The Catholic Central varsity academic team finished the 2014-2015 season as the most decorated and successful team in the history of the school.
The varsity A and B teams returned every member of teams that finished 14th and 21st at the previous year's national championship tournaments. The varsity A team smashed a 14 year old school record in wins (211) by winning an astounding 250 games during the course of the year. In addition, the varsity A team ended the year ranked as the #1 quiz bowl team in the country. The B team also set a new record for wins by a B team with 136, and finished the year ranked as the #9 quiz bowl team in the country. Between the two teams a new school record was also set for most varsity tournament wins in a season with 14, which included two college tournament victories.
The season was capped off on the consecutive weekends of May 31st and June 7th. At the NAQT High School National Championship Tournament in Rosemont, IL, the varsity B team finished as the highest B-team in the country by taking 21st out of 272 schools. Not to be outdone, the varsity A team rattled off playoff wins against the #8, #, 7, and #4 teams in the country, before finally being ousted by eventual champion Arcadia (CA) to take 3rd place overall.
The following weekend in Reston, VA, the varsity academic teams competed in the PACE National Scholastic Championship. With the varsity C team finishing #41 (highest C team) and the B team finishing #17 (highest B team), Catholic Central was the only school to finish with three teams in the top-50 and two teams in the top-20.
The varsity A team won an impressive 17 consecutive games, including avenging the previous weekend's defeat at the hands of Arcadia, to clinch a spot in the finals against the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (TX). The varsity A team answered the first 5 questions and opened a 200 point lead on their way to an eventual 470-370 victory over last year's champion. Senior captain Jack Watts was named to the tournament all-star team.
Individually, many Shamrock quiz bowlers were noted for their performances throughout the season. Freshman Robert Crawford was awarded the Rising Stars Award at NAQT HSNCT for being the 6th highest scoring freshman. Juniors Ean Maloney and Alex La Forest were given All-World Honorable Mention Honors in May. While junior Conner Reynolds was named to the All-World Second Team. Seniors Austin Foos and Jack Watts were named to the All-World First Team. Senior Austin Foos, competed against over 130 other students claimed 2nd place in the nation at the National History Bee in Washington, D.C. Finally, seniors Jack Watts, Austin Foos, Andrius Gobis, and Conor Nailos were selected to represent Team Michigan at the National All-Star Academic Tournament in Columbus, OH.
June 6th-7th: PACE NSC (Reston, VA) (PACE) NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!


Whittier International installed flexible furniture in its classrooms and library to provide students with learning environments that support individual needs and yet is flexible enough to quickly support collaborative learning in a variety of group sizes as best matches the instructional needs of the students. The project aligns with two of BVSD's Innovation Guiding Principles: "Learning is Personalized and Learner Led" and "Learning is a Social Process."
The stakeholders at Whittier have spent years developing the IB philosophy and the Innovation work aligns beautifully with the IB work already at play at Whittier. Prior to start of school year, the building leader and administration attended a half day training on Innovation and created Innovation Guidelines with district. Design Advisory Team (DAT) ideation captured in a short list of possibilities for Innovation. A whole staff presentation in the fall about understanding innovation with David Eggen and shared ideas from DAT. 3rd grade students, in partnership with CU, gave their input on how they would shape innovative learning spaces. Finally, ideas moved to grade level and other teams for brainstorming of what Innovation would look like in each of their learning spaces. Next steps, designers will meet with small teams to imagine individual spaces and continue to share with parent community.
This project directly supports the District's Mission to provide "engaging learning opportunities so that all children thrive" as well as with the District's Vision to provide "a comprehensive and innovative approach to education." In the District's Goals, it is more specifically stated that we will meet the "unique learning needs of each student and... create meaningful and engaging opportunities for each child." And, specific to the spaces we create, we are focusing on creating a "safe, healthy and inclusive environment."
1. Learning is personalized and learner led. This project aligns with personalization and learnerled classrooms because it provides a variety of spaces to match instructional and learner needs.
2. Learning is a social process. This project focuses on the social aspect of learning because equipment and table settings will provide both common spaces for bigger group learning as well as zones for smaller group and individual needs. It also means that the furniture and flexibility of learning spaces will support collaborative group work both in small and larger groups.
For Outcomes 1 and 2. Quantitative measures: Educator Effectiveness standards 3a and 3f change in scores on the rubric and Student survey measurement of student belonging and connectedness. Qualitative measure: Observations from administrator and focus group input from students.
We will invite staff to district PD opportunities at Exemplar schools, and the summer Furniture Fair (June 8 and 9), to read books (From the Campfire to the Holodeck, The Third Teacher and Blueprint for Tomorrow) and give them time share out what they learn. We will also invite Innovation Directors to continue PD with staff.


Amanda's note: Here is another wonderful contribution from Ramya Venkateshwaran who writes from her home in India. Ramya describes her homemade herbal mouthwash to fight bad breath. Find her on her website WildTurmeric.net for more ideas on healthy living.
~~~Homemade mouth washes are easy to make and is equally effective like a store bought ones. Here in my village using herbs to treat dental problems is very common. I have seen my family members and neighbors use fresh neem sticks and neem leaves for brushing their teeth and for making mouth rinse but now sadly this habit is slowly diminishing.
With all of the neem trees in our village, it is a custom to pick a tender neem stick usually after raising in the early morning. We chew on it for some time and then brush with it. However because neem is very bitter, many find it very hard to use. Some in my family are not keen on using neem sticks or rinses due its bitterness. I have tried many other natural recipes for them over the years and this cinnamon based antiseptic mouthwash is one such recipe. It is very effective, easy to put together, and it smells great.
The ingredients used in this recipe are are cinnamon, myrrh, thyme, and mint. Cinnamon acts as a mouth freshener, myrrh reduces inflammation in the mouth, thyme is a natural antiseptic, and mint acts as a natural healer. The herbs are infused in alcohol and then added to distilled water.
If you have the mint and sage plants at home, I would suggest plucking and drying them just before making the mouth wash for maximum flavor.
This is an age old recipe which requires you to steep the herbs in alcohol for a week or more for the herbs to release their essence. It is fun actually — the whole process of collecting and drying the herbs involves my entire family. The hardest part is resisting the temptation to open the bottle often during the soaking process.
Make your mouthwash in a glass bottle, preferably a dark one.
Keep it away from direct sunlight during the whole soaking process.
Let it sit for at least a week until you begin to use it.
I always prefer to make small batches as it keeps the flavor intact until I finish it but you can double or triple the recipe if you wish.
I used high proof unflavored vodka in the recipe as I wanted a neutral flavor and high proof alcohol also acts as an antiseptic.
This homemade mouth rinse can be used as a remedy for bad breath, bleeding gums, mouth sores, and gum inflammation. I made the recipe like given in an old book of mine and have not altered it much but if you don't want to use alcohol in the recipe, steep the ingredients in boiling water instead of alcohol for a day and strain.
Collect fresh thyme and mint, shade dry them spread on a plate completely until there is no moisture left.
After drying the herbs take them in your hands, gently crush them and add it to a glass bottle.
Pound the myrrh and cinnamon once in a mortar and pestle and add it to the bottle.
Top it up with unflavored vodka, cap it tightly and store in a dark, cool place for a week.
Strain the mixture. Add the distilled water and peppermint essential oil, mix well and store.
To use this homemade mouthwash, use it daily with your dental routine, swishing it in your mouth for about a minute and then spit it out.


text:
Q: Why does enumerating DirectoryEntry children only return 20 results on a WinNT domain? C# I'm currently using the following code to find computers in a given WinNT domain, since DirectorySearcher is not supported on WinNT domains;
protected void ScanDomain(string domainName, bool isLocalDomain)
{
    DirectoryEntry parentEntry = new DirectoryEntry();

    if(isLocalDomain)
    {
        try
        {
            parentEntry.Path = "WinNT://" + domainName;

            int numResults = 0;
            foreach (DirectoryEntry childEntry in parentEntry.Children)
            {
                switch (childEntry.SchemaClassName)
                {
                    case "Computer":
                        Debug.WriteLine(childEntry.Name);

                        numResults++;
                        break;
                }
            }

            if (numResults == 0)
            {
                Debug.WriteLine("No results.");
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Debug.WriteLine("Failed.");
        }
    }
    else
    {
        //...
    }
}

But when using this method, I only receive 20 computer results even though I know there's more computers than that in the domain.
So I was just wondering if anyone had any idea why this is?

A: Directory Entry returns the children of Specific Node. This will not contain node under nodes, means grand children of that. Try to check for grand children also, and get every node under WIN NT this will work.
Please let me know if you want a code snippet. Or I am missing any thing from my side.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Golf Staff
Golf Calendar
Dues & Fees
Public Menus
Northampton Country Club has six (6) courts located in a beautiful location on our property. Members and their guests can enjoy playing on four (4) Clay Courts and two (2) Hard Courts which also double for Pickleball play. We also have two (2) platform tennis courts utelized in the winter months.
What is Paddle Tennis? Also known as "platform tennis", paddle is a popular racquet sport played on an elevated aluminium deck in cooler weather. When it becomes too cool for golf, it's time for platform tennis, also known more comonly as paddle tennis. It's a cold weather sport that can be played outside during the winter months. At NCC, we have one of three paddle tennis facilities in the Lehigh Valley. Platform tennis is a game that is easily learned and enjoyed. The ball is made of a heavy rubber sponge material and the court is surrounded on all sides by wire screens. The screens keep the ball in play to keep the points going, leading to some great exercise.
Pickleball is a racquet sport that blends elements of tennis, badmitton and ping pong and is currently one of the fastest growing sports in America. It was created with one thing in mind: fun. It is easy to learn and play regardless of age or ability. We offer weekly round robins and open play. It may have a funny name but it is a very fast paced sport, easy to learn, great exercise and lots of fun.
Northampton Country Club offers a wide variety of Tennis programs. Our Tennis Professional Lori Marshall offers lessons for all skill levels. We also offer a large number of tennis events throughout the season. Throughout the summer season Northampton Country Club offers our Sports Academy summer camp for children ages 5-12. In this 6-week camp children will learn how basic tennis and golf skills while participating in fun activites throughout the week.
Lori Marshall
Director of Racquet Sports
Amy Zazo
Sports Academy Director
Racquet Sports Calendar
Please click here to view the 2021 Racquet Sports Calendar
Paddle Tennis Calendar
Please click here to view the 2020/2021 Paddle Tennis Calendar
Please click here to view the flyer for the 2021 Sports Academy Season
Come to the Club that the whole family can enjoy!
More Information Please!
Northampton Country Club
5049 William Penn Highway Easton
© 2022 Northampton Country Club. All Rights Reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: What is the max size of NSData can insert in SQlite? I need to know what is the max size of NSData that can be inserted in one row of an SQLite database => a max size of a column as opposed to the max size of a whole SQLite database.

A: A maximum column size as opposed to maximum database size per default 1,000,000,000 bytes, SQLite can be recompiled to support 2,147,483,647 bytes. You can find it in Limits in SQLite


text:
Globs to Watch: Royal Key Organics
Celebrate 710 With This Complete Guide to Cannabis Concentrates
Dab Roast TV Show Celebrates Concentrates
Terp Terms 101
Stacking Shots With Concentrate Photographer Dave Tomanovich
Photo courtesy of Royal Key Organics
We sampled the live resin from Royal Key, one of the most terp-tastic concentrates to emerge in 2017.
Jimi Devine
At this year's Emerald Cup, we were lucky enough to catch up with one of the hottest companies of 2017, Royal Key Organics.
Known for their amazing line of terp sauces, they truly go the extra mile in everything they do. From the phenotype selection to cultivation to processing their material, everything is handled in-house. Like many of the state's highly regarded extract craftsmen, Royal Key is a truly full soil to oil operation.
When we caught up with Josh of Royal Key at the cup, we mentioned to him 2017 felt like a year a lot of the big dawgs kept their seat at the table. But still, their dramatic rise was quite noticeable, arguably the most noticeable of any new high-end extractor.
"It's a bit of a blur," Josh said. "I don't really feel like we took anything. We came in, we've been growing for 20 years, and we ended up running some live resin that caught fire."
And to say all this happened quickly would be an understatement. That first batch of live resin was produced only a year and three months ago. With the obvious quick turn around on their new popularity, we asked Josh if everything was basically dialed in, such as the packaging and branding, right off the bat.
"I guess we've been dialing things in ever since," he said. "To address the packaging, we first came out and were only running trim run. As we wanted to brand more we decided we had to start running the whole flower. Once we did that and immediately came up with a product that by itself was turning into sauce we knew we needed a jar."
After the switch to jars, Josh's wife designed the now renowned label that's basically turned into a blue and gold stamp of quality for many. We told Josh the jars are traded like wook gold these days and asked what it's been like watching the mystique build.
"It's shocking actually, I don't it's really set in yet," Josh said. "We haven't really worn or owned that. I don't think it's sunk in really, the industry is moving so fast I don't think we've ever really felt settled. We're looking on to the next couple months and years."
In Josh's opinion that time frame for Royal Key hard to nail down. Like many, they're attempting to cross all Ts and dot the Is when it comes to the new measures they need to comply with for the massive California adult-use market.
"We're going into a time period right now where we just shut down and we're just jumping through the hoops. When they tell us we can grow we'll grow and then we can run things."
The process of getting to the sauce that fills the jars is as hands-on as you'd expect. Coming from the cultivation background got the ball rolling and with it, they brought the mentality that they'd only be as strong as their weakest link and became control freaks.
"If we grow it we know what's in it," Josh said. "We know that everything comes from the flower. So if the flower in the pinnacle, the best, then you're going to have the best material. We just couldn't see ourselves putting our name on something we didn't have full control over. It wouldn't really seem like a real brand to us any other way. Just for our brand, I'm not talking about anyone else in particular, I'm just saying for us."
With the control, comes the hard decisions, but also sole responsibility for the results.
Nineteen phenotypes made it through the selection process this year for Royal Key, each essentially a one of one limited batch. According to Josh, it's part of the fun.
"You find something you love and there is probably not much of it," he said.
Josh also enjoys watching people come to the booth at shows looking for specific flavors. Some of the big standouts for the 2017 line included the flagship Creme Brulee and Forbidden Fruit. Both will be part of the first wave of new offerings when the time comes in 2018.
"Most of the phenos we just found we ran two to three times to make sure we really like it. That said, I like all of them. But Ocean Orange stands out, it's really special. The Hammerhead is nice. But at the top of that triangle, it's the Z Royal, it really stands out. It's the Magnum Opus crossed back with the Zkittlez," Josh said about the lineup. "It's tough. It changes with my mood."
The batch of Royal Key we sampled lived up to the hype completely. It included the aforementioned Hammerhead and Ocean Orange. The Ocean Orange blew us away with its tropical terps. And it's not just the flavor but the depth of it, it feels like you have taste buds in your sinuses. I would say the way the flavor hits you almost makes it a pinch less smooth than other blander extracts. Not that it isn't smooth, but kind of in the same way water would be considered smoother than Jack Daniels.
While not for every tax bracket, if you can get your hands on a jar of Royal Key we highly recommend it.
TELL US, what is your new favorite flavor?
Related Topics:Cannabis, concentrates, live resin, Royal Key Organics, sauce
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Why not make the short trip to Caithness and take a memorable tour of the unique Castle and Gardens of Mey?
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother first saw what was then Barrogill Castle in 1952, while mourning the death of her husband, King George VI.
Falling for its isolated charm and hearing it was to be abandoned, she decided to save it. Having acquired the most northerly inhabited castle on the British mainland, The Queen Mother renovated and restored it and created the beautiful gardens you are able to see today.
Visitors to the castle will see the rooms used by Her Majesty when she stayed here and take a walk around the grounds and gardens whilst taking in views of the magnificent scenery across the Pentland Firth to Hoy, the nearest of the Orkney Islands.
The castle is open every day from 10.20am until last admission at 4pm. The visitor centre, tearoom, shop, grounds and animal centre are open every day during the high season from 10am until 5pm.


4. The whole machine performance is stable, simple and easy to operate, and with professional software, you can achieve high quality and efficient processing for all industries.
GEM-L1610T2 double head CO2 laser engraving cutting machine is to give full play to the movement control performance and enhance the laser processing effect, from software design, mechanical structure, electrical performance to the accessories selection, always stressed the purpose of processing site services, in a comprehensive quality management system factory environment Under the production operations, stability, accuracy and speed of the three indicators can reflect the world-class equipment standards. Excellence in the MT series of products, as the industrial site of the new means of operation - the best carrier of laser processing.
1. Marking the perfect effect can be marked on a very small surface of the user requirements of a variety of fine and complex patterns, has been known as the customer's "mark of the king"
More than 100,000 hours, maintenance-free, no supplies, for you to save high after the maintenance costs.
Applicable to all kinds of metal materials on the pipeline and some non-metallic materials marking, carving.


If you're a spreadsheet jockey but you're not keen on Excel's default settings, reader Curare details how to set up a custom Excel template so the data-wrangling app always uses the workspace you prefer.
I use Excel a lot, and I prefer not to see the gridlines—opting instead to have more of a canvas style look. Instead of changing the viewing settings every time you open Excel, you can set up Excel to open with your preferences already in place. Since Excel's menu items don't provide default settings for some items, you can create a template worksheet that Excel will reference before opening.
This method should work for any display settings of your choice. Thanks Curare!


Are you looking for opportunities to become active besides your studies? Become active at MAK and make the most out of your student life! Boost your CV, work in committees, get a lot of responsibilities, and cooperate with Tilburg University. Furthermore, being active at MAK gives you the opportunity to develop yourself further!
But moreover, when you join MAK, you will get to know a close group of friends that sees each other during bi-weekly drinks at Thursdays at Café Philip, other social activities but also studies together at the university. When you graduated at Tilburg University, you will become part of a large alumni network.


text:
Hurricane Florence: Watch incredible live video from Frying Pan Tower off the North Carolina coast
Hurricane Florence: Watch incredible live footage from an ocean platform off the coast of North Carolina
Hurricane Florence: Watch incredible live video from Frying Pan Tower off the North Carolina coast Hurricane Florence: Watch incredible live footage from an ocean platform off the coast of North Carolina Check out this story on tcpalm.com: https://www.tcpalm.com/story/weather/hurricanes/2018/09/13/hurricane-florence-watch-incredible-live-video-ocean-platform-off-north-carolina-coast/1296387002/
Emre Kelly, Florida Today Published 6:43 p.m. ET Sept. 13, 2018
Infrared imagery of Hurricane Florence as it approaches the Carolinas.(Photo: NOAA)
Watch incredible live footage from the ocean-based Frying Pan Tower, a former Coast Guard lighthouse and housing platform, as Hurricane Florence approaches the United States.
Located about 34 miles off the coast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, the tower is accessible by boat and helicopter and even functions as a bed-and-breakfast thanks to its bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom, according to its website.
The main stream is provided by a camera about 100 feet above sea level.
Florence was recently downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, but still packs enough destructive power to produce brutal winds and life-threatening storm surges. Landfall is expected sometime Friday, likely somewhere between Wilmington, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
So far, more than 1 million people have evacuated coastal areas and about 10 million live in areas of storm warnings and watches, according to the National Hurricane Center. Surges up to 13 feet are possible, along with up to 40 inches of rain.
More: Could Isaac enter the Gulf of Mexico and cause Florida trouble? Forecasters are monitoring
More: Atlantic basin busy with 4 named storms, 2 tropical systems; 1 wave could become depression
[Hurricane Florence update from National Hurricane Center in Miami]
Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center, discusses potential risk of storm surge to coast communities in the Carolinas. Isadora S Rangel, Florida Today
Hurricane Florence: Storm bears down on Carolinas
Dane Evans, a fisherman, 36, of Swan Quarter, drives his 31-year-old boat, Captain Drew, named after his six-year-old son, around the Swanquarter Bay, Sept. 12, 2018. As Hurricane Florence moves in, a storm surge of about three to six feet is expected for Swan Quarter, and around six feet for Ocracoke Island with 12-20 inches of rainfall for the entire area. Hyde county as well as several surrounding counties are under mandatory evacuation. Evans will be traveling to Washington, NC to stay with his girlfriend during the hurricane. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Amy Mead of Wilmington, N.C. ducks a windy gust at Wrightville Beach marina in Wilmington, North Carolina on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. Ken Ruinard, USA TODAY NETWORK
Bob Bowman, from Virginia Beach, Va., gets some air as he kiteboards, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018, in Virginia Beach, Va., as Hurricane Florence moves towards the eastern shore. Alex Brandon, AP
Swan Quarter N.C fire chief Jefferey Stotesberry and his son J.T Stotesberry refuel generators and chainsaws at the fire department as they prepare for Hurricane Florence Sept. 13, 2018. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
A Virginia Beach, Va., resident moves a sandbag before loading it in his truck, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018, in Virginia Beach, Va., as Hurricane Florence moves towards the eastern shore. The National Hurricane Center's projected track had Florence hovering off the southern North Carolina coast from Thursday night until landfall Saturday morning or so, about a day later than previously expected. The track also shifted somewhat south and west, throwing Georgia into peril as Florence moves inland. Alex Brandon, AP
Stand-up paddle surfer Travis Storey, center, rides a wave from the approaching Hurricane Florence, Wednesday, Sept., 12, 2018, on the south beach of Tybee Island, Ga. Storey said the waves have been gradually building in size as the storm draws closer to the East Coast. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton) Stephen B. Morton, AP
Sand bags surround homes on North Topsail Beach, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018, as Hurricane Florence threatens the coast. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) Chuck Burton, AP
The sign says it all: Much of Kinston sits adjacent to the Neuse River, which in heavy rain bursts its banks and, in the past, has devastated the community. Sam DeGrave, USA TODAY NETWORK
Evacuation out of the question: In Kinston — and likely elsewhere in eastern North Carolina, home to some of the state's greatest pockets of poverty — evacuation isn't possible. Sam DeGrave, USA TODAY NETWORK
Jimmy Williams, 80, prepares to move his vehicles to higher ground at his home in Swan Quarter, N.C as Hurricane Florence makes landfall Sept. 13, 2018. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Jimmy Williams, 80 and his wife Ellen Louise Williams, 79, of Swan Quarter, N.C, will be staying in their home for the duration of Hurricane Florence, making landfall Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Business is booming: Though Chef & the Farmer is closed until Hurricane Florence passes, the men who worked Wednesday to cover the restaurant's doors and windows with plywood are seeing plenty of business. The Kinston restaurant was one of several businesses that they've boarded shut in the past several days, they said. Sam DeGrave
Empty for now: Friends of the Homeless Emergency Shelter, in downtown Kinston, stood empty Wednesday afternoon as Cleoxin Waters restocked supplies. But come Thursday, when Hurricane Florence hits, Jasper Newborn, who founded the shelter in 1990, hopes that the city's homeless population fills his shelter's beds. Sam DeGrave
No home to leave: Tony Clower, 39, would like to follow the governor's advice and evacuate, but he's homeless. Sam DeGrave, USA TODAY NETWORK
Gov. Roy Cooper visited the North Carolina Emergency Management Eastern Regional Coordinating Center in Kinston as officials prepared for Hurricane Florence. Sam DeGrave/sdegrave@citizentimes.com
Kelly Rathburn waits with her dog Spud before leaving on a bus to Knightdale high school in Knightdale, a suburb of Raleigh before Hurricane Florence makes landfall, Sept. 12, 2018. A storm surge of about three to six feet is expected for Swan Quarter, and around six feet for Ocracoke Island with 12-20 inches of rainfall for the entire area. Hyde county as well as several surrounding counties are under mandatory evacuation. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Children board a bus leaving for Knightdale high school in Knightdale, a suburb of Raleigh before Hurricane Florence makes landfall, Sept. 12, 2018. A storm surge of about three to six feet is expected for Swan Quarter, and around six feet for Ocracoke Island with 12-20 inches of rainfall for the entire area. Hyde county as well as several surrounding counties are under mandatory evacuation. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Elizabeth Gurganus, of Swan Quarter, prepares to evacuate to Tyner, outside Elizabeth City, with her husband before Hurricane Florence makes landfall, Sept. 12, 2018. A storm surge of about three to six feet is expected for Swan Quarter, and around six feet for Ocracoke Island with 12-20 inches of rainfall for the entire area. Hyde county as well as several surrounding counties are under mandatory evacuation. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Chris Johnson, 13, Tyler Seoby, 14, and Shubert Johnson, 11, play on their phones on a bus leaving for Knightdale high school in Knightdale, a suburb of Raleigh before Hurricane Florence makes landfall Sept. 12, 2018. A storm surge of about three to six feet is expected for Swan Quarter, and around six feet for Ocracoke Island with 12-20 inches of rainfall for the entire area. Hyde county as well as several surrounding counties are under mandatory evacuation. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper gives an update on the state's preparations for Hurricane Florence on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018. Cooper was expected to travel to Kinston following his press conference. Sam DeGrave/sdegrave@citizentimes.com
Dane Evans, a fisherman, 36, of Swan Quarter, works on his 31-year-old fishing boat, Captain Drew, named after his six-year-old son, in the Swan Quarter harbor Sept. 12, 2018. As Hurricane Florence moves in, a storm surge of about three to six feet is expected for Swan Quarter, and around six feet for Ocracoke Island with 12-20 inches of rainfall for the entire area. Hyde county as well as several surrounding counties are under mandatory evacuation. Evans will be traveling to Washington, NC to stay with his girlfriend during the hurricane. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Pam Ransom and her husband George Ransom of Lake Landing, give their order to Sharon Selby at Martelle's Feed House restaurant in Engelhard before they evacuate to Virginia before Hurricane Florence makes landfall in Eastern North Carolina Sept. 11, 2018. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Tony Brooks fills up the gas tank of a customer at Ryan's Garage in Swan Quarter in preparation for Hurricane Florence Sept. 11, 2018. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
A man who identified himself as Little Ron, has his gas jugs filled up at Ryan's Garage in Swan Quarter with Tony Brooks, and Ryan Marshall as he prepares for Hurricane Florence Sept. 11, 2018. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Heavy rain moves in at Swan Quarter, NC before hurricane Florence makes landfall Sept. 11, 2018. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
Passengers drive their cars off the Swan Quarter ferry after arriving at the terminal carrying a full load of passengers from Ocracoke Island Sept. 11, 2018, in accordance with the mandatory evacuation order in preparation for hurricane Florence. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
The Swan Quarter ferry arrives at the terminal carrying a full load of passengers from Ocracoke Island Sept. 11, 2018 after the mandatory evacuation order in preparation for hurricane Florence. Matt Burkhartt/mburkhartt@citizentimes.com
A 'Hurricane Rescue Bus' makes the rounds near Wrightsville Beach, N.C., on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. Daniel J. Gross/The Greenville News
Shane "Rooster" Bacchus, a homeless man in Myrtle Beach, talks about his plans for Hurricane Florence at the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Promenade on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. JOSH MORGAN/Staff
Myrtle Beach residents enjoy the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Promenade on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018 before Hurricane Florence is expected to hit. JOSH MORGAN/Staff
Randy and Carolyn Hardee ride down the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Promenade on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. Randy said they would have left Myrtle Beach if Hurricane Florence was a category 4, but chose to stay after it had been downgraded. JOSH MORGAN/Staff
Daniel Dillion walks down the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Promenade with his daughter Alexis, 5, and wife Mary on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. Dillon said he and his family chose to stay for Hurricane Florence. JOSH MORGAN/Staff
A woman rides her back at the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Promenade on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018 hours before Hurricane Florence is expected to hit the area. JOSH MORGAN/Staff
Myrtle Beach residents enjoy the last hours of calm at the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Promenade on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018 before the arrival of Hurricane Florence. JOSH MORGAN/Staff
Daniel Dillon holds his daughter Alexis, 5, as he talks about why he chose to stay during Hurricane Florence at the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Promenade on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. JOSH MORGAN/Staff
Jimmy Arnoux of Wilmington, N.C. watches a windy gust at Wrightville Beach marina in Wilmington, North Carolina on Thursday, September 13, 2018. (Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network / 2018 ) Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network,
James Crowell walks Henry the dog while Kim Crowell and their son Gavin Crowell walk off a dock with gusts of wind at Wrightville Beach marina in Wilmington, North Carolina on Thursday, September 13, 2018. (Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network / 2018 ) Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network,
A jogger goes by a roadblock at a bridge to Wrightsville Beach and the Waterway Lodge in Wilmington, North Carolina on Thursday, September 13, 2018. Freed arrived Tuesday. (Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network / 2018 ) Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network,
Barry Freed of Greensboro, N.C. said he wanted to ride out a storm once in his life, staying in the Waterway Lodge, right, in Wilmington, North Carolina on Thursday, September 13, 2018. Freed arrived Tuesday. (Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network / 2018 ) Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network,
Barry Freed of Greensboro, N.C. said he wanted to ride out a storm once in his life, staying in the Waterway Lodge in Wilmington, North Carolina on Thursday, September 13, 2018. Freed arrived Tuesday. (Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network / 2018 ) Ken Ruinard / Greenville News / Gannett USA Today Network,
Hurricane Florence is expected to bring heavy rain to much of the East Coast over the next several days. National Hurricane Center
The latest forecast from the National Weather Service. Contributed
The eye of Hurricane Florence as of 8 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2018. The National Hurricane Center
A National Guardsman directs traffic onto U.S. Highway 501 as Hurricane Florence approaches the East Coast Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018, near Conway, S.C. Time is running short to get out of the way of Hurricane Florence, a monster of a storm that has a region of more than 10 million people in its potentially devastating sights. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) Sean Rayford, AP
Phoebe Tesh covers her face as she talks about packing to evacuate from Wrightsville Beach, N.C., Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018 as Hurricane Florence threatens the coast. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) Chuck Burton, AP
Heavy surf crashes the dunes at high tide in Nags Head, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018 as Hurricane Florence approaches the east coast. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) Gerry Broome, AP
Ocean water breeches to the dunes in Avon, N.C., as the first effects of Hurricane Florence reach Hatteras Island on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. (Steve Earley/The Virginian-Pilot via AP) Steve Earley, AP
Body surfer Andrew Vanotteren, of Savannah, Ga., crashes into waves from Hurricane Florence, Wednesday, Sept., 12, 2018, on the south beach of Tybee Island, Ga. Vanotteren and his friend Bailey Gaddis said the waves have gotten bigger and better every evening as the storm approaches. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton) Stephen B. Morton, AP
Sep 12, 2018; Wilmington, NC, USA; A Waffle House on state highway 421 says they would be open through Hurricane Florence in Wilmington. Ken Ruinard, The Greenville News-USA TODAY NETWORK
Waves crash under the Avalon Fishing Pier in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018 as Hurricane Florence approaches the east coast. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) Gerry Broome, AP
Arrival times of the storm, according to the latest National Weather Service forecast. Contributed
091318-Florence-Path-11am_Online USA TODAY
Read or Share this story: https://www.tcpalm.com/story/weather/hurricanes/2018/09/13/hurricane-florence-watch-incredible-live-video-ocean-platform-off-north-carolina-coast/1296387002/
NHC watching several tropical waves in Atlantic basin
Louisiana bracing for predicted hurricane
NHC predicts hurricane by end of week
Tropical depression expected in Gulf of Mexico
Will thunderstorms help cool things off?


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The British Film Institute (BFI)
The British Film Institute (BFI) was founded in 1933 and is a charity governed by a Royal Charter.
The BFI combine cultural, creative and industrial roles, bringing together the BFI National Archive and BFI Reuben Library, film distribution, exhibition and education at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX, publishing and festivals. The BFI award Lottery funding to film production, distribution, education, audience development and market intelligence and research.
Film Forever is the BFI's five year strategic plan for 2012-2017 to support UK film. The plan covers all of the BFI's activities and is based around three priorities – education and audiences, support for the UK film industry and unlocking film heritage.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/
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Communicate with ACC Town through the email address displayed above for any query, help, suggestion and feedback.
Pick up your phone and call ACC Town on the specified contact number.
Let Us Know HERE if the provided contact numbers, email address or website of ACC Town are invalid.
Open www.acclimited.com website and get all required information from there.
Are You Satisfied After Making Call To ACC Town?
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Cable plan OK'd to link Asia, Africa, and Europe
One of the world's longest submarine cables - a $408 million link between Singapore and France - was given the go-ahead Tuesday when representatives from 21 companies signed an agreement for the project.
The cable will be the first to connect Asia, Africa, and Europe and will have eight segments linking Singapore to France via Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Italy. The 8,000-mile cable is scheduled to be operational early in 1986.
Singapore riots put spotlight on tensions with migrant workers
World reacts to Obama's new military focus on Asia
Why the Russian threat to undersea cables is overblown


I think this is a 6.0 issue. I'll have a look after work.
do you have this issue on Live or Beta? i can't reproduce it on live realms.
Its on live and very strange. It happens even after going so far to delete my interface/WTF to get completely new ones, and reinstalling just CDB. I suppose its just my problem then and I'll just turn the spirals off. Although WoW did say Cooldownbuttons Options was out of date, I'm not sure if that would change a color.
I'm having this exact same issue! Whether I set it to use cooldown spiral or not, or use omnicc settings or not.. This extremely ugly white spiral always appears. This is live, on 6.0.2, as of right now.
I love this addon so much.. Please help! I can test for you if need be.
Is there any option to unlock the position so I can place it where ever I want on the screen?
I cant find any buttoms at minimap to move this addon around at my screen.
Hello! I love your addons and I have a Suggestion. When cast 4 spells the cooldownbar goes like that "1 - 2 - 3 - 4 " When the 2º cooldown end the bar goes to " 1 - 3 - 4 " (the 3º spell take place over 2º on the cast bar... When this happen can you make the bar goes to " 1 - Empty Slot - 3 - 4"?
And if a new spell comes it take place of a Empty Slot like this " 1 - 5 - 3 - 4 "?
And another thing... You could put a Time before the Button desapears after the cooldown. Like (1 seg, 2 seg).
And 1 last thing... When you press the hotkey and the cooldown isnt over the icon could blink like the original bar.
Love this addon, it does what I used to use DoTimer for!
MY only pet peeve is the announcements bar, I read in the comments further down theres an option to disable it, but in the current build that option seems to be missing. Is there any way I can disable the announcements? Or am I jsut missing something?
Hi, I wanna say i love this addon and keep up the good work.
I just got back into wow after a few weeks off and it seem like the latest update removed the blackmail list of individual skill. Either that or i'm looking at the wrong place to find it. Oh yeah one more thing, is there a way to make the button inverted? like say i want the button to show up when ever my frost bomb or lava burst is off cooldown.
Just went through and tried testing out the addon again and noticed a few things. Was gonna say there wasnt a list for items but see you've already said that was coming soon. Havent tested thoroughly across other specs but on my enhance, noticed that when I used stormstrike it displayed primal strike on cd as well, since they share a cd, but saw no option to deslect to not show primal strike. As well, when using the option to have cds grow from center there are times when it will bug out and show the icons up and to the right of the anchor.
there is a plan to add an option to hide item cooldowns as it is for spell cooldowns, but this feature is not yet done. I hope i'll get some time to work again on CDB next week, after i'm finally moved to my new home.
Other then that, a great addon.
Sorry but currently there is no Plan for hidden Cooldowns.
First off, love your addon, its just what I've been looking for!
One thing though: The Colossus Smash Cooldown track doesn't work very well, because of Sudden Death (" Your melee hits have a 20% chance of resetting the cooldown on your colossus smash").
What exaclty do you mean with "doesn't work very well"? keeps the button counting down even if cd is ready due to sudden death proc?


text:
Q: Is there any way to train the YOLO5 model when image and annotation folder are separately available? I am trying to build the YOLO5 custom model, The Dataset (https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/nguyngiabol/colorful-fashion-dataset-for-object-detection) have maintained image and annotation (text based) maintained in two different folders.
Is there any way without modification folder structure I will start the training?
Example Image folder:

!python train.py --img 640 --batch-size 32 --epochs 5 --data /content/drive/MyDrive/Object_detection/Yolood/JPEGImages --cfg /content/drive/MyDrive/Object_detection/yolov5/models/yolov5s.yaml  --name fashion_model
Example: Txt annonation:


In Texas, the Medicaid program is administered by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. More than 3.7 million Texans are eligible for Medicaid, and there are more than 57,000 active Medicaid providers. A provider can be any person, group of people, or health care facility that supplies medical services to Medicaid recipients. Providers include doctors, medical equipment companies, podiatrists, dentists, licensed professional counselors, hospitals, adult day care centers, nursing homes, clinics, pharmacies, ambulance companies, case management centers and others.
It is necessary for a Texas health care professional whistleblower, Texas health care executive whistleblower, Texas health care administrator whistleblower, or other Texas Medicaid fraud whistleblower to have original and specialized knowledge of Medicare fraud to be eligible for Medicare whistleblower reward. It is also essential to not delay in coming forward with a Texas Medicaid fraud whistleblower claim as the first whistleblower to file is the only one eligible to be a relator and make a large recovery for exposing the fraud.
It is also important to realize that when a fraudulent Medicaid scheme is exposed, the people that kept the fraud secret can sometimes be found liable for criminal activity for not exposing the Medicaid fraud that was being committed and further be held liable for continuing criminal activity.


text:
Insurance reform 'urgently' needed governments barely moving
by MADURA MCCORMACK
SOMETHING needs to be "urgently" done about skyrocketing insurance premiums in Townsville and North Queensland before the wet season, Mayor Jenny Hill has said, but major changes are not expected anytime soon.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, conducting an inquiry into insurance in Northern Australia since 2017, released a suite of 28 recommendations in July this year.
Of those, 24 relate to action that the Federal Government can take or legislate for, according to Cairns-based Senator Nita Green. Five of ACCC's recommendations require State Government action.
Both levels of government have called on the other to act while both want the insurance sector to do their part. The Insurance Council of Australia reckons the State and Federal government should be the ones to act.
"Something has to be done about the inequity Townsville and North Queensland residents face on insurance costs compared to the rest of Australia," Cr Hill said.
"The ACCC inquiry confirmed that we are paying twice as much for insurance as people in other parts of the nation.
"We would like to see some of those recommendations implemented for the good of the northern region but we are still sitting and waiting."
Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, Dawson MP George Christensen and Herbert MP Phillip Thompson head to Townsville tomorrow to hear first-hand the issues residents are facing. The MPs will also separately meet with the heads of insurance companies.
Mr Sukkar has flagged introducing legislation to protect Australians from unfair contract terms in insurance contracts by year end, a move "consistent" with an ACCC recommendation he said.
"Tackling the problem of insurance affordability in Northern Australia is a complex issue," he said.
Mr Christensen said of the ACCC's recommendations so far, only the one that asks for the State Government to remove stamp duty addresses the issue of insurance prices.
State Treasurer Jackie Trad said stamp duty was not the problem with insurance in North Queensland, rather it was the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters which pushed up prices and reduced competition.
"The (State Government) understands the impact that severe weather events have, and we are getting on with the job of helping to lower insurance premiums for North Queenslanders," Ms Trad said.
Senator Green branded Mr Christensen's "fight for action" call a "cynical ploy".
The Dawson MP has set up a dedicated website to hear from residents and has made a three-point proposal of action, two of which relate to lobbying his own government.
"Backbenchers, both inside and outside the Government, always need to lobby the Government for changes," Mr Christensen said.
The community forum will be held at the QCWA Hall tomorrow at 10am.
Premium Content Finally, some good news for those on NDIS waiting list
Premium Content Political probe into north's soaring insurance costs
Premium Content Senator slams North Qld MP's insurance 'stunts'
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Todd Howard blames lack of Fallout 76 cross-play on Sony
By:Adnan Kljajic
Published: 20:35, 30 June 2018
Updated: 14:13, 01 July 2018
Todd Howard
In an interview with GameStar, Todd Howard claimed that Fallout 76 will have no cross-play because Sony was "not helpful" in the matter. Who knew Sony had enough pull to prevent cross-play between PC and Xbox One. Oh wait, they don't.
Even though Fallout 76 will be available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, there will be no cross-play between any of the three platforms. When the German website GameStar Todd Howard about the possibility of cross-play in Fallout 76, he was quick to put the blame on Sony, right after he said there wouldn't be any.
According to Howard, "Sony is not as helpful as everyone would like it to be" which may at first seem like a polite way of saying that Sony is completely blocking the feature. He also stated that Bethesda actually wanted cross-play in Fallout 76. Granted, Sony didn't welcome other consoles with arms wide open when it come to Fortnite, but they also can't prevent Xbox One and PC cross-play.
Even in Fortnite's case, Sony didn't completely block cross-play - PS4 players can do it with PC, Mac and iOS. So if Epic Games could get Fortnite to play between PS4 and PC, why can't Bethesda do so with Fallout 76? And how exactly can Sony prevent cross-play between Xbox One and PC?
These two questions were not asked in the interview, but the answer is rather obvious - Bethesda didn't want the cross-play enough. It makes one wonder if they wanted to bother with the feature at all to begin with, and the recent Sony controversy provided fertile ground for framing an explanation. Not a good one, but an explanation nonetheless.
Bethesda Fallout 76
It's not all bad news with Bethesda though, as Howard has confirmed that Fallout 5 as well as The Elder Scrolls 6 and 7 will be single-player titles in the . Fallout 76 will likely serve to test the water in order to see if they can get long-term monetization via the games as a service model, but the company's focus will remain on single-player titles.
Cyberpunk 2077 next-gen patch might be coming soon
Cyberpunk 2077's Steam build has been updated for the first time since October which could mean that the next-gen patch release is coming very soon.
God of War is Sony's highest rated game on Steam
God of War is off to a great start on Steam, reaching over 70.000 concurrent players and 97 per cent positive reviews.
Genshin Impact 2.5: New Line Breaker enemy has been revealed
Recent Genshin Impact leaks have revealed a new enemy named Line Breaker that will appear in the upcoming Genshin Impact Version 2.5 which is scheduled to arrive mid-February.
NBA 2K22: 2KTV Episode 19 answer sheet, week of January 16 2022
A new episode of NBA 2K22's 2KTV show is out, and so is a new set of questions. As per usual, each correct answer will be rewarded with a decent amount of VC.
Bannerlord introduces massive new updates to battle and combat
It wouldn't do for Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord to have extremely similar combat to Warband. So, on that note, TaleWorlds have finally found time to implement new changes to the game, and not just focus on putting out fires.
Riot will rework LoL Chemtech drake soul and map if it stays OP
The main issue the League of Legends player base has with the season12, as well as its preseason is the Chemtech drake. Riot are nerfing it in patch 12.2., and if that doesn't work, they say a rework will likely be in order.
Riot confirm League's Zeri and Valorant's Neon are made as a set
It wasn't only the close release and teasing of the two new additions to these two Riot games that made fans speculate about their connection, but their similarities as well, which Riot have now officially confirmed.
Victoria 3 will take a minimal amount of time to learn to play
Grand strategy Paradox games are notorious for their learning curve, and Victoria even more so. The developers are now treading a fine line between making the game accessible to a wider audience without sacrificing its core gameplay.
Stellaris empires will no longer be able to mitigate the empire sprawl
The strength of an empire comes from its vast reach and resources under its purview. However, its weakness lies in its size as well, which players will no longer be able to mitigate.
Destiny 2: Xur location and items this week (January 14 to 18, 2022)
Xur has some pretty awesome armour pieces this week and you would do well to visit the weekend vendor if you are logging into Destiny 2.
Fallout 76's Night of the Moth Update goes live today, here's what to expect
Fallout 76's Night of the Moth Update goes live on all platforms today. The update will bring the new Seasonal Event, Quality of Life improvements and more.
Destiny 2 to rework orb generation with Witch Queen
Destiny 2 will refresh the gameplay loop a little bit by changing the way Orbs of Power are generated when the next expansion launches.
GTA Online discounts and bonuses this week (January 13 to 20, 2022)
Rockstar Games are dishing out even more payouts for Agency owners in GTAO this week but also provides an incentive to buy one through discounts.
Rainbow Six Siege is nerfing Ela and Zofia
Ubisoft entered the business of nerfing siblings as they announced both Ela and Zofia will be getting slapped in the next patch in order to bring them in line with other operators.
PUBG is now free to download, free to play soon
PUBG is on the verge of going free to play which is both exciting and terrifying for the existing players.
GTA Online was going to have a contract to protect Simeon's assets
GTA Universe's beacon of morality was going to be a client of Franklin & Partner but the content was cut out of the final release.
Rainbow Six Siege: Y7S1 operator has leaked
Rainbow Six Siege has leaked yet again and this time we get to see most of the details about the operator that's coming with Y7S1.
Destiny 2: Xur location and items this week (January 7 to 11, 2022)
Xur has arrived to Destiny for the first time in 2022 and as per usual, he has a few items that are well worth checking out and buying.
Red Dead Online discounts and bonuses this week (January 6 to 13, 2022)
Rockstar finaly updated Red Dead Online with the weekly bonuses and discounts but also revealed the featured series for the full month.


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Wiser, Braver, More Optimistic
A blog about books and ideas
"My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,
With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds."
"Keep her facing it. They may say what they like, but the heaviest seas run with the wind. Facing it--always facing it--that's the way to get through."
"Our whole attitude towards literature is coloured by loyalties which we at least itermittently realise to be non-literary. . . . Every literary judgement consists in trumping up a set of rules to justify an instinctive preference."
"Writers and Leviathan"
"As a rule it is with our being reduced to a minimum that we live, most of our faculties lie dormant because they can rely upon Habit."
"Ultimately, not Christ, not Marx, not Freud, despite the pretensions of each, has the final word to say about the fact of being human."
"The Norman Mailer Syndrome"
"All the unhappiness of human beings springs from the hope that tempts them from the silence of the citadel and exposes them on the ramparts in expectation of salvation."
"Man is profoundly dependent on the reflection of himself in another man's soul."
Wittold Gombrowicz
landsurveyor66	in Uncategorized	 November 9, 2017 November 19, 2017 1,708 Words
The Marxist Magnificence of Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano"
BY MATTHEW HERBERT
Prophets, almost by definition, are not appreciated in their own times. Small wonder. They are either slagging the establishment or warning everyone how bad the future looks. Such outbursts tend to be mood killers. We do not want to hear how the powers that be are walking us off a cliff.
I recently read Kurt Vonnegut's deeply prophetic first novel, Player Piano. It is, in my estimation, about as good as a first novel can be.
Published in 1952, it was also way ahead of its time, unintentionally describing the first step toward the cliff of middle-class job insecurity we walked off in, oh, I suppose the 1990s. It portrays the increasing social dominance of technical expertise in America just after World War Two, a time when the promise of automation was just beginning to capture the public imagination. Older and wiser, we now know automation has led to, not just less drudgery, but also a diminishing sense of purpose in one's work and the widespread fear that one's job could be rightsized or outsourced any day. Player Piano catches this story at its sunlit beginning, when Americans were still focused on the intended consequences of all-out automation.
Literature exists, of course, to show all the ways the world escapes our grasp, especially when we think we have it thoroughly sewn up. It wasn't just drudge work we were abolishing when we began programming machines to do our jobs (faster, better, and around the clock). Here's the basic setup of Player Piano: In postwar America, the government, elite newspapers and leading universities have determined that the thing that won World War Two was American know-how. Russia fought a long, bloody, desperate campaign against the better-organized Nazis and won only by Stalin's luddite sacrifice of millions of Soviet lives; Britain barely held its own even after it developed the ability to carpet bomb German cities at will. Not until America put its unique genius to work developing the atom bomb and proliferating the world's best arms factories did the game change and the war turn toward an end.
In Vonnegut's Pax Americana, the country's master class is a small cohort of managers and engineers, the two types of people who generated the know-how that won the war. America has turned into a comprehensive meritocracy based on this historical test case; if you have know-how you're in, if not, you're out. Every factory, indeed all of society, is overseen by managers and engineers whose job it is to expand automation to its natural limits. The factories they supervise hum quietly with computer processes and electric current; the roar, swoosh and clang of industry is gone. The managers of know-how are less like floor bosses, more like curators of museums of the future. The new engineers write routines that cut more and more humans out of the loop. (The roots of artificial intelligence are evident here.)
Player Piano's antgonist, Paul Proteus, is a high-flying, mild-mannered manager of a large plant in upstate New York. His staff consists of one secretary and one engineer; as the book opens, the latter is about to design a circuit that will render his job redundant. Paul delivers the bad news; the engineer takes it equably, having already worked out the consequences of his latest inspiration. He's a smart, affable guy from Georgia.
Paul, however, perceives what his genius is doing to the less affable remainder of society, the ranks of the laid off who didn't get the chance to write their own pink slips. The problem is the system as a whole. Elementary schools track young students to determine their fitness for a future in management or engineering, which increasingly means their fitness to rule society. Most of them–shall we say 99 percent?–will be shunted into the class of the ruled. Workers all across the new America are now former workers: where they used to contribute to society, they now face a choice between conscription in the do-nothing Army (presumably machines do all the real fighting) or a federal jobs corps whose only function is to absorb excess labor energy.
Of an evening the useless proletariat gathers at the bar, which is where Paul meets them. The plot of Player Piano is the story of how he defects from his class to become the leader of an insurrection on their behalf . The story is a tragedy: after Paul's rebels make a bloody stand to smash the machines and restore humans to meaningful work, they immediately set about designing "efficiencies" in their primitive new society that would eventually debase them and shunt them aside once again. They can't help themselves; or maybe better: they are addicted to helping themselves.
The real substance of Player Piano, though, is in its ideas, not its plot. In a key moment, as Paul is about to take the leap and assume leadership of the workers' rebellion, he tries to persuade his wife that the wealth and comfort of the master class–their class–has created the cause he now feels he must fight for. "In order to get what we've got, Anita, we have, in effect, traded these people out of what was the most important thing on earth to them–the feeling of being needed and useful, the foundation of self-respect."
This indictment is essentially a restatement of Marx's idea of alienated labor, the contention that maximal efficiency-seeking in productivity dehumanizes work. It is worth quoting Marx at length on this idea. Long presumed dead, Marx's words from Das Kapital describe the setup of Player Piano to a tee and, much more unsettling, touch on many things that still plague workers today:
. . . within the capitalist system all the methods for increasing the social productivity of labor are carried out at the cost of the individual worker. That all means for developing production are transformed into means for domination over and exploitation of the producer; that they mutilate the worker into the fragment of a human being, degrade him to become a mere appurtenance of the machine, make his work such a torment that its essential meaning is destroyed; cut him off from the intellectual potentialities of the labor process in exact proportion to the extent to which sicence is incorporated into it as an independent power; that they distort the conditions under which he works, subjecting him . . . to a despotism which is all the more hateful because of its pettiness . . . .
For all the poetry of this passage, the key to understanding it is that odd little clinical-sounding phrase about science being an "independent power." What we are supposed to take away from this term is a sense of inexorability: certain objective forces drive the means of productivity forward, and we just have to accept that we are along for the ride. History determines the haves and have-nots. In Player Piano, it was the job of the managers and engineers to propagate this narrative of inevitability: although the proles might honestly feel they had reason to grumble about lacking meaningful work, the forces that had set them adrift were an established historical fact that you simply couldn't get around. Remember the engineer who coded himself out of a job and then took it well?–That's the way to handle these things, the managers tell us.
Alienated labor is still very much alive today. And workers are still not good at taking it equably when robots or cheap foreign workers push them out of their jobs. Indeed I would argue that the populism that gave us a demagogue for a president last year is based in the very same complaint that the proletariat raises in Player Piano: the feeling that invisible, unaccountable powers have debased labor and disconnected people from their jobs. This trend has been going on long enough now–and has been buttressed by new wondrous means by which the rich expropriate the workers' wages, including offshoring, benefits reductions, and tax havens–that it has become toxic. Alienated labor gave us Trump. It is the thing that, since the 1970s, has gutted America's middle class, wrecked the hopes of those left behind by new "efficiencies," and supercharged our class antagonisms into a political culture of tribal hostilities. And since Trump only stirs the anger of the alienated without actually addressing any of their complaints, their cause will continue to fester and inflame, making a future revolution of some kind that much more likely.
One of the background characters of Player Piano is EPICAC, a supercomputer that is biding its time, waiting for the top engineers and managers to write the codes and business plans that will put an end to their own jobs, the last human workers.
"What ar people for?" (image: wired.com)
In a delicious scene, a visiting foreign dignitary, a shah, has taken in the briefings at Paul's plant that foretell the demise of work. Eventually, EPICAC will run the place, as it will presumably run every other place in America. Paul offers to send a crack team to to the shah's homeland to install this business model of the future. Intriguing, the shah responds, but "before we take this first step, please, would you ask EPICAC what people are for." Wonderful.
Vonnegut is an artist, of course, so he can leave the question at that. Most of us are "just" citizens, though, and we must look to practical means, imperfect as they may be, to help us define what we are "for" and what work is supposed to mean to us. Is the need to feel useful in our jobs as sacred as it seems? What if the established powers deprive us systematically of the opportunity to so perform and to so feel?
The glowing heart of Player Piano is the (thoroughly Marxist) reminder that we need not accept the ruling elite's narrative that morally-neutral forces of history have placed them in lear jets and the other 99 percent in the entryways of Walmarts, in the seasonal Amazon warehouses, and in the rest of the places where every job threatens to become a mcjob and impose a "despotism . . . hateful because of its pettiness." Pro-labor political reform is still an option, and rebellion need not take the form of a do-nothing populism.
Ain't That America? (Part Two)
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After a short break, we're back this week with another of our "One and Two Copy" sales, which means we're price-cutting items we only have 1-2 copies left of on our shelves. Markdowns are good through June 3rd or while supplies last!
A singular long, deep moving, slow and expansive drone-track, built on always changing sonic masses, low frequencies, strong electric-electronic sounds, field recordings, feedback, buzzes, hisses, rough distortion, fading organ chords, cellos and orchestral parts. Alternation of progressive crescendos, ambiental pauses, sudden, dramatic and catchy dynamic shocks. An evolving and extraordinary trip through an obscure sonic journey, convincingly assembled by Italian Pietro Riparbelli (K11, PT-R) and Belgian Yannick Franck (Y.E.R.M.O., Idiosyncrasia).
Like a Slow River is a work characterized by sharp and minimal atmospheres, but also dark, cold and huge, such as big bodies of ice which slowly move, carried by an endless river. The five compositions of Like a Slow River" reach the high expectations of the previous works, such as "Cold Summer", "Continue" and the "Murder Ballads" trilogy with Martin Bates. With no doubt, this is the coldest and darkest work ever composed by this pioneer of industrial-ambient music. You all will be led to the oblivion of your existence….the freezing darkness of this glacial night is going to come down on your bodies and minds….you'll fall in your deepest sleep with the far echo of glacial runnings….
Constructions created with crude analog and digital treatments of tortured electronics, destroyed voices, raw materials and one old forgotten song.
Wind [Patagonia] is the third part of Spanish sound artist Francisco López's already classic trilogy of the Americas" which started with La Selva, followed by Buildings [New York] (both released by V2 Archief, Netherlands).


text:
J.A. Raftis. British Historiography Decentralizes.
by Neville Buch | Jul 24, 2015 | Article
Journal of British Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Nov., 1969), pp. 143-151.
From this reading we get a sense of how far behind Queensland has been in historiographical developments when Raftis declares as the opening line: "One of the most remarkable features of the British historical scene since World War II has been the rapid professionalization of local history". Raftis is initially referring to the building of local history archival collections. The development of local history archives in Queensland, and for other Australian states, has had much less time to mature. The loss of decades in the archival work has had detrimental effect in that many historical records were lost in a culture which tended to uncritically praise selected memory and conveniently depose of the retrospectively-embarrassing written records. Even today with legislation to protect archival work, bureaucrats and politicians are easily motivated to allow certain records to be lost.
Raftis' survey of the British scene from 1945 to 1969 also had implications for local history research and writing. His comments revealed how far the evolving British model had gone in creating a synergy of volunteer-amateur and paid professional work, and also how much more had it to go in the light in gains made after 1969:
… The Standing Conference for Local History, brought into being by the National Council of Social Service in 1948, gave an immense boost to the development of local history societies. These societies have been increasingly elevated from antiquarian clubs to adult education groups by a regular rota of lecturers from university departments and the publication of the quarterly journal, Amateur Historian. On the whole, however, this was a response largely beyond the pale of the historians' establishment. The superbly organized and successful Essex Record Office, for example, flows over into primary and secondary levels of education, but the wave of interest has not yet met the university student of history.
In Australia the interest of the younger generation was picked up in the 1980s and early 1990s, with record-breaking history undergraduate classes of several hundred in enrolments for a single university department. The late 1990s saw clawing-back in undergraduate numbers and a very high number of retrenchments in humanities academic staff members. The signs, though, for the future are promising. The 2015 ANZAC commemoration, as part of a wider World War I commemoration, has seen a phenomenal public response, much like that in the Australian Bicentennial of 1988. Whether a similar pattern of resurgence can happen for academically-based local history scholarship depends on how much the public can be enticed from their love-affair of fiction, in literature and cinema, to again read actual history. It has to be remembered that novels and film can inspire social reform and community well-being, but it is solid history scholarship that creates the ethical lessons, and thus, the real deal. Much of the Raftis reading demonstrates how the academically-based local historian integrates skills and knowledge from regional (equivalent to 'state') and national historiography as well as from the wider social sciences (particularly in the 1960s from sociology).