text:
Teachers at Work
A column about teaching
A Cacophony of Words
By Fitch O'Connell
Here in Portugal, teachers of English have been scratching our heads a bit recently over what words should sound like. We found it to be quite a conundrum.
You might think that it shouldn't be so, but there we were, working with state school teachers who had been told that, for the first time ever, they had to include the oral utterances of their students as part of the annual assessment figures and, well, this raised rather a lot of questions.
There had been a directive to teachers of English working in Portugal's state schools to count the oral skills of students (30% of the total annual assessment figure) but this wasn't accompanied by any helpful information on how it might be achieved, and there is little history of speaking skills playing any kind of role in the language classroom. Like in so many schools around the world, up until now language learning was carried out with little or no attempt to get the little darlings to actually talk. In the language being supposedly learned, anyway.
However, there is a lot of experience in developing oral skills, and in ways of assessing it, outside of the state sector, which is how I became involved. Earlier this year we started devising ways of sharing these nuggets amongst the teachers, and we made sure that our suggestions were in line with measures that have become de rigueur in Europe these days — CEFR, or the Common European Framework of Reference for languages. These are eminently sensible guidelines, and designed so that we can measure progress in learning one language fairly against learning any other language. It's all to do with language production skills. On paper it looks great, and even in practice it clears away a lot of doubt and opens up level playing fields. There is, of course, a big "but. "
Actually, we quickly found two "buts. " One involved some deeply rooted prejudices about "proper" English and the other was in regard to standardization of assessment processes. Let's take the latter first. At first I thought we'd done a thorough job of collecting a fine range of examples of students (and others) talking and exhibiting a wide variety of abilities in spoken English, together with carefully graded assessments of each example. The idea was to show the teachers who had come to some intensive training courses how to match what they heard against a usable, classroom-friendly checklist, which paid due attention to the guidelines set out by CEFR.
I was immeasurably pleased with myself at first, and so couldn't understand their sullen silences and why they kept shooting troubled glances at each other. Eventually one of them broke ranks and explained to me that as none of the examples I was giving showed any Portuguese speakers speaking English, they felt not much wiser. How could they use assessments of Italian or Spanish or Greek kids to guide them when listening to their own students. It was a perception of spoken language that I hadn't even considered, not only because I am an experienced assessor of international English exams and thus used to a wide variety of speech patterns and sounds under exam conditions, but also because as a native English language speaker I am so used to hearing English being spoken in such a variety of guises and accents every day that it is hardly an problem any longer. The teachers sitting glumly in front of me, though, were mainly used to hearing only either Portuguese or native speakers — British, American or South African on the whole — speaking English and they had great difficulty in tuning into speakers from other countries.
This brings up the issue of 'listener competence" amongst the teachers (which is closely related to the belief that if you shout at foreigners who don't speak your language then they will somehow understand you), and is a particular bugbear of mine. I say this because I am a victim of those who, on hearing their own language being spoken with a foreign accent, instantly conclude that they cannot understand a word and consequently don't even bother to listen. (I once had difficulty in ordering a banana in a cafe, even though it is the same word in Portuguese as in English, simply because the girl behind the counter had switched off, much to the amusement of her colleagues). However, lack of experience in hearing a variety of accents is a real problem and, as was pointed out to me, most teachers of English in Portuguese schools will only hear Portuguese accents. (This is becoming less true, incidentally, as the slow mix due to immigration takes effect). The conclusion was that to make the standardization process workable, or at least easier, then we needed a library of examples of spoken English representing the whole range of CEFR from A1 (beginners) to C2 (proficient speakers), all collected from Portuguese speakers.
We checked with the Ministry of Education and the Universities, and there isn't such a library in existence, which means we'll have to make one ourselves; it's a project I'm looking forward to starting. However, I am left with the uncomfortable feeling that we ought to be widening our teachers' experiences of spoken English, not narrowing them down. I suspect that that process will be the second part of a bigger project.
The other concern I mentioned earlier — rooted prejudices — is distantly related to the above, and it is quite a pernicious devil to deal with, as most prejudices are. It concerns what is the acceptable sound — or accent — that is "permitted" for each and every word, phrase or sentence. Those who subscribe to this prejudice seem to believe that there is a correct and an incorrect way to speak and that this is determined by a very narrow range of acceptable accents. The most extreme version of this would determine that "correct" English is spoken by a native speaker and that all non-native speakers should try to emulate native speakers speech patterns. This is a highly pervasive view, and it is quite ludicrous, of course, but nevertheless very corrosive.
There is the cautionary tale of the Frenchman who, having spent a great deal of time and effort in perfecting the kind of accent he heard from his cousins in perfidious Albion, discovered he was confounded time and time again because it was assumed he also knew the cricket score, enjoyed roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and was happy to talk about the weather all evening. Had he spoken with even a slight French accent he would have been spared this cultural torture. You have to ask yourself what drove him to do this. What is wrong with English spoken with a French accent? Personally I love the sound of Gallic-hued English and, as with any other accent, all I would ask is that it is intelligible. This may require a little effort on the part of the listener (referring back to my bugbear) but that is a normal part of discourse. The listener, too, needs to become more culturally aware.
This leads us directly to my final point: if a "native speaker accent" is demanded, then which one or ones of the many do we choose? Not only are there the broad categories of British, American, Australian and the other "native speaker" Englishes to deal with, but the divisions within each one are remarkable too. Why did our putative Frenchman choose the particular English accent that he did? There are over a dozen main groups of accent within England alone (let alone Scotland, Wales or Ireland) and each of those is divided into sub-classes of often very distinctive variants of their own, leading to dozens of accents to choose from. Some accents in England are not easily understood by inexperienced listeners from other parts of the country, with some seemingly unintelligible to others. I used to hate going to Newcastle, Glasgow and Belfast when I was giving training lectures to teachers there, not because I didn't like the places (far from it) but because I nearly always got embarrassed by not understanding some of the questions asked at the end of my talk.
On the other hand, the accent that many people regard as quintessentially English — known as Received Pronunciation, or RP English (as spoken by the Royal family, for example) — is in fact spoken by less than 5% of the population, so that can hardly be considered representative, even if many people still regard it as "proper" English. Actually, I could understand it if the English that was taught used some of the stronger, wilder accents, especially those which avoid the infamous "th" sounds, [ð] and [þ], and which substitute "t" or "d" or glottal stops instead (e.g. "Take t'kids wid ya'). Much easier to deal with. Of course, all that is just on one small island off the north coast of Europe; I haven't even thought about the challenges faced on the other side of the Atlantic.
Standardization in developing speaking skills is thus full of pitfalls and requires some serious rethinking of what people think sounds "right" and what sounds "wrong. " Even trying to talk about "standard" and "non-standard" English is a problem because what, after all, is standard? No wonder our teachers on the training course were having a hard time of it. However, what it does point a wobbly finger at, though, is that area of growing interest, the field of "Englishes," and the concept of a world English that is not American nor British nor any of the others. Ee by 'eck it fair makes me 'ead spin.
Language, Language arts, Teaching
Click here to read more articles from Teachers at Work.
Fitch O'Connell has been a teacher for longer than he cares to remember. He works as a materials writer and teacher trainer. In 2003 he set up the acclaimed BritLit project for the British Council in Portugal, and has worked since then to help establish a new place for literature in English language teaching. He also contributes to the WordPowered website, which brings together teachers of English by using short stories, poetry and film. He now works as a freelance consultant and is based in Europe. Click here to read more articles by Fitch O'Connell.
Tuesday October 11th 2011, 7:37 AM
Comment by: Dominik G. (Königswinter Germany)
Very interesting article. We do have similiar issues here in Germany. Many teachers are very reluctant and sceptical when it comes to putting a higher value on spoken language in the classroom and exams. I guess this might be mostly due to a lack of oral and listening comepetence in the teachers themselves. If so, a very delicate and hard to solve problem indeed.
I have to add: this lack of oral and listening competence might in turn be due to a lack of exposure to different varieties of accents. That could be helped, in the long run at least.
Comment by: Geoff A. (United Kingdom)
Fascinating article indeed, and quite surprising to me. When I learned French in the 1950s, a few simple sentences (name, home town, hobby, weather) and that was the oral exam. But with the advent of language labs in the 1960s, I had assumed the emphasis had changed, so that speaking the lingo and being immersed in the mundane culture of everyday life had become more important than learning lists of irregular verbs. Perhaps there was a phase when that was the case, but it sounds as if it was short-lived and we're back to the lists of irregular verbs. Could this partly explain why languages have fallen down the list of UK students' options when they have a choice?
As far as which UK-English accent to choose, it depends what image you most want to project as an English speaker. In polls, I believe a Tyneside or Scottish Highlands accent are the most liked - hence their monopoly on teleworking jobs. They are deemed to be the friendliest accents, and I'm curious to know why this should be so. Certainly, my favourite is the Scottish Highlands - such speakers sound as if they're reciting lyric poetry even when talking about the state of the nation or the city's sewers.
The Liverpudlian accent has become characterised as the joker's accent due to the galaxy of comedians who've come out of Merseyside. If they're not joking, they sound worldy-wise, even cynical. Liverpool and Glasgow accents both sound like the words are being forced out between clenched teeth (one theory about the Scouse accent is that the words ARE being forced out - against the prevailing westerly wind coming off the sea, and I suppose that could apply to Glaswegian speakers as well).
Birmingham and Black Country accents (very different - we Black Country people insist ours is a dialect, not an accent!) have become characterisied as stupid, which is a shame, especially since my roots lie there. Cockney speakers are characterised as loveable rogues.
Anywhere south-west and you can't escape the agricultural stereotype.
Oh, I forgot the 5% RP speakers. They convey learning, authority and, of course, class (pronounced 'clarss' of course!). I can't think what a Northern Irish accent has become characterised as.
Thanks, Mr O'Connell, for a most stimulating article.
Comment by: Kenneth P.
I'm not familiar with dictionaries other than American. But, for English, if you will follow the suggested proper enunciation, as shown in the American English dictionary, most all Americans will be able to understand you. I'm from the midwest (north west KS). We speak faster and a little more crisp than those in the deep south.(southern drawl). We speak slower and don't cut words as short as the upper lakes and New England areas. Foreigners will add their accent to whatever region they are in. We seem to be able to communicate quite well in all areas. Of course TV, movies, and radio has tended to meld all our accents into a more similar execution.
If teaching English in France, teach from a standard English dictionary. You will obviously get a French accent, but any one in France who speaks English should be able to decipher what you are saying.
Comment by: keith M. (Kula, HI)
As a native speaker of American, I have cultivated some skill with a number of "foreign" accents, including English. The article underlines a phenomenon that I have checked out numerous times: if I am speaking with a native French speaker, I am more easily understood if I use a "classical" French accent. The same is clearly true with Mexican Spanish. I also speak Texan, having lived there for ten years; and with strangers it appears, when visiting there,I am more readily understood when using a Texas accent. It also overcomes the prejudice that can crop up as some Texans still tune out upon hearing some Yankee-speech. By the latter I don't mean some variety of New Yorkese. Most any accent beyond Texas and the Deep South is commonly considered the language of Yankees (foreigners).
To return to my main point, teaching English speaking skills in Portugal could be furthered if taught with a Portuguese accent. Then one could proceed by working with various English accents. Perhaps assignments could be given to listen to the BBC or watch British TV and/or movies. One could go on to Crocodile Dundee and the wonderful series of the Lady's Detective Agency in Botswana.
For entertainment and consciousness raising, I do find it fun to approach American cashiers or salespeople, asking if they speak English - but using a "proper" Queen's English intonation. Understandably, I get an affirmative answer. If the employee appears to be open to weirdos, I reply with, "Hmm. It sounds American to me, but at least you understand English. Jolly good." Then I proceed to do my business, seldom revealing that I too speak American.
I appreciated the author's reference to the Scottish burr that is often so difficult to grasp. A further curiousity I encountered once in Glasgow involved recognizable but variant words in pronunciation and even in spelling. A brief anecdote will help here.
I was registering at a bed and breakfast place and put down my age at the time. I was sixty-six. A pretty young lady behind the counter noted this and said, "Ah, you're sexty-sex." I replied that she truly overestimated me.
Keith Mc from Kula, Maui
Tuesday October 11th 2011, 3:21 PM
Comment by: Mike P. (Seattle, WA)
There's a controversy about this in Arizona at the moment, regarding teachers who speak English with a Spanish accent:
"Currently, the Arizona Board of Education is deciding if teachers who speak with an accent are fluent in English. [...]"
http://hotword.dictionary.com/fluency/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/us/in-arizona-complaints-that-an-accent-can-hinder-a-teachers-career.html?_r=1
Wednesday October 12th 2011, 12:09 AM
Comment by: Vista Fruit Gardener
Interesting. In the California schools I was brought up in -- both grade schools and colleges, you had to pass both the verbal and the written or fail the class.
Wednesday October 12th 2011, 8:39 AM
Accent and fluency are entirely separate things. By all means let them judge a teacher's fluency but not their accent. Even when an accent makes it tricky to understand 100% at first, if listeners will give the speaker a chance they will quickly become attuned and comprehension becomes a non-issue.
Comment by: mer (fort pierce, FL)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/views/11klass.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general
Sunday October 16th 2011, 1:39 PM
Comment by: Fitch O. (Porto Portugal)
I would be very concerned about the Arizona Board of Education even considering 'an accent' to be a measure of fluency. Like many others, I'm sure, I know of many people with 'foreign' accents who are far more fluent in English than many native-born speakers. I do hope the Board of Education is soon visited by the muse of enlightenment.
I would re-emphasise my belief that a variety of accents be encouraged. Personally I like to be able to identify where someone comes from by the way they speak - French, Chinese, American, Kenyan....whatever. I'd like to be able to do it better (i.e. which part of the country do they come from?). It enriches the language and our own experiences. However, this is not always shared by those who teach the language and who look for standardisation of oral production, just as supermarkets look for standardised apples and bananas......and I'd miss the variety just as I now miss the variety of apples available when I was a kid.
Most popular in Teachers at Work:
Writing the College Admissions Essay
November 12, 2007	- 1 Comment
The Visual Thesaurus in Action in the Classroom
March 3, 2009	- 4 Comments
How To Speak Teen
Language arts:
Know Your Ism's!
A Wicked Worksheet of the Week
Shades of Meaning
Vocabulary and the New Common Core Standards
October 26, 2010	- 1 Comment


The Oscars came and went and with them my fantasies of being a fly on the wall at Wolfgang Puck's Oscars party catering kitchen. I wouldn't interrupt, for the most part, just let me in to experience the commotion and sneak a slider or two, while the perfectly starched, uniformed waiters, zip by with the trays carried so elegantly high.
I knew the answer was not only the right recipe but the consistency. Consistency that I knew could only be achieved with a meat grinder. Thank you all my friends who chimed in and helped in the decision process of old fashion versus what you all wholeheartedly recommended, a Kitchen Aid attachment. It works wonders.
In my search I came up with a couple winning recipes so stay tuned for more in the near future. My findings might be subjective but I do not like the recipes that called for bread, it felt like a filler. I also like my falafel fried not baked just like my doughnuts. I was happy with consistency only after I purchased my meat grinder. I also love how ingredients like cilantro, onion and garlic become one with the chickpeas in the grinding process. Often these reasons, consistency and meshing of the ingredients together, are why recipes for meat or fish kebabs ask to run ingredients through a meat grinder.
Lastly, since I didn't have the falafel scooper, and the melon baller and ice cream scooper didn't work well for me, I rolled the balls gently by hand and placed them on a slotted large spoon and lowered them gently into the oil. Test that oil is hot enough with one falafel first. Don't over crowd the deep fryer or deep pot you are using to fry the falafel. This mix has a lot of moisture in it since I added a large onion for flavor. If you wish for less moisture and an easier to work with mix, than you might wish to add only a small onion. The jalapeno was my idea. It blended well, gave it a zest without overpowering the fritters.
Heat up oil on medium heat in a deep pan.
Rinse and drain chickpeas, add all the ingredients except the oil and last tablespoon of flour in a large bowl and grind through a meat grinder. Mix lightly with a rubber spatula and then add the last tablespoon of flour to the mixture.
Gently roll falafel by hand, place on slotted large spoon and gently lower into oil. Falafel should quickly rise to the surface. You might need to reduce the heat if the falafel fritters get dark too quickly and do not cook inside. Cook for a few minutes and drain on a paper towel.
Serve in a pita with Israeli salad, cabbage slaw, tahini, harissa and pickles or just as cocktail bites with a tahini sauce.
Mmmhhh, I love felafels! Those looks so good.
i can't wait for your recipe post!!! i love falafels!!
Aww TY Johanna I will check the food and wine link. I always like exploring further.
Falafel - Ah,I love that stuff!I remember making Falafel and Shawarma in college with friends,and we had them with Tzatziki - delicious!
Aww you made it in college? Somehow I don;t see most college kids now days making falafel.:) Tzatziki is another way to serve it though I must admit I always have it with tahini & harissa, Israeli salad, lemon coleslaw & pickles.
I love all the work you put into this falafel recipe! It looks just perfect, and well worth all the effort. The meat grinder is quite a brilliant idea!
TY Katherine. It was a fun process and well worth result if it were not for the oil recycling issue. It sat on my porch for few weeks before I did. I don't know how I survived w/o a meat grinder so far. I need it for so many things.
Love favorite neighborhood spots. I wish I had one nearby. If you are in NYC go to TAIM. They got an amazing falafel!
Do I dare admit out loud and to the world that I've only made falafel from a mix.
I can do this!! Thanks for the inspiration.
ahaha Maureen I love confessions! :) Yep. You can! Adjust it to your taste. TY for the entertaining comment!
i don't like bread used falafels either!! Your recipe is almost like the one I used a while back and tasted great. But since fresh falafels are so easily available I never tried it again!! Now i know i shd!
ahahaha Kiran, love this comment!! :) TY for brightening up my morning!
They look delicious! I like the red board, too :-) It is fresh.
TY Lakshmi. SO sweet of you. Yep I got lucky with the board. I am yet to explore the styling possibilities and dofferent moods to lend to it. Just at the beginning of exploring that color and background.
A meat grinder! How incredibly clever.
looks yummy! and I like the idea to put chickpeas into it.
If you don't mind, I put the link where I learned how to make Traditional Falafel and experienced virtual cooking.
OMG! I cannot wait to make this!
Chick peas are wonderful. I could munch on them all day long. This recipe is certainly making more of the humble chick pea. I hope, I get to make this, soon.
I made these tonight but since I don't have a meat grinder I used a food processor. I found that it is difficult to get the right consistency this way, but it still came out great. I actually added sesame seeds to it and that was a nice addition too.
Tempting... I might go this route this weekend!
Now I want one of these!!
I love the idea of green falafels. Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't the 1 cup of both parsley and cilantro be very overwhelming?
Also, what would be a good alternative for those since my family is not a big fan of either.
I can see how it might seem so but it's the green in the green falafel. It tastes great. You can add maybe a little bit of dill instead but it will change the flavor profile. It is also not traditional. Alternatively you can just omit the green altogether for a more traditional falafel?!
I LOVE the idea of green falafels! Correct me if I'm wrong, though, but won't 1 cup of parsley AND cilantro be very overwhelming? Also, my family doesn't really like either of those, so what would be a good replacement for the green in the falafels?
Falafel is without a doubt my favorite food! I've tried making it a few times myself and it came out so very bland. :( Just ate out and had some beautiful, fluffy green balls of heaven. Decided to give it another try. I think your recipe sounds right on the money..thank you so much!! I recently had to go gluten free so I will try substituting rice flour..Hope it works!


Check Out These 21 Books Youve Been Meaning to Read. Reference Copied to Clipboard. This lack of a voice further marginalises Kingston and other first-generation Chinese-Americans..
Watch this hd video now, you will never see ads again! Clients send status information over port. He is simply "the guise in which the Party..
media is responsible for almost all of the national communication that occurs about the gun control debate. Many people rely on social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter to get daily news and see what is going on in the world around them. District of Columbia would legalize the use and possession of set amounts of marijuana. There are many feasible ways that the media could change communication in order to accurately represent both sides of the gun control debate. Although the officers action resulted in injury, he was able to prevent a potential mass shooting and even more injuries, possibly casualties. This lasted for about four or five days, with the concentration of posts I saw each day consistently decreasing, until they disappeared altogether. However, the fact that the public dialogue ends once the story grows old, and the media rarely covers that side of the debate, raises questions about the freedom of the press. In the wake of a horrific tragedy, such as a mass shooting, it is hard for people to see the opposite side and to understand how some people think more freedoms with firearms could ever be a positive thing. Some people may argue that this view of the coverage of the gun control debate is inaccurate.
What are some controversial issues with gun control?
Why is gun control such a controversial issue in the USA?
This pattern makes gun control quite different from other public policy issues in the United States, as it is really only discussed when a related tragedy occurs. Pot is already decriminalized in all three states/districts. Even though a lot of debate is going on, it possible that a normal civilian might not be allowed to own a firearm due to changes made in the amendment. After a couple of weeks, updates on the criminal investigation will continue to roll in, although there will be fewer and they will be less frequent as time goes. These articles will contain a comments section which allows for the creation of a dialogue between people throughout the nation, and news sources will create polls in order to gauge the publics opinion. It appears that the weapons Adam Lanza obtained from his shooting were actually his mother. A 21-year-old white man with a firearm killed nine people and wounded another at a black Episcopal church, after having prayed with them just before, with the hope of igniting a race war. While these stories are usually reported in the news, they receive far less coverage than those of negative gun usage, which results in the media rarely exploring the pro-gun side.
Birth Control or Legal Murder?


Cream puff condo in South OB! This sweet 2br/1ba top floor, single level unit features gorgeous kitchen w/custom cabinets, granite counters & stainless steel appliances. New carpet, fresh paint, updated bathroom w/subway tile & glass, solid core doors, ceiling fans, full-size w/d & off street parking spot. Small, gated complex with Craftsman flair just blocks to the beach, nightlife, shopping, Sunset Cliffs & the Pier. Tree top views. Buy now and enjoy the rest of the summer at the beach!!! Why wait?!!!
Listing provided courtesy of Catrina Russell at Coldwell Banker Res. Brokerage.


The Outlander X mr is the machine that set the mud-riding standard in the industry. Now the Outlander X mr features the 82-hp Rotax 1000 V-Twin engine; our exclusive next-generation chassis extended to 59 in. (150 cm) and engineered using Geometric Contact Control principles; front and rear Air Control Suspension (ACS) with FOX® Air Assist HPG shocks. Our partnership with Gorilla Axle gives this ATV the finest mud-performance tires.
Rotax® V-Twin engine: This engine is the most powerful in the industry with 82-hp. The liquid-cooled, single overhead cam power plant has four valves per cylinder, a 46-mm throttle body and two VDO Siemens® fuel injectors. The EFI system keeps the 1000 engine's Industry-leading performance at its peak and a progressive throttle ensures power is manageable whether in precise rock crawling or opening it up on the straights.
59-in. Wheelbase: Uses the 59-in. wheelbase of the Outlander MAX platform for improved Industry-leading performance in the deepest mud.
Analog/digital gauge: State-of-the-art instrumentation including analog tachometer and speedometer, and a digital information center.
Relocated radiator: The radiator is relocated to the front rack, keeping it high up on the ATV and out of the mud and water.
30-in. (76.2 cm) Gorilla Axle Silverback® tires: Designed by Gorilla Axle for mud riding and racing, these tires were developed to go in the deepest mudholes of east Texas and Louisiana. The tires give mud Industry-leading performance, yet a smooth ride when traveling to the mud hole.
Mud riding footrests: For an optimized ergonomic position while riding in the deepest mud.
Aluminum taper-profile handlebar with wind deflectors and square pad: Premium look and protection from brush and cold.
Front and rear Air Control Suspension (ACS) with FOX® Air Assist HPG shocks: The industry's first air-controlled suspension. Via an onboard compressor, the system adjusts the front and rear high-pressure gas FOX Air assist shocks to six rider-selectable preload levels. This allows the suspension of the X mr to be adjusted on-the-fly depending on terrain or vehicle load. It also comes with a hose that can be used to fill tires or other accessories while out on the trail.
Mudguards: Provide added protection in muddy conditions.


Each of the Triple Crown events—the Kentucky Derby, Maryland's Preakness and the Belmont Stakes in New York—is run on a dirt track. Some in the horse racing industry want to end that tradition and lay down potentially-safer synthetic tracks. But with grandstands increasingly empty, critics say track owners are putting profits over safety. As part of our "Track Tech" series, WEKU's Matt Laslo looks at the future of track material technology.
"Track Tech" is a collaboration between WEKU, Louisville Public Media, and NPR's Innovation Trail.


text:
Home Hollywood Hollywood News Upcoming Movies He Is Back in 2020, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child
Hollywood Hollywood News Upcoming Movies
He Is Back in 2020, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child
There is no definite movement on a film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. And adaptations of successful stage shows -- be it West End or Broadway -- tend to take a very long time because producers don't want to stop people from buying (expensive) tickets to the plays or musicals, if a movie version exists. This is part of the reason why Wicked has taken so long to become a movie, or why talks to turn The Book of Mormon into a comedy often stall. The shows are still packing them in. Why give audiences a cheaper alternative?
Also, Warner Bros. currently has a trilogy with Rowlings' blessings in the works, and that's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The first story in that new franchise drops on November 18, and the studio already has circled a date for a sequel. If audiences love the wizarding world of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), that gives Warner an open door to explore passages in the Rowling universe without having to dig up Harry Potter and his cohorts.
Then there's Daniel Radcliffe, who, since leaving the series that gave him professional notoriety, has been successful in distancing himself from Harry and establishing himself as a credible acting talent. So far this year, he has played a farting corpse (Swiss Army Man), a world-class illusionist (Now You See Me 2) and an undercover cop committed to taking down a group of white supremacists in Imperium. Radcliffe can't be typecast because he's taking on daring roles. Why would he run back to Harry Potter?
That being said, I do think Daniel Radcliffe eventually does return to the role of Harry Potter when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child finally makes it to theaters... only, I don't think it's happening any time soon. For the reasons mentioned above, I'm willing to bet that Cursed Child stays in its current stage form for several years, entertaining the West End before hitting the road to play New York, Los Angeles, and points in between. On the movies side, Warner Bros. will explore Rowlings' stories via the Fantastic Beasts franchise for the next few years. However, once that trilogy has run its course, they'll approach Radcliffe and see what it would take to get him to return to the series.
Movies like Mad Max: Fury Road (also at Warner), Jurassic World, Creed, and Toy Story 3 have proven that you can go back to the well, even after a lengthy break. I don't think you can properly tell Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on the big screen without Radcliffe's eventual support.
Fortunately, for WB's sake, I don't think they'll have to try.Stay tunes in 2020 this gonna be big blow,harry potter fans. Also, stay tuned to here as we get you all the dope and updates about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Here.
Tags: Hollywood Hollywood News Upcoming Movies

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There is no direct link between the ESI and corporate TBL reporting. The 2002 ESI did however make use of a number of indicators related to corporate responsbility – such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index, the Innovest EcoVal rating, and participation in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. However these are attributed to national-level effort based on the headquarters of the corporations included in these indicators. You can check these indicators out by downloading the ESI 2002 report, and specifically Annex 6 (data for individual variables).
We do not regard the ESI as a proxy for national-level TBL reporting, but as mentioned above it does have some relevant indicators.
I have read with interest the Environmental Sustainability Index that has been developed at Columbia University. For my Master's Thesis I am looking at developing a framework for measuring sustainability. I am particularly interested in measuring differences at the regional/state level. Would you see the application of the Environmental Sustainability Index at the state level as effective? Would it need to be modified or could it serve as a useful comparison for states to national achievements.
I read the 2002 Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) where Uruguay is on 6th place. Its component score ranks range from 19th to 35th. Are other countries much more variable so their high ranking components are counterbalanced by low ranking components? I want to know which variables where the most important to put Uruguay in such a good place in the world list?
I would like to do a time series analysis to look at the change in environmental sustainability in specific countries, but I am unsure if the data for your 2001 and 2002 ESI is different, or whether the 2002 ESI is just the result of fine-tuning definitions and categories.
In reviewing the latest statistics on environmental sustainability from your website, I noted that the Faroe Islands was not listed. Could you please advise me on the criteria regarding who is included in the 2002 ESI rankings?
Is it possible to do a time series analysis on the ESIs?
We just finished reading Esty and Cornelius' Environmental Performance Measurement: The Global Report 2001-2002, where the ESI was discussed. We also looked at the 2002 ESI online. We are finding that the methodology sections (both in the book and online) are insufficient to allow us to replicate the rankings. We are interested in seeing how the rankings change if we impute our own weighting schemes, but to do so requires that we understand how they were done in the first place. So, here are our questions: 1. How were the z-scores for each of the variables converted to a percentile? 2. How were the percentiles converted to the indicator? Was this a sum of all the percentiles, an average of the percentiles, or something different? 3. How were the indicators compiled to create the overall ESI? 4. Were missing values included in all the above computations or were values imputed in the above prior to the computation of z-scores?
We would very much appreciate you informing us on how you base your calculations on the profitability on water, or possibly its quality.
What do the numbers "mean?" That is, if Uganda's value is 0.65, does that mean that on a scale of 1-4 (1 being the least) that Uganda is very unlikely to be exposed to the 6 hazards you describe?
What does the "z" score for a peer group mean?
What does the Peer Group ESI mean?
What is the most recent version of the ESI?
What were the data sources used for the 2001 ESI?
Where can I find more information about the ESI 2002 methodology?


Update [2016-12-21]: The decision was made to not put ndslice in the standard library due to it's quick development cycle and changing API. Instead, please use Mir which is the exact same code.
Disclosure: I am writing this article from a biased perspective. I have been writing Python for six years, three professionally, and have written a book on Python. But, I have been writing D for the past eight months and four months ago I started contributing to D's standard library. I also served as the review manager for std.ndslice's inclusion into the standard library.
Today, the new addition to D's standard library, std.ndslice, was merged into master, and will be included in the next D release (v2.070, which is due this month). std.ndslice is multidimensional array implementation, not unlike Numpy, with very low overhead, as it's based on D's concept of ranges which avoids a lot of copying and allows for lazy generation of data. In this article, I will show some of the advantages std.ndslice has over Numpy and why you should consider D for your next numerical project.
This article is written for Numpy users who might be interested in using D. So while it will cover some D basics, D veterans can learn something about std.ndslice as well.
As a Python Programmer, Why Should I Care?
Simply put, if you write your numerical code in D, it will be much, much faster while retaining code readability and programmer productivity.
This section is mainly for D newbies. If you already know D, I suggest you skim the code and then head straight for the Getting Hands On section.
To give you a quick taste of the library before diving in, the following code will take the numbers 0 through 999 using the iota function (acts like Python's xrange) and return a 5x5x40 three dimensional range.
D is statically typed, but for the sake of simplicity, this article will use D's type deduction with auto. The sliced function is just a factory function that returns a multidimensional slice. The sliced factory function can also accept regular arrays, as they are ranges as well. So now we have a 5x5x40 cube with the numbers 0 through 999.
Side Note: What's a Range?
A range is a common abstraction of any sequence of values. A range is any type (so a class or struct) which provides the functions front, which returns the next value in the sequence, popFront which moves the sequence to the next value, and empty, which returns a boolean determining if the sequence is empty or not. Ranges can either generate their values as they are called, lazy, or have a sequence of values already and just provide an interface to those values, eager.
Look Ma, no allocations! This is due to iota returning a lazy input range, and sliced returning a Slice (which is the struct that lies at the heart of std.ndslice) that acts as a wrapper around the iota range and modifies the underlying data as it's accessed. So, when the data in sliced is accessed, the Slice range calls the iota values, which is lazily generated, and determines in what dimension the value will be in and how it will be returned to the user.
So, std.ndslice is a bit different in concept than Numpy. Numpy creates its own type of arrays while std.ndslice provides a view of existing data. The composition of ranges to create something completely new is the basis of ranged-based code, and is one of the reasons D is so powerful. It allows you to make programs where the values returned are like parts on an assembly line, going from station to station, only to be assembled at the very end to avoid unnecessary allocations. This will be important to remember when the performance benchmarks are compared.
For an advanced look at lazy generation with ranges, see H. S. Teoh's article Component programming with ranges in which, he writes a calendar program with ranges (that sits entirely on the stack!).
The foreach loop in D is much like the for loop in Python. The difference being that D gives you the option of C style loops and Python style loops (using for and foreach respectively) without having to use workarounds like enumerate or xrange in the loop.
if a doesn't have a method named func.
UFCS makes generative range-based code easier to follow, so it will be used in the rest of the examples in this article. For a primer on UFCS and why it was made, see this article by Walter Bright, D's creator.
If you don't want to follow along with the code and play around with std.ndslice, then skip to the next section. There are two ways to get your hands on std.ndslice: use digger to download and build the head of the DMD, the reference D compiler, master branch, or use dub, D's official package manager/build system, to download the dub version.
This article will cover the dub path as using digger to get the latest executable is well explained on it's GitHub page. Download dub from the above link or use the instructions on the same page to get it using your package manager of choice.
Why the std.experimental? For those of you who are not familiar with the process, all new modules in the D standard library must wait in a staging area, std.experimental, before going into the main namespace. This is to allow people to test new modules and find any bugs that were overlooked during the review process while signaling that the code is not quite ready for prime time.
std.ndslice has many of the same functions that Numpy has. In the following two sections, I could just provide some simple examples of Numpy and translate them, but halfway through writing that I realized anyone could find that out themselves by reading the documentation, so this section is designed to whet your appetite. To read the docs for std.ndslice and see the function equivalents, click here.
The main difference is D's use of the $ as a symbol for the range's length. Any Numpy slicing code can be translated to std.ndslice no problem.
So let's look at something a bit more involved. Lets take a 2d array and get an array of means of each of the columns.
To make this comparison apples to apples, I forced execution of the result in order to get a D array at the end by appending array. If I had not done that, the final D result would be a lazy input range rather than a D array, which would be unfair to Numpy, as the Numpy code outputs an array at the end. In a normal D program however, the results would not be computed until they are used by another part of the program. Also, D doesn't have any stats functions in it's standard library (yet, it's being worked on), so this example uses a simple lambda function for the mean. In the map function call, you may have noticed the ! in front of the parentheses. This denotes a compile time function argument rather than a run time argument. The compiler generates the map function code based on the lambda function.
No [explicit] loops. Loops in your program are bugs.
The reason the D code is much more verbose than the Python, is the map function with the mean lambda in this code works on any sequence of values that conforms to the concept of a finite input range (duck typing), where as the Python version uses a special Numpy function that only works on Numpy arrays. I will elaborate on this point in the section titled Numpy's Main Problem, and How D Avoids It and why I believe the D version is better.
But despite the D code's length, it is way faster.
These numbers were recorded on a 2015 MacBook Pro with a 2.9 GHz Intel Core Broadwell i5. For Python, I used IPython's %timeit functionality to get a fair time. I made sure to only test the numpy.mean line in the Python code in order to not measure Numpy's known slow initialization times. For the D code, I used std.datetime.benchmark with 10000 tests and took the mean of the results. Compiled with LDC, the LLVM based D compiler v0.17.0 alpha 1 (compiled with LLVM 3.6) ldmd2 -release -inline -boundscheck=off -O. For those of you using dub, that is equivalent to doing dub --build=release-nobounds --compiler=ldmd2.
There really is no reason your D code can't be as fast or faster than C or C++ code.
Numpy is fast. Compared to regular array handling in Python, Numpy is several orders of magnitude faster. But there in lies the problem: normal Python and Numpy code don't mix well.
Numpy lives in it's own world with its own functions and ways of handling values and types. For example, when using a non-numpy API or functions that don't use Numpy that return regular arrays, you either have to use the normal Python functions (slow), or use np.asarray which copies the data into a new variable (also slow). A quick search on GitHub shows just how widespread this issue is with 139,151 results. Granted, some of those are mis-uses of Numpy, where array literals could be directly passed to the function in order to avoid copies, but many aren't. And this is just open source code! I have seen this pattern many times in closed source projects where it can't be avoided, save rewriting large parts of an existing code base.
No, not all of the functions in those links have standard library equivalents, but there is enough of them to start asking questions about DRY.
and whoops, your code is 10x slower.
The root cause of the above problems is that Python code can only be made so fast, so the Numpy developers tried to make an unholy match of Python and a type system using a ton of C code.
D Doesn't Have This Problem.
D is a compiled and statically, strongly typed language to begin with. It's code generation already takes advantage of type information with arrays and ranges. With std.ndslice, you can use the entire std.algorithm and std.range libraries with no problems. No code had to be reworked/rewritten to accommodate std.ndslice. And, as a testament to D's code generation abilities with it's templates, std.ndslice is entirely a library solution, there were no changes to the compiler or runtime for std.ndslice, and only D code is used.
This code is using the same sum function that every other piece of D code uses, in the same way you use it every other time.
The where Numpy really shines is the large amount of libraries that are built with it. Numpy is used in tons of open source financial and machine learning libraries, so if you just use those libraries, you can write fast numerical programs in Python. Numpy also has tons of tutorials, books, and examples on the Internet for people to learn from.
But, this isn't exactly a fair comparison in my opinion, as it could be argued that std.ndslice isn't actually released yet, as it's still in std.experimental. Also, this is already starting to change, as ndslice's author, Ilya Yaroshenko, has stated his next project is writing a std.blas for D, completely in D using std.ndslice.
The following example and explanation was written by Ilya Yaroshenko, the author of std.ndslice, who was gracious enough to let me include it in this article. I have reworded and expanded in some places. This example uses more complicated D code, so don't worry if you don't understand everything.
Now that you have a more through understanding of the library, this will be a more advanced example. This code is a median image filter as well as the command line interface for the resulting program. The function movingWindowByChannel can also be used with other filters that use a sliding window as the argument, in particular with convolution matrices such as the Sobel operator.
movingWindowByChannel iterates over an image in sliding window mode. Each window is transferred to a filter, which calculates the value of the pixel that corresponds to the given window.
This function does not calculate border cases in which a window overlaps the image partially. However, the function can still be used to carry out such calculations. That can be done by creating an amplified image, with the edges reflected from the original image, and then applying the given function to the new file.
filter = unary function. Dimension window 2D is the argument.
where с is the number of channels in the image.
Dense data layout is guaranteed.
// The last dimension represents the color channel.
// Packs the last dimension.
// Splits image into overlapping windows.
// Brings the color channel dimension to the third position.
// Packs the last two dimensions.
// Gathers all windows in the range.
// 2D to pixel lazy conversion.
// The only memory allocation in this function.
// Returns slice with corresponding shape.
A function that calculates the value of iterator median is also necessary. This function was designed more for simplicity than for speed, and could be optimized heavily.
I hope any Python users who have read this found std.ndslice tempting, or at least interesting. If you feel the need to learn more about D, then I highly suggest the official D tutorial here.
And I would suggest any D users reading this to consider moving any Numpy code they have written to std.ndslice.
Questions or comments? Feel free to contact me.
This work by Jack Stouffer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


text:
Bergen-trilogien er en roman i 3 dele af den norske forfatter Gunnar Staalesen.

Se også
1900 Morgenrøde
1950 High Noon
1999 Aftensang

Romaner fra Norge

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Saje Natural Wellness hosts a Sacred Sound Bath with the Aaru Frequency Temple. Through two sound rounds of integrated ancient instruments, healing energy, Hertz use, and clear intention, instructors help address chakras, glands, organs, and many challenges to living an energetically balanced life.
Participants receive a complimentary essential oil application & aromatherapy, as well as free refreshments, private shopping opportunity, and the chance to enter a raffle for a Saje diffuser. Please bring your own yoga mat, blanket, and pillow.
The event is free, but sign-ups in store or by phone are appreciated. Suggested donation for instructors as a gift of gratitude.


text:
Warwickshire Bagpiper for Hire
❖ Bagpiper for Hire in Warwickshire ❖
Browse the below to hire a bagpiper in the Warwickshire area now.
Introducing Matthew
Matthew McRae has been playing The Great Highland Bagpipe for over 25 Years. Taught by his Father George at an early age, Matthew soon became a highly regarded and established Highland Piper within the piping community.
Crowds of all sizes have been mesmerised by the majestic moments that Matthew has created for their special occasions. His delightful sound has been heard in some of the most prestigious and well known venues across the UK. Audiences in the Royal Albert Hall, Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens and even the Great British Pullman steam train have been enchanted by his historic Scotia sounds.
Testament to his professionalism and quality that each performance exudes, Matthew has been in demand by famous brands such as Walker Crisps, Sony, Panasonic, Burberry and William Grant & Sons whisky distillery. Matthew has also appeared on a range of well-known TV and Radio programmes: Chris Evan's Breakfast Show (BBC Radio 2); Absolute Radio; Made in Chelsea and The Last Leg. He has also been commissioned as a session musician with the pop band Right Said Fred. Most notably Matthew has performed live with the world renown Irish folk band The Chieftains and along side the international multi-platinum selling classical crossover group Il Divo.
Add a touch of Scottish elegance to your event or occasion.
Royal Leamington Spa | Nuneaton | Stratford-upon-Avon | Kenilworth | Rugby | Alcester | Bedworth | Coleshill | Atherstone | Southam | Warwick | Polesworth | Whitnash | Kingsbury | Studley | Bulkington | Wellesbourne | Bidford-on-Avon | Shipston-on-Stour


(1) "Agent" means a person required to hold a license as a property and casualty agent or surplus lines agent.
(B) to whom a certificate of insurance has been issued by an insurer or agent at the request of the policyholder.
(3) "Certificate of insurance" means a document, instrument, or record, including an electronic record, no matter how titled or described, that is executed by an insurer or agent and issued to a third person not a party to the subject insurance contract, as a statement or summary of property or casualty insurance coverage. The term does not include an insurance binder or policy form.
(4) "Electronic record" has the meaning assigned by Section 322.002, Business & Commerce Code.
(5) "Insurance" means an insurance contract for property or casualty insurance.
(M) any other insurer authorized to write property or casualty insurance in this state.
(7) "Lender" has the meaning assigned by Section 549.001.
(B) a partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, trust, or other legal entity, including an insurer or a political subdivision or agency of this state.
(9) "Policyholder" means a person who has contracted with a property or casualty insurer for insurance coverage.
(10) "Record" has the meaning assigned by Section 322.002, Business & Commerce Code.
Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1212 (S.B. 425), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2011.
Sec. 1811.002. APPLICABILITY. (a) This chapter applies to a certificate holder, policyholder, insurer, or agent with regard to a certificate of insurance issued on property or casualty operations or a risk located in this state, regardless of where the certificate holder, policyholder, insurer, or agent is located.
(3) standard proof of motor vehicle liability insurance under Section 601.081, Transportation Code.
Sec. 1811.003. RULES. The commissioner may adopt rules as necessary or proper to accomplish the purposes of this chapter.
Sec. 1811.004. FILING FEE. (a) The department may collect a fee in an amount determined by the commissioner for the filing of a new or amended certificate of insurance form under this chapter.
(b) The fee may not exceed $100.
(c) A fee collected under this section shall be deposited to the credit of the Texas Department of Insurance operating account.
Sec. 1811.051. ALTERING, AMENDING, OR EXTENDING THE TERMS OF AN INSURANCE POLICY; CONTRACTUAL RIGHTS OF CERTIFICATE HOLDER. (a) A property or casualty insurer or agent may not issue a certificate of insurance or any other type of document purporting to be a certificate of insurance if the certificate or document alters, amends, or extends the coverage or terms and conditions provided by the insurance policy referenced on the certificate or document.
(b) A certificate of insurance or any other type of document may not convey a contractual right to a certificate holder.
(2) is a standard form deemed approved by the department under Section 1811.103.
(b) A person may not execute, issue, or require the issuance of a certificate of insurance for risks located in this state, unless the certificate of insurance form has been filed with and approved by the department.
Sec. 1811.053. ALTERATION OR MODIFICATION OF APPROVED CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE FORMS. A person may not alter or modify a certificate of insurance form approved under Section 1811.101 unless the alteration or modification is approved by the department.
Sec. 1811.054. ISSUANCE OF FALSE OR MISLEADING CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE. A person may not require the issuance of a certificate of insurance from an insurer, agent, or policyholder that contains any false or misleading information concerning the policy of insurance to which the certificate refers.
Sec. 1811.055. REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS IN LIEU OF CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE. A person may not require an agent or insurer, either in addition to or in lieu of a certificate of insurance, to issue any other document or correspondence, instrument, or record, including an electronic record, that is inconsistent with this chapter.
Sec. 1811.056. USE OF DISAPPROVED CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE FORMS. A person who receives written notice under Section 1811.102 that a certificate of insurance form filed under this chapter has been disapproved by the commissioner shall immediately stop using the form.
(2) contains the phrase "for information purposes only" or similar language.
(2) that the terms of the policy control over the terms of the certificate of insurance.
(c) A filed form is approved at the expiration of 60 days after the date the form is filed unless the commissioner by order approves or disapproves the form during the 60-day period beginning the date the form is filed. The commissioner's approval of a filed form constitutes a waiver of any unexpired portion of the 60-day period.
(d) The commissioner may extend by not more than 10 days the 60-day period described by Subsection (c) during which the commissioner may approve or disapprove a form filed by an insurer or agent. The commissioner shall notify the insurer or agent of the extension before the expiration of the 60-day period.
(f) A person may not use a form unless the form has been filed with and approved by the commissioner.
(4) directly or indirectly requires the commissioner to make a coverage determination under a policy of insurance or insurance transaction.
(b) The commissioner may not disapprove a form filed under Section 1811.101 or withdraw approval of a form based solely on the fact that the form contains language described by Section 1811.101(b).
(c) An order issued by the commissioner disapproving a form, or a notice of the commissioner's intention to withdraw approval of a form, must state the grounds for the disapproval or withdrawal of approval in sufficient detail to reasonably inform the person filing the form of those grounds and the changes to the form necessary to obtain approval.
(d) An order disapproving a form or withdrawing approval of a form takes effect on the date prescribed by the commissioner in the order. An order withdrawing approval of a form may not become effective until the 30th day after the date of the order.
Sec. 1811.103. STANDARD CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE FORMS. A standard certificate of insurance form promulgated by the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development, the American Association of Insurance Services, or the Insurance Services Office (ISO) is deemed approved on the date the form is filed with the department. Notwithstanding this section, the commissioner may withdraw approval of a standard form under Section 1811.102.
Sec. 1811.104. PUBLIC INSPECTION OF INFORMATION. A certificate of insurance form and any supporting information filed with the department under this subchapter is open to public inspection as of the date of the filing.
Sec. 1811.151. CONFIRMATION OF POLICY ISSUANCE. A certificate of insurance form that has been approved by the commissioner and properly executed and issued by a property and casualty insurer or an agent constitutes a confirmation that the referenced insurance policy has been issued or that coverage has been bound. This section applies regardless of whether the face of the certificate includes the phrase "for information purposes only" or similar language.
Sec. 1811.152. CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE NOT POLICY OF INSURANCE. A certificate of insurance is not a policy of insurance and does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage afforded by the referenced insurance policy.
Sec. 1811.153. RIGHTS CONFERRED BY CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE. A certificate of insurance shall not confer to a certificate holder new or additional rights beyond what the referenced policy or any executed endorsement of insurance provides.
Sec. 1811.154. REFERENCE TO OTHER CONTRACTS. A certificate of insurance may not contain a reference to a legal or insurance requirement contained in a contract other than the underlying contract of insurance, including a contract for construction or services.
(2) the policy or endorsement or a law, including a rule, of this state requires notice to be provided.
(b) A certificate of insurance may not alter the terms and conditions of the notice required by a policy of insurance or the law of this state.
Sec. 1811.156. CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE ISSUED IN VIOLATION OF CHAPTER. A certificate of insurance that is executed, issued, or required and that is in violation of this chapter is void and has no effect.
(b) This section does not prevent or limit any action by or remedy available to the commissioner under applicable law.
(2) an insurer or agent has engaged in or is threatening to engage in an unfair act related to a certificate of insurance.
(b) The commissioner shall serve on the insurer or agent a statement of charges and a notice of hearing in the form provided by Section 2001.052, Government Code.
(c) A hearing under this section is a contested case under Chapter 2001, Government Code.
Sec. 1811.203. CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTION. (a) A person, including an insurer or agent, who wilfully violates this chapter is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each violation.
(b) The commissioner may request that the attorney general institute a civil suit in a district court in Travis County for injunctive relief to restrain a person, including an insurer or agent, from continuing a violation or threat of violation of Subchapter B. On application for injunctive relief and a finding that a person, including an insurer or agent, is violating or threatening to violate Subchapter B, the district court shall grant the injunctive relief and issue an injunction without bond.
(c) On request by the commissioner, the attorney general may institute and conduct a civil suit in the name of the state for injunctive relief, to recover a civil penalty, or for both injunctive relief and a civil penalty, as authorized under this subchapter.
(2) enforce the provisions of this chapter.
(b) If the commissioner has reason to believe that a person, including an insurer or agent, is performing an act in violation of Subchapter B, the person shall immediately provide to the commissioner, on written request of the commissioner, information relating to that act.


Calallen High School Calallen High School Softball.
Check Index Below For Games Photos.
Calallen High School Lady Wildcats win the San Antonio Maddox Softball Tournament. Congratulations Champion Lady Wildcats!
Photo Credit; Glen Merritt. Feb. 15-17, 2007.
The San Antonio Maddox Softball tournament select three Lady Wildcats to the All-Tournament Team; Jessica Bryant, Angela Hook -- MVP, and Courtney Merritt. Congratulations Lady Wildcats!
All-Tournament: Angela Hook, MVP, Courtney Merritt, and Jessica Bryant.
Angela Hook hit Grand-Slam Homerun.
8-5 -- 3 Inning game.
CLICK ON THE BUTTONS BELOW TO SEE YOUR GAME OF CHOICE.
CC Tourney: Laredo United: 03-02-06.
CC Tourney: ARANSAS PASS: 03-02-06.
CC Tourney: San Benito: 03-02-06.
2006 ALL SPORT GIRLS BANQUET: 05-06-06.
ROCKPORT FULTON April 16, 2005.
SOUTH SAN May 13 , 2005.
KINGSVILLE INVITATIONAL SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT 03-7/8/9-03!
The Calallen Journal Article: 02-20-04.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING THIS SOFTBALL PAGE OF THE 2005 FIGHTIN' LADY WILDCATS.


Waitrose is launching its first marketing campaign since hiring new creative agency adam&eveDDB with a TV ad that will focus on the quality and provenance of its food.
The campaign, 'The Warmest Season', debuts on TV tomorrow (2 October). It shows real-life Waitrose suppliers battling with the British weather to produce food fit for autumn.
To tie in with the theme, the ad is set to the soundtrack from the 1968 Disney film 'Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'.
The TV ad will be supported by digital and print activity, as well as a social media campaign using the hashtag #AutumnWarmers that aims to encourage people to share photos of their favourite autumn food.
Waitrose will also create content based around four weekly themes that will be promoted on Facebook and Instagram and a Pinterest board that will use geo-location to show users local activity.
"As we welcome back the cold, crisp weather we wanted to bring out the warmth of autumnal food – from Sunday roasts to fish pie to apple crumble, especially highlighting quality British ingredients," explains Thomas.
Waitrose hired adam&eve DDB after its previous creative agency BBH opted to take on the Tesco account following the appointment of Dave Lewis as CEO. adam&eve also has the account for Waitrose's sister brand John Lewis.
Waitrose has appointed Adam+Eve DDB to its ad account. It has one of the strongest brands in the supermarket sector but must look to address value perceptions if it wants to maintain growth.
Waitrose's Christmas campaign #bakeitforward is the latest sign of the upmarket grocer moving to a social-first marketing strategy as it looks to tap into a social media revolution that head of marketing Rupert Ellwood claims has "completely changed" the way people engage with food.
Waitrose is hoping the soothing tones of its customers singing can win shoppers this Christmas by using their voices in its festive push.
Nine out of 10 (88%) of marketers lack confidence in personalisation use and believe that their brand is behind rivals, according to a new report.


Hi Lauryn, I know Sweet Pea is probably running you ragged some days! I'm so glad God gave you a new focus. Can't wait to see the I.C.E. He brings out of you and into each post. We're all ready and waiting...(no pressure!) God is so good, isn't He?
Wow! That's definitely something worth remembering. Thanks for sharing your new found focus.


text:
Penn State University Press
Search for works within Penn State University Press
Nothing but Love in God's Water: Volume 1: Black Sacred Music from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement
Robert Darden 2014
The first of two volumes chronicling the history and role of music in the African American experience, Nothing but Love in God's Water explores how songs and singers helped African Americans challenge and overcome slavery, subjugation, and suppression. From the spirituals of southern fields and the ringing chords of black gospel to the protest songs that changed the landscape of labor and the cadences sung before dogs and water cannons in Birmingham, sacred song has stood center stage in the African American drama. Myriad interviews, one-of-a-kind sources, and rare or lost recordings are used to examine this enormously persuasive facet of the movement. Nothing but Love in God's Water explains the historical significance of song and helps us understand how music enabled the civil rights movement to challenge the most powerful nation on the planet.
Volume 2 of Nothing but Love in God's Water is also available on Fulcrum.
978-0-271-05084-3 (hardcover)
Search for resources within Nothing but Love in God's Water: Volume 1: Black Sacred Music from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement
African-American Studies1
Gospel Music1
Religion[remove]1
United States History1
Filtering by: Keyword Religion Remove constraint Keyword: Religion
Photo of the Fisk Jubilee Singers
The Fisk Jubilee Singers were initially reluctant to turn to spirituals, but their popularity soared in the United States and Europe once they did. Their success spawned an entire genre of sacred part-singing and numerous similar groups.
131 views since July 14, 2017
© Penn State University Press 2019
http://www.psupress.org


The federal government should send a "please explain" to the states and territories and ask why patients with private health insurance are being treated in public hospitals an average of three weeks faster than those without, a leading health economist with the Grattan Institute has said.
Data released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Wednesday shows there were about 10.6 m admissions to Australia's hospitals in 2015-16, with about 59% of these occurring in public hospitals.
The report also for the first time reveals how elective surgery waiting times for public hospitals vary by funding source. Elective surgery refers to any surgery that a doctor or health professional believes to be clinically necessary but which can be delayed for at least 24 hours.
Public patients had a median waiting time of 42 days for elective surgery, compared with just 20 days for patients who used private health insurance to fund all or part of their public hospital admission, the data show.
But under the Australian health care agreements, wait time for elective surgery should reflect priority to those in most urgent need of care, regardless of health insurance status.
"These statistics are really concerning," Stephen Duckett from the Grattan Institute said.
But the chief executive of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, Alison Verhoeven, warned against finger-pointing or jumping to conclusions.
"While the AIHW has highlighted the difference in median waiting times for a group of patients that represents 6.9% of all patients admitted to public hospitals for elective surgery, the key issue is that public hospitals need to be appropriately funded to treat all patients on their waiting lists," she said.
"There are valid reasons for using private health insurance in public hospitals, including the lack of availability of private hospital care in some regional areas, visiting officer practice rights in public hospitals, and patient choice of clinician, all of which are longstanding fundamental features of our health system.
The figures in the report were crude and told an incomplete story, she said.
Private health insurance is a key pillar of a universal health system, the head of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Gannon, said. But he said he was concerned by the AIHW data.
"These arrangements do not in any way contribute to universal healthcare and it's entirely unfair," he said.
He said those without private health cover were often already vulnerable, and that a spot on the waiting list should "never be taken away from an uninsured patient who needs care by someone simply jumping the queue".
But a fellow at the Centre for Policy Development and policy analyst, Ian McAuley, said the data was more evidence that private health insurance should be scrapped altogether in favour of a single insurer.
"Really, just get private insurance out of the way," he said.


text:
Home Blogs About Us
Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as "About Us"
It's 2022 and KBC is here to help you! If you are looking for a proposal for a post-employment valuation, you have come to the right place! When it comes time to obtain a post-employment valuation proposal, the process can sometimes become overwhelming. However, Key Benefit Concepts has a process that will help ease "the pain" of the process in …
Key Benefit Concepts December 14, 2021 About Us, Services
Key Benefit Concepts (KBC) is an actuarial and employee benefit consulting firm who has designed personalized benefit programs relating to wellness for our clients. When addressing employee benefits, wellness is an important factor to an overall comprehensive benefit program. Healthy employees are typically more focused, conscientious and hard-working. So, at KBC we practice what we preach! Our program is referred …
Key Benefit Concepts December 3, 2021 About Us, Conferences
The impact of COVID-19 led to the cancellation of most in-person conferences in 2020 and many so far in 2021. We hope in 2022, more conferences will open up to in-person. Key Benefit Concepts (KBC) enjoys being affiliate members of many government employer associations. We look forward to sponsoring, attending, speaking and most of all having a booth at conferences …
Decrement Rate Assumptions – What are They?
Key Benefit Concepts October 25, 2021 About Us, Services
Decrements are events that cause an employee to no longer be employed with you. This could include death, termination, disability, and retirement. Your OPEB valuation reflects the possibilities of each of these decrements through decrement rate assumptions. Towards the end of your report, in a section we title the "Technical Appendix", you can find details of the decrement assumptions. They …
Are You HIPAA Complaint? If Not, Do you Know Where to Begin?
Key Benefit Concepts October 10, 2021 About Us, Actuarial
Most of you know the importance of HIPAA compliance. If you are not compliant and an audit occurs, it can be very costly and determinantal to your company. Sometimes it is a struggle making sure everything is compliant and if it is not, you may not know where to begin. That's where Key Benefit Concepts can help! Key Benefit Concepts …
Social Media and KBC
Key Benefit Concepts September 13, 2021 About Us, Services
Importance of Social Media In today's world, the wide array and popularity of media mediums are everchanging at a rapid pace. Social media is becoming more prevalent each year, and is becoming a more popular space for daily news intake and ad experience. Accessibility to services and communication with existing and potential customers have never been more direct, as all …
Importance of an Accurate Benefit Summary
Key Benefit Concepts September 7, 2021 About Us, Actuarial
Actuarial valuations of post-employment benefits are an important tool for your auditor to complete your financial statements and are required under specific GASB statements. In order for us to provide the most accurate valuation, it begins with the initial steps of the valuation process. The first step in preparing a proposal for a new post-employment valuation is confirming the benefit …
Key Benefit Concepts May 27, 2021 About Us, Services
Are there certain people in your work life where each call you make to them seems to go directly to voicemail, and then you're stuck waiting for a call back? This can be extremely frustrating, which is why there's no need to worry about that with KBC. During office hours, someone is routinely available to answer the phone. Even if …
Going to a Conference? Look for KBC!
Key Benefit Concepts May 17, 2021 About Us, Conferences
The impact of COVID-19 led to the cancellation of most in-person conferences in 2020 and many so far in 2021. Key Benefit Concepts (KBC) enjoys being affiliate members of many government employer associations. We look forward to sponsoring, attending, speaking and most of all having a booth at conferences throughout the United States. Why? Because we get an opportunity to …
Top Reasons to Choose KBC
Key Benefit Concepts September 5, 2019 About Us
ActuarialBenefitconsultingConsultingKBCtherightchoice


text:
module RSpec
  module Rails
    # Builds paths for view specs using a particular route set.
    class ViewPathBuilder
      def initialize(route_set)
        self.class.send(:include, route_set.url_helpers)
      end

      # Given a hash of parameters, build a view path, if possible.
      # Returns nil if no path can be built from the given params.
      #
      # @example
      #     # path can be built because all required params are present in the hash
      #     view_path_builder = ViewPathBuilder.new(::Rails.application.routes)
      #     view_path_builder.path_for({ :controller => 'posts', :action => 'show', :id => '54' })
      #     # => "/post/54"
      #
      # @example
      #     # path cannot be built because the params are missing a required element (:id)
      #     view_path_builder.path_for({ :controller => 'posts', :action => 'delete' })
      #     # => ActionController::UrlGenerationError: No route matches {:action=>"delete", :controller=>"posts"}
      def path_for(path_params)
        url_for(path_params.merge(only_path: true))
      rescue => e
        e.message
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Here's an educational screenprinting video that covers the question of using a pressure washer when reclaiming or stripping screens. Many people will call me and say that their emulsion remover is not working. Or even worse they call me and tell me my emulsion remover is not working. This is the first question I ask them. Are you using a pressure washer? And do you know what the answer inevitably is? No. That's correct. No. So there are many people who seem to think that emulsion remover will work with a garden hose, shower head, or kitchen sink spray nozzle. This video will demonstrate why you will need a pressure washer for many screens. While some screens will reclaim very easily, in commercial screenprinting we will frequently encounter screens that are more difficult to strip. This is where the pressure washer makes that possible and quite frankly it makes your work much easier. Check out this video and watch as I demonstrate different attempts to reclaim screens with just a garden hose.
This entry was posted in DIY, Do It Your Self, Education, Equipment, How To Screen Print, How To Screen Print Tee Shirts, Instruction, Phoenix, Screen Printing, Screen Printing Videos, Silk Screen Printing, Silkscreening, Tutorial and tagged screen print, screen printed, screen printer, screen printers, screenprint, screenprinting, screens, silk screen, silk screen printing, silk screening, silkscreen, silkscreening. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
Home Essays Management Information Systems
Topics: Information systems, Management information system, Customer relationship management Pages: 4 (760 words) Published: December 14, 2014
Task 1.
In my words, Management Information System is a digital, or computer based tool, which provides managers of all levels, as well as regular employees, with information crucial to perform their tasks more effectively.
Management Information Systems are used especially by managers and they help them with different areas of their work:
gathering needed information
evaluation of processes
Management Information Systems combine information from various dimensions or branches of the company or organization, such as:
Some synonyms for MIS are as follows:
Some examples of Management Information Systems:
CFM (Car Fleet Management)
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
Examples of MIS
car fleet management (cfm) and customer relationship management (crm) USOS Web
CFM: System that helps to control how cars are used in a company. Driving performance, fuel usage but also sales performance and efficiency. USOS Web: Internet platform, used to help students to enrol courses and contact professors, without coming to the actual university Dropbox: Sharing files, on the internet, using folders allowing cooperation at great distances
MIS definition
Management Information System, is a digital system that is a tool, which provides managers of all levels as well as regular employees with information and knowledge that is needed in order to improve their performance in companies and organizations. MIS is used especially by managers and it helps them with
Collecting information from databases and knowledge bases
Control of the organization
Analysis of the performance
Communication within the organization
Long-term cost...
Essay on Management Information Systems and Its Importance
...| What you think Management of Information Systems is and why it is important in today's business environment? Management Information Systems (MIS) is the term given to the discipline focused on the integration of computer systems with the aims and objectives on an organization. Modern businesses have been leveraging on MIS to manage, order, organize and manipulate the gigabytes and masses of information generated for various purposes. MIS helps businesses optimize business processes, address information needs of employees and various stakeholders and take informed strategic decisions. The development and management of information technology tools assists executives and the general workforce in performing any tasks related to the processing of information. MIS and business systems are especially useful in the collation of business data and the production of reports to be used as tools for decision making. With computers being as ubiquitous as they are today, there's hardly any large business that does not rely extensively on their IT systems (Kenneth C. Laudon). However, there are several specific fields in which MIS has become invaluable like in decision support systems, resource and people management applications, Enterprise Resource Planning...
Information Systems Essay
...Businesses Use Information Systems Management Information Systems Chapter 2 Global E-Business: How Businesses Use Information Systems E- LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Define and describe business processes and their relationship to information systems to information systems. • Evaluate the role played by systems serving the various levels of management in a business and their relationship to each other. • Explain how enterprise applications, collaboration and communication systems, and intranets improve organizational performance. 1 Management Information Systems Chapter 2 Global E-Business: How Businesses Use Information Systems E- LEARNING OBJECTIVES (Continued) • Explain the difference between e-business, e-commerce, and the difference between and e-government. • Assess the role of the information systems function in a business. Management Information Systems Chapter 2 Global E-Business: How Businesses Use Information Systems E- Business Processes and Information Systems • Business processes: • Workflows of...
Global E-Business: How Businesses Use Information Systems Essay
...Businesses Use Information Systems 2.1 © 2007 by Prentice Hall Management Information Systems Chapter 2 Global E-Business: How Businesses Use Information Systems 2.1 Business Processes and Information Systems What is Business Process 2.2 © 2007 by Prentice Hall Management Information Systems Chapter 2 Global E-Business: How Businesses Use Information Systems 2.1 Business Processes and Information Systems • Manner in which work is organized, coordinated, and focused to produce a valuable product or service. • Concrete work flows of material, information, and knowledge—sets of activities. • Unique ways to coordinate work, information, and knowledge. • Ways in which management chooses to coordinate work. 2.3 © 2007 by Prentice Hall Management Information Systems Chapter 2 Global E-Business: How Businesses Use Information Systems 2.1 Business Processes and Information Systems Examples of Functional Business Processes 2.4 © 2007 by Prentice Hall Management Information Systems Chapter 2 Global E-Business: How Businesses Use Information...
Management: Questions and Answers for Midterm Examination Essay
...the three levels of the organizational hierarchy. Which types of information systems serve each level? Answer: The three levels of the organizational hierarchy: Senior Managers Middle Managers Operational Managers Types of information systems serve each level: Operational-level systems: support operational mangers, keeping track of the elementary activities and transactions. Management-level systems: serve the monitoring, controlling, decision-making, and administrative activities of middle managers. Strategic-level systems: help senior management tackle and address strategic issues. 2- List and briefly describe the major types of system in organization? Answer: Transaction Processing Systems (TPS): are the basic business systems that serve the operational level of the organization. And it is also a computerized system that performs and records the daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business. Management Information Systems (MIS): serve the management level of the organization, providing managers with reports and often-online access to the organization's current performance and historical records and primarily serve the functions of planning, controlling, and decision-making. Decision-Support...
Application of Information Technology (It) in Brac Bank Essay
...A Report On Application of information technology (IT) in BRAC bank Submitted to Afjal Hossain Lecturer, Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration and Management Submitted by Group-Innovation (Level-3, Semester-II) Session:2008-2009 Faculty of Business Administration and Management Patuakhali Science and Technology University Dumki, Patuakhali-8602 Date of Submission:August 01,2010 ATTENDANCE SHEET Level: 3, Semester: II Course code: MST327 Course title: Management information system Report title Application of information technology (IT) in BRAC bank Roll. No.	| Reg. No.	| Name	| Signature	| 0803019	| 01881	| Dibakar Chandra Das(GL)	| | 0803001	| 01862	| Farjana Khanom	| | 0803003	| 01864	| Kazi Riasat Muntahi	| | 0803011	| 01873	| Kamrun Nnahar Sila	| | 0803018	| 01880	| Md.Nazmul Haque	| | 0803021	| 01883	| Hasnain Ahamed Asif	| | 0803023	| 01885	| Md. Ali Marjan	| | 0803026	| 01893	| Md. Saidur Rahman Sajib	| | 0803027	| 01894	| Atia Jahan Siddiqa	| | 0803037	| 01906	| Tania akter	| | 0803042	| 01912	| MD.Mahbub Alam	| | | | | | Accepted by: …………………..………… EVALUATION SHEET Level: 3, Semester: II Course code: MSt327 Course title: Management information system Roll. No.	| Reg. No.	| Name	| Signature...
Term Paper: A Key Concept in Information Systems
...Assignment 2: Information Management and the Digital Firm The Digital Firm is a general term for organizations that have enabled foundation business associations with employees, clients, suppliers, and additional exterior associates during digital networks. These digital networks are supported by enterprise set technology platforms that have been leveraged surrounded by an association to hold up serious business functions and services. A number of examples of these knowledge platforms are Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Knowledge Management System (KMS), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), and Warehouse Management System (WMS) among others. The reason of these technology platforms is to digitally facilitate flawless combination and information replace within the association to employees and external the business to customers, suppliers, and other industry associates. Uniqueness of Digital Firm: • Important production relationships are digitally enabled and mediated. • Center commerce processes are accomplished through digital networks and width the whole association. • Type company resources are managed digitally. • Interior and external environments are rapidly predictable and deal with advantage and disadvantage of Digital Firms. Pros and...
Management Information System Essay
...Examination Paper : Semester II IIBM Institute of Business Management Examination Paper Management Information Systems Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)    This section consists of Multiple choice questions and Short Note type questions. Answer all the questions. Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each. MM.100 Part one: Multiple choices: 1. Management Information System is mainly dependent upon: a. Accounting b. Information c. Both 'a' and 'b' d. None of the above 2. The most important attribute of information quality that a manager requires is: a. Presentation b. Relevance c. Timeliness d. None of the above 3. Human Resource Information Systems are designed to: a. Produce pay checks and payrolls reports b. Maintain personnel records c. Analyze the use of personnel in business operations d. Development of employees to their full potential 4. Operational Accounting System include: a. Inventory control b. Cost accounting reports c. Development of financial budgets and projected financial statements d. None of the above 5. EIS stands for: a. Executive Information System b. Excellent Info System c. Excessive Information System d. None of the above IIBM Institute of Business...
Management Information Systems Essay
...between management information systems (MIS) and information technology (IT)? Management information systems (MIS) deals with the coordination and use of information technology. MIS plans for, develops, and manages the use of information technology tools to help people perform tasks related to information processing and management in their personal lives, careers, and/or just for every day actions when working with information. MIS helps get the right information technology and right information into the hands of the right people at the right time. 2.	What is the relationship between data, information, business intelligence (BI), and knowledge? Data, information, and business intelligence all build on each other. Information is the more complete picture of multiple data points, while business intelligence extends information in order to give the ability to make effective, important, and often-strategic decisions. With this information and intelligence an individual can develop into a technology-literate knowledge worker or an information-literate knowledge worker to be a more efficient and better understand problems and opportunities in their organization. 3.	How does the...
A Visit To A Zoo Script
Hotel Room 12th Floor
Ford Bronco Essay
English language Essay
Sole proprietorship Essay
American films Essay
Network topology Essay
Elections Essay


1. an act of moving forward.
2. promotion in rank or standing; preferment: She had high hopes for advancement in the company.
3. Law. money or property given by one person during his or her lifetime to another that is considered an anticipation of an inheritance and is therefore to be deducted from any share that the recipient may have in a donor's estate.
"There can be advancement processes."
"There can be advancement people."
"There can be advancement committees."
"There can be advancement amongsts."
"advancements can be in places."
"advancements can be at colleges."
"advancements can have impacts on lives."
"advancements can reduce people/places/organizations into atmospheres."
"advancements can reduce emissions into atmospheres."
"advancements can make lives for dogs."
"advancements can favour emergences at times."
"advancements can create skills with technologies."
"advancements can create demands with technologies."
"advancements can centre searches at universities."
"advancements can cause drifts to cities."
"advancements can bring increases in salaries."
"advancements can become things in professions."
"advancements can reduce into atmospheres."
"advancements can make for banks."
"advancements can have on lives."
"advancements can create with technologies."
"advancements can make for dogs."
"advancements can go for people."
"advancements can favour at times."
"advancements can depend on prestiges."
"advancements can depend on influences."
Middle English: from Old French avancement, from avancer 'to advance'.