -> 07:31 AM)
"The Emerald" was also a great tune, but if you want to blow the doors off of someone, get a stereo with a powerful, clean strong amp, and some speakers that can handle some "EXTRA heavy bass" and turn up the song "Bad Reputation" That song......at the right volume, will make your chest 'THUNDER!" A guy that I know played that through some Altec Lansing Model 19's and I was mesmerized at what I heard and felt. (The model 19's were speakers that were the size of a washer and dryer weighed 165 pounds each, and the cabinets were made from walnut wood.) Absolutely Incredible!
If I'm not mistaken, I believe that the last 3, all came out of the same band (At different time periods) in the late 60's from a band called 'The Yardbirds"
First it was Clapton, but he wanted to be a blues purist so he recommended studio work phenom Jimmy Page who didn't want to give up his gig and recommended Beck and later Page joined up with Beck for a short time, then Beck left, Jimmy continued till the band fell apart.
And Led Zeppelin was born.
Here's the three of them playing an instrumental stairway.
Oh, and from the list of still living...the Gilmore/Waters lineup for the Pink Floyd.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The value of the home was not available Wednesday morning, though neighboring lots were valued at about $72,000 in 2013, according to Beaufort County property records.
The Bluffton Police Department and Beaufort county EMS assisted with the incident. No injuries were reported, according to Hunter. The district's fire marshal will determine the cause of the fire, Hunter said.
This Bluffton home was severely damaged by fire early Wednesday morning, according to the Bluffton Township Fire District.


I often see people discussing the use of voice commands and cues (verbal prompts to the horse to perform a behaviour) or praise (when we use our voice in an effort to let the horse they know they did something we like).
I thought it might be useful to consider how horses come to learn what voice commands or cues or verbal praise actually mean, by way of a short lesson in the science of behaviour.
To begin with, when we first train a horse to perform a behaviour, they have no idea of the meaning of either voice cues or praise.
Both of these types of use of the voice have no significance to an untrained horse.
She doesn't know what they mean at all, and they have to be learned.
Before training any animal, we could use a verbal command and the animal is unlikely to perform anything other than what they are already doing, or what they choose to do based on other things going on in their environment.
The process by which these sounds come to have meaning has to be learned by every animal, and it's a form of associative learning.
What that means is that the animal comes to associate the sound we make with our voice with some other event or stimulus.
It's a form of sensitisation – we take a neutral stimulus and by following it by something else that is meaningful to the horse, the neutral stimulus comes to be a predictor of something and can thereby begin to elicit its own emotional response.
The way in which vocal cues and praise are learned by the horse in any aversive training method is the complete opposite to the way they are learned in a positive reinforcement model.
By the way, I should say that this is not going to be a lesson in how to train cues – because that is much too complex to do in a blog post, and would require you as the reader to have some good foundation knowledge of the practice of training with positive reinforcement – and I don't intend to try to do that in this article. The structured lessons we provide are the way to go about learning that.
But what I can do is to talk about the fundamental differences in the learning of commands and cues between systems using aversive prompts with negative reinforcement of correct responses (so that would be in traditional and natural horsemanship based methods) and those using positive reinforcement.
In an aversive (negative reinforcement) system, the command can be given first, and then some kind of aversive stimulus is applied to produce the behaviour from the horse.
Imagine saying "Walk on!" or clucking with your tongue, or making a kissy noise, and then using a lunge whip, or your legs or a whip tap to apply some kind of aversive stimulus (also called pressure) to produce the behaviour.
As soon as the horse performs the correct behaviour (or makes an attempt which is in the right direction), the trainer should take that aversive stimulus off.
After some repetitions, the command now predicts the onset or application of the aversive stimulus and the horse will act before the aversive is applied (assuming there is no other competing motivation – something more salient than the aversive from the trainer) in order to avoid it.
The process involves escape learning (the horse learns that he can escape from the aversive stimulus by acting) and then avoidance learning.
First of all the horse learns that he can escape the aversive stimulus (and make it stop) by "behaving" and then he realises that there is a warning that is given before the aversive stimulus is applied.
Pretty soon the horse will recognise the vocal command and because he will now be anticipating the aversive onset, he will act before it is applied, thus avoiding the actual unpleasantness of the aversive stimulus.
When people describe horses as "anticipating" or "making assumptions" about what they should do, it is very often because they have read signals from the handler or rider, perhaps given unintentionally, that they are about to apply an aversive stimulus.
A horse might start to "offer" to do something, because he thinks that this will mean he can avoid the onset of the aversive.
Psychologists refer to the learning process in this model as "fear-conditioning" when commands are learned in this manner. The command predicts that an aversive will be applied to make a specific behaviour happen. The command is enforced by aversive application if the animal does not respond, until he does the correct behaviour.
And in fact, it is necessary to enforce the command (make the horse do the behaviour) in order for the meaning of the command to be maintained.
Equally in an aversive training system, praise acquires a specific meaning.
Usually praise is given in the period after the animal has performed the desired behaviour (and the aversive stimulus has been removed), or during a period in which the animal is continuing to perform the behaviour so that the aversive stimulus is not re-applied.
So as an example, if we say "Walk on!" and give the horse a squeeze or a little kick with our legs to cause him to move, then in a negative reinforcement system, we should stop squeezing or kicking once he walks on if we want to increase the likelihood that he will walk on in future when we do these things. This is how we should negatively reinforce his correct behaviour.
The right thing to do if the horse were to stop walking (in an aversive training system) would be to repeat the cue to "Walk on" and then re-apply the lunge whip, leg squeeze, whip tap, or kick. But not to keep using legs and cues to keep the horse going, because otherwise there is no relief for a correct response, and relief is required to strengthen behaviour.
While the horse is walking (which is what we prompted him to do) we should discontinue all input from us by way of pressure – and leave him alone.
Otherwise we are not providing any reinforcement (absence of pressure) for the behaviour we wanted.
So now, assuming our horse is doing what we want, and having taken the pressure off, we verbally praise our horse, then the praise comes to signify a period of time during which the horse will not be subjected to anything aversive (at least for a second or two, or however long it is before we ask him to do something different, or he stops doing the commanded behaviour).
If the praise is given AS the pressure / aversive stimulus is taken off or ceased, then the praise acts as a conditioned negative reinforcer. It tells the horse "here comes a short period of nothing aversive from the rider / handler, following the behaviour just performed".
As you can imagine, the use of vocal cues and praise is poorly understood by almost all riding instructors and horse trainers in the aversive training world that I have come across, and few seem to understand that this is how their verbal commands and praise comes to have significance for the horse. Consequently, for the most part they don't really give the horse any consistent information.
This of course assumes that the horse isn't finding doing the commanded behaviour unpleasant, hard work, frightening or painful in the first place. And that's a whole other story.
By contrast, in a positive reinforcement model, we get the behaviour happening first, without using any pressure or aversive stimulus to produce it, and then once it is being offered reliably, we introduce a cue. So the behaviour will have been positively reinforced (and this is why the horse will offer that behaviour) and then we can introduce a cue.
The cue becomes associated both with the behaviour that follows it (and we have to introduce the cue AS the behaviour is happening or as we cause it to happen – for example by presenting a target) and with the positive reinforcement that follows.
Cues come to signal the opportunity for positive reinforcement for the behaviour described by the cue.
As for "praise" in a positive reinforcement model – well we can see the bridging stimulus / marker signal / click (if you choose to use a clicker) itself as being a form of "praise" because it is conditioned (learned) to predict that there is going to be food or a good long lip curling scratch.
There really isn't a much better and more precise form of praise than a short sharp use of a bridging stimulus at the instant that the horse has done a behaviour (or sequence of behaviours) we want more of. And that's because we would follow that with some food as reinforcement to maintain the association between the bridge (the positive reinforcement equivalent of praise) and the food or scratch (the primary reinforcer).
Verbal praise can also function as a "keep going signal" (a subject for another day and a detailed description) – a stimulus that comes, after correct training, to predict that continuing the behaviour will result in the behaviour being bridged and reinforced eventually.
In summary, vocal cues and commands and praise have no meaning until they are associated with something.
A command becomes a threat that an aversive will be applied for non-response. A positively trained cue becomes a predictor of treats for a correct response.
If we want praise to acquire meaning to a horse, it has to be followed by something that has its own meaning and significance to that animal.
Praise on its own will have little significance if any, until the animal learns that it predicts "something" – whether that is something nice, or the temporary absence of something unpleasant. We choose nice!
Given the choice of threats or treats, we choose treats. We hope you do too!
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on October 31, 2017 by maxineeasey.
I thought it might be useful to examine what might be meant by force-free and to attempt to define it more specifically.
The challenge is, that when it comes to behaviour science and animal training, there is no scientifically agreed definition of the terms "force" or "force-free". These terms do not exist in behaviour change science, and do not have a "standard" agreed definition in any scientific work that relates to animal keeping or training that I can find. If you think you have found one, please let us know.
If someone says they are "force-free" or that they don't use any force in their training, all it really means is that they believe that what they are doing or teaching others to do does not involve force. It's all a matter of opinion, and as we know, opinions differ.
So I am going to share my opinion of what constitutes force when it comes to keeping and training animals. You are welcome to agree or disagree because, like I said, it is a matter of opinion.
It's probably worth saying that I have yet to achieve the goal of keeping my own horses in a way that is 100 per cent force-free. I've literally moved to another country in order to be able to keep them at home and to maximise my chances of being able to operate their living space and their handling and training without any form of compulsion. But I am not always successful.
I keep track of how many days we've been able to operate without actually using a halter and lead rope or where we've been able to meet their needs and look after them without any compulsion or fear, frustration or apparent stress. At least then I know I am making progress.
The fact that I keep my horses in paddocks surrounded by electric fencing, while we figure out how best to use the grazing here is a major concern to me, and something I spend lots of time agonising over! But that is a short term issue while we rearrange the land and repair damage to fences and gateways and build a holding area for winter, and get onto a rotational system and learn how best to use the resources we have.
When I fail I learn. It causes me to evaluate whether I could have set up the environment better, or done more desensitisation training (not that you can ever do too much) or picked a different time of day, or got someone to help me.
The key I have found though, is to have a clear idea in our own mind about what constitutes force or forceful handling or forceful animal-keeping or training, so as to be very mindful of it when planning on doing things with our animal friends.
I may not go many days that involve what I would consider to be true zero force at the moment, but zero force is my goal.
I believe it's achievable and that if we adopt a mind-set that is about having a strong intent to be zero-force then it causes us as owners to behave differently. If I approach a situation thinking, "How can I do this without needing to rely on using force?" I believe I will be much more likely to take action to reduce or eliminate the need for it.
The attitude or belief that "using force is inevitable and unavoidable" can cause us to lower our standards and aspirations and to make excuses when the reality is it is often our own lack of planning or forethought that gets us into situations that require the use of force.
Meanwhile let's turn attention to how we might specifically define force.
1) When an animal is put under / subjected to an aversive stimulus until it does a behaviour desired by the handler or rider.
This would ordinarily be described as pressure-release / pressure-relief / negative reinforcement. Technically, negative reinforcement describes what is said to have happened when a behaviour increases in frequency as the result of the removal, or the reduction in the strength of an aversive stimulus.
However, in order for a behaviour to be negatively reinforced, there has to be an aversive stimulus applied, (or the animal has to believe one will be applied) to produce or prompt the behavioural response in the first place. So to give it a complete description I prefer to talk about "aversive stimulation with negative reinforcement" to make it clear that the behaviour has been produced in response to some aversive trigger or predictor.
I regard this as using force, because the animal is subjected to some unpleasant, annoying, uncomfortable or painful stimulus, or kept in a situation in which s/he is uncomfortable, anxious or stressed until s/he performs some approximation of a correct behaviour. At which point the handler or rider attempts to provide relief from that situation.
The information this gives to the horse is "you will experience this unpleasantness until you behave differently".
This is the core method being used in all forms of "natural horsemanship" training. It's often described as the method used in traditional training, but my own observations are that this is rarely the case.
Unfortunately I usually see aversives / pressure being applied and removed with little regard to the behaviour being performed. Pressure comes on and off and on and off, sometimes without any understanding of the need for aversive removal for reinforcement, and aversives are not necessarily (if ever) reduced or removed when the horse does what the handler or rider wants.
Many folk who are riding traditionally or who are trying to emulate high level riders in equestrian sports seem to me to want to have the horse permanently held in what must be after a short time an uncomfortable "frame" as a means of restraint, with little relief from pressure on the bit or noseband. I am all for horses moving correctly but this can be achieved using either positive or negative reinforcement without the need to hold the head of the horse in place.
2) When an animal is put under / subjected to aversive stimulation until it ceases to perform a behaviour that the handler wants it to stop doing. This would ordinarily be considered to be and referred to as a "correction".
This form of force can only be referred to as positive punishment if the behaviour has measurably decreased in frequency if the same conditions occur in the future. Very often this doesn't happen. The reason it doesn't happen is because as a method of compelling a horse to stop performing a behaviour, it fails to address the reasons why the horse was performing that behaviour in the first place.
Correcting (smacking, admonishing, scolding, lead rope yanking, or burning with your cigarette end – I have recently been speaking with a client in the UK who shows horses, who was advised to do this by a judge) does not change how the horse feels about the trigger stimulus or event that caused him to choose to bite you.
3) Use of manipulation (picking up the animal or using any device attached to the animal) to move all or part of a resisting or protesting or shutdown (learned helpless) animal into a place or position the handler wants.
That would include the use of 1) or 2) combined with manipulation / physical manhandling.
I stress that I regard this as force if the animal shows aversion (resists, moves away, tries to move a handler away from themselves or resigns / submits), because it is very possible to touch or pick up or otherwise manhandle an animal without them finding this aversive and without them complying in order to be released.
There is a big difference between co-operation and consent. A horse may co-operate with, for instance, their legs being held onto and pulled around by a trimmer or farrier if their "co-operation" has been negatively reinforced by being released from being handled or restrained. If we are holding the foot of a horse and the horse resists or struggles a little bit (or a lot!) and we only let go when the horse relaxes, or "yields", then that would be flooding, with negative reinforcement, if the horse became more likely to comply in the future.
But this is very different to the horse participating and consenting. The horse who is restrained (prevented from moving away) and "forced" to have his foot held until he relaxes it and who gets "better" at having her feet done in future for this reason is probably complying but not necessarily consenting.
To teach an animal that they have the choice and the chance to give consent, we have to make sure they are agreeing to being touched or held onto in the first place and we must let go when they resist, or when they otherwise indicate that they want us to let go.
I am all for a farrier or trimmer holding onto a horse's foot if they are in the middle of trying to remove a shoe and there is a risk of injury to person or horse from shoe or nails if they were to let go. I just think that unless it is a genuine emergency, they probably should not be trying to remove shoes from an animal that is likely to struggle in the first place. For their own safety. And that it's our responsibility to train the animal for this predictable situation, so that we don't put our farriers or trimmers at risk.
4) Restraint. Preventing the voluntary and desired physical movement of all or part of an animal either by a person holding onto the animal or leaving the animal attached to a fixed object or leaving the animal wearing a device that prevents voluntary movement of all or part of the body. Including attaching to the animal any rope, harness, collar and lead, head collar and rope, bitless or bitted bridle, martingale, draw reins, (and any other reins or head-gear attachments designed to restrict movement) hobbles, tethers or jesses.
For many animals restraint is aversive in and of itself. Just because an animal ceases to try to be free of restraint does not indicate acceptance. If anything this is much more likely to be indicative of learned helplessness – a condition in which the animal ceases to seek to escape an inescapable aversive situation.
Again, like manhandling and manipulation, it is possible to restrain an animal with their consent with careful desensitisation and counter-conditioning and / or positive reinforcement.
5) Routine and prolonged confinement of a healthy animal in a cage, crate, stable, trailer, horse box, round pen or yard, car, kennel.
Use of any construction designed to restrict or deny freedom of movement.
If we thinking about the ethology of the horse, and from the point of view of the horse, we would never assume that any horse would initially feel safe being contained in a small space, or to be isolated from others.
Sometimes we choose to keep horses in stables, pens, stalls and so on, for their longevity or comfort.
Perhaps because they would get laminitic on unlimited grass, or be miserable in heat and flies. But there is ample evidence that prolonged physical confinement is detrimental to the emotional and physical well being of horses.
I firmly believe that it is essential to train horses for confinement in the event that they have to be kept stabled, stalled or in a small outside yard or small pen for medical reasons, where movement must be restricted or where controlled exercise is prescribed.
I am also a strong advocate of training them to handle being travelled and separated is also important, should they need to be transported to a vet. But I also recommend that this must be done in advance, and I believe this can be done on a gradual basis, associating short periods of confinement with good things happening.
But we all have emergencies! And that's where the final paragraphs of my definition of force are as important as the rest. So please read on to the end of this article if you are feeling judged about your occasional use of force or for keeping your horses confined for some of the time. There are good and legitimate reasons to keep horses confined in some circumstances and training them for confinement, but it will require some exposure to being confined to be associated with something they really like.
The ideal would be to give them the choice when it comes to shelter from heat, flies, wind, snow and ice or mud. Sometimes we personally wish we had much more say and choice of how they are turned out to graze and we wish our horses had more say in whose company they keep. When it comes to confinement and horse keeping, sometimes we have to do the best we can with what resources we have.
When I had my horses at livery I am certain that they both suffered far more from being out without any shelter in summer than they ever did stabled over night of the muddy fields in winter. But that's just my opinion!
6) Exposing the animal to a feared stimulus, event or situation while preventing escape either through confinement or restraint or correction, until the animal ceases to seek to escape and appears to calm down or give up.
This is more commonly known as flooding. It's extremely commonly used – and often done in conjunction with negative reinforcement – the animal is released only when they appear to be calm or calmer – and punishment – the animal is corrected for trying to escape.
Where correction or "response prevention" methods are used, in which aversives are added (bit or halter pressure or whip taps on the chest given to stop the horse from going forward or to make the horse back up, rather than go forward in flight) to prevent attempts to escape, this can result in conditioned suppression.
7) The use of food to lure animals into confinement or that results in restraint or aversive handling.
This may seem an odd one. But for a force-free trainer there are few things as difficult to deal with as an animal who has been entrapped with food. It associates an unpleasant experience with the appearance of food, and can seriously impair the efforts of any trainer to use food from people for counter-conditioning purposes.
8) Withholding access to food in an effort to build an appetite or hunger. This is sometimes used by trainers to create motivation to do a behaviour the animal has previously resisted or is expected to resist, because we know that deprivation creates motivation to satisfy the animal's innate needs (for forage, friends or freedom – depending on the species). This can put the animal into an approach-avoidance conflict situation where they have to choose between something they need (food) and something they don't want to do.
Contrary to popular belief – ethical positive reinforcement trainers would never withhold food from an animal to produce motivation to behave for food. It remains a common practice, referred to as "weight management" amongst some bird trainers, and a practice that is being challenged by advocates for force-free training such as Barbara Heidenreich.
But as far as our organisation is concerned, our instructors actively encourage people to try to always have the horse's normal source of fibre forage available (grass or hay) when training horses because of the nature of the digestive system of equines as trickle feeders. We also find that this mitigates the risk of conflict, particularly with horses whose owners are making the transition from aversive methods or where the horse has become sensitised to and is fearful of people, places and things.
9) Making access to food (or indeed friends or freedom) contingent on enduring a feared stimulus.
This means making food available only if the animal approaches or stays close to a feared stimulus.
This is different to using food for counter-conditioning. When we use food for counter-conditioning purposes, the animal does not have to "behave" to get the food.
What I am referred to here are some uses of positive reinforcement to "encourage" animals to approach or touch feared stimuli. This can create emotional conflict, and in many situations the use of habituation techniques or a structured programme of systematic desensitisation (graduated exposure) and counter-conditioning (pairing a very mild aversive stimulus with something the animal finds very desirable) would be a preferable solution.
I hear you! Your wails of "Yeah but!" and "What if….?" are loud and clear and coming from all around the globe!
In the end we do what we have to do for the horse. But if you have a horse in a situation in which they aren't trained yet with positive reinforcement at all, or they aren't responding to the cues you have trained with positive reinforcement, then ideally it's preferable to stay away from roads. Because whenever you apply an aversive stimulus – pressure – to stop or to produce a behaviour, you run the risk of the animal associating that with anything in the environment that she is responding to, through the process of classical conditioning. And you risk potentially sensitising the horse to traffic by associating its approach with something that the horse finds unpleasant.
By this she means that she has no behaviours trained with him at all, he has not been desensitised to being hosed with water, and yet she is having to currently handle him in and out of a stable and try to cold-hose some wounds he gained on his journey to her yard.
The reality is that we can all get into situations for which we are unprepared or for which the horse is untrained.
When we are in those situations we often think we have no option but to use either medical sedation or aversive means of control, restraint or confinement. Very often we are right, and when there really is no other option then I'd be the first to recommend restraint or negative reinforcement if it were essential to get something done for the good of the horse.
But sometimes we also need to use our imagination so that we don't feel like we have no choice but to use force.
I am very proud of my student – especially as she is a new horse owner – that she had the imagination to get the help of some people to scratch the horse all over while she examined his wounds.
Until we have some behaviours trained with positive reinforcement, or we find a place to keep them where they don't really need to be handled at all, then if we have to make a behaviour happen, or do something for the horse where – for their own immediate safety or medical treatment – consent is not really an option, then I'd say that when all else has failed, then some form of force may well have to be our choice.
I can easily justify the use of force on a temporary or occasional basis, where the animal would suffer if we didn't, or to bring the animal's suffering or distress to an end sooner.
But I also think we need to use our imagination and resources much better to demonstrate that we've exhausted the options available to us in terms of how we keep the animal and organise his environment, and to prevent the animal from being at risk of, or coming to emotional or physical harm in the first place.
Avoiding the need for forceful handling probably comes down to us having learned strategies to prevent and avoid it, and to cultivating a much more active imagination!
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on October 7, 2017 by maxineeasey.


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Bernie Sanders: I'll fight for farmers against powerful agribusiness
While massive corporations get richer, farmers who grow our food are getting only 15 cents of every dollar that a consumer spends on their product.
Bernie Sanders: I'll fight for farmers against powerful agribusiness While massive corporations get richer, farmers who grow our food are getting only 15 cents of every dollar that a consumer spends on their product. Check out this story on press-citizen.com: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/caucus/2019/03/28/bernie-sanders-president-2020-caucus-agribusiness-factory-farming-rural-america-iowa-flood-trump-ceo/3297096002/
Bernie Sanders, Guest columnist Published 11:06 a.m. CT March 28, 2019
Sen. Bernie Sanders kicked off his 2020 presidential campaign in Iowa this weekend and used the opportunity to focus on agriculture issues in rural America. Brian Powers, bpowers@dmreg.com
This past month, hardworking farmers in Iowa saw historic floods kill livestock and topple grain silos in an instant, losing their livelihoods and their way of life. It was just the latest blow to rural communities that have seen farmers' incomes cut in half, hospitals shut down, school districts consolidated, drinking wells tainted and downtowns decimated by layoffs.
But, despite what the pundits might say, this was not inevitable — and it's completely unacceptable.
Whether it's in Iowa, my home state of Vermont or anywhere else, the crisis in America's small towns and rural communities is the result of deliberate policy choices by a political class that neglects rural America, rather than investing in it.
In the end, the desperation felt by families in rural communities is about basic economic rights and freedom. Farmers have been systematically stripped of their ability to control their own futures and no longer know whether their hard work will earn them future success and stability. Storefronts are empty and farmers have been forced to sell their land that has been kept in families for generations to massive corporations.
For the massive agribusinesses that control much of rural America, it's a different story. These corporations have seen profits skyrocket and compensation packages for CEOs increase to record levels.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 9, 2019 in Des Moines. (Photo: Brian Powers/The Register)
Last year alone, the CEO of Smithfield's parent company was given a $291 million pay package. The average farmer on the other hand actually lost an average of $1,548 last year.
It's not just the CEOs who are getting paid, either. Agribusiness giants like Tyson and Hormel have spent tens of millions of dollars to employ powerful lobbyists in the past few years. And it has worked out pretty well for these corporations.
Hormel had its tax bill cut by more than half last year. And Tyson — the nation's largest meat packer, which rakes in tens of billions of dollars a year — effectively paid nothing in federal taxes last year.
While massive corporations get richer, the farmers who grow our food are getting only 15 cents of every dollar that a consumer spends on their product — less than half of what they were getting in 1980.
But nothing sums up our rigged agricultural industry quite like the Bayer-Monsanto megamerger.
The prices for corn seed have doubled and prices for chemicals used in farming have roughly tripled in the last 30 years. Yet, the Trump administration was happy to give these two conglomerates 78 percent of the corn seed market. While that deal could end up further jacking up seed prices for Iowa corn farmers, the CEO of Monsanto was rewarded with a golden parachute worth up to $32 million.
This massive transfer of wealth from working people in America's heartland to corporate CEOs is having more than just a financial toll on rural America. It has led to personal pain as entire rural communities are devastated by opioid addiction and a too-often-ignored mental health crisis has led to a spike in farmer suicides.
This is not happening by accident. It is the result of Washington putting the interests of the top 1 percent first. That is why, now more than ever, we need policies that represent the needs of working people and family farmers, not big agribusiness and multinational corporations.
Photos: Bernie Sanders first trip through Iowa as a 2020 candidate
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, speaks to a crowd of people gathered in the Mid-America Center on his first trip to Iowa after announcing he'll run for president for the second time on Thursday, March 7, 2019, in Council Bluffs. Kelsey Kremer/The Register
People wait for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 9, 2019 in Des Moines. Brian Powers/The Register
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 9, 2019 in Des Moines. Brian Powers/The Register
People watch as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 9, 2019 in Des Moines. Brian Powers/The Register
A man holds a Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, action figure during Sanders' first rally in Iowa after announcing he'll run for president for the second time, on Thursday, March 7, 2019, in Council Bluffs. Kelsey Kremer/The Register
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, shakes hands with supporters after speaking at an event during his first trip to the state ahead of the caucus, Friday, March 8, 2019, at the Iowa Memorial Union on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa. The official crowd size from the campaign was 1,804, including the overflow crowd that Sanders spoke to before his main speech. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, speaks to a crowd of people gathered in the Mid-America Center on his first trip to Iowa after announcing he'll run for president for the second time, on Thursday, March 7, 2019, in Council Bluffs. Kelsey Kremer/The Register
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, speaks at an event during his first trip to the state ahead of the caucus, Friday, March 8, 2019, at the Iowa Memorial Union on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen
People greet democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 9, 2019 in Des Moines. Brian Powers/The Register
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders leaves a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 9, 2019 in Des Moines. Brian Powers/The Register
When we are in the White House, we are going to strengthen antitrust laws that defend farmers from the corporate middlemen that stand between the food grower and the consumer, and have now become so big and powerful that they can squeeze farmers for everything they're worth. We must end the absurd situation where the top four packing companies now control more than 80 percent of the beef market, 63 percent of the pork market, and 53 percent of the chicken market. We must help communities where there is a single buyer, meaning farmers are at the mercy of a corporation that's effectively forcing them to use only the company's feed and livestock.
When we are in the White House, we will reverse the Trump administration's elimination of President Obama's rule to let small farmers take legal action when they are abused by big corporate middlemen. The same goes for Trump's elimination of the agency inside the USDA that enforces antitrust laws in the meatpacking industry.
In Iowa, Bernie Sanders attacks 'factory farming,' big agribusiness
EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Warren lays out plan to target corporate agriculture, support family farms
Iowans, demand that 2020 candidates focus on rural issues
When we are in the White House, we will also enact a federal jobs guarantee, to ensure that everyone is guaranteed a stable job, and to make sure that our young people have decent jobs so they do not have to leave the towns they grew up in and love.
When we are in the White House, we will pass the Green New Deal to fight against climate change, which is destroying farms across the state. This will put people to work rebuilding rural Iowa's infrastructure and support family farms in implementing regenerative farming practices. It'll mean clean water for all as we stop corporate polluters from poisoning Iowa waterways.
This is about taking on the incredibly powerful institutions that control the economic and political life of this country. They will spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to defeat us. But we have something they don't have. We have the people. If we stand together, this country has an extraordinary future. Let's make it happen.
Bernie Sanders is a U.S. senator from Vermont and Democratic candidate for president of the United States.
Read or Share this story: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/caucus/2019/03/28/bernie-sanders-president-2020-caucus-agribusiness-factory-farming-rural-america-iowa-flood-trump-ceo/3297096002/
It's time for us to realize we have a crisis
What the political left sees as Utopia is anti-liberty
Iowans Will Help Elect the Next President
There is a battle for Iowa's farms
All hands on deck to fight change
Iowa alumnus sets example for public intellectuals


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'Punctuality of passenger trains improved by 90% in 100 days'
Installation of train tracking system is in the final stages, says Pakistan Railways official
By APP
PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD: The punctuality ratio of Pakistan Railways (PR) passenger trains have improved by 90% due to untiring efforts of the management during the first 100 days of the present government.
"With the punctuality of trains and concrete measures taken by the government, around 20 million passengers have been added in the system, which is an ample proof of department's achievement," an official in the Ministry of Railways said on Thursday.
The punctuality of passenger trains, he added, was 70% in last year of the previous government and only 40% in 2012-13, which is now improving day-by-day on the directives of Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to win passengers heart.
Regarding the oil reserves, the official went on to say, that fuel reserves of PR have been improved to over two weeks from the reserves of only one day in the past.
PR orders restoration of railway track
Referring to railway stations' statistics, he also said that there were 550 stations in the country and around 15 of them had been upgraded to meet the needs of modern time.
"The quality of food served in the passenger trains had been improved considerably as it had been officially supervised by the authorities that passengers should get pure and quality food on the trains," he PR official added.
He further said that the installation of a tracking system is in the final stages for the strict monitoring of trains' movement and fuel expenditure, adding that the department has overcome its losses due to better financial discipline, strict monitoring system and austerity measures.
Read more: Latest , Ministry of Railways , Pakistan Railways
Work round-the-clock to pull railways out of deficit, PM Imran tells Sheikh Rasheed
The minister pledges he will make Pakistan Railways at par with the best rail service in the world
Rehman Baba Express to start from Dec 25: Sheikh Rashid
Railways minister says 10 new freight trains have been made functional under the government's 100-day agenda
No change in framework deal with China: Sheikh Rashid
Railways minister urges Chinese delegation to give reasonable construction estimates
Sheikh Rasheed asks private sector to invest in railway infrastructure
One-window facility to facilitate cargo shipments also planned
Four suspects sent on eight-day remand in Kohistan girls' murder case


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I know I sure did! I had 3 stamping events: Friday night Stamp Camp, Saturday morning club, and a private party at Patty's house (yummy snacks, wine, and stamping fun)!
You'll be glad you did, there are no costs associated with signing up as a customer, and in New York State, we do have a guaranteed savings plan. Thanks!
Now back to some stamping related news!
Here are the three projects we made at Patty's party last night. All the ladies said they liked the water coloring technique and card the best.
This evening I created this Halloween Framed Art Project and will be offering this class on Thursday September 26th at my home in Glenville from 6:30-8:30 pm. The cost is $15 or only $5 with a $30 or more order that night. You supply your own 8×10″ frame, bring your scissors and snail adhesive!
Finally, I wanted to announce when my Fall Framed Art Class will be- Saturday morning September 21st from 9:30-11:30 am at my home in Glenville. Cost is $15 or only $5 with a $30 product purchase that day. Bring your own 8×10″ frame, be sure to get one with a chipboard matte insert, as you will be stamping on that too!
I will be working on some other posts next week with all the news about our Christmas Events at the Elks (9/24, 10/29, and 11/26) so save the dates!
Thank you for reading my blog, I hope to hear from you soon!
Love, love, love both frames. Sign me up for both, please! Can't wait.
Thank you Amye! You are in both classes! Have a great week!!


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AQSQID: 440070030
Site Name: Near Road
Location: Providence, RI
Reporting: True, Located: True
Current AQI: 28.0
Providence RI, US: 41.829495, -71.417457
July 15, 2019, 4 p.m. 49570.0 ppb (12410) 30.2 ppb (28) N/A 19.0 ppb (18) N/A N/A N/A 0.47 ppb (5) N/A 4.0 μg/m3 (17) 28.0
July 15, 2019, 1 p.m. 63770.0 ppb (15969) 46.7 ppb (43) N/A 17.0 ppb (16) N/A N/A N/A 0.52 ppb (6) N/A 12.9 μg/m3 (52) 52.0
July 15, 2019, noon 65980.0 ppb (16523) 51.1 ppb (47) N/A 15.0 ppb (14) N/A N/A N/A 0.59 ppb (7) N/A 8.0 μg/m3 (33) 47.0
July 15, 2019, 11 a.m. 68840.0 ppb (17240) 54.6 ppb (51) N/A 14.0 ppb (13) N/A N/A N/A 0.56 ppb (6) N/A 13.9 μg/m3 (54) 54.0
July 15, 2019, 10 a.m. 86410.0 ppb (21643) 72.9 ppb (70) N/A 13.0 ppb (12) N/A N/A N/A 0.82 ppb (9) N/A 8.0 μg/m3 (33) 70.0
July 15, 2019, 9 a.m. 68330.0 ppb (17112) 59.8 ppb (56) N/A 9.0 ppb (8) N/A N/A N/A 0.7 ppb (8) N/A 8.9 μg/m3 (37) 56.0
July 15, 2019, 8 a.m. 49910.0 ppb (12495) 36.7 ppb (34) N/A 13.0 ppb (12) N/A N/A N/A 0.46 ppb (5) N/A 7.9 μg/m3 (33) 34.0
July 15, 2019, 7 a.m. 34460.0 ppb (8623) 26.5 ppb (25) N/A 8.0 ppb (7) N/A N/A N/A 0.29 ppb (3) N/A 4.0 μg/m3 (17) 25.0
July 15, 2019, 6 a.m. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 6.0 μg/m3 (25) 25.0
July 15, 2019, 4 a.m. 30660.0 ppb (7671) 20.9 ppb (19) N/A 10.0 ppb (9) N/A N/A N/A 0.38 ppb (4) N/A 6.9 μg/m3 (29) 29.0
July 15, 2019, 3 a.m. 32410.0 ppb (8109) 21.6 ppb (20) N/A 11.0 ppb (10) N/A N/A N/A 0.74 ppb (8) N/A 6.0 μg/m3 (25) 25.0
July 15, 2019, 1 a.m. 30500.0 ppb (7631) 19.4 ppb (18) N/A 11.0 ppb (10) N/A N/A N/A 0.63 ppb (7) N/A 10.0 μg/m3 (42) 42.0
July 15, 2019, midnight 37950.0 ppb (9498) 21.0 ppb (19) N/A 17.0 ppb (16) N/A N/A N/A 0.76 ppb (8) N/A 9.9 μg/m3 (41) 41.0
July 14, 2019, 11 p.m. 39830.0 ppb (9969) 21.5 ppb (20) N/A 18.0 ppb (17) N/A N/A N/A 0.67 ppb (7) N/A 8.0 μg/m3 (33) 33.0
July 14, 2019, 10 p.m. 25970.0 ppb (6495) 14.2 ppb (13) N/A 12.0 ppb (11) N/A N/A N/A 0.54 ppb (6) N/A 10.0 μg/m3 (42) 42.0
July 14, 2019, 9 p.m. 33650.0 ppb (8420) 19.9 ppb (18) N/A 14.0 ppb (13) N/A N/A N/A 0.6 ppb (7) N/A 13.9 μg/m3 (54) 54.0
July 14, 2019, 8 p.m. 27430.0 ppb (6861) 17.4 ppb (16) N/A 10.0 ppb (9) N/A N/A N/A 0.6 ppb (7) N/A 12.9 μg/m3 (52) 52.0
July 14, 2019, 7 p.m. 27350.0 ppb (6841) 16.9 ppb (16) N/A 10.0 ppb (9) N/A N/A N/A 0.65 ppb (7) N/A 9.0 μg/m3 (38) 38.0
July 14, 2019, 6 p.m. 23450.0 ppb (5864) 12.2 ppb (11) N/A 11.0 ppb (10) N/A N/A N/A 0.58 ppb (6) N/A 10.9 μg/m3 (45) 45.0
July 14, 2019, 5 p.m. 24060.0 ppb (6017) 15.8 ppb (15) N/A 8.0 ppb (7) N/A N/A N/A 0.58 ppb (6) N/A 7.0 μg/m3 (29) 29.0
July 14, 2019, 3 p.m. 19560.0 ppb (4889) 10.7 ppb (10) N/A 9.0 ppb (8) N/A N/A N/A 0.5 ppb (6) N/A 11.9 μg/m3 (50) 50.0
July 14, 2019, 2 p.m. 25420.0 ppb (6357) 14.4 ppb (13) N/A 11.0 ppb (10) N/A N/A N/A 0.56 ppb (6) N/A 9.0 μg/m3 (38) 38.0
July 14, 2019, noon 24430.0 ppb (6109) 12.2 ppb (11) N/A 12.0 ppb (11) N/A N/A N/A 0.6 ppb (7) N/A 9.0 μg/m3 (38) 38.0
July 14, 2019, 11 a.m. 27200.0 ppb (6804) 15.3 ppb (14) N/A 12.0 ppb (11) N/A N/A N/A 0.52 ppb (6) N/A 13.0 μg/m3 (52) 52.0
July 14, 2019, 10 a.m. 22890.0 ppb (5723) 9.8 ppb (9) N/A 13.0 ppb (12) N/A N/A N/A 0.59 ppb (7) N/A 12.9 μg/m3 (52) 52.0
July 14, 2019, 9 a.m. 19740.0 ppb (4934) 7.6 ppb (7) N/A 12.0 ppb (11) N/A N/A N/A 0.46 ppb (5) N/A 10.0 μg/m3 (42) 42.0
July 14, 2019, 8 a.m. 13720.0 ppb (3425) 4.7 ppb (4) N/A 9.0 ppb (8) N/A N/A N/A 0.46 ppb (5) N/A 12.9 μg/m3 (52) 52.0
July 14, 2019, 7 a.m. 17260.0 ppb (4312) 8.0 ppb (7) N/A 9.0 ppb (8) N/A N/A N/A 0.49 ppb (5) N/A 9.9 μg/m3 (41) 41.0
July 14, 2019, 6 a.m. 22080.0 ppb (5520) 9.4 ppb (9) N/A 13.0 ppb (12) N/A N/A N/A 0.86 ppb (10) N/A 8.9 μg/m3 (37) 37.0
July 14, 2019, 5 a.m. 18580.0 ppb (4643) 7.1 ppb (7) N/A 11.0 ppb (10) N/A N/A N/A 0.63 ppb (7) N/A 8.0 μg/m3 (33) 33.0
July 14, 2019, midnight 21850.0 ppb (5463) 8.8 ppb (8) N/A 13.0 ppb (12) N/A N/A N/A 0.65 ppb (7) N/A 10.9 μg/m3 (45) 45.0
July 13, 2019, 7 p.m. 30160.0 ppb (7545) 16.9 ppb (16) N/A 13.0 ppb (12) N/A N/A N/A 0.6 ppb (7) N/A 9.9 μg/m3 (41) 41.0
July 13, 2019, 11 a.m. 47580.0 ppb (11911) 33.2 ppb (31) N/A 14.0 ppb (13) N/A N/A N/A 0.6 ppb (7) N/A 7.0 μg/m3 (29) 31.0
July 13, 2019, 10 a.m. 44080.0 ppb (11034) 34.1 ppb (32) N/A 10.0 ppb (9) N/A N/A N/A 0.59 ppb (7) N/A 6.9 μg/m3 (29) 32.0
July 13, 2019, 7 a.m. 19870.0 ppb (4966) 11.0 ppb (10) N/A 9.0 ppb (8) N/A N/A N/A 0.55 ppb (6) N/A 2.0 μg/m3 (8) 10.0
July 13, 2019, 4 a.m. 26420.0 ppb (6608) 16.1 ppb (15) N/A 10.0 ppb (9) N/A N/A N/A 0.5 ppb (6) N/A 5.0 μg/m3 (21) 21.0
July 13, 2019, 2 a.m. 42270.0 ppb (10580) 22.5 ppb (21) N/A 20.0 ppb (19) N/A N/A N/A 0.86 ppb (10) N/A 11.9 μg/m3 (50) 50.0
July 13, 2019, 1 a.m. 40660.0 ppb (10177) 23.1 ppb (21) N/A 18.0 ppb (17) N/A N/A N/A 0.91 ppb (10) N/A 5.0 μg/m3 (21) 21.0
July 13, 2019, midnight 18990.0 ppb (4746) 8.6 ppb (8) N/A 10.0 ppb (9) N/A N/A N/A 0.44 ppb (5) N/A 6.0 μg/m3 (25) 25.0
July 12, 2019, 9 p.m. 20170.0 ppb (5042) 9.1 ppb (8) N/A 11.0 ppb (10) N/A N/A N/A 0.43 ppb (5) N/A 8.0 μg/m3 (33) 33.0
July 12, 2019, 5 p.m. 35090.0 ppb (8781) 19.6 ppb (18) N/A 15.0 ppb (14) N/A N/A N/A 0.55 ppb (6) N/A N/A 18.0
July 12, 2019, 4 p.m. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.0 μg/m3 (29) 29.0
July 12, 2019, 10 a.m. 39520.0 ppb (9891) 19.9 ppb (18) N/A 20.0 ppb (19) N/A N/A N/A 0.42 ppb (5) N/A 5.9 μg/m3 (25) 25.0
July 12, 2019, 7 a.m. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 2.0 μg/m3 (8) 8.0
July 12, 2019, 4 a.m. 16000.0 ppb (3996) 6.2 ppb (6) N/A 10.0 ppb (9) N/A N/A N/A 0.24 ppb (3) N/A 5.0 μg/m3 (21) 21.0
July 11, 2019, 11 p.m. 25920.0 ppb (6483) 14.1 ppb (13) N/A 12.0 ppb (11) N/A N/A N/A 0.5 ppb (6) N/A 9.9 μg/m3 (41) 41.0
July 11, 2019, 3 p.m. 11380.0 ppb (2839) 3.1 ppb (3) N/A 8.0 ppb (7) N/A N/A N/A 0.29 ppb (3) N/A 14.0 μg/m3 (54) 54.0
July 11, 2019, noon 42350.0 ppb (10601) 23.2 ppb (21) N/A 19.0 ppb (18) N/A N/A N/A 0.58 ppb (6) N/A 17.0 μg/m3 (61) 61.0
July 11, 2019, 10 a.m. 66030.0 ppb (16535) 41.1 ppb (38) N/A 25.0 ppb (23) N/A N/A N/A 0.7 ppb (8) N/A 20.9 μg/m3 (69) 69.0
July 11, 2019, 9 a.m. 57930.0 ppb (14505) 31.7 ppb (29) N/A 26.0 ppb (24) N/A N/A N/A 0.61 ppb (7) N/A 14.0 μg/m3 (54) 54.0
July 11, 2019, 1 a.m. 35820.0 ppb (8964) 9.9 ppb (9) N/A 26.0 ppb (24) N/A N/A N/A 0.7 ppb (8) N/A 21.9 μg/m3 (71) 71.0
July 11, 2019, midnight 37430.0 ppb (9367) 13.6 ppb (13) N/A 24.0 ppb (22) N/A N/A N/A 0.73 ppb (8) N/A 11.9 μg/m3 (50) 50.0
July 10, 2019, 3 p.m. 45010.0 ppb (11267) 25.9 ppb (24) N/A 19.0 ppb (18) N/A N/A N/A 0.5 ppb (6) N/A 11.0 μg/m3 (46) 46.0
July 10, 2019, 11 a.m. 88660.0 ppb (22207) 67.2 ppb (64) N/A 22.0 ppb (20) N/A N/A N/A 0.89 ppb (10) N/A 15.9 μg/m3 (58) 64.0
July 10, 2019, 10 a.m. 101.0 ppb (100) 76.1 ppb (74) N/A 25.0 ppb (23) N/A N/A N/A 0.97 ppb (11) N/A 14.9 μg/m3 (56) 74.0
July 10, 2019, midnight 56120.0 ppb (14052) 33.0 ppb (31) N/A 23.0 ppb (21) N/A N/A N/A 0.83 ppb (9) N/A 9.9 μg/m3 (41) 41.0
July 9, 2019, 11 p.m. 53300.0 ppb (13345) 30.0 ppb (28) N/A 23.0 ppb (21) N/A N/A N/A 0.88 ppb (10) N/A 7.9 μg/m3 (33) 33.0
July 9, 2019, 10 p.m. 40150.0 ppb (10049) 25.1 ppb (23) N/A 15.0 ppb (14) N/A N/A N/A 0.65 ppb (7) N/A 7.0 μg/m3 (29) 29.0
July 9, 2019, 9 p.m. 35900.0 ppb (8984) 21.7 ppb (20) N/A 14.0 ppb (13) N/A N/A N/A 0.63 ppb (7) N/A 6.9 μg/m3 (29) 29.0
July 9, 2019, 8 p.m. 42440.0 ppb (10623) 23.2 ppb (21) N/A 19.0 ppb (18) N/A N/A N/A 0.59 ppb (7) N/A 6.0 μg/m3 (25) 25.0
July 9, 2019, 7 p.m. 46680.0 ppb (11686) 29.3 ppb (27) N/A 17.0 ppb (16) N/A N/A N/A 0.6 ppb (7) N/A 8.9 μg/m3 (37) 37.0
July 9, 2019, 2 p.m. 52190.0 ppb (13067) 33.7 ppb (31) N/A 18.0 ppb (17) N/A N/A N/A 0.5 ppb (6) N/A 10.9 μg/m3 (45) 45.0
July 9, 2019, noon 68860.0 ppb (17245) 44.8 ppb (41) N/A 24.0 ppb (22) N/A N/A N/A 0.65 ppb (7) N/A 16.0 μg/m3 (59) 59.0
July 9, 2019, 11 a.m. 93600.0 ppb (23445) 70.7 ppb (68) N/A 23.0 ppb (21) N/A N/A N/A 0.88 ppb (10) N/A 19.9 μg/m3 (67) 68.0
July 9, 2019, 9 a.m. 83060.0 ppb (20804) 61.4 ppb (58) N/A 22.0 ppb (20) N/A N/A N/A 0.74 ppb (8) N/A 14.9 μg/m3 (56) 58.0
July 9, 2019, 7 a.m. 39600.0 ppb (9911) 21.5 ppb (20) N/A 18.0 ppb (17) N/A N/A N/A 0.36 ppb (4) N/A 16.9 μg/m3 (60) 60.0
July 9, 2019, 4 a.m. 51130.0 ppb (12801) 28.0 ppb (26) N/A 23.0 ppb (21) N/A N/A N/A 0.44 ppb (5) N/A 8.9 μg/m3 (37) 37.0
July 9, 2019, midnight 41380.0 ppb (10357) 23.8 ppb (22) N/A 18.0 ppb (17) N/A N/A N/A 0.63 ppb (7) N/A 13.9 μg/m3 (54) 54.0
July 8, 2019, 11 p.m. 38690.0 ppb (9683) 16.5 ppb (15) N/A 22.0 ppb (20) N/A N/A N/A 0.61 ppb (7) N/A 8.9 μg/m3 (37) 37.0
July 8, 2019, 10 p.m. 24600.0 ppb (6152) 9.2 ppb (9) N/A 15.0 ppb (14) N/A N/A N/A 0.45 ppb (5) N/A 3.0 μg/m3 (12) 14.0


text:
Ticketswap June
€ 10 million
Capital increase
TicketSwap
Kempen & Co is pleased to announce it acted as financial adviser to TicketSwap in its $10 million funding round.
TicketSwap, one of Europe's leading live experiences platforms that enables seamless (secondary) ticket selling, has obtained its first equity funding round of $10 million
The funding comes from Million Monkeys, a VC investor with extensive scaling experience of online marketplaces
The funding enables TicketSwap to accelerate growth, expand into new markets and optimally position the company for the reopening of various live event markets across Europe and beyond
Kempen & Co's Tech & FinTech team acted as financial adviser to TicketSwap and its founders on the funding round. Last year the team also advised TicketSwap on obtaining financing in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to bridge the hibernation of the live events market
About TicketSwap
TicketSwap is a live experiences platform connecting fans of live events as well as event organisers and primary ticket sellers (i.e. TicketSwap partners) to enable seamless (secondary) ticket selling (i.e. online marketplace) and event discovery
The platform solves key industry-wide problems such as steep prices & unfair sales tactics, hidden fees, ticketing fraud (nearly 0% fraud via TicketSwap) and poor customer service
Trusted by more than 5 million fans and partner of over 6 thousand events worldwide, including DGTL, Sziget and Hellfest
Active in more than 20 countries. Market leader in the Benelux and Hungary, well-established and fast growing in other European countries (e.g. France, UK and Spain) and setting up new markets outside of Europe
Established in 2012 by the founder-led management team


Welcome to Folk Archery Federation of the People's Republic of China. We are one non-governmental organization.
Our Mission: Promote Chinese Archery by increased exposure within domestic and global community.
If you want to help us to promote Chinese Archery in international exchangings, please join us.
My name is Jacek, I arrived to China over a month ago. I am a traditional archer; however, I did not bring my bow here. I am staying in Longhu near Zhengzhou, Henan. Could you possibly provide me with some bowyers' contact details near my location, please?


text:
Q: how to implement trigonometric expressions using a programming language? *Expression:
    -(sqrt((a0+a1 cos wt +a2 cos 2wt )^2 +(a1sin wt +a2 sin 2wt)^2
    - ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
    - sqrt ((1+b1cos wt+b2 cos 2wt)^2 +(b1 sin wt+b2 sin2 wt )^2

*variables:
    - a0=.2
    - a1=1.2
    - a2=a0=.2
    - b1=1.6
    - b2=.8
    - F=32KHZ

*Question:

*

*I am supposed to use a programming language (not matlab) to implement this exp and observe the o/p signal .... how can I do that and with what language if its even possible?

A: In C#, you can use System.Math, I believe it has every function you need:

*

*Abs

*Exp

*Sin

*Cos

*Sqrt

*... a lot of other methods ...

Data type depends on accuarcy you need, you can use decimal data type.
Example:
decimal a0 = 0.2;
decimal a1 = 1.2;

decimal result = Math.Cos(a0) * a1 - Math.Sqrt(a1);

Basically, most programming languages have some sort of math library, which should contain those functions.

A: What language?
 You can do that calculation almost with all programming language available nowadays, like C, PHP, Java, etc.
How to do that? That varying from one language to another, I give you an example with python (console):
>>> import math [enter]
>>> x = 30 [enter]
>>> y = math.cos(x) [enter]
>>> y [enter]
>>> 0.15425144988758405

Note: most programming language implement its trig function as radian not degree, to convert radian to degree in python, use this function: math.cos(math.radian(x))
To visualize in a graph, there is library for python called matplotlib, it is widely used in python

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
What Is Passage Ranking?
Hayden Roper SEO
The algorithms that Google uses to serve hyper-relevant results are complex and ever-changing. Updates to their algorithm are Google's attempt to provide the best user experience possible, ensuring that queries are answered by only the best pages with the most relevant content. Google's algorithm ranks sites to determine which ones are most relevant for a given query. Although there are a variety of factors impacting ranking ability (which we address in this post), the most important factors are content and keywords.
Google issues algorithm updates pretty often. In fact, Google makes thousands of slight changes every year – however, most of these changes aren't noticeable enough to discern. There are other instances, though, where Google does release larger updates. It's not uncommon for Google to announce updates ahead of time; this is usually the case if the update is expected to have a larger effect on rankings or if it's a new feature and/or new way of ranking. The frequency of these larger updates, often called core updates, varies. However, several of these updates are typically rolled out each year. The most recent core update was in December – which resulted in a large rankings flux for some. The specific algorithmic intention here is uncertain, although it can be assumed that Google didn't think its platform's ranking system was optimized properly.
Fast forward to February 10th, 2021 and Google introduces its passage ranking update. Initially only launching in US English SERPs (but expected to eventually roll out globally), Google's passage ranking update is an interesting take on how Google sifts through and ranks long-form content. In short, passage ranking is a new way Google ranks passages on a web page. It's a more effective way of examining long-form content on a page and determining the context of given passages. It gives Google a better understanding of the page's content, ultimately helping them provide a better user experience by populating SERPs with the most relevant results (i.e. better answers). Passage ranking allows Google to differentiate the topics of different passages on the same page and rank them separately.
For instance, let's say you wanted to search "how to set up your AT&T router." Originally, top ranking results might've predominantly been articles that provided a general overview of the topic. Now, with passage ranking, there is a higher likelihood that Google may rank other articles higher who answer this question succinctly, and in just a section of the page (rather than throughout).
The rationale behind this new update is simple: sometimes the best answers are hard to find. These answers may not be written in a way that is completely optimized, or be mentioned throughout the page. In some instances, the best answers may be condensed to just a sentence and found in the middle of a 3,000-word blog. In Google's words, "By understanding passages in addition to the relevancy of the overall page, we can find that needle-in-a-haystack information you're looking for."
How Passage Ranking Works
Originally, this update was coined as passage 'indexing,' however, given that this didn't accurately resemble the true nature of the algorithm, and since Google didn't want to confuse users, it was ultimately changed to passage 'ranking.' Initially perceived as a change in how Google indexes pages, it's instead a new way Google ranks certain pages.
Again, Google's end goal is to provide the best experience to the user. If Google believes that the passages on a page are more relevant to a query than the overall content, they'll rank these pages differently. From what we know, Google will isolate the sentence, phrase, paragraph, etc. that it deems most relevant, and will then rank the page based on that specific content.
As odd as this may seem to some, it sounds very similar to something Google already utilizes – featured snippets. Featured snippets are passages from pages that have been selected to be spotlighted at the top of SERPs (i.e. position 'zero'). These passages are "snippets" of content that Google has pulled from that particular web page because it seems to be the most relevant text for that particular search.
These snippets are opportunities for sites to increase their brand exposure, grow organic traffic, and attain higher CTRs, even without high domain authority. However, Google has stated that passage ranking is different from featured snippets. Featured snippets is an older tool that uses alternate systems (not passages) to pull the text.
Google's Intentions with Passage Ranking
In addition to the aforementioned reasons (i.e. better answers may live in harder to find locations), it can be assumed that this update is yet another small step toward Google's larger goal: being 100% effective and accurate, 100% of the time. Or, understanding the user wholly while serving the best search results, always.
And Google is proving continuously that nothing is ever perfect; anything can be tweaked or optimized. This is especially true for search engine performance. It's reported that there are over 3 billion searches each day on Google alone. These searches need to find and sort the content of nearly 1.2 trillion websites currently in existence.
To What Extent Will This Affect Rankings?
From what we've seen so far, there hasn't been too much of an impact on rankings. There is a chance that passage ranking will only really affect sites that utilize long form, unstructured content, giving them an additional slight boost in SERPs. Does that mean passage ranking won't particularly affect other sites? Perhaps. Or, at least the impact will be too small to worry about. At the same time, Google has said that this update will affect approximately 7% of all search queries across all languages. Since passage ranking hasn't rolled out globally, though, this impact may not be visible yet.
Steps Moving Forward: Passage Ranking Strategies
Now that we've gone over specifics, let's talk strategy. How do you accurately prepare for algorithm updates? In most cases, you have to optimize "after the fact" by assessing what has changed or why rankings have dropped. In other instances, Google may give you some insight ahead of time, like with the upcoming Page Experience update (addressed later). This insight could give you the opportunity to make necessary changes before the algorithm even drops.
As for passage ranking, all of the usual SEO best-practices still apply, like keyword research, metadata optimization, backlink acquisition, user experience, etc. However, with passage ranking focusing on long form content, there is more of an importance on long-tail keywords, headers, and of course, content that's "good" – i.e., unique and relevant.
Understanding the User
At the core of effective SEO strategy is solid analysis of your target audience. Who are they? What are they looking for? Why are they wanting it? These questions go hand-in-hand with keyword 'intent' – a critical part of good keyword research. For a lot of keywords, particularly those that aren't long-tail, there are multiple intents. For example, for the query "PlayStation," a user could have multiple intents, including but not limited to:
Informational (what is a PlayStation)
Navigational (where is the PlayStation website)
Transactional (how can I buy a PlayStation)
You'll want to make sure that the keywords you choose have the correct keyword intent. If they don't, you may find it harder to rank for that particular keyword. And, you may realize that you're not getting the traffic you'd like to see on your site (conversional traffic). Usually, figuring out the intent of a keyword is pretty easy and can be done by just looking at the keyword, itself. At other times, that's not the case. One good strategy for discerning keyword intent is to look at the top-ranking pages in SERPs for that particular keyword. Are they blogs? Are they product pages?
Creating Unique, Quality Content
Here's the problem a lot of people have when they create content for their site: they create content merely for the purpose of having content, (i.e. only to show to Google that they have it). This strategy isn't ideal. Google prefers content that is unique and relevant.
Google prefers content that is unique particularly because unique content is an indicator of quality. With unique content, there's usually high consideration for the topic and the user (intent). For some sites (sites that are either not optimizing for SEO or are not fully aware how to do it correctly) it's common to see duplicate content across a number of pages. Why? Because it's easy. However, easy doesn't always mean good.
As for relevancy, of course Google wants content to be relevant. They want to make sure that the highest ranking content answers users' questions the best. Therefore, the more targeted your content is to a user's wants, needs, etc., the more organic success you're going to see in SERPs.
Utilizing Long-Tail Keywords & Headers
Since passage ranking primarily looks at long form content (particularly passages and sections of this content), utilizing long-tail keywords and optimizing the headings of your passages is the most effective strategy when figuring out how to take full advantage of this new ranking system.
In addition to being perfect for long form content (i.e., higher word counts, multiple topics, more opportunities for insertions without affecting readability, etc.), long-tail keywords might kickstart Google's passage systems. Headers are also pivotal in providing an organized and easily understandable content structure for your page, making it easier for not only users to understand, but for Google as well.
There are many tools and platforms available to help conduct keyword research and easily generate content ideas. Some of our favorites are SEMrush and Ahrefs. You'll find everything you need, including search volume, keyword difficulty, top-ranking sites, SERP features, related keywords, and more. Keyword research can be done without database assistance, however, it will be harder. Still, a great way to understand which keywords are popular, and which keywords you should target (and have a probable chance of ranking for), is to research your competitors. If done correctly, in-depth competitor analysis (direct brand competitors and competitors in SERPs) can give you enough information to lay out a solid keyword and content strategy.
What to Expect Next
The next big algorithm update is coming much sooner than you probably think. Originally announced in November of last year, Google's Page Experience update is expected to take effect in May, 2021. This update will emphasize the importance of user experience like page speed, website interactivity, and more. It's still difficult to tell how much of an effect this algorithm update will have. However, it's safe to assume that by not optimizing for user experience, you have a much higher risk of noticing drops in rankings.
Make sure to keep an eye on your site's Core Web Vitals. Core Web Vitals are one of the most important page experience metrics, giving Google quick snapshots into your pages' load times, interactivity, and content stability. These vitals are split into three separate metrics – Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shifts (CLS). For additional insight into your CWV's, there are multiple tools that you can use, including Google's PageSpeed Insights, Chrome's User Experience Report, and Search Console's Core Web Vitals.
Contact Acadia Digital
If you've recently experienced unknown drops in keyword rankings, or if you're unsure of how to craft an effective SEO strategy, please contact our team at Techwood Digital. We'll make sure to perform a thorough SEO audit of your site, troubleshooting for any technical hiccups as well as identifying any opportunities for keyword and organic growth. Techwood specializes in all aspects of SEO, including content creation. So, if you're needing assistance jumpstarting your blog or other long-form content on your site, we can help!
Is there a better way to learn how to take advantage of a platform than right from the source's mouth? YouTube recently released a video featuring Rachel Alves that gives five tips on how to grow your YouTube audience as a small channel. Rachel Alves is currently a Product Manager for Recommendations at YouTube, which […]


text:
Moscow plays nice with free trade as Ukraine sounds alarm over Russian troops
Written by The Kyiv Post on May 20, 2015 in Europe - Comments Off on Moscow plays nice with free trade as Ukraine sounds alarm over Russian troops
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced a breakthrough in negotiations with Russia over Kyiv's duty-free trade deal with the European Union – a much needed ray of hope in the ongoing war.
But the announcement came amid scandal, as Ukraine offered what it called irrefutable evidence that the Kremlin has continued to send troops to stoke the war in the eastern Donbas, despite the Minsk peace agreement in February.
The timing of these two recent developments brings Western leaders to a fork in the road: either heed the alarm bells being sounded by Ukraine's Defence Ministry or give Russian President Vladimir Putin the benefit of the doubt in light of its new concessions.
"The capture of these allegedly Russian servicemen will not change the situation at all. Those who believe Russia is involved in Donbas already believe this, Russia officially will fully deny any responsibility and disavow these people, and the West right now is primarily interested in preventing a full disintegration of the cease-fire and a summer offensive. So they won't make much noise about these Russian officers," said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent Russian political and military analyst.
Felgenhauer said that the West is not" selling out Ukraine," but rather trying to prevent further escalation. He said the recent visit to Moscow by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland was meant to "bait Putin into not launching an offensive."
Moscow has been just as clever in its recent moves, said Volodymyr Fesenko of the Penta Centre for Political Studies.
Moscow's decision to back down over Ukraine's free trade pact with the European Union was not so much a breakthrough as a strategic manoeuvre on the part of the Kremlin in order to appease the international community, he said.
Ukraine has spent more than a year wrangling with Moscow to get some leeway in its free-trade pact with the EU, and the deal was previously postponed under pressure from the Kremlin, which threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to Russian markets.
This time around, however, there were no calls for changes to the deal, no threats, and no demands for postponement.
At trilateral talks in Brussels on May 18, Russian Economic Minister Alexei Ulyukayev didn't even bring up the issue of postponement – an unexpected about face.
"This is just a tactic, It doesn't mean that Russia will not create problems in negotiations further down the line. They definitely will. But right now Moscow is primarily concerned with being constructive in talks with European partners, especially in order to get the sanctions removed," Fesenko said.
Political analyst Taras Berezovets said the decision to back down in trade talks was probably a long time in the making and not an overnight decision.
"It probably had more to do with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's recent talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel," he said.
During that meeting, held in Moscow on May 10, Putin called for a return to normal relations with Europe, an appeal that many analysts tied to Moscow's desire to have sanctions eased.
Western and Russian leaders alike have all expressed exhaustion with the ongoing peace process, acknowledging that the Minsk agreements reached in February have not been fully effective but stopping short of doing anything about it.
While Moscow has increasingly sought to be conciliatory and constructive – a bid some say is meant to make Ukraine seem like the aggressor in the conflict – Ukraine has desperately sought to attract attention to what it describes as Russia's continued build-up of troops in the east.
On May 18, Ukraine's Defence Ministry called a dramatic press conference to show the world the presence of Russian soldiers in the war-torn east.
Colonel General Viktor Muzhenko, chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told a crowd of journalists that Ukraine now had "undeniable proof" of involvement by Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, in eastern Ukraine. Muzhenko showed a weapon confiscated from the two men detained over the weekend, both of whom had identified themselves as Russian officers in a widely circulated video.
"When we found them, they were wounded and the Russian side was firing at them. The Russians were firing at their own men. One of them had been abandoned and left to die. We decided to help them before taking them into custody," commander Viktor Nikolyuk, who took part in the operation to help the men, said at the press conference.
The men are now set to be charged with terrorism, a crime which carries a life sentence.
While Russia's Defence Ministry has denied that the men were acting servicemen, saying instead that they had already left the service, the men's detention is the latest red flag offered up by Ukraine as proof that the February ceasefire deal is long dead.
Analysts agreed that Ukraine's panicked press conference would do little to sway the West to take a harder line against Russia, however.
Despite the repeated violations, the Minsk agreements are still "the only basis for the prevention of violence," Felgenhauer said.
Berezovets said the fiasco with the Russian soldiers would probably only put a dent in the ongoing peace process if further information on troops came out.
"They probably are panicking behind the scenes, worrying that these two guys might spill more information," he said.
At the Defence Ministry briefing in Kyiv, Muzhenko said there had been at least 14 other Russian servicemen in the same unit as the two officers detained.
Source: The Kyiv Post
(Photo: Ukraine defence ministry)
Democratic Bulgaria wants Defence Minister summoned over stance on Nato troop deployment
PM Petkov: Bulgaria's position on Ukraine and Russia 'in full sync' with that of Nato, EU
US deeply concerned by Bulgarian President calling Crimea 'Russian'


text:
NFL Legend Walter Payton's Porsche 930 Turbo is Going to Auction
This is the one sports car that the Super Bowl champ couldn't part with before his death.
By Eric BrandtAugust 19, 2018
Mecum
Every turbocharged, air-cooled Porsche is pretty valuable, but the one that Mecum is going to auction off in October has an ownership history that makes it even more special. This 1979 Porsche 930 Turbo was originally purchased by legendary running back Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears. The car has been in the care of Payton's son Jarrett since his death in 1999 and now it's available for ownership outside of the Payton family for the first time.
The football hall of famer, who was known as "Sweetness" around the NFL, had taste judging by the tasteful modifications on his old Porsche. Among its mods are an upgraded Ruf interior, a Ruf intercooler, Borla exhaust, an Alpine stereo with Nakamichi speakers and Gotti rims. The most personal touch on the car is the "Sweetness" license plate frame around the "WP" Illinois tag .
The 930 Turbo is a pretty sweet ride on its own. It's powered by a turbocharged 3.3-liter flat-six engine that makes 265 horsepower linked to a four-speed manual transmission and there were only 1,200 U.S.-spec models produced in 1979. This particular example has only 9,950 original miles on the clock.
Walter Payton bought this car relatively early in his long 13-season career, but he purposely focused on becoming a great running back before treating himself. "This was his first sports car," Jarrett Payton explained in the Mecum listing. "This was the first big-name sports car that he bought. He bought it in 1979, the year before I was born. He got into the league in '75, and early on, his main focus was just playing football. That focus helped him become the leading rusher with the most carries those first three years. He worked hard to ensure he had established himself, so when he was getting to the good part of his career when the '80s came around, he wanted to treat himself."
This wasn't Payton's only exotic sports car, but it was apparently his favorite. When his health began to decline in the nineties, Payton sold some of his other valuable sports cars including his Ferrari Testarossa, his Lamborghini Countach, and his Nissan 300ZX. But this 930 Turbo is the only one he couldn't part with and wrote it into his will.
Any enthusiast of both classic Porsches and the Chicago Bears won't want to miss this auction. If you plan to bid on it, do the Super Bowl Shuffle over to Chicago on October 25-27 for your chance to own a piece of both sports and automotive history.
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