Stress is a fact of life , but it need not be a way of life. Stress can affect anyone , anytime … including you ! Managing stress effectively is a constant nee. What is stress ?
Stress, simply put ,is the way you react both physically and emotionally to change.There are as many different ideas about stress as there are people who experience change in thei life.
And , like change , stress can either be positive or negative. It may be sense of hieghted concentration you feel when faced with a new and challenging situation or it may be continual sense of being geared up and unable to relax.Stress can refer to physical efforts as well as mental tension.
All individuals feel stress,but each one feels it in different amounts and reacts in different ways.
What causes stress and how does it affect a person ?
coping with family demands.This lifestyle makes us physically,emotionally and mentally stressed.In the short term ,stress causes disruptions like study difficulty,disturbed concentration at work,headaches,etc.In the long term,stress can causes significant health problems like ulcers,depression,etc.Overcoming stress successfully in daily life plays a key role not only in our surrvival,but also in leading a successful life.
What does stress do to a person and what are the symptoms of stress ?
Stress is an unseen aliment which disturbs the equilibrium.Stress can no longer be taken lightly as it has become an established medical problem affecting both body and mind.
insomnia,hair loss,skin rashes,bowel disturbances etc.
Stress also disturbs the mental state of person leading to anger,boredom and frustration.
Stress becomes harmful to our body when we cannot control our responses or cope with it effectively.
Basically, we need to modify our reaction or response to various situations.The tips bellow may help you to manage stress effectively. Try Them!!
* Learn to Relax :~ Learn how relax yourself and your body through deep breathing excercise and muscle tension reduction excercise.Throughout the day take "minibreaks" Sit down and get comfortable,slowly take a deep breath in,hold it and then exhale very slowly.
* Practice Acceptance:~ Many people get distressed over things they can't accept.Often these are things that can't be changed,like someone else's feelings or beliefs.Let go and accept others,chance are that your stress level will decrease.
* Talk Rationlly to yourself :~ Ask yourself what real impact the stressful situation will have on you in a day, a week , a month, and see if you can minimise the negative thoughts. Think whether the situation is of your making or someone else's making, let go , as there is not much you can do about it.
* Get Organised :~ Develop a realistic schedule of daily activities that includes tome for work,sleep , relationships, and recreation.Use a daily "things to do" list.Improve our physical surroundings by cleaning your house and oraganising your office work.Use your time and energy as efficiently as possible.
* Exercise :~ Try to keep physically healthy by involving yourself in some sort of physical activity . Physical activity has always provided relief from stress.Develop a regular exercise program to help reduce the effects of stress before it becomes distress. Try aerobics,walking, yoga,jogging,dancing,swimming, etc.
* Reduce Time Urgency :~ If you frequently check your watch or worry about what you do with your time , learn to take things a bit slower.Allow plenty of time to get things done. Plan your schedule ahead of time.
* Do not be overly competitive :~ Every situation in life does not require you to win or lose.Adjust your approach to an event according to its demands.
* Quiet Time :~ Balance your family , social , and work demands with private time. Make time for fun acitvites, it is just important as study or work. Get involved in activity such as sports,art crafts, hobbies or anything that you find relaxing. Hobbies are good antidotes for daily pressures.Unwind by taking a quiet stroll , having a warm oil message and shower , watching the sunset , or listening to some soothing music.
* Watch your habits and eat sensibly :~ Try to eat well balanced meals and dont skip any meal.A balaced meals and dont skip any meal.A balanced meal will provide all the necessary energy you will need during the day. Avoid non-prescription drugs and minimise alcohol use – you need to be mentally and physically alert to deal with stress. Try to stop cigaretts smoking.
* Try Meditation :~ Try meditation by concentrating on a movement , a sound , an image , or a thought. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Before you know it , you will be meditating.
* Talk to friends :~ Talk about your stress to friends or family members who are supportive. Friends can be good medicine. Daily does of conversation, regular social enagagements , and occasional sharing of deep feelings and thoughts can reduce stress quite nicely.
* Develop a positive attitude :~ One of the best ways to manage stress is to develop a posivtive attitude.Looking on the brighter side of life will give you the mental strength and determination to take stress as part of life and manage if effectively . Maintain a daily dairy that helps you affirm the positive things in your life. Do it everyday.
* Smile , it costs nothing :~ One of the best ways to cope with stress is to smile.A smile relaxes all the major facial muscules.It sets off an emotional chain reaction that makes you feel good. Have a good laugh as often as possible.
What are the advantages of managing stress ?
You enjoy life more fully when you manage stress.You will look better , feel happier , stay active and independent and stay more relaxed around other people. And you will be the captain of your own ship , in control of your life and the path you want to take.
Now that you are well informed on stress and how it can be overcome , please realize that stress is a medical concern.But the great news is that it can be managed effectively.
There is a widely used , trusted herbal medicine for stress.
A liquid obtained by steeping the herb, etc. in liquid to extract the content.


text:
Justia Dockets & Filings Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit United States v. Lain Filing 1018638831 Attachment 1
United States v. Lain
[9866091] Affirmed. Terminated on the merits after submissions without oral hearing. Written, signed, published. Judges Holmes; Baldock, authoring; and Johnson. Mandate to issue.
Appellate Case: 10-3201 Document: 01018638831 Date Filed: 05/12/2011 Page: 1 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT OFFICE OF THE CLERK Byron White United States Courthouse 1823 Stout Street Denver, Colorado 80257 (303) 844-3157 Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court May 12, 2011 Douglas E. Cressler Chief Deputy Clerk Mr. Christopher Allman Ms. Terra Morehead Office of the United States Attorney District of Kansas 500 State Avenue, Suite 360 Kansas City, KS 66101 Mr. John R. Osgood Osgood Law Office 740 NW Blue Parkway Suite 305, Bank of the West Bldg Lee's Summitt, MO 64086-0000 RE: 10-3201, United States v. Lain Dist/Ag docket: 2:10-CR-20029-CM-1 Dear Counsel: Enclosed is a copy of the opinion of the court issued today in this matter. The court has entered judgment on the docket pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. Rule 36. Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. Rule 40, any petition for rehearing must be filed within 14 days after entry of judgment. Please note, however, that if the appeal is a civil case in which the United States or its officer or agency is a party, any petition for rehearing must be filed within 45 days after entry of judgment. Parties should consult both the Federal Rules and local rules of this court with regard to applicable standards and requirements. In particular, petitions for rehearing may not exceed 15 pages in length, and no answer is permitted unless the court enters an order requiring a response. If requesting rehearing en banc, the requesting party must file 18 paper copies with the clerk, in addition to satisfying all Electronic Case Filing requirements. See Fed. R. App. P. Rules 35 and 40, and 10th Cir. R. 35 and 40 for further information governing petitions for rehearing. Appellate Case: 10-3201 Document: 01018638831 Date Filed: 05/12/2011 Page: 2 Please contact this office if you have questions. Sincerely, Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of the Court EAS/sls 2

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Starting October 1, 2020, every domestic air traveler will need to present a Real ID driver's license, a Real ID identification card or a passport in order to board a domestic flight. A Real ID-compliant license or card is one that meets, and is issued by a state or territory that complies with the Real ID Act. A passport, along with domestic flights, also affords you cross-border access.


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Home Activism & Hue-man Rights Victory! Thanks for Standing With Standing Rock
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Victory! Thanks for Standing With Standing Rock
Dear RasTafari TV Network,
Yesterday we were notified that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not grant the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the Dakota Access pipeline. Instead, they will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement regarding alternative routes for the pipeline. This action strongly vindicates what the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been saying all along – that we all have a responsibility to protect our waters for future generations.
This is an historic moment. For centuries, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and tribes across the country, have faced fundamental injustice at the hands of the federal government – which time and again took our lands and tried to destroy our way of life. Our Treaties and our human rights were ignored, our interests in protecting lands and waters were considered unimportant, and our voices were not heard.
It was this shared history that led Tribes to come together as never before to seek the protection of our waters against the threat of the Dakota Access pipeline. With peace and prayer, indigenous people from hundreds of Tribes said: our future is too important. We can no longer be ignored. The goal was to protect these sacred waters, and to do so in the name of our children.
And, with yesterday's decision, it is clear that our voices have at long last been heard.
Yesterday's decision demonstrates that, despite all the challenges that Tribes face and all of the terrible wrongs the federal government has committed in dealing with us over the years, justice for Indian people still remains possible. My thanks to the Obama Administration, and particularly to Assistant Secretary Darcy, for upholding the law and doing the right thing.
Yesterday's decision belongs in large measure to the thousands of courageous people who put their lives on hold to stand with Standing Rock in support of a basic principle — that water is life. At Standing Rock, our youth played an important role in spreading our message and I am so proud of what they have been able to accomplish.
But Standing Rock could not have come this far alone. Hundreds of tribes came together in a display of tribal unity not seen in hundreds of years. And many thousands of indigenous people from around the world have prayed with us and made us stronger. I am grateful to each of you. And, as we turn a page with yesterday's decision, I look forward to working with many of you as you return to your home communities to protect your lands and waters, and the sovereignty of your tribes.
My thanks to all of our allies, here and around the world, each of whom contributed to this effort. I want to give a special mention to the veterans who have come to Standing Rock in recent days. I am sure that the strength of your message in support of Standing Rock, and the rights of the Water Protectors, had a powerful impact as the Army made its decision. I appreciate all you have done.
While today is a great day, there is still much that needs to be done to protect Tribal rights and ensure justice for indigenous people everywhere. Using peace and prayer as our guideposts, and with the teachings of our elders and with inspiration from our youth, I believe there is much we can accomplish for the future.
Dave Archambault, II, Chairman
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
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Richard Pryor was arguably the single most influential performer of the second half of the twentieth century,and certainly he was the most successful black actor/comedian ever. Controversial and somewhat enigmatic in his lifetime, Pryor's performances opened up a new world of possibilities, merging fantasy with angry reality in a way that wasn't just new-it was heretofore unthinkable. His childhood in Peoria, Illinois, was spent just trying to survive. Yet the culture into which Richard Pryor was born-his mother was a prostitute; his grandmother ran the whorehouse-helped him evolve into one of the most innovative and outspoken performers ever, a man who attracted admiration and anger in equal parts. Both a brilliant comedian and a very astute judge of what he could get away with, Pryor was always pushing the envelope, combining anger and pathos, outrage and humor, into an art form, laying the groundwork for the generations of comedians who followed, including such outstanding performers as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and Louis C.K. Now, in this groundbreaking and revelatory work, David and Joe Henry bring him to life both as a man and as an artist, providing an in-depth appreciation of his talent and his lasting influence, as well as an insightful examination of the world he lived in and the influences that shaped both his persona and his art.
"Comedian Richard Pryor was as screwed up as he was gifted, or perhaps his immense talent was born of his unendurable pain. This work allows listeners to peek into the soul of one of the funniest, and saddest, men who ever lived. Narrator extraordinaire Dion Graham has the ability to become Pryor in all his incarnations: comedian, tortured cocaine addict, loving husband, abusive husband, victim, and tormentor. Graham even imitates Pryor, and mimics Pryor as he mimics the voices of other characters in his act. One thing is for sure, Pryor was best appreciated at a distance because he hurt the ones he loved the most, often physically as well as emotionally. This is the work to hear in order to truly understand the source of Pryor's pained humor and to accept that we may never see anyone like him again. M.S. 2015 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine"


text:
\section{Introduction}
By asynchronously capturing the light changes in a scene, the event-based camera offers an alternative approach for imaging, which is fundamentally different from the common frame-based cameras. Rather than measuring the "absolute" brightness at a constant rate, the event-based cameras measure per-pixel brightness changes (called "events") in an asynchronous manner. Some of their main advantages are very high temporal resolution and low latency (both in the order of microseconds), very high dynamic range (140 dB vs. 60 dB of standard cameras), and low power consumption. Hence, event cameras have promising potential for pattern recognition, machine learning, computer vision, robotics, and other wearable applications in challenging scenarios (\textit{e.g.} high-speed motion and the scene has a high dynamic range).

\begin{figure}[t!]
\centering
\begin{center}
\begin{minipage}[b]{1\linewidth}
\centering
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{rep-intro-crop.pdf}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}[b]{.9\linewidth}
\centering
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{crop-love_1.pdf}}
\end{minipage}
\vspace{-.1in}
\caption{An illustration for the construction of the local volume of aggregated events that we use as a vector input representation ${\bf v}_b$ in our unsupervised feature learning approach.}
\label{fig.lov.0}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

As data-driven sensors, the event-based camera output depends on the brightness change caused by the camera's motion or the objects' motion in the scene. The faster the motion, the more events per second are generated since each pixel adapts its sampling rate to the rate of change of the intensity signal that it monitors.
One of the critical questions of the paradigm shift posed by event cameras is how to extract meaningful and useful information from the event stream to fulfill a given task. In the past, several unsupervised event-based features were proposed \cite{Guillermo:2019} for various tasks, like recognition, object detection, segmentation, and feature tracking. Based on how the feature is estimated, these methods can be grouped on two broad categories: (i) handcrafted and (ii) learned approaches. Concerning the used model, the latter category can be divided into two subgroups: (a) single-layer and (b) multi-layer architecture.

Deep, multi-layered architectures have shown to be successful at many tasks,  but most of these methods process events in synchronous batches, sacrificing the asynchronous property of event data. Asynchronous and parallel learning for event-based data was addressed under the spiking neural networks (SNN) \cite{Dongsung:2018}. However,  SNNs were challenging to train due to the absence of an efficient equivalent to back-propagation learning method and the hyper-parameters' sensitivity.
While the interpretations and the understanding of the learning dynamics, even for the most popular multi-layer architectures, remain challenging. On the other hand, data-adaptive, \textit{i.e.},  learned single-layer architectures for event-based data were not studied extensively. Moreover, the analysis for the appropriate problem formulation, which would be advantageous for efficient, asynchronous, and parallel learning from event-based data, was not fully explored.  As such,  it remains unknown to which extend a single-layer model could be useful for event-based data and how the spatial and temporal resolution of the event-based data impacts performance for a given task.

\begin{figure}[t!]
\centering
\begin{center}
\begin{minipage}[b]{.81\linewidth}
\centering
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{presentation-Figure-1.pdf}}
\end{minipage}
\caption{A schematic diagram which illustrates the main components in the proposed recognition pipeline.}
\label{fig.shem.diag}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

This paper analyzes two classes of single-layer methods for compact, information preserving, and task-relevant representation learning from event-based data. We focus on unsupervised learning of a set of basis vectors (or filter bank). We encode the event-based input data with respect to the basis vectors to produce features, which we use for recognition. In general, the problem of learning such basis vectors can be formulated as a direct \cite{DBLP:conf/icassp/RavishankarB14}, \cite{DBLP:journals/corr/RavishankarB15a}, \cite{Kostadinov2018:EUVIP} or inverse problem \cite{RubinsteinBE10}, \cite{LCKSVD:6516503} \cite{RubinsteinR:ADL}.
\begin{itemize}
\item Under the inverse problem,  we would like to estimate (represent) the input event-data as a linear combination over a given set of basis vectors.

\item  While under the direct problem, we would like to estimate (represent) the input event-data as a set of projections over a set of basis vectors.
\end{itemize}
We highlight and show the advantages of both approaches. Theoretically, we reflect on the optimal solution and the complexity for asynchronous and parallel updates under both problem formulations. In both cases, we have to jointly estimate the representation and learn the set of basis vectors during training time. However, under the direct problem formulation, the complexity for estimating the representation is low. While under the inverse problem formulation, the complexity can be high, especially when the input event-based data dimension is high, or the number of basis vectors is high. We evaluate both methods on different data sets for the task of object recognition. Our validation shows improvements in the recognition accuracy while using event-data at low spatial resolution compared to the state-of-the-art methods.

\subsection{Contributions}
In the following, we give our main contributions.

\begin{itemize}
\item We analyze the recognition performance of a two part recognition pipeline: (i) unsupervised feature learning and (ii) supervised classifier over the encoded features. We show that with this simple single layer architecture we can achieve state-of-the-art result which outperforms handcrafted methods.

\item  In the unsupervised feature learning, we  address the direct and the inverse problem formulation, \textit{i.e.}, data adaptive basis vectors learning with respect to which we encode the event-based data. We investigate the solutions of the both problems, comment on the local optimal guarantees as well as highlight the complexity under asynchronous and parallel solution update.

\item  We validate both approaches trough a numerical evaluation on different data sets for the task of object recognition.
In addition, we also provide an analysis for different trade-offs and highlight the advantages of each approach.
 We demonstrate that the direct problem formulation has identical recognition performance to the inverse problem formulation, but under the direct problem formulation, the learning complexity is lower. In addition to having local convergence guarantees, the direct problem formulation also has lower complexity for asynchronous and parallel update. Our numerical results, compared to the state-of-the-art methods from the same category show improvements of up to ${\bf 9} \%$ in the recognition accuracy.
\end{itemize}

\section{Related Work}

Unsupervised feature learning is a well studied topic, \textit{e.g.}, \cite{PeterDiehl:2015, PiotrDollar:2015, Leutenegger:2011, Lowe:2004, Sivic:2009, PaulViola:2004} in the area of image processing, computer vision and machine learning for object recognition, detection and matching. On the other hand, only recently, the event-based vision has been used to address these problems.

Analogously to the approaches used for a standard camera image, feature extraction approaches from event-based camera can be grouped into two broad categories handcrafted and learning-based. Spatio-temporal feature descriptors of the event stream were used for high-level applications like gesture recognition \cite{JunhaengLee:2012}, object recognition \cite{Paul:2015, HATS:2018} or face detection \cite{SouptikBarua:2016}. Low-level applications include optical flow prediction \cite{RyadBenosman:2012, RyadBenosman:2011} and image reconstruction \cite{PatrickBardow:2016}. As a data-driven model, asynchronous, spiking neural networks (SNNs) \cite{JunHaengLee:2016} have been applied to several tasks, \textit{e.g.}, object recognition \cite{JunHaengLee:2016, HFIST:2015, Jose:2013}, gesture classification \cite{ArnonAmir:2017}, and optical flow prediction \cite{RyadBenosman:2012}. However, computationally efficient equivalent to back-propagation algorithms still limits the usability of SNNs in complex real-world scenarios. Several works have recently proposed using standard learning architectures as an alternative to SNNs \cite{Ana:2018, DanielNeil:2016, HATS:2018, AlexZihaoZhu:2018}. Commonly, these works use a handcrafted event stream representation. Deep multi-layer architectures have shown to be successful at many tasks, but asynchronous and parallel learning and the interpretation and understanding of the learning dynamics remain challenging. While not much attention was given to single-layer architectures that exploit the appropriate problem formulation, which would be advantageous for efficient, asynchronous, and parallel learning from event-based data.

\section{Paper Organization}

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section \ref{sec:EventBasedCamera}, we introduce the working principle of the event-based camera. In Section \ref{sec:AsynchronousandParallelRepresentationLearningforEventBasedData}, we first present an overview of our approach, then we present how we form the input for the unsupervised learning algorithm. Afterward, we give the problem formulation for our unsupervised learning approach and describe our classifier. We devote Section \ref{sec:NumericalEvaluation} to numerical evaluation, while with Section \ref{sec:Conclusion}, we conclude the paper.

\section{Event Based Camera Working Principle}
\label{sec:EventBasedCamera}

In this section, we present the working principle of event cameras.
The event-based cameras (like DVS [1]) at independent pixels locations measure "events" according to brightness change. Let $L([\icol{x \\ y}], t)= \log I([\icol{x \\ y}], t)$ be the logarithmic brightness at pixel location $\left[ \icol{x \\ y} \right]$ on the image plane. The event-based camera generates an event ${\bf e}_t=\{ [\icol{x \\ y}], t_k, p_k \}$ when the change in logarithmic brightness at pixel location $[\icol{x \\ y}]$ reaches a threshold $C$, \textit{i.e.},
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
& \Delta L= L([\icol{x \\ y}], t_k) - L([\icol{x \\ y}], t - \Delta t) = p_t(x,y) C,
\label{WorkingPrincipleDescription:1}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
where $t$ is the time "stamp" of the event, $\Delta t$ is the time since the previous event at the same pixel location $[\icol{x \\ y}]$ and $p_t(x,y) \in \{ +1, -1 \}$ is the event polarity (i.e., sign of the brightness change).
It is important to highlight that an event camera does not produce images at a constant rate, but rather a stream of asynchronous, sparse events in space and time. That is, depending on the visual input, the event-based camera, outputs data proportionally to the amount of brightness changes in the scene.

\section{Unsupervised Representation Learning for Event Based Data}
\label{sec:AsynchronousandParallelRepresentationLearningforEventBasedData}

This section describes our approach, which focuses on learning features from local volumes of events. We adopt a multi-stage approach, which is similar to those employed in computer vision, as well as other feature learning works \cite{Coates:2011a}.

\subsection{Approach Overview}

Our approach consists of two parts (i) feature representation learning and (ii) classification. In Figure \ref{fig.shem.diag},  we show the schematic diagram, which illustrates the main components in the proposed recognition pipeline. The unsupervised learning part includes the following steps:
\begin{itemize}

\item[1)]  Extract random local volumes of events from unlabeled set of events for training and apply a pre-processing to the local volume of events.

\item[2)]  Learn a feature-mapping using an unsupervised
learning algorithm.

\end{itemize}
We address the problem of learning the feature mapping under unsupervised learning algorithm. We highlight that depending on the input representation, our single layer unsupervised feature learning approach has flexibility to accommodate and capture different features. That is, when the local spatial dimension equals to the spatial dimension of the event-based camera stream then our single layer architecture equals to a fully connected layer. In that case, our unsupervised learning of basis vectors consists of learning the weights in the equivalent fully connected layer. On the other hand, when the local spatial dimension is smaller to the spatial dimension of the event-based camera stream and the basis vectors are shared for all local volumes of accumulated events then our single layer architecture equals to a convolutional layer. Furthermore, if the length of the local volume of accumulated events equals to the total number of accumulation intervals then we have 2D convolution. This is indeed the case, since, we actually preform a convolution operation only over the spatial domain, \textit{i.e.}, the $X$ and $Y$ axis. Otherwise, when the length of the local volume of accumulated events is smaller to the total number of accumulation intervals, then we have additional temporal dimension over which we can preform the convolution operation and thus have a 3D convolution. In this paper, we focus on learning a basis vectors that correspond to learning a 2D convolutional filters.

In the second part, given the learned feature mapping and a set of labels for the training events, we perform feature extraction and classification as follows:
\begin{itemize}

\item[1)]  Extract features from equally spaced local volumes of events covering the input event set and pool features together over regions of the input events to reduce the dimensionality of the feature vector.

\item[2)]  Train a linear classifier to predict the labels given
the feature vectors.

\end{itemize}

\subsection{Formation of Local Volumes of Events and Pre-processing}

Given an set of events across time as input, we extract and use local volumes of accumulated events. This representation is a vector ${\bf v}_b \in \Re^{B_x B_y T_l}$ that describes a local volume indexed by $b$, which has height $B_x $, width $B_y $ and length $T_l$ that equals to the number of time intervals over which we accumulate events. We construct ${\bf v}_b$ as follows:
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
 {\bf v}_b = \left[ \icol{ {\bf g}_{t_l}( \mathcal{N}_b) \\ {\bf g}_{t_{l+1}}( \mathcal{N}_b) \\ . \\ . \\ . \\ {\bf g}_{t_{l+T_l}}( \mathcal{N}_b) } \right], \text{ where } {\bf g}_t = \sum_{t}^{t+\delta t} \left[ \icol{ p_{t}( {1,1} ) \\ p_{t}( {1,2} ) \\ . \\ . \\ . \\ p_{t}( {N_x,N_y} ) } \right],
\label{WorkingPrincipleDescription:1.0.a}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
while $t \in \{0, ... ,T \}$ is the time index,  $\delta t$ is the duration of one accumulation interval, $\mathcal{N}_b$, $b \in \{1,...,B\}$ is the index for a spatial block with size $B_x \times B_y$, centered at spatial spatial position $(x, y)$.
An illustration for the construction of the local volume of accumulated events is shown in Figure \ref{fig.lov.0}.

Our pre-processing consists of two parts. In the first part, we normalize each local volume of accumulated events ${\bf v}_b$
by subtracting the mean and dividing by the standard deviation of its elements. In fact, this corresponds to
normalization in the change of the event accumulation.
After normalizing each input vector, in the second part, we whiten \cite{Coates:2011a} all ${\bf v}_b$ from the entire data set of events. This process is commonly used in the learning methods (e.g., \cite{Coates:2011a}) for standard images, but it is less frequently employed in pattern recognition from event-based data.

\subsection{Unsupervised Feature Learning}
Our training data, \textit{i.e.}, ${\bf V}=[{\bf V}_1,...,{\bf V}_M]$ consists of set of vectors ${\bf V}_j=[{\bf v}_{j, 1},...,{\bf v}_{j, B}]$, where ${\bf v}_{j, b} \in \Re^{B_xB_x T_l}$ represents the local volume of temporally aggregated events over local spatial region indexed by $b$ for the event data $j$. We consider the direct and inverse problem formulations, where we jointly estimate the representations and learn a set  of  basis  vectors. In the following, we present the both problem formulations.

\subsubsection{Inverse Problem Formulation}

The inverse problem formulation has the following from:
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
\! \Big[ {\bf L}, {\bf D} \Big] \!  =\arg \min_{{\bf L}, {\bf D}}\frac{1}{2}\Vert{\bf V}-{\bf D}{\bf L} \Vert_F^2 \! + \! \lambda_0 m({\bf L} ) \! + \! \lambda_1\Omega({\bf D}),
\label{problem.formulation:inverse}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
where $\Vert . \Vert_F$ denotes Frobenius norm, $m({\bf L})=\sum_{j=1}^M \sum_{b=1}^B \Vert {\bf l}_{j,b} \Vert_1 $ and $\Omega({\bf D})=\lambda_2\Vert {\bf D} \Vert_2^2 - \lambda_3 \Vert {\bf D}{\bf D}^T-{\bf I} \Vert_2^2-\lambda_4 \log \vert \det {\bf D} {\bf D}^T \vert$ are constraints on the representations ${\bf L}=[{\bf L}_1,...,{\bf L}_M]$, ${\bf L}_j=[{\bf l}_{j,1},...,{\bf l}_{j,B}]$, ${\bf l}_{j,b} \in \Re^{K}$ and the dictionary (the set of basis vectors) ${\bf D}=[{\bf d}_1,...,{\bf d}_K]$, ${\bf d}_k \in \Re^{B_xB_x T_l}$ while $\lambda_0$ and $\lambda_1$ are Lagrangian parameters. Given the dictionary ${\bf D}$ under  the  inverse  problem \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse},  we  would  like  to  represent the local volume of events ${\bf v}_{j,b}$ as a sparse linear combination ${\bf l}_{j,b}$, \textit{i.e.}, ${\bf v}_{j,b}={\bf D}{\bf l}_{j,b}$.

\subsubsection{Direct Problem Formulation}
The direct problem formulation has the following from:
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
\Big[ {\bf L}, {\bf A} \Big]  \! =\arg \min_{{\bf L}, {\bf A}}\frac{1}{2}\Vert{\bf A}{\bf V}-{\bf L} \Vert_F^2 \! + \! \lambda_0 m({\bf L} ) \! + \!  \lambda_1 \Omega({\bf A} ),
\label{problem.formulation:direct}
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
where ${\bf A}=\left[\icol{ {\bf a}_1^T \\ .\\. \\ {\bf a}_K^T }\right]$, ${\bf a}_k \in \Re^{B_xB_xT_l}$, while the constraints $m({\bf L})$ and ${\Omega}({\bf A})$ are equivalent with the ones defined for \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse}.
Given the linear map ${\bf A}$, under the direct problem \eqref{problem.formulation:direct}, we would like to represent ${\bf v}_{j,b}$ as a two step nonlinear transform ${\bf l}_{l,b}=g({\bf A}{\bf v}_{l,b})$ consisting of: (i) linear mapping ${\bf A}{\bf v}_{j,b}$ and (ii) element-wise  nonlinearity $g({\bf A}{\bf v}_{l,b})$, which is induced by the constraint $m({\bf l}_{j,b})=\Vert {\bf l}_{j,b} \Vert_1$.

Both, \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} and \eqref{problem.formulation:direct} are non-convex in the variables $\{ {\bf L}, {\bf D} \}$ and $\{ {\bf L}, {\bf A} \}$, respectively. If the variable ${\bf D}$ in \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} (or ${\bf A}$ in  \eqref{problem.formulation:direct}) is fixed, \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} (or \eqref{problem.formulation:direct}) is convex, but if ${\bf L}$ is fixed, the reduced problem for  \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} (or \eqref{problem.formulation:direct}) might not be convex due to the penalty function $\Omega$.
Nonetheless, to solve \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} (or  \eqref{problem.formulation:direct}) usually an iterative, alternating algorithm is used that has two steps: dictionary ${\bf D}$ (or transform ${\bf A}$) update and sparse coding.

\begin{table}[h]
\label{table.1}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
Method & Local Convergence Guarantee \\
       & Under Sparsity Constraints \\
\hline
Proposed (inverse) & exists  \\
Proposed (direct)  & exists \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{The local convergence guarantee.}
\end{table}

Considering the inverse problem \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse}, in the dictionary update step, given ${\bf L}$ that is estimated at iteration $t$, we use a K-SVD \cite{RubinsteinPE13}. In the sparse coding step, given ${\bf D}^{t+1}$, the sparse codes ${\bf l}_{l,b}^{t+1}$ are estimated using \cite{Tibshirani1994regressionshrinkage}.

Considering the direct problem \eqref{problem.formulation:direct}, in the transform estimate step, given ${\bf L}$ that is estimated at iteration $t$, we use approximate closed form solution to estimate the transform matrix ${\bf A}^{t+1}$ at iteration $t + 1$. In the sparse coding step, given ${\bf A}^{t+1}$, the sparse codes ${\bf l}_{j,b}^{t+1}$ are estimated by a closed form solution.

\subsubsection{Local Convergence Guarantees}

Under sparsity constraints for the representations, and conditioning and coherence constraints \cite{Kostadinov2018:EUVIP} for the dictionary, a local convergence guarantee to both \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} and \eqref{problem.formulation:direct} has been shown \cite{RubinsteinBE10}, \cite{RubinsteinR:ADL} and  \cite{Kostadinov2018:EUVIP}. However, it is important to note that under the direct problem formulation the complexity of the sparse coding step has very low computational complexity which is linear in the dimension of the representation ${\bf l}_{j,b}$, \textit{i.e.}, $O(B_x B_y T_l)$. While for the inverse problem the same complexity is higher \cite{DBLP:conf/icassp/RavishankarB13a}, \cite{DBLP:conf/icassp/RavishankarB14}. In addition, as advantage, the direct problem allows posing a class of penalties under which a low complexity closed form solution exists.

\begin{table}[h]
\label{table.1}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
Method & Complexity \\
& Under Sparsity Constraint \\
\hline
Proposed (inverse) & $O(s B_x B_y T_l K)$  \\
Proposed (direct)  & $O(B_x B_y T_l)$ \\
\hline
Method & Complexity \\
& Under Broad Class of Constraint \\
\hline
Proposed (inverse) & high  \\
Proposed (direct)  & low \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{The complexity for estimating the unsupervised representation under sparsity constraints and under broad class of constraints.}
\end{table}

\subsection{Final Feature Composition and Classification}

Under either the direct or inverse problem formulation, we estimate basis vectors, which we consider as the parameters of a function that maps the input local volume of events to a new representation. We apply this mapping to our (labeled) training event-based data for classification.

\subsubsection{Final Feature Composition}
We consider the learned basis vectors as the parameters of an encoding function $f : R^{B_x B_y T_l }
 \rightarrow R^K$, which represents our feature extractor. Many functions might be used to encode with respect to the learned basis vectors, here we use the triangle encoding, as presented by \cite{Coates:2011a}. Under our encoding function $f$, for any $B_x$-by-$B_y$-by-$T_l$ local volume of accumulated events ${\bf v}_{j, b}$, we
compute the corresponding representation ${\bf l}_{j, b} \in R^
K$. Moreover, we define a (single layer) representation for the set of events by applying the function $f$ to all of the local volumes of accumulated events. That is, given the set of events defined over $N_x$-by-$N_y$-by-$T$ volume of event locations, for each of the local volumes ${\bf v}_{j, b}$ described by the spatial index $b \in \mathcal{N}_b$,  we compute the representation ${\bf l}_{j,b}$. More formally, we let ${\bf l}_{j,b}$ to be the $K$-dimensional representation extracted for location index $b$, from the input set of events indexed by $j$.

We reduce the dimensionality of the event-based data representation by pooling, which is similar as proposed by \cite{Coates:2011a}, but instead of image patches, we operate on local volumes of accumulated events and construct the final representation $ {\bf y}_j = \left[  \icol{ \sum_{b_1} {\bf l}_{j, b_1} \\  . \\ .\\ . \\ \sum_{b_4} {\bf l}_{j, b_4}  } \right] \in \Re^{4K}$.

\subsubsection{Classification}

In our classification, we use the pooled feature vectors ${\bf y}_{j}$ for each training event-based data and its corresponding label. We apply (L2) SVM \cite{Vapnik:1995:SL:ER} classification, with regularization parameter that is determined by cross-validation.

\subsection{Asynchronous and Parallel Update in Feature Learning}
We note that the differences between the inverse problem \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} and the direct problem \eqref{problem.formulation:direct} emerge only if the set of basis vectors is over-complete or under-complete. Since, under an orthonormal set of basis vectors the two problems are equivalent. Considering an over-complete set of basis vectors, the solution in the sub-problems related to both the inverse problem \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} and the direct problem \eqref{problem.formulation:direct} have major impact on the possibility for asynchronous and parallel update for the proposed unsupervised feature learning approach.

During the sparse coding step for the inverse problem formulation \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse}, at any change (even small) of the input representation, a solution to inverse problem has to be estimated, which would lead to high computational complexity and challenges in parallel update of the representation. In contrast, the same step in the direct problem formulation \eqref{problem.formulation:direct} has a closed from solution. Moreover, under \eqref{problem.formulation:direct}, it is straightforward to update each element of the representation in parallel and in an asynchronous fashion, with no additional increase in the computational complexity.

During the basis set update, under the conditioning and coherence constraints, for both the inverse \eqref{problem.formulation:inverse} and the direct \eqref{problem.formulation:direct} problem formulation, parallel update is challenging. Additional, structure enforcing constraint on the basis set might be helpfully towards parallel and asynchronous update of the basis set, especially under the direct \eqref{problem.formulation:direct} problem formulation.

\section{Numerical Evaluation}
\label{sec:NumericalEvaluation}

In this section, we evaluate the potential of our approach and provide comparative results between our algorithm and the state-of-the-art methods. We consider the task of object recognition over three publicly available data sets. In the following subsection, we describe the setup for the preformed experiments and finally present and discuss the results.

\subsection{Data Sets, Setup and Analysis}
In our evaluation, we used N-MNIST  \cite{N-MNIST:N-CALTECH}, N-Caltech101  \cite{N-MNIST:N-CALTECH} and N-Cars \cite{N-CARS} event-based data sets. We use our classification pipeline, which we presented in the earlier section. We learned the over-complete basis set under the direct and the inverse problem formulation. As an encoding function, we use the triangle encoding as proposed in \cite{coates2011importance, Coates:2011a}, by which we encode the local volume of events with respect to the learned set of basis vectors. After the puling stage over all the encoded representations for the  local volumes of events, we use the final representation to learn a linear SVM classifier.

Considering the N-MNIST data set, we use the final representations from the training data set in order to learning the classifier, while we use the final representations from the test data set for evaluation of the recognition accuracy. Considering the N-Caltheh101 and N-Cars data sets, we use $80 \%$ of the data set for training and the remaining to test the recognition performance.

We compare the results of our approach under the direct and the inverse problem formulation for learning the basis set with the state-of-the-art methods. Our evaluation includes comparison to the methods under single layer as well as multi-layer architectures which use event-based data.
In addition, we analyze the impact on the recognition performance when we change different parameters in the components of our pipeline. We present the recognition results under varying  (i) number of basis vectors, (ii) size of the local volume and (iii) number of accumulation bins.

\begin{table}[h]
\label{table.1}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
Method & Acc. $\%$ \\
\hline
Hfist \cite{Hfist} & 06.0 \\
HOTS \cite{HOTS}  & 21.0 \\
Garbor-SNN \cite{Gabor:SNN} & 19.2 \\
HATS \cite{HATS:2018}  & 64.2 \\
DART \cite{DART}  & 70.3 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
Method & Acc. $\%$ \\
\hline
EST \cite{EST:2019} & 81.7 \\
VID2E \cite{VID2E:2020} & 90.1 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

\begin{tabular}{cc}
&
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|}
\hline
Method & Acc. $\%$ \\
\hline
Proposed (inverse) & \textbf{78.4} \\
Proposed (direct)  & \textbf{77.1} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{A comparison of the average precision accuracy for our approach and the state-of-the-art single layer and multi-layer methods, which use event data as input.}
\label{table.avg.acc.cmp.all}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}
\hline
Data set & Acc. $\%$ (inverse) & Acc. $\%$ (direct)  \\
\hline
N-MNIST  &98.1 & 96.8 \\
N-Calteh101 & 78.4 & 77.1 \\
N-CARS  & 84.7 & 81.3   \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{The average precision accuracy of the proposed method under direct and inverse problem formulation for unsupervised feature learning over the used N-MNIST, N-Calteh101 and N-CARS event-base data sets.}
\label{table.avg.acc.across.datasets}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[h!]
\label{table.1}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline
Method & \multicolumn{4}{c|}{Number of Basis Vectors}  \\
\hline
& 1000 & 1500 & 1700 & 2000 \\
\hline
Proposed (inverse)  & 73.2 & 74.5  & 78.4 & 76.0 \\
Proposed (direct)   & 74.3& 77.0& 77.1 &75.5  \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline
Method & \multicolumn{4}{c|}{Size of the Local Volume}  \\
\hline
& 4$\times$4$\times$4 & 4$\times$12$\times$12 & 4$\times$16$\times$16 & 4$\times$21$\times$ 21 \\
\hline
Proposed (inverse) & 69.6 & 78.4& 76.4 & 75.2   \\
Proposed (direct)  & 64.8& 77.1& 74.5 &75.1    \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\label{table.1}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline
Method & \multicolumn{4}{c|}{Number of Accumulation Intervals}  \\
\hline
& 2 & 4 & 7 & 10 \\
\hline
Proposed (inverse) & 61.7 & 72.4 & 78.4 & 76.3   \\
Proposed (direct)  & 63.2&  69.1& 77.1 & 74.1    \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{The average precision accuracy under varying: (i) number of basis vectors, (ii) size of the local volume and (iii)
number of accumulation intervals.}
\vspace{-.1in}
\label{table.varying.acc.intervals}
\end{table}

\begin{figure*}[t!]
\centering
\begin{center}
\begin{minipage}[b]{.25\linewidth}
\centering
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{direct_v1.pdf}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}[b]{.2\linewidth}
\centering
\text{ }
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}[b]{.25\linewidth}
\centering
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{inverse_v1.pdf}}
\end{minipage}
\caption{Visualization for a subset of the learned basis vectors under the inverse and direct problem formulation for the N-CARS data set.}
\label{fig.basis.set}
\end{center}
\vspace{-.2in}
\end{figure*}

\subsection{Result Discussion}

The results of our numerical evaluation are shown in Tables \ref{table.avg.acc.cmp.all},
\ref{table.avg.acc.across.datasets},
and \ref{table.varying.acc.intervals}.

In Tables \ref{table.avg.acc.cmp.all} and \ref{table.avg.acc.across.datasets}, we show a comparison between the average recognition accuracy of our approach under direct and inverse problem formulation and the state-of-the-art single layer methods which use as input event-based data and frame based data. As we can observe, highest accuracy achieves the proposed unsupervised learning approach under inverse problem formulation. The unsupervised learning approach under the direct problem formulation also has high accuracy, which is a bit lower, but the learning complexity is also lower compared to the unsupervised learning approach under inverse problem formulation. Moreover, we can see that the proposed unsupervised learning approach outperforms the comparing state-of-the-art methods from the same category. It is important to note that under the proposed unsupervised learning approach, we use as input an event data that has $\times 4$ lower spatial resolution. That is, we use $\sim {\bf 1}$ order of magnitude less event data compared to the state-of-the-art methods.

In Table \ref{table.avg.acc.cmp.all}, we also show a comparison between the average recognition accuracy of our approach under direct and inverse problem formulation and the state-of-the-art multi-layer methods which use as input event-based data. We can see that compared to the EST \cite{EST:2019} method, the accuracy is lower, but only about $3.3 \%$. On the other had, compared to the VID2E \cite{VID2E:2020} multi-layer method, we have bigger gap in the achieved accuracy. However, we have to note that under the multi-layered methods the authors used (i) pre-trained networks (using image-net \cite{imagenet:2009} data set), (ii) additionally simulated (artificially generated) and augmented event-data, while in our approach, we did not used any additionally simulated or external data. The recognition accuracy over each of the event-based data set is shown in Table \ref{table.avg.acc.across.datasets} and we can see that the recognition accuracy is high.

In Table
\ref{table.varying.acc.intervals},  we  show the recognition results under varying different  parameters in  the components  of  our  recognition pipeline.  As we can see the higher number of basis vectors we have higher recognition accuracy, but up to a certain point. We explain this by the fact that to small number of overcomplete basis vectors does not capture well the inherent invariances over all of the local volumes of events, while to big number of overcomplete set of basis vectors reduces the discrimination property. Interestingly, we have similar behavior when we vary the size of the local volume. However, we explain this by the fact that under very small local volumes the space of variation is to small, hence lower distinguishability between the local blocks, which results in low recognition accuracy. On the other hand, under very big local volumes the space of variation is big, which would imply that we have to use a bigger number of basis vectors\footnote{In Fig. \ref{fig.basis.set}, we give visualization of a subset of the learned basis vectors for the N-Cars event-based data set under the inverse and direct problem formulation. We note that there is not much of visual difference between the basis  vectors when we have regularization for the conditioning and the coherence of the basis set.}.

Considering the impact of the number of accumulation intervals, we note that we achieve the highest accuracy when we have $7$ accumulation intervals. We suspect that the reason for low accuracy at too small or too big numbers of accumulation intervals is due to the fact that our events are triggered by motion, which we do not know in advance. This adds additional variability in the distribution of the events across the spatial domain that can be interpreted as noise corruption.

\section{Conclusion}
\label{sec:Conclusion}

In this paper,  we presented an analysis of the performance of two general problem formulations, \textit{i.e.}, the direct and the inverse, for unsupervised feature learning from local event data. We identified and show the main advantages of each approach theoretically and by a numerical validation.

Empirically, we demonstrated that the direct problem formulation has similar recognition performance to the inverse problem formulation,  but the learning complexity is lower under the direct problem formulation.  The direct solution to the problem formulation has lower complexity, advantageous for an asynchronous and parallel update. In our numerical evaluation, the comparison with the state-of-the-art methods from the same category showed improvements of up to $\bf 9 \%$ in the recognition accuracy while using fewer event data.

We leave the analysis of different encoding functions, the joint learning of  features and classifiers, and the analysis for a multi-layered unsupervised feature learning as feature work.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


CETI 500 – The product supports up to six video inputs. It can be installed on existing CCTV analog systems or you can install the unit as a new system. You can view six cameras simultaneously over the internet from any web enabled browser.
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text:
Author: Casey Gale
Your colleagues are on the move, find out who is going where.
Dino Michael
Dino Michael will extend his current Waldorf Astoria brand head role to include the global brand head position for the Conrad brand, effective Jan. 1, 2020. In this role, Michael will lead brand innovation, strategic development, and leadership initiatives for both the Waldorf Astoria and Conrad brands. He was appointed global brand head for Waldorf Astoria in June 2018.
Andrew Falter
Andrew Falter has been named director of group sales at Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Ponte Vedra, Florida. He has more than 30 years of sales experience in hospitality, with particular knowledge of the Mid-Atlantic, New York, and New England association markets. Before taking on this role, Falter was founder and president of Sponsorship Reliance Group. He also served as director of association sales at Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin.
Jeff Zidell and Ellen Zfaney
RoomIt by CWT, the global hotel distribution division of CWT, has named Jeff ZIdell as senior vice president and customer experience officer. He joins RoomIt from CorePoint Lodging, where he was senior vice president, asset management. Before that, he spent nearly a decade with Hyatt Hotels, where he was senior vice president, loyalty marketing and partnerships.
The organization also has named Ellen Zfaney as vice president, supply strategy and innovation. She previously worked as head of global strategic partnerships at Expedia for three years. Prior to that, Zfaney was vice president, Americas partnerships, Orbitz Partner Network at Orbitz Worldwide for almost 11 years.
This Weird Research-Backed Goal Setting Hack Actually Works
9 Ways to Make Your Office Meetings Matter
Beat the Clock: The Surprising Psychology Behind Being Perpetually Late


text:
New Outdoor Recreation Guidelines
New Outdoor Recreation Guidelines Emphasize Importance of Preparation, Inclusivity, and Shared Stewardship
Eugenie Bostrom, Recreate Responsibly Coalition Manager, Embracing the Bear Consulting eugenie@embracingthebear.com, 424.542.9690
Brandi Horton, Recreate Responsibly Coalition Member, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, brandi@railstotrails.org, 202.974.5155
Recreate Responsibly Coalition shifts focus to the future and best practices that will keep the outdoor spaces we love thriving
DENVER, CO—Today, the Recreate Responsibly Coalition released new guidelines to encourage people to embrace best practices that foster responsible recreation, inclusivity, and shared stewardship as they spend time in the outdoors.
While the coalition of more than 1,300 organizations formed in response to heightened demand for the outdoors inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, this new focus reinforces the ongoing need to create community—building an outdoors for all and taking good care of the outdoor places we all love. The new guidance maintains a focus on keeping people and outdoor spaces healthy and well and are designed to be enduring and valuable in people's day-to-day lives.
"The Recreate Responsibly Coalition came together to care for the spaces and communities that represent the best of our country. Our vision was created with the hope to continue the healing and generational joy found through a connection to the outdoors. These new tenets build on that vision in a way that we hope is a lasting invitation to create community in these precious outdoor spaces," said Juan Martinez, founder of Fresh Tracks, a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, and a member of the Recreate Responsibly Coalition Steering Committee.
Looking forward to a future beyond the pandemic, the coalition's Recreate Responsibly guidelines remain simple and actionable.
Know before you go. Check the status of the place you want to visit for closures, fire restrictions, and weather.
Plan and prepare. Reservations and permits may be required. Make sure you have the gear you need and a back-up plan.
Build an inclusive outdoors. Be an active part of making the outdoors safe and welcoming for all identities and abilities.
Respect others. There is space for everyone outdoors. Be kind to all who use the outdoors differently.
Leave no trace. Respect the land, water, wildlife, and Native communities. Follow the seven Leave No Trace principles.
Make it better. We all have a responsibility to sustain the places we love. Volunteer, donate, and advocate for the outdoors.
"We have a shared responsibility to collaboratively create what it means to be successful stewards to our outdoor environment and each other. In order to thrive on this planet together, we must continually recognize, learn, adapt, and grow to our changing needs and opportunities, as well as our historic and evolving challenges," said Danica Carey, a member of the Recreate Responsibly Coalition Steering Committee and director of marketing operations at Seirus Innovative Accessories.
With these new guidelines, which were released at the annual Outdoor Retailer Summer Show in Denver, Colorado, the overall #RecreateResponsibly message remains simple: We all have a role to play in keeping people, places, and communities safe as we enjoy the outdoors.
The coalition was first convened by representatives from REI Co-op and the Outdoor Alliance in May of 2020 in response to unprecedented demand on public lands and natural spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group has since expanded to include more than 1,300 members representing businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, outdoor media, and influencers. The coalition's common ground is a shared love of the outdoors, a desire to help everyone experience the benefits of nature, and a belief that by sharing best practices, people can get outside safely and help keep our parks, trails, and public lands accessible.
"This past year has proven the immeasurable impact that time spent outside—whether that's close to home or on a bucket-list adventure—means to our health, well-being and the social fabric of our shared communities," said Ryan Chao, president of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and a member of the Recreate Responsibly Coalition Advisory Committee. "As we look to the future, we have a responsibility to each other and to these precious spaces. It's up to all of us to make the outdoors safe and welcoming for everyone."
Media assets and resources available in English and Spanish can be accessed at recreateresponsibly.org and by following @recreateresponsibly on Twitter and Instagram, and #RecreateResponsibly across social media platforms.
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is the nation's largest trails organization—with a grassroots community more than 1 million strong—dedicated to building a nation connected by trails, reimagining public spaces to create safe ways for everyone to walk, bike and be active outdoors. Connect with RTC at railstotrails.org and @railstotrails on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


Hi, welcome to my PMC Profile!
I love doing Skins and such, i just need to improve my shading skills a bit!
Let's see if someone can guess this Rider! It's an easy one, and has something in common with the two others coming next Update.
This would be easier if I know the two riders coming next update haha.
Due to a recent Update of LucraftCore and HeroesExpansion, the next update will take longer to come out due to me having to rewrite all suitsets. I hope you understand it.
^^ This Discord is made for those really following my Addon, i'll be posting teasers and Update notifications on it. You can also talk to other members there, so check it out if you want to!
Thanks to the help of Suum i now know how to create Crafting Recipes that are obtainable through survival. There will be an Update on that soon!
The Update is out! Read the Update Log for more info about the crafting recipes and the new tab in my Addon!
I found the issue with the Armor points, fixing it now!
I am aware of the bug in my Addon with the Armor Points not showing up, I am working on a fix right now. I might also add the crafting recipes with that bug fix.


Arrival to Wrocław. Prior to it do not miss to book assistance service. Meeting with licensed guide assistant, transfer to hotel and check-in and overnight.
Buffet breakfast. Excursion to Lubiąż, Trzebnica and some other places not so far from there. The Cistercian abbey in Lubiąż is one of Europe's largest and most impressive monastic complexes. The 13th century abbey in Henrykow has a number of precious art pieces in the church interiors. The abbey in Krzeszow possesses two 18th century churches: the Church of the Assumption known as the jewel of Silesian baroque and St Joseph's Church with its baroque frescoes. Trzebnica and Kamieniec are noted for its former Cistercian abbey that houses St Hedwig's Mausoleum that attracts many pilgrims. Back to Wrocław for overnight in hotel.
Buffet breakfast. Drive towards Sudeten Mountains. Depart for Jelenia Góra. On the way some highlights. Enormous castle perched on a rock – Książ – the third largest castle in Poland. Then Swidnica. The Protestant half-timber Churches of Peace in Swidnica and Jawor are considered to be unique worldwide. Overnight at hotel in Jelenia Góra / Karpacz.
Buffet breakfast. Meeting with Sudeten during full day excursion to Karkonoski National Park. The most popular place here is Karpacz – famous for the wooden "Wang" church, built in the 12th century in Norway. The Karkonosze National Park together with the Czech part of the park, it has been registered on UNESCO's list of World Biosphere Reserves. Sightseeing tour of Jelenia Góra, called the "Pearl of the Karkonosze Mountains". The city also includes the Maciejowa, Czarne, Goduszyn, Cieplice, Sobieszów and Jagniatków districts. Overnight in Jelenia Góra / Karpacz.
Buffet breakfast. Travel to spas of Lower Silesia: Kudowa Zdroj, Polanica Zdroj, Ladek Zdroj. There are twelve spas in the Lower Silesian region. Their mineral water springs attracted bathers already in the 18th century. Today bathers and tourist also come to the spas seduced by their beneficent climate, scenic landscapes, national parks, sanatoriums and holiday centers, as well as cultural events of all kinds. Overnight in Jelenia Góra / Karpacz.


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Bon Jovi and Skid Row
General BJ Discussion
steel_horse75
Just posting
Join Date: 29 May 2007
Location: Klopp Army
Originally Posted by Tom_K
On your Instagram you wrote JBJ co-wrote the song 18 And Life. What is the source of this information?
Sabo and bolan played Jon all the songs they had wrote for the first album and Jon gave them advise on tweaking certain things and potential final track listing.
I'd have put forever and rescue you on the debut album. Great tracks.
But Jon and Richie didn't write 18 & life or any other skid row song
Wembley Arena 90, Wembley Arena 93, MK Bowl 93, Wembley Stadium 95, MK Bowl 96, Wembley Stadium 00, MK Bowl 01, Hyde Park 03, MK Bowl 06, o2 07, Twickenham 08, o2 10 (x2), Hyde Park 13, London Palladium 16, Wembley 19
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Originally Posted by bonjovi90
I don't think he initially wrote it, but I remember either him or Dave saying that Dave came up with material to him and he'd give his verdict. I think he may have hand in tweaking the song because it has a Jovi feel to it, but I believe the story that Snake originally came up with it after having read that newspaper article.
Alphavictim
Something for the Posts
Originally Posted by steel_horse75
I wasn't aware of Rescue You (or had forgotten about it because I didn't originally think much of it). IMO the pre-chorus is a bit too much 1985 heavy rock standard for the debut album. Of course, that (and the chorus arrangement) could have been cleaned up in the studio and by the producer.
My personal fav of the demo tracks by these guys is still Edge of the Night.
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Originally Posted by Alphavictim
Shame shame, behind the 8 ball are also great.
But there's something about rescue you that just hits the sweet spot.
YOVANAfromPeru
Sebastian Bach interview, a lot of Bon Jovi mentions... https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...w-tour-851928/ (complete interview)
Today, are you on good or bad terms with the Bon Jovi guys?
I'm on good terms with them. I saw Richie in Vegas. We did a song together with Dee Snider onstage for a charity thing. Before, a couple years back in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Jon, Richie, and I killed about 10 bottles of wine [laughs]. I haven't seen Jon in a while, but we were definitely having a great time the last time I saw him.
Can you explain to me why Jon Bon Jovi collects royalties from Skid Row's debut album?
Because he helped us out. He took us on the road for the whole New Jersey tour, and we signed what was called a production deal at the time, which gave him a cut of the proceeds if we were successful. The last thing anybody ever thought would happen. But actually we were quite successful. It wasn't exactly an overnight success. It took at least two weeks. On the road with him, it was a quick rise.
You don't seem bothered that he still gets a cut.
Some people say [Jon Bon Jovi] got overcompensated. But as years go by, I look at the chance we were given, and most likely, we never would have made it without going on that tour.
That's a very diplomatic answer.
Yeah. But we were also given Bon Jovi's accountant, a guy by the name of Bruce Colgretter, if you really want to get into the nitty-gritty. That was [pauses, laughs] very handy.
Jon Bon Jovi said about this selfie: "That's a good one!!". U_U morí!
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Undiscovered Posts
In early 1988, Jon's interest in his hometown friend's band led to this locally popular outfit being signed to McGhee Entertainment Inc. Soon afterwards, Skid Row landed a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Jon used his considerable influence to trumpet the virtues of this new band every chance he got in media interviews. And he provided them with valuable exposure by hiring them to play support to Bon Jovi on part of their next tour. It pleased Jon to be able to help Dave Sabo in this way. --- Bach had developed a problem with the terms of the contract Skid Row had entered into years earlier with Jon and Richie's New Jersey Underground Music Company. The needle he felt about this was now spilling out on stage in remarks about the headliners. ~ From the book "Jon Bon Jovi, The Biography" by Laura Jackson
Doc's younger brother Scott became Skid Row's manager and in return for songwriting advice, Jon signed them to a publishing deal with his and Richie Sambora's company New Jersey Underground Music. In their naivety, Skid Row agreed to a deal that ceded a large proportion of their future earning to this company. Skid Row have now sold millions of records but have yet to see most of the money. ~ Star Man: The Right Hand Man of Rock 'n' Roll by Michael Francis
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sebastian bach, skid row


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By KabirNo Comments
Amazon Prime Video, Reviews
Mirzapur Season 2 – Review!! (Maa Chod Denge)
Hi, I am Kabir, and today I am going to review the second season of Mirzapur. The hype of Mirzapur Season 2 was unprecedented and for the most part, it hasn't disappointed. Mirzapur brings back all the great characters from the first season leaving only a few which died in the previous season while adding some more characters that are sure to win your hearts in some way. Mirzapur casts Ali Fazal, Divyendu Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi, Shweta Tripathi, and many other great characters. Mirzapur is created by Puneet Krishna and Karan Anshuman. Mirzapur Season 2 - Plot (Mirzapur Season 1 Spoilers) Credit - Amazon Prime Video Mirzapur Season 2 picks up right where Season 1 left off. In the finale of Season 1, we saw Munna killing Sweety with Guddu's child and Bablu leaving Guddu and Golu h...
1Oct
By CinemablindNo Comments
Amazon Prime Video, Movies
Borat 2 – What is more dangerous, this virus or Democrat? (Official trailer and Release Date)
The highly offensive and brilliantly funny, Borat is back with a sequel and it is officially named 'Borat: Subsequent MovieFilm'. The sequel to the highly acclaimed 2006 film 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan', (isn't it a mouthful) is coming on Amazon Prime Video on October 23, 2020. There was a rumor about the name of the film and the fake name was pretty hilarious too, which was "Borat: Gift of Pornographic Monkey to Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence to Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan" but sadly that is not the official name. Credit - Amazon Prime Video Sasha Baron Cohen will be back in his Borat outfit and with his brilliant acting chops, and it will be a big month for Cohen, because his Netflix film The Tria...
By userNo Comments
Amazon Prime Video, Bollywood
The Family Man Completes it's one year and Creators tease Season 2
Happy Birthday to 'The Family Man'. Amazon Prime Video's The Family Man completes its first year on the streaming service. The Family Man Season 1 garnered high acclaim from critics as well as the audience for its gripping and thrilling storyline and great performances. Credit - Amazon Prime Video The Family Man was created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK and as they said it was a fictional story based on some news clippings. They have also completed the shoot of season 2 and now they are in the post-production process. Amazon Prime Video aired a teaser on its YouTube channel on the first birthday of 'The Family Man'. Teaser https://youtu.be/kwEhsweMSUg The official logline of The Family Man Season 2 reads, "Make some room, for the one and only...
The Family Man 2 – Finally a Release Date for Fans!!!
The Family Man came back in September 2019 and it was a huge hit for Amazon Prime Video. Fans have been waiting for the second season ever since and finally, now there is a release date for the much-awaited series. Manoj Bajpayee debuted on the digital platform with The Family Man created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, who made the series so thrilling and fascinating. The Family Man told the story of a middle-class man Srikant Tiwari, who works for a special cell of the National Investigation Agency. The story progresses when there is an imminent terrorist attack named Zulfiqar planned in India. Srikant Tiwari and his team members work to stop the attack and catch the terrorists while managing his personal life with his wife Suchitra Tiwari and their two children. The series ...
Amazon Prime Video, Comics
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"Heroes aren't born, They are made." In the previous article, we talked about how 'The Seven' and their comic equivalents are different from each other, and now its time to talk about our protagonists 'The Boys'. We are going to list every member of The Boys and talk about how they are different from their comic counterparts. In the novel and in the series my favorite is William Butcher. 1. Billy Butcher Credit - Amazon Prime Video, WildStorm, and Dynamite Entertainment The infamous leader of The Boys, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) is not that different from how he is in the comics except in the comics The Boys all have superpowers and they know how to fight to hurt the supes. Other than the powers Billy Butcher is largely similar to the comics right down to his diabolical grin. ...
The Boys Season 2 – 'The Seven' Characters V/S Their Comic Equivalents
The Boys Season 2 is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on September 4, 2020. The Boys is loaded with superheroes and supervillains but in the center of it all, there is only one team and that is The Seven which contains mostly assholes, but also some good people and some conflicted. So, let's talk about their characters in the series and their comic equivalents. We will not include Translucent as he was killed by an ass bomb in season 1 instead of him there is a new member joining The Seven. 1. Homelander Credit - Amazon Prime Video, WildStorm, and Dynamite Entertainment Homelander (Antony Starr) and his comic counterpart have one major difference and that is at the beginning of the comic book it's not only Deep (Chace Crawford) who sexually assaults Starl...
The Boys Season 2 – 'The Seven' Superpowers Explained!!
The Boys Season 2 is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on September 4, 2020.Credit - Amazon Prime VideoThe Boys is loaded with superheroes and supervillains but in the center of it all, there is only one team and that is The Seven which contains mostly assholes, but also some good people and some conflicted. So, let us break down their powers and see who is good, bad, complicated, and the most powerful of them all. We will not include Translucent as he was killed in the previous season instead of him there is a new member of the season. Who is it? let's find out.7. The DeepCredit - Amazon Prime VideoThe Deep (Chace Crawford) is The Boys take on Aquaman as he can talk to aquatic creatures as he was seen doing many times in season 1 and he can also command them to do his bidding. For now...
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Canada Reads 2011: Unless by Carol Shields
UK edition of Unless
I was thrilled when Carol Shields' novel Unless made the cut for Canada Reads 2011, but also disheartened, anticipating how inappropriate a forum Canada Reads is for a novel as complex as this one. Anticipating also how easily this novel could be glossed over, dismissed in the name of Survivor-style competition. I passionately hope the debates will turn out to be otherwise, and to do my part towards this end, I wanted to add my own voice to the conversation. So this past weekend, I re-read Unless for perhaps the seventh or eighth time since I read it first in 2003. (April 20th, 2003, according to my note on the inside cover. Which points out also that I was residing on Silverdale Road in Nottingham at the time, the reason for my UK edition.)
I cannot remember what it was to first encounter Unless. I only know that I've reread it annually for at least the last five years, and that each time has added a whole new level of understanding to my reading experience. (Oddly, I'd normally say that re-reading a book "uncovers" meaning, but it feels different with Unless, as though the reading experiences were more cumulative. Though I suppose each uncovering is an addition as well, but a subtraction of went before is implied [detritus tossed into a pile] and that isn't what I mean here).
I can tell what I've zeroed in on in previous readings, based upon the marginalia of past selves: that the novel is a tongue-in-cheek primer on how to write a Carol Shields novel (self-referential to the point where her protagonist's novel begins, "Alicia was not as happy as she deserved to be" vs. the first sentence(s) of Shields' first novel, which is, "Sunday night. And the thought strikes me that I ought to be happier than I am.") and in fact, a very useful resource in that respect. I've noted the novel's fragmented structure, and that one chapter was previously published as a short story. I've noted its themes of motherhood and female friendship, and the steadfast relationship between Reta Winters and her husband Tom, who had sex on the night they met. That at some point Reta remarks about annoyingly obtuse novels with stupid tricks like a chair in every chapter, but that there is (very nearly?) a chair in every chapter here, very specific chairs, all situated around the idea of the sitting woman. That I still don't understand how the chapter titles relate to the chapters in question, or what the little words (words I use all the time) in fact mean, and I could think on them forever. I noticed lines about a woman's place, about Women's place– Mrs. as diminutive, about wanting and not having, about rage and stamping that lady-sized foot, and an exclusion from greatness. And I can identify with Norah's overwhelming sense of being lost in the world: "And language. Well, you know. And branches of languages and dead languages and forgotten dead languages." The sheer ungraspability of all of it.
It's not difficult to imagine the criticisms that will be launched against Unless in the Canada Reads debates. (I say all this very hopefully. That fate will conspire to prove me wrong and that this book, no doubt the most interesting and definitely most essential of the lot, will prove to be the dark horse of the race. Fingers crossed. There's even a man championing it, so the odds are better than they would have been.) Its plotlessness. The weakness of the main storyline, which is apparent to me at times (and I do get bogged down in the geographical details of Bloor and Bathurst, that if Norah is on the corner, than she cannot be near the subway entrance, which is further up the street and safely housed in Bathurst station, but anyway…).
That Reta Winters has a chip on her shoulder, so said a commenter on the CBC online forum a while back. Readers will complain that they could barely get through it (to which I will want to respond with a hardcover book to the head, because such a failure is your problem, not the book's! Read better.) Someone will call this a woman's novel (and forgive me, more parenthesis, but although I do believe that there are such things as woman's novels, I don't think the label is a good enough reason for a man not to bother to read one).
Canadian edition of Unless
The complexity of the novel became especially clear to me a reading or two ago, that although this is a feminist novel and Reta's feminist ideas were feeding something within me, that the novel's solution is not so simple. This time around, I underlined a part about Reta's projection of her own experience– onto her daughter, her friends, her mother-in-law, the woman who lived in her house the sixties. The important thing to understand when reading Unless and finding Reta Winters somewhat tedious is that Shields has her protagonist turn out to be wrong– what a brave thing for a novelist to do. Reta's daughter has not taken to the streets because she has been excluded from greatness, the woman who lived in her house was not a matronly housewife called Lillian but a university grad called Crystal, Reta's mother-in-law is not suffering from much more than loneliness and some of this is Reta's own doing.
Part of the problem with Reta, and with women, is of their own making. We see this in the conversations Reta has with her friends in which they're eternally interrupting one another and therefore always just missing the point. In which Reta would sooner make up narratives than probe the ones in her own life. In which too many conclusions are being jumped to, not enough questions being asked. Even simple questions, like, "Tell me all about yourself, Lois." We're too busy talking and not doing enough listening, so that we're missing obvious things. The big ideas are getting away from us.
And yet. Reta Winters wasn't all wrong. That women appear to excluded from greatness was not the cause of her daughter's breakdown, but it doesn't change the fact that women are. The bean-counting, as Reta goes through magazine contributers' lists and noticing glaring disparity. When she cites literary conversations in which nary a woman is mentioned, as though a woman has never written a book ("Now the nineteenth century. There were some interesting women writers then"). Books like The Ingenuity Gap (which has a cameo in Unless) and Outliers, which restructure the universe so not to include women all. Oh, how the three boys in my graduate English courses always owned the conversation, how a book like Moore's February is dismissed as "teary hormonal paste, how The Walrus is a lad's mag, but we have to pretend it's general interest.
Reta is "partly-right and partly-wrong", as was her husband Tom who'd theorized that their daughter was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Such doubleness being the revelation of Unless, that the world is so complex that two things can exist at once, and in fact, as Reta says earlier on in the book, "doubleness clarifie[s] the world." That we are not so simple as us vs. them, men vs. the feminists. That instead of "versus", we have words like unless, nevertheless, next, hence, so etc. Words not to set up binaries, but to connect ideas in an intricate fashion.
This time around, I also noticed Reta's point that what she's writing isn't written on her word processor, but on her consciousness, and how this explains the structure of the book. How I continue to see each chapter as a meditation, Reta revisiting her situation, attempting to get close to the heart of the matter, but missing that elusive something every time (and sometimes most deliberately). I noticed the palpability of her sadness her in a way I don't remember doing so before, the explosion of, "My heart is broken". The book's conflation of book narrative and life narrative– I love this. I thought about "Goodness" in opposition to "God" instead of "Greatness", the polite curse of ladies, and what that might mean.
See, I dare you to talk about this book articulately in the space of three hour-long debates. I don't know if it's even possible, or if I'll even be able to bear listening and what might be said against this book I hold so close to my heart. But I also dare you to find a book in the line-up with anywhere near the same richness, and I have a feeling you'd only come up short. So that if Unless can't win Canada Reads 2011, then I'm not sure that any other book should.
Posted in Canada Reads 2011, rereading
6 thoughts on "Canada Reads 2011: Unless by Carol Shields"
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exactly. on so many points.
Amy Lavender Harris says:
On this recommendation I shall make Unless my subway read for the next week. [I first read it on the subway in 2003 but have gone back to it only for research, not to enjoy.]
Thanks for this. It made my morning.
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This might be the most heartbreaking and inspiring message in a bottle I have ever heard of. It involves the deeply painful loss of not one, but two children. The chances of this particular connection seem astronomically small to me, and yet–here we are. No one should have to go through what these two mothers experienced. Even so, these incredibly strong and resilient women are so inspiring, I feel compelled to share their story. Their story also shows just how powerful a simple message in a bottle can be.
The story begins with a happy little boy, Lucas, and his mother, Sascha, living in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2016, according to the Daily Mail. As you can see, Lucas was bright, healthy, and happy.
But at the end of November, when Lucas's family had finished hanging Christmas decorations, he became ill with a fever. But throughout the night, Lucas's illness quickly progressed, and it became clear that this was no simple fever. When his mother, Sascha, discovered a rash on his stomach, she rushed Lucas to Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. The hospital discovered that he had somehow contracted meningitis, and they treated Lucas aggressively with antibiotics for days.
Lucas and Sascha. Photo: Daily Mail.
Tragically, the disease was too powerful.
"On December 3," the Daily Mail reported, "during the early hours the child they loved so much died from meningococcal septicaemia – a combination of meningitis and septicaemia, or blood poisoning.
Well, many find it comforting to send a message in a bottle commemorating a lost loved one, as I have posted about before. So, months later, Sascha's mother, Angela–Lucas's grandmother–was in Turkey when she decided to send a message in a bottle commemorating Lucas into the Mediterranean. She sent the bottle to sea just two weeks after what would have been Lucas's third birthday.
Angela's Message in a Bottle. Photo: Daily Mail.
She explained to the Daily Mail that she did this to symbolically "set Lucas's spirit free".
A little later, Emel Safoglu of Virginia visited Turkey herself to see family and recover from her own loss. Her daughter, Reyhan, had recently been killed in a freak accident during a hike in Virginia. While crossing a rail bridge, a train came along, and Reyhan was unable to outrun it. Emel described her daughter Reyhan as being wise beyond her years–she even gave her mother dating advice, according to the Daily Mail, who further reported that Reyhan "once sang in a children's choir for President Obama".
Emel and Reyhan. Photo: Daily Mail.
This note was launched on July 25, 2017.
My name is Angela Oliver from Glasgow, Scotland. I'm sending the spirit and joy of my two-year-old grandson who passed away from meningitis on December 3, 2016. His name is Lucas Smith, born 13 July 2014. He was the sunshine in our lives and we miss him every day.
I hope his spirit travels the world as we know he is still with us in spirit and forever in our hearts. Myself and my daughter Sasha send this with love and hope in our hearts. If you find, please contact.
It is impossible to imagine what Emel must have felt upon reading this message in a bottle. But one thing's for sure–she felt right away that it was no accident she found this bottle, and that Lucas and Reyhan were together, somewhere, keeping each other company.
Well, Emel and Sascha got in contact and have found solace in their new friendship, born from loss. Something about sharing a sense of loss, of grief, galvanizes relationships between people who know and love each other, but also between strangers. Usually, we only remember this during national tragedies, like 9/11 in America, when people come together and show each other love and kindness and affection. But for Emel and Sascha, their friendship was forged by personal loss. They could have met no other way; they could have found no better confidants than each other in this time of mourning. It is amazing that they met at all and simply astonishing that it should happen through a message in a bottle.
At times like this, I absolutely cannot understand how anyone anywhere can think of messages in bottles as trash. What Emel and Sascha have gained from this message in a bottle is priceless, valuable beyond description. Their connection, as far as I am concerned, is pure magic, solid gold–they have the special affection that can only come from a message in a bottle.
As with so many messages in bottles, I take this one as a reminder to live in kindness, and treat every new person I meet as I would a friend. As the old saying goes, you never know what battles someone may be fighting.
***If you liked this story, click here to find me on Facebook and like my page for more message in a bottle stories! YOU could be the next one to solve a message in a bottle mystery! Click here to learn more about messages in bottles, and you can always contact me with questions, ideas, or stories.


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Q: What is the Difference between creature and person Sometimes I find the word "creature" to describe a person like "She is a little lovable creature." I am always confused because I feel that this word is mainly used for animals.
In what situation the word "creature" is preferred to describe a person?

A: Yes, creature is mainly used for animals. Occasionally, it can be used metaphorically to refer to people. In this case, it implies a foreignness or strangeness.
In the phrase, "She is a loveable little creature", I think that the speaker is implying that "she" is a little odd, in an endearing way.
However, it is not always positive: sentences like "I can't believe he did that. What an awful creature." are also acceptable. Here, the nuance of strangeness or foreignness is used to imply that "he" is almost subhuman. While it can be positive or negative, calling a human a "creature" will always (in my opinion) imply strangeness, quirkiness, or difference.

A: Another definition of creature but not implying strangeness or animal tendencies: "One who owes his position to another; one who is actuated by the will of another; an instrument or puppet"(SOED). The example of that usage quoted by that dictionary is obviously old:"Sir Francis Windebank ...was a creature of Laud's house".

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Magic missile 5e Complete Guide 2021
The first thing to know is:
From all available episodes, magic missile 5e is the best kind and most iconic spell. Among all the attacks available in the dungeon and dragon game, this spell is the most versatile.
The wizard list includes the most famous wizards in dungeons and dragons.
According to the latest edition of the game Dungeon and Dragon, this magic spell 5e retains the same properties. These magic missiles are such a kind of spell that can automatically hit the target with multiple fighters, who are able to do low damage.
Wizard of magic missile 5e allows players to fire three glowing darts of magical force at targeted areas of the game. The first dart is hitting a creature or monster of the player's choosing; the player can see what is in range easily.
Result of damage:
In the second dart, the required target receives 1d4 + 1 force damage. Using the third dart, the player or user can strike multiple creatures at once within the range of the game, and they can directly attack or fight the creatures simultaneously.
The user or player can quickly be casting this magic spell 5e when at a high level in Dungeon and Dragon. If a player or user uses a spell slot of the second level or higher within the ranges of the game, one more darting is created for every space in the group and above the first. Characters can target one enemy or other creatures with magic missiles 5e.
These missiles spread the spell over a number of targets and attacks. As the level of each dungeon and dragon game increases, the number of targets and fights increases.
The second question is: What do you know about the Attributes?
Whenever you play a Dungeons and Dragons game, you can rely on these excellent and versatile magic missile spells.
Here are some notable characteristics:
They are called magic missiles.
Evocation is the name of the school.
Level 1 uses this spell.
A single action is required.
Approximately 120 feet is the range of this magical missile spell.
V and S make up the spell.
It is an instantaneous spell.
Both wizards and sorcerers make up the classes.
Three magic darts are created within the game's range by the user or player.
The contents of the game give each dart an esoteric significance.
For the match, the player or user throws three magical and glowing darts. The darts each hit a specific creature selected by the player.
The player can see the creatures when they are within range.
3: Magic missile 5e is using in other Dungeon and Dragon levels:
Several other dungeon and dragons levels in the game used the magic missile 5e. As we discuss all the different levels in the game in this article, we will cover all the different aspects.
A player or user entering the first level of the game will have the ability to use two spell levels beyond and in the future, as well as be able to easily gain an additional magic missile 5e.
By the time the player reaches the 2nd level and the 3rd level, he will be able to cast this spell quickly.
Moreover, the user or player can cast this spell when he or she is at the 3rd or 5th level as well.
Players and users can also cast this spell when they reach levels 4 and 7.
A player or user who wants five missiles in his game can cast his spell at levels 9 and higher, and then he can also cast this spell.
4. A magic missile differs from burning hands, right?
Magic missiles differ from burning hands in the following ways:
The following are the details of both spells, which are primarily used in the spell list as well as the game of Dungeon & Dragon:
5: The magic missile difference between the burning hands
Taking a look at the magic missile spell in Dungeon and Dragon, we can clearly see the differences between the two spells.
Users and players may attack creatures within a 120-foot range.
Within the ranges of the game, there is a visible difference between the levels of 1 to 3 targets or attacks.
And it allows the specific user or player to automatically play the game for 1d4+1, and they also have per dart at the 3rd level in the game, and it has an average of 9 levels.
The verbal and somatic components of the game which is only required to 1 action.
A burn spell has the same range as a self-range spell, and its range is 15 feet.
And the specific area of effect is 6 potential targets and attacks in the specified game.
And the talent saving for half of the damage in-game of dungeon and dragon and every player has an attacking system of 3d6 as the average ratio of 9.
The verbal and somatic components comprise 1 action.
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