Please remove me. My time here is finished.
If you don't use it, why the need to delete account? It wont make your posts disappear weird.
Why do you want to go if you don't mind me asking? We need to stick together, especially in these times.
Me too, I'm guessing he was having problems with some people on the site or personal issues or something.
I'd like to retract my request if I may. I was just spending too much time here and getting riled up. That's my problem not the forums. The thought about leaving my National Socialist comrades behind pulls on my heartstrings too much.
Glad to see you wanting to stay, hang in there, i know it gets rough from time to time, but in these times,and all the time for that matter, we whites have to stick together and keep spreading the word.
Glad you reconsidered! We've lost too many good folks since I've been here. We can't afford to lose any more.


Boomer and senior market specialists to share insights on tapping the 43-million-large caregiver market at a "Connecting with Caregivers Marketing Summit." The event, which includes presentations by seven national brands, will be held on Tuesday, January 26, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Washington, DC.
Frederick, MD and San Mateo, CA, January 14, 2010 — Immersion Active, the only interactive agency focused exclusively on marketing to baby boomers and seniors, and Caring.com, the leading online brand focused on meeting the needs of 43+ million family caregivers, today announced they are co-sponsoring the Connecting with Caregivers Marketing Summit. The event, which includes presentations by seven national brands, will be held on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Washington, DC. Keynote addresses revealing new research on the lifestyles, trends and opportunities with the caregiver consumer will be given by Matt Thornhill, President of the Boomer Project, and Sandy Timmerman, director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute.
Connecting with Caregivers Marketing Summit co-sponsor Andy Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Caring.com said, "Our websites, geared specifically to those helping care for a senior, get a tremendous amount of traffic and these consumers are very engaged." Cohen noted that the level of engagement on his sites is a clear signal that caregivers are hungry for information to help guide them through what is often a physically and emotionally difficult challenge to meet the needs of their senior loved ones. "Helping connect these individuals with products and services that will relieve some of their stress and help them maintain their own lives is what the Connecting with Caregivers Marketing Summit is all about," Cohen added.
In addition to the two keynote speeches, case studies will be presented by brands such as Humana, Johnson and Johnson, Genworth and AARP. The case studies will focus on how brands have successfully used online and offline campaigns, social media, email, and online video to connect with caregiving comsumers. The event is rounded out with a special caregiver consumer panel session.
Immersion Active is the Internet marketing agency for the 50-plus markets. Founded in 1998, the agency helps brands leverage digital media in forming profitable relationships with boomers and seniors online. Immersion Active has been the recipient of over 100 regional, national and international awards for its work in interactive design and marketing. Clients include AARP, Del Webb and Home Instead Senior Care. In 2009, Immersion Active's founders published: Dot Boom: Marketing to Baby Boomers Through Meaningful Online Engagement. For more information, visit www.immersionactive.com.
Caring.com is a community and content website that provides people who are caring for aging parents with timesaving information to help them make better decisions. Founded in 2007 by a team of people who have taken care of their own aging parents, Caring.com is a free resource to users and is supported by advertisers. Caring.com is backed by leading venture investors, including DCM, Shasta Ventures, and Split Rock Partners. Caring.com is headquartered in San Mateo, California, and can be reached at www.caring.com.
(1) NAC and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S.A, Focused Look at Those Caring for Someone Age 50 or Older, Executive Summary. November, 2009. Funded by the MetLife Foundation.


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Video: The Milky Way and Andromeda Crash Together
No galaxies were harmed in the creation of this simulation
By Colin Lecher | Published Jun 1, 2012 12:42 AM
First, the bad news: In four billion years it's going to get a lot more crowded around here. The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are on a collision course. The good news is that a new video from NASA shows how it'll go down.
It's been suggested for some time that the two galaxies might have it in for each other, but today NASA says they can "predict with certainty" that Andromeda, which is still 2.5 million light years away but heading toward us at 250,000 miles per hour, will collide with the Milky Way because of the mutual pull of their gravity.
The two galaxies have enough space between them that any direct collision of heavenly bodies is unlikely. But the Sun won't be getting off so easy; it'll probably be flung into another part of the galaxy.
[Hubble, Space.com]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Panamanian culture is a hybrid of African, Native Panamanian, and European culture - specifically Spanish. For example, the tamborito is a Spanish dance that was blended with Native American rhythms and dance moves. Dance is a symbol of the diverse cultures that have coupled in Panama. The local folklore can be experienced through a multitude of festivals, dances and traditions that have been handed down from generation to generation.

Panamanian cuisine

Panamanian Cuisine is a mix of African, Spanish, and Native American techniques, dishes, and ingredients, reflecting its diverse population. Since Panama is a land bridge between two continents, it has a large variety of tropical fruits, vegetables and herbs that are used in native cooking.

Typical Panamanian foods are mildly flavored, without the pungency of some of Panama's Latin American and Caribbean neighbors. Common ingredients are corn, rice, wheat flour, plantains, yuca (cassava), beef, chicken, pork and seafood.(in Panama they call this example tortilla, because the arepas are from Colombia)

Literature

Panamanian historian and essayist Rodrigo Miró (1912–1996) cites Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés as the author of the first Panamanian literary work, the story of a character named Andrea de la Roca, which was published as part of the "Historia General y Natural de Las Indias" (1535). However, the first manifestations of literature written in Panama come from the 17th century with the title of "Llanto de Panamá a la muerte de don Enrique Enríquez" (Crying from Panama at the Death of Don Enrique Enríquez). Although this anthology was formed during the Colony, most of the poems in it were written by authors born in Panama.

Other Panamanian writers working during Spanish Colony: Mateo Rosas de Oquendo, author of an autobiographic romance; Juan de Miramontes y Zuázola, author of "Armas Antárticas" (Antarctic Weapons); Juan de Páramo y Cepeda, author of "Alteraciones del Dariel" (Dariel Alterations); and others.

During the 19th century, the romantics: Manuel María Ayala (1785–1824) and Tomás Miró Rubini (1800–1881). Subsequently appeared José María Alemán (1830–1887), Gil Colunje (1831–1899), Tomás Martín Feuillet (1832–1899), José Dolores Urriola (1834–1883), Amelia Denis de Icaza (1836–1911), Manuel José Pérez (1837–1895), Jerónimo de la Ossa (1847–1907), Federico Escobar (1861–1912) and Rodolfo Caicedo (1868–1905).

The modernists: Darío Herrera (1870–1914), León Antonio Soto (1874–1902), Guillermo Andreve (1879–1940), Ricardo Miró (1883–1940), Gaspar Octavio Hernández (1893–1918), María Olimpia de Obaldía (1891–1985), and Demetrio Korsi (1899–1957).

The Avant-garde movement: Rogelio Sinán (1902–1994), Ricardo J. Bermúdez (1914–), Mario Augusto Rodríguez (1917–2009), José María Núñez (1894–1990), Stella Sierra, Roque Javier Laurenza, Ofelia Hooper, Tobías Díaz Blaitry (1919–2006), Moisés Castillo (1899–1974), Gil Blas Tejeira (1901–1975), Alfredo Cantón (1910–1967), José María Sánchez (1918–1973), Ramón H. Jurado (1922–1978), Joaquín Beleño (1921), Carlos Francisco Changmarín (1922), Jorge Turner (1922), and Tristán Solarte (1924)

Working during the second half of the 20th century: Tristán Solarte (1934), José de Jesús Martínez, Diana Morán (1932), Alvaro Menéndez Franco (1932), José Guillermo Ross-Zanet (1930), José Franco (1931), Elsie Alvarado de Ricord (1928–2005), Benjamín Ramón (1939), Bertalicia Peralta (1939), Ramón Oviero (1939–2008), Moravia Ochoa López (1941), Dimas Lidio Pitty (1941-2015), Roberto Fernández Iglesias (1941), Eric Arce (1942), Enrique Jaramillo Levi (1944), Jarl Ricardo Babot (1945), Ernesto Endara (1932), Enrique Chuez (1934), Justo Arroyo (1936), Rosa María Britton (1936), Victoria Jiménez Vélez (1937), Pedro Rivera (1939), Gloria Guardia (1940), Dimas Lidio Pitty (1941), Mireya Hernández (1942–2006), Raúl Leis (1947–2010), and Giovanna Benedetti (1949).

And the most recent writers: Manuel Orestes Nieto (1951), Moisés Pascual (1955), Consuelo Tomás (1957), Yolanda Hackshaw (1958), Allen Patiño (1959), Ariel Barría Alvarado (1959), Héctor Collado (1960), Gonzalo Menéndez González (1960), David Robinson Orobio (1960), Erika Harris (1963), Rogelio Guerra Ávila (1963), Carlos Fong (1967), Alexander Zanches (1968), Katia Chiari (1969), Porfirio Salazar (1970), Javier Stanziola (1971), Carlos Oriel Wynter Melo (1971), José Luis Rodríguez Pittí (1971), Eyra Harbar Gomez (1972), Melanie Taylor (1972), Salvador Medina Barahona (1973), Roberto Pérez-Franco (1976), Gloria Melania Rodríguez (1981), and Javier Alvarado (1982).

Music

Present day Panamanian music has been influenced first by the Cuevas, Gunas or Kunas, Teribes, Ngöbe–Buglé and other indigenous populations, since the 16th century by the European musical traditions, especially those from the Iberian Peninsula, and then by the black population who were brought over, first as slaves from West Africa, between the 16th and 19th centuries, and then voluntarily (especially from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Trinidad, Saint Lucia) to work on the Panamanian Railroad and Canal projects between the 1840s and 1914. With this heritage, Panama has a rich and diverse music history, and important contributions to Cumbia, Saloma, Pasillo, Punto, Tamborito, Mejorana, Bolero, Jazz, Salsa, Reggae, Calypso, Rock and other musical genres.  Not all people in Panama choose to listen to Spanish music. Some choose to listen to something they call "soca" music. So to summarize, Panamanians are considered mixed: American, Hispanic, and from the islands.

The arts

Visual arts
Another example of Panama's blended culture is reflected in the traditional products, such as woodcarvings, ceremonial masks and pottery, as well as in its architecture, cuisine, history and festivals. In earlier times, baskets were woven for utilitarian uses, but now many villages rely almost exclusively on the baskets they produce for the people.

The Kuna people are known for molas, the elaborate embroidered panels that make up the front and back of a Kuna woman's blouse. Originally the Kuna word for blouse, the term mela now refers to the several layers of cloth varying in color that are loosely stitched closely together made using a reverse appliqué process.

The most renowned Panamanian painters are  (1592–1646),  (1869–1952), Alberto Dutary (1928–1997), Etanislao Arias Peña (1952–2003), Adriano Herrerabarría, Roberto Lewis, Pablo Runyan and  (1926–2004).

Panamanian Conte Bowl

Ancient Panamanian art has been lost throughout history; a few artifacts have been stored and saved from deterioration thanks to methods of burial or by being placed in ancient elite interments.  Socio and cosmological Panamanian concepts can be learned by studying these types of  ceramic pieces. This Pedestal Plate which is in Conte style is estimated to be from around A.D 600 to A.D. 800. This specific Bowl is held in a private collection and was photographed in 1991.  Different interpretations can be made depending on what point of view the piece is studied. Mary W. Helms, an author on Panamanian history, studies the colors and shapes in the Conte Bowl to tell the story behind the beautiful artwork. This Conte Bowl consists of the colors black, dark red, and brown. In Helms' evaluation the color black represents a Panamanian  serpent, to be more exact a boa constrictor. The Panamanian serpent can be traced back to cosmic or mythological Mayan version of rainbow serpent, commonly known in indigenous mythology. The rainbow serpent to many ancient people connects the rainbow and snake, demonstrating how important it is for life to have water. The red portion of the bowl is representing mammals; small appendages can be seen, representing the presence of life. The red and black work together to show ingenious appreciation of the mystical and the living. The brown in this piece makes its way around the appendages, glorifying the female anatomy. Museums all around North America possess many such artifacts; they encode different stories and meanings.

Nuchukana of the Kuna

The Kuna people, originally referred to as the Guna people, are natives to the land which is now known as Panama and Guatemala. These people often have sacred rituals or traditions, one of them being the Nuchukana. Paolo Fortis writes about Nuchukanas in his 2012 book "Kuna Art and Shamanism : An Ethnographic Approach". Nuchukana are carved wooden human-like figures. They are used to cure people from illness or to bring back the dead. Although they are a mythological  practice; these wooden figures hold a sentimental and cultural value that the Kuna people hold near to their hearts. When a person is in need a proper ritual is done involving chanting and tobacco smoking. The Nuchukana are asked to search for the cause of a person's illness. When the Nuchukana are not being used they are kept in a bundle in the house. The Kuna believe that evil spirits will be kept out of the home. For this same reason the Nuchukana figures are respected and sometimes even shown to visitors and friends. Each Nuchukana holds a story or a tale of why it was created and why it is so special. Elder Kuna respect the Nuchukana and treat them as part of the family. It is important for the Kuna to keep Nuchukana sacred—only young girls or elderly grandmothers may wash and clean Nuchukanas. It is possible for some Kuna to prefer a specific Nuchukana, making a special personal connection between a human and a wooden figure. Nuchukanas are so valuable that they are inherited from generation to generation. Once a Nuchukana wooden figure has deteriorated, it is simply tossed away, sometimes accompanied with a chant. Today, these Nuchukanas can be found in the rural homes of the Guna people, or in local museums that were able to take care of these objects.

Museums
The best overview of Panamanian culture is found in the Museum of the Panamanian, in Panama City. Other views can be found at the Museum of Panamanian History, the Museum of Natural Sciences, the Museum of Religious Colonial Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of the Interoceanic Canal, and the national institutes of culture and music.

A number of museums located in smaller communities throughout Panama's interior strive to preserve numerous aspects of the country's pre-Columbian, colonial and post-independence heritage.  Examples include the Museum of Nationality in Los Santos, located in an original colonial home and exhibiting relics from the region's pre-Columbian inhabitants, colonial period and nascent struggle for independence from Spain. The Herrera Museum was ranked #2 of six things to do in Chitre by Lonely Planet travelers. The two-story museum includes permanent exhibits covering the pre-Hispanic period, the region's first mammals, and the contact between the Spanish and the natives.  The main highlight of the second floor is a carefully constructed replica of the burial site of the Indian chief (Cacique) Parita.

An additional museum will soon be opening in Chitre as part of a unique tourism/residential project currently being developed.  The Cubitá Museum will explore the variety of cultural influences that have shaped the history, art and folklore of the Azuero Peninsula, and to appreciate the unique and painstakingly crafted work of local artisans.

A scholarly analysis of Panamanian Museums, their history, exhibitions and social, political and economic contexts is available in the 2011 book "Panamanian Museums and Historical Memory".

See also
 Public holidays in Panama
 Pollera, national dress
 Señorita Panamá

References

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The media and retailers have been working on Mother's Day hype for weeks now. Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the bustle and lose track about what matters here. Mother's Day is an opportunity to spend some time honoring moms and celebrating the amazing things they do.
The starting question for any sort of Mother's Day gift or plan is, "Will this make Mom feel loved, cared about and known?" We are all wired a bit differently and give and receive love in different ways. Gary Chapman defines five distinct love languages in his book, The Five Love Languages .
It is likely that the way you instinctively try to give love reveals one of your primary love languages. I am always trying to give the perfect, thoughtful gift and as it turns out, gifts is one of my primary love languages.
If you notice that somebody is always touching people around them it is likely they are physical touch people.
The concepts are simple (and there is a lot more great explanation in the book) but many people don't take the time to think about how the people in their lives receive love. This year, before you buy a necklace or plan to take Mom out for a special brunch, give some thought to how she will feel most loved.
If a gift is in order, I've assembled a list of my 20 favorite kitchen tools for Mom under $20. These are workhorse items that most cooks have use for. It's a list of basics that every kitchen should have and a few more specific but still practical items that most kitchens really need.
May your Mother's Day be a great day of drawing closer to Mom and connecting with her!
For the Mom that cuts a lot of pineapple this is an easy tool with minimal waste. Several brands are available. I suggest a metal version over plastic.
Everybody needs a standard 2 cup glass Pyrex measuring cup. Most kitchens need two!
Every baking drawer has a set of measuring cups but I think having a 2 cup dry measure is really handy for serious bakers and bread makers.
For the mom who hates a dirty microwave. We love ours. I actually think it has saved our marriage from a lot of bickering!
I never saw the use for an apple slicer until I started using it to slice potatoes fast. Now I use it for apples too and it is quite handy after all. Click here to learn about cutting potatoes with the slicer.
A cheese slicer is a basic tool that is worth keeping around. This one is sharp and functional at a reasonable price.
These new Mason Jar Sip and Straw Lids are a personal favorite of mine. It has been a great option to help me stay hydrated and it is perfect for infusing spa water. I have the basic set of white but now there is a purple set that looks sharp. I appreciate the pretty and functional design.
Just for fun, this cup is a sweet gift. It comes in several colors. I use mine to hold my vast quantity of measuring spoons.
A Microplane is a staple kitchen tool for hard cheeses, citrus, ginger and more. Originally these were shop tools that have developed an entire kitchen line. I own multiple sizes and types but this basic option is perfect for most kitchens. Handles come in several color choices including black.
Every cook needs a good juicer to quickly get the juice out of a few lemons. I'm planning on replacing my existing one with this one because it is such a practical set up (assuming you use Pyrex measuring cups and I do).
For the baker, a Calphalon cake pan (or 2) is a kitchen staple. They are high quality non-stick pans that hold up to hard use for years and years. The price is low for such high quality.
I got one of these timers in December and use it all the time. It makes cooking more than one thing at once very easy. I use the little white board to track which item the timer is for and the timer is plenty loud so I never miss it even if I'm on the far end of the house.
This Taylor thermometer is one of the most used items in my kitchen. I use it to check if bread is done, roasting meat, BBQ projects, and internal temperatures of casseroles. This is something every kitchen needs and many don't have.
Make a lot of cookies? These are sturdy, practical cookie racks that will get you through batch after batch. Most kitchens need 1-4 of these.
A good pepper mill should have several settings, be easy to fill, and most of all be easy on the hands when grinding! I have owned many and love this one most of all. I can whip out a teaspoon of fresh ground in no time.
Having an 8 cup glass measuring cup that you can microwave and mix in is just handy. I use mine quite a bit for all kinds of projects.
This rolling pin caught my attention lately! I have now bought one for my kitchen and two more as gifts (both recipients were thrilled). I think it is a great idea for pie dough, pastry, and cookies that need to be rolled to a specific thickness.
These handy stacking liquid measures are great for smaller measuring tasks.
Bonus, this is just over $20 but I can't not include it in this list. Sometimes it is hard to get a practical gift for the cook that has everything they need and want. This is a great tool for Kitchen Aid uses that most people don't own. It wipes the sides of the bowl as you mix dough and makes wiping with a spatula almost unnecessary. Most attachments are a waste of space and money but this one is well worth space and cost.
Mom lives out of town? Sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime and ship her gift for free. Then you get to enjoy prime for a month with movies, music, and free shipping. The trial is very easy to cancel. If you know you only want to use it for a month, cancel it as soon as you are done placing your order. Then you can enjoy the service for a month and the trial will simply end as scheduled.
Looking for something outside of the $20 range? Amazon Prime is a practical gift that adds convenience all year. Plus, movie streaming is fun!
This post is participating in the Thrifty Thursday Link Party.


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Source: Bravo
Lisa Barlow Gets Slammed for Describing Herself as "The Sundance Queen"
By Leila Kozma
Dec. 16 2020, Published 12:11 p.m. ET
"It's not all cake pops and Diet Coke," Lisa Barlow described her work life in a previous interview with Page Six. The mother of two is the proud owner of a luxury tequila brand, VIDA Tequila, a marketing firm, LUXE Marketing, and the organizer of various events. Lisa is especially proud of the work she has done for the Sundance Film Festival.
Lisa has previously described herself as "The Sundance Queen." But other celebs and festival-goers claim to have never heard of her.
"Some people call me The Queen of Sundance," claimed 'RHOSLC' star Lisa Barlow.
"My marketing company is LUXE Marketing, and, you know, I'm busy year-round. When it comes to Sundance, I am my most busy. I have ten days straight of nonstop events for multiple businesses, multiple companies, night after night after night. It is [consuming], it is hard, it's not for everyone, but I love it," Lisa explained in a previous teaser.
As the owner of LUXE Marketing, Lisa has worked with clients big and small. She is not afraid to talk candidly about her achievements — or even let slip a few self-congratulatory comments at times.
"Some people call me The Queen of Sundance. I just think I'm really good at what I do," Lisa said in the teaser.
"[I've] never heard this woman's name," said Kate Maloney.
Some Bravolebrities were more reluctant to recognize Lisa's contributions to the Sundance Film Festival.
Take, for instance, Vanderpump Rules star Kate Maloney, who claims that she has never heard of Lisa despite having been to the Sundance Film Festival numerous times.
A post shared by ʟɪsᴀ ʙᴀʀʟᴏᴡ (@lisabarlow14)
In a previous Instagram Story, Kate revealed that Lisa's name did not ring a bell for her, even though she lives in Park City, Utah, and enjoys going to the parties organized in conjunction with the festival.
"[I've] never heard this woman's name," Kate began by saying.
"There are people's names that I know to use and she's definitely not one of them. Just saying," she went on to add.
Kate's strategy reminded some fans of the move Lisa herself pulled on Heather Gay.
Lisa previously claimed that she doesn't remember meeting her The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City co-star, even though they attended Brigham Young University roughly around the same time.
Katie Maloney from #PumpRules, who is from Park City Utah, is calling BS on Sundance Queen Lisa Barlow from #RHOSLC
Basically... "she doesn't know her" pic.twitter.com/nB85TrcUJh
— Queens of Bravo (@queensofbravo) November 16, 2020
Lisa had similar problems as Kate with fellow 'RHOSLC' star Heather Gay.
In a teaser, Heather claimed that she and Lisa had known each other for 20 years — which Lisa disputed.
However, Lisa did reference a vicious rumor she heard about what Heather may have been like back during her time at Brigham Young University in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
"The week or so before we started filming, she goes, 'Oh my God! Is Heather Gay on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City?' And I'm like, yeah, and she's like, 'When I was in high school, I went to [a youth seminar] at BYU and Heather and I hung out a little bit, she was so fun and she's like, 'Whoo!' flashing and being dumb teenage kids," Lisa told Entertainment Tonight.
Heather has refuted the allegations.
Catch new episodes of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo.
Meredith Marks Announced Separation From Husband of 25 Years on 'RHOSLC'
How Much Does 'RHOSLC' Husband Sharrieff Shah Make as a College Football Coach?
Mary Cosby's Family Tree on 'RHOSLC' Is Sort of Complicated


Did I say I liked summer?
Welcome to August. Now we have officially reached us some "dog days." The thermometer has more or less been hovering near the 90-degree or higher mark for some time, and my grass has gotten to the point where the manual addition of water will be required to keep it from becoming as brown and crunchy … Continue reading Did I say I liked summer?


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African leaders mull action against Hutu rebels in DRC
Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels stand guard in a dense forest on February 6, 2009 outside Pinga, 150 km northwest of Goma in DR Congo (AFP Photo/Lionel Healing)[/caption]
Johannesburg (AFP) – African heads of state will meet later this month to decide how to disarm Rwandan Hutu rebels ravaging the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo who have refused an ultimatum to surrender.
Less than a quarter of fighters from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) turned themselves in before the January 2 deadline set by regional leaders.
South African President Jacob Zuma and chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) defence arm said only 337 rebels had surrendered.
"The FDLR has therefore not complied in full with the conditions imposed," he said.
Heads of state from the region will meet in Angola on January 15 and 16 to decide on how to respond, with Zuma saying SADC was "ready to play its fullest part in this regard".
In October 2013, the Congolese army and a force of UN soldiers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi — authorised to neutralise armed groups — forced the surrender of M23, another rebel group in the area.
"In the interim, SADC launches an earnest and urgent appeal on the leadership of the FDLR and all remaining combatants to immediately and unconditionally present themselves for disarmament," Zuma said in a statement.
As the deadline expired on Friday, the head of the UN mission in the DRC Martin Kobler appealed to the rebels to seize the chance for peace.
"To all FDLR, you can help stabilize your area by reaching MONUSCO or the Congolese authorities and return to peaceful life in Rwanda," he wrote on Twitter, referring to the UN's MONUSCO peacekeeping mission.
The FDLR is estimated to include between 1,500 and 2,000 ethnic Hutu fighters, some of whom are accused of having participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Opposed to Rwandan President Paul Kagame's Tutsi government, they have for years been based across the border in eastern DRC, where they have been accused of staging brutal attacks on civilians, including rapes and murders, and smuggling gold and charcoal.
*Source AFP/Yahoo]]>


Pardon the Punctuation...while taking full advantage of the D.C. restaurant week specials, I was guided by my childhood friend Tim to check out Acadania for lunch. Having been a student of Tulane university, Tim knows his creole food so I trusted his judgement and hit them up for lunch. For $20.13 I got an appetizer, entree, and dessert. They start you off with fresh warm biscuits accompanied by a spicy butter which are worth slapping a baby to get the recipe. I could eat these like tic tacs but instead opted with only one so I'd have enough room for the rest of the food. Our lovely waitress Meg suggested the crawfish étouffée with a crab soup as an appetizer. Being a born Floridian, the key lime pie is a slice of home and I had to order it. Nothing better than having a server with good taste. She was right on point with the perfect thing for me to order.
Crab Soup: Blended together and rich like a bisque. If you want a soup on the lighter side this is not the soup for you. It was rich and just pure deliciousness.
Crawfish Étouffée: A great deal on this menu. The dish regularly costs $16 and I was able to get it as part of the $20.13 three course menu. That aside it was in the top 3 étouffée plates I've ever had and definitely the best I've had outside of the "Big Easy." The flavors were well balanced with not too much heat. Fresh, fresh, fresh and adding a little Avery island gold was what took it to the next level.
Key Lime Pie: There was nothing wrong with it but it just wasn't authentic. The consistency and the graham cracker crust were good. There was a pink raspberry cream on top that didn't do it for me. Kind of ruined the dish and I hope people don't taste it and think that original Key Lime pie is supposed to taste that way. I appreciate the effort but think the execution could have gone a little better.
If you're in downtown D.C. and in the mood for some creole New Orleans food give Acadania a try. Specially during restaurant week. The prices weren't too excessive and the dishes are worth what you pay for. TheYumYumFoodie approved!


Custom machined billet steel tie rod adjuster sleeves & premium 'Problem Solver' Moog tie rod ends.
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Here's some new pics of baby Gray! Enjoy!
My big boy -- sitting up by himself -- in Daddy's favorite Justice League shirt! Doesn't he look more like a little boy than a baby?! Oh goodness he's getting too big too fast!!!
Steve found Gray sitting up in his swing, thought it was funny, and took pictures. The swing was still moving! Worries me a bit!!!
Trying to eat the whole block. And Steve is encouraging this. What's with dads and trying to get their sons to take the biggest bites possible? My dad does that with my brother, too!
Hahahaaa you know I was chuckling away at your comments, because I know exactly what you're talking about! He sure does look happy and sweet as ever. I love love love new pictures. I'm so glad that we'll have funny sleep stories to share forevermore!
He is seriously turning into a little man. He is so cute!!!
He really does look like a little boy--they grow up too fast!
samantha, he is absolutely adorable! I found your blog through Camille's.... I love all the pictures!
He is just the cutest thing! I love his big eyes - they are gorgeous! I can't believe how big he is getting!
Reading your blog is officially dangerous. Cyndi and I can't look without wanting to have kids. Must... ...resist... ...temptation to call... ...adoption agency! GAH!
What a cute baby! He looks just like his mommy! I can't believe I have been gone so long, your baby is not a newborn! Miss you guys!


text:
Should Iran disarm? The choice is ours
By The Guardian
What is the Iranian government up to? For once the imperial coalition, overstretched in Iraq and unpopular at home, is proposing jaw, not war. The UN security council's offer was a good one: if Iran suspended its uranium enrichment programme, it would be entitled to legally guaranteed supplies of fuel for nuclear power, assistance in building a light water reactor, foreign aid, technology transfer and the beginning of the end of economic sanctions. The US seems prepared, for the first time since the revolution, to open a diplomatic office in Tehran. But in Geneva, 10 days ago, the Iranians filibustered until the negotiations ended. On Saturday President Ahmadinejad announced that Iran has now doubled the number of centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium. A fourth round of sanctions looks inevitable.The unequivocal statements Barack Obama and Gordon Brown made in Israel last week about Iran's nuclear weapons programme cannot yet be justified.
Nor can the unequivocal statements by some anti-war campaigners that Iran does not intend to build the bomb. Why would a country with such reserves of natural gas and so great a potential for solar power suffer sanctions and the threat of bombing to make fuel it could buy from other states, if it accepted the UN's terms? Those who maintain that Iran's purposes are peaceful clutch at the National Intelligence Estimate published by the US government in November.
While it judged that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, it saw the country's civilian uranium programme as a means of developing "technical capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear weapons, if a decision is made to do so". The latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency notes that no fissile material has been diverted from Iran's stocks, but raises grave questions about some of the documents it has found, which suggest research into bomb-making (Iran says the papers are forgeries). Those of us who oppose an attack on Iran are under no obligation to accept Ahmadinejad's claims of peaceful intent.
Nor do we have to accept the fictions of our own representatives. The security council's offer to Iran claimed that resolving this enrichment issue would help to bring about a "Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction". But like every other such document, it made no mention of the principal owner of weapons in the region: Israel. According to a leaked briefing by the US Defence Intelligence Agency, Israel possesses between 60 and 80 nuclear bombs. But none of the countries demanding that Iran scraps the weapons it doesn't yet possess is demanding that Israel destroys the weapons it does possess.
This subject is the great political taboo. Neither Brown nor Obama mentioned it last week. The US intelligence agencies provide a biannual report to Congress on the weapons of mass destruction developed by foreign states, which covers Iran, North Korea, India, Pakistan and others, but not Israel. During a UK parliamentary debate in March the British defence minister Bob Ainsworth was asked whether he thought that Israel's nuclear weapons are "a destabilising factor" in the Middle East. "My understanding," he replied, "is that Israel does not acknowledge that it has nuclear weapons." Does Mr Ainsworth really buy this nonsense? If Iran builds a bomb, it will do so for one reason: that there is already a nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, by which it feels threatened.
But we make the rules and we break them. The non-proliferation treaty (NPT) obliges the five official nuclear states, of which the UK is one, to work towards "general and complete disarmament". On Friday, the London-based Guardian published the notes for a speech made last year by a senior civil servant, which suggested that the decision to replace the UK's nuclear missiles had already been made, in secret and without parliamentary scrutiny. Since then defence ministers have told the UK House of Commons on five occasions that the decision has not yet been made. They appear to have misled the House.
At the Geneva conference on disarmament in February, one delegate pointed out that the "chances of eliminating nuclear weapons will be enhanced immeasurably" if non-nuclear states can see "planning, commitment and action toward multilateral nuclear disarmament by nuclear weapon states" like the UK. If the nuclear states "are failing to fulfil their disarmament obligations", other nations would use this as an excuse for maintaining their weapons. Who was this firebrand? Des Browne, the UK secretary of state for defence. A man of the same name is failing to fulfil the UK's disarmament obligations.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's insistence that Iran enriches its own fissile material, and the guessing game he is playing with Israel, the atomic energy agency and the UN security council is irresponsible and staggeringly dangerous. But if I were in his position I might be tempted to do the same.
EDITORIAL: Fighting virus together


Ransomware Is The Most Popular Malware. Here's The Facts.
Ransomware preys on the security mistakes of businesses and quickly cashes in once breached. In fact, many firms are buying bitcoin just for the event of needing to pay a ransom.
PC's are the most popular target of ransomware, but cyber criminals are starting to attack more critical business systems such as databases. These are being targeted more and more, because businesses are more likely to pay a ransom to unlock their data.
Impersonating actual senior staff to try to push through payments.
On average, firms receive about seven pieces of malware a day.
The FBI has formally advised not to pay the ransom, as this just encourages further attacks against you and others.
There are free decryptors you can get offline to retrieve some encrypted files, however not all ransomware families have decryptors created for them, and it's not always clear what decryptor is right for what strain.
The best way to fight Ransomware though, is to prevent it.
Being aware of how it gets into your business is imperative. Your employees should also be aware. Your business should know how to identify a phishing email. It is imperative to have security too such as anti-virus and firewalls. If you don't know the solutions available to you, contact your IT provider to find out more information. Stay safe.


Nothing says December like neon orange!
Those bows are freaking cute.
I had a lot of fun doing these. It was a lot of work; first I needed three coats of white polish to make a underwear layer without any bald spots (I still had some), then I needed three coats of the orange to make that color solid. Adding the dots was tough; left hand looks awesome, right hand not so much, my toes are even worse (no, you don't get to see them). I then put on three coats of Seche Vite for rigidity, a matte coat for a finish, then applied the bows with a healthy dot of super glue. Yeah. I didn't finish these nails until like eight o'clock last night. I started them at noon. Overall, I like the look I got. And I thought a dotticure would be boring.
The orange is LA Colors's Spat!, which is an awesome orange so long as you have the appropriate white coat beneath. The formula is so watery and thin that it would be pretty tough to get the neon effect without it. The blue is Julep's Bess, which dotted better than I thought it would. I thought it was going to be watery and thin, too, but this one held up quite well. I got the bows from Claire's, and they made it through the night and this morning's shower. I wonder how long they'll hang on before they get snagged on something and come off.
I have really mundane dreams. They're always about washing dishes, picking up dry cleaning, standing in line at the bank. Even in my dreams, I can't escape the banalities of everyday life. Some night a few weeks ago, I had a dream about painting my nails, and I gave myself the best manicure ever. Upon waking, I decided that I was going to do it for real. Here's how it turned out.
It's not really my style, but I'm very happy with it. The silver is much shinier than I anticipated, but I like it anyway. There are tons of imperfections, but I'm not going to bore you with those details. I'm so pleased with it that I don't even care.
One thing about this manicure: it took me ages to find the right blue. Eventually, I settled on a color called Haze by Sula. I've ever seen this polish anywhere but Ulta, and its formula is much like the stuff we used as children, the stuff that came in garish colors and peeled right off. I used it as a base color in another manicure and had good results, so I tried it again. This time, though, I used the French manicure guide strips to get my half-moon shapes, and it hadn't occurred to me taping and peel-off polish wouldn't work well together until after I'd nearly pulled a few of them off. Luckily, everything went according to plan.
Did I mention that I'm pleased with these? I'm very pleased with these.


text:
Home » Latest News in Nigeria » 16-year-old Nigerian girl emerges youngest best WAEC candidate
16-year-old Nigerian girl emerges youngest best WAEC candidate
11:52 AM Motunrayo Ogundipe 0 Latest News in Nigeria
Ugboaja Chizobam Stephany, a 16-year-old Nigerian girl, has emerged the youngest best candidate ever recorded by the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
The Imo-born teenager graduated from the Jesuit Memorial College in Port Harcourt and was among the candidates who sat for the just-concluded Senior Schools Certificate Examination (SSCE).
Stephany enrolled for Further Mathematics, General Mathematics, English Language, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Civic Education, Economics and Data Processing and emerged with distinctions across all nine subjects.
The teenage girl, who hails from Ezinihitte in Mbaise LGA of the southeastern state, would be joining a list of the candidates the regional examination body has ever recorded as the youngest.
WAEC released the results of candidates who participated in its 2019 May/June West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) on July 26, 2019.
A total of 1,596161 candidates registered for the examination from 18,639 recognized secondary schools in Nigeria and 1,020,519 of them obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects including English and Mathematics.
The exam council released the results of 1,468,071 candidates while 122,102 others had a few of their subjects still being processed as at the time of the release of results.


text:
Chad Matthews named President and General Manager of WABC-TV
NEW YORK (WABC) -- WABC News executive Chad Matthews has been named the president and general manager of WABC-TV, announced Wendy McMahon, president, ABC Owned Television Stations. In his new role, Matthews has overall management responsibility for ABC7/WABC-TV and its ancillary businesses.
Matthews replaces Debra OConnell, who was elevated to president of Networks for Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution last fall, and is now responsible for operational leadership for all of the Company's linear television networks, including the ABC broadcast network, and its cable channels, as well as oversight of the ABC Owned Stations, Nat Geo Media and commercial marketing across the networks and home entertainment.
"As news director of WABC, Chad has repeatedly proven his incredible dedication to the station and the community ABC7 serves," said McMahon. "During his tenure, he led the direction and modernization of the market's leading local television news and information brand, increasing audience reach and engagement while expertly navigating change and driving innovation. Chad is an insightful, forward-thinking and collaborative executive who will continue successfully leading ABC7/WABC-TV forward."
"It is an honor and privilege to lead New York City's and the nation's No. 1 station," said Matthews. "Since the first day I walked in the door in May 2000, I have been in awe of both the leadership and the many talented individuals that collectively make Channel 7 the most-watched station in the country. Together, we will continue to serve the tri-state region. We have never been more committed to creating impactful programming and lifesaving information for our viewers during these unprecedented times. I am extremely proud to lead this amazing team who not only care about the quality of work produced but also, just as importantly, the diverse communities we serve."
As the news director of WABC for the past three years, Matthews oversaw the overall function of exclusive content creation and operations for WABC's television and digital channels as well as the launch of connected TV apps on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. In 2020, he successfully transitioned the station to a remote workforce to produce Eyewitness News without interruption during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, finishing the year with the largest audience of any television station in the nation and carrying a wider margin of success than it had in 2019. During his tenure, the station's digital platforms experienced record growth adding more than 4 million unique viewers in 2020 alone, a more-than 20% increase from the prior year. Matthews is an award-winning news executive with a total of six Emmy Awards, four of them as recent as 2020 when WABC won for best newscast in every daypart. He and his Eyewitness News colleagues were presented with the prestigious Governors Award commemorating WABC's 50th anniversary.
Matthews has an extensive background in local TV journalism and significantly in the tri-state region. He started his career at WABC in 2000 and was promoted to senior executive producer in 2002. He spent 12 years in senior roles for Eyewitness News and won both a Peabody Award in 2001 as the live control room producer for the station's 9/11 coverage and an Emmy Award in 2007 for Best Evening Newscast. In 2012, Matthews temporarily left WABC for a five-year stint as assistant news director at NBC-owned WTVJ in South Florida. At WTVJ, he won another Emmy Award in 2017 for breaking news coverage during the Ft. Lauderdale airport shooting incident before returning to WABC as the assistant news director later that year.
Matthews has a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from Westfield State University. In 2020, he proudly served as a board member for the nonprofit organization Dance Unite, which provides free dance instruction and promotes diversity for inner-city children. He's a member of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists and serves as a senior adviser and executive champion on PRIDE at ABC News and ABC Owned Television Stations Business Employee Resource Group.
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SOCIETY NEW YORK CITY PROMOTIONS ABC7NY EYEWITNESS NEWS


At the top of the week Mercury, Venus & the Moon moving through Scorpio bring the 'feels.' The fun soul-work doesn't stop there! The Sagittarius New Moon, Neptune, and Mars have a strategy meeting as the week draws to an end. With so much emotion, faith, and drive swirling above, it's hard to know what to focus on below: the now or the fresh start of 2019.
Luckily, we have Donna & the Cosmic Curriculum as our guide. If you need to know when to rest, plot, and act Tune In for this weeks forecast – we have a plan!
This forecast is a sneak-peek into the Astrology Hub Podcast, coming early December to speakers near you! Join Astrologer, Donna Woodwell and Astrology Hub CEO, Amanda Pua Walsh, on a journey through the Cosmic Curriculum… and learn how astrology can help you live your life with more passion, purpose and grace.
This episode is brought to you by Astrology Hub's Inner Circle Membership Program – A Global Community dedicated to Spiritual Growth, Lunar Forecasts and Mastery Classes with Leading Astrologers. If you're ready to learn more about astrology, take your work with the moon cycles to the next level, and join a thriving community of supportive, growth-minded individuals like you… THIS is the place for YOU! Click here to learn more and join our Inner Circle today.


Complete Stratagem - Philip Jackson Constructed with advice from Timothy Brown, Gregory Hill, Christopher Hall, Jacob Lee, Edward Moore, Timothy Turner, James Roberts, Matthew Hall, Edward Mitchell, Jacob Clark, Paul Lewis, Larry Robinson, Jerry Hernandez, Matthew Anderson, Dennis Jackson, Anthony Johnson, Paul Baker, Donald Gonzalez, Brandon Campbell, Benjamin Hall.
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marcus evans Linguarama is a well-established language training company which specialises in teaching language for work-related purposes. The company has a range of thriving training centres in major cities across Europe. We currently have vacancies for full-time Business English Teachers at our centre in Dusseldorf as well as for locally-based supply/part-time teachers in Cologne and Bonn. We are seeking qualified, experienced and committed teachers.
Applicants should be native English speakers with a degree, a recognised TEFL qualification and relevant experience. Candidates should be in possession of valid working papers for the EU.
professional career opportunities, as well as innovation modules and regular social evenings.
If you are a highly motivated native English speaker, currently living in Germany, interested in filling up your work schedule quickly at a very attractive salary, this is the perfect job for you. We are currently offering full time, part time and freelance positions.
LearnShip Networks is currently in need of bright, energetic English trainers who are interested in teaching face-to-face and online lessons to our clients in Germany. Learnship Networks GmbH is a global language learning services provider headquartered in Cologne, Germany, which specializes in live online teaching, connecting students and trainers internationally through the use of a virtual classroom. In efforts to diversify our product offerings, we have recently begun offering face-to-face language instruction as well as blending learning courses to corporate clients.
ISL Language School in Pforzheim, Germany, is looking for a full time native English speaking EFL teacher to start in May 2012. The school teaches mainly to adults in small groups, single classes and in company. We have 2 schools in this area with 15 full time teaching staff, many from the USA, (work visas are not a problem as this is a full time position).
Have the ability to explain English grammar. A TEFL or equivalent qualification is preferred.


Hence acts along PO perpendicular to the plane containing and .
Since the force acts perpendicular to its velocity, the force does not do any work. So, the magnitude of the velocity remains constant and only its direction changes. The force F acting towards the point O acts as the centripetal force and makes the particle to move along a circular path. At points Q and R, the particle experiences force along QO and RO respectively.
Since and are at right angles to each other.
This magnetic lorentz force provides the necessary centripetal force.
This equation gives the angular frequency of the particle inside the magnetic field.
From equations (2) and (3), it is evident that the angular frequency and period of rotation of the particle in the magnetic field do not depend upon (i) the velocity of the particle and (ii) radius of the circular path.


text:
\section{Introduction}

Metaphase chromosome analysis is a fundamental step in the investigation of genetic diseases such as Turner syndrome, Down syndrome, and Cridu chat syndrome \cite{jorgensen2019comorbidity,theisen2010disorders}. Chromosomes tend to be curved in random degrees in the stained micro-photographs because of their non-rigid nature \cite{song2021novel}. Such a morphological deformation pose difficulties for chromosome analysis. Straightening of chromosomes could alleviate this problem and, therefore, has the potential to boost the efficiency of karyotyping for cytogeneticists.

Prior works designed for chromosome straightening are mainly based on geometry. These geometric methods can be divided into two directions: medial axis extraction and bending point detection. For the first direction, Somasundaram et al. \cite{somasundaram2014straightening} employed the Stentiford thinning algorithm to select the medial axis and the projective straightening algorithm for axis correction. The axis was then considered as a reference to reconstruct straight chromosomes by projection. Similarly, Arora et al. \cite{arora2017algorithm} acquired the medial axis via morphological operations, and details were interpolated iteratively along the medial axis to produce straight chromosomes. Although the straightening methods using medial axis extraction can erase the curvature of bent chromosomes, some banding patterns can be distorted. Another type of method took the advantage of bending points to straighten chromosomes. For example, Roshtkhari et al. \cite{roshtkhari2008novel} and Sharma et al. \cite{sharma2017crowdsourcing} utilized bending points to separate a chromosome into parts. Rotation and stitching were applied to these parts for the reconstruction of straight chromosomes. However, these methods can cause discontinued banding patterns and inconsistent length after straightening. Besides, this method relied on bending points and inaccurately located points can severely harm the straightening performance.

Deep learning techniques have reached great achievements in the classification of chromosome types \cite{xiao2021deepacc,qin2019varifocal,zhang2018chromosome}, image translation \cite{eslami2020image,armanious2020medgan,armanious2019unsupervised} and portrait correction \cite{tan2021practical,zhu2021semi}, but rare studies have successfully applied deep learning in chromosome straightening. One of the challenges is that it is difficult to collect images of the same chromosome with both straight and curved shapes in the real-world to build a deep learning based mapping model for chromosome straightening. Recently, Song et al. \cite{song2021novel} developed a model utilizing conditional generative adversarial networks to erase curvatures in chromosomes. Their model created mappings between bent chromosomes and synthetic bent backbones. After model training, the model inversely transformed synthetic straight backbones to straightened chromosomes. Although banding patterns can be effectively restored by this method, the length of the straightened chromosome is inconsistent with the curved one's. Furthermore, the customized model was required to be implemented every time for each new chromosome. The feasibility of applying such a model in clinical practice needs to be further considered. To date, while many methods have been developed for chromosome straightening, challenges including limited model generalizability, lack of paired images for training, inconsistent length and inaccurate patterns after straightening remain in this task.

To this end, we propose a novel chromosome straightening approach using self-attention guided networks. The developed method combines low-level details and global contexts to recover banding patterns. A refinement module is applied to further recover fine details using the input bent chromosome as complementary information. Moreover, we design dedicated geometric constraints in terms of length and straightness to optimize the straightening process. In order to train our model, we propose a non-rigid transformation strategy that synthesizes curved chromosomes from the real-world straight ones. Note that we are the first study that creates mappings between straight and curved chromosomes for chromosome straightening. Our experiments show that the developed framework can effectively straighten various types of chromosomes with preserved banding details and length on both synthetic and real-world data.

\section{Methods}
The proposed approach for chromosome straightening mainly consists of two major steps. We first create a chromosome synthesizer that produces curved chromosomes from straight ones which exist in the real-world. With the use of curved and straight chromosome pairs, a framework is then trained for the removal of chromosome distortions. Methods are described in detail as follows:
\subsection{Curved chromosome synthesizer}
To build up a framework for chromosome straightening, our intuition is to create mappings between bent and straight chromosome pairs. However, acquiring such pairs from the same chromosome is challenging under a microscope. Moreover, chromosomes can be deformed randomly and it is nearly impossible to collect sufficient data that covers all possible situations in the real-world.

Studies show that synthetic data generation could provide a solution for the lack of data in training deep learning methods \cite{ye2021multi,pan2021collaborative}. Inspired by this idea, we create a chromosome synthesizer that uses straight samples selected from a public chromosome dataset \cite{poletti2008automatic} to emulate their corresponding curved chromosomes. In the real-world, distortions of chromosomes can be a mixture of curvatures. To mimic real-world situations as closely as possible, two common types of distortions, slight curves and strong curves, are carefully defined on distortion meshes which are employed to convert straight chromosomes to bent ones. Detailed procedures for the generation of bent chromosome are composed as follows.

\noindent
\subsubsection{Deformation modeling. }When wrapping a chromosome image, a mesh $M$ with size $H \times W$ is given with a control point $p$ that is randomly selected from points on the skeleton of a straight chromosome.
A random vector $v$, representing the deformation direction, is then generated to be perpendicular to the skeleton.The deformation function is defined as:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq1}
    p' = p + \omega v
\end{equation}
where $p'$ stands for the vertex after deformation. The factor $\omega$ controls the strength of deformation and it attenuates with the increasing distance $d$ between $p$ and the straight line defined by $p$ and $v$. The definition of $\omega$ for slight and strong curves could be expressed as:
\begin{equation}
\omega_{sli}=1-d^\alpha
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
\omega_{str}=\frac{\alpha}{d+\alpha}
\end{equation}
where distance $d$ is normalized and constant $\alpha$ controls the propagation of deformation. A small $\alpha$ leads to a limited deformation only affecting in a local area around $p$, whereas a large $\alpha$ causes a global deformation.

\subsection{ChrSNet: Chromosome straightening networks}
Chromosome straightening could be treated as a regression task that aims to provide pixel-to-pixel predictions from an image $x$ with size $H \times W \times C$ to a target $y\in \mathbf{R}^{H \times W \times C}$. This inspires us to follow the classic encoder-decoder architecture using a convolutional neural network (CNN). In spite of CNN's superiority on the extraction of local textures, it might not be able to recover spatial features in the straightening task due to CNN's drawback on modeling explicit long-range relationships \cite{chen2021transunet}. In contrast, by evaluating image through tokenized patches globally, transformer learns spatial information which can be used to reduce regression uncertainty. Hence, we build up a straightening model by importing self-attention via transformer layers which are implemented in a CNN-based encoder-decoder architecture. To produce straightened chromosomes with consistent morphological features and structure details, customized loss functions are also designed.

\subsubsection{Network architecture. }
The overview of our proposed framework ChrSNet is illustrated in Fig.1. The framework could be divided into a regression module and a refinement module. Specifically, in the regression module, a curved chromosome image $x$ is first down-sampled by a CNN encoder to create a feature map $f_M$ with size $h \times w \times c$. Then we divide $f_M$ into patches with the same size and flatten them into a one-dimensional sequence. These patches are denoted as $\left\{f_t^i \in \mathbf{R}^{p \times p \times c} \mid i=1,2,3...N_{k}\right\}$, where $p \times p$ is the size of one patch and $N_k=\frac{hw}{p^2}$ is the number of tokenized patches. Afterwards, patches are mapped into a latent embedding space via a linear projection. To encode the spatial information, patch embeddings and specific position embeddings are merged to generate the encoded image representation $z$ that is forwarded into multiple transformer layers. These embeddings are combined with low-level features by skip-connections to construct the preliminary mesh $M_1$. Since $M_1$ can be unsatisfactory, UNet \cite{ronneberger2015u} is employed as a refinement module to further improve the detailed information. In this module, we apply the input $x$ here to provide the complementary information. The input is concatenated with $M_1$ to generate $M_2$ which is refined again to acquire $M_3$. The final result $y$ can be acquired by applying $M_3$ on $x$.

\begin{figure}[tb]
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{fig.1.jpg}
\label{fig1}
\caption{Overview of the proposed architecture. The architecture consists of a regression module using self-attention and a refinement module to improve fine details. A curved chromosome image $x$ is first fed into the regression module to obtain a rough mapping mesh $M_1$. Then the combination of $M_1$ and $x$ is fed into the refinement module to produce $M_2$ that is refined again for the generation of $M_3$. At last, the chromosome is straightened by applying $M_3$ on $x$.}
\end{figure}

\subsubsection{Loss function. }
A hybrid loss function is designed with constraints in the aspects of structure and texture to ensure the quality of the straightening process.

Regarding the structure loss, length and straightness are considered.
In the real-world, chromosomes are normally curved rather than stretched because of their non-rigid nature. The straightened chromosome $y$ should have the same length as the deformed case $x$. To estimate the length of a chromosome, we count the number of pixels in the skeletonized chromosome $I_s$. As a result, the length preserving loss $L_{len}$ can be written as:

\begin{equation}
L_{len} = \frac{\left | l-l' \right|}{l'}
\end{equation}

\noindent
where $l$ is the predicted length and $l'$ is the target length.

In addition to the consistent length after straightening, the skeleton of the chromosome should be straight. For this purpose, we propose a straightness loss $L_{str}$ for chromosome straightening. It is calculated by the overall slope (OS) and slope variations with uniformly sampled $n$ points $s_0, s_1, ..., s_n$. The straightness loss function can be presented as:
\begin{equation}
OS=\frac{y_{s_{0}}-y_{s_{n}}}{x_{s_{0}}-x_{s_{n}}}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
L_{str}= \frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=1, \ldots, n}\left[\frac{y_{s_{i}}-y_{s_{i-1}}}{x_{s_{i}}-x_{s_{i-1}}}-OS\right]
\end{equation}
where the coordinates of the point $s_i$ are ($x_{s_i}$, $y_{s_i}$) and the total number of sample points $n$ is set to $6$.

Preservation of banding textures is also important for later analysis including chromosome classification and abnormality identification. To keep texture features consistent after straightening, we use the $L1$ loss as the texture loss:
\begin{equation}
L_{tex}=\left | y-y' \right|
\end{equation}
The overall loss function is a combination of $L_{len}$, $L_{str}$ and $L_{tex}$ with the coefficient of $\alpha, \beta$ and $\theta$. The overall loss function is expressed as:
\begin{equation}
L_{all}=\alpha L_{tex} + \beta L_{len} + \theta L_{str}
\end{equation}

\section{Experiments}
\subsubsection{Evaluation metrics. }
We evaluate the model performance in terms of feature similarity and structure consistency. Due to morphological deformation between curved chromosomes and straightened results, commonly used metrics, such as Euclidean distance, structural similarity index \cite{wang2004image}, might not be appropriate for the evaluation of feature similarity. By contrast, Learned Perceptual Image Patch Similarity (LPIPS) \cite{zhang2018perceptual} is a neutral metric and measures a perceptual distance between two similar images using the way close to human judgments. Therefore, we employ LPIPS to evaluate whether the straightened chromosomes contain image features consistent with their corresponding curved chromosomes.

In the clinic, length can determine types of autosomes and curvature reflects deformation levels which affects difficulties for pattern analysis. Both of them are critical factors for later analysis, such as autosome classification. Hence, we assess the structure consistency by a length score (L score) and a straightness score (S score), where L score $= 1-L_{len}$, S score $ = 1-L_{str}$. An increasing L score means the length is more consistent after straightening, while a larger S score represents the corrected chromosome has a more straight shape.

\noindent
\subsubsection{Dataset settings. }
Every human cell normally has 46 chromosomes and curvatures are often observed on chromosomes with long arms. Therefore, this study focuses on the straightening of chromosomes $1$-$12$. We select $1310$ human chromosome images ($704$ straight and $606$ curved individuals) from a public dataset \cite{poletti2008automatic} for experiments. To create curved and straight chromosome pairs for training the straightening model, our proposed data generator produces 100 synthetic curved chromosomes with 1-3 control points randomly selected on each straight chromosome. Slight curving and strong curving distortions are applied in a ratio of $1:1$ for the generation of synthetic chromosomes with different curvatures. Before training or test, chromosome images are centered and unified to the size of $256 * 256$ with zero-padding.

\noindent
\subsubsection{Implementation details. }
Experiments are implemented based on PyTorch using a NVIDIA A100 GPU. The synthetic dataset is randomly separated into a training, validation and test set in a ratio of $10:1:1$ for modelling. The straightening model is trained with an initial learning rate of $5 \times 10^{-4}$ gradually decreased to $1 \times 10^{-5}$. The optimizer is Adam and the batch size is $24$. The training stops if the performance on the validation set does not improve for $20$ epochs. Our code is available at \url{https://github.com/lijx1996/ChrSNet}.

\begin{figure}[tb]
\setlength{\abovecaptionskip}{0.cm}
\setlength{\belowcaptionskip}{-0.cm}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{fig.2.jpg}
\caption{Examples of chromosomes straightened from the curved chromosomes by a geometric method \cite{roshtkhari2008novel}, UNet and ChrSNet on synthetic and real-world datasets. In the synthetic validation, straight chromosomes are selected from the real-world to generate curved chromosomes, whereas there is no corresponding straight chromosome for the curved chromosomes in the real-world validation.}
\label{fig2}
\end{figure}

\noindent
\subsubsection{Results and discussions. }
We perform comparisons among a geometric method \cite{roshtkhari2008novel}, UNet and our proposed method ChrSNet for chromosome straightening on synthetic and real-world data. Image examples of straightened chromosomes generated by each method on both sets are illustrated in Fig. \ref{fig2}. The results of different methods are presented in Table \ref{tab1:methods}. From the table, if straightness and length are considered, we can find that our designed method shows the best straightening performance on both datasets. This fact shows the superior performance of our method in the restoration of chromosome structures. When we only take the straightness into account, ChrSNet and UNet have competitive scores on both two datasets, but outperform the geometric method. In terms of length, although UNet performs much better than the geometry method on synthetic data, it fails to recover the length information on real data. Regarding the restoration of banding details, UNet has the highest LPIPS score of 89.29, similar to the score of ChrSNet on synthetic data, but its performance degrades in the real-world validation. The reason for the performance difference of UNet on two datasets could be that real-world data is more complex than synthetic data and generalizability of Unet is poor without self-attention on complex data. Conversely, ChrSNet achieves a much higher LPIPS value of 87.18 compared to UNet in real cases, which shows the model generalizability and effectiveness of ChrSNet in preserving banding patterns.

\begin{table}[tb
\centering
\setlength{\abovecaptionskip}{0.cm}
\setlength{\belowcaptionskip}{0.cm}
\caption{Quantitative comparisons between our proposed ChrSNet and other methods on synthetic and real-world data. We assess the chromosome structure after straightening from straightness (S score) and length (L score). The learned perceptual image patch similarity (LPIPS) is applied to evaluate preserved banding details.}
\label{tab1:methods}
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c|c|c|c|c}
\hline
\multirow{2}{*}{\textbf{Models}}      & \multicolumn{3}{c|}{\textbf{Synthetic validation}} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\textbf{Real-world validation}} \\ \cline{2-7}
 &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}S score\\ \end{tabular}} &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}L score\\ \end{tabular}} &
  \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}LPIPS\\ \end{tabular} &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}S sore\\ \end{tabular}} &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}L score\\ \end{tabular}} &
  \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}LPIPS\\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{l|}{Geometry} & 76.94$\pm$20.4    & 82.32$\pm$18.8   & 85.20$\pm$5.33   & 81.07$\pm$10.4   & 86.25$\pm$12.3   & 85.38$\pm$6.48  \\
UNet & 86.01$\pm$10.3    & 92.70$\pm$5.36   & \underline{89.29}$\pm$4.00   & 88.46$\pm$6.81   & 74.90$\pm$11.4   & 80.56$\pm$5.50  \\
ChrSNet                               & \underline{87.68}$\pm$7.95    & \underline{96.22}$\pm$4.49   & 88.75$\pm$4.17   & \underline{88.56}$\pm$5.98   & \underline{94.87}$\pm$5.05   & \underline{87.18}$\pm$5.36  \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[tb]
\centering
\caption{Ablation study of our proposed network on two datasets. "RG", "RT", "SL", "RR" refer to the regression module, refinement module in the training route, structure loss and refinement process in the refinement route.}
\label{tab2:ablation}
\begin{tabular}{cccc|c|c|c|c|c|c}
\hline
\multicolumn{4}{c|}{\textbf{Components}}& \multicolumn{3}{c|}{\textbf{Synthetic validation}} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\textbf{Real-world validation}} \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{c|}{RG} &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{RT} &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{SL} &
  RR &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}S score\\ \end{tabular}} &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}L score\\ \end{tabular}} &
  \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}LPIPS\\ \end{tabular} &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}S sore\\ \end{tabular}} &
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}L score\\ \end{tabular}} &
  \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}LPIPS\\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline
\checkmark&       &       &      & 85.90$\pm$9.30 & 93.90$\pm$5.81 & \underline{90.01}$\pm$4.07 & 85.59$\pm$6.90& 93.13$\pm$5.38&\underline{89.02}$\pm$5.96\\
\checkmark&\checkmark&       &      & 85.78$\pm$8.89 & 94.22$\pm$5.19 & 89.70$\pm$4.05 & 87.05$\pm$6.50& 93.62$\pm$6.41&88.43$\pm$5.34\\
\checkmark&\checkmark&\checkmark&      & 86.14$\pm$9.32 & 95.35$\pm$4.58 & 89.10$\pm$4.01 & 87.44$\pm$6.57& 94.66$\pm$5.59&87.50$\pm$5.33\\
\checkmark&\checkmark&\checkmark&\checkmark   & \underline{87.68}$\pm$7.95 & \underline{96.22}$\pm$4.49 & 88.75$\pm$4.17 & \underline{88.56}$\pm$5.98& \underline{94.87}$\pm$5.05&87.18$\pm$5.36\\ \hline

\end{tabular}
\end{table}

We also assess the effect of four components in ChrSNet on both synthetic and real-world datasets (Table \ref{tab2:ablation}). First, baseline results are produced using the regression module with the texture loss only. Based on this, we verified the functionality of the refinement module in the training route, structure loss and refinement process in the refinement route. From Table \ref{tab2:ablation}, we can observe that S and L scores always show an increasing trend on both two sets after adding extra components. Based on a relatively high baseline, the S score improves by 2.3 at most, while the L score increases by 3.0 at most. Of note, standard deviations are smaller with more added components, which suggests the results become more stable. Therefore, adding extra architectures is helpful to improve model performance and robustness. Besides, the use of the regression module alone results in a LPIPS score of 90.01 (RG in Table 2) that is higher than the score of UNet (89.29 in Table 1) on synthetic data. In addition, as shown in Fig. \ref{fig2}, UNet without self-attention fails to recover correlated patterns at the bottom and top on real-world data, while ChrSNet using self-attention restores long-range patterns. These findings show that the use of self-attention is effective to keep pattern details in chromosome straightening. Although the LPIPS score slightly decreases when all components are combined, it is still comparable to the baseline result and therefore, will not significantly affect later analysis.

\section{Conclusion}
In this study, we proposed a novel framework that utilized attention mechanism and convolutional neural networks to obtain global textures and local details for chromosome straightening. We also attempted to solve the limitations regarding length consistency and generalizability of the existing framework. Our method generated deformed chromosomes using two basic curving distortions and created direct mappings between straight and deformed chromosomes for straightening. The experimental results on synthetic and real-world data showed the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed approach in preserving banding details and structures on various types of chromosomes.

\bibliographystyle{splncs04}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Torneria AGS knows that quality is the most important thing to succeed as reference company in a field. Torneria AGS knows it thanks to a ten-years experience, thanks to the use of machineries and technologies state-of-the-art, but especially thanks to the thing that a respecting company must have: the true passion.
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You may remember seeing Kate's gorgeous Belmont Country Club bridal portraits the other week! If you look through them, I hope you saw that light was used in several different ways. I used a combination of natural light when it was of good quality, but I also used a lot of off camera flash since we were indoors. In the middle of winter. While it was snowing outside! Needless to say, even window light wasn't very bright that day!
I was using my 50mm 1.2 lens, but even shooting wide open and with a high ISO would not have worked.
Instead I have an off camera flash mounted to a light stand, which is just out of the frame and set on a low power for being so close.
It was set to be about even with Kate's face and sat at a 45-degree angle from me for the photo on the left. As I moved around to the left also for the photo on the right, the angle of the flash increased to more of a side light.
A more important element was that I used a white umbrella to modify the light and make for much softer shadows and contrast.
Because we had the neutral stone walls right next to us, they acted as a great reflector to fill in light too.
As a side note, it was actually a pretty narrow space from this angle. I moved a table out of the way and was pressed up against the wall to be back far enough! It must have been a funny visual when so much elegance was standing in front of me!
So let me know what you think! Are there other types of photos you want me to explain? Leave a comment below and let me know. Or better yet, sign up for my newsletter below and get free photography tips sent right to your inbox! The next one comes out next week!
Lauren Swann - She is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your BTS tips!
Renee - Beautiful! Love all these tips for creating this image!
Caitlin - awesome! love seeing how you took this beautiful photo- it's gorgeous!


text:
March 10, 2017 Arts & Culture » Theater
Port Chicago 50 Brings History to the Stage
By Lou Fancher
Courtesy of the National Park Service Digital Image Archives
Men working in Port Chicago in the 1940s.
If it's true that history repeats itself, what becomes of the stories left out of its archives? On July 17, 1944, in a port 30 miles north of Berkeley, 50 African-American sailors, tasked with loading dangerous explosives onto two munition ships, called for a work stoppage on the grounds of unsafe conditions. What resulted was a series of explosions that claimed the lives of 320 seamen and a charge of mutiny against the 50 men by the United States military.
Dennis Rowe Entertainment is bringing this unbelievable and true story to the Birel L. Vaughn Theater in Berkeley. Co-written by David Shackelford and Rowe, Port Chicago 50 is based on interviews with the surviving sailors' relatives and extensive archive and online research of that day in Port Chicago. How is it that you skipped that page in your high school American History textbook? You didn't. Port Chicago 50 is a chance to make it right.
March 17-19, $25-35, 3201 Adeline St., Berkeley, BlackRepertoryGroup.com
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In my recent post reviewing Glossier's Generation G, I quickly mentioned my allergy to Propylene Glycol. I imagine most of you (like me 5 years ago) went, 'what the heck is she talking about?' So I'm here to offer a bit of an explanation. But first, remember, I am not a doctor. Or even slightly qualified to be a doctor! So a friendly reminder that these words are simply my own, and not those of a medical (or science) professional.
Propylene Glycol, in the simplest term, is a chemical. It's fairly harmless (though yes, it is used in antifreeze), and has many applications as an ingredient in things like whipped topping, soda, e-cigarettes, hygiene products, makeup, nail polish...you get the picture. PG is in a lot of things.
So where does my story with PG begin?
About 5 years ago, I started noticing my hands were really, really dry. I started buying all sorts of fancy hand creams, moisturizing gloves, trying those paraffin dips, and nothing worked! I then started developing little red bumps on my hands (I know, gross) and knew it was time to turn to the professionals. So I booked an appointment with my trusty allergist; a couple weeks and an itchy chemical patch test later, the doc determined I was allergic to Propylene Glycol. Now let me tell you folks, even trusty doc looked a little forlorn over my diagnosis. But why? She had figured out what the cause was! I can now just avoid it.
And then I went home and realized it was in EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY HYGIENE PRODUCTS. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, the fancy body scrub I treated myself to. I was making my problem worse. I was causing this. I slowly started throwing out every single product, watching my hard-earned money go into the trash-but this is what I had to do to start healing. After a long trip to Target, reading every label of every product I purchased, I restocked my bathroom cabinet, and waited eagerly for my hands to be fixed.
But 5 years later, and my hands still aren't "fixed." They are leaps and bounds better than they were-I no longer look like my hands were attacked by a wild animal, and they don't constantly itch. But I will always have a little red patch, maybe a little red bump. Why? I'm not actively using products that are bad for me. But remember, PG is prevalent in so many things, and even has multiple names! It may be in that hand soap in the public restroom! Or in the cleaner just used at a table you sat down at at a restaurant! Or in a product that didn't use to have PG, but now does! And in a fun, shocking twist, PG is also in many steroid and antibiotic creams meant to treat chemical allergies!
So how do I deal with this? How do I deal with something that makes me so self conscious, but seems unavoidable? Well, I do what I can, and leave it at that. Most people don't really recognize it (when I'm not having a major flare-up), and my friends who know what I'm going through don't even really see it anymore. It's called being "self" conscious for a reason-as in, I'm really the only one who sees the tiny little bumps or red spots (most days), and who can allow it to bother them, or not. I do my absolute best in trying to avoid it-I read the labels of everything I purchase, and won't try a new product unless it clearly lists the ingredients. This has luckily cut down on my impulse purchases of unnecessary hair and makeup purchases. Though it may have upped my spending on higher-quality items. Let's just call that a moot point.
If any of you out there are dealing with a Propylene Glycol allergy, please know that your struggle is not alone. It can be wildly frustrating, but I know I'm fairly lucky if this is my main ailment. If you're managing this allergy, or have tips or product recommendations, I'd love to hear from you!
Just a girl living in Philadelphia, PA with her two cats, trying to make an ordinary life less ordinary.


text:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
P.O. Box O
Socorro, NM 87801
http://www.nrao.edu
Dave Finley, NRAO
Socorro, NM
dfinley@nrao.edu
Charles Blue, NRAO
cblue@nrao.edu
Matt McGowan, University of Missouri-Columbia
mcgowandm@missouri.edu
Speed of Gravity Measured for First Time
Taking advantage of a rare cosmic alignment, scientists have made the first measurement of the speed at which the force of gravity propagates, giving a numerical value to one of the last unmeasured fundamental constants of physics.
"Newton thought that gravity's force was instantaneous. Einstein assumed that it moved at the speed of light, but until now, no one had measured it," said Sergei Kopeikin, a physicist at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
VLA Image of Jupiter
CREDIT: NRAO/AUI/NSF
"We have determined that gravity's propagation speed is equal to the speed of light within an accuracy of 20 percent," said Ed Fomalont, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville, VA. The scientists presented their findings to the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Seattle, WA.
The landmark measurement is important to physicists working on unified field theories that attempt to combine particle physics with Einstein's general theory of relativity and electromagnetic theory.
"Our measurement puts some strong limits on the theories that propose extra dimensions, such as superstring theory and brane theories," Kopeikin said. "Knowing the speed of gravity can provide an important test of the existence and compactness of these extra dimensions," he added.
Superstring theory proposes that the fundamental particles of nature are not pointlike, but rather incredibly small loops or strings, whose properties are determined by different modes of vibration. Branes (a word derived from membranes) are multidimensional surfaces, and some current physical theories propose space-time branes embedded to five dimensions.
The scientists used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a continent-wide radio-telescope system, along with the 100-meter radio telescope in Effelsberg, Germany, to make an extremely precise observation when the planet Jupiter passed nearly in front of a bright quasar on September 8, 2002.
The observation recorded a very slight "bending" of the radio waves coming from the background quasar by the gravitational effect of Jupiter. The bending resulted in a small change in the quasar's apparent position in the sky.
"Because Jupiter is moving around the Sun, the precise amount of the bending depends slightly on the speed at which gravity propagates from Jupiter," Kopeikin said.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, only passes closely enough to the path of radio waves from a suitably bright quasar about once a decade for such a measurement to be made, the scientists said.
The once-in-a-decade celestial alignment was the last in a chain of events that made measuring the speed of gravity possible. The others included a chance meeting of the two scientists in 1996, a breakthrough in theoretical physics and the development of specialized techniques that enabled the extremely precise measurement to be made.
Quasar J0842+1835,
VLBA Image
"No one had tried to measure the speed of gravity before because most physicists had assumed that the only way to do so was to detect gravitational waves," Kopeikin recalled. However, in 1999, Kopeikin extended Einstein's theory to include the gravitational effects of a moving body on light and radio waves. The effects depended on the speed of gravity. He realized that if Jupiter moved nearly in front of a star or radio source, he could test his theory.
Kopeikin studied the predicted orbit of Jupiter for the next 30 years and discovered that the giant planet would pass closely enough in front of the quasar J0842+1835 in 2002. However, he quickly realized that the effect on the quasar's apparent position in the sky attributable to the speed of gravity would be so small that the only observational technique capable of measuring it was Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), the technique embodied in the VLBA. Kopeikin then contacted Fomalont, a leading expert in VLBI and an experienced VLBA observer.
"I immediately realized the importance of an experiment that could make the first measurement of a fundamental constant of nature," Fomalont said. "I decided that we had to give this our best shot," he added.
To get the required level of precision, the two scientists added the Effelsberg telescope to their observation. The wider the separation between two radio-telescope antennas, the greater is the resolving power, or ability to see fine detail, achievable. The VLBA includes antennas on Hawaii, the continental United States, and St. Croix in the Caribbean. An antenna on the other side of the Atlantic added even more resolving power.
"We had to make a measurement with about three times more accuracy than anyone had ever done, but we knew, in principle, that it could be done," Fomalont said. The scientists tested and refined their techniques in "dry runs," then waited for Jupiter to make its pass in front of the quasar.
The wait included considerable nail-biting. Equipment failure, bad weather, or an electromagnetic storm on Jupiter itself could have sabotaged the observation. However, luck held out and the scientists' observations at a radio frequency of 8 GigaHertz produced enough good data to make their measurement. They achieved a precision equal to the width of a human hair seen from 250 miles away.
"Our main goal was to rule out an infinite speed for gravity, and we did even better. We now know that the speed of gravity is probably equal to the speed of light, and we can confidently exclude any speed for gravity that is over twice that of light," Fomalont said.
Most scientists, Kopeikin said, will be relieved that the speed of gravity is consistent with the speed of light. "I believe this experiment sheds new light on fundamentals of general relativity and represents the first of many more studies and observations of gravitation which are currently possible because of the enormously high precision of VLBI. We have a lot more to learn about this intriguing cosmic force and its relationship to the other forces in nature," Kopeikin said.
This is not the first time that Jupiter has played a part in producing a measurement of a fundamental physical constant. In 1675, Olaf Roemer, a Danish astronomer working at the Paris Observatory, made the first reasonably accurate determination of the speed of light by observing eclipses of one of Jupiter's moons.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
Back to NRAO Press Releases
Back to the NRAO Home Page


Micro-crystalline waxes are a type of wax that we produce by de-oiling petrolatum, as part of the petroleum refining process. In contrast to the more familiar paraffin wax which contains mostly unbranched alkanes, micro crystalline wax contains a higher percentage of iso paraffinic (branched) hydrocarbons and naphthenic hydrocarbons. We characterize Micro crystalline by the fineness of its crystals in contrast to the larger crystal of paraffin wax. It consists of high molecular weight saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons. It is generally darker, more viscous, denser, tackier and more elastic than paraffin waxes, and has a higher molecular weight and melting point.
The elastic and adhesive characteristics of microcrystalline waxes are related to the non-straight chain components which they contain. Typical micro crystalline wax crystal structure is small and thin, making them more flexible than paraffin wax. We commonly use in cosmetic formulations. When we produce Micro-crystalline wax by wax refiners, typically produce them to meet a number of ASTM specifications. These include congeal point (ASTM D938), needle penetration (D1321), color (ASTM D6045), and viscosity (ASTM D445). Micro-crystalline waxes can generally be put into two categories: "laminating" grades and "hardening" grades. The laminating grades typically have a melt point of 140-175 F (60 – 80 oC) and needle penetration of 25 or above.
The hardening grades will range from about 80 – 93 oC, and have a needle penetration of 25 or below. Color in both grades can range from brown to white. Depending on the degree of processing done at the refinery level. We drive Micro-crystalline waxes from the refining of the heavy distillates from lubricant oil production. This by product then we de-oil that at a wax refinery. Depending on the end use and desired specification, the product then may have its odor removed and color removed(which typically starts as a brown or dark yellow). This is usually done by means of a filtration method or by hydro-treating the wax material.


"It Came upon the Midnight Clear" has become my favorite Christmas carol. Though familiar with the song for many years, it was just in the past year or two that I found the lyrics, three verses long, in my mother's song book. Those three verses tell a nice little story, which I read as follows. In the first verse, the angels come down near earth to give humanity a song of peace and goodwill — a message from "heaven's all-gracious King." In the second, more and more angels come, until the song resonates continually around the "weary world," even over its "Babel sounds." In the last verse, humanity has finally picked up on the angels' song, and the foretold golden age of peace sets in.
Thanks to Wikipedia, I have learned that in 1849 Edmund Sears, a pastor of a Unitarian church, wrote the lyrics to "It Came upon the Midnight Clear" in five verses. There are another two verses between the second and the last. The third verse beseeches humanity to silence its noise of war, and hear the "love-song." The fourth verse beseeches the overworked laborer to take some "glad and golden hours" of rest in the angels' song. I think these two verses enrich the song, but, to my memory, I have never heard them sung.
Thank you! I'm singing the first two verses for a Christmas show so I decided to do some research. It'll be easier to understand now that I know the story behind the lyrics.


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