text:
Euro-Area Accord on New Greek Aid May Be Delayed to July. Talks on a second Greek bailout may drag into July, casting doubt on a payment due early next month, as euro-area finance chiefs struggle to break a deadlock over how to enroll private investors in the rescue. The finance ministers failed to reconcile a German-led push for bondholders to shoulder part of the cost of a new Greek aid package with European Central Bank warnings that such a move might constitute a default. With consensus elusive before the target date of a June 23-24 leaders' summit, finance ministers will convene again on June 19 in Luxembourg, a day earlier than planned. "We have to proceed very cautiously," Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden told reporters after an emergency meeting in Brussels today, adding that "very clearly we have to go into that direction" of a delay to next month on a new aid package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. "Several options -- from the IMF, as well as from the European Central Bank and from the European Commission -- still have to be studied."
Moody's to Review French Banks. BNP Paribas SA, France's biggest bank, and local rivals Societe Generale (GLE) SA and Credit Agricole SA (ACA) may have their credit ratings cut by Moody's Investors Service because of their investments in Greece. Moody's placed the three banks' ratings on reviews that will focus on their holdings of Greek public and private debt "and the potential for inconsistency between the impact of a possible Greek default or restructuring and current rating levels," the ratings company said in a statement today. The move reflects Europe's deepening debt crisis, centered on Greece, where bond yields touched a record for the euro area yesterday. The reviews of Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas (BNP) are unlikely to lead to downgrades of more than one notch, Moody's said. Societe Generale's debt and deposit ratings may be cut as much as two grades because of the "uplift it receives from systemic support, which is currently higher than average for the French banking system," it said.
Euro Falls on EU Deadlock Over Greece. The euro weakened for the first time in three days against the dollar as European Union officials struggled to break a deadlock on a second Greek rescue plan. Australia's dollar climbed after the Reserve Bank said interest- rate increases were needed, while oil and copper retreated. Europe's 17-nation currency fell 0.2 percent to $1.4406 as of 12:38 p.m. in Tokyo. Australia's dollar climbed 0.1 percent to $1.0692. Yields on 10-year Treasuries sank two basis points and Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures declined 0.4 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.3 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.5 percent. Crude decreased 0.3 percent in New York. Copper fell 0.2 percent in London.
SEC Probes Merrill Over Mortgage-Related Security, FT Says. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Merrill Lynch's sale of a mortgage- related security it created for Magnetar, an Illinois hedge fund, and the collateral manager involved in the deal, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter that it didn't identify. Bank of America Corp. (BAC), which acquired Merrill Lynch, declined to comment, according to the report. Bank of America spokesman Rick Simon didn't immediately respond to a call by Bloomberg News for comment.
China PBOC Tells Bank to Stop Subprime, Faked Mortgage Loans. Banks must strengthen risk management in major areas and prevent declines in credit asset quality, according to a financial stability report posted on the Chinese central bank's website.
Inflation will remain a "key headwind" for the Indian economy, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report following faster-than-estimated wholesale prices data yesterday. The Reserve Bank of India will raise interest rates by 75 basis points by the end of the year, including a 25 basis point increase on June 16, Goldman Sachs analysts Vishal Vaibhaw and Tushar Poddar wrote in a report. The wholesale-price index rose 9.06% in May from a year earlier after an 8.66% jump in April.
Senate Rejects Bid to Kill Ethanol Tax Break. The U.S. Senate voted against eliminating a tax break and a tariff that support ethanol production, giving a temporary reprieve to corn farmers and defeating a coalition that included chicken breeders and environmental groups. The 40-59 tally left opponents of federal support for ethanol 20 votes short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure. The amendment, attached to an economic development bill, wasn't likely to become law. Advocates on both sides of the vote viewed it as a test that would shape the ethanol industry's future. Farm state senators opposed the repeal effort and said they would support gradual changes.
Philippines to Go Ahead With Oil Rights Sale in Disputed South China Sea. The Philippines says oil blocks it plans to offer to international exploration companies later this month in the South China Sea are "well within" its territory, after tensions escalated over drilling rights in the area. Two of the 15 blocks the nation plans to offer lie within areas also claimed by China, according to a map it presented to the United Nations in 2009. China has repeatedly said it will oppose any attempt to drill for oil in waters where it claims jurisdiction. The Philippines and Vietnam have both protested Chinese harassment of oil survey vessels in the past two months. Disputes over the South China Sea have drawn in the U.S., which has a defense treaty with the Philippines and says that keeping the world's busiest shipping lane open is of national strategic importance. Recent signs that China's Southeast Asian neighbors are pushing ahead with attempts to unlock oil and gas reserves beneath the ocean floor have raised the risk of military standoffs in the region.
Pandora Raises $234.9 Million in IPO, Above Range. Pandora Media Inc., the online-radio company, raised $234.9 million in its initial public offering, pricing the shares above the marketed range as the appetite for Internet stocks continued following LinkedIn Corp.'s IPO. The Oakland, California-based company sold 14.7 million shares at $16 each, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, after offering them for $10 to $12. The shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol P.
Huntsman Money Made in China Challenges Obama Envoy's 2012 Hopes. The company also is fodder for opponents as Huntsman prepares to formally announce his Republican presidential bid next week. Huntsman Corp.'s revenue in China surged 57 percent from 2009 to 2010 during his ambassadorship, almost two decades after its entrance there, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. The company's expansion in the world's second-largest economy offers a target for rivals when U.S. unemployment is shaping the 2012 presidential race. "China has become a bigger and bigger issue in recent elections, especially exporting jobs to China," said John Feehery, a Republican strategist in Washington who isn't working with any of the presidential campaigns. "If I were an opposition researcher, I would have a field day with this."
Boeing(BA), NLRB Clash Over Non-Union Plant. Lawyers for Boeing Co. and the National Labor Relations Board clashed Tuesday at a hearing on the board's allegations that the aircraft maker illegally shifted work from union plants in Washington state to a new non-union factory in South Carolina. The hearing, which dealt mostly with procedural issues, marked the start of what could be a lengthy and politically charged legal battle, unless Boeing and the company's machinists union, whose complaint sparked the board's inquiry, settle their differences.
Report to FCC Will Find LightSquared Interferes With GPS.
Wisconsin Union Law to Take Effect. The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for the state's contentious collective-bargaining law to take effect, ruling 4-3 that a lower-court judge who put the measure on hold improperly interfered with the legislature. The decision limits Wisconsin's public employees to bargaining over their wages. Raises will be limited to the inflation rate unless voters approve larger increases. The law also requires public employees to contribute 5.8% of their salaries to their pensions and pay at least 12.6% of their health-care premiums.
The Obama Hiatus. The Administration takes a two-year holiday from its own agenda. President Obama's re-election machine is already running full bore, but has his entire Administration also decamped for the campaign trail? We ask because the towering ambitions of Mr. Obama's first two years have suddenly gone into abeyance in his third, apparently to be deferred until years five through eight. The White House is more or less conceding that it doesn't have a chance of winning a second term unless his major policies go on hiatus.
Democrats Choose Not to Punish Weiner.
Qantas Cuts $750 Million in Spending, to Cancel Orders. Australia's Qantas Airways will slash spending by A$700 million ($750 million) and plans to cancel aircraft orders as it battles waning demand, soaring fuel costs and investor displeasure with its shares trading near multi-year lows.
New Life Story Of The Maid Is Revealed, And It Doesn't Look Good For DSK.
Greek Ruling Party Members Rebel: Another MP to Vote Against Bailout So "He Can Safely Walk The Streets".
Greece's Misery Index. (graph)
Is Peet's(PEET) Coffee In Starbuck's(SBUX) Future?
CNNMoney:
Minnesota Prepares for Shutdown. If Gov. Mark Dayton and lawmakers don't agree on a budget by June 30, the state government is expected to shut down. The state moved one step closer to this outcome on Friday by sending layoff notices to much of the state workforce.
Pakistan Arrests C.I.A. Informants in Bin Laden Raid. Pakistan's detention of five C.I.A. informants, including a Pakistani Army major who officials said copied the license plates of cars visiting Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in the weeks before the raid, is the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan.
Generic Presidential Ballot. Generic Republican Candidate 46%, Obama 44%.
Dawn.com:
US Panel Proposes 75% Aid for Pakistan Withheld. A US defence bill approved on Tuesday proposes withholding 75 per cent of the $1.1 billion aid to Pakistan for the next fiscal year until the Obama administration reports to Congress on how it would spend the money. The House Appropriations Committee also gave additional power to Congress to review US assistance to Pakistan. This would ensure that Islamabad cooperates with the Americans in the war against terror, as stipulated in the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill. The committee unanimously approved an amendment to create an independent panel of experts to examine the Afghanistan-Pakistan situation. The review panel would include five Republicans and five Democrats, mirroring the Iraq Study Group. It would work with $1 million and deliver a report to lawmakers in 120 days, according to the amendment. Republican Congressman Frank Wolf, who proposed the amendment, said the panel would provide "fresh eyes" to "make sure we are looking at this as comprehensively as we can".
Cyberattacks Disclosed as Federal Security Law Considered. The recent rash of disclosures about cyberspying comes as the White House is making its third attempt to push through a historic federal cybersecurity law. The timing is no coincidence, some cybersecurity analysts say. After two previous bills went nowhere, the White House needs to garner public support for a new law that could equip America for cyberwarfare. "The best way to do that is to get folks worried that we're under attack from some foreign state like China or North Korea," says Ed Adams, CEO of Security Innovation, which integrates security systems for government agencies. Recent disclosures of cyberattacks against the International Monetary Fund, Google and several defense contractors coincided with an unprecedented pronouncement last week by CIA Director Leon Panetta, who warned a U.S. Senate panel that the U.S. needs to take "defensive measures as well as aggressive measures" to win at cyberwarfare. The bill is gaining bipartisan support in Congress.
US Dept of Energy Offers $2 Billion in Loan Aid for 2 Solar Plants. The DOE offered the Mojave Solar Project, sponsored by Abengoa Solar Inc (ABG.MC), $1.2 billion in loan aid and the Genesis Solar Project, sponsored by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (NEE.N), more than $680 million in loan aid.
Ohio Treasurer Asks for Probe on Forex Charges. Ohio on Tuesday became the latest U.S. state to question whether its public pension funds may have been cheated on currency transactions by custody banks. Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel said that he has asked the state's attorney general, Mike DeWine, to investigate whether pensioners "have been exploited by custodial banks when conducting foreign currency exchanges." "I am concerned that the banks may have manipulated foreign currency trade prices in order to maximize the banks' profit, at the expense of Ohio public servants, businesses and taxpayers," Mandel wrote in a letter dated June 14.
Market News International:
S&P Cuts Outlook on China Property Developers. The following is the text of a release from Standard & Poor's issued Wednesday: "Credit conditions in China's real estate development sector have become increasingly challenging, leading Standard & Poor's Ratings Services to revise its industry outlook to negative from stable for that market. "We're likely to see more negative rating actions among Chinese developers in the next six to 12 months because tightened onshore credit conditions and increasingly restrictive government policy have deepened the market downturn," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Bei Fu. "Any meaningful slippage in sales will significantly weaken the developers' cash flow protection measures amid higher leverage and stiff competition." "Property sales were satisfactory for many rated issuers in the first five months of this year, but we expect the sales momentum to slow as policy tightening starts to bite," said Ms. Fu. "We expect meaningful price adjustments in the second half of 2011. If sales volumes remain sluggish, developers' liquidity will quickly dry up, suggesting sporadic price discounting will likely intensify." Elsewhere in the region, Standard & Poor's believes that the soaring market in Hong Kong may be at risk of a sharp correction.
China Short-Term Rates Surge in Wake of Reserve Hike. China's seven-day bond repurchase agreement rate was fixed at 6.19% Wednesday, 200 basis points higher than the previous day's fixing, as a result of Tuesday's announcement of the sixth reserve requirement increase of the year.
German-Backed Plan for Greek Debt May Require EU20 Billion. A German-backed plan to reschedule Greek debt may require euro-area governments to provide up to 20 Billion euros, citing a briefing paper that has been circulated by the European Commission. The extra funds may be needed to recapitalize Greek banks after a proposed extension on the maturities of Greek government bonds, which would be classified by rating agencies as a "selective default," the FT said. More funds may be required for emergency Greek bank liquidity if the European Central Bank refuses to accept downgraded bonds as collateral and ministers have been told all the Greek collateral might have to be replaced.
Demand Slowing in China, Says Glencore. Glencore has warned of a slowdown in demand for commodities from China and the US, the two most important consumers of raw materials, in its first public results since its $10bn (€6.9bn) flotation last month. Ivan Glasenberg, chief executive, said high prices and the Chinese government's moves to curb inflation had damped demand, although he hoped any slowdown would be temporary. "We see a pullback in China and it will continue," he said. "There are pullbacks in China from time to time when they see inflation is too high." In the US, he said that there had been a "slight slowing down", adding that this would "hopefully" be "a temporary pullback".
Bank Chiefs' Pay Rises by 36%. Bank chiefs' average pay in the US and Europe leapt 36 per cent last year to $9.7m, according to data compiled for the Financial Times, despite variable performance across the sector. Two of the industry's biggest names – Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan Chase chief executive, and Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein – were paid more than 15 times their 2009 earnings. Mr Dimon received nearly $21m in 2010, topping the FT's survey of the salary and bonus packages awarded to 15 top bankers. Mr Blankfein earned $14.1m, including a $5.4m cash bonus – up from $863,000 in 2009.
RTHK:
The Chinese government is "highly concerned" about inflation in Hong Kong and Macau, citing Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council.
National Business Daily:
China may raise interest rates in late June or early July to fight inflation, citing Du Zhengzheng, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The country's consumer prices may gain about 6% in June, citing Du.
Oriental Morning Post:
Shanghai will limit electricity use in some of the city's malls and office buildings this summer as the municipality may have 1.6 million to 2 million kilowatts in power shortage, citing an executive of Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co. Strict power-use limits will be imposed on industrial companies during peak time and restrictions will also apply to about 3,000 non-industrial companies for the first time. Malls and office buildings will be told to close completely if the temperature rises to more than 37 degrees Celsius.
Vietnam and the Philippines cannot justify their claims to the Nansha and Xisha islands in the South China Sea and should acknowledge China's sovereignty over them, Li Jinming, a professor at the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at Xiamen University, wrote in a commentary.
China may raise interest rates "in weeks, if not days" to prevent a surge in inflation, following yesterday's decision by the PBOC to increase the reserve requirement ratio at the nation's banks, according to an editorial in today's China Daily.
Reiterated Sell on (BBY), target $27.
Asian equity indices are -.50% to +.25% on average.
Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 113.50 -2.5 basis points.
Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 117.0 -3.25 basis points.
S&P 500 futures -.35%.
NASDAQ 100 futures -.29%.
(FNSR)/.33
(KFY)/.32
The Consumer Price Index for May is estimated to rise +.1% versus a +.4% gain in April.
The CPI Ex Food & Energy for May is estimated to rise +.2% versus a +.2% gain in April.
Empire Manufacturing for June is estimated to rise to 12.0 versus 11.88 in May.
Net Long-term TIC Flows for April are estimated to rise to $35.0B versus $24.0B in March.
Industrial Production for May is estimated to rise +.2% versus unch. in April.
Capacity Utilization for May is estimated to rise to 77.0% versus 76.9% in April.
The NAHB Housing Market Index for June is estimated at 16.0 versus 16.0 in May.
Bloomberg consensus estimates call for a weekly crude oil inventory decline of -1,800,000 barrels versus a -4,845,000 barrel decline the prior week. Distillate supplies are estimated to rise by +1,000,000 barrels versus an +810,000 barrel gain the prior week. Gasoline inventories are expected to rise by +1,050,000 barrels versus a +2,209,000 barrel gain the prior week. Finally, Refinery Utilization is estimated to rise by +.2% versus a +1.2% gain the prior week.
None of note
The weekly MBA mortgage applications report, (CIEN) analyst day, (MWV) investor day, (NSIT) analyst day and the (MKSI) investor day could also impact trading today.
BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are mostly lower, weighed down by technology and financial shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 75% net long heading into the day.


It was my son Ethan's sixteenth birthday yesterday and the day dawned bright and cold, after little sleep for yours truly. I awoke with a headache and a bewildered feeling, "what a wild night". Rich didn't sleep well either, and after I got up I discovered that Jacob had also been up in the night. He didn't go to school yesterday because he was sick.
Wednesdays are a very busy day for us because I have my Bible Study, of which I am a core group leader (facilitator) for a room full of wonderful sisters in Christ. The day is typically nonstop and yesterday was even busier because I had a birthday to prepare.
Seth: rambling on and on about his night.
Then, she called perfume, "my fume" which is the best way to say it, really.
I was at study from 9-1:30 and then we headed to Target.
I had to return a 29 dollar garbage can that I bought on Monday and brought home, only to discover that it was broken. Then, I got a big gift bag and found a bunch of little things to give to Ethan for his birthday. He ordered some fancy sneakers last week but they won't be in until April and we all agreed that he needed something to open on his special day. I got the ingredients for his requested dinner, too.
When I arrived back home I discovered that my sick boy had cleaned the living room, kitchen, and new addition spotlessly. He even rearranged the kitchen things a little to make it all fresh and nice. Oh I was so encouraged by that!
I found Jacob and the birthday boy in front of a nice fire that they made, playing computer games. I hugged them and chatted with them and then set right to work making Ethan's birthday pies.
When the pies were baking, and the little brothers were home from school, Ethan was looking in the cupboards for a snack so I knew it was time for him to look in his birthday bag.
My vision was blocked by the excited siblings. His bag contained a new nerf gun, 75 bullets, and a bunch of snack stuff (which he promptly opened).
I made honey baked chicken for dinner. I trimmed chicken breasts into smaller pieces and poured over the top: One cup of unsalted butter whisked together with one cup of honey, one cup of mustard, and 3 T of curry powder.
I was supposed to let it marinade for at least 4 hours but alas, I had no time to spare so I let it sit out (with foil on top) for about 1/2 an hour before I put it in the oven.
As it baked, I had to go to school to pick up Grace (the galloping music of life plays on).
Zachary and Michael came to help celebrate the evening with Ethan.
With the chicken, we had egg noodles, broccoli, and corn.
Rich entertained us all with his stories.
I think the part of the night that I want to remember the most is all the story telling. Everyone talked and talked. The family needed this night, a night to sit around the table and be together full of happiness because it was another birthday to celebrate.
In fact, I had to finally ask for silence, because after Jacob lit the candles the talking continued until I was afraid the pies would fill with melted wax.
He took a deep breath and blew out 16 candles at once. We clapped and he smiled.
We all told our favorite stories of "E".
Aunt Mildred called to wish him a Happy Birthday.
Rich and I served out the pie and ice cream on paper plates as the talking continued.
Grace had my camera and took some close ups.
It came to pass, during our conversations, that the source of Jacob's illness was revealed as pure gluttony. He made himself sick by buying himself an energy drink and drinking it down with some Mountain Dew (while at youth group). To make things worse, he then came home he made himself a bedtime snack of bacon and sausage, of which he ate a great deal more than he should have. We all agreed that it was a good thing he threw it up.
This morning the sun is once again shining but it is only about 10 degrees. Let us hope the temperature climbs up forty degrees today, but even if it doesn't, God is in control, He is holy and pure, His ways are perfect, nothing surprises Him, and he has abundant love for His own.
This entry was posted in family, home and tagged birthdays, Ethan by Shanda. Bookmark the permalink.
Sounds like a pretty good birthday! The pies sound delicious, so does the chicken!
Love the thought a story telling birthday party! Nothing better then simple and family! You have a lovely family!
Happy Birthday, Ethan!!! Those are beautiful pies, Shanda! I enjoyed hearing about your day and Ethan's Birthday.
Glad you continue to give us the Sarah and Seth stories. So cute. A night around the table sounds just right!
I'm always thankful for the moms who look out for my children when I am not there, I wish someone had stopped J from his antics. LOL Love you, Jenny!
I love it all! Homemade pies? My kinda guy! Lol that was too funny about why he was sick. 😉 What a sweet birthday party with the people who matter most! Youre such a good mom. Thanks for sharing!
I'm so glad you liked it, Janet. I had some for lunch the next day and it was even better after sitting in the honey mustard sauce all night. Blessings to you!
I'm glad it was a good day despite the rough night before. Spring is coming and hopefully the germs are leaving!
That's what people like to say around here "the cold is killing the germs" and I LOVE that thought! Hopefully the ticks will be fewer this year, too.
I do hope the bug population will be less this year!
Happy Birthday to Ethan! Wow..your kids are growing up.


We experimented with a number of different tags over two seasons and realized that if we wanted a drop back play-action game to be more effective, it would have to satisfy three criteria. First, we would need a way to tie it to our main runs in a game plan. Second, we would need route variations, and third, we wanted to be able to do it out of multiple formations and personnel.
Our realization became clear after talking with our players after a big homecoming win in 2010. On a critical third down, we called a drop back play- action pass in the red zone. We ended up hitting the tight end over the middle for a first down and eventually scored the game winning touchdown on the drive. What our players told us is that they were not sure if the tight end was supposed to release on this variation of what we generically called "action" or stay in and block. The quarterback guessed right when the tight end asked him, and said, "just go out." After that we knew we needed to create a better structure.
Here's the video of that play. We had a couple of different "action" plays for this game, and the tight end and wasn't exactly sure which it was. You see him having a brief conversation with the quarterback before the play. Fortunately they executed the play the way we had designed it.
What we also wanted was carryover or "same as" situations for our players. After researching and working through our structure and throwing up ideas on the board, we were able to incorporate a very flexible play-action passing structure with a very simple change to how we called the plays. The word "action" before dictated an outside zone action protection that really only worked well with an 8-man protection scheme and a two-man route. From this point on, the word "action" served almost as a conjunction joining a run action and a passing concept or combination that we already carried. For the line and running back what mattered was the run call before the word "action." For the receivers it was the passing concept or combination after the word.
For example, the play could be called, "Power Right Action Curl." To the offense, the call basically says run power and run curl. The back and quarterback understand to fake the run. Now all run actions and all pass concepts were available to us in building a game plan.
Action passes now allow us to use a full flow run, protect with seven or eight blockers, and tie our play-action directly to our drop back concepts. On the reverse out, the quarterback hides the ball from the defense and helps draw in the safeties and linebackers. Dual responsibility defenders are stressed and the reads for the quarterback become clean.
Our offensive line will block the run. Action tells them not to go more than three yards down the field in executing the run block. We do not make any variations to the run other than making sure they settle by three yards and help another blocker if they are unengaged with a defender. All of our runs work with this type of play-action.
Our receivers will execute the pass concept that is called. We have used all of our pass concepts as part of our action package.
Now our playbook and game plan have tools for attacking a defense with the play-action that are much more effective. It makes much more sense to be able to use the exact same formation and run action for play-action that a game plan is built on.
Here are some examples of our action passes.
In this first example we use receiver sweep with an inside zone fake paired with our 3-levels flood concept. The quarterback missed a big opportunity on the post.
The next example pairs our power play with a curl concept. We block it exactly like we would on the run with a guard pulling through for the linebacker. The run flow draws the linebacker up and opens the curl window.
The next example combines inside zone with a scissors combination. All defensive keys indicate that this is a run play. The alley player hesitates to drop and allows us to get #2 open cleanly on the sideline.
The next example pairs counter with our four verticals in the red zone. We release four on this play. The guard pulling draws the linebacker up and allows us to throw the touchdown to the tight end.
What we have been able to do is create a synergy between our running game and our drop back passing game. We can use six, seven, or eight man protections depending on how the run is called, and we can use a full field or half field drop back combination to attack a coverage. While this has expanded our options greatly, it has simplified things for our players. This has been an exciting evolution in our offense.


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text:
Michael Agonistes and the Fear of Eating Ash
To be clear, the real hero of the public Cohen hearings in the House of Representatives was Elijah Cummings who, if he persists with the majestic demeanor demonstrated by his official conduct so far, will have his memory enshrined along with those of Thurgood Marshall, John Lewis, and Barack Obama as Black men who are also stirring role models for minority children who need encouragement to engage in the gritty pitfalls of a career of public service.
Did I seem to imply they, (the coming generation?) need this? Actually, it's all of us who desperately need young brown men and women to be so inspired whether or not they're moved to be part of the same push as the likes of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. And all of us urgently need "white" youths to also be so moved, under the sway (we hope) of the "better angels of our nature".
But the darkest attraction echoed out from the glum persona of Michael Dean Cohen, now destined to be perhaps immortally disfigured in operatic pop culture portrayals as a 21st-century scoundrel now battling for redemption. His most likely emblem is the marginal law student and shady practitioner whose professional niche was taking on the types of "legal" work more ethical lawyers skirted away from. A real-life Saul Goodman.
Cohen himself was more surprising than any of his testimony which actually revealed little that was actually "news" although one can't help but hope the evidence he provides will finally tip the scales toward some version of a just comeuppance for our current president* and his hollow enablers. Despite the childish taunting of the impish Republican placards "Liar. Liar. Pants on Fire!" (. . . ?) Cohen was as sharp and composed as he was humble.
"Fool" was one of his responses to malicious queries about how he should characterize himself. Yet the use of the word "fool" was entangled in the bitter context of a man who forthrightly confessed to shattering the "safety and security" of his family and who has been sentenced to years in a federal penitentiary which he will enter after being publicly labeled by the President* of the United States of America as a "rat" which in the criminal ethos is only a few slim nachos above the status and vulnerability of a child molester.
"I'm responsible for your silliness because I did the same thing that you're doing now, for 10 years. I protected Mr. Trump for 10 years. I can only warn people — the more people that follow Mr. Trump as I did blindly, are going to suffer the same consequences that I'm suffering."
Somehow Michael Cohen was able to forcefully use the words "fool" and "silliness" to get to the heart of criminal venality even when the human consequences for certain transgressions are more brutal, bleak, and savage than we can seriously bear to imagine. Michael Cohen is, as he reminded us more than once, a child of Holocaust survivors.
I think of him driving with trimp through a "challenged neighborhood" in some sleek limousine. "Only Black people can live like this." Somehow Cohen was able to convey the painful twinges of conscience that must have flickered dimly and uncomfortable at odd moments throughout his career as a henchman.
Now Cohen's days of joyriding with the rich and infantile are over. Now Michael is, in the words of an apt commentator, "eating ashes". Somehow though, without excuses or pleas for sympathy, he is performing with a dignity which makes one willing to believe in the possibility of redemption. Somehow we see a man who cavorted with and served the purposes of criminals, and who did so as much because of as despite the enervating insecurity of the outsider trembling in the resounding aftershocks of the Holocaust.
And now he is eating ash.
There was something admirable in Michael's stance of calm opposition to his blinkered afflicters on the Republican side of his inquisition. There is a difference, after all, to mountains of documented evidence assembled in an official proceeding as opposed to the blizzards of everyday iniquity and the never-ending shitstorms of the early 21st-century news cycle. Unfortunately, no such distinction seemed to register with the Republican representatives, and perhaps it never will, complicit as they are with their president* and forced to play to the unyielding sentiments of their deplorable and demented base. Can it be lost on Michael Cohen that the spiteful refusal to contend either with evidence or honestly established ways of interpreting it is what fascism depends on?
Isn't it ironic how this refusal is probably so entwined with the fear of eating ash?
Detractors will focus on how Michael was playing to the multiple squads of prosecutors tightening their furious circle around both the trimp administration* and the "Trump organization". No doubt there's something to that. But Michael had a more intimate audience packed with such an immensity of more humane compulsion. Elijah Cummings acknowledged this in his final statement addressed as much to the broken individual before him as to a tattered nation beleaguered by fruitless greed and instigated division.
Elijah Cummings specifically referenced Michael's children, just on the cusp of adulthood. Every one of us, whether we can face up to it or not, is incessantly shaken by the reverberations of grand historical atrocities like the Holocaust and slavery, just as every one of us is made brittle by our own daily failings and venality, just as every one of us is tormented by the dark legacies of nature which transcend and predate humanity.
But still, desperate and incomplete, we dream of making our children whole.
From Saint Gredible and Her Fat Dad's Mass
. . . Let me tell you something about injustice and why we'll never get away. I know from this because of something she read. (to Greta) That's right, nothing any of us say is nothing you don't know. Remember AIDS? When it started we thought it was a scourge on the fagelas. We did. But it wasn't and it didn't even really start with them and their fairy ways. It came from a monkey, didn't it?
Greta: A chimpanzee. And I didn't read about it, it was on NPR.
Zeyde: That's right. How was that? What about dis chimpanzee?
Greta: (She joins him upstage) Some man in Africa ate a chimpanzee maybe right before you were even born.
Zeyde: That's right.
Greta: The man killed it for meat and its blood had the virus. So, he got it.
Zeyde: But was that how it started?
Greta: No. Maybe a million years before another chimp ate two different monkeys with two different viruses inside 'em.
Zeyde: And how does a big chimpanzee eat a little bitty monkey?
Greta: He just catches 'em and eats 'em alive. They scream and scream.
Zeyde: The little monkeys scream and scream while the chimp gouges into them for some tasty organ morsel.
Greta: And they scream and scream in terrible agony. And that's how they die in merciless pain.
Zeyde: Is that injustice?
Greta: I dunno.
Zeyde: Is that injustice to the monkey?
Greta: It's pain.
Zeyde: To the chimp?
Greta: It's food.
Zeyde: It's life. Does injustice exist to animals, the ones who are not human?
Abe:
Joe Panzica (Author of Democracy STRUGGLES! and Saint Gredible and Her Fat Dad's Mass for which he is seeking an agent . . .)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Access to St. Paul charter school's sports dome…
Access to St. Paul charter school's sports dome at issue in financing request to city council
By Josh Verges | jverges@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press
PUBLISHED: August 18, 2020 at 4:54 p.m. | UPDATED: August 18, 2020 at 5:02 p.m.
A St. Paul charter school wants the city's help financing an expansion project, but the city council wants assurance the school will make its facilities available to the general public.
Hmong College Prep Academy has asked the city to issue $43 million in tax-exempt bonds on the school's behalf, enabling the school to take advantage of the low cost of municipal bonds at no risk to the city.
Council members, though, say the charter school hasn't been acting like a publicly funded school with respect to a domed soccer field it built in 2017.
"I've heard from several people that have tried to contact the school about renting the space and haven't been able to get an answer," council President Amy Brendmoen said in an interview.
The council meets Aug. 26 as the Housing and Redevelopment Authority to consider approving one of two related bond issues for the school. They gave preliminary approval last week but Brendmoen and Chris Tolbert expressed concern about facilities access.
"The important point is we hear them on record about their interpretation about what an independent public school, open to all students, means," Brendmoen said. "It's our expectation is that if they're a public school that their facilities would be shared."
Brendmoen said Monday that she contacted the school but hasn't received a response.
School officials did not return a phone message from the Pioneer Press.
MORE SPACE, NOT STUDENTS
Hmong College Prep is the largest single-location charter school in the state, with 2,350 students last year southeast of the State Fairgrounds. The expansion project will give them more room to operate but is not expected to significantly increase enrollment.
"They just don't have enough space for current enrollment," HRA executive director Nicolle Goodman said.
The school anticipates having 2,400 students by the project's completion in fall 2021, according to planning documents submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education.
Of the $43 million in borrowing, $17 million would be used to pay down the debt from a previous expansion.
Most of the new construction costs are for a new middle school to the east of the sports dome, south of Brewster Street.
Plans also call for a large grassy play area, a minor remodel to add lunchroom space and a common area, and a skyway to connect the existing school to the sports dome and new school.
School officials said in public documents that staff frequently stop traffic to allow students to cross Brewster Street to and from the sports dome.
The state education department, however, determined the $1.06 million skyway is a "non-educational improvement," so the school will have to pay for it from its general fund, as opposed to lease aid the state provides for charter schools in lieu of property tax revenue.
Judge again dismisses UMN football players' lawsuit over handling of alleged 2016 gang-rape
The Como Community Council unanimously supports the expansion project. Executive Director Michael Kuchta wrote in a letter that the school has "revitalized a corner of our neighborhood and is an ongoing asset to our community at large."
State law prohibits charter schools from owning their facilities, so the school's affiliated construction nonprofit, the Hmong Education Reform Company, is controlling the project.
Tax filings show the construction company does not directly compensate its officers. However, company president Pao Yang received $261,278 in total compensation as the charter school's operations director in 2017-18. His wife, Superintendent Christianna Yang, received $301,688 that year.
St. Paul City Council
Josh Verges | Education reporter
Josh has written about St. Paul public schools and higher education for the Pioneer Press since 2014, 11 years after the paper first published his byline as a University of Minnesota intern. He did a two-year stint on city government and crime in Austin, Minn., and spent seven years in Sioux Falls, S.D. covering crime and education, as well as editing. Josh was good at baseball once. Now he plays tennis against old men.
jverges@pioneerpress.com
Follow Josh Verges https://www.facebook.com/joshverges Follow Josh Verges @ua14
More in Education
Stillwater: Resignation of newly elected school board member creates vacancy


text:
Q: How do I change the :-moz-placeholder color with jQuery once it's set? I am running into a problem where if a input field's background color is changed, the placeholder color will blend in too much.
I have already solved the readable text color problem so it's returning the proper light or dark color correctly.
I cannot for the life of me figure out how to set the CSS property to the calculated color for the specific input box. Please give some guidence?
input:-moz-placeholder
{
    color: #BBBBBB;
}
input::-webkit-input-placeholder
{
    color: #BBBBBB;
}

The returned color is #222222 but the $('#input').css() call does not work since it targets the elements CSS directly and not the element.

A: In this solution, I first dynamically append a style block to the <head> on page load:
// add style block to the <head> with default placeholder css on page load
var defaultColor = 'BBBBBB';
var styleContent = 'input:-moz-placeholder {color: #' + defaultColor + ';} input::-webkit-input-placeholder {color: #' + defaultColor + ';}';
var styleBlock = '<style id="placeholder-style">' + styleContent + '</style>';
$('head').append(styleBlock);

Then, to change the placeholder text color I just update the content of the style block:
var randomColor = Math.floor(Math.random()*16777215).toString(16);
styleContent = 'input:-moz-placeholder {color: #' + randomColor + ';} input::-webkit-input-placeholder {color: #' + randomColor + ';}'
$('#placeholder-style').text(styleContent);

Check out the jsFiddle:
Change placeholder text color with jQuery

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25
All Themes Coming of Age Life and Death Family Being Different Religion and Philosophy
All Characters Hazel Grace Lancaster Augustus Waters Isaac Mrs. Lancaster Augustus's parents Peter Van Houten Dr. Maria Kaitlyn Caroline Mathers Anna
All Symbols Augustus' Cigarettes Water Grenade
Instant downloads of all 1542 LitChart PDFs (including The Fault in Our Stars).
Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on The Fault in Our Stars can help.
Being Different
Hazel Grace Lancaster
Augustus Waters
Mrs. Lancaster
Augustus's parents
Peter Van Houten
Dr. Maria
Caroline Mathers
Augustus' Cigarettes
Life and Death Theme Analysis
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Fault in Our Stars, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The young people in The Fault in Our Stars confront the issue of dying on a daily basis. Although the characters try to live by their support group mantra, "Living our best lives today", every action, relationship, and experience is cast in the shadow of their impending mortalities. The theme of life and death unfolds through Hazel's relationship with Augustus. It is no mistake that Hazel first forms a bond with Augustus through a dialog about death and oblivion during their support group. Both Hazel and Augustus are particularly sensitive when it comes to their own mortalities. They are forced to confront questions that most young people do not have to face, but their concerns revolve around common existential dilemmas, for example, how do you find meaning in life and death? How do you leave behind a legacy? How does one's death affect others? Is there an afterlife, and if not, what is there? Their development as characters occurs through the exploration of these questions.
Their personal concerns around death develop along different trajectories. Augustus is afraid of fading into oblivion after he dies, that his life will be meaningless, and nobody will remember him once he is gone. After bringing this fear up in the support group, Hazel responds by intellectualizing the fact of her impermanence. She states that everything will die, that there was a time before consciousness and there will be a time after it. Despite her intellectualization, however, she is still deeply conflicted around the issue of her own looming mortality. Unlike Augustus' self-centered fear of fading into oblivion, Hazel views her approaching death as an event that will severely damage those around her—like she is a grenade waiting to explode. She is primarily concerned with protecting those around her from the pain of her death. This concern causes her to distance herself from her peers and family, which limits her desire to do the things normal teenagers do. Her fear of hurting others through her passing leads to her obsession with the fictional novel, An Imperial Affliction. She identifies with the book because it presents an accurate portrayal of death and dying, but Hazel becomes obsessed by what happens after the novel's abrupt ending. Hazel longs to know the fate of the family in An Imperial Affliction after the main character passes, believing this knowledge will give her insight into the impact her death will have on her family.
Hazel and Augustus come to terms with their impermanence through their relationship. Augustus is able to realize his one act of heroism by sacrificing his wish from "The Genie Foundation" to take Hazel to Amsterdam. In a meta-textual sense, this act allows him to survive after death, as his story is told in the novel and will continue being accessed by readers of The Fault in Our Stars. Within the text, however, his legacy lives on with Hazel and her parents. Hazel also develops new understandings of life and death through her relationship with Augustus. Through their relationship, she is able to step out of her isolation and live her life for the first time, even in the face of her impending death. When Augustus' cancer comes out of remission and he passes away, she is able to experience what it is like to lose someone you love and work through it, which allows her to come to terms with the fact that her family will be able to make it through her own death. Hazel also comes to understand that death is an event that allows us to value life. She demonstrates this understanding during Augustus' eulogy when she says, "without pain, we would not know joy," she understands that death is an event that allows us to live and love to the fullest. In the end, it becomes clear that life is defined by our relationships with others, and the importance and meaning of these relationships is demonstrated through the pain felt when a loved one dies.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme…
Find Related Themes
Life and Death ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Life and Death appears in each chapter of The Fault in Our Stars. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
chapter length:
Get the entire The Fault in Our Stars LitChart as a printable PDF.
Life and Death Quotes in The Fault in Our Stars
Below you will find the important quotes in The Fault in Our Stars related to the theme of Life and Death.
Chapter 1 Quotes
Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time thinking about death.
Related Characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster (speaker), Mrs. Lancaster
Page Number and Citation: 3
Cite this Quote
Explanation and Analysis:
There is only one thing in this world shittier than biting it from cancer when you are sixteen, and that's having a kid who bites it from cancer.
Related Characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster (speaker)
Unlock with LitCharts A+
There was a time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be a time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that's what everyone else does.
Page Number and Citation: 13
Cancer perks are the little things cancer kids get that regular kids don't: basketballs signed by sports heroes, free passes on late homework, unearned drivers licenses, etc.
"That's exactly what we found with families at Memorial when we were in the thick of it with Gus's treatment…Everybody was so kind. Strong, too. In the darkest days, the Lord puts the best people into your life."
Related Characters: Augustus's parents (speaker), Augustus Waters
Cancer kids are essentially side effects of the relentless mutation that made the diversity of life on earth possible.
"Oh," he said. "Caroline is no longer suffering from personhood."
"Oh," I said.
"Yeah," he said.
"I'm sorry," I said. I'd known plenty of dead people, of course. But I'd never dated one. I couldn't even imagine it, really.
"Not your fault, Hazel Grace. We're all just side effects, right?"
"Barnacles on the container ship of consciousness," I said, quoting AIA.
Related Characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster (speaker), Augustus Waters (speaker), Caroline Mathers
"I'm like. Like. I'm like a grenade, Mom. I'm a grenade and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, Okay…I just want to stay away from people and read books and think and be with you guys because there is nothing I can do about hurting you; you're too invested, so just please let me do that, okay?"
Related Symbols: Grenade
"You are not a grenade Hazel, not to us. Thinking about you dying makes us sad, Hazel, but you are not a grenade. You are amazing. You can't know, sweetie, because you've never had a baby become a brilliant young reader with a side interest in horrible television shows, but the joy you bring us is so much greater than the sadness we feel about your illness."
Related Characters: Mr. Lancaster (speaker), Hazel Grace Lancaster
Page Number and Citation: 103
Everyone in this tale has a rock-solid hamartia: hers, that she is so sick; yours, that you are so well. Were she better or you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed, but it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/But in our selves."
Related Characters: Peter Van Houten (speaker), Hazel Grace Lancaster, Augustus Waters
Chapter 10 Quotes
I could feel everyone watching us, wondering what was wrong with us, and whether it would kill us, and how heroic my mom must be, and everything else. That was the worst part about having cancer, sometimes: The physical evidence of disease separates you from other people.
Related Characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster (speaker), Augustus Waters
You could glance at Augustus and never know he was sick, but I carried my disease with me on the outside, which is part of why I'd become such a homebody in the first place.
"I'm in love with you," he said quietly.
"Augustus," I said.
"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasures of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have and I am in love with you."
Related Characters: Augustus Waters (speaker), Hazel Grace Lancaster
It looked like an old painting, but real—everything achingly idyllic in the morning light—and I thought about how wonderfully strange it would be to live in a place where almost everything had been built by the dead.
Van Houten pursed his lips. "I regret that I cannot indulge your childish whims, but I refuse to pity you in the manner to which you are well accustomed."
"I don't want your pity," I said.
"Like all sick children," he answered dispassionately, "you say you don't want pity but your very existence depends on it…sick children inevitably become arrested: You are fated to live out your days as the child you were before you were diagnosed, the child who believes there is life after a novel ends."
Related Characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster (speaker), Peter Van Houten (speaker)
"You get to battle cancer," I said. "That's your battle. And you'll keep fighting," I told him.
"Some war," he said dismissively. "What am I at war with? My cancer. And what is my cancer? My cancer is me. The tumors are made of me. They're made of me as surely as my brain and my heart are made of me. It is a civil war, Hazel Grace, with a predetermined winner."
Related Characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster (speaker), Augustus Waters (speaker)
I took a few breaths and went back to the page. "I can't talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this: There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million… There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful."
"Would you like to share a memory of Augustus with the group?"
"I wish I would just die, Patrick. Do you ever wish you would just die?"
"Yes," Patrick said, without his usual pause. "Yes, of course. So why don't you?"
I thought about it. My old stock answer was that I wanted to stay alive for my parents, because they would be all gutted and childless in the wake of me, and that was still true kind of, but that wasn't it, exactly. "I don't know."
Related Characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster (speaker), Patrick (speaker), Augustus Waters
I missed the future…I would probably never again see the ocean from thirty thousand feet above, so far up that you can't make out the waves or any boats, so that the ocean is a great and endless monolith. I could imagine it. I could remember it. But I could never see it again, and it occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true, because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again.
Related Symbols: Water
You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.
I do, Augustus.


Special touches and features can really put a finishing touch on a project. Water features, sculptural pieces, custom woodwork, and outdoor lighting are some of the most common elements that can help take projects to the next level of detailing.
Low voltage outdoor lighting is an especially effective way to add the additional dimension of nighttime viewing. Lighting allows enjoyment of the garden year round, while also addressing safety and access concerns. This is typically done in a way that accents trees, pathways and special features, while not making your garden look like Las Vegas.
We typically install high quality professional low voltage lighting fixtures from a number of companies including FX Luminaire and Vista Professional Lighting. There are an increasing number of manufacturers producing high quality fixtures giving more options in terms of light style and application. We prefer low voltage lighting for flexibility of installation (it is easy to add or remove fixture to existing lines), safety, and lower cost.
Most fixtures we install are finished in copper or brass, but there are also a wide variety of powder coated metal colors available from manufacturers. As with anything, when it comes to lighting fixtures you get what you pay for. You can buy a cheap transformer or light set, designed for the do-it-yourselfer, but the lights are typically plastic and not designed to last.


Biocomma's empty gravity-flow affinity chromatography columns are handy, easy to use column hardware for purification of proteins such as antibodies, enzymes and their substrates. Each empty column comes with two frits, one top cap and one bottom cap, making packing columns extremely easy. We also offer pack-in-a-box kits which, in addition to columns and frits, include assembly tools and guideline.


text:
10 ways robotics is transforming the healthcare industry
Hardware, Latest B2B News, Technology December 17, 2015December 20, 2015 B2BNN Newsdesk
Robots are becoming more mainstream, especially in the healthcare industry. From helping the elderly to assisting with dental care, robotics is fast becoming a hot trend affecting millions. Here are 10 things you should know about robotics and healthcare.
1. Hospitals In The San Francisco Bay Area Using Robots Called Tugs
'Tugs' do various tasks that involve tending to patients. Tasks that the robots perform include delivering food and drugs, as well as picking up waste and laundry. They can also travel down the halls without running into people. The robots use travel maps to help them get around from place to place. They also offer features such as biometric security measures, which make sure that the drugs they are carrying reach the doctors they're supposed to reach.
2. Robots Help Children Cope At The Doctor's
Robots are being used in parts of Canada to help children cope with trips their doctor's office. At a hospital in Alberta, robots are used to help make a trip to the doctor a little easier on kids. The robot the hospital uses is two-feet tall and is designed to mimic children's actions. The robot can distract kids while they receive a shot or have blood withdrawal via a needle. In the future, the robot may be given new features, such as facial recognition software, which can make interactions between the robot and kids more personal.
Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary conducted a study that explored how the robot helps kids through getting their flu shots. The study revealed that kids who used the robot reported 50 percent less pain compared to those who got the shot with little or no distraction. According to CBC, Dr. Tanya Beran, the robot's creator, said there were a few kids who couldn't receive their shot because they were kicking and punching, and the nurses walked away because they couldn't give them their shots. However, they agreed to be vaccinated with the robot.
3. HAL Is A Robotic Medical Device That Helps Mobility In Disabled Users
HAL, short for Hybrid Assistive Limb, is a robotic medical device for diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy. In November HAL, made by the company Cyberdyne Inc., was approved as a medical device in Japan. The Japanese government gave approval for Cyberdyne's powered exoskeleton, and it is the first robotics device to be given the status as a medical device in Japan. HAL is a suit that helps mobility in disabled users or for those who have limited muscle ability. There's hope that people who have paralyzed limbs may be able to regenerate damaged nerve networks by using HAL regularly.
Hybrid Assistive Limbs (HAL) in action. Via Flickr user Steve Jurvetson
4. Japan's Nurse Of The Future Is A Robot With The Face Of A Teddy Bear
The robot has been designed to help care for the aging population in Japan. The robot bear, dubbed ROBEAR, will be able to perform heavy-duty tasks such as lifting. These robots will have the ability to carry mobility impaired patients or help them stand up or support them while they are walking. The robot has yet to hit the market, but that may change, as researcher Toshiharu Mukai hopes the robot will be commercialized in the near future.
5. Robots Help Elderly Patients Living In Rural Areas
In November, new research from the University of Auckland found that healthcare robots in homes of rural elderly residents may help lessen social isolation, as well as help with their medical care. The study consisted of five participants trailing the robots in their homes for a period of at least three months. According to Phys, the study's lead author, Dr Elizabeth Broadbent, said the results of the study suggest healthcare robots were feasible with a rural population and they may increase the quality of life for some patients, and they can remind patients when to take medicine and provide patients with companionship.
Dr. Broadbent said Patients found comfort in seeing the robot light up, as they felt it was the robot's way of interacting with them.
The research revealed that the robots may reduce the need for medical care for some patients. Dr. Broadbent said Patients said that having the robot felt like they had a companion in the house and they didn't feel so alone
The study may have shown a decrease in the rate of patients' primary care visits and calls to the doctor. However, the decreased rates couldn't be attributed for certain to the robot's presence.
Speaking of robots helping the elderly, Toyota has been working on a robot that is designed to help the elderly or handicapped people. The robot is called HSR (Human Support Robot), and it uses three types of cameras in order to see, and it can be controlled via a tablet, smartphone or you can give it voice commands.
HSR is still in development, but once it is fully developed, it will be able to assist people in their everyday activities, and one day it may coexist with family members. It will provide support that may improve living conditions and one's overall quality of life.
6. Robots Can Serve As Fitness Coaches For The Elderly
In Singapore, there are robots called RoboCoaches. These robots will soon be seen in senior activity centers across Singapore. According to CNN, Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore's minister for communications and information, said that the RoboCoaches will offer seniors personalized exercise routines that they will enjoy. Ibrahim added that RoboCoach will help make sure seniors perform exercise routines properly, which will help them get the most benefits from their workouts. By the time this year is up, there should be a RoboCoach in 25 venues.
Such robots are a must in Singapore because…
• Singapore is Asia's third most rapidly aging population
• By 2030, the number elderly retirees will jump to more than 900,000, which is triple the current number
• By 2030, there will be 2.1 citizens of working age for every retiree, which is compared to 4.5 today
• The median age will rise to 47, which is up from 39 in 2011
7. Robotics Helps Dentists And Patients
Voice Of America took a look at how robots help dentist and patients, such as how one machine reduces the length of the procedure used to make dental crowns. Today, the procedure can repair a damaged tooth in under three hours. Directions for a robotic milling machine are drawn up by a computer, and this tool works at creating the ideal shaped crown.
Machines going to work for dentists and their patients http://t.co/Gf1Y6xdZXz pic.twitter.com/p2kJs1Xd9K
— LuciDent (@MyLuciDent) December 25, 2014
8. Robots May One Day Perform Wisdom Tooth Extractions
One robot in Tokyo has already done a wisdom tooth extraction on a human patient. The procedure took place over the summer. The robot, nicknamed Al Dente, is thought to be the first robot to have removed a wisdom tooth. The 55-year-old patient suffered no major inconveniences.
9. Robots Are Used In Hospitals To Kill Off Bacteria
A number of hospitals have been using robots that kill bacteria. One hospital is the University of Vermont Medical Center, which added two Xenex Disinfection Services robots to add more protection to the infection-control program at the hospital. According to Modern Healthcare, Sally Hess, the university's manager of infection prevention, said the robots remove the element of human error. The market for disinfection robots is huge and it could grow to $80 million by 2017.
10. Nanorobots Are Being Tested And They Could Be Used To Treat Leukemia Patients
Nanorobots that could be used to treat leukemia patients are being tested. In March, Daily Mail reported that nanorobots are set to be used to treat patients who are seriously ill with Leukemia.The tiny robots, which are designed to swim through the bloodstream, has already been successfully tested out in animals.
The lead researcher hopes that patients can be cured within a month. Ido Bachelet intends on treating a patient who has been given six months to live, and the aim of the injection of the DNA nanorobots is to destroy Leukemia cells, all without harming healthy tissue. The Daily Mail reported that Bachelet said judging from what was seen in tests, within one month the person is going to recover.
This article was originally published by Owen Weldon in Digital Journal. Copyright 2015.
B2BNN Newsdesk
We marry disciplined research methodology and extensive field experience with a publishing network that spans globally in order to create a totally new type of publishing environment designed specifically for B2B sales people, marketers, technologists and entrepreneurs.
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healthcare, japan, robotics, robots
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text:
package org.finra.datagenerator.scaffolding.utils;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.AnnotatedBeanDefinition;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider;
import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

/**
 * Created by dkopel on 1/5/17.
 */
public class AdvancedClassPathScanner extends ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider {
    private Boolean isConcrete = true;

    public AdvancedClassPathScanner(boolean useDefaultFilters) {
        super(useDefaultFilters);
    }

    public AdvancedClassPathScanner(boolean useDefaultFilters, Environment environment) {
        super(useDefaultFilters, environment);
    }

    public Boolean getConcrete() {
        return isConcrete;
    }

    public AdvancedClassPathScanner setConcrete(Boolean concrete) {
        isConcrete = concrete;
        return this;
    }

    private boolean isConcrete(AnnotatedBeanDefinition beanDefinition) {
        return isConcrete || beanDefinition.getMetadata().isConcrete();
    }

    @Override
    protected boolean isCandidateComponent(AnnotatedBeanDefinition beanDefinition) {
        return isConcrete(beanDefinition) && beanDefinition.getMetadata().isIndependent();
    }

    public Set<BeanDefinition> findCandidateComponents(List<String> basePackages) {
        return basePackages
            .stream()
            .flatMap(bp -> findCandidateComponents(bp).stream())
            .collect(Collectors.toSet());
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


During the 2004 edition of the Art BAsel Miami Beach art fair Elliott Sharp and a crew of New York artists and radio freaks set up a broadcast station at the legendary Delano Hotel poolside. Before being banned for life they managed to log some remarkable broadcast hours. The is the set Sharp played one lovely afternoon. Willie Dixon to Edgard Varese.


The timing of choosing a solicitor can be really tricky and not conducive to a well thought through strategy. It's often because a legal issue has arisen out of the blue, or there is a planned transaction such as a building purchase or lease. The lawyers are the last on the list to be considered. Unfortunately, then businesses use either the most recent advert, referral or practical reasons when choosing a solicitor … perhaps the solicitor's office is near to where they work or live, but does this approach make sense?
Take care to know who will be dealing with your work, and make sure you speak to that person, take care you are not being sold to by one person and served by another.
Ask about costs – fixed price or hourly rates, all solicitors should provide you with a client engagement letter that outlines these prices.
Does the legal practice provide a free or reduced cost initial interview; they should particularly as part of their ethics set dictates they should advise you if the whole project is unlikely to succeed and that you are wasting your money working with them.
What tasks will the solicitor or lawyer be doing for you, be clear as to the scope of work and who and how any extensions are agreed.
What experience they have in that area of law, ideally don't use the same people you always use, employ someone who has been there and done it in exactly the type of dispute or project you have.
What else can the firm provide – for example back up if your solicitor is absent. It is useful to have a relationship with a multi-disciplinary practice if your business is complex or has special requirements.
Needing help with a business plan?
For many areas of law, the Law society has set up accreditation schemes which can be found on their website for any specific area of law. If a solicitor has one of these many marks, it means that they are recognised experts in that area of law, it does not mean that those without a specific mark cannot help you, it may be that they have decided not to apply, but it is a benchmark.
In addition to the Law Society Quality marks, legal firms may have the Lexcel Quality mark which they (the Law Society) state is a firm's 'Gold standard' and covers areas such as complaints, client care, data management etc. To confuse us a bit more, many solicitors and legal firms have qualified for the international quality mark ISO9001, which many assert is harder still to obtain.
It's obviously good that these quality marks exist, but all solicitors must abide by the extremely comprehensive Solicitors Regulations Authorities code of conduct anyway. The bottom line is all solicitors are heavily regulated, but the difference between the good ones and less effective is their attitude to the well-being of their customers. You'll only find that out by asking past clients.
The power of word of mouth is important, check with other clients that they have valued the service. Ask around for recommendations if you're not sure.
Now you've read about Appointing a Good Solicitor, have you any more questions?
Guide:GDPR – are you Data Protection ready / compliant?


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About us The Studios Post Production
The Voice UK 2020 competition resumes
The Voice UK 2020 competition is returning to ITV this October. Paused earlier this year when Covid-19 halted production, Producers are now pleased to announce that they will be bringing the contest to its conclusion and crowning an ultimate winner. Ahead of the Semi-Final and Final, a special catch up show will be screened later this month, reminding the audience at home of the story so far.
The Semi-Final and Final will then follow. Additionally, as of 3 October, the entire series to date will be made available on the ITV Hub.
The Semi-Final and Final will both be pre-recorded at dock10 studios in the coming weeks and take place with virtual audiences beamed onto screens in the studio as they view all the action from their homes. Meghan Trainor will appear on the show from LA, superimposed onto her chair to join fellow Coaches Sir Tom Jones, Olly Murs and will.i.am.
Meghan said: "I'm so sorry that I can't travel and be there in person for the end of Season 9. I'm excited that the show is finally back and I will be there virtually to support my incredible team!"
Remaining in the competition are:
Team Tom: Jonny Brooks and Lois Moodie
Team Will: Gevanni Hutton, Lucy Calcines and the public's Lifeline winner Doug Sure
Team Meghan: Trinity-Leigh Cooper and Brooke Scullion
Team Olly: Jordan Phillips and Blessing Chitapa
They will all be singing in the Semi-Final, hoping to make the final four. At the Semi-Final the Coaches will each select one of their acts to go through to the Final. The show's winner will then be decided by the virtual audience, watching the grand final from home. That lucky singer will be set on the road to realizing their artistic ambitions as they scoop a prize of a recording contract with Universal's label UMOD.
The Voice UK is an ITV Studios production of a Talpa format.
Pooch Perfect is in the dock10 dog pen
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? hits the jackpot with safe return to dock10
A Question of Sport returns to dock10
ITV's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? bags a millionaire
dock10
The Studios, MediaCityUK,
Salford, M50 2HQ
info.web@dock10.co.uk
Legal information / COVID-19 / Cookies


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Private cloud adoption is rapidly reaching maturity.
Hybrid pulls ahead as cloud reaches maturity
ABU DHABI, January 18, 2015
The cloud computing landscape of 2017 will increasingly be dominated by platform and database services supporting hybrid infrastructures, a report said.
Private cloud adoption is rapidly reaching maturity, with almost two thirds (60 per cent) of enterprises having reached intermediate or mature levels of adoption, added the new study conducted by IDG Connect on behalf of Oracle.
Meanwhile, traditional barriers to private cloud adoption, such as concerns over security, are being joined by newer worries such as IT standardization and the ability to integrate with existing applications. These new concerns reflect the lessons learned from widespread private cloud adoption, and help to explain why enterprises are making hybrid the priority for their cloud expansion plans.
Organizations are more likely to choose hybrid cloud when considering their next steps in cloud computing. Deploying more hybrid cloud services (36 per cent) was selected ahead of private (32 per cent) and public cloud (17 per cent) services.
Private cloud is rapidly reaching maturity, with almost two thirds (60 per cent) of enterprises surveyed reporting intermediate or mature levels of adoption. This is expected to rise to 82 per cent in 2017.
Significant concerns still surround private cloud adoption. These include data security (cited by 55 per cent of respondents), integration with existing applications (47 per cent), available skills (45 per cent) and hardware costs (44 per cent).
The growing maturity of private cloud means that organizations have learned many lessons about how to deploy cloud successfully. The most important building block of a successful private cloud infrastructure is having effective governance controls in place (cited by 34 per cent); followed by standardization of IT (27 per cent), winning the support of key decision makers (25 per cent) and ensuring strong IT change management (17 per cent).
Within private cloud, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) (68 per cent) is currently viewed as most important ahead of Database-as-a-Service (DaaS) (61 per cent) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) (57 per cent). However, this will change over the next two years with DaaS (29 per cent) becoming the most important form of private cloud, ahead of PaaS (26 per cent) and SaaS (23 per cent).
John Abel, EMEA senior director at Oracle, said: "The recent acceleration in cloud adoption has been focused on enterprise applications and addressing the related integration, scalability and security challenges."
"Our survey shows however, that as the hybrid cloud evolves into the core approach for businesses the platform grows in importance, providing as it must the ability for businesses to move from private to public cloud and back seamlessly and securely. In this environment, Oracle's proven 'cloud ready' platform proves hugely beneficial to customers, delivering a secure and reliable platform that removes integration headaches and provides customers the quickest route-to-value from the hybrid cloud."
"While SaaS has traditionally led enterprise migration to the cloud, other services such as Database- and Platform-as-a-Service are set to become more important over the next two years," said Bob Johnson, vice president and principal analyst, at IDG Connect.
"This trend reflects how quickly the cloud is growing in maturity and sophistication. Given this rapid development in cloud capability, it's likely that 2017 will see widespread use of cloud-based platforms and tools – increasingly delivered over hybrid architectures – to develop and test transformational business applications," Johnson concluded. – TradeArabia News Service
Tags: Oracle	| hybrid	| IDG	| SaaS	| cloud computing	|
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MacOS Catalina – First Hands-on Look
Cameron Lucy July 15, 2019 June 13, 2019
MacOs Catalina, revealed at WWDC 2019, is the latest OS for your Mac. There's plenty of changes and brand new features to give you that productivity boost you deserve! So, without further ado, lets jump straight into everything Catalina.
Goodbye iTunes
Yes, we will be saying goodbye to iTunes as it's going to be divided up into 3 apps, Music, Podcasts and Apple TV. In a way, it's a shame to see iTunes go, partly because it forever changed the way we listen to music and watch TV shows, partly because it's just so familiar and easy to navigate. But as it reaches it's 18th birthday, I think everyone can agree, iTunes has served it's purpose and now we can move on to the next era. Don't worry if you had everything you need on iTunes, it'll still be accessible across these new apps.
For the moment, these three apps are basically what iTunes is now, but im sure the purpose for the division is for them to head in three new directions in the not-too-distant future.
Apps, Old and New
Now, developers can create Mac apps from popular iPad apps with ease. This means you can have apps like Asphalt 9:Legends, DC Universe and others working on your Mac, giving you a larger screen and, in general, a better experience.
For the apps you're more familiar with, a lot of them have had a major new boost with new features to make them run more smoothly.
Photos has a new, cleaner way to view your photos. They're now displayed by year, month and day, highlighting some key life events that are in your calendar. There's also a memories feature to look back on some possibly forgotten moments from your youth!
Notes has a nice little boost too. There's now a new gallery view which makes looking through your notes a lot easier. You can also have shared folders, making it easier to collaborate with a colleague or even a whole group of people. New checklist options let you keep track of what to do and your completed tasks will automatically move to the bottom of the list so you can focus on the unfinished ones.
The Reminders app has been newly redesigned for Catalina. There are now plenty of ways to create, organize and keep track of upcoming appointments and meetings. You can also now add attachments to reminders and use the quick toolbar to create new reminders quickly and easily. As regular readers will know, I'm a big fan of the Siri features connected to reminders and now Siri can suggest new reminders found in your messages. There are also smart lists which automatically organize and display your upcoming reminders. Last but not least, you can now tag people in your reminders. This is great because now if you're chatting with them in messages, Reminders will give you a nudge about the reminder they're tagged in.
Sidecar is your Pencil's New Best Friend
Sidecar is a new feature which allows you to use your ipad as an additional display for your Mac. This is great as it's not only a monitor. You could be working in one app on your Mac while you are using your Apple Pencil to sketch something up on the iPad. You can also mirror the screens, if needed, so you can share your screen with others.
Of course, Sidecar can still be a useful tool even if you don't have an Apple Pencil, but it clearly is designed towards Apple Pencil users. Being able to read an article and make notes on it at the same time is huge, especially for quick notes on how to redesign a poster or any small changes you need. You can use Apple Pencil with Sidecar to use some of your favorite apps, such as Illustrator, Affinity Photo, and Cinema 4D to name a few.
Catalina is More Secure Than Ever
MacOS Catalina has enhanced security features to help protect your macOS more than ever. It helps to keep your apps safe as well as giving you better control over who can access your data. It's even easier to find your Mac if it's lost or stolen.
MacOS Catalina also now has an activation lock. This means that you, and only you, can erase and reactivate your Mac. It also runs it's own read-only volume. It keeps all your other data seperate on your Mac, so nothing can accidentally overwrite your system files. Gatekeeper also ensures that new apps you install have been checked for known security issues before you run them.
One other new feature is that apps now need your permission before accessing files from your Mac. This includes Documents, Desktop folders, iCloud Drive and external volumes. You'll also be prompted before any app can capture keyboard activity, photo or video of your screen.
Many Many More Features
MacOS Catalina is packed full of new features and apps, here are some other features that you can expect that we've yet to mention:
Updated Safari – Updated start page with new siri functions
Screen time on Mac
Monitor usage, schedule downtime, and set limits for both apps and websites across all your devices
Communication Limits let you choose who your children can communicate with throughout the day and during Downtime
Get an extra minute, 15 minutes or ignore once you've reached your limit
New "Find My" app
Combines Find My iPhone and Find My Friends
Anonymous and end-to-end encrypted so no one, including Apple, knows the identity of any reporting device
Approve with Apple Watch
Double-click the side button on your Apple Watch to authenticate on your Mac
Unlock a locked note, approve app installations, and view your passwords in Safari preferences without having to enter one
Zoom your second display
If you have two screens, you can keep one screen zoomed in close while the other remains at a standard resolution
With so many new features, it's the Apple equivalent to Christmas! But, of course at the moment, there are inevitable bugs that still need to be fixed but hopefully all will be cleared by the time macOS Catalina is released in the Fall.
About Cameron Lucy
watchOS 6 hands-on review: Noise app, watchOS App Store, and new watch faces
Best E3 games and services for macOS and iOS


Hafts. A denser Draughts, but with pieces only capturing those bound to the opposite colour. (8x8, Cells: 64) By Charles Gilman.
Half Bughouse. Another name for Anywhere Chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) Author: Hans L. Bodlaender.
Half Chess. Pieces have approximately half their usual movement possibilities. (8x8, Cells: 64) By Ralph Betza.
Half Chess of Ralph Betza. Exactly like halfling chess, only the knights are replaced by crabs, making them more compatible with half moving rider pieces. Author: Jeremy Gabriel Good. Inventor: Ralph Betza.
Hand-Drawn Chess Variant Pieces. Creative and fanciful chess piece drawings. By Tony Newton.
Handicap Chess. As in golf, stronger units are given relative limits. Author: Ed Friedlander.
Hanga Roa. A chess variant inspired by the people of Easter Island. (9x9, Cells: 81) By Hernán Marcelo Domínguez Placencia and Juan Pablo Schweitzer Kirsinger.
Hannibal Chess. Chess with added Modern Elephants (ferz-alfil compound) on 10x8 board. By Kevin Pacey.
Hans Bodlaender resigns as editor-in-chief. Missing description Author: Hans L. Bodlaender.
Hara-Kiri Chess. Capturing pieces also are removed. Author: Alessandro Castelli. Inventor: B. G. Laws.
Hardly Anywhere Chess. Pieces teleport anywhere without capturing, threatening, or escaping check. Author: Ed Friedlander. Inventor: Edward Jackman.
Haunted Chess. Missing description (8x8, Cells: 64) By Stephane Burkhart.
Hawaiian Chess. Pacific Island variant. Author: Ed Friedlander.
Haynie's Game of Leapers. On 8 by 8 board with several pieces that can jump. (8x8, Cells: 64) By Billy Haynie.


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Reps. Greg Walden, Mark Meadows, and Matt Gaetz are some of the Republicans who acknowledge human-caused climate change and are pursuing solutions.
Jeremy Clark and Charlie Abrams are not your average high school freshmen. They've been active climate advocates since they were in the fifth grade.
As part of Portland's month-long Pedalpalooza, CCL volunteer Francine Chinitz led two bike rides complete with climate change information and ice cream breaks.
The tour included 11 stops, including 2 meetings with district offices of Rep. Greg Walden. Read highlights from organizer Brian Ettling here.
For the next installment of our 10th anniversary series, CCL regional coordinators provide updates from our 10 regions across the country.


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Courtney Cameron's 90th-minute winner moved Rotherham up into npower League Two's automatic promotion places after a 2-1 victory over Rochdale.
The Millers came from a goal down to turn the game around with a dominant second half display.
Kari Arnason appeared to have headed the visitors in front when he met Ben Pringle's corner and sent a header against the underside of the crossbar. His effort appeared to have crossed the goalline, but the Millers' appeals were waved away by referee Stuart Atwell.
Rochdale goalkeeper Josh Lillis then diverted Lee Frecklington's shot over the bar as the visitors started to exert control.
But the hosts took the lead against the run of play in the 29th minute. Joe Rafferty picked out Ashley Grimes and the in-form striker sent a half volley wide of Andy Warrington, his fifth goal in the last six games.
Rotherham dominated the second period and deservedly levelled in the 78th minute when Kayode Odejayi collected Courtney Cameron's corner and scrambled the ball home from six yards.
Odejayi was involved in the winning goal, his run into the Dale area ended by Kevin McIntyre whose slide tackle presented the ball to Cameron who curled home the winner.