text:
"If you want to change the world, who do you begin with: yourself or others?" – Solzhenitsyn
Painting On Scars
Tag Archives: White Fragility
Some of the Latest Ideas about Reducing Racism
(Image by Joe Brusky used under CC 2.0 via)
"I Loved My Grandmother. But She Was A Nazi." This is the title of this weekend's excellent op-ed in the New York Times by Jessica Shattuck. She writes, "My grandmother heard what she wanted from a leader who promised simple answers to complicated questions. She chose not to hear and see the monstrous sum those answers added up to. And she lived the rest of her life with the knowledge of her indefensible complicity."
I live in Germany, where many if not most of my friends and family members could have written that. Here in Berlin, if you call your grandparents' generation "the greatest"—as so many do back home in the U.S.—you might as well slap a swastika on your chest. Or try to argue that the earth is flat. The Sixties generation in West Germany shared their American counterparts' love of rock music and peace signs, but their top priority was to expose how many of their professors, teachers, and public officials were former Nazis. If the cost of expunging Nazi thought meant the end of both nationalism and nostalgia, so be it.
While the Sixties movement left a lasting impact on German politics, education, and the media, Germany today could hardly be considered racism-free. Last year, there were 857 attacks on refugee homes perpetrated by right-wing extremists nationwide. Plenty of non-white and non-Christian residents tell of the prejudices they too frequently face. The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has joined the global nationalist movement, calling for a return to the good old days when no one had to hear about celebrating diversity.
But the AfD is considerably less popular than nationalist parties in other countries. With every party in the Bundestag having pledged to never work with it, and with its best national polling numbers peaking at only 12% last fall, it stands no chance of winning the national election in September. The greatest fear is that the once fledgling party will come in third or fourth and garner well over 5% of the vote, which is the minimum required to be granted seats in the Bundestag. Human rights activists are right to believe than any success for the AfD will be a dangerous validation of ideas no citizen should embrace. But British and American nationalists have been far more successful in their respective countries as of late. Is there something anti-nationalist and anti-racist activists could learn from their German counterparts?
No one can say with any accuracy that German society is less racist than others. Proving one country is less racist than another is difficult to the point of nearly being impossible. But it is heartening to see the AfD's approval ratings nowhere near a majority. I have asked many Germans how they have come to stigmatize nationalism so successfully. Don't people get touchy? Don't most people excuse away the Holocaust by arguing that most Germans never saw a concentration camp? Don't most people tend to understand it from their grandparents' perspective? One German explained the approach to me as "Verstehen, aber kein Verständnis," which can be translated as "understand (as in comprehend) but without understanding (as in sympathizing)." One could describe Shattuck's op-ed piece this way.
Some of this could be linked to a greater willingness in German culture to talk about problems, no matter how unpleasant. While American and British children are often told, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," many Germans would consider this evasive to the point of being dishonest. Germans are raised to mean what they say and say what they mean, and are thus likelier to believe that airing dirty laundry is the only path to improvement. Never does one hear, "I was just saying it to be nice." As Sabine Heinlein wrote earlier this year in the Daily Beast:
It has always struck me as odd how timid most Americans become when asked to object to something, even politely. At the dinner table, I've noticed, what Germans call a discussion, Americans call an argument.
I know I am often perceived as harsh because I speak my mind. But I also see how the very thing that makes America great—its people's quiet acceptance of other beliefs, their overwhelming friendliness, their effort to always get along—now threatens to become its downfall. I loathed having to read my friends' whiny Facebook posts about how they were dreading Thanksgiving because of the elections. "Boohoo, I have to talk about politics to someone who thinks differently than I do!"
Here, this German said it. Will you still like me? I am asking because I believe what stands in the way is Americans' compulsive need to be liked. At moments like this, though, we need to learn to object and intervene—whether in public protest or simply around the family dinner table.
Americans do generally prefer to emphasize the positive. We like to think of our ancestors and ourselves as the Good Guys. But while it is true that my grandparents fought on the opposite side of the Nazis, their generation cannot honestly claim to have been innocent of racism. Many U.S. veterans returning from the liberated concentration camps and the Nuremberg Trials understood them as proof of why they had to help end segregation across the United States. Others returned and hurled tomatoes and death threats at 6-year-old Ruby Bridges as she attempted to enter an all-white school. To such white supremacists, World War II was not reason to consider that the Nazis had modeled many of the Nuremberg Laws on Jim Crow. It was proof of America's inherent superiority.
Some Americans face our long history of racism, some mention it as a footnote in the otherwise Great American Story, and others go so far as to question its relevance. The night Trump was elected president, I was told by one of his white supporters that discussing racism divides the country. Yet race issues have been proven to be a strong motivator among many such voters. More than age, location, religion, economic status, level of education, or party affiliation, the most common factor uniting Trump voters was feeling threatened by the fact that whites are projected to no longer dominate the U.S. population by 2042. Of course not all Trump supporters share these feelings, but they risk repeating the mistakes of Shattuck's grandmother when they refuse to confront the dangers they pose.
White people in the U.S.—and across the Western World—are taught by their culture that their skin color, ethnicity, and/or religious background is the standard. Consequently, they often envision multiculturalism as merely welcoming some people of color into their everyday reality without altering the centrality of their role in the narrative. Getting them to question this can be hard. Dr. Robin DiAngelo has written extensively about the white fragility she often encounters when teaching anti-racism workshops in the U.S. and how quickly this fragility can unleash obstinacy and outrage. But if white people want racial equality and racial justice—if we want to practice what every democracy on earth preaches in their non-discrimination laws—then white people need to be willing to approach racism from perspectives other than their own. And in order to do that, we have to be willing to engage with ideas that may make us uneasy.
Zadie Smith's 2016 novel Swing Time is the story of a girl who grows up in a poor end of London with her black Caribbean mother and white British father. Her white friend Lily "solemnly explained to me one day as we played, that she herself was 'color blind' and saw only what was in a person's heart." But when the biracial girl wants to watch a musical with an all-black cast, Lily refuses: "Why was everybody black? It was unkind, she said to have only black people in a film, it wasn't fair. Maybe in America you could do that, but not here, in England, where everybody was equal anyway and there was no need to 'go on about it.' "
I could have thought, if not said, something like that at Lily's age. With slogans like "one race: human," colorblindness was hailed in classrooms in the 1980s and 90s as both the right goal for society and the right tactic for ending racism. And so I recall feeling concerned when a character on the sitcom Hangin' with Mr. Cooper talked about being proud of being black, thinking that surely any racial pride was akin to racism. I was disconcerted when Family Matters portrayed Santa Claus as black. My thoughts on the matter shifted as my brain matured to handle more nuanced ideas and I encountered more detailed arguments from people of color. This helped me eventually understand how the predominance of white people in mainstream culture in the U.S. had blinded me to the experiences of people of color, which were far more different from my own than my younger self had assumed. I realized I had never considered how it might feel to grow up with a Santa Claus—and a throng of national icons—who did not share my racial status.
Some white people are reticent to discuss race at all because, like Lily and I, they were taught that any generalizations about any people are just as taboo as inaccurate stereotypes about traditionally marginalized groups. Other white people may be reticent because they are terrified of ending up the butt of the joke in revealing videos or interviews about white myopia. Such wariness is well-known to activist Jay Smooth, who explains:
Anytime we are dealing with race issues, we are dealing with a social construct that was not born out of any science or reason or logic… The race constructs that we grapple with in America were designed specifically by a desire to avoid making sense. They were shaped for centuries by a need to rationalize and justify indefensible acts. So when we grapple with race issues, we are grappling with something that was designed for centuries to circumvent our best interests. It's a dance partner that's designed to trip us up.
If we deconstruct all that maintains the unequal distribution of power based on race, white people will find themselves in situations unfamiliar. Anxiety at such a reality should never shut down the conversation, but it too often does. Seventy years after Hitler gave racism a bad name, how many of us are willing to strive for racial justice beyond the boundaries of our comfort zones? How many of us are willing to listen more than we speak? How many of us are willing to endure this as often as necessary? How do we open the minds of those who become instantly defensive in such debates? I was recently asking these questions with friends and then, as if the Internet was listening in, this meme popped up in my feed:
What do you think? Can we do it?
Tags: AfD, Diversity, nationalism, Nazism, Political Correctness, Race, Racism, White Fragility
Categories Scars & Race, Ethnicity & Nationality
Because We Gotta Keep Telling the True Stories in Dwarf History
Can A Princess Ever Set Us Free?
Will Banning Scars on Bad Guys Bring Out the Scars on Princesses?
Summer Body Challenge
In School I Learned the Story of Emmett Till, But Never the Story of How Many Still Try to Destroy Him
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Discussion in 'Energy, Environment, and Policy' started by Jae Kwon, Nov 7, 2012.
I came across an article on a Carnegie Mellon Study that shows that plugin hybrids make more environmental sense than electric vehicles.
It would be nice to have a solid response to this, by understanding the study and seeing where the holes are, if there are any.
"The study shows that the environmental burdens of mobility are dominated by the operation phase regardless of whether a gasoline-fueled ICEV or a European electricity fueled BEV is used." In other words, the environmental impact of Li-Ion battery manufacturing is insignificant compared to power plant pollution from charging electric vehicles. And as we already know, even in places that generate electricity exclusively from high-sulphur coal, the environmental impact of the Model S is still less than a gas-powered car driven the same distance.
In looking at the CMU study I found a few flaws. First they compare against the Prius, a great car and low emissions but hardly the average car. They use a battery cost between $625 and $850 and Tesla is under $500. Then I am not sure they are properly accounting for battery production. Here is an excerpt "a materials-based assessment is performed for battery manufacturing, including lead-acid (plastic, lead, sulfuric acid, fiberglass, water), nickel metal hydride (NiMH)". Today's electric cars do not use lead batteries and we know lead is particularly nasty.They use a "the high case assumes all electricity is from coal". Nowhere are we 100% coal and I cannot imagine a case where we will be all coal. The majority of the air pollution costs for the electric vehicle is from SO2, not a good pollution, but it only comes from coal, a power source that is in decline. They also appear to assume battery production is 100% coal powered as half of the pollution cost of the battery is SO2. Again I am unsure making lithium batteries makes that much SO2. Finally they assume $30,000 on battery replacement costs on a BEV that has 150 mile range. I can't imagine that a new battery for Tesla 40 KWH pack would cost $30,000. I am sure they are plenty of other "errors" in the study.
The Carnegie Mellon report states: "We find that, in the base case, plug-in vehicles (PHEVs and BEVs) may produce more damage on average than today's HEVs. This fact is due in large part to SO2and GHG emissions from coal-fired power plants."
Clearly, the problem is NOT about EVs; it is about the mix of generation resources on the electric grid. What the authors (both of this article and the Carnegie Mellon piece) ignore is that the grid's sources are becoming much cleaner. In 2007, half of the US's power came from coal; today it's about one-third. Continued advances in displacing high-carbon sources on the grid will continue to make EVs a better choice for environmental reasons. But cars that use gas are stuck, forever, with their high-carbon footprints.
A discussion was started on this already in another thread (Anti-Tesla Gibberish), but got side tracked by a discussion on conflict of interest (my fault).
The main problem with the CMU study (IMHO) is they are attempting to place a dollar value on "environmental damage" of emissions. Unfortunately, this is not something one can easily calculate, but they attempt to anyway. For example, they assign a $6 million value to each statistical (presumably human) life in their morbidity and mortality calculations for various pollutants. They then then use that along with actual measurable costs of raw materials and fuel to calculate a cost associated with the production and operation of a vehicle over 12 years and draw their conclusions. I have questions about their emissions model for battery pack production, but don't really have time to dig into that.
They have also stacked the deck against the BEV by including only a 240km battery pack which is quite costly compared to the smaller packs in the plug-in hybrids. They are using a vehicle driving range model which favor shorter distances, so 240km is probably too much range for typical use in their model. If they had included a 120km pack similar to the Nissan Leaf, then the Leaf equivalent would have most likely had the lowest costs across the board. Curiously, this additional (and more appropriate) BEV pack size was omitted even though they modeled two battery pack sizes for a plug-in hybrid (20km and 60km).
The cited Carnegie Mellon study was based on the Saft VL41M Li-ion battery cell that has a specific energy after charge of 136 Wh/Kg. All costs of the Li-ion batteries in the study were on a weight basis. The BEV240 case vehicle was modeled with a 66.1 kWh battery pack. So, the weight of the Li-ion cells in the BEV240 would have been (66.1 kWh) * (1000/k) / (136 Wh/Kg) = 486 Kg.
The Model S's Panasonic Li-ion battery cells have a specific energy after charge of 240 Wh/Kg. Doing similar calculations, the weight of the Li-ion cells in the Model S's 40 kWh battery pack would be 167 Kg; the 60 kWh Battery Pack, 250 Kg; and, the 85 kWh battery pack, 354 Kg. So, the BEV240 case vehicle's battery costs overstated the Model S's 40 kWh battery pack costs by 191%; the 60 kWh battery pack costs by 94.4%; and, the 85 kWh battery pack costs by 37.2%.
Also, with all of our electronic gadgets, there is an enormous amount of battery R&D at this time. Li-ion battery manufacturers are projecting annual energy density increases of 8-10% for the next several years. If we follow the methodology of the study and base all battery costs on a weight basis, we could possibly see battery costs decreasing fairly rapidly & for the Model S, this is starting from a much better cost basis than BEV240 case vehicle.


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Q: readFile, escope and class Javascript Using readFile json to return array messages, object return empty array, why?
My code:
var fs = require("fs"); // filesystem

class Message {

   constructor() {
      this._message_list = [];
   }

   set message_list(val) {

      this._message_list = val;
   }

   get message_list() {
     return this._message_list;
   }

   getMessages() {

      fs.readFile("./models/messages-list.json", "utf8", (err, data) => {
       if(err){
         return err;
       }
        // append array messages
        this._message_list = Object.keys(JSON.parse(data));
        console.log(this._message_list); // return ["message 1", "message 2"]
});

    return this._message_list; // return array messages
 }

}

module.exports = {
  Message
};

var Message = require("./models/message");

let mensagem = null;
mensagem = new Message.Message();
console.log( mensagem.getMessages()); //return []

How return my array messages? Way my this._message_list return empty array?

A: Because fs.readFile is asynchronous, it won't return before you do:
// return array messages
return this._message_list;

If you use fs.readFileSync, this should work..
getMessages() {
    var data = fs.readFileSync("./models/messages-list.json", "utf8");

    this._message_list = Object.keys(JSON.parse(data));

    // log ["message 1", "message 2"]
    console.log(this._message_list);

    // return array messages
    return this._message_list;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


To be honest, I can count on my fingers the number of times I've actually worn a fur coat out, it just doesn't get as cold around my side of the world. But boy, do these make a fashion statement! Note to self: I really need to stop buying one too many of these because I find them taking over too much room in my wardrobe for something I don't get to wear that often.
With that being said, let's move on to my recent moment of weakness when I couldn't help but get my hands on this beautiful fur coat I spotted on SHEIN. Especially with the whole animal print trend taking over the fashion world, I simply HAD to own this totally fierce, feline-printed coat.
Don't even get me started on the endless possibilities of styling this masterpiece. I could be wearing a rack and throwing this over would take me from 0 to 100 oh-so-quick! You could pair it up with jeans and a tee, a cool LBD, or even with other prints for the ultimate fashion risk!


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Intelligence. Information. Insights.
The Melior Group Team
Melior in the News
Sindey Dranoff
Melior Group ⁄ About the Melior Group ⁄ The Melior Group Team ⁄ Team Members ⁄ Sindey Dranoff
Senior Project Director
sdranoff@meliorgroup.com
The hallmark of Sindey Dranoff's work is her ability to shape information into findings that are both insightful and readily implementable. She manages both qualitative and quantitative projects, beginning with the project design, through implementation, analysis and reporting, and ending with thoughtful presentations. She is an experienced executive interviewer and facilitator of qualitative research programs, as well as a skilled quantitative analyst.
Sindey works with clients in a variety of industry sectors and is deeply involved in our strategic community assessment projects, particularly as the leader of our Jewish Community Studies initiative. She was the project manager for Melior's work with Jewish Federations of Southern New Jersey, Northern New Jersey, Greater Hartford, Atlanta and Richmond. Along with co-author Susan Levine, her article on The Melior Group's research approach to community studies has been published in Contemporary Jewry.
Sindey also devotes much study and time to the measurement of corporate ethics and compliance, and is Melior's expert on this topic. She has published posts about Melior's work in employee ethics and compliance to the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics blog.
Prior to joining The Melior Group, Sindey worked as an independent marketing research consultant and held management positions at Scott-Levin (now part of IQVIA), a pharmaceutical research firm.
She serves on as the President of the Board of Directors for Congregation Kol Emet (PA) and is a volunteer for Northeastern University's Co-Op Connections program.
Sindey earned her M.B.A. at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and holds a B.S. in Business and Marketing, with Honors, from Northeastern University.
Contact Melior
melior@meliorgroup.com
About the Melior Group
Copyright © 2020 Melior Group. All rights reserved. Ask Melior for a proposal.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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NASA Creates Origami Space Radiator
The ancient art of paper folding combined with advanced materials makes for great heat dissipation.
By Matthew Humphries
I've been working at PCMag since November 2016, covering all areas of technology and video game news. Before that I spent nearly 15 years working at Geek.com as a writer and editor. I also spent the first six years after leaving university as a professional game designer working with Disney, Games Workshop, 20th Century Fox, and Vivendi.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/nasa-creates-origami-space-radiator
Origami, the art of paper folding, has been associated with Japanese and Chinese culture for centuries. But now a technologist at NASA is adding a futuristic twist to origami by using it as a basis for a smart space radiator.
All the electronic gadgets we create on Earth have a temperature range within which they can operate. The same is true of devices, for example satellites, that we launch into Earth's orbit and beyond. However, the temperature range and fluctuations they need to deal with are much greater.
So Vivek Dwivedi, a technologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has been working on a way to help protect satellites in particular from massive fluctuations in temperature. What he's ended up with is a shape-shifting radiator coated in vanadium oxide(Opens in a new window).
The radiator is pictured above. It can be folded and unfolded as required to either collect to shed heat and help keep temperature fluctuations to a minimum. The coating is key, however, in enhancing the radiator's ability to deal with large amounts of heat quickly.
Vanadium oxide turns out to be the ideal coating choice as it can change state from a semiconductor to a metal when the temperature reaches 154 degrees Fahrenheit. This state change greatly enhances the radiator's ability to emit energy and therefore regulate heat.
NASA Unveils 'Boeing Blue' Spacesuit
By relying on a smart radiator, it will allow satellite designers to focus less on dealing with thermal changes in the actual hardware, which could potentially simplify the design and reduce weight. It also means there will be better protection offered to the smallest of satellites, with CubeSats (pictured above) being a good example.
Dwivedi and his team are still in the early stages of the smart radiator's development, but the signs are promising. Funding to continue the research project is also assured thanks to NASA's Center Innovation Fund(Opens in a new window), which exists to "encourage creativity and innovation within the NASA Centers in addressing the technology needs of NASA and the nation."
About Matthew Humphries
I hold two degrees: a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's degree in Games Development. My first book, Make Your Own Pixel Art, is available from all good book shops.
Read Matthew's full bio
Read the latest from Matthew Humphries
Microsoft Is Forcing Users to Abandon Launch Version of Windows 11
Sony Says Buying a PS5 Should Be Much Easier Now
nOS Turns Your Nintendo Switch Into a 'Surprisingly Small Personal Computer'
Realme Teases a 'Really Refreshing' Coca-Cola Smartphone
Your Smart Oven May Be Visiting Websites in China, Russia Every 5 Minutes
More from Matthew Humphries


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Alleged OC Arsonist Arrested
Apr 05,2007 by DispatchAdmin
OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City man was arrested on first- and
second-degree arson as well as reckless endangerment charges on Tuesday for
allegedly starting a vehicle fire near a downtown Ocean City shopping center
last week.
Gerald William Shields, 26, of Ocean City, was arrested on
Tuesday on a warrant after the Ocean City Fire Marshal's Office connected him
to a vehicle fire at the Midway Shopping Center on Philadelphia Ave. near 7th
Street on March 29. The Fire Marshal's Office determined Shields set a vehicle
on fire in close proximity to the shopping center. The fire was incendiary in
cause and no injuries were reported. Shields was arrested on Tuesday and is
being held on a $100,000 bond.
Local Man Jailed
For Theft
OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City man who was apprehended on an
arrest warrant back in March following a theft and the assault of a clerk at a
local 7-Eleven convenience store was in District Court Monday morning to face
his charges.
According to police records, it was back on Feb. 23 when a
man entered the 7-Eleven on North Division Street in order to buy a cup of
coffee. However, the clerk had watched him grab a 32-ounce bottle of Budweiser,
valued at $2.69, and conceal it in his coat before attempting to purchase the coffee.
When the clerk confronted the man about the beer, he fled the store.
Approximately an hour later the man came back to the store
in different clothing, a hat and a piece of cloth covering the bottom half of
his face and began yelling at the clerk, who suspected the man to be the same
one from earlier since he seemed to be somewhat intoxicated now.
According to police records, the masked man then threw an
empty bottle of Budweiser at the clerk, missing him. When the clerk attempted
to call the police at that point the man came behind the counter to prevent
him, causing a scuffle between the two. However, it quickly came to an end when
the clerk grabbed a steal rod and hit the suspect several times until he left.
The following day, OCPD Officer Jeffrey Stutzel, who was
investigating the incident, obtained footage of the assault and soon came
across a subject matching the description of the suspect in back of the
7-Eleven. According to police records, the man was identified as Norman Henry
Smith, 46, of Ocean City, and seemed nervous and evasive in answering Stutzel's
Days later, Stutzel presented the clerk with a photo
line-up in which he looked at and positively identified Smith as the
perpetrator. A warrant was then issued for Smith's arrest.
On Monday, Judge Daniel R. Mumford sentenced Smith to 90
days in jail for the theft charge with 33 of those days suspended for time
served since the time of his arrest.
Honeymooner Fined
OCEAN CITY – A Virginia man who crashed his Lexus on his honeymoon
and fled the scene back in October returned to District Court in Ocean City
this week to plead guilty to driving under the influence (DUI).
The overall expenses of the honeymoon grew even more
following a brief statement of the facts when Judge Daniel R. Mumford fined
Eric Joseph Ellia, 22, $500 for his DUI.
It was back on Oct. 10 at approximately 2 a.m. when OCPD
Officer Patrick Flynn responded to a single vehicle collision on 26th Street.
According to police records, upon his arrival, Flynn noticed a silver Lexus had
collided with the building at 102 26th Street. He also saw the airbags had been
deployed but there was no sign of the driver.
However, communications told Flynn a witness to the
incident observed a male running north on Baltimore Avenue following the
collision. Further examination of the car revealed computer printed directions
that gave directions to the same residence listed on the registration of the
vehicle. According to the registration, the car belonged to a Miranda Lee
Sturgill of Fredericksburg, Va.
Flynn and other officers then went to the Baltimore Avenue
residence, also known as the Hilton Hotel, and were able to determine that the
owner of the vehicle was in fact residing there. Visiting the room, officers
met with Sturgill, 19, and a man identified as Eric Joseph Ellia.
According to police records, Sturgill said Ellia went to a
local bar earlier that night to drink and had recently returned with cuts and
abrasions on his face and arms.
Flynn then spoke with Ellia, who showed obvious signs of
intoxication and admitted to being the driver of the wrecked car. Ellia was
then placed under arrest and refused to submit to a breath test, saying, "I
just wrecked my $30,000 car, no need to test me, I'm drunk."
Man Charged With
Assault Fakes Respiratory
OCEAN CITY – A Glen Burnie man was arrested Monday after
officers determined he had assaulted his girlfriend. However, following his
arrest, the man began to complain of breathing problems multiple times and at
one point even faked a seizure.
It was approximately 3:40 a.m. when OCPD Officer Danielle
Giordano responded to The Capri condominiums on 110th Street regarding a
domestic assault. Upon arrival, Giordano spoke with the person who had called
in the incident who happened to be the stepfather of the female who had been
assaulted.
According to police records, the stepfather was painting a
part of the condo when he heard a loud noise. After investigating the noise, he
discovered his stepdaughter's boyfriend, John Wesley Tomer, 24, had been
drinking and gotten into a fight with his stepdaughter.
Officers then went to Tomer's room where he immediately
became defensive, wondering why the police were there. Police spoke with
Tomer's girlfriend who was upstairs and said she was about to go to bed when
Tomer entered and tried to pick a fight with her, ultimately taking her pillow
when she refused to respond.
According to police records, when she tried to take the
pillow back, Tomer shoved her into the wall, causing the loud noise her stepfather
heard and hurting her head. Officers then called EMS to make sure she was fine
and spoke with Tomer regarding the incident to which he admitted to pushing
Tomer was then placed under arrest for assault but soon
began to complain of breathing problems due to stab wounds he had received
years ago. At one point he began to shake as if having a seizure but after a
few seconds sat back up and smiled, only to complain of breathing problems
EMS was then called to examine Tomer who still claimed he
couldn't breathe, but continued to speak just fine. When EMS offered to take
him to the hospital, he agreed but soon declined when the stretcher was
prepped.
Paramedics told officers they believed Tomer was faking
his problems as well and they soon transported him to the Public Safety
Building where he continued his act, this time holding his breath and making
spit come out of his mouth.
The ruse continued through booking as he continued to
complain of breathing problems from old stab wounds despite his ability to
speak fine. EMS was called and once again a different paramedic told officers
they believed he was faking but was taking him to the hospital this time
regardless.
He was later released and diagnosed with an anxiety
attack. However, on the way back from the hospital, Tomer told officers that
his girlfriend wasn't going to testify against him because he was going to
"take care of it B-More style," according to police records.
Woman Arrested On Warrant Found With
OCEAN CITY – An Owings Mills woman found herself in the
custody of Ocean City Police last Saturday after officers saw her attempt to
leave the vehicle her husband was driving while it was still in motion.
According to police records, it was approximately 1 a.m.
when OCPD Officer Earl Campbell was on patrol near 67th Street when he noticed
a vehicle traveling southbound with its passenger side door open and the front
passenger beginning to exit as the car was still moving.
The passenger could be heard yelling at the driver who
continued to slow down, eventually coming to a stop. It was then the passenger
exited the vehicle and walked away.
Campbell approached the couple and spoke with the
passenger first who claimed she was having a verbal argument with her husband
and decided to get out of the vehicle. Campbell asked for her name and date of
birth but she refused, saying it would get her locked up.
Campbell asked again and she complied and was identified
as Deborah Ann Ziemski, 39. Campbell did a background check and discovered
Ziemski was wanted in Baltimore County on a bench warrant for failing to appear
in court on a traffic charge.
She was then placed under arrest and Campbell performed a
search of her purse where he found a small glass container containing crack
cocaine. Another container, one usually used to hold jewelry, was found as well
and it held a glass smoking pipe, a metal pin, and a lighter, all items used
for smoking cocaine. Two more pipes were found in the bottom of the purse as
Ziemski was charged with possession of a controlled
dangerous substance as well as possession of drug paraphernalia
Man Rams Vehicle
Into Another,
Altercation Ensues
OCEAN CITY – A local man suspected to be under the
influence of alcohol and driving on a revoked license was arrested Friday night
after he rammed another man's vehicle with his own and started a fight soon
It was approximately 7:23 p.m. when OCPD Officers Joseph
Melena and Frank Wrench responded to the area of 17th Street in reference to a
fight in progress. Upon arrival, officers saw a male, identified as Christopher
Welsh, restraining another man who was later identified as Jeffrey Stephen
Taylor, 45, of Ocean City. Officers also observed a green Ford that had
rear-ended a Toyota 4-Runner.
According to police records, Melena then asked Taylor to
have a seat while officers took control of the situation. Taylor refused,
having to lean against the fence to maintain his balance, eventually sitting
down after being asked multiple times to do so.
Melena then spoke with Taylor, who he believed to be
intoxicated due to his slurred speech, inability to hold his balance, and
glassy, bloodshot eyes, and asked him for his license. Taylor refused to do so,
saying he did not have one. Taylor gave his name and date of birth instead and
Melena conducted a background check that revealed Taylor's license had been
revoked and suspended in Maryland.
Officers asked Taylor why he had been driving on a
suspended license and if it was suspended due to a previous DUI but he didn't
give a clear answer.
Officers also spoke with a witness who was in a vehicle
behind Taylor and his green Ford at a red light on 17th Street. According to
the witness, Taylor began to rev his engine as he sat at the light and soon
rammed the Toyota 4-Runner that was in front of him.
The witness went on to say that the man who was rear-ended
exited his vehicle at which point Taylor began to back up. The man told Taylor
he was calling the police, which prompted Taylor to get out of his vehicle and
begin yelling profanities at the man he had just rear-ended. Soon after, Taylor
began punching the victim, who tried to defend himself, but Taylor only
relented.
According to the witness, the fight soon broke up when the
victim sat on a curb but Taylor approached the man again and punched him once
more. It was then that Christopher Welsh said he saw Taylor punching the
defenseless man saying, "I will [expletive deleted] kill you," and stepped in
to restrain Taylor until police arrived.
Taylor was soon placed under arrest and transported to
Atlantic General Hospital for injuries sustained while being restrained.
According to police records, Taylor continued to be volatile at AGH where he
yelled profanities at both Melena and the AGH staff, along with threats of
killing Melena and his family. Although he was asked numerous times to
cooperate while in a public facility, he refused and finally stopped when
escorted out.
Suspended Sentence In Sex Assault Case
SNOW HILL – An Ocean City man arrested last November for
allegedly sexually assaulting a female victim at her apartment after the two
shared a taxi from a downtown bar pleaded guilty this week to second-degree
assault and was sentenced to 18 months in jail, all of which was suspended.
On Nov. 1, the female victim and a man later identified as
Stephen Blackwell, 37, of Ocean City, shared a cab from a bar on the Boardwalk
near 16th Street. The cab stopped at the 7-Eleven on 26th
Street where both of the occupants bought late night food, which they ate
together on the girl's front deck. When the female victim said she was tired
and wanted to go to bed, suggesting it was time for Blackwell to leave,
Blackwell forced his way into her apartment and urged the victim to have sexual
relations with her.
When she refused, Blackwell pushed the victim to the couch
and began pulling off her clothes before sexually assaulting her manually. The
victim got away and locked herself in a bedroom when Blackwell repeatedly told
her he was going to kill her and that he was going to destroy the apartment.
The victim text-messaged her friends still at the bar,
saying "help me, somebody is trying to kill me," and "please help now." The
victim's male friend came to the apartment where he saw a man, later identified
as Blackwell, leaving. The male friend found the victim in her apartment
relatively unharmed but physically shaken and went to find Blackwell, but the
suspect was gone.
In the meantime, Blackwell had called the victim's cell
phone several times, and when police arrived, they identified his number on her
phone as his home address. He was later arrested at his home and charged with a
third- and fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault. This week,
Blackwell entered an Alford Plea to the second-degree assault charge and was
sentenced to 18 months in jail, all of which was suspended, and he was fined
Change Burglar Convicted
OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City man arrested in December for breaking into a
downtown apartment and stealing around $25 in change was found guilty this week
of theft under $500 and fourth-degree burglary and was sentenced to 18 months
in jail for each offense, all of which was suspended.
Kelly Lee Alexander,
42, of Ocean City, was arrested in January on second-, third-, and
fourth-degree burglary and theft under $500 charges when police were dispatched
to the Summer View Condominiums on 35th Street for a breaking and entering in
On Dec. 9, at approximately 4 a.m., OCPD Officer Charles Kelley was on marked
uniformed patrol when he was dispatched to an area of 35th Street for a
burglary. According to court documents, neighboring residents called police
when they heard the sound of glass breaking, which was followed by a door
slamming shut at the Summer View condominium.
The witnesses provided a description of a white male they
spotted running from the condo carrying an unknown object. Assisting officers
responded to the scene and began searching for the suspect when they noticed Alexander walking in the 31st Street area.
Police spoke with Alexander, who matched the witnesses'
description, and he reportedly told officers he was out for a walk to get away
from his kids and relax. However, officers grew suspicious when they noticed Alexander was covered in sand and had a large amount of
quarters totaling $24.75 in his possession.
Officers then contacted the property owner who said a jug
containing 12 years worth of quarters was stolen from the unit. Given the
evidence, Alexander was then placed under arrest for a
host of burglary and theft charges. Alexander this week was sentenced to 18
months in jail for the theft and burglary charges, all of which was suspended
in favor of probation and a $500 fine.
18 Months For
OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City man who held up a resort
convenience store with an imaginary gun last December was found guilty of
robbery this week in Worcester County Circuit Court and was sentenced to seven
years in jail, all but 18 months of which were suspended.
On Dec. 16, OCPD Officer Earl Campbell was dispatched to
the 7-Eleven on North Division Street to investigate a robbery/assault call.
After tracking the suspect with a K-9 unit, the OCPD found the man, later
identified as Robert Riffey, 41, of Ocean City, at a nearby motel wearing
clothing that matched both witness testimony and surveillance tapes from the
According to court documents, the clerk was sweeping the
floor when the suspect entered and wished to purchase a drink. While the clerk
was ringing up the soda, the suspect reached into his sweatshirt and mimicked
as if he had a gun and asked the clerk for money. After receiving a few small
bills, the suspect fled and the clerk reported the theft.
Campbell used his K-9 partner Charlie to then track the suspect who was found
less than two blocks away at the Madison Beach Hotel. Riffey
was found guilty of robbery this week and was sentenced to seven years in jail
with all but 18 months suspended.
Candle Causes Condo
OCEAN CITY – A fire at an uptown high-rise condominium
unit last Saturday has been ruled accidental and was the result of combustible
material placed too close to an unattended candle.
Shortly after 10 a.m. last Saturday, April 1, the Ocean
City Volunteer Fire Company was dispatched to the Quay Condominium for a
reported building fire. Initial crews learned from a maintenance worker that
there was a small fire in one of the high-rise's units on the 13th
floor. The maintenance worker was able to extinguish the fire and located one
occupant in the unit.
Firefighters located the maintenance worker and the unit's
occupant outside. Both were treated for smoke inhalation. Fire crews entering
the 13th floor hallway encountered heavy smoke and located the
smoke's source in unit 1306. Firefighters remained on the scene for about an
hour performing smoke and overhaul operations.
The Ocean City Fire Marshal's Office determined the fire
started in the kitchen area of the unit and the bulk of the fire and heat
damage was contained to the kitchen area. The fire has been ruled an accident,
the result of combustible material too close to an unattended candle.
Trespassing, Drug
BERLIN – Berlin Police last week made two separate arrests
for trespassing and drug charges in as many days at a Flower Street apartment
On March 29, Berlin Police observed Jesse Lee Harmon, 44,
trespassing at the Homes of Berlin I apartment complex, a location he had been
barred from. When the officer approached, Harmon fled and was caught a short
distance away. After a brief struggle, he was taken into custody and charged
with trespassing, resisting arrest, possession of cocaine and possession of
paraphernalia.
Two days later, on March 31, Berlin Police arrested Leroy
Leonard, 33, of Berlin for trespassing at Homes of Berlin I. Leonard was
charged with cocaine possession and paraphernalia possession when a search of
his person turned up a small amount of crack cocaine and a smoking device. He
was held on a $25,000 bond and remanded to the county jail.
OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company
responded to a fire at a vacant unit in a downtown apartment building last
Saturday afternoon.
Shortly after noon last Saturday, firefighters responded
to a reported fire at an apartment building on 1st Street. First
arrivers reported heavy smoke coming from the second floor of the building. The
fire was located in an apartment on the second floor of the building and was
quickly extinguished, although fire crews remained on the scene for about two
began in the kitchen area of the second-floor unit. The bulk of the heat and
fire damage was contained to the second floor unit, but the first floor unit
suffered water damage. No one was living in the second floor unit at the time
of the fire and it was unoccupied. Somebody was living in the first-floor unit,
but it was unoccupied at the time of the fire. The cause of the blaze is still
under investigation.
Crab Enforcement Stepped Up
OCEAN CITY – With
the season opening last weekend, the Maryland Natural Resources Police
(NRP) conducted blue crab enforcement patrols last Saturday and Sunday, March
31 and April 1 in the back bays of Ocean City.
The goal of the patrols is to reduce the number of
potential personal injuries due to insufficient safety equipment, and to remind
commercial watermen of crabbing regulations specific to fishing the back bays.
checked a total of 41 commercial workboats and issued 24 warnings, mostly for
insufficient safety equipment. On Sunday, NRP issued two citations for
undersized crabs and one citation for no personal flotation device (PFD). The
blue crab season opened April 1 and runs through Dec. 15.


text: A year after the successful forecast - against the Odds - for the Super Bowl XLVI, Sentibet takes on the 2013 NFL Super Bowl (XLVII) aiming at another great success! One year ago, Sentibet was deployed to analyze Twitter messages relating to the 2012 NFL Super Bowl match. The base of data that Sentibet was able to analyze was huge – it processed 92,000 tweets in all by the end of the Super Bowl – and its interpretation of fans' forecasts was correct – the New York Giants bested the New England Patriots in a very close game. Most major odds makers had picked the Patriots to win, so this was a significant achievement. Following Super Bowl XLVI success, Sentibet provided remarkably accurate results in forecasting the outcome of National Football League games in the 2012 regular season based on its analysis of fan messages posted on the Twitter social media service. Over the 17 weeks of regular season play, Sentibet has correctly chosen the winners 62 percent of the time on average, with results exceeding that average in eight out of the seventeen weeks. This performance is also remarkable in its ability to forecast against the spread (ATS) underdog wins as well as "moneyline" (ML) straight win picks. Moreover, combined with the great performance - 71 percent - from those Twitter contributors, who were rated by Sentibet as the top forecasters (Top Pickers) amongst the Public, offers a high level of predictive signals through several channels of monitoring. It's worth to mention that there were a couple of weeks in which the infrastructure used to acquire messages from Twitter was not fully functional, and couple of weeks in which data acquired for analysis was lower than in typical weeks of analysis. For these weeks, the accuracy of Sentibet forecasts was notably lower. On these weeks there were problems with data collection unrelated to the analysis formulas used to filter messages from Twitter – in other words, there just wasn't enough data to on those weeks to provide forecasts with a reasonable level of statistical significance. Those regular season's results, followed by two major success stories during the NFL 2012 Post Season (Playoffs) games and especially during the Divisional Playoffs week and the Conference Championship week. Divisional Playoffs Week was one of Sentibet' best NFL weeks ever with 4 out of 4 games successful forecasts (100% success rate) and through the Conference Championship week's results, Sentibet successfully forecasted the pair of teams for the Super Bowl XLVII, against the expectations of most of the experts, fans and odds makers. While almost everyone anticipated a San Francisco 49ers vs New England Patriots Super Bowl, Sentibet' figures showed from the very beginning that it would have been a San Francisco 49ers vs Baltimore Ravens. Although it's too early, it is very interesting to mention that the forecasting picture for the Super Bowl XLVII seems similar to the one for the Super Bowl XLVI one year ago, expecting Baltimore Ravens to win (56% range) rather than the favorite San Francisco 49ers. Stay tuned and enjoy!


BEIJING — China will establish a withdrawal mechanism for the Yangtze River Scholar award, said the Ministry of Education in a press statement.
The mechanism is included in regulations that the ministry recently made concerning the award program.
The Yangtze River Scholar award, which started in 1998, is one of China's highest academic honors given to scholars from across the world.
The political standards and teachers' virtues are the primary conditions for the professorship, and "are the bottom line which should not be crossed," said an official in charge of the ministry's department of personnel.
Acts such as any violation of the political discipline and rules, prosecution for criminal liability, falsification, or infringement on academic virtue would lead to the enforcement of withdrawal, according to the regulations.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the program. It has attracted a wide array of high-level talents at home and overseas and contributed to enhancing the quality of talent training as well as academic development.


Build your own Minerva Owl Bot, powered by Crickit! Program her in CircuitPython to talk, look around, and flap her wings!
It doesn't take exotic materials to build your own audio-animatronic, just a few paper cups, craft supplies, a couple of servos, and a Circuit Playground Express with Crickit, battery pack, and a speaker!
Plug the 3 AA battery pack into the 2.1mm DC power input on the Crickit.
Insert the two speaker wires into the two Speaker terminals on the Crickit. Either wire can go in either port, it is not polarized. Screw the terminals down into place.
Wire the micro servo that drives the eyes to the Servo 1 port on the Crickit board, and the full size servo that flaps the wings to the Servo 2 port. The yellow wire faces out, the dark wire faces towards the Circuit Playground Express.
Minerva is wired and ready for programming!
If you've done any cardboard crafts at camp or in school, you may be familiar with this classic owl design! All it takes is a paper towel tube or toilet paper tube, some scissors or a hobby knife, googly eyes, and paint or markers!
Follow the images below and make your own!
You can also build a nice tree set for Minerva and friends! This one is made from some nice, thick 5-ply corrugated cardboard from a large shipping box.
Minerva has an affinity for cogs, so we'll decorate with plastic, gear-like "paddle wheels".
Poseable branches are joined to the trunk with Makedo Scrus.
You can make leaf clusters (also poseable) from paper cups and plastic pop rivets.
Have a look at these photos for inspiration!


True to size, good quality & you could not beat the sale price.
Great products and prices, I won't buy from anyone else!!
A highly elegant design which is not only beautiful, it also feels comfortable . The jacket was received in a timely manner. The shipping was fast, and the jacket seems to be very high quality for the price.
The quality is great. There can't be a better thing. Could not think there would be such a beautiful surprise in the package. The jacket was far better than that of big names. The leather, stitching and fit. Everything.


text:
Q: How to setup a periodic timer callback in a Linux kernel module I am working on a Linux kernel module that registers a callback for interrupts that come from a custom-made board and puts the received data in a queue behind a char device interface to be processed by an application. This module needs to constantly monitor and measure the interrupts and data that comes from the board even if no interrupt comes from the board, so it has another callback that triggers according to time.
Current implementation uses RTC interrupt as a constant timer source. I disable kernel RTC drivers (CONFIG_RTC_DRV_CMOS) and request for IRQ 8 and hook the timer callback as RTC interrupt handler. Interrupts are generated every second from RTC chip.
The problem is we have to lose some of Linux's ability to manage time in this way, because only one of rtc-cmos or the board module can be loaded at once (and obviously we've chosen the board module).
Target architecture is i386 PC.
I'm not a kernel developer and so don't have a big picture on kernel module development, but I'm trying to find my way and these are nearest thing to solution that come to my mind:

*

*Somehow share the IRQ 8 between both modules (maybe like request_irq(8, rtc_handler, IRQF_SHARED, rtc_handler)?) or chainload IRQ handlers.

*Finding another way to hook a handler from a kernel module to RTC interrupt, rather than registering for IRQ 8.

*Finding another source of 1-second timer events that can be used from within a kernel module, maybe there is a standard kernel API for that, I don't know.

I suppose there might be a simple and standard way to do this and I would be glad If anyone would comment on either of these solutions or suggest others.

A: Linux kernel high-resolution timer hrtimer is an option.
http://lwn.net/Articles/167897/
Here what I do:
#include <linux/interrupt.h>
#include <linux/hrtimer.h>
#include <linux/sched.h>

static struct hrtimer htimer;
static ktime_t kt_periode;

static void timer_init(void)
{
    kt_periode = ktime_set(0, 104167); //seconds,nanoseconds
    hrtimer_init (& htimer, CLOCK_REALTIME, HRTIMER_MODE_REL);
    htimer.function = timer_function;
    hrtimer_start(& htimer, kt_periode, HRTIMER_MODE_REL);
}

static void timer_cleanup(void)
{
    hrtimer_cancel(& htimer);
}

static enum hrtimer_restart timer_function(struct hrtimer * timer)
{
    // @Do your work here.

    hrtimer_forward_now(timer, kt_periode);

    return HRTIMER_RESTART;
}

A: You probably want to use a tasklet, see linux/interrupt.h.


Had been looking at their resort for quite some time. Finally got to go down there and check things out. I was totally impressed! Everything was as advertised and the service and people couldn't be better. I liked it so much that I wound up buying a lot here! Now I am really looking forward to my new home away from home! These guys did it right, and I am looking forward to many, many more trips here. We camped at Bella Terra RV Resort in a Motorhome.
Have stayed here many times and I only live 15 miles from here. Really nice weekend getaway. Good location just off the interstate, large sites and beautiful pool/clubhouse area. Nice restaurant at the front that will come and pick you up if you like. AWESOME! Everyone extremely nice and helpful. Can book your site online so you can get the one you like. I like this feature. Will be back again. We camped at Cajun Palms RV Resort in a Motorhome.


text:
<?php
namespace Concrete\Package\Fundamental\Block\FundamentalSimpleDocument;

use Concrete\Core\Block\BlockController;
use Loader;
use Less_Parser;
use Less_Tree_Rule;
use Core;
use Page;
use \File;
//use \Concrete\Core\Page\Statistics as PageStatistics;

defined('C5_EXECUTE') or die("Access Denied.");

class Controller extends BlockController {

	protected $btTable = 'btFundamentalSimpleDocument';
	protected $btInterfaceWidth = "450";
	protected $btInterfaceHeight = "500";
	protected $btWrapperClass = 'ccm-ui';
	protected $btCacheBlockRecord = true;
	protected $btCacheBlockOutput = true;
	protected $btDefaultSet = 'fundamental';

	public function getBlockTypeName() {
		return t("Simple Document");
	}

	public function getBlockTypeDescription() {
		return t("Add a Document to your concrete5 website");
	}

	public function getSearchableContent(){
		return $this->documentTitle.' '.$this->documentDescription;
	}

	public function getBlockTypeHelp() {
		return t('For more concrete5 Themes & Add-ons please check out c5Hub.');
	}

	public function validate($args) {
		$error = Loader::helper('validation/error');
		if (trim($args['documentTitle']) == '') {
			$error->add(t('Document Title Required'));
		}
		if ($args['documentFile'] < 1) {
			$error->add(t('You must select a file.'));
		}
		if($error->has()) {
			return $error;
		}
	}

    public function on_start() {
		$this->requireAsset('css', 'font-awesome');
	}

	public function add() {
		$this->edit();
	}

    protected function getIconClasses() {
        $iconLessFile = DIR_BASE_CORE . '/css/build/vendor/font-awesome/variables.less';
        $icons = array();

        $l = new Less_Parser();
        $parser = $l->parseFile($iconLessFile, false, true);
        $rules = $parser->rules;

        foreach($rules as $rule) {
            if ($rule instanceof Less_Tree_Rule) {
                if (strpos($rule->name, '@fa-var') === 0) {
                    $name = str_replace('@fa-var-', '', $rule->name);
                    $icons[] = $name;
                }
            }
        }
        asort($icons);
        return $icons;
    }

    public function edit() {
		$this->requireAsset('core/file-manager');
        $classes = $this->getIconClasses();
        $icons = array('' => t('Choose Icon'));
        $txt = Core::make('helper/text');
        foreach($classes as $class) {
            $icons[$class] = $txt->unhandle($class);
        }
        $this->set('icons', $icons);
    }

	function getFileID() {
		return $this->documentFile;
	}

	function getFileObject() {
		return File::getByID($this->documentFile);
	}

	public function save($args) {
		$args['enableButton'] = isset($args['enableButton']) ? 1 : 0;
		$args['enableFileSize'] = isset($args['enableFileSize']) ? 1 : 0;
		$args['enableFileType'] = isset($args['enableFileType']) ? 1 : 0;
		$args['enableFileAuthor'] = isset($args['enableFileAuthor']) ? 1 : 0;
		$args['enableFileDate'] = isset($args['enableFileDate']) ? 1 : 0;
		$args['enableFileStatistics'] = isset($args['enableFileStatistics']) ? 1 : 0;
		parent::save($args);
	}
}
?>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre in Oxfordshire was found by inspectors – in its last inspection after the announcement that it is to close – to have a calm and relaxed atmosphere with little evidence of violence.
The centre, in a village near Kidlington, held adult men and has been run by Mitie Care and Custody since May 2011.
Though the average length of detention was 55 days, some detainees were held for long periods with limited case progression – one man had been held for one year and five months. About 45% of those held in the previous six months had been released into the community, while about a quarter had been removed.
Inspectors found the standard of accommodation had worsened; many rooms were bare, and had broken or missing furniture and signs of damp. Many rooms were cramped.
"Most detainees said that they were treated with respect, but we saw too little positive engagement by staff. In our staff interviews, some staff also raised concerns about disrespectful treatment by a few of their colleagues," Mr Clarke added.
A copy of the full report, published on 25 January 2019, can be found here.
Originally a young offender institution, the site became an immigration removal centre in 1993. At one time, it held both men and women. Since 1997, it has held only male detainees. The contract to manage Campsfield House on behalf of the Home Office was awarded to Mitie Care and Custody in May 2011.
The centre has a capacity of 257 but at the time of the inspection it held 125 detainees. Some weeks after the inspection, and after this report had been prepared, it was announced that Campsfield House was to close.
The Home Office has announced that Campsfield House immigration removal centre will close by May 2019, when the current management contract with Mitie Care and Custody ends. Consequently, this is the last report on the centre.
This unannounced inspection took place between 10 and 21 September 2018.


The American Family Insurance All-USA performers of the week for Dec. 25-30.
The American Family Insurance All-USA performers of the week for Dec. 25-30. Send any outstanding stats for consideration for this list to sports@rgj.com.
Moses Wood, senior, Galena: Wood scored 21 points in the Grizzlies 64-43 win over Bella Vista in boys basketball on Wednesday. In Thursday's win over Reed (62-43), Wood had 30 points, including five 3-pointers.
Kolton Frugoli, senior, Bishop Manogue: Frugoli scored 25 points in the Miners 64-44 win over Monta Vista on Thursday.
Blake Murray, senior, Douglas: Murray won the 182-pound title Friday at the Sierra Nevada Classic wrestling tournament. Murray will play baseball at Xavier next year.
Avery Shepard, senior, Sparks: Shepard scored 28 points in the Railroaders 60-51 loss to Sierra Lutheran on Wednesday in the boys basketball Rail City Classic.
Serene Townsell-Williams, senior, Reed: She had 26 points and nine rebounds in the Raiders 54-42 win in the championship game over Nevada Union in the girls basketball tournament at Reed on Friday.


Lenovo recently launched their new Lenovo K8 Note smartphone was in August 2017. The Lenovo K8 note comes with very exciting features.Let's discuss Lenovo K8 Note Price, specifications, features, Pros and cons. Lenovo K8 Note provides 5.50-inch touchscreen display with 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels resolution at a PPI of 441 pixels per inch. The Lenovo K8 note Price is starting with Rs. 12,999 in India.
Lenovo K8 Note is powered by latest 1.4GHz MediaTek Helio X23 processor and provide 3GB of RAM. The Lenovo K8 note comes with 32GB of internal storage you can expand up to 128GB via external microSD card. The camera was also good in Lenovo K8 Note comes to with a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear and same 13-megapixel front camera for great selfies.
Lenovo K8 Note runs Android,7.1.1 Nougat.
good storage 32 GB / 64 GB native storage capacity.
The Lenovo K8 Note comes with 13MP main and 13MP front-facing selfie shooter camera.
The phone will support for USB micro USB v2.0 and with Dual SIM features (Nano SIM).


text:
Am I crazy?
Whether you know it or not, you probably already have an opinion of Edouard Flechier's godzillian Poison for Dior (1985). I smelled it on plenty of people growing up. I even remember waiting for my mother in the back of a yoga class while at least one attendee radiated Poison's plummy tuberose right up to the ceiling. Not so long ago, it was so popular and so reviled that it was banned from restaurants. But thirty years later, amid louder, loucher faire, I was almost tempted to dismiss it as quaint.
The opening is furious and huge, like a jolly purple explosion. And yet, no one tells you that Poison is also intensely tart and woody. I once smelled a freshly cut eucalyptus tree, and it was so sharp and insistent that it smelled sad, like a single note in a minor key sustained on a violin. Poison carries some of that woody lament, employed to offset both the tone and the density of the fruity florals. That juxtaposition rang a bell somewhere deep in my associative memory: I had smelled something very like it before.
The connection struck me from the most unlikely of places: Serge Lutens. While not known for his quiet perfumes, Lutens seems demure and taciturn next to Poison's day-glo Fran Drescher swagger. Still, there's no denying the parallels between Poison and the candied woody florals that put the Lutens line on the map. Start by featuring a prominent tangy cedar, sometimes dry, sometimes syrupy sweet and add in a dose of rich florals, amber, fruit, or vanilla as the case may be. That fabulous cycle of fragrances that began with Femininité du Bois (Shiseido, 1992) and included Bois de Violette, Un Bois Vanille, Bois et Musc, Bois Oriental, and Bois et Fruit all spring from that same theme.
In particular, I'm thinking of our old friend Sarrasins, Queen of Moonlight. I'd even wager that Poison directly inspired Sarrasins, with its potent clash of sweet florals (especially the osmanthus core) and balsamic woodiness. It's as if Sheldrake and Lutens transcribed that unforgettable melody of Poison into a new key and time signature, thereby rendering it practically unrecognizable. Of course, Sarrasins rounds off the composition with that impeccably swoony leather base. It's also refined, elegant, and mysterious, where Poison has all the subtlety of a Gallagher act. Imagine if Björk admitted Cyndi Lauper taught her everything she knows. Or if Hillary Clinton took public speaking cues from W. Bush.
In the end, the association comes to benefit both Lutens and Flechier. Lutens because he sussed out a brilliantly portable idea in such a distinctive composition, and Flechier because that distinctive (and great) composition has proven to be more influential than we thought. Not just because it paved the way for so many other lovely loudmouths like Angel (also 1992). Unfortunately, Poison is so laden with memories and associations that it's harder to pull of these days, especially on a man. Still, what's the point of playing the game if you can't break a few rules? I wear the Poison eau de toilette from time to time, until I can find an affordable bottle of the pure parfum. If you're ever in San Francisco, visit Tigerlily in the Mission. They have a wall of vintage formulas, including Poison parfum. For a smell nerd like me, it's practically worth the whole trip.
June 29, 2016 July 1, 2016 SMELL DORADO Tagged bois de violette, bois et musc, christian dior, dior, femininite du bois, leather, Poison, sarrasins, serge lutens	Leave a comment


text:
Managed Hosting Provider Webair Completes Build of New York Data Center MMR
Webair, a managed hosting provider delivering managed cloud and colocation solutions, has completed the build of its new Meet-Me Room (MMR) and corresponding network fabric platform in its NY1 New York data center. The MMR would enable Webair to enhance its direct connectivity to carrier hotels, cloud providers, and global Internet exchanges, in addition to an "expansive" suite of fully managed infrastructure solutions deployed on-premises.
Webair's advanced interconnection fabric would enable NY1 data center customers to directly connect their hosted infrastructure to leading public clouds, global Internet exchanges and interconnection fabrics such as Console and Megaport, providing them with endless connectivity options.
NY1's MMR and network fabric also extends into the New York metro area's largest Points of Presence (PoPs), including 60 Hudson Street, 325 Hudson Street, 111 8th Ave., and 32 Avenue of the Americas, allowing customers to directly connect to any third-party network at those locations.
The launch of Webair's new MMR and corresponding network fabric platform stems from the company's beliefs that the future of its customers' businesses is reliant on "fast, secured, automated and low-latency" connectivity to their partners and customers.
Through these physical and virtual cross-connects available in Webair's NY1 data center, customers can also access an expansive suite of fully managed infrastructure solutions that are installed and managed on-site, and can be leveraged at a moment's notice. These include Webair's enterprise Public and Private Clouds, Storage-as-a-Service (SaaS), Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS), Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS), Managed Firewalls, Load Balancing-as-a-Service, and Enhanced IP Transit with built-in DDoS monitoring and mitigation.
"NY1's next-generation physical Meet-Me Room and network fabric are purpose-built to evolve with the ever-changing market," said Sagi Brody, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Webair. "Today, that means having the ability to fully adopt automated SDN capabilities.This empowers our customers with the flexibility to efficiently move data over paths that make the most sense for their businesses, regardless if it is a physical cross-connect at a popular PoP, a virtual cross-connect over an interconnection fabric, or direct MPLS tie-in back to their on-premises network."
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in New York, Webair offers public, private and hybrid cloud, cloud storage, bare metal dedicated servers, colocation, CDN, security & disaster recovery. The company also operates an international network of data centers located in New York, Los Angeles, Montréal and Amsterdam.
new york data center
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Search For "Building & Construction" Companies in Fontana, California - Click Here Now!
Q1 Roofing Contractor & Repairs in Fontana is a company that specializes in Roofing, Siding, And Insulation Materials. Our records show it was established in California.


There are many tales of the search for success in the face of frustration and impatience leading to the doorstep of the devil.
Most notable among these is perhaps the story of Faust – based on Johann Georg Faust who lived in Germany during the 15th century.
For those of you who are not familiar with the tale, it is the story of a man who remains dissatisfied with life, however much he has achieved.
Frustrated by what he sees as his lack of success he determines to broker a deal with Mephistopheles, a demon working for the Devil.
Faust agrees that for unlimited knowledge and pleasure he will forfeit his soul. Today, the story is seen as a metaphor for moral integrity.
However, it seems it was not only Faust who sought such a contract with the fallen angel.
For a tale closer to home you need look no further than Abby Hulton, or more precisely Hulton Abbey and its monks.
During the 18th century, almost 300 years after Faust's ill-thought plan, a monk by the name of Robert was living in Hulton.
At this point in his life Robert had hoped to have risen up the ranks of the religious order. Instead, found himself in the same lowly position he had been labouring in for years.
Hoping to one day succeed the Abbot of the monastery – but seeing no light at the end of the tunnel – Robert grew increasingly disillusioned and dissatisfied with his lot.
Seeing no fulfilling future in his life as a monk and with no clear way to improve his situation Robert decided to seek Satan's help.
What Robert desired most of all was to have some standing in society, to be revered and to have wealth.
Listening to his pleas the Devil agreed to grant Robert his wish – to improve his life as he saw it.
However there was a heavy price to be paid for such riches.
As you can perhaps guess, in order for all his dreams to come true Robert had to pay with his soul.
But with no further thought Robert made his pact with the Devil and in a short time found himself Lord of Hulton Vale.
But the Devil has a very wicked sense of humour it would seem.
Unknown to Robert, the Abbot of Hulton Abbey had been appointed to a higher position and would be leaving to move to York.
Asked to recommend a suitable replacement the Abbot had put Robert's name forward to succeed him in the position.
Unfortunately for Robert, the Abbot had chosen to withhold the good news until Christmas, by which time Robert had already made his deal with the Devil and had forfeited his soul.
When he did finally hear the news Robert was distraught – not only about the terrible choice he had made, but that he had so easily abandoned his faith in return for such ill-gotten gains.
Seeking absolution Robert visited a hermit who lived nearby in Bagnall.
However after telling this holy man of his wicked dealings there was no redemption for the former monk.
Instead, the hermit told him to take up the position of Abbott and lead the rest of his life in the service of God, trying to live as best and pure an existence he could.
Upset with the news but knowing he had no other choice Robert did as the hermit had said, hoping that could he live a life of such service and good deeds that the Devil's hold would diminish.
Leading this life of holiness until his death Robert hoped he'd done enough.
It was not to be, however, and although he did not go to hell, after his death it is said his spirit was bound to walk the earth without rest for a thousand years.
Only a few hundreds years have passed since then and there are many who remain convinced that Robert, the monk who sold his soul to the Devil, still wanders the lands of Abbey Hulton.


Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs from 27 to 30 October, 2017. These are very important for the upcoming IBPS PO, IBPS RRB, OICL AO, UIIC Assistant & NICL Assistant Exams.
Grid Connected Rooftop Solar projects under the SBI-World Bank (WB) Programme.
industrial buildings, an official statement said.
meeting SBI standards, it said.
million for the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project.
recurrent floods or droughts in the state.
grace period, and a maturity of 16.5 yrs," added another tweet.
release it's 'Doing Business' report on October 31.
India's rank in the Ease of Doing Business.
first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan through Iran's Chabahar port.
landmark one to operationalise the new strategic transit route, bypassing Pakistan.
who joined in through video conferencing.
an alternate, reliable and robust connectivity for Afghanistan.
shipments will be sent to Afghanistan over the next few months.
movement of cargo and passengers either by sea or national waterways.
movement of cement and edible oil.
Hambantota, a southern port city of Sri Lanka.
Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Construction W.K.K. Athukorala.
income landless and homeless beneficiaries.
provided to each beneficiary in five instalments.
in New Delhi on 27 October 2017.
expected to meet about 30 per cent of the energy requirement of these stations.
commission around 1000 MWp solar plants across its wide rail network.
It was awarded in December 2016.
Rs 37.45 Cr and has been bought in by the developer under the PPP model.
in order to resolve the issues related to cotton procurement in the state.
Minister Smriti Irani seeking her immediate intervention to resolve the issue.
agitation mode due to their demand of minimum support price for their produce.
larger bench would be formed to hear these petitions.
the issue that the scheme violates rights of privacy.
bank accounts and mobile numbers as illegal and unconstitutional.
students to appear for exams.
Ocean on 29 October 2017. The exercise will conclude on 31 October 2017.
aircraft of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMDSF).
the Naval Air Station INS Hansa in Goa on 29 October for the exercise.
provide internet access to around 100,000 gram panchayats.
Sundararajan said that so far, Bharat Net has reached 83,000 gram panchayats.
Sustainable Development for Wildlife and People'.
Mathura district as 'sacred pilgrimage sites' ('pavitra teerth sthals').
records. No meat and liquor shops will be allowed in these towns anymore.
steps in this regard within three months.
the history books of students from the next academic session onwards.
the occasion across the country.
1979 batch of the Haryana cadre.
Zealand First and Greens supported her Party to form a coalition government.
became the youngest New Zealand female leader in 150 years.
and is seen as the strongest opposition in New Zealand.
Zealand adopted proportional voting since 1996.
century partnerships on four occasions.
the landmark in the 37th over.
include Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin.
him the fastest to get there.
international hundreds (49) , only after Sachin Tendulkar (100 tons).
hundreds with his 31st ton.
Nishimoto 21-14, 21-13 in the final to clinch the title.
was confirmed as the brand ambassador of Delhi Olympic Games 2017.
screens will be set up inside the stadiums.
stadiums included have the highest seating capacity in the kingdom.
to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in the month of September 2017.
Gujarati that were added to the dictionary.
new words in its September edition.
Bhindi, Gosht, Gulab Jamun, Keema, Mirch, Mirch Masala, Namkeen and Vada.
their precious collections to promote the value of audiovisual heritage.
Heritage is observed every year.
infantry action by the Indian Army after independence.
invaded by tribals who were getting support from Pakistani Army.
Lal Nehru ordered the Indian Army for quick action against the invaders.
prolonged illness. He was 77.
the major figures of modernism in Malayalam literature.
twice for the same novel in 1978 and for Malamukalile Abdulla in 1980.
Mathrubhumi Literary Award, the biggest literature award in Malayalam.


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Blockchain-powered fintech platform Telcoin opens first fiat remittance corridor
Telcoin
February 04, 2021, 23:53 GMT
Telcoin Remittances are now live for transfers from Canada to the Philippines.
The Telcoin Application for iOS.
The Telcoin Application for Android.
Startup seeks to disrupt incumbents in the US$2.8B annual corridor with affordable, contactless money transfers on any mobile device.
We intend to become a household name in the Philippines, putting more money back in our users' pockets when they need it most."
— Paul Neuner, Telcoin CEO
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE, February 5, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Telcoin Pte. Ltd., a blockchain-powered financial technology platform that connects with telecom and mobile money platforms globally, has officially launched fiat transfers between Canada and the Philippines. The service, now available on Telcoin's official iOS and Android applications, aims to be the most affordable and convenient option for offshore Filipinos to send money to friends and family back home. The opening of Telcoin's inaugural remittance corridor marks the company's first step toward offering users a suite of digital financial products leveraging blockchain technology and digital assets.
The service is offered in collaboration with GCash, the leading mobile wallet in the Philippines, with more than 33 million users nationwide. Telcoin, a GSMA associate member since 2018, endeavors to lower the cost of international money transfers by emphasizing such direct connections with mobile money providers. According to the GSMA's latest state of the industry report, there are more than 1 billion active mobile money accounts in 95 countries, capturing US$7.3 billion in annual remittance value. With a total market value of nearly US$700 billion, there is massive room for growth in mobile money-focused remittance services.
"We couldn't have asked for a better launch partner for the Philippines than GCash," said Paul Neuner, Telcoin CEO. "Telcoin's strategy of direct connections with telecom and mobile money partners will enable us to rapidly scale, keep costs low, and ensure the health and safety of our users thanks to the contactless nature of transacting on mobile and not at a physical shop. We intend to become a household name in the Philippines, putting more money back in our users' pockets when they need it most."
With the global average cost of sending a remittance at roughly 7 percent, including fees and foreign exchange margin, Telcoin is targeting just 2.5 percent or less to send a remittance using any mobile device. That figure is well below the average cost of sending money from Canada to the Philippines, which the World Bank reported to be 4.92 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020. Filipinos receive approximately US$2.8 billion a year in remittances from Canada.
Telcoin is headquartered in Singapore, where it is licensed as a Major Payment Institution. Additionally, Telcoin is a registered Money Services Business in Canada and Australia. The company takes a compliance-first approach to entering new markets, and is in the process of obtaining central bank approval for its remittance services in numerous other jurisdictions. Telcoin is rolling out fiat remittances in parallel to expanding its non-custodial digital asset wallet, allowing the two tracks to mature side by side ahead of a planned convergence. Unlike many other players operating in the blockchain space, Telcoin requires all users to verify their identity as required by national regulatory bodies - something the company hopes will help usher digital assets into the mainstream.
In addition to GCash, Telcoin has partnered with a number of other mobile money platforms in Africa and Asia, with additional partners being integrated throughout 2021 and beyond. The company plans to add a number of outbound corridors from the United States, Singapore, and Australia later this year. Follow Telcoin for more information and to be the first to know when the company launches additional services globally.
Website: www.telco.in
Twitter: @telcoin_team
Telegram: t.me/telcoincommunity
iOS download: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/telcoin/id1455060641
Android download: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.telco.wallet
Jeffrey Quigley
Distribution channels: Banking, Finance & Investment Industry, Business & Economy, IT Industry, Technology, Telecommunications
Telcoin's digital remittance service extends coverage to 15 new markets
Telcoin-drafted crypto banking legislation signed into law in Nebraska


The Career Pathways Advancement Project (CPAP) is designed for Nebraska VR clients to explore and access opportunities to advance in their employment.
Through a combination of classroom and on-the-job training, clients earn the recognized postsecondary credentials required for advancement within a specific industry. Employers are provided access to a group of potential employees with the required and relevant skills. This project is funded by a five-year grant awarded to Nebraska VR in 2015.
Focused outreach to 2,000 successfully employed Nebraska VR clients from the last four years seeks to upskill/backfill positions within the high demand industries of Architecture and Construction, Healthcare, Information Technology, Manufacturing and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL). Nebraska VR's vision is to promote autonomy, stability, and economic self-sufficiency, achieved by assistance to obtain a single, stable, well-paying job with benefits to replace the one (or more) entry-level jobs currently held to make ends meet.
Are you a former Nebraska VR client interested in advancing your career?
What are the cornerstones of this opportunity?
CPAP's goal is to upskill past successfully closed Nebraska VR clients through training and education and backfill the vacant positions they formerly held with qualified job-ready candidates that are new to the CPAP program.
The project will assist individuals established in their careers to realize long-term employment goals, open new opportunities for entry-level workers, and meet the needs of local employers in growing industries by incentivizing advancement with training and stipends.
Click on the arrows to reveal the answers to some frequently asked questions.
What does educational advancement look like?
Who pays for tuition and fees?
Industry Certification - Tuition, fees, books and supplies cost as identified by the educational institution attending, with a cap of $4752.
Post-Secondary Training Programs for Bachelors, Masters, PhD - CPAP pays $168 per semester hour or $86 per quarter hour.
Post Secondary Training for Diploma and Associate Degrees- CPAP pays $68 per semester hour, or $46 per quarter hour.
Career Pathway Advancement Project participants are offered assistance in covering their transportation costs to attend training or are offered a stipend to cover additional training costs.
Participants who choose to receive a stipend will receive $250.00 after attending the first day of class.
Upon completion of an industrial certification, participants are paid another $250.00 stipend once a copy of the certification is shared with the Career Pathway Recruiter.
Participants training for diploma programs receive $375.00 stipend after each completed 12 credit hours as identified by grade transcripts.
What is in it for a business?
This is an opportunity to retain key talent. Investing in employees is a great way to retain employees in the future and improve morale.
Nebraska VR's vision is to promote autonomy, stability, and economic self-sufficiency, achieved by assistance to obtain a single, stable, well-paying job with benefits to replace the one (or more) entry-level jobs currently held to make ends meet.
See the Careers in this industry!
Have you been a client in the past?
Career Pathway Recruiters (CPRs) will be working with eligible VR clients. The CPRs help these individuals access a variety of supports in order to assist in advancement. CPAP services include funding college education, funding training/certificate programs, paid on-the-job training for career progressions, and facilitating increased access to technology and benefits planning. These individuals will be monitored and provided with services throughout the duration of their education or training. CPR staff will also follow up with advanced workers and their employer for a minimum of 90 days after their advancement to ensure client and employer satisfaction.


The Toronto Star Golf & Travel Show presented by UnderPar.com returns to The International Centre for its 29th year.
From Friday to Sunday, Feb. 8 to 10 attendees will have the unique opportunity to meet and engage with exhibitors and PGA experts from across North America, try the latest and greatest in golf equipment, clothing and accessories and enter to win a wide variety of contests and travel adventures. This year gets even more exciting with renowned company Under Par – providing golfers with the great value tee off times online- coming on board as the main sponsor.
One of the largest Golf and Travel shows in North America and the biggest in Canada, it will welcome PGA professionals Nick Starchuk, Ontario PGA Hall of Famer Sam Young and PGA of Canada Shawn Clement and renowned short game specialist PGA of Canada Gareth Raflewski to the main stage for a series of daily seminars. Raflewski is the short game coach for the No. 1 LPGA Leading Money winner Ariya Jutanugarn and will be on the stage on Saturday.
Golfers interested in travel will have access to dozens of premium resorts from Florida, South and North Carolina, Arizona, New York, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio and California to Ireland and more. It's a chance to check out golf vacation packages and special rates exclusive to the show. For travellers interested in staying in Canada, the Ontario Pavilion will be offering giveaways and show specials for golf course and resorts from across Ontario.
Drop by the National Golf Course Owner's Association (NGCOA) Spring Into Golf feature – back by popular demand – as they give away 5,000 rounds of golf on a first-come first-served basis. This year the NGCOA will bring back its auction offering rounds of golf for twosomes and foursomes at some of the most prestigious courses in the GTA, on the Main Stage.
Other must-check out show highlights include: the PGA of Ontario teaching area; Manufacturer's Demo Range highlighting the latest in golf clubs; golf simulators, the Spectacular Putting Challenge – where there are prizes to be won as participants put their putting skills to the test. The Uncle Ross Cash for Clubs (sell your new and used clubs), the popular Long Driving Contest as well as the Great Ontario Live Auction featuring some of Ontario's top rated public and private courses.
For more information on the Golf & Travel Show, visit: www.torontogolfshow.com.


An investigation is continuing into a shooting that occurred in downtown Kitchener last week, resulting in a man's death.
Isaiah Macnab, 20, was last seen at 11:20 a.m. last Thursday, sitting outside of Salvation Army New Beginnings building on King Street East, when he was shot multiple times.
A Waterloo Regional Police spokesperson said the police believe the shooting was a targeted attack and they are still seeking the suspect vehicle.
Isaiah Macnab with his sister, Claudia Macnab. Photo via Facebook.
The Mercedes was last seen in Mississauga in the Erin Mills area.
Greeno spoke this week about the importance of public awareness regarding prohibited weapons.
"Educate yourself on them," she said. "The issue comes when prohibited weapons fall into the wrong hands and are used for criminal purposes. In terms of this investigation, we do have one victim that was shot in broad daylight. It's obviously a concern for us and we are currently trying to locate the suspects involved in that shooting to get the community involved and give the family some closure," Greeno said.
The funeral will be held on Thursday, Sept. 27, in the chapel at Henry Walser Funeral Home.
Police are asking anyone who has seen the suspect vehicle to call 519-570-9777 ext. 8666 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.


A ComScore report found that Facebook unique users were down slightly from April to May, but the bigger picture is worse -- a 4.8 percent in 6 months.
Analysts and investors have been concerned about Facebook's future performance since the company's IPO, with slowing growth a major issue. Another worry was Facebook's revelation that it does not make money from mobile users -- especially because mobile looks like the growth area. Furthermore, according to SEC filings, half of Facebook's revenue in the first quarter of 2012 was from the U.S. and Canada, down from 52 percent in all of 2011, so audience size in North America is critical to the company's ongoing success.
According to ComScore's numbers, which aren't adjusted for a change in the firm's methodology, there has been a general downward trend in the number of U.S. unique visitors since November 2011. If Facebook were still growing, the methodology change should have shown a single drop, representing the correction, and then a continuing upward trend. Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
Nielsen data also suggest a drop. According to Nielsen's numbers, Facebook had 156.2 million uniques in November 2011, 152.8 million in March 2012, 151.4 million in April 2012, and 152.7 million in May 2012. That 2.2 percent drop would still be significant, although lower than ComScore's report.
It isn't the first time ComScore has shown a downward trend in Facebook uniques. Between December 2010 and February 2011 there was just under a 2.1 percent drop, so there is a possibility that Facebook has some sort of seasonality, although the current downward trend is already longer than the previous one.
The problem for Facebook is that the company's steep market valuation -- it trades at about 80 times trailing revenues -- is based on further revenue growth. That could happen in two ways: more users or more money made per user. Over its history, the company has an impressive track record of gaining users but it hasn't done as good a job of monetizing the ones it has. Last year, it made on the average only $5.11 per user. Furthermore, its greatest user growth has been in regions where the revenue per user is lower. Facebook is working on a way to better target advertising according to Beyers and, presumably, achieve higher ad rates. "We don't know how good that is yet," he says.
In its most recent quarterly financial filings with the SEC, Facebook claimed more than 900 million monthly active users, based on its internal data. According to the company, the term active user can include people who don't go to the Web site but "took an action to share content or activity with his or her Facebook friends or connections via a third-party Web site that is integrated with Facebook." It may be that an increasing number of people are sharing content and opinions through Facebook but logging onto the site less frequently and, as a result, seeing fewer ads and generating less revenue.
Another possible explanation of the recent drop would be if a growing number of people came to use Facebook only from a mobile device and not, in addition, a desktop computer. ComScore and Nielsen can have difficulty identifying when a person visits a site through multiple devices, so if users moved from access through a desktop browser and mobile app to just the mobile app, it would look like one fewer user.
Facebook's stock price climbed 10 percent last week, yet still has not climbed back to its IPO price. If the company starts to lose users in its most productive customer segments, it will face further pressure to increase the amount it makes from those who remain.
This report originally appeared on CBSNews.com under the headline "Facebook U.S. unique users down 4.8% in 6 months."


With an unwavering rainfall muddying Art Murray Field, the baseball team was only able to play two of its five scheduled games this past weekend. After defeating non-conference foe Muskingum University (12-20) 5-4 on Thursday, the squad lost 8-3 to Denison University (16-20, 8-7 NCAC) before having to postpone the second game of the day's doubleheader. Sunday's doubleheader at Allegheny College (13-14, 5-6 NCAC) was also postponed due to poor weather.
On Thursday, Wooster (19-12, 9-4 NCAC) welcomed Muskingum to Art Murray Field for a one game stand. The match was relatively quiet through the first seven innings. However, with the game tied 2-2 at the bottom of the eighth, leadoff hitter Zac Mathie '14 crushed the ball to homer over the right fence.
Wooster looked like it would seal the win in the top of the ninth after closer Tyler Fugate '11 and the Scots' infield forced two outs. However, Muskingum's Tyler Hardcastle cranked a two-run home run to put the Muskies up one. After drawing two walks in the bottom of the ninth, Wooster loaded the bases with an excellent bunt by Eddie Reese '14. With two runners in scoring position, Derek Wyman '11 drove the ball into left field, allowing Wooster to score the game tying and winning runs and giving him his second career walk off hit.
The next day the Scots welcomed Denison for a crucial late-season match between the two conference rivals. The game seemed within reach through the first three innings. In each of the first two frames, Wooster escaped the inning with bases loaded double plays. Wooster notched its first run at the bottom of the first inning after a Mathie double pushed Wyman across home plate.
With the game tied 1-1 heading into the third inning, the Big Red knocked off three consecutive runs. Denison never looked back as it put two more runs on the board in both the fourth and sixth innings, respectively.
In the sixth inning Wooster tried to inch back up the scoreboard after gaining one unearned tally and subsequently loading the bases. Unfortunately they would leave the runners stranded.
Wooster once again left three runners on the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning. Wooster was able to knock off 11 hits on the day, but unfortunately stranded 12 players on base. Steve Hagen '14, one of seven Scots pitchers on the day, got the loss and moved his season record to 3-3.
This was Denison's first win over Wooster since April 12, 2008 and its first win at Art Murray Field since May 4, 2003. Even with the loss, however, Wooster still sits on top of North Coast Athletic Conference standings heading into this week's conference tournament.
With a few weeks left in the season, Greg Van Horn '11 leads the Scots with a .416 hitting percentage, followed by Mathie and Zack Vesco '11, with .350 and .337 respectively. Van Horn and Mathie are tied for the most hits with 42 apiece, followed by Michael Wellstead '13 and Vesco.
Mathie's success has helped prove the words of Head Coach Tim Pettorini earlier this season to be true, in which he explained his optimism for the crop of very young talent coming into the program.
Wooster traveled to Chillicothe, Ohio, to play Wittenberg University in the conference tournament first round Thursday after press time. They hope to continue their action through the weekend.


Laughter Filled Weekend in Sarasota!
Fill the end of your week with laughter at the 9th Annual Sarasota Improv Festival!!! Head over to the Florida Studio Theatre campus (1241 North Palm Avenue, Sarasota) on Thursday, July 13th, through Saturday, July 15th, for nonstop comedic entertainment! The very best improv groups from around the country and world will be performing throughout the weekend. See incredibly creative and innovative performances as they all take the stage showcasing a variety of improv formats. Learn more about the art of improv at one or more of this weekend's incredible workshops taught by the professionals attending the festival! Here is all the information you need to make the most of your time at the Sarasota Improv Festival! Get ready to laugh all your cares away!