text:
Q: Use case for uniq, groupby without sorting While debugging a Python programme, I recently discovered that the Python itertools#groupby() function requires the input collection to be sorted, because it only groups identical elements that occur in a sequence:

Generally, the iterable needs to already be sorted on the same key function.
The operation of groupby() is similar to the uniq filter in Unix

In both cases, uniq and Python's groupby(), I wonder what a use case might be for applying these without sorting.
Clearly, sorting can be expensive and should be avoided whenever possible. However, if sorting is apparently inevitable in practice, then why did the Python developers decide to not make it the default in groupby()? This seems to cause a lot of confusion among the users of the function.
I noted that this design decision does not seem to be universal. Languages like Scala seem to implicitly sort collections in their groupBy() functions.
My question is hence: what are the use cases that led to the design decision about not implicitly sorting in uniq and Python's groupby()?

A: You can use a comprehension with internal side effects to group on an iterator without sorting (and without using libraries) like this:
from random import randrange
source   = ( randrange(20) for _ in range(20) )
getKey   = lambda n: n % 5
grouped, = ([d][any(d.setdefault(getKey(v),[]).append(v) for v in source)] for d in [dict()])

print(grouped)
# {2: [17, 2, 17, 17, 17], 1: [1, 11, 1, 16, 1], 4: [19, 19, 14, 19, 9], 3: [3, 3], 0: [0, 10, 5]}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
So What's in the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act?
By R. Taj Moore
Thursday, October 22, 2015, 5:41 PM
On October 8, Governor Jerry Brown of California approved Senate Bill (S.B.) 178, or the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act, designed to designed to strengthen electronic privacy against law enforcement access to data. It's kind of a whopper, imposing a warrant requirement on the acquisition of metadata at the state level.
Here's a brief summary.
The legislation has two big moving parts: a warrant requirement and a notice requirement.
Federal law already requires a warrant for electronic communication content acquisition. But under this statute, government entities in California will generally have to have a warrant (or another valid court authorization) in order to compel the production of or gain access to electronic information, including both content and metadata.
In the case of metadata, but not content, the bill sets forward four general exceptions to the above requirement: (1) when there's specific consent from the information's authorized possessor or owner, (2) if the device containing the sought information is taken from an inmate, (3) in an emergency situation involving danger of death or serious physical injury, or (4) if the device is believed to be lost, stolen, or abandoned, and then only if access is sought in order to try to "identify, verify, or contact the owner or authorized possessor of the device." The last two categories are qualified by express good faith requirements. Additionally, in emergency situations, government agents must file an application for a warrant or other authorization within three days of obtaining the electronic data.
If a warrant is the basis for collection, the warrant must "describe with particularity" the information sought by identifying the target and require that any information obtained under the warrant but unrelated to the warrant's objective "shall be sealed and not subject to further review, use, or disclosure" without a separate court order.
When a service provider voluntarily shares electronic communication information or subscriber information, which is authorized by S.B. 178, the government entity receiving the information must destroy the data within 90 days, unless there's specific consent from the sender or recipient of the electronic communications, a court order is obtained, or if the government reasonably believes the information is related to child pornography and retains the information within a "multiagency database" on child pornography or related investigations.
Subpoenas are permissible only if the information is not requested in the context of a criminal investigation or prosecution.
S.B. 178 also requires that whenever a warrant is executed, or when electronic information is received in emergency cases, notice must be served upon or delivered to "the identified targets of the warrant or emergency request." The notice must indicate that information about the notice recipient is being sought and it must state "with reasonable specificity the nature of the government investigation." In addition, the notice must include a copy of the warrant or, in emergency cases, shall provide a written statement with facts to support the declaration of an emergency situation. This notice must be provided to the recipient at the same time as the warrant's execution, or three days after the data is collected when it's an emergency case.
The government may seek a court order delaying notification, and limiting a notice recipient's authority to notify other parties that information has been sought, but the court retains the authority to determine whether there is "reason to believe that notification may have an adverse result." (An "adverse result" is defined in S.B. 178 to include: danger to life or individual safety, flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy to an investigation or undue trial delay.) If notice is postponed, it cannot exceed 90 days unless the court authorizes further extensions, each for 90 days at a time.
Once the grant of delayed notice expires, the government must provide notice with the requirements described above and must give the identified targets a document with a copy of all electronic information obtained or a summary of the information. This must include "the number and types of records disclosed, the date and time when the earliest and latest records were created, and a statement of the grounds for the court's determination to grant a delay in notifying the individual."
When there is not an identified target involved, the government must submit all of the same information required for notice (or delay of notification) to the Department of Justice, which shall then publish all those reports within 90 days of receiving them. Personal identifying information may be redacted.
The last section of the bill allows any individual involved in a judicial proceeding to move to suppress any information "obtained or retained in violation of the Fourth Amendment" or of the bill. It also provides that any individual whose information is targeted by a warrant or other court authorization that is inconsistent with the bill may petition to have the authorization voided or modified, or to have the information destroyed. That individual may also petition to have information destroyed that was obtained in violation of the bill or the U.S. or California state constitution. Finally, the bill provides that the state Attorney General may bring civil action to compel government compliance.
Surveillance,
Privacy,
Privacy: Technology,
Cyber & Technology
California Electronic Communications Privacy Act
R. Taj Moore is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and Harvard National Security Journal. He was co-director of the National Security Research Committee at the law school. He has previously interned at the Department of Defense. Before law school, he worked as a Scoville Fellow at the Stimson Center. He graduated from Brown University in 2011 with an A.B. in Political Science.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Should every physical problem formulated as a differential equation have a mathematical solution? I encountered the following statement in Boyce's Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems :

Not all differential equations have solutions; nor is the question of existence purely mathematical. If a meaningful physical problem is correctly formulated mathematically as a differential equation, then the mathematical problem should have a solution.

Is this true?

A: Maybe there is more context that qualifies this statement, but taken as is, it's completely false. In general, when we talk about existence of solutions to a differential equation, we're talking about existence given a certain set of boundary conditions. It's perfectly possible, in practical real-world problems, that we can have constraints on the boundary conditions, and if our boundary conditions don't satisfy those constraints, there is no solution.
For example, I could write down a differential equation representing the free motion of a body in a viscous medium. I could then specify the following boundary conditoins: at $t=0$ its velocity is zero, and at $t=t_f>0$ its velocity is nonzero. There is no such solution.
In physical problems where we specify the initial conditions, we want not just existence but uniqueness of solutions.
Less trivially, we can have examples of inconsistency or indeterminism (solution exists, but is not unique) in physical problems that come up in interesting, "meaninful" contexts. Examples include Norton's dome, naked singularities, and the Novikov consistency principle.

A: In the best of all possible worlds we know the laws of physics perfectly and can write them as differential equations (or something similar). But we do not live in that world. Instead we create models of the physical world that may not correspond to the actual laws (due to ignorance or just approximation). Good models give informative predictions: there is a mapping between what happens in reality and the model that is close to a bijection, so we can use the model to predict physical responses. How close it has to be depends on the application.
Now, physics as far as we know never fails to produce a "solution" of what the future state of the world will be. But models clearly can fail at this, even models that are accurate in large domains. Depending on the application this might disqualify them - only use models that use differential equations that have solutions! - or be OK if model failures occur far away from the problems of interest. When the Schwarzschild metric in GR predicts geodesics that end up in a singularity it may not be a problem if one is working on orbits or stuff going on far away from the central mass.
The issue isn't whether physics "runs" on differential equations that always have solutions, but all about what properties a useful model should have in the case at hand. In short, it is not about differential equations but modelling problems well.


No matter where we've come from or where we're going, we're all in need of rescue. Join us Easter Sunday to celebrate the resurrection, the rescue, and the hope that comes from Jesus our Savior.
10:30 am | Kid's Easter Event *Scavenger hunt, prizes, crafts!


The Ocean of Light was a fourth-stage finalist for the UK Pavillion competition for the 2020 World Expo in Dubai. Integration led the environmental and services design supporting Tonkin Liu Architects. Four unique experience zones were created through the environmental design process in order to complement the architectural themes and delight visitors. Zero carbon was achieved through the passive low energy design and roof mounted solar PV.
The Southern zone of the Great Ocean Hall has a protective façade that prevents direct solar gains. The dark blue façade, comprising of strands of rope bound together, is shaped to allow for self-shaded openings. This zone is designed to create a dark environment contrasted by plays of light brilliance via thin shafts of direct sunlight allowed to enter into the space. These shafts of light move organically within the area as the wind passively moves the façade and are reflected by the mirrored interior surfaces. Diffuse daylight also enters the space via the skylight at the top of the 8 glass lift shafts. These provide visitors with focal glows at high-level.
Occupant coolth in this zone is provided by low-energy radiant cooling via underfloor cooling and the cool glass lift shafts. Radiant cooling is effective in this zone as the air will be relatively still. Dynamic Thermal Modelling of the system shows that when the outside air temperature is 25°C it feels on average 2.3°C cooler inside.
During very hot days, supplementary low-level displacement ventilation can be provided from outlets at the base of the lift shafts when required.
The Northern zone, which doesn't receive direct solar, has a more open façade. As the façade wraps around to the north the spacing between the ropes is allowed to increase in certain areas to promote crossflow ventilation. The colour of the façade also changes to include shades of green shade representing undulating sea kelp.
In this zone the environment is lighter, airy, more dynamic, with deep vibrational sounds from the passive Aeolian Harp integrated into the northern section of the façade. Prevailing NW winds funneled by the neighbouring building are captured in order to provide a very different form of passive cooling compare to the southern zone. evaporative cooling of the incoming air will take place as it passes through the three inner bays which have integrated water systems to soak the ropes with water at the occupied level.
On entering the lift, the user will experience a sharp refreshing sensation of coolth. The lift allows the visitors to ascend into the dense bright translucent cloud of suspended water droplets brightly lit by the skylight above. The cloud allows for passive cooling from the evaporation of the water droplets which takes the supply air from 20°C / 50%RH to 14°C / 100%RH. The supply air to the lift shafts is the cool exhaust air recycled from the Exhibition Hall.
This cloud dynamically descends and ascends organically as the lift moves through its cycles and heat gains are introduced. This water mist will be produced by the technology developed by the Integration directors for the innovative Blind Light exhibition by artist Anthony Gormley. The technology will be located and concealed at the top of the lift shafts. The water droplets are very small and do not wet clothes or skin as the visitors pass through the cloud.
The final experiential zone is the high-level exhibition floor which is maintained to a comfortable 20°C throughout in order to support occupants as they engage with the vivid interactive digital displays.
The façade has been designed to be self-shading from the sun in order to allow the façade to be openable. The openable areas are positioned in the areas that have the lowest incident solar irradiation areas as determined by solar irradiation mapping.
A dynamic thermal model of the installation was created in order to assess the comfort performance of the design. The model and example data are shown below. It was concluded that the passive cooling strategy reduced internal comfort temperatures by an average of 2.7°C when external air temperatures were greater than 25°C (between 20th October and 4th April).
On peak days, active cooling is provided in the form of displacement cooling from the base of the cooled lift shafts. Peak days are most common at the start of the expo, in October and early November, and towards the end in April. It was calculated that passive cooling provides comfortable condition for 95% of hours and active cooling would be required for 5% of hours between 20th October and 4th April.


text:
Q: s3: what is the 'key' parameter of the s3.put_object() method? I am using Boto to upload artefacts to an s3 bucket, but don't know what the Key parameter of the put_object() method is:
client.put_object(
     Body=open(artefact, 'rb'),
     Bucket=bucket,
     Key=bucket_key
)

What gives?

A: In Amazon S3, the key is the object name, or file name if your objects are files. The key is listed in the results when retrieving the contents of the bucket, and you retrieve the contents of the object by specifying the object's key.
Keys in Amazon S3 must be unique.
If an object in the bucket already exists using the key value you're specifying for your PutObject command, then the old object will be replaced with your new object. Essentially, it's overwriting it.


text:
July 17, 2017 July 17, 2017 Jordan Peterson Lists
2017: 11 must-see films from the first six months
We are more than halfway through 2017 already. If your New Year's resolution was to see more movies this year but you just haven't gotten around to seeing as many as you'd hoped, don't worry. To make things easier on you, we've compiled a list of the movies you really need to see (so far this year)!
*All films were released within the first six month (Jan.-Jun.).
11.) Split
Brace yourselves, we may be in the midst of a Shyamalanaissance (you're welcome). After the critical and financial success of The Visit, M. Night has taken an even bigger step towards reclaiming his lost title of "The Next Spielberg." Split is a strong return to form for the writer/director. It's a tense, deliberately paced thriller that perpetually intrigues and features a spine-tingling performance from James McAvoy as multiple personalities. The film also boats one of the most exciting reveals this year and of Shyamalan's entire career.
10.) Colossal
Contrary to its marketing, Colossal isn't exactly a romantic comedy, monster movie mash-up. Though it shares similar plot points with those types of films (especially in the first act), Writer/Director Nacho Vigalondo actually explores some pretty dark, mature themes here. That said, it is one of the quirkiest, most original films this year with Anne Hathaway reminding us all why she won her Oscar. Jason Sudeikis is strong as Hathaway's main foil and the two share a captivating dynamic that you won't soon forget.
9.) Raw
Word was people were fainting during festival screenings of this French horror flick. While Raw didn't quite affect me in that way (thankfully), certain scenes still make me cringe weeks later. But this film left me with more than just a stronger gag reflex. By exploring the complicated relationship between two sisters, Raw offers unique observations on (among other things) sisterhood and its impact on certain familial structures. Simply put: it's one of the meatiest films of the year. There's a lot to sink your teeth into. Okay, I'll stop.
8.) The Lego Batman Movie
From hard-R cannibalism to animated family fun! Not enough people saw The Lego Batman Movie, which is a shame. It's some of the most fun I've had in a theater this year. Director Chris McKay hysterically pokes fun at Batman and his storied silver screen history with self-referential styling's similar to the original Lego movie. McKay simultaneously delivers the kickass action we've come to expect from a Batman flick. Perhaps the best thing about this film is that it offers a fresh take on the Dark Knight despite serving two of the most iconic brands in the world.
7.) Wonder Woman
Sure it took 75 years, but it was well worth the wait. Wonder Woman is a pure delight from start to finish. Director Patty Jenkins took one of comics' silliest, most convoluted origins and adapted it into a coherent and compelling narrative. Gal Gadot is a revelation as Diana Prince and Chris Pine is irresistibly charming as the romantic interest Steve Trevor. Their chemistry is magnetic and holds the film together throughout. Charismatic performances from the supporting cast even win out against some undercooked side character development. Wonder Woman also manages to fit visually within the context of the DC Extended Universe while incorporating some of that humor and infectious energy that make the MCU movies so much fun.
6.) Wakefield
Wakefield is a singular experience filtered through the mind of a sincerely disturbed suburbanite who withdraws from his life and family by hiding away inside the attic of their detached garage. It's a twisted character study that offers surprisingly frequent laughs as well as some unsettling insight into the psyche of identity and the toll of soulless routine. Bryan Cranston is hypnotic as Howard Wakefield and convincingly conveys the man's frenzied journey to self-discovery.
5.) It Comes at Night
If you go into It Comes at Night with the wrong set of expectations, chances are you'll leave disappointed. I knew nothing when I sat down to screen it. Gradually, I took what Writer/Director Trey Edward Schults was offering. I encourage all of you to do the same. If you can accept It Comes at Night as a cerebral, slow-burning character study, then you may be able to enjoy the film's narrative simplicity, haunting cinematography and nuanced performances. You may even find yourself asking "What would I do in this situation?"
4.) John Wick: Chapter 2
Sometimes there is just no substitute for fun. That's what the John Wick movies are. The first film gleefully embraces Keanu Reeves's inner badass as well as an inexplicably intricate mythology and hyper-realistic violence. 'Chapter 2′ furthers said mythology and doubles down the series' now iconic "gun-fu." If you loved John Wick then you'll probably love John Wick: Chapter 2 all the same, if not more. I certainty did.
3.) Baby Driver
Continuing the theme of fun is Baby Driver. Writer/Director Edgar Wright spins familiar elements of the crime genre in a way only he can for this analog comedy. It features Ansel Elgort as a getaway driver who continually listens to music in order to drown out the Tinnitus in his ears. The script is tight and full of snappy dialogue. The supporting cast is equally kinetic and charming, with special props to Jamie Foxx for his standout performance. Wright also makes better use of his soundtrack than any other film I've seen, particularly during the riveting action sequences (yes, including Guardians of the Galaxy).
2.) Get Out
Get Out is not only one of the best movies of the year. It's one of the most important ones too. Writer/Director Jordan Peele (one-half of Comedy Central's sketch comedy Key & Peele) has crafted a deft social thriller akin to the likes of The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby. Here Peele observes the subversive evolution of racism in America through the lens of a young African American man who's meeting his Caucasian girlfriend's parents for the first time. It's a timely, haunting film and one that's already made a splash via multiple box office records. Look for Get Out come time for Oscar nods.
1.) Logan
Logan is not just a great comic book movie. It's a great movie, period. It's also the last time Hugh Jackman will play the iconic X-Man Wolverine, after nearly twenty years. Thankfully, Logan is the perfect swan song. Director James Mangold and company have realized a poetic and exhilarating tale of redemption in a world where mutants are nearing extinction. We finally get to see Wolverine in all his raging, R-rated glory. Patrick Stewart gives arguably the best performance of his career as a broken, desperate Professor X. In fact, Logan has the potential to be the first comic book film since The Dark Knight to see an Oscar nod for performance.
There you have it! Our picks for the top 11 must-see movies of the first half of 2017. What do you think of our list? What films made it onto your list? We want to know! Hit us up in the comments section and let's talk about it!
Tagged 2017, Anne Hathaway, Baby Driver, Best movies, Bryan Cranston, Chris McKay, Colossal, Edgar Wright, Gal Gadot, Get Out, It Comes at Night, James Mangold, James McAvoy, John Wick: Chapter 2, Jordan Peele, Logan, M. Night Shyamalan, must see, Patty Jenkins, Raw, Split, The LEGO Batman Movie, Wakefield, Wonder Woman
False advertising & 'War for the Planet of the Apes' review
Port of Dorks Podcast Ep. 16: The Dark Tower & Atomic Blonde


Millennials are the largest group of home buyers for the fourth consecutive year.
According to its recently released Home Price Index (HPI,) CoreLogic reported that home prices are up both year over year and month over month. Nationwide, home prices increased year over year by 6.9% in April 2017 compared to April 2016 and increase month over month by 1.6% in April 2017 compared with March 2017. The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 5.1% on a year over year basis from April 2017 to April 2018.
CoreLogic also reported that U.S. homeowners with mortgages (which is roughly 63% of all homeowners) have seen their equity increase by a total of $766.4 billion dollars since the 1st quarter of 2016 – an increase of 11.2%. Today, nearly 9 million borrowers have regained equity since the height of the housing crisis in 2011.
And there's more news on mortgages out today – Freddie Mac just released it Primary Mortgage Market Survey, showing the 30-year fixed mortgage dropping for the 4th consecutive week and hitting its lowest level in nearly seven months. 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 3.89% with an average .5-point for the week ending June 8, 2017, down from last week when it averaged 3.94%. For reference, a year ago at this time the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.6%.
With the market so hot, one has to wonder what's happening with home flipping – the practice of buying and then reselling the same property within a 12-month period. Well, ATTOM Data Solutions just released its Q1 2017 US Home Flipping Report, which showed that home flipping fell to the lowest level in two years during the 1st quarter of 2017. Interesting, at the same time, the share of those flips using mortgage financing rose to a 9-year high. The company reported that there were 43,615 single family homes and condos flipped during the 3-month period, down 8% from the previous quarter and 6% from a year ago. Flipping accounted for 6.7% of all single-family home and condo sales during the quarter, an increase from 5.8% in the fourth quarter, but unchanged from a year earlier.
So what's up with the millennials?
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) just released it 2017 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study, which found that millennials were the largest group of home buyers (34%) for the fourth consecutive year. By comparison, baby boomers were 30% of buyers.
In other housing news, economists at Freddie Mac see the U.S. housing market "on track to eclipse last year as the best in over a decade." The company's May Outlook gives credits to the housing market's strong start to 2017 in part to the surprising downward movement of interest rates since March. After rising to 4.3% in March, mortgage rates have dipped back down near the 4.0% range and have been holding pretty steady. The general sentiment is that the Fed will increase rates a few times before the end of 2017. All told, Freddie Mac thinks 2017 is shaping up to be the best year for housing in over a decade.
Finally, Fannie Mae has declared it's a sellers market.
Based on Fannie Mae's monthly National Housing Survey, the net share of Americans who said that now is a good time buy a home reached a record low of 27%, (a decrease of 8%,) while the net share who stated that it is a good time to sell a home reached a record high of 32%, a gain of 6% in May 2017.
Fannie Mae said it was only the 2nd time in the survey's history that the net share of those saying it's a good time sell surpassed the net share of those saying it's a good time to buy. In fact, the "sell" component is 19 point higher that the same time in 2016. All of this makes perfect sense since the market has been on fire and continues to stay hot.
Look for more market muse episodes soon.


text:
now reading: Saudi Connection; Better Angels; America Sets Sail
Saudi Connection; Better Angels; America Sets Sail
By Carl M. Cannon - RCP Staff
Story Stream
Video: Global Warming Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit ...
Article: Global Warming Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit ...
Entry: Global Warming Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit ...
Good morning, it's Tuesday, June 18, 2019. On this day, a U.S. president finally got fed up with depredations at sea by a haughty regional power with more pride than sense. In response, the American commander-in-chief signed a declaration of war. Not Donald Trump and the Iranians, of course. The events I'm describing occurred 207 years ago, when James Madison was president.
Iran (then called Persia) had no real navy at the time and its army was nothing to brag out: The Persians were losing a land war with Russia. The tsar's armies were also battling Napoleon, as was Great Britain. You'd think that would have been enough to occupy all the king's men, but no. Our British cousins were also waging a trade war against their former colonies (trade wars being so easy to win) and fomenting Indian raids along the U.S.-Canadian border, all while busily seizing American merchant sailors on the high seas and pressing them into service in the Royal Navy.
President Madison responded by requesting a declaration of war from Congress, which complied. The ensuing conflict would cost Madison his government housing -- the British would torch the White House and other federal buildings -- while bringing back feelings of nostalgia on these shores for George Washington.
Ultimately, though, the War of 1812 also instilled deep American pride in our new nation's martial capacities and put the United States on a course of internationalism that -- for better or for worse -- set the stage for two centuries' worth of military interventions. Doing so, many future presidents would find, didn't usually require a formal declaration of war from Congress.
It did, however, usually require a navy, a topic I'll return to in a moment. First, I'd steer you to RealClearPolitics' front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion columns spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters and contributors, including the following:
Buttigieg's Money Quest Shadowed by Donor's Saudi Ties. Phil Wegmann has the story.
Better Angels: Bridging the Uncivil Discussion Divide. Julia Mullins profiles the nonpartisan group that holds its national convention later this week.
South Carolina Leads on Free Market Climate Fixes. Erick Erickson spotlights a solar power initiative that Republicans in other states -- or even Washington -- should take note of.
Single-Payer Health Care Will Increase Fraud, Corruption. Chris Jacobs writes that Democratic presidential candidates should be pressed on how they would guard against losses.
The Heavy Hand of a Public Option. In RealClearPolicy, Joseph Antos argues that the Democratic alternative to Medicare for All would have a similar outcome -- the withering of private health insurance.
Sex Predator or MeToo Prey? In RealClearInvestigations, Stuart Taylor Jr. examines the case of an ostracized California legislator accused of sexual misconduct who's taking the rare step of suing his celebrated accuser.
Trump Learned Wrong Lessons From Mexico "Win." In RealClearMarkets, Daniel Savickas asserts that tariffs are not a good negotiating tactic.
Beware Russia's Hybrid Warfare Strategy. Adam Cabot has this warning in RealClearDefense.
Generally, Friday, October 13, 1775, is considered the day when the United States Navy was born. Meeting in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress voted to fit out two ocean-going ships, each armed with 10 cannons and manned by a crew of 80 sailors. Their mission was to interdict British ships transporting men and munitions to resupply British garrisons as the Revolutionary War was joined.
In a way, however, the U.S. Navy traces its permanence in the American imagination to the declaration of war issued 207 years ago today. Just as the attack on Pearl Harbor would galvanize America's factories into a frenzy of tank and warplane construction, the June 18, 1812 declaration sparked a spate of domestic shipbuilding. Things moved more slowly in the 19th century, however, and most of those ships of war were not completed in time to see action in the War of 1812.
The superiority of the Royal Navy during most of that war gave the British easy access to American ports, and it was a relatively small landing force of redcoats that burned Washington, D.C., in 1814. (As seething American civilians watched helplessly while the invaders torched the White House, one colonist shouted to British Adm. George Cockburn, "If George Washington had been alive, you would not have gotten into this city so easily!"
"No, sir," the British commanding officer conceded readily. "If General Washington had been president, we should never have thought of coming here.")
But it was the burning of another federal facility in the capital -- the Navy Yard -- that symbolized the larger problem. Although American sailors and sea captains acquitted themselves well with victories on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, it was a defeat on Lake Ontario that so discouraged Secretary of the Navy William Jones.
His fears proved premature. Despite their victory at Ontario, the British had lost their appetite for war in the New World, and even before being routed at the Battle of New Orleans, England had agreed to a peace treaty.
Although technological changes in shipbuilding would render most of the vessels of war constructed at that time obsolete, a perception had taken hold in the American consciousness. To maintain its place in the world, a sprawling and wealthy nation surrounded by two vast oceans needed a strong navy. It was a lesson that would have to be learned and relearned. Some had known it from the start.
"And without a respectable navy," John Paul Jones opined in 1776, "alas America!"
Five years later, George Washington himself, in a letter to Marquis de Lafayette, put it this way: "It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious."
These words would be echoed by future presidents. "A powerful Navy we have always regarded as our proper and natural means of defense," Woodrow Wilson proclaimed in a 1914 speech to a joint session of Congress. "Our ships are our natural bulwarks."
John F. Kennedy made the same point aboard the USS Kitty Hawk in June of 1963, in reference to the lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis the preceding October.
In a mid-summer speech that same year at the U.S. Naval Academy, President Kennedy added the following sentiment: "I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think, can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.'"
Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics
@CarlCannon (Twitter)
ccannon@realclearpolitics.com
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington Bureau Chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.
Related Topics: RCP Morning Note


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COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER (CCD) of honey bees is one of the lingering mysteries of early 21st Century science in more ways than one: from its microbial, immune system and genetic components to an amorphous almost Orwellian terminology as imprecise and ambiguous as climate change (a slogan wide enough to encompass warming up, cooling down, and even staying the same temperature while the numbers fluctuate around the mean or average). The ambiguous language says both nothing and everything simultaneously, though underlying CCD is a quest for as yet unknown changes in insect rearing circumstances that will produce non-collapsing honey bee colonies. During the 19th century (1800s), a century marked by worldwide famines in the the old colonial empires and phylloxera-ravaged wine-grape vineyards collapsing in France, a revolution in modern medicine was being birthed in the mysteriously collapsing silkworm colonies. Fortunately for lovers of silk fabrics, fashion and textiles, 19th century silkworm farmers had the services of the real-life scientific Sherlock Holmes of the era, the famous French freelance scientist and sometime entomologist, Louis Pasteur.
Pasteur had a knack for solving applied problems like fermentation (beer, wine, vinegar) and silkworm colony collapse, and then using the results to develop broader theories like germ theory, which taught modern doctors to wash their hands and sterilize their instruments so as to stop spreading the germs that commonly killed their patients. How Pasteur almost single-handedly accomplished so much more than whole scientific institutes seemed able to do in the 20th century was the subject of an illuminating mid-20th century book, Louis Pasteur Free Lance of Science, by French-borne microbiologist Rene Dubos. "Toward the middle of the nineteenth century a mysterious disease began to attack the French silkworm nurseries," wrote Dubos. "In 1853, silkworm eggs could no longer be produced in France, but had to be imported from Lombardy; then the disease spread to Italy, Spain and Austria. Dealers procuring eggs for the silkworm breeders had to go farther and farther east in an attempt to secure healthy products; but the disease followed them, invading in turn Greece, Turkey, the Caucasus–finally China and even Japan. By 1865, the silkworm industry was near ruin in France, and also, to a lesser degree, in the rest of Western Europe."
"The first triumphs of microbiology in the control of epidemics came out of the genius and labors of two men, Agostino Bassi and Louis Pasteur, both of whom were untrained in medical or veterinary sciences, and both of whom first approached the problems of pathology by studying the diseases of silkworms," wrote Dubos, who between World Wars I and II worked at the League of Nations' Bureau of Agricultural Intelligence and Plant Diseases as an editor of the International Review of the Science and Practice of Agriculture. "A disease known as mal del segno was then causing extensive damage to the silkworm industry in Lombardy. Bassi demonstrated that the disease was infectious and could be transmitted by inoculation, by contact, and by infected food. He traced it to a parasitic fungus, called after him Botrytis bassiana (since renamed Beauveria bassiana, a widely used biocontrol agent)…An exact understanding…allowed Bassi to work out methods to prevent its spread through the silkworm nurseries. After twenty years of arduous labor, he published in 1836…Although unable to see the bacterial agents of disease because of blindness, Bassi envisioned from his studies on the mal del segno the bacteriological era which was to revolutionize medicine two decades after his death."
Chemist Jean Baptiste Dumas, Pasteur's mentor, prevailed upon the reluctant free lance scientist to head a mission of the French Ministry of Agriculture. "Although Pasteur knew nothing of silkworms or their diseases, he accepted the challenge," wrote Dubos. "To Pasteur's remark that he was totally unfamiliar with the subject, Dumas had replied one day: 'So much the better! For ideas, you will have only those which shall come to you as a result of your observations!'"
A way of life was also at stake. As described in 19th century France by Emile Duclaux, Pasteur's student and intimate collaborator (in Dubos' book): "…the cocoons are put into a steam bath, to kill the chrysalids by heat. In this case, scarcely six weeks separate the time of egg-hatching from the time when the cocoons are carried to market, from the time the silk grower sows to the time when he reaps. As, in former times, the harvest was almost certain and quite lucrative, the Time of the Silkworm was a time of festival and of joy, in spite of the fatigues which it imposed, and, in gratitude, the mulberry tree had received the name of arbre d'or, from the populations who derived their livelihood from it."
"The study of silkworm diseases constituted for Pasteur an initiation into the problem of infectious diseases," wrote Dubos, who was influenced by the famous Russian soil microbiologist, Serge Winogradsky, who favored studying microbial interactions in natural environments rather than in pure laboratory cultures. "Instead of the accuracy of laboratory procedures he encountered the variability and unpredictability of behavior in animal life, for silkworms differ in their response to disease as do other animals. In the case of flacherie (a disease), for example, the time of death after infection might vary from 12 hours to 3 weeks, and some of the worms invariably escaped death…Time and time again, he discussed the matter of the influence of environmental factors on susceptibility, on the receptivity of the 'terrain' for the invading agent of disease. So deep was his concern with the physiological factors that condition infection that he once wrote, 'If I had to undertake new studies on silkworms, I would investigate conditions for increasing their vigor, a problem of which one knows nothing. This would certainly lead to techniques for protecting them against accidental diseases.'"
"Usually, the public sees only the finished result of the scientific effort, but remains unaware of the atmosphere of confusion, tentative gropings, frustration and heart-breaking discouragement in which the scientist often labors while trying to extract, from the entrails of nature, the products and laws which appear so simple and orderly when they finally reach textbooks and newspapers," wrote Dubos. "In many circumstances, he developed reproducible and practical techniques that in other hands failed, or gave such erratic results as to be considered worthless. His experimental achievements appear so unusual in their complete success that there has been a tendency to explain them away in the name of luck, but the explanation is in reality quite simple. Pasteur was a master experimenter with an uncanny sense of the details relevant to the success of his tests. It was the exacting conscience with which he respected the most minute details of his operations, and his intense concentration while at work, that gave him an apparently intuitive awareness of all the facts significant for the test, and permitted him always to duplicate his experimental conditions. In many cases, he lacked complete understanding of the reasons for the success of the procedures that he used, but always he knew how to make them work again, if they had once worked in his hands."
Though famed for disproving the spontaneous generation of life, immunization via attenuated living vaccines and the germ theory of infectious disease: "Pasteur often emphasized the great importance of the environment, of nutrition, and of the physiological and even psychological state of the patient, in deciding the outcome of the infectious process," wrote Dubos. "Had the opportunity come for him to undertake again the study of silkworm diseases, he once said, he would have liked to investigate the factors which favor the general robustness of the worms, and thereby increase their resistance to infectious disease…A logic of Pasteur's life centered on physiological problems is just as plausible as that which resulted from the exclusive emphasis on the germ theory of contagious disease."
The 21st century is riddled with insect colony conundrums and mysteries. For example, why among the social insects are honey bees plagued by Colony Collapse Disorder, while "Colony Expansion Disorder" prevails for other social insects in the USA. Rather than collapsing, USA colonies of Argentine ants are forming "super-colonies," and red imported fire ant colonies are growing stronger by the day and annually expanding their North American geographic range; this despite being deliberately dosed with pesticides and attacked by biocontrol organisms (perhaps even more so than the beleaguered honey bees). And quite independently of mortgage rates and housing sales, Formosan subterranean termite colonies damaging billions of dollars of USA housing stock are happily munching away at both live trees and "dead-tree" wooden housing assets with little collective danger of colony collapse, though individual colonies come and go.
Perhaps beekeeping and crop pollination would be easier if Colony Collapse Disorder were an actual "disorder" as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and honey bees were endowed with sufficient consciousness and behaviors amenable to bee psychology or psychiatry.
The very real plight of honey bee colonies or hives is still in what Dubos would call the "atmosphere of confusion, tentative gropings, frustration." At the most recent Entomological Society of America annual meeting, roughly a century and a half after silkworm colony collapse was eliminated by better more sanitary rearing practices, honey bee health was still puzzling. Honey bee colony loss in Virginia increased to 30% from 5-10% in recent years, possibly due to disease pathogens, pesticides and immune system suppression, say Virginia Tech researchers (e.g. Brenna Traver) studying glucose oxidase (GOX), an indicator of immunity in social insects. Honey bee social immunity is complex, involving factors as diverse as pheromones and grooming, and honey bee production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which sterilizes food for the colony.
Nosema ceranae, a global gut pathogen, was seen all around the USA in 2007 at the same time as Colony Collapse Disorder. Black queen cell virus is another culprit, along with deformed wing virus, which is spread among honey bees by varroa mites. Then it is hard to overlook that over 120 different pesticides and their metabolites have been found in honey; including common beekeeper-applied pesticides such as coumaphos, fluvalinate, chlorothalonil and the antibiotic fumagillin. At the University of Puerto Rico, Gloria Dominguez-Bello is testing oxytetracycline and other commonly used antibiotics for their effects on honey bee microbes similar to those known to affect everything from obesity and brain function to organ transplants.
Those familiar with Pasteur's entomological research on silkworm colony collapse in the 1800s would have experienced a sense of deja vu at the most recent Entomological Society of America meetings listening to Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, a research leader at the USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona. Nutrition, stress and pesticides may indeed be involved, but more focus is warranted for honey bee microbial health and gut microbes. Honey bee nutrition and microbiology is complicated by seasonal variations with changing food sources. According to DeGrandi-Hoffman, a lack of beneficial microbes may set honey bees up for infectious diseases like chalkbrood.
For example, pesticides used for Varroa mite control and potent beekeeping antibiotics like thymol and formic acid can affect the Lactobacillus microbes bees need for digestion and preservation of pollen as beebread, said DeGrandi-Hoffman. When bacterial plasmids found in high numbers in beebread are plated with the pathogen Aspergillus flavus, the pathogen rapidly loses virulence.
It is likely honey bees rely on beneficial microbes to protect from harmful pathogens, as honey bees have among the fewest immune system genes of any insect. Thus, when California almond growers spray fungicides, insecticides and miticides, a side effect could be fewer beneficial microbes in honey bee guts and in beebread. Thus, the honey bees would be less healthy and more susceptible to diseases like chalkbrood. Probiotic supplements designed to add beneficial microbes to honey bee diets are being tested in some California orchards. No doubt a familiar concept to those shopping for probiotic yogurts.
5 Comments	| 1, ants, Bees, Botanicals (e.g. herbs; natural products), History of Biocontrol, home remedy, mites, Moths (Trichogramma)	| Tagged: Agostino Bassi, antibiotics, Argentine ants, Bee Research Center, Botrytis bassiana, chalkbrood, Colony Collapse Disorder, DeGrandi-Hoffman, Emile Duclaux, flacherie, France, infectious disease, Jean Baptiste Dumas, Louis Pasteur, medical sanitation, microbiologist, miticides, pesticides, probiotics, red imported fire ants, Serge Winogradsky, silkworm, silkworms, termite colonies, Varroa mite	| Permalink


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ALLERGEN WARNING: CONTAINS SOY (LECITHIN), MILK (TRYPSIN), AND FISH (HERRING, ANCHOVY, SARDINE, SALMON AND MACKEREL).
CAUTION: This product is manufactured and packaged in a facility which may also process milk, soy, wheat, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and crustacean shellfish. KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN. DO NOT USE IF SAFETY SEAL IS DAMAGED OR MISSING. STORE IN A COOL, DRY PLACE.
SUGGESTED USE: 1 packet daily preferably with a meal or as directed by a healthcare professional.


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Some research can help a person reach their home improvement goals. It doesn't always come as something that's easy, so be sure you take things slow. It's simple to start up a project just to realize later on that it is more than you bargained for.


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News > Colombia
Colombia Gov't Bails out Banks for Dissolved Odebrecht Project
A sign of the Odebrecht SA construction conglomerate is pictured in Lima, Peru, June 28, 2016. | Photo: Reuters
The government will use state funds to pay off several Colombian banks that lent money to a now-defunct Odebrecht project.
The Colombian government said Wednesday it will bail out an Odebrecht-backed consortium in Colombia with the amount of 1.2 billion pesos, US$378 million.
Colombia: Duque's Party Proposes Law to Allow Convicted Politicians to Appeal
The money will be paid to seven banks that lent the capital for a national highway project which, due to the company's major corruption scandal and subsequent loss of funds, is being scrapped.
Minister of Transportation Angela Orozco made the announcement, saying that of the US$598 million still owed to seven financial institutions in Colombia, the state would cover at least US$378 million.
The money will be paid to: Bancolombia, Davivienda, Banco de Occidente, Itau, Banco de Bogotá, Banco Popular and Banco AV Villas.
But the Colombian public isn't happy about the decision to use state funds to cover the bank costs. The hashtag #nostocapagar (we have to pay) is trending as of July 24 announcement.
Former senator and Bogota mayoral candidate, mayoral candidate, Claudia Lopez tweeted of the situation, "through a little game of (then) Senator Duque and the CDemocratic to avoid the expiration of Odebrecht contracts, today #NosTocóPagar the corruption and debts of Odebrecht and Sarmiento-AVAL. They always win and we always pay for their corruption. Until when? Until you keep choosing them!"
In 2010, Odebrecht, Corficolombiana and Solarte Group, formed the Ruta del Sol consortium to rehab a 993km stretch of highway - Ruta del Sol II - to better connect Bogota to the Caribbean coast. The mega project would have run through eight different departments and 39 municipalities that together account for over 23 percent of the nation's GDP.
The Ruta del Sol consortium was also dissolved, says the ministry of transport, "in order to ... comply with its financial obligations and to avoid further detriment to their creditors."
Orozco explained in a press conference that the decision to dissolve the highway contract was due to the impossibility of its construction and financing.
The Ruta del Sol II highway has been muddied by accusations of Odebrecht bribes for other projects within the country, yet to be fully investigated by Colombian authorities, according to local media.
colombia Corruption Odebrecht Ruta del Sol colombia Odebrecht Colombia bails out Banks Duque Colombia use state funds to pay banks
AmericanEconomia - Infobea
by teleSUR / EF-MH
40% of Young People in Colombia Have Experienced Abuse: Report
Colombia: Law Proposed to Allow Convicted Politicians to Appeal
Another Ex-Guerrilla Fighter Killed in Colombia
Colombia: 15 Million People Feel They Live in Poverty


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Ziggy Stardust & Spider Mars - Ost
Ziggy Stardust & Spider Mars - Ost by Parlophone at Public Sounds. Hurry! Limited time offer. Offer valid only while supplies last. Digitally remastered two CD live set from the Rock 'n' Roll chameleon. This glam-rock classic features Bowie as his gender-bending alter ego in his final performance at London's Hammersmith Odeon in '73..
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Digitally remastered two CD live set from the Rock 'n' Roll chameleon. This glam-rock classic features Bowie as his gender-bending alter ego in his final performance at London's Hammersmith Odeon in '73..
Std Pk - Ost Rmst ed.
PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
5.75 x 0.45 x 5 inches
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The Scarlet Pimpernel: Music from the BBC TV Series (1998)
By BBC Legends
Vanity Fair: Music From The BBC TV Series
I Live For Cartoons
By On-The-Go Music
I Live For Cartoons by Various MusiqueWhen sold by Amazon.com, this product will be manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply..
Muleskinner Live -- Original Television Soundtrack
By Muleskinner
mpn: CDMW042, ean: 0813411010427,
In 1973, a group of hot young bluegrass talents came together to back Bill Monroe for a PBS TV special. Bill s bus broke down and he missed the taping, but the backing band stepped forward to create the first nationally-televised bluegrass program. That stellar line-up included Clarence White, Peter Rowan, David Grisman, Richard Greene and Bill Keith. Long thought lost, 13 tracks bluegrass gems are unearthed on this CD including Red Rocking Chair; New Camptown Races; Orange Blossom Special; I