CENTED´s International Training Center offers a series of Online Programs for nonprofit and non-governmental organizations around the world. These programs provide an insight into the latest tools and techniques for nonprofit management and are designed for board members, management and technical staff, social leaders, volunteers, government officials, independent consultants, etc.
This program is designed to help nonprofit and non-governmental organization leaders use strategic management tools and techniques to improve their organizations overall performance.
This program is designed to assist management and technical staff involved in the analysis, design, implementation or evaluation of social development projects, regardless of their specific theme.
Some of the topics this course focuses on include: Civil Society and the Public Sphere; Provision of public and private goods; Analysis of social problems: Main difficulties, thematic areas; Legal, Political and Social Accountability; Mobilizing communities; Project Analysis Phase: Identification of stakeholders, Specific contributions of each one; Design Phase: Objectives and Planning, Project formulation; Implementation Phase: Getting into action, Territorial and Management Committees; Evaluation Phase: How to measure results, Ongoing assessment.
This program is designed to help understand and make the most of the latest tendencies in nonprofit and non-governmental financing and fundraising, both from the organizations and their stakeholders points of view.
These 12 week programs are fully online an asynchronous, meaning that there is no need to connect to the Internet at any given time. Instead, participants can choose the most suitable day and time to access the course materials and perform all related activities. Additionally, these courses can be accessed from any part of the world: the only requisite being access to the Internet.
These characteristics significantly reduce costs associated with travelling and attending on-campus education programs which obviously are also delivered on specific dates and times. Online Programs for nonprofit and non-governmental organizations have become a highly effective time and cost reduction alternative to traditional learning options, while retaining high academic standards and curricular design.
CENTED (Centro de Tecnología para el Desarrollo) is a Nonprofit Organization based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, whose mission is to contribute to the development, strengthening and professionalization of the Civil Society Organizations, through training and specialized consulting, in order to improve their performance, effectiveness and efficiency, and thus achieve a greater impact on society in general.
CENTED is the best choice in executive education for Nonprofit Organizations since it is the leading organization in Latin America, in addition to having extensive experience in the rest of the world. Since 2003 we have developed specific educational processes for the Third Sector and as of 2007 we incorporated methodologies using e-learning, having trained more than 2000 board members, management and technical staff, social leaders, volunteers, government officials, independent consultants, etc.
He has taught numerous courses and seminars, and regularly participates in national and international conferences. He has published numerous articles and papers on nonprofit and non-governmental organizations, as well as eight books. His professional activity involves consulting work and training, mainly for nonprofit organizations, having worked with some 400 organizations in over 20 countries.


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text:
Q: Why doesn't FIND_IN_SET return on NULL values Can anybody explain why FIND_IN_SET isn't returning the row with the NULL value? To me it seems obvious, the string "test", isn't part of NULL, so it should return it?
http://sqlfiddle.com/#!9/389043/2
CREATE TABLE test (
  id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,
  result VARCHAR(255),
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);

INSERT INTO test (id, result) VALUES (1, NULL), (2, 'abc'), (3, 'abc,test');

SELECT * FROM test
WHERE
  NOT FIND_IN_SET('test', result);

A: Well, NULL is not a string, not even an empty one. When you compare to NULL special operators are of need, like column IS NULL or the NULL-safe comparator <=>.
Usually this is solved with a query like
SELECT * FROM test
WHERE
  NOT FIND_IN_SET('test', result)
  OR result IS NULL;

I for one think, that the FIND_IN_SET() function shouldn't exist at all. It makes it seem like having comma separated values in a column is absolutely normal and quite common. But it isn't. You shouldn't store the values this way. You have a lot of disadvantages (see this post for a probably incomplete list) and you should really look into database normalization. Like Bill says in the linked post, comma separated values violate the very first normal form already.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


WBO celebrations have become an obligatory synonym to Face Contests, so it's time for a new one!
And yes, that's right, winners. Not one, not two, but three people will win Face Boosters! How cool!
But to make this even more exciting, the top winner will also get two Beyblades: an actual Burning Kerberous, plus a Zero-G Beyblade of their choice!!
Artistry: Obviously, someone who hand draws their Beyblade for several hours is going to be taken more seriously than someone who quickly puts something together in MS Paint or Photoshop. That being said, we understand that not everyone has the same artistic ability. Effort is what's important!
Originality: Try to think outside of the box and use ideas that haven't been used in Beyblade yet!
Balance: If you think making a Beyblade with a perfectly circular Wheel that weighs 50 grams with a sextuplet bearing Track and polished metal sharp Bottom is going to win you this, think again. While we don't want to see junk Beyblades, we also don't want them overpowered. Think as if it was to be real; you don't want to break the game!
The WBO Committee isn't eligible, as usual.
You have until December 22nd 2012 11:59:59 PM EST to do it. Any entries after that will be eliminated!
The cerberus is a fierce beast, so channel your inner lion and Go... Draw!
To little time for me, LOL. Great though!
Awesome! I can't draw but I still wanna try and win! Thanks Kai-V and committee!
For the prize, does it really mean that you can get any Zero-G Beyblade (Including limited editions like Saramanda Ifraid, Gold DKD, and Gryph Dragooon) or just those in the toyline from BBG-01 to current BBG-27?
(Dec. 04, 2012 11:58 PM)BH145WD Wrote: For the prize, does it really mean that you can get any Zero-G Beyblade (Including limited editions like Saramanda Ifraid, Gold DKD, and Gryph Dragooon) or just those in the toyline from BBG-01 to current BBG-27?
Just those in the toyline. We've already spent too much on the new 3rd Wave of Blader Rewards, and all of the other giveaways we've had lately haha.
This could be an obvious question, but it is also hypothetical. If someone won and chose for their Zero-G Bey to be Thief Phoenic/Archer Gargole/Bandid Genbull, would they get a confirmed RB, an unconfirmed RB, or the Sonokong starter?
Needless to say, I will be entering this contest!
I'll enter even though I'm not very good at drawing.
(Dec. 05, 2012 1:20 AM)Wombat Wrote: This could be an obvious question, but it is also hypothetical. If someone won and chose for their Zero-G Bey to be Thief Phoenic/Archer Gargole/Bandid Genbull, would they get a confirmed RB, an unconfirmed RB, or the Sonokong starter?
If SonoKong has released the Beyblade as a Starter, we would probably go for it more.
Do we just need to draw the beyblade from the plastic generation, can we add a background, or anything that would make it better?
My Shop!!!! | My story 3rd|My Team!!!
Win or lose, you must have the burning desire to win, like us, the Infernobladerz of Chicago, Illinois.
...Reading the first post usually helps in understanding what you're doing before you post.
Hell, even the title answers your question.
"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends. Last night, I experienced something new: an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, "Anyone can cook." But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist can come from anywhere."
... It has to be a Zero-G Cerberus-themed Beyblade. Obviously you cannot just copy Burning Kerberous. I thought this was clear from both the title and the details in the first post.
Yeah, I said paper twice.
I think I might try my (Shaky) Hand at this. So, there is a possibility to get a bahamdia?
Out of my mind. Back in one hour.
Member of Team Chaos Universe! Recruiting around the world!
Like it says, any Zero-G beyblade of your choice.
Yeah, I'm totally in. In fact, I'm going to start drawing RIGHT. NOW.
It does not make your entry worse, do not worry.
Anyway, a neat contest. I have a couple of ideas for it if I have time to enter.
Each head represents a different type of attack, the Wolborg head (somewhat based on Wolborg 2's Upper Wolf) uses Upper Attack, the Flash Leopard wing, based on Flash Leopard 2's Panther Head AR, is labelled "Smash Attack" and uses both regular Smash Attack and Force Smash. Both of those wings are angled and shaped similarly to Triple Wing which makes them quite effective, albeit not as effective as that AR. The last wing, based on Voltaic Ape (though bearing little similarity to mountain hammer other than the head design) is what makes the AR unique, though this isn't necessarily a good thing - its spike attack, a thick contact point covered in lines to focus pressure, results in a lot of power (which allows it to compete with Triple Wing), but also a lot of recoil. As a whole, the Attack Ring is not considered a Top Tier choice but is still very much underrated, especially with good customization, and is a lot of fun to use.
The Base is great, having excellent LAD (probably the third best of the plastics gen when used with Defense Ring) and good aerodynamics, but only works with a few shafts, and must compete strongly with the almost always superior Defense Grip Base 2 (Wolborg 2) for a spot on most combos. It can be used with Wolborg 2's Casings and Ariel 2's Shaft, though again it competes with Wolborg 1 (lighter) and Wolborg 2 (better LAD) for this, though its ability to use Support parts is more helpful to it here. It can also be used, alongside dranzer s's casings, to fix wolborg 2's shaft in place for an extremely fast albeit somewhat hard to use and rather short-aggression-time attack base, as well as with Driger F's shaft, though Wolborg 2's base is better for that.
Still, where it can be used for survival it is almost always a better choice than the more famous Customize Grip Base.
The SG is arguably the most important part - the Neo SG (Double Bearing Version) casings allowing the use of two Bearings (it comes with one metal and one shielded ball bearing) with compatible shafts, though the only ones that work are Burning Kerberous' own shaft and that of Wolborg 2 - and it is the best choice for both. In the latter case it provides defensive zombies with greatly improved stamina and spin stealing, as well as slightly better ability to absorb hits from opposite spin opponents, versus Wolborg 2's own casings.
In the case of the former, BK's shaft has a Change-Style tip (allowing aggressive or passive movement with correct launching) which results in excellent stability - meaning despite having less pure stamina than other options it is by far the most reliable stamina zombie tip (particularly because it has a much better chance against Circle Survivor Defense (AKA Wolborg 4 combos) due to that stability), and this works well with the additional stamina etc offered by two bearings, and the fact that the shape of the shaft makes it incompatible with every other set of casings seals the deal.
I think that covers everything performance wise, anyway, though this is all off the top of my head.
This sounds like a lot of fun. I defiantly want to enter this one! It's gonna be fun to see what everyone comes up with.
Add my 3DS Friend Code for XY!
1306-5160-2822 PM me if you do so I can add you back!
wow, this is a great opportunity for me and to others as well. why not i try this out. I'm in.


Agile Project Planning: Designing software with your phone?
I just ran across an interesting new web service called Scanr (how very Web 2.0). It let's you take digital photos of documents or whiteboards from your cell phone camera, send them to an email address, and it will mail you back a cleaned-up version as a PDF or JPEG.
One of the things they've figured out is how to take bad whiteboard photos and make them look sharp and clear. This could really come in handy when designing user interfaces on your whiteboard. I can't wait to try this with EasyPrototype!
Not quite sure what the business model is on this one, but for now it appears to be a free service.


Shangri-La's Hambantota Golf Resort & Spa overlooking the pristine southern coast of beautiful Sri Lanka, the resort is located along the ancient Spice Route in a city steeped in rich history. Hambantota is known for its natural beauty and wildlife, allowing visitors to explore Asia's most fascinating nature sanctuaries like the Yala and Bundala National Parks where they can see a wide variety of wildlife including the majestic elephant. The luxury resort's spans 53 acres, with 300 spacious rooms and 21 suites, all surrounded by stunning tropical gardens. Ideal for business and leisure travelers alike, the resort is the largest in Sri Lanka and home to an 18-hole golf course, an expansive spa and an artisan village that celebrates local arts and crafts. A wide variety of vibrant dining destinations can be found throughout the resort. Bojun Hala will serve local food, while the stunning Beach Grill and Sera, inspired by the famous hawker stalls of South East Asia, will provide a variety of comfort foods and grills. Families are given a warm welcome at the resort with a range of services designed especially for them. The Cool Zone Kids Club is open every day and there are plenty of other activities to keep younger guests happy with a 7m high trapeze, a drone flying area and childcare facilities.
Bojun Hala: Sri Lankan cuisine along with a variety of international dishes at this all-day dining restaurant.
Beach Grill: Innovative mobile kitchen set up in a large traditional fishing boat, with an open fire pit for grilling the local catch of the day.
Sera: Transport yourself to the hawker stalls of Southeast Asia for street-style food, all freshly prepared with aromatic spices, herbs and ingredients.
Giman Hala: Freshly made drinks after a morning yoga class; afternoon tea or a selection from the cocktail trolley after a day's exploring; champagne at sunset and a nightcap by candlelight.
Ulpatha: Ulpatha (Watering hole) is the perfect place to unwind after a game of golf, with a fine selection of malt whiskies and other beverages and snacks.
All Deluxe Rooms are located on the ground floor and offer views over the tropical gardens.
Premier Rooms are washed in relaxing colour palettes, decorated with tasteful furnishings and offer the best in contemporary, authentic Sri Lankan style.
Premier Ocean Rooms feature relaxing colour palettes, tasteful furnishings and the best in contemporary, authentic Sri Lankan style.
The spacious Premier Golf Suites provide the ideal setting for a romantic getaway. With colours and contemporary décor inspired by the local culture, the suites offer the ultimate in luxurious, resort-style living in an atmosphere of authentic Sri Lankan sophistication. These suites are fitted with state-of-the-art technology and will enhance any special occasion by making it more memorable.
The spacious Premier Ocean Suites provide the ideal setting for a romantic getaway. With colours and contemporary décor inspired by the local culture, the suites offer the ultimate in luxurious, resort-style living in an atmosphere of authentic Sri Lankan sophistication. Created with inspiration drawn from Sri Lanka, these private hideaways with separate living and dining rooms offer the finest in comfort and feature views over the magnificent Indian ocean.
Bathed in natural light, the Araliya Suite and Manel Suite are the ideal choice for guests looking for world-class resort-style living with ample space and enchanting surroundings in an atmosphere of authentic Sri Lankan sophistication and offer exceptional views over the Indian Ocean.
Janapathi Suite is refined and stylish - mirroring the discerning guests who stay there. This expansive and extraordinary retreat is the pinnacle of luxury and offers those that stay there the highest level of attentive service and exclusive privileges in an atmosphere of authentic Sri Lankan sophistication, with exceptional views over the Indian Ocean.


text:
Q: How to deal with history-sensitivity? So I have written a Java program that has a function handInExam() that may not be called twice in a row, thus the program is history-sensitive. The problem that then occurs is that I need a variable canHandInExam to check whether this method has already been called and update this variable in each method, which leads to very poor maintainability. Below is a code snippet to show the problem.
public class NotAllowedException extends Exception {
    public NotAllowedException(String message) {
        super(message);
    }
}

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Exam {

    String[] exam;
    String[] answers;
    boolean canHandInExam;

    public Exam(String[] questions) {
        exam = questions;
        answers = new String[exam.length];
        canHandInExam = false;
    }

    // This method may only be called once in a row
    public void handInExam throws NotAllowedException() {
        if (canHandInExam) {
            // Send exam to teacher
            canHandInExam = false;
        } else {
            throw new NotAllowedException("You may not hand in this exam!");
        }
    }

    public void otherMethod() {
        // Do something
        canHandInExam = true;
    }
}

In this small example it is feasible to slightly adapt each method, however if you would have lots of methods you would need to adapt all of them. Since after all these methods you may again call handInExam() thus the variable canHandInExam would need to be set to true.
Is there a way to solve this problem in a way that is more maintainable? I am open to other possible programming languages that are not OO, but at this point I am unsure of what would be suitable.
I have considered using functional programming (e.g. Haskell) as those languages are not history-sensitive, however I did not know how to limit that you may only call a function once in a row. I tried searching for how to limit a function call to n times in a row both in Java and Haskell, but this ended up with only references to how to call a function n times.

A: If you speak about handing in an exam, than this doesn't mean that something is done with that exam, but that there is some entity to which the exam is given. So instead of storing within the exam whether it was handed in or can be handed in, something like this would be more appropriate:
//or whatever you call this
public interface Institution {

    void handInExam(Exam exam) throws DuplicateExamException;

    boolean isHandedIn(Exam exam);

}

Implementations of Institution store the exams that were handed in (possibly using a Set).


text:
Q: Combine strings to select column I have a table like this

books
|---------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|         book        |       source     |    store_price   |  bookstore_price |
|---------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|        Batman       |       store      |       10.5       |        9.5       |
|---------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
|       Superman      |     bookstore    |       null       |         9        |
|---------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|

I need to select books and sum prices and my query so far looks like this
SELECT
    book,
    SUM(
        CASE
            WHEN source = 'store' then store_price
            WHEN source = 'bookstore' then bookstore_price
        END
    ) AS price
FROM books
GROUP BY 1
;

Is it possible to somehow optimize SUM select for ex. select source||'_price' from books;?
Thank you in advance!

A: I"m not 100% sure if this helps, but you can unpivot the data and aggregate:
select b.book, sum(v.price)
from books b join lateral
     (values ('store', store_price),
             ('bookstore', bookstore_price)
     ) v(source, price)
     on v.source = b.source
group by b.book;

A: You can use the COALESCE function:
SELECT
    book,
    source,
    SUM(
        COALESCE(store_price,bookstore_price,0)
    ) AS price
FROM books
GROUP BY 1
;


text:
'Liquid gold' standard - RED - Relevant. Essential. Denver.
'Liquid gold' standard
Expertise in water policy and law are more valuable than ever. Here's why an online water certificate focused on Colorado's unique laws is drawing professionals from across the country.
By Siet Wright
An 1859 gold rush drew scores of thousands of prospectors to what is today Colorado, where they formed mining camps along the rivers draining out of the Rocky Mountains.
The legacy of those camps isn't just the cities and towns we know today – Denver, Boulder, Black Hawk and Georgetown all started as riverside mining camps – but also statehood in 1876 and the unique water laws enshrined in Colorado's Constitution.
While the Eastern states based their water laws on riparian rights – a system for allocating water among those who owned land along rivers – Colorado's water laws gave rights to the first party to divert water from a stream and use it for a beneficial use under a system known as prior appropriation.
More than 160 years after prospectors first applied prior appropriation along the banks of Cherry, Clear and Ralston Creeks, interest in the Front Range's waterways is again piqued. But now, rather than mining precious minerals, working professionals from across the country are studying Colorado's unique water laws through Metropolitan State University of Denver's Water Studies Certificate, the only self-paced, online water certificate focused on the Rocky Mountain West.
"Demand for freshwater in our expanding population and warming world makes water the new liquid gold," said Tom Cech, co-director of MSU Denver's One World One Water Center. "That makes expertise in water policy and law more valuable than ever."
RELATED: Here's what Colorado's snowpack means for rivers, reservoirs and wildfire risks
The certificate launched in 2017 and is designed to be flexible and accessible to professionals in myriad fields because it can be completed in an online environment, Cech said.
"People take these courses from every industry imaginable," he said. "From brewing, agriculture, history, law, political sciences, sociology and many more professions and academic backgrounds."
The certificate has also drawn interest from people on water commissions, government officials and municipalities across the West because laws in Colorado impact users downstream.
The Cherry Creek flows through Denver. Above: Clear Creek in Idaho Springs. Photos by Sara Hertwig
Castle Rock Water Commissioner Amy Blackwell earned the certificate to gain a firmer grasp on water law and issues at the state and national levels. Incoming commissioners receive an orientation on community and regional water operations, but the larger context is critical, she said.
"The water-studies program provides a deep dive on (state and national issues) and is a valuable resource," she said.
Among the classes offered is the Colorado Water History course taught by MSU Denver Professor Matt Makley, Ph.D. It examines water in relation to the people who have lived here and how Colorado's prior-appropriation laws came to be in their current form.
"Water is the topic for our time, for where we are in the human experience," he said.
RELATED: Here's how Gen Z is using hip-hop to fight for the environment
The online certificate is offered through MSU Denver's Innovative and Lifelong Learning to meet growing demand for noncredit credentials in the water field. It's aimed at professionals who want to increase their skill set and marketability in changing and challenging times, said Marketing Manager Kerra Jones.
Another driver of enrollment, she said, is the need for knowledge of water law and policy amid changes wrought by climate change.
"Climate change will significantly impact our freshwater resources throughout the world," Jones said. "In the American West, over 40 million people depend on the Colorado River. Water is a finite resource in a changing world with an ever-growing population."
While the certificate is designed for online learning, Nona Shipman, Hope Bartlett and Jennifer Riley-Chetwynd of the OWOW Center have expanded video learning to new levels in the wake of closures caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. In March, the OWOW Center launched TomTalks YouTube videos where Colorado water issues are discussed to keep the water community connected with OWOW activities.
This program includes conversations with water professionals, MSU Denver faculty members and international partners. It's a way to continue the important water conversations of our time. Numerous outside groups have picked up the TomTalks to expand the reach of the new outreach effort.
All of these activities, with partners from all over the world, are again converging on Colorado, but instead of gold, our new collaborators are seeking water knowledge, a legacy that has been expanding since the initial gold rush of 1859. MSU Denver's history, with its location on the Auraria Campus and the creation of the One World One Water Center, continues the legacy of exploration and innovation in Colorado and the West.
Keah Schuenemann
Jennifer Riley-Chetwynd
Co-Director of the One World One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Nations and their citizens rely on infrastructures. Their incapacitation or destruction could prevent nations from protecting themselves from threats, cause substantial economic harm, and even result in the loss of life. Therefore, safeguarding these infrastructures is an obvious strategic task for any sovereign state. While the need to protect critical infrastructures (CIs) is far from novel, digitization brings new challenges as well as increased cyber-risks. This need is self-evident; yet, the optimal policy regime is debatable. The United States and other nations have thus far opted for very light regulation, merely encouraging voluntary steps while choosing to intervene only in a handful of sectors. Over the past few years, several novel laws and regulations addressing this emerging issue have been legislated. Yet, the overall trajectory of limited regulatory intervention has not changed. With that, the wisdom of such a limited regulatory framework must be revisited and possibly reconsidered. This Article fills an important gap in the legal literature by contributing to and promoting this debate on cyber-risk regulation of CIs, while mapping out the relevant rights, options, and interests this 'critical' debate entails and setting forth a regulatory blueprint that balances the relevant factors and considerations.
The Article begins in Part II by defining CIs and cyber risks and explaining why cyber risk requires a reassessment of CI protection strategies. Part III describes the means used by the United States and several other nations to address cyber risks of CIs. Part IV examines a market-based approach with minimal governmental intervention to critical infrastructure cyber-regulation, along with the various market failures, highlighting assorted minimal measures to correct these problems. It further examines these limited forms of regulation, which merely strive to bridge information and expertise barriers, assign ex post liability for security-related harms, or provide other specific incentives—and finds them all insufficient. Part V continues the normative evaluation of CI cyber-protection models, focusing on ex ante approaches, which require more intrusive government involvement in terms of setting and enforcing standards. It discusses several concerns with this regulatory strategy, including the lack of governmental expertise, regulatory capture, compromised rights, lack of transparency, and the centralization of authority. Finally, in Part VI, the Article proposes a blueprint for CI cyber protection that goes beyond the mere voluntary regulatory strategy applied today.
Eldar Haber & Tal Zarsky, Cybersecurity for Infrastructure: A Critical Analysis, 44 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 515 (2018) .


Generic Viagra will cost half of the $65-per-pill list price of old-fashioned Viagra and will be a "little white pill" rather than a blue one. Pfizer's Viagra patents have already expired in several other countries.
Get cheap Viagra from Online Pharmacy, The lowest prices for Generic Viagra guaranteed! First see risks and benefits of Sildenafil.
Leucemia sau boala sângelui alb (din greaca veche λευκός, leukos, "alb" și leucemia mieloidă acută și leucemia limfoidă cronică fiind cele mai comune.
La leucemia ete nu tumore de lu sangu ca curpisce le cellule de lu sangu e de lu midollu osseu ca proliferanu intra na manera ncortullata. Ci suntu sirai cchiui.
Tori Marsh Tori Marsh, MPH, is on the Research Team at GoodRx, and is the resident expert on drug pricing and savings.
Cialis ( tadalafil ), the two most popular erectile dysfunction (ED) medications.
Revatio . For ED in particular, Viagra is the second most popular drug after Cialis.
FDA. So where is it?
Viagra manufacturer Pfizer that prohibited the generic from launching until December 2017. While this patent protection has postponed the savings, generic Viagra is close.
Generally, generic drugs first appear on the market at about a 50% discount to the brand.
Unlike the brand, however, generic drug prices typically decrease very quickly as new manufacturers enter the market.
Within a year of release, many generic versions of prescriptions can become very affordable, especially if multiple companies are making the generic.
One caveat for generic Viagra, though: Due to the settlement between Viagra and Teva, the generic sildenafil manufactured by Teva will be the only one on the market until April 2020. What does this mean?


text:
Cardiff City FC Community Foundation
Join a programmeDonate
What We Want to Achieve
How We'll Achieve It
Foundation in Numbers
Annual Review: 2018
Strategy: The Next Five Years
Your Health and Wellbeing
Bluebirds Ability
VI Football
The Sporting Memories 'Veterans' Project'
Getting into Education
Getting into Work
Post 16 Education
Bluebird Experiences
Match Day Experiences
Ffion reaps the rewards
Sam Law
Cardiff City FC Foundation deliver the Premier League Primary Stars programme in a number of schools across South Wales. The aim of the scheme is to change the lives of young people through the power of sport; inspiring them to engage in numeracy, literacy, and technology through lively classroom, playground and sports field lessons.
The perfect example of this is the progression of Penygawsi Primary School pupil Ffion. When the project was first delivered in her school Ffion had very low self-esteem and lacked confidence in her own ability. She was technically good but struggled to persist with each activity she took part in.
"When I first started playing football, the boys never used to pass to me, but now they pass to me and I've even scored some goals," she says.
With encouragement from our coaches, Ffion was determined to become successful, and managed to convince herself that she could complete the technical aspects of the sessions - her confidence improved with each session that she attended.
"Wednesday is my favourite day in school because we have Cardiff City in to do PE sessions. I love the after-school club the most because Liam (coach) lets us play lots of matches and I enjoy being part of a team and scoring goals," Ffion says.
By the end of the project Ffion's confidence had reached new levels, and she was keen to start engaging in the activities in the classroom and outside on the schoolyard. She was positive and self-assured in her abilities and even became a leader in the classroom by helping or showing other pupils how to do certain tasks.
Ffion has become very optimistic and - as aforementioned - even signed up for the after-school club aspect of the programme. She attends the after-school club sessions every week and is always first on the yard offering a helping hand when setting up the sessions.
As a reward for her hard work, and for recognition of her progression, we awarded Ffion with a mascot position for our Emirates FA Cup fixture against Manchester City.
Ffion's Dad, Robert said she was "absolutely bouncing with joy" when she was told that she had been invited to be a part of the day, "she literally burst into tears with excitement."
Mr Ball - teacher at Penygawsi Primary School - said: "The coaches at Cardiff City FC Foundation are fantastic with the children by helping them with future development. They always support and encourage the children and teach them valuable life skills, this has shown massively with Ffion and she is more capable of trying new things and sticking with them even when she doesn't succeed at the first attempt."
The Premier League Primary Stars project has been delivered in 50 different schools and venues across South Wales, engaging with 5078 unique participants in the 1466 sessions that were delivered last year. From those participants 45.4% were female, and we also engaged with over 160 pupils with a form of disability.
Updated: 14th September, 2018
Author: Sam Law
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text:
Tamils - a Trans State Nation..
"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
- Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C
Home Whats New Trans State Nation One World Unfolding Consciousness Comments Search
Home > Tamil National Forum > Selected Writings by Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki) >On Tamil Militarism - Part 1: Tamil Militarism � Origins and Dispersion in South India and Sri Lanka > Part 2: Tamil Military Castes > Part 3: Tamil Militarism � The Code of Suicide > Part 4: Militarism and caste in Jaffna > Part 5: The suppression of Tamil military castes > Part 6: Bishop Caldwell and the Tamil Dravidians > Part 7: The Tamil Soldier and the Dravidian Diaspora > Part 8: The Twin Narratives of Tamil Nationalism > Part 9: [Subramanya] Bharathy and the Legitimation of Militarism > Part 10: Warrior Sons and Mothers > Part 11: The Legend of Cheran Senguttuvan.
Selected Writings by Dharmeratnam Sivaram (Taraki)
On Tamil Militarism - a 11 Part Essay
Part 8: The Twin Narratives of Tamil Nationalism
Lanka Guardian, [pp.pp.10-12]
[prepared by Sachi Sri Kantha, for electronic record]
At the turn of the Twentieth century Tamil nationalism was articulated in terms of two different interpretations of Tamilian identity, propagated by two distinct movements which were politically opposed to each other. The one was the Dravidian school; the other was the Indian revolutionary movement. The former was closely associated with English missionaries and unequivocally supported British rule; the latter strongly opposed the Raj and preached violence as the chief means of national emancipation from foreign domination.
The discourse that may be identified today as Tamil nationalism is constituted at its basis by these two interpretations � or more appropriately �founding� narratives � which contended with each other to offer authentic readings of the Tamilian past and present, of what �really� constituted Tamilian identity. The Dravidian school gave political and academic form to linguistic ethno-nationalism; the revolutionary movement turned traditional Tamil militarism into a liberation ideology, which evolved into militarist ethno-nationalism. The militarist reading has also characterised Tamil ethno-nationalism in the twentieth century not merely because it was �constructed and deployed to advance the interests and claims of the collectivity, banded and mobilized as a pressure group� but also because, as this study intends to show, it appealed to, and arose out of the structures of experience produced and reproduced through folk culture and religion in rural Tamilnadu.
This is how, as we shall see later, MGR became Madurai Veeran, the warrior god of a numerous scheduled caste in Periyar district in Tamilnadu. Jeyalalitha contested from an electorate there in the last election [i.e., 1991 general election]. However, it is essential to understand the politics behind the claims and silences of the early Dravidian school of Tamil revivalism and �historiography� for examining the rise of modern Tamil militarism.
Caldwell and his followers who wrote and spoke about Tamil culture and history endeavoured to show that Tamils were essentially a peaceful people who had achieved a high level of civilization independent of and prior to the arrival of the �Aryans� in the Indian subcontinent. This was the unique Dravidian civilization. The theory of Dravidian linguistic and hence cultural independence also contained in it the idea that the Tamils were originally a class of peaceful farmers. The politics of Caldwell�s teleology compelled him [to] introduce this idea into his writings. (It was seen earlier that it arose from the attitude he shared with the English rulers towards the Maravar.) The views of Bishop Caldwell were found to be extremely useful by the newly arisen Vellala elite which was contending for higher status in the Varna hierarchy of caste. Therefore the �histories� which were written by the Dravidian school of Tamil studies at the turn of the [20th] century were underpinned by,
(a) The political and religious concerns of Caldwell and other missionaries like Henry Martyn Scudder and G.U.Pope
(b) The caste politics of Vellala upward mobility.
The interests of both were intertwined. Their express political interest was to show that Tamil culture in essence was pre-Aryan-Brahmin and non-martial. The first non-Brahmin Tamils to take up the Dravidian theory to examine theTamil past belonged to the Vellala elite and were supported and encouraged by Protestant missionaries (and sometimes by English administrators).
Professor Sunderam Pillai, 1855 - 1897
The writings of Professor Sunderam Pillai of the Trivandrum University on Tamil history and culture inspired many of his castemen who had been seething at being classified as Sudras by the Brahmins, and worse, by the British caste census and courts of law as well.
Thus, the historical works of the early Dravidian school were produced as �social charters directed toward the census, where the decennial designation of caste status became a major focus for contests over rank between 1870 and 1930.
V.Kanakasabhai Pillai
The first Dravidian history of the Tamils, �The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago�, was written by V.Kanakasabhai Pillai, a Vellala from Jaffna who was a civil servant in Madras. Edgar Thurston thought it appropriate to quote the following excerpt from that work, in the section dealing with the Vellala caste in his �Castes and Tribes of South India�.
�Among the pure Tamils, the class most honoured was the Arivar or Sages. Next in rank to the Arivar were Ulavar or farmers. The Arivar were ascetics, but of men living in society the farmers occupied the highest position. They formed the nobility, or the landed aristocracy, of the country. They were also called Vellalar, the lords of the flood or karalar, lordsof the clouds�The Chera, Chola and Pandyan kings and most of the petty chiefs of Tamilakam, belonged to the tribe of Vellalas.� (Thurston, 1906: p.367-368)
Maraimalai Atikal
The efforts of the early Dravidian school of Tamil �historiography� culminated in the work of Maraimalai Atikal � the founder of the Pure Tamil movement which became a powerful force in the anti-Hindi struggles from 1928 onwards. He published a book called, �Vellalar Nakareekam� � The Civilisation of the Vellalas � in 1923. The book was a lecture he had given at the Jaffna Town Hall on January 1, 1922 on the �Civilization of the Tamils� A contribution of Rs.200 was made in Jaffna towards the publication of the lecture, as a book. The Jaffna Vellala of that time saw his interests as being bound with that of his castemen in South India, who were attempting to rid themselves of the Sudra status assigned to them in the Varna hierarchy of caste by Brahmins.
However, Maraimalai Atikal had decided to publish it as a book in order to refute a claim in the caste journal of the Nattukottai Chetti community, that the Chetties did not marry among the Vellalas because they (the Vellalas) were Sudras. In the English preface to the work, Maraimalai Atikal says that his book
�is written in scrupulously pure Tamil style, setting forth at the same time views of a revolutionary character in the sphere of social religious and historical ideas of the Tamil people�In the first place attention is directed to Vellalas, the civilized agricultural class of the Tamils, and to their origin, and organization�it is shown that at a time when all the people except those who lived all along the equatorial regions were leading the life of hunters or nomads, these Vellalas attained perfection in the art of agriculture�and by means of navigation occupied the whole of India. When the Aryan hordes came from the north-west of Punjab and poured forth into the interior, it was the ten Vellala kings then ruling in the north that stopped their advance.�
Maraimalai Atikal goes on to claim that the eighteen Tamil castes were created by the Vellalas for their service; that they (the Vellalas) were vegetarians fo the highest moral codes;that Saivism and the Saiva Siddhantha philosophy nurtured by the Vellalas for more than 3,500 years were the pre-Aryan religious heritage of the Tamils; that the classification of Vellalas as Sudras was the result of an insidious Aryan-Brahmin conspiracy. Maraimalai Atikal was also defending fellow Vellala Dravidian scholars and their claims against attacks and veiled criticisms of Brahmin Tamil academics, M.Srinivasa Aiyangar, a respected Brahmin Tamil scholar who had worked as an assistant to the superintendent of census for the Madras Presidency.
Mr.Stuart, had made a devastating attacking on the claims of the Dravidian school of Tamil historiography, which derived its authority from the �scientific� philological works of Bishop Caldwell. He debunked the theory of the Caldwell-Vellala school that Tamil culture was constituted by the high moral virtues of an ancient race of peaceful cultivators, on the basis of what he had studied of the religion and culture of the Tamil country-side, as an officer of the census, and on the basis of �pure� Tamil works that had been rediscovered towards the latter part of the 19th century.
Srinivasa Aiyangar noted in his �Tamil Studies�, �Within the last fifteen years a new school of Tamil scholars has come into being, consisting mainly of admirers and castemen of the late lamented professorand antiquary, Mr.Sunderam Pillai of Trivandrum.� Aiyangar argued that contrary to the claims of the new school, the Tamils were a fierce race of martial predators. He wrote,
�Again some of the Tamil districts abound with peculiar tomb stones called �Virakkals� (hero stones). They were usually set upon graves of warriors that were slain in battle�The names of the deceased soldiers and their exploits are found inscribed on the stones which were decorated with garlands of peacock feathers or some kind of red flowers. Usually small canopies were put up over them. We give below a specimen of such an epitaph. A careful study of the Purapporul Venba Malai will doubtless convince the reader that the ancient Tamils were, like the Assyrians and the Babylonians, a ferocious race of hunters and soldiers armed with bows and lances making war for the mere pleasure of slaying, ravaging and pillaging. Like them the Tamils believed in evil spirits, astrology, omens and sorcery. They cared little for death. The following quotations from the above work will bear testimony to the characteristics of that virile race.
(1) Garlanded with the entrails of the enemies they danced with lances held in their hands topside down. (2) They set fire to the fertile villages of their enemies, and (3) plundered their country and demolished their houses. (4) The devil�s cook distributed the food boiled with the flesh of the slain, on the hearth of the crowned heads of fallen kings.
With these compare same passages from the Assyrian stories of campaigns: �I had some of them flapped in my presence and had the walls hung with their skins. I arranged their heads like crown�All his villages I destroyed, desolated, burnt; I made the country desert.� And yet the early Dravidian are considered by Dr.Caldwell as the farmers of the best moral codes, and by the new school of non-Aryan Tamil scholars��
Aiyangar even claims, �We have said that the Vellalas were pure Dravidians and that they were a military and dominant tribe. If so one could naturally ask, �How could the ancestors of peaceful cultivators be a war-like race?� He argues that the etymology of the root Vel is connected to war and weapons, that it was not uncommon for cultivating castes to have been martial tribes in former days as in the case of the Nayar, the Pillai, the Bants, etc. He also cites an official census of the Tamil population in the Madras Presidency, which shows that Tamil castes with a claim to traditional marital status constituted twenty six percent of the total number of Tamils in the Presidency. (Srinivasa Aiyangar; 1915, pp.40-58)
Aiyangar�s attack on the Dravidian theory of Caldwell and the Vellala propagandists had political undertones. Learned Brahmins of the day were acutely aware of the political interests that lay behind the claims of the early Dravidian school. Vellala Tamil revivalism and its idea of Dravidian uniqueness were closely related to the pro-British and collaborationist poltical organization that was formed in 1916, by the non-Brahmin elites of the Madras Presidency � the South Indian Liberal Federation. Its proponents were, therefore careful not to emphasise the narratives of the martial reputation of the Tamils that were embodied in the ancient �high� Tamil texts or in the folk culture of rural Tamilnadu. (Tamil revivalism had been promoted by Protestant missionaries and British officials in the latter half of the 19th century, only in as much as it was seen to facilitate the social, economic and religious aims of demilitarizing Tamil society and diminishing the influence of Brahmins in it.)
This was done not only out of a desire to promote Vellala caste culture, as Tamil national culture, but also in conscious deference to the concerns of the Raj about the �seditious� views of Tamil cultural revival that were being propagated by the �terrorists� and their sympathisers which were aimed at stirring the �ancient martial passions� of the Tamils in general and the military castes in particular, by appealing to martial values inscribed in the caste traditions of the Maravar and linking them to a glorious past that had been sustained by, what according to them, was the unique and powerful Tamil martial tradition. The political life of Purananooru, the foundation text of Tamil militarism had been initiated by two Brahmins who were sympathisers of the Indian revolutionary movement at this juncture. (The one was the great Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi; the other was the great Tamil scholar M.Raghava Aiyangar, the court pundit of the Marava kings of Ramnad.)
These concerns, had compelled the Raj to take lines of action aimed at the terrorists and the military castes. One, it carefully sifted through the Tamil revivalist propaganda of the suspected sympathisers of the terrorist movement, to charge them with sedition. Two, it introduced the Criminal Tribes Act of 1911, with the express objective of throughly obtaining knowledge of, supervising and disciplining the Kallar and Maravar who were classified as dacoits and thugs under this act. The political mobilization of the Tamil military castes began as reaction against this act. The political leadership of this mobilization was inspired by the militarism of the terrorists. Modern Tamil militarism as a political force emerged from this conjuncture.
As we shall see later, Karunanidhi, Thondaman, Kasi Anandan and Prabhakaran are all, in varying degrees, products of the notions of Tamilian identity which arose from this conjuncture. Students of Tamil ethno-nationalism�s current phase will find that the martial narratives of Tamilian past and present are at work in two extremes of the Tamil political spectrum. Last month, an audio cassette was released in Jaffna by the LTTE and a commemoration volume was released in Singapore in Thondaman�s honour. Both are politically conscious efforts to root two personalities and their nationalist projects, to what has been portrayed as the most powerful manifestation of the Tamil martial tradition � the Chola Empire.
The LTTE cassette evokes a glorious past associated with Prabhakaran�s only nom de guerre, Karikalan � the founder of the Chola Empire. The commemoration volume, on the other hand seeks to emphasise the �continuity� of a martial caste tradition between the leader of the CWC and the great general of the Chola Empire, Karunakara Thondaman. Thus the examination of Tamil militarism in this study is an exploration of the answer to the question � why does Tamil ethno-nationalism express itself thus and how does it sustain power to appeal to pan-Tamilian sentiments?
Letter of Correspondent R.B.Diulweva [Dehiwela] and Sivaram�s response:
Martial Tamils [Lanka Guardian, September 1, 1992, p.24]
I read with wry amusement, and increasing bewilderment, Sivaram�s curious assemblage of �facts� about Tamil �military� castes. The recluse in the Vanni, and his acolytes in the diaspora, should be grateful to the L[anka] G[uardian] for providing a platform for this skewed rewriting of history.
Some random reflections on Sivaram�s thesis. Does he seriously believe that the buccaneering Portuguese had the time to indulge in sociological analysis of Tamil militarism (a la CIA) and strategically decide to erase/Vellalise the �military� castes? This also applies to the Dutch and the Brits. Sivaram�s overall picture is of a truly fantastic war sodden people imbibing blood thirstiness with their mothers� milk. Weren�t the vast mass of Tamils peaceable farmers, fishermen, craftmen? Or was their sole function to service these magnificent bravos? And whom did these �military� castes fight during the eras of peace when Tamil civilization, in its truest sense, flourished?
Another fact for Sivaram. One of his �military� castes the Maravar has made a contribution to the Sinhala language. To this day, a �marava-raya� is synonymous with �thug�. This is, probably, all that these �warriors� were!.
D.P.Sivaram states:
I suggest that Mr.Diulweva go on reading before he finally decides whether it is skewed history or not. He should also study Prof.K.Kailasapathy�s Tamil Heroic Poetry, which describes an earlier phase of the culture that I have tried to analyse. He might find the overall picture there even more gruesome.
I understand Mr.Diulweva�s concerns given the current situation of the country, and hence his wish to think that the vast mass of Tamils were peaceable farmers. His wish and concern have had precedents in the British era. As for the sociological analysis of the buccaneering Portuguese, it was based on Prof.Tikiri Abeyasinghe�s �Jaffna under the Portuguese� (discussed there in detail). I deal with the Maravar in as much as they were a political fact in the rise of Tamil nationalism. A write up in the Sunday Times of 23.8[Aug].[19]92 by its Madras correspondent refers to the political influence of one Mr.Natarajan who he says �belongs to the powerful Thevar (the caste title of the Maravar) community in southern Tamilnadu.� Mr.Diulweva will find, if he takes a closer look at the politics of Tamilnadu, still an important political fact.
Mail Us Copyright 1998/2009 All Rights Reserved Home


You may recall the incredible real estate buying spree taken on by billionaire Ken Griffin earlier this year, which broke too many records to enumerate in full in this space. But the biggest of them all was the $238 million he spent on a Manhattan condo that is now the most expensive home in the entire country – and which according to a recent analysis gave Manhattan property values a 10 percent boost in the first quarter of 2019.
Various media outlets are citing a recent Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel report that shows the average sale price for a Manhattan apartment rose to $2,118,780, an almost 10 percent jolt compared to the first quarter of the previous year. It was also about 7.9 percent higher than it was in the previous quarter, and to put it in even more striking terms, research firm Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller told CNBC that without Griffin's purchase, the average sale price would instead be $2,006,952, meaning that his one purchase accounted for Manhattan homeowners' property values going up $112,188. Given all this, the sale may represent something of a false positive for the Manhattan luxury real estate market, which has reportedly been in a significant decline for the last several years.
Be that as it may, not everybody in Manhattan is happy about deals like Griffin's by any stretch of the imagination. Legislators in New York responded to the public outcry over reports of the $238 million sale back in January by proposing a tax on second homes valued anywhere above $5 million. Instead, in March they approved a new "mansion tax" that ranges from 1.25 percent to 4.15 percent on homes valued at $25 million or more. Had the law been in effect when Griffin made his purchase, he would have been subject to a tax of almost $10 million.


text:
Theo: Big Z couldn't regain Cubs players' trust
Paul Sullivan, Tribune reporter
Carlos Zambrano lost the trust of his teammates after his final meltdown in Atlanta last August, leading baseball president Theo Epstein to bite the bullet and eat most of his $18 million salary in a trade with Miami.
"With respect to subsidizing some of Carlos' contract, I think the concept of a sunk cost was something Tom (Ricketts) and I discussed at our very initial meeting," Epstein said. "Tom showed a keen understanding of what that means. For better or worse, if you're stuck paying $18 million for one year of Carlos Zambrano, and there is not a team willing to take him with any dollar relief whatsoever, then you have to decide were we better off with one year of Carlos at the $18 million paid, or are we better off paying the $18 million and getting a 25-year-old pitcher with three control years?"
The deal with Miami was made official Thursday after the former Cubs pitcher passed his physical, and the Marlins are confident he can thrive under Ozzie Guillen.
Zambrano was dealt to the Marlins, along with cash, for 25-year-old starter Chris Volstad, a former first-rounder who has yet to show consistency but is only two years removed from a 12-9 season.
How much the Cubs will send Miami is dependent on how much Volstad makes. He's expected to get nearly $2.5 to $3 million in arbitration, and that amount will be subtracted from the $18 million the Cubs owed Zambrano, and sent to Miami.
Epstein said the trade talks began this week, after the Cubs spent most of the offseason looking to deal Zambrano. Epstein was resigned to keeping Zambrano only a few days ago, before the Marlins called and said they'd be interested.
Epstein said the options were to release Zambrano and get nothing in return or pay the $15-$16 million and get a player. After polling a number of players, Epstein realized Zambrano could never regain "trust" in the clubhouse after his August walkout left players and management feeling "burned" again.
"I was skeptical," he said, adding: "I'm not big on labels, I'm not big on reputations dictating how I treat people or how I think about people. But this was one that was really consistent. Every player I talked to articulated to me that Carlos really violated their trust. When you're talking about physical altercations with players repeatedly, when you're talking about physically walking out on the team, it's very hard to then have that player come back into the clubhouse and be trusted. In order to be a good teammate, there has to be a certain degree of trust and accountability.
"Do I believe in second chances? Yes. Do I believe in third chances? Yes, in some cases, and even fourth chances. But I think you have to be realistic about it and recognize that players don't dictate decisions like this, but you're trying to establish a certain sense of unity in the clubhouse, and a sense of purpose. ... The players here felt, and the organization feels, like there just wasn't trust there, and it was a risky proposition to see whether that trust could be re-established."
Epstein said there was no "mandate" from Ricketts to deal Zambrano, and that Zambrano told him during their meeting at a Wrigleyville restaurant that he wanted to remain a Cub.
"He said he didn't want to talk about a trade," he said. "He didn't want us to use that word in the discussions. I said, 'That's fine, but just so you know, that's something I think it's our obligation to pursue that, and then we'll have another conversation if and when that becomes a reality.' We weren't able to find any trade partners until this week, so that went on hold."
Epstein declined to say if any players he spoke to believed Zambrano could eventually work his way back into their graces. He said "people that have been around the situation over the years had heard before there was going to be change, they'd heard before there was going to be a new attitude, and they've been burned -- physical altercations, deserting the team, that type of thing. ... It made it clear in my mind this wasn't just a sort of mob mentality, or there was unfair momentum to run this guy out of town."
Larry Beinfest, Miami's president of baseball operations, said former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was "confident" he could keep Zambrano in check and restart his career.
Miami sportscaster Jim Barry asked Beinfest, "Why would you want a guy who has thrown water coolers and cleaned out his locker, he got suspended by his prior team, on your team?"
"We just think that the change of scenery will be beneficial to him," Beinfest said. "I think it'd be (fair) to say, 'Well, is everything going to be perfect, or is it going to be incident-free?' It'd be hard to say that, given the guy's history. But Ozzie is very confident that he can help him. A lot of this is born from ultra-competitiveness.
"Now there are a lot of different ways to show ultra-competitiveness. Carlos may have shown this in a lot of different ways in the past. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of guys that break bats and throw coolers and scream at umpire, etc. And they're still very good players.
"I'm not condoning that in any way, but it does happen in the game ... and with some very good players that are demonstrative with their competitiveness. And I think that's the way Carlos is in a lot of respects. It may happen that he has a blowup or two. We don't know. With the history, there is a chance that will happen. But going back to Ozzie, and I hate to put it all on him, but he just feels really comfortable that the kid is going to do well here."
Beinfest said the Marlins "had very good information as to what had happened" with Zambrano in Chicago.
"We went into this thing with our eyes open," he said. "What has happened has happened. Carlos has some history of, um, outward behavior both on and off the field that could be termed as questionable. A lot of it comes from competitive fire, which we think is also a positive. I think a lot of those concerns were eased by his relationship with Ozzie, and Ozzie's confidence in Carlos."
The Cubs rotation, for the time being, consists of Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, Travis Wood, Randy Wells and Volstad, with Jeff Samardzija getting a possible shot in spring training.
With Zambrano gone and Kerry Wood still unsigned, there are no current Cubs remaining from the 2003 team that wound up within five outs of going to the World Series.
psullivan@tribune.com
Column: Don't wait until Joe Maddon is gone from the Cubs to realize how great he has been
Will Ben Zobrist be back? The Cubs seek clarity with the July 31 trade deadline approaching.
Theo Epstein
Chris Volstad
Ozzie Guillen


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Fire to the Prisons #2 « Radicalize!Radicalize!Radicalize!Radicalize!Radicalize!
The second issue of fire to the prisons is out now. Fire to the Prisons is an insurrectionary anarchist quarterly focusing on anti-prison and prisoner support content, but also includes articles to inspire opposition to this cold world. The link to the site to download the pdf is included at the end of this bulletin, if you have any problems downloading, feel free to contact us directly with your email, and well send it to you directly. Our email is, guerillaheart@yahoo.com. Please feel free to print and distribute this zine to your full capability, or forward the file to someone who will.
If you'd like, please respond with a confirmation that you will be furthering distribution for the zine, its good to know where it gets around.
The zine is intended to be free, but if you sell it, we ask that all profits go to benefit political prisoners.
Also, if printing resources are slim, we could send bulk copies were only asking for postage to be paid for.


Sassy writer. Avid Jazzerciser. Cat lover. Mahjong maven. Yoga practitioner. Needlepoint addict. Chocaholic. Best mom ever. Adores Handsome.
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I like words. A lot. Some of my wordy stuff: The Order of the Four Sons series, Under Julia, The Ice Dragon, and West Side Girl & Other Poems.
Arcane scribbles and a little fairy dust. And tea.


The site of the citadel, on a rocky spur at the confluence of the rivers Meuse and Sambre, developed in tandem with the comté of Namur (10th century). However, the layout of the comte's residence, of which the dungeon is part, is not clear, except for the two semicircular towers still visible today. Occupying a strategic position between France and the Burgundian (later Spanish) Netherlands, the citadel was enlarged several times, and besieged several times too, on one occasion (1692) by Louis XIV. Torn down by Joseph II, it was rebuilt by the Dutch, and was a command post for the fortified position of Namur in 1914 and 1940. It was demilitarised in 1975.


For those thinking of applying to Graduate School—you have an exciting road ahead. If you think your life is stressful now, be prepared. In fact, that is probably the best advice I can give you. Have your monologues down. Have many. Do them so many times, you can perform them at gun point. Know them as though you wrote them. This will ensure freedom to deal with your nerves which you will naturally encounter in abundance. Nerves are positive. I began this process thinking, "I won't be nervous at all. I'll know my monologues so well there will be nothing to be nervous about." Well, there are things to be nervous about that have nothing to do with anything you can control. Nerves are a natural element in doing something a little out of the ordinary. Or, doing something you care about a great deal. I cared a great deal about performing. I was eager to show my pieces. I was proud of them. I showed them to everyone. My girlfriends family (fathers side and mothers side), my family, my sons mother and her new family.
There's so much I want to share about the process. I hope to answer any questions you may have, clear up any misconceptions you may have, but also to give you confirmation that the process, even if you aren't accepted anywhere (though I still don't know if that's true), is worth the undertaking.
The amount of work I put into these auditions: the paperwork, the applications, the recommendations, the renting of rehearsal space to perform my monologues, the hiring of acting coaches, the hiring of voice coaches, working three jobs, being thirty-five, having a son, rehearsing my monologues (six of them) over and over and over and over and over, finding a song and rehearsing it over and over and over and over, doing yoga, deep breathing, reading University websites, reading MFA websites, reading coach websites, reading about professors at Yale, Juilliard, ACA, ART, ACT, Brown, UCSD, leaving out parts of my application, scurrying to meet deadlines, practicing my monologues with friends, incorporating feedback, imagining myself entering the auditioning room, seeing myself succeed, imagining their adjustments to my monologues, imagining my responses to their adjustments, imagining their questions about "why" grad school, talking to myself over and over and over and over: I feel smarter, faster, and stronger. Just applying to grad school makes me feel as though I'd gone to Grad school.
In the coming posts I will candidly describe my experiences, my call backs, the monitors, the auditioner's, and all the faces I met along the way (friendly and not) on the road to applying to Yale, Juilliard, Brown, ACA, ART, UCSD, and ACT.
Previous PostFantastic Mr. FoxNext PostWhat is it like to audition for Juilliard?
Just curious…does ACA have as good a reputation as those other schools you applied to (Yale, Juilliard, ART, ACT, Brown, UCSD)?
Definitely not. I don't think people know the name ACA if they're not in Maryland, Virginia, or DC. Although, our graduates are everywhere: Chicago, New York, LA, Edinburgh, Canada… and that's just the crew from my year.
That second to last paragraph is EXACTLY my experience…Thank you for posting and making me feel less crazy just by knowing I'm not the only one!


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In The Whale – Nate
by chris.marsh · 3rd June 2014
Positively exploding back on the scene with their third EP Nate, In The Whale is a high-octane set of indie rock that will blow you away.
With vocals that show hints of Jet's 'Do You Wanna Be My Girl', opening track 'Robert Johnson' is a relentlessly pummelling piece of music, filled with raw aggression and emotive performances from the strong instrumentation.
'Wedding Bells' starts off sounding like a cross between the Kings of Leon and the White Stripes, with a slight square dance edge to it. The 'Make 'em ring, ring, ring, make 'em sing' refrain is a total hoot, leading towards the final yell of "So help me God," with its final blues lick to end.
In The Whale's influences appear to be broad, with 'Lake Of Fire' sounding like it could sit easily on a Hives album. It's hectic, at points almost cracking at the edges, and is the kind of track to put on when you need a quick thrill.
'Grandpa Pete' comes as something of a shock, with its threateningly dark intro and guttural metal vocals on the chorus. Stylistically it feels very different to the rest of the EP, but at the same time it also feels like a band being honest about where they have come from and what influences have brought them to this point.
Fresh sounding, energetic, and filled with hooks, In The Whale's Nate is well worth checking out for some good ol' indie rock.
Billy Ray Deiz – Rather Have Sooner
Sober Season – You Fool EP
Junichi Arima – 23 Summit Ave/In Your Ear


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'The Lighthouse' review: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe shine in tale of 2 'wickies'
Oct. 24, 2019 at 6:00 am Updated Oct. 24, 2019 at 6:43 am
LINDSEY BAHR
Enter "The Lighthouse " at your own risk.
This is a stark, moody, surreal and prolonged descent into seaside madness that will surely not be for everyone. But those who do choose to go on this black-and-white journey with Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe will ultimately find it a rewarding one, even if the blaring fog horn rings in your ears for days to come. Director Robert Eggers has made something truly visionary — stripped down and out of time — that asks the viewer to simply submit to his distinctive, strange, funny and haunting tale of a pair of "wickies" in 1890 New England tasked with keeping the lighthouse running.
Pattinson and Dafoe make for inspired casting choices for this two-hander, with Pattinson as the rookie, Winslow, a former timber man who was looking for a different life, and Dafoe as the graying veteran, Wake, who is determined to keep things in order. Winslow is not exactly an eager student or subordinate. He wants the lighthouse to be his as soon as he gets to the island. He does not have a seafarer's attention to detail and is ill-equipped to handle the endless drudgery of keeping the house tidy and shoveling rocks back and forth across the island. Plus, he's been having some increasingly demonic and disturbing dreams, has made an enemy of a taunting sea bird and also has to deal with Wake's constant badgering and flatulence (seriously).
But Wake knows that there's a reason for their backbreaking work, seemingly unnecessary chores and ancient superstitions ("It's bad luck to kill a sea bird," he tells Winslow, advising him to stop quarrelling with his winged tormentor). Boredom, he says later, makes men turn to villains. All they have are their tasks to keep them from going mad. Naturally, madness finds them anyway. The film becomes a kind of phantasmagoria as you are left wondering what's real, what's imagined and whether or not that even matters.
Eggers, who broke out with the terribly creepy "The Witch," continues to prove his unique ability to transport an audience to a different time. He relishes in the language of the era and gives both his stars deliciously odd monologues to chew on and spurt out. The dialogue may be minimal — in fact it takes more than a few minutes for the first word to be uttered — but that bare bones approach makes what is said even more impactful.
If there is a complaint to be made, it is simply that "The Lighthouse" doesn't exactly justify its nearly two-hour runtime. While the images and actors remain transfixing, the experimental approach starts to wear thin after about 60 minutes. After 90, it's downright mind-numbing and repetitive. That's not to say that it is not worth it. But by the end, you might find yourself feeling as crazy and untethered as the wickies.
★★★ "The Lighthouse," with Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe. Directed by Robert Eggers, from a screenplay by Eggers and Max Eggers. 110 minutes. Rated R for sexual content, nudity, violence, disturbing images, and some language. Opens Oct. 25 at multiple theaters.
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Bring your planner to Wonderland with these Foxy in Wonderland Queen of Hearts weekly kits for several kind of planners!
Smooth matte permanent paper. You can write on it with any pen.
Buttery unicorn vinyl paper. It is water and UV resistant. Works with any pen or marker.
Please note that this item is a single kit only, none of the other items on the picture will be shipped!
Note that the washi of the HP mini and personal size kit is punched, the sheet isn't.
These stickers are handmade stickers and kiss cut manually.


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BigCommerce has raised $30 million in new funding, as investors continue to bet on software companies that help small businesses compete while the popularity of online shopping continues to grow.
The Austin, Texas-based company has now raised $155 million over seven years, with the most recent investment being led by GGV Capital.
BigCommerce started out like its larger competitor Shopify by making software that allows small businesses to launch and manage online storefronts. But the company has tried to differentiate by adding more features to attract bigger merchants, and now has more than 1,000 customers who do between $1 million and $20 million in annual online sales, CEO Brent Bellm said in an interview.
The company plans to invest in new technologies to help woo this group of sellers, as well as in capabilities to help merchants sell both online and in physical storefronts. BigCommerce also wants to assist retailers and retail brands in selling across various mainstream shopping sites such as Amazon and eBay. It is becoming increasingly hard for small e-commerce outfits to thrive without selling wares on these giant marketplaces.
Bellm declined to disclose BigCommerce's current valuation, but admitted that the good ol' days of venture funding it experienced when it raised money in late 2014 are long gone.
"Last round, [software as a service] companies were getting [valued at] 10x forward revenue," Bellm said. "Now they're being valued at like 5x trailing revenue. Given all of that, you can imagine how that dynamic reflected on the valuations achieved in each round."
Bellm expects BigCommerce to hit monthly sales next year that would equate to $100 million in revenue on an annualized basis. And, like many startup CEOs right now, he said he expects his startup to become profitable on an Ebitda basis in 2017, as well.


We all know internet comments sections are the place the goodness of humanity goes to die. Want to feel like you're smarter than the rest of the world? Read the comments. Want to to get really angry? Read the comments. Most of the commenters are likely just decent-to-good people with strong opinions and a keyboard. What about those overly malicious commenters – the instigators? You know the type.
Contractor – meet Troll. Troll – you're a jerk.
While we can all eyeroll and close our laptops when trolls pop up on someone else's page, what is a contractor to do when a cackle of trolls invades your marketing page, website, blog, or social media accounts?
While all trolls are negative, not all negative comments are synonymous with trolling.
"Look at me, look at me!" they grouse. "Say something back! Defend yourself! Get even!" Like a child throwing a temper tantrum in aisle 5 of the grocery store, a true troll cannot be appeased. He needs to be ignored and probably put down for a nap.
If you want to really understand the psyche of a troll, read the linked article. In this article, I don't care about the trolls. I care about you, the contractor; You care about your client.
The easiest way to separate the wheat from the chaff is to ask the commenter to send their contact information (via private message) in order to resolve the issue "offline". Trolls thrive on anonymity. Your past clients may get a little more passive aggressive sitting behind their screen, but ultimately they are looking for resolution – they are not trolls. Don't let their remark go unanswered.
Publicly accept responsibility where it is needed.
Privately take steps to rectify the situation.
Don't take yourself too seriously. Humor is a great tool.
Be kind, even when it's not your fault.
Why is the climate of your response important? Unlike product based companies, your primary goal is likely not customer retention. The disgruntled homeowner won't be needing another set of kitchen cabinets installed anytime soon. However, by giving a calculated, prompt, and graceful reciprocation, you are providing the public (read: potential clients) a first hand example of how you treat people and conduct business. In a world where Google reviews appear above your company webpage in a simple search, you must positively participate in the conversation.
In the words of the wise Taylor Swift, "Haters gonna hate (…hate, hate, hate, hate)." Don't let the haters deter you from the wonderful world of social media. Proactively pursue your clients and leave the trolls to wallow under the bridge.


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Q: Uniform continuity of Cholesky decomposition I am trying to figure out whether the Cholesky decomposition is uniformly continuous within a set of matrices with bounded entries. Specifically, I would like to derive a modulus of continuity for the Cholesky decomposition with respect to the spectral matrix norm, i.e., a monotonically increasing function $\omega: \mathbb{R}_+ \rightarrow \mathbb{R}_+$, such that
$\Vert\mathbf{L}_A-\mathbf{L}_B \Vert \leq \omega(\Vert\mathbf{A}-\mathbf{B} \Vert)$ holds for all symmetric positive definite matrices $\mathbf{A} = \mathbf{L}_A \mathbf{L}_A^{\top}$ and $\mathbf{B} = \mathbf{L}_B \mathbf{L}_B^{\top}$ with $[\mathbf{A}]_{ij}, [\mathbf{B}]_{ij} \leq C$ for all $i,j \leq n$ and some $0< C < \infty$. Here $\Vert \cdot \Vert$ denotes the induced (spectral) norm $\Vert \mathbf{A} \Vert = \max_{\Vert\mathbf{x}\Vert=1} \Vert\mathbf{A}\mathbf{x} \Vert$.
I know that a similar bound holds for the positive-definite square root of a matrix, i.e., $\Vert \sqrt{\mathbf{A}} - \sqrt{\mathbf{B}} \Vert \leq C \Vert \mathbf{A} - \mathbf{B}\Vert^{\frac{1}{2}}$ for a constant C that potentially depends on the dimension of the matrices [1]. I am also aware of bounds on the derivative of the Cholesky decomposition mapping [2], which allows us to obtain bounds that depend on the condition number of the matrix $\mathbf{A}$. However, I require a bound that does not include the condition number, nor the norm of the inverse of $\mathbf{A}$ or $\mathbf{B}$
.
[1] - Rajendra Bhatia, Matrix Analysis, Theorem X.l.l
[2] - Rajendra Bhatia, Matrix Analysis, Problem X.5.9


His biggest problem these days: "Having to buy smaller clothes and shoes, and having to throw out belts and jeans—great problems to have!" says Stephen says.
Great problems indeed! Nice job, Stephen!
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One of our more popular Christmas designs, these stockings are just waiting to be filled! All you need to do is just add the names. This Christmas ornament is perfect for any family! Grandparents, single parents, pets, you name it! A wonderful way to commemorate a special Christmas in your family's life.
It is designed by Debi Allison and handmade from Polymer Clay and is extremely detailed as is most of Deb's designs. This ornament is just one of the more than 500 different ornaments in the Deb & Co. line.
All ornaments come complete with hook and red satin ribbon for hanging.
May be personalized to your specifications absolutely FREE!
Ornament measures approximately 4½" x 5½"


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Siegfried Keiling (ur. 28 października 1911 w Berlinie, zm. 12 kwietnia 1995 r. w Bad Homburg) – niemiecki wojskowy (major), działacz kombatancki.

Służył w oddziałach artylerii Wehrmachtu. Po ataku wojsk niemieckich na ZSRR 22 czerwca 1941 r., zajmował się formowaniem "wschodnich" oddziałów kolaboracyjnych. Został odznaczony Żelaznym Krzyżem 2 i 1 klasy. W 1943 r. został przeniesiony do rezerwy oficerskiej. Od końca marca 1944 r. w stopniu kapitana dowodził 621 Wschodnim Oddziałem Artylerii, który – po walkach na froncie zachodnim – jesienią 1944 r. wszedł w skład nowo formowanej 2 Dywizji Piechoty Sił Zbrojnych Komitetu Wyzwolenia Narodów Rosji. W grudniu tego roku S. Keiling awansował na majora. Otrzymał zadanie formowania oddziałów artylerii Sił Zbrojnych KONR. Na początku 1945 r. objął funkcję szefa sztabu niemieckiej grupy łącznikowej przy dowództwie Sił Zbrojnych KONR. Po zakończeniu wojny był członkiem Związku Kawalerów Krzyża Rycerskiego. W 1957 r. zorganizował Stowarzyszenie Niemiecko-Rosyjskie.

Linki zewnętrzne
 Dane biograficzne Siegfrieda Keilinga

Niemieccy wojskowi wschodnich formacji kolaboranckich w służbie III Rzeszy
Urodzeni w 1911
Zmarli w 1995
Oficerowie Wehrmachtu
Odznaczeni Krzyżem Żelaznym

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Sponsored by Dell Technologies and Intel®: Innovating to Transform
Sharing the impact of information technologies in the data era
The Four Stages of the Data Maturity Model
A trusting partnership between IT and the business builds data maturity and accelerates the journey from data to decision.
BrandPost Sponsored by Dell Technologies and Intel®
BrandPosts are written and edited by members of our sponsor community. BrandPosts create an opportunity for an individual sponsor to provide insight and commentary from their point-of-view directly to our audience. The editorial team does not participate in the writing or editing of BrandPosts.
By Teresa de Onis Jun 1, 2016 12:21 pm PDT
Big Data is not a technology. It's about answering business questions and delivering value. The penalty for poor decisions is enormous, so resourceful firms are combining new data streams and existing data sets in new ways, and they're applying analytics to tease out hard-to-find correlations and connections for better, faster decisions. With the emergence of in-memory data structures, file based storage systems, and massively parallel processing, technology is capable of leveraging all data. But to extract value from that data, IT and the business must partner to create an operating model that solves specific business problems, invests wisely by employing the right technology for each phase of the data lifecycle, and delivers self-service analytics with reduced development time and costs. To get there, you need to know where you've been and where you are in your data maturity. Maturity is needed because trust is built along that path. Rarely do we see stakeholders willing to accept predictions and more sophisticated analytics without a trust of what has happened and what is happening in the business, as measured by regular KPIs. At Dell, we created a data maturity model to chart our own data maturity and help our customers track theirs. See Figure 1, Dell Data Maturity Model.
Figure 1. Dell Data Maturity Model Data Aware.
In the Data Aware phase, firms manually compile non-standardized reports from different systems with the goal of standardizing reporting. There are multiple BI systems, data sources, and databases, and there's a lack of data and app integration. The business is doing ad-hoc reporting and doesn't always trust its own reports.
If this sounds like your organization, you'll want to focus on building the following capabilities to move up the maturity curve: data modeling and database design, data normalization, feeding data to a BI/reporting system, and building reporting dashboards.
Data Proficient: In this phase, data quality is questioned. IT continues to have multiple databases or data marts and an incomplete data warehouse, and there is no app integration. The business has begun to track organizational KPIs and is now ready to pilot a data initiative, but it lacks executive sponsorship and the know-how to manipulate or use unstructured data. It's common at this stage for the business to demand innovation beyond IT's capabilities or capacity.
Firms should focus on building proficiency in data quality and app integration, provisioning data for speedy access by users, implementing new technologies like Hadoop that address unstructured data, optimizing the data warehouse (including ETL offload), and implementing a Master Data Management strategy. These actions can enable the organization to achieve standardized reporting on a platform available across the firm.
The organization is now using its resources more efficiently and is ready to realize the promise of big data and analytics: transforming the way it operates.
Data Savvy. At this stage, organizations are using data to make critical business decisions for key initiatives. This is the stage where the all-important business and IT partnership goes to the next level and executive sponsorship is put in place to quickly break down both organizational and data silos. As several business functions begin to use data as a competitive differentiator, IT must keep up by implementing new technologies that integrate all data sources and applications to provision and store data effectively and serve up data on demand.
The IT-business partnership should focus on building advanced capabilities such as a data lake, data integration with external data sources, text mining, data mining, statistical model building, and predictive analytics.
Data Driven. The final stage of data maturity is nirvana: becoming data-driven. No data means no decision. The objective is to scale the data strategy while continuing to take out cost. IT and the business are functioning as a tight, cohesive unit. IT has integrated all data sources and apps and has implemented an advanced analytics platform. The business has identified where and how to embed analytics in its processes.
The challenges to remaining data-driven and realizing the competitive advantages inherent in this maturity level are embedding analytics seamlessly into business processes, scaling beyond databases and Hadoop, and moving up the analytics maturity curve from descriptive and predictive analytics into prescriptive analytics.
IT and the business must invest in the development of need-based UI/UX for different functional roles (sales, marketing, operations, HR), creating responses and actions through prescriptive analytics, and building machine learning, forecast modeling, and sentiment analysis capabilities.
Reaching maturity and becoming a data driven organization involves enabling end users with the ability to perform their own analysis, without the need for IT, on a trusted and supported architecture. This model allows the business to increase the speed and number of iterations in its analytics development and also provides the required compliance, security and scalability of enterprise IT infrastructure.
At Dell, our journey up the maturity model has lowered our BI spend by 50%, increased our predictive analytics capabilities by 20%, eliminated the use of non-standardized reports and KPIs, and increased revenue by millions of dollars. The speed of moving from data to decisions has gone from weeks to hours to even minutes and seconds, and IT has driven down overall development costs by 25% while maintaining a stable delivery portfolio.
For a closer look at these results and how Dell moved up the maturity curve from Data Aware to Data Driven, please visit the case study How Dell Does IT: Business Management System and this video on the impact of this strategy on marketing.
Teresa de Onis is a big data and analytics evangelist and change leader at Dell.
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This family hotel in Oman offers a multitude of facilities as a top hotel in Oman, listed below are some of those convenient facilities offered at Al Wadi Hotel.
Al Wadi Hotel's recreational facilities ensure hours of relaxation and enjoyment. A dip in our outdoor swimming pool or lounging with a good book and a cooling tropical libation could be just what you need. Treat yourself to a heavenly experience by letting your troubles melt away at the Hotel's sauna room. A fully facilitated gymnasium awaits to satisfy the fitness enthusiasts with a unique experience.