text:
No more blogging today. Need to get ready for 80-90 trick-or-treaters due to begin arriving shortly. The photos above are of our "Oh No" and "vomiting" pumpkins from 2006, and the "electric porcupine" pumpkin from last year.
Labels: personal/family
Bilingual road sign in Wales
When officials creating the sign asked for a Welsh translation of the text at the top, they thought the reply they received was what they needed.
Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated".
Labels: ephemera, TYWKIWDBI
How to frame your dog's photograph
Labels: clever, humor
Anti-McCain media bias
Labels: humor, politics
Chan's megastick - longest insect in the world
Stretching to an extraordinary 22 inches, this newly discovered bug is the longest stick insect in the world. Named the Chan's megastick, it was discovered in the Borneo rainforests by a stick insect enthusiast and has been handed to the Natural History Museum in London…
Almost nothing is known about its biology and lifestyle, although it probably lives in the highest canopies of the rainforest, making it hard to spot. Its body without legs is 14 inches long.
In addition to its size, its eggs may also be unique in the insect world…The female sent to the museum was full of eggs, each had wing-like extensions on either side like a miniature golden snitch - the Quidditch ball from the Harry Potter books.
'Other stick insects lay their 0.5 cm eggs individually and flick them in to the air where they fall to the ground,' he said.
'It looks like these are flicked into the air where they can be picked up by the wind and carried away from the tree.
'It increases the dispersal of the eggs and means that the young don't climb up the same tree as the parents and start competing for the same food.'
Blogged not because of the size of the insect, but because of the remarkable adaptation of winged eggs to enhance egg dispersal. Ingenious and fascinating. Also very cool is the title of the person interviewed for the article: Dr George Beccaloni, curator of stick insects, cockroaches and grasshoppers. (!!)
Labels: impressive, nature
Campaign sign hooked up to electric dog fence
Story here. I'll defer any commentary.
Labels: politics
Interesting architecture
My cousin in Barcelona tells me that this is the Torre Agbar (AGuas de BARcelona), built by the city's water company. It is lit up in the evening for a few hours and is quite striking with its red and blue lights. The conformation of the building has been described in a variety of ways, which I will leave to your imagination... (image credit here)
Labels: art, real estate, TYWKIWDBI
Can you guess what this ad is promoting?
Bicycle helmets. (Click to enlarge)
The most important photograph ever taken is...
...the "Deep Field" image, taken by the Hubble telescope. I ran across this video yesterday, and was sure I had blogged it before, but searching TYWKIWDBI I can't find it. So here it is.
Six minutes. Lots of Carl-Sagan-type numbers. Really, really, really, really big numbers. Something crossing the universe at the speed of light would require 78 billion years to do so. 500,000 million galaxies.
But then add the revelations of the "ultra deep field" image taken of an "empty spot," realize those are not stars - they are galaxies - and you have an absolutely humbling concept of our place in the universe. Anyone who believes that our earth possesses the only life in the universe lacks common sense and frankly belittles the magnificence of a God.
(thanks, Ovablastic, for posting this video)
Labels: religion, science
The Economist endorses Obama
The Economist, a London-based 150-year-old business and economics publication that in the past endorsed Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, and George W. Bush, now offers an endorsement of Senator Obama:
Back in 2000 America stood tall as the undisputed superpower, at peace with a generally admiring world. The main argument was over what to do with the federal government's huge budget surplus. Nobody foresaw the seismic events of the next eight years. When Americans go to the polls next week the mood will be very different. The United States is unhappy, divided and foundering both at home and abroad. Its self-belief and values are under attack...
The Economist does not have a vote, but if it did, it would cast it for Mr Obama. We do so wholeheartedly: the Democratic candidate has clearly shown that he offers the better chance of restoring America's self-confidence. But we acknowledge it is a gamble. Given Mr Obama's inexperience, the lack of clarity about some of his beliefs and the prospect of a stridently Democratic Congress, voting for him is a risk. Yet it is one America should take, given the steep road ahead...
Mr McCain has his faults: he is an instinctive politician, quick to judge and with a sharp temper. And his age has long been a concern (how many global companies in distress would bring in a new 72-year-old boss?). Yet he has bravely taken unpopular positions—for free trade, immigration reform, the surge in Iraq, tackling climate change and campaign-finance reform...
That, however, was Senator McCain; the Candidate McCain of the past six months has too often seemed the victim of political sorcery, his good features magically inverted, his bad ones exaggerated. The fiscal conservative who once tackled Mr Bush over his unaffordable tax cuts now proposes not just to keep the cuts, but to deepen them. The man who denounced the religious right as "agents of intolerance" now embraces theocratic culture warriors...
The choice of Sarah Palin epitomised the sloppiness. It is not just that she is an unconvincing stand-in, nor even that she seems to have been chosen partly for her views on divisive social issues, notably abortion. Mr McCain made his most important appointment having met her just twice...
Is Mr Obama any better? Most of the hoopla about him has been about what he is, rather than what he would do. His identity is not as irrelevant as it sounds. Merely by becoming president, he would dispel many of the myths built up about America: it would be far harder for the spreaders of hate in the Islamic world to denounce the Great Satan if it were led by a black man whose middle name is Hussein; and far harder for autocrats around the world to claim that American democracy is a sham. America's allies would rally to him: the global electoral college on our website [embedded above] shows a landslide in his favour...
There is no getting around the fact that Mr Obama's résumé is thin for the world's biggest job. But the exceptionally assured way in which he has run his campaign is a considerable comfort. It is not just that he has more than held his own against Mr McCain in the debates. A man who started with no money and few supporters has out-thought, out-organised and outfought the two mightiest machines in American politics—the Clintons and the conservative right...
Political fire, far from rattling Mr Obama, seems to bring out the best in him: the furore about his (admittedly ghastly) preacher prompted one of the most thoughtful speeches of the campaign. On the financial crisis his performance has been as assured as Mr McCain's has been febrile. He seems a quick learner and has built up an impressive team of advisers, drawing in seasoned hands like Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. Of course, Mr Obama will make mistakes; but this is a man who listens, learns and manages well...
Our main doubts about Mr Obama have to do with the damage a muddle-headed Democratic Congress might try to do to the economy... the risk remains that on economic matters the centre that Mr Obama moves to would be that of his party, not that of the country as a whole.
So Mr Obama in that respect is a gamble. But the same goes for Mr McCain on at least as many counts, not least the possibility of President Palin. And this cannot be another election where the choice is based merely on fear. In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.
Is incoherency better when set to music?
Labels: humor, politics, Video - humor
Anti-aging skin cream advertisement
Labels: clever
Wonderful philosophy of life
"If you want to believe in something, then believe in it. Just because something isn't true, that's no reason you can't believe in it … that people are basically good, that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything, that money and power mean nothing, that Good always triumphs over Evil … that true love never dies.
You remember that, boy… doesn't matter if it's true or not, you see. A man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."
-- Robert Duvall, in Secondhand Lions.
Labels: other
Hooligans maul elderly flamingo
Four teenagers in Australia have been charged with an attack on an almost blind greater flamingo, thought to be one of the oldest of its kind alive.
Police and zoo officials said the flamingo's head and beak were injured and it was bleeding from an eye. The bird, aged at least 75 years, is in a critical condition, zoo staff said. The bird has been at the zoo for most of its life and, with its Chilean partner, has been one of Adelaide zoo's most popular exhibits.
Police said four men aged between 17 and 19 were charged with aggravated ill-treatment of an animal and released on bail to appear in court at a later date.
The exact age of the flamingo remains unknown, as proper records from his arrival in the 1930s do not exist. "The bird arrived at the zoo in 1933 and was a mature bird at that stage..."
Blogged because of the impressive age of the bird. One is not surprised by an aged tortoise or large mammals like elephants and whales. But I had never expected to encounter a bird older than I am.
Cruelty to animals is a known predictor of serial killers. These young men need professional counseling. If I'm judging the mood of the public down under correctly, this might also be a good time to revive the pillory.
Labels: crime, rant
"...the photo was just a snapshot in the struggle between a tree-frog and cat-eyed tree-snake that lasted for hours through the night in the tropical forests of Belize."
Labels: nature, photography
Excerpts from "Eunoia"
"Eunoia" - the shortest word containing all five vowels - means "beautiful thinking." It is also the title of a book in which each chapter uses only one vowel. Excerpts:
Hassan Abd al-Hassad, an Agha Khan, basks at an ashram - a Taj Mahal that has grand parks and grass lawns, all as vast as parklands at Alhambra and Valhalla. Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal - a gala ball that has what pagan charm small galas lack.
Westerners revere the Greek legends. Versemen retell the represented events, the resplendent scenes, where, hellbent, the Greek freemen seek revenge whenever Helen, the new-wed empress, weeps. Restless, she deserts her fleece bed where, detested, her wedded regent sleeps. When she remembers Greece, her seceded demesne, she feels wretched, left here, bereft, her needs never met.
Hiking in British districts, I picnic in virgin firths, grinning in mirth with misfit whims, smiling if I find birch twigs, smirking if I find mint sprigs. Midspring brings with it singing birds, six kinds, (finch, siskin, ibis, tit, pipit, swift), whistling shrill chirps, trilling chirr chirr in high pitch.
Loops on bold fonts now form lots of words for books. Books form cocoons of comfort - tombs to hold bookworms. Profs from Oxford show frosh who do post-docs how to gloss works of Wordsworth. Dons who work for proctors or provosts do not fob off school to work on crosswords, nor do dons go off to dorm rooms to loll on cots.
Gulls churr: ululu, ululu. Ducks cluck. Bulls plus bucks run thru buckbrush; thus dun burrs clutch fur tufts. Ursus cubs plus Lupus pups hunt skunks. Curs skulk (such mutts lurk: ruff, ruff). Gnus munch kudzu. Lush shrubs bud; thus church nuns pluck uncut mums. Bugs hum: buzz, buzz.
Labels: English language
Whenever possible I like to end my blogging day with a beautiful or impressive photo, because that's what will greet TYWKIWDBI visitors when they arrive. The image above (credit here) is that of a Japanese maple in the full glory of its autumn colors. This particular variety is probably a "laceleaf" cultivar. (click to enlarge)
Tsunami of early voting
There are probably many such reports and images from around the country. HuffPo has reports from a dozen different states quantifying the incredible turnout. I didn't find long lines at my local city hall, but when you go to links like this one, you can see collections of photos (like the two above) of lines of hundreds of voters, enduring sometimes 5 hours in line - and this a week before election day.
It wasn't that long ago that pundits and the media used to decry the "apathy" of the American public when it came time for elections. This election will put those stories to rest for a while; when it matters to them, people vote.
The Pont Neuf bridge - a gender test
An example of how men and women view photographs differently.
Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge in Paris and took 26 years to build. Construction began in 1578 and ended in 1604. 'Le Pont Neuf' is actually made of 2 independent bridges, one with seven arches and the other with five arches.
In the photo at the link, the bridge (located in Toulouse, not Paris) is partially obscured by foreground material. Women are usually able to see the bridge instantly; men, however, seem to require a much longer time to locate it.
Labels: humor, photography
"Apparently there may have been a line of riders, maybe 6 - 10 riders, two abreast, going approximately 25 mph, and the rider's bike in front of him kicked up a branch, and you can see the results. The branch did not have a spear point at the end that went through his leg. That is why it broke his bone..."
More details at the link, including (refreshingly) the patient lying on an E.R. gurney, smiling, and waving at the cameraman. The +2 annotation on his foot means his dorsalis pedis pulse is intact and the viability of the foot is not in imminent danger. The discussion thread at the link includes suggestions that perhaps this image is Photoshopped. No way (and no need to); anyone who has worked in ERs or the military has seen this kind of stuff or worse. It is, however, quite impressive...
Labels: impressive, medicine
Explaining the mystery chord in "Hard Day's Night"
Whether it is the "most famous chord in rock 'n' roll" is arguable, but it certainly is well-known. Don't quite remember it? Here it is (just the first couple seconds, then you can pause the playback...)
The reason it's famous in the musical world is that for 40 years no professional musicians have been able to identify what chord George Harrison was playing. Now a mathematics professor has "decomposed" (??) the sound by applying a Fourier transformation and has come up with the answer:
"George played a 12-string Rickenbacker, Lennon had his six string, Paul had his bass…none of them quite fit what I found," he explains. "Then the solution hit me: it wasn't just those instruments. There was a piano in there as well, and that accounted for the problematic frequencies."
More explanation at the link.
Raunchy Tarzan toy
He's probably supposed to be beating his chest, but that's not how it looks. SFW, but he looks more like Onan than Tarzan.
Labels: video, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
McCain in trouble in Arizona
So is that (D-AZ) caption on Fox News a simple typo, or are they trying to help him out... (image credit here)
Goblin shark video
What's really startling are the protrusible jaws. They resemble those of moray eels (or the probably more familiar alien who faced Sigourney Weaver and dribbled drool as the interior jaw reached for her face...) Those jaws reportedly are sold to collectors for thousands of dollars.
That long "beak" on the shark, that looks like an appendage a dinosaur would be proud of, is apparently a "rostrum" (snout) designed to sense electrical fields (and thus help it hunt prey). A great adaptation for a resident of the dark bathysphere.
(Video found posted at Ovablastic)
Labels: nature
Obama's birth announcement
It shouldn't really be necessary to waste time on stuff like this. The blogosphere has been littered with accusations and implications that Barack Obama is not qualified for the presidency because he was not born in the U.S. More recently there have been rumors that the state of Hawaii is suppressing the relevant information from public view.
In the first place, it doesn't matter where he was born. His mother was indisputably a citizen, and the relevant law states that "before the child was born, the U.S. citizen parent must have been physically present in the U.S. and its possessions for at least 10 years, 5 of which must have been after the parent turned 14." Some goons on the right fringe suggest that he was born in Africa, then "smuggled" into the U.S. That's not true, but it wouldn't matter if he had been born while she was circling the earth in a space capsule; he's still a citizen.
His birth announcement was published in the Honolulu Advertiser. I've embedded the lower left corner of the newspaper page above. Those who want to view the whole page can view a pdf by going to Wikileaks and clicking on the link.
It is also not true that the state of Hawaii has "sealed" his records for nefarious reasons. The Hawaii Governor's office has issued a public letter explaining that the birth records of ALL Hawaii citizens are nonpublic because of the risk of identity theft.
This kind of damnation by innuendo keeps popping up, not unlike a child's "Whack-a-mole" game. I'm not going to spend any more time rebutting them.
Candle technology
A 5-minute science video. Nothing earth-shaking, certainly. This fits more into the category of "you learn something every day." What you might learn (if you don't know them already) are two things:
1) Why does the wick of a candle curve? What problems might occur if the wick went straight up?
2) When you blow out a candle, there is a wisp of white that rises from the wick. That's NOT SMOKE. What is it? I remember decades ago having fun seeing how far down that wisp a flame would travel if you put a lighted match at the top. Now I know why it happens.
Corollary to #1 - go to Wiki (there's a subtle pun there...) and learn that the original candle snuffers were NOT meant to snuff the candle.
Does the video remind you of something on television? Watch Mr. Wizard perhaps? Funny you should mention that...
Labels: science, TYWKIWDBI
Today I was reminded of an old joke...
A man is waking up from anesthesia after a procedure, and his wife is sitting at his bedside.
His eyes briefly open, he looks around, glances at his wife and says, "You're absolutely gorgeous." Then he falls back asleep.
His wife had never heard him say that, so she stays by his side. A few minutes later, his eyes flutter open again, he looks up at her and says, "Hey, you're cute!"
The wife decides to tease him because of his choice of words: "What happened to 'beautiful'?"
The man replies, "I guess the drugs are wearing off."
Labels: humor
I'm having a colonoscopy today
So I won't be blogging. TYWKIWDBI encourages all visitors over age 50 to do the same thing. (Image credit here)
Addendum: colonoscopy normal. Fentanyl worn off; back to blogging.
Why there are "robocalls"
Baby cockatoo
Image credit to Wikimedia Commons. Click to enlarge.
Kudos to Florida's Governor Crist
Florida Governor Charlie Crist, to the shock and dismay of Florida Republicans, just moved to extend early voting hours, a move likely to widen the Democrats' lead under a program on which the Obama campaign has intensely focused.
"He just blew Florida for John McCain," one plugged in Florida Republican just told me.
The Buzz reports:
At a hastily arranged news conference, Crist said the right to vote is sacred and that "many have fought and died for this right." He said he consulted a leading Democratic legislator, Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, before issuing his order, and that Gelber knew of a similar order issued by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002 that dealt with helping voters deal with new equipment.
As to the perception that more early voting helps Democrats, Crist said: "This is not a political decision. This is a people decision."
Democrats had urged the extension, which means that votes will be cast 12 hours a day, not eight hours a day.
Labels: ethics, politics
Captain Obvious now working at a hotel
(found at Eyesights in Time)
Logging truck vs. power line
Power line wins.
"...a driver securing his load of timber outside Jackson, TN tossed a cable over his trailer not paying attention to the power lines looming over his rig. Of course, he caught one, sending 7200 volts coursing through the entire affair..."
Labels: impressive, TYWKIWDBI
Voting machine flipping votes - watch the video
"Video the Vote went to Jackson County, WV, in response to numerous reports of machine vote flipping. The local county clerk showed us the machines in question, but the demonstration left us with serious questions, as the machine continued to malfunction even after it was calibrated."
New world record for apostrophe errors!
But are you on the list - perhaps as a "high fullutent sophisticated swine?"
(Image credit here)
Getting drunk on "superjuice"
Moonshine beverages such as fermented "bean juice" have long been common in the ostensibly "dry" communities, but superjuice, which first started appearing about four years ago, raises intoxication to new, dizzily dangerous heights.
The main ingredient is SuperYeast, a fast-acting yeast available in home-brewing stores. Mixed in a pail with sugar and water, one pouch can make 25 litres of superjuice in just a couple of days. The standard price of a two-litre bottle of superjuice is $80.
People drunk on superjuice are prone to violence, wild emotional outbursts, suicidal thoughts and frequent blackouts, Wood said. "With regular alcohol you can know what you are doing up to a point, but with superjuice you can't control yourself," he said.
"A lot of the times you can hear them screaming in the police holding cells (because) the stuff is still fermenting in their stomach," he said. "It keeps them drunk too because it is still in their system and still cooking..."
Labels: TYWKIWDBI
Magna Carta revoked
Not the entire document, mind you - just the part about collecting firewood:
The right of people to collect wood from Britain's forests that was created under the Magna Carta has been overturned due to health and safety fears. The Forestry Commission has scrapped the right, enshrined in the "Great Charter" at Runneymede in 1215, in order to stop people picking firewood from woodland.
Instead they suggest people buy wood from local firewood merchants allowed into the forest...
"The Magna Carta states that a common man is allowed to enter forests and take deadwood for firewood, repairing homesteads, fixing tools and equipment and making charcoal." He added: "Now they've stopped issuing licences and they are giving the reason as health and safety issues."
More details at Arbroath, where there are a bunch of other good things today, so I've linked to the homepage, not the specific article.
(The image above is not a woods in Britain; it's my favorite woods in northern Minnesota, where there is an abundance of "windfall" wood available.)
Labels: bureaucracy
McCain/Palin support falling in almost every group
In mid-September (Sept. 9-14), McCain held significant advantages among those earning more than $75,000 a year, white evangelical Protestants, whites who have not completed college, and white men. Today, he maintains a significant advantage only among white evangelical voters, and has lost the lead or seen it shrink in most other categories.
For example, among voters earning $75,000 a year or more, McCain held a 53% to 39% advantage in the Sept. 9-14 survey. Now, Obama leads by 52% to 41%. After the conventions, McCain held a 52% to 38% edge among white voters. Today, he and Obama are running evenly at 44% each. In September, McCain held a 56% to 34% advantage among white respondents with some college education. Now, the candidates tally 46% each.
(It's over - barring a black ops terrorist attack. The "fat lady" seems to be clearing her throat.)
Addendum: just found an article that reviews the history of October surprises.
Which voters read blogs?
"Liberal Democrats also are far more likely than others to watch online campaign videos or find election information on the internet. Six-in-ten liberal Democratic voters say they have watched some form of campaign video (debate, commercial, etc.), compared with 33% of conservative Republicans. In addition, 43% of liberal Democrats say they read blogs about politics and the campaign; only about half as many conservative Republicans (22%) say they have read political blogs." (Text and graph from Pew Research)
Neave television
I found this after midnight, so haven't fully explored it. It's not television, but rather seems to be more of a video art project, and it appears to be SFW as far as I can tell.
HERE's the link. (The picture above is just a random screencap).
Click to start, then click your mouse to change pseudochannels.
There are also some links at the top to flash games and other diversions.
Nothing says "autumn" like bush chrysanthemums
This one sits by our front sidewalk to greet trick-or-treaters later this week. It looks almost like a red pumpkin. This display is the reward for the work of repotting plus lots of feeding and watering and judicious pruning by my wife.
I thought about trying to count the individual blossoms, then decided to stop being so compulsive and just enjoy the spectacle. (The picture does enlarge to fullscreen for anyone who wants to try counting or estimating; I would guess something like 800-1000 individual blossoms.)
The delight of voting early
A variety of news media have warned of the possibility of near-havoc at the polls next week, not because of malfeasance or incompetence, but simply because of an overwhelming turnout of voters, especially first-time voters who will require more attention and assistance.
For that reason many cities (and the Obama campaign) have been actively promoting early voting as a way to make next Tuesday more bearable. Already there are reports of lines two hours long - and this ten days before election day.
I don't live in a large city (it's a smallish town suburb of a metro area), and it's filled with what Sarah Palin would call "real Americans" who relish their voting right to the extent that even during the primaries there were lines winding through the building and outside the door. Anticipating a huge turnout next week, my wife and I stopped by the town hall this morning to process absentee ballots.
We were greeted by the scene above. Four clerks ready to check IDs and eligibility and to sign people in, two more to print the form, plus a gentleman to explain the ballot-processing procedure. No one in line, zero minutes waiting. Voting was an absolute pleasure.
I'll drive by next week; I expect to see a line stretching from the firehouse to the cornfield.
Addendum: When I posted suggestions last week about How to vote early, one of the (numerous) McCain supporters who visit this blog appended a cautionary suggestion in the comments section regarding the risk of "buyers remorse," since voting early precludes adjusting one's decision based on October surprises or singing by the proverbial fat lady. This is true, and I do encourage other Republicans to heed that advice. Wait - don't vote now. And if any candidates give half-hour presentations during primetime TV this week, have a listen; you might change your mind.
Labels: personal/family, politics
African lioness encounters Hartebeest fetus
The lioness kills the pregnant Hartebeest [from the Dutch hert, meaning "deer" + beest self-evident], and while eviscerating it discovers a fetus. The sequence of events is documented in a series of 12 pictures at this photoblog.
The danger of suction toilets
There are a variety of stories re the hazards of vacuum toilets or suction toilets. Some are urban legends, such as the one debunked by Mythbusters re an obese person becoming stuck to an airline toilet. Others have been validated in the medical literature, including an account of partial evisceration on a cruise ship toilet.
With that unpleasant introduction, we turn to an account of a man getting his hand stuck in the toilet of a TGV bullet train.
A man trapped his hand in the u-bend of a TGV toilet. Firefighters cut him free after his arm became lodged in the u-bend after he tried to retrieve his mobile phone.
"He came out on a stretcher, with his hand still jammed in the toilet bowl, which they had to saw clean off," said witness Benoit Gigou...
The service was delayed for two hours after the 26-year-old victim, hunting for his lost telephone, fell prey to the powerful suction system which drains the loos on board, the rail network's regional office said.
Full credit for text and image to Nothing To Do With Arbroath.
Labels: ephemera
Historic electoral maps
For those who are not bored "up to here" with politics, Gerard Vlemmings at Presurfer today found a fascinating assemblage of maps showing the distribution of electoral votes in U.S. presidental elections dating back to 1789, when Washington beat Adams (back then the runner-up became Vice-President; imagine what would happen today if Obama won and McCain became his Vice President!).
Nothing here relevant to the current election, but for those with an interest in history, the maps are informative.
Labels: history, politics
The Financial Times endorses Obama
This isn't one of the American left-wing liberal newspapers. This is the Financial Times, the London-based paper that is viewed as one of the premier finance/economics newspapers in the world. You can read the entire editorial here, but since it requires a (free) subscription to view, I'll excerpt the relevant portions:
We have learnt a lot about Barack Obama and John McCain during this campaign. In our view, it is enough to be confident that Mr Obama is the right choice.
At the outset, we were not so confident. Mr Obama is inexperienced. His policies are a blend of good, not so good and downright bad. Since the election will strengthen Democratic control of Congress, a case can be made for returning a Republican to the White House: divided government has a better record in the United States than government united under either party.
So this ought to have been a close call. With a week remaining before the election, we cannot feel that it is.
We applaud his main domestic proposal: comprehensive health-care reform...
Mr Obama is most disappointing on trade. He pandered to protectionists during the primaries, and has not rowed back...
In responding to the economic emergency, Mr Obama has again impressed – not by advancing solutions of his own, but in displaying a calm and methodical disposition, and in seeking the best advice. Mr McCain's hasty half-baked interventions were unnerving when they were not beside the point.
On foreign policy, where the candidates have often conspired to exaggerate their differences, this contrast in temperaments seems crucial. For all his experience, Mr McCain has seemed too much guided by an instinct for peremptory action, an exaggerated sense of certainty, and a reluctance to see shades of grey...
His choice of Sarah Palin as running mate, widely acknowledged to have been a mistake, is an obtrusive case in point. Rashness is not a virtue in a president. The cautious and deliberate Mr Obama is altogether a less alarming prospect.
Rest assured that, should he win, Mr Obama is bound to disappoint. How could he not? He is expected to heal the country's racial divisions, reverse the trend of rising inequality, improve middle-class living standards, cut almost everybody's taxes, transform the image of the United States abroad, end the losses in Iraq, deal with the mess in Afghanistan and much more besides.
Succeeding in those endeavours would require more than uplifting oratory and presidential deportment even if the economy were growing rapidly, which it will not be.
The challenges facing the next president will be extraordinary. We hesitate to wish it on anyone, but we hope that Mr Obama gets the job.
Labels: humor, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Bumper snicker
The joy of milkweed seeds
One of the pleasures of youth (or of adulthood when you don't care what people think) is to shake milkweed pods and watch the fluff fly away. The photos above were taken at the Pheasant Branch Conservatory last week.
For the eternally pragmatic-minded there are some other aspects to consider. The milkweed floss itself has excellent insulation properties (actually better than goosedown). In the 1860s, residents of Salem used milkweed as mattress filling, and during WWII, when Japan cut off the supply of kapok, a nationwide drive collected millions of pounds of milkweed for the manufacture of Mae West lifejackets. There have been modern attempts to farm milkweed and process the down, and instructions are available at Mother Earth News to make your own milkweed down jacket.
Blogged for my Aunt Charlotte, who during WWII was one of thousands of schoolchildren who harvested milkweed from the barnyard and took bagfuls to school for the "Two bags save one life" program.
Labels: butterflies, milkweed, personal/family
This is why I don't blog celebrities
Republican "change"
A year ago I thought the Republicans could never mount an effective campaign in the face of an unpopular sitting president and a deteriorating economy. During the summer in what I viewed as an inspired tactical move they tried to coopt the "change" theme with a "change is coming" mantra. As this political cartoon from last month illustrates, the public seems not to have been convinced. (Click/enlarge image to read the fine print)
Sarah Palin "going rogue"
Excerpts from the most-viewed article on CNN today:
Several McCain advisers have suggested that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."
McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls... "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan...
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party..."
"Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."
"She's no longer playing for 2008; she's playing 2012," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. "And the difficulty is, when she went on 'Saturday Night Live,' she became a reinforcement of her caricature..."
The world's largest nuclear bomb
Not Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Bigger. The 50 megaton yield is equivalent to ten times the amount of all the explosives used in World War II combined, including the Little Boy and Fat Man, the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively.
Illustrative of the insanity of nuclear war.
Labels: war
Bomomo. It's hard to explain...
You go to THIS LINK, and various drawing tools appear; the coolest one is the "fan." You have some control over them, but not completely. Just click, and mouse around, and a drawing emerges. Not a good drawing, mind you...
Labels: art, flash games, TYWKIWDBI
Queue jumpers
Queue jumpers are generally a weasily and cowardly lot who like to pick on the weak. In contrast, I'm a big stocky bloke with a shaven head. It doesn't matter that on the inside I'm a nerdy bloke who generally wouldn't hurt a fly, when John McQueuejump skulks into view he generally scurries quickly past me avoiding my gaze and looks for better prey.
This was exactly what happened one day, when I found myself part of the aforementioned queuing at Victoria during a Tube Strike.
A suited, and obviously late, business man bustled up from the closed tube entrance, took one look at the queue and then sighed. I was ten feet away from him virtually at the front of the queue, and from that moment I knew he was going to queuejump.
And queue jump he did. He walked to the front, carried on walking past the various blokes and was about to push in ahead of a lady with a push chair who was two people in front of me when he suddenly realised I was looking straight at him with that most dreaded of English expressions - RAISED EYEBROWS (dun dun dun!).
He changed his mind, lowered his gaze and walked quickly past me before cutting back in line ahead of the old lady directly behind me.
I turned round and said, politely, that there was a queue here and that perhaps he'd missed it.
"I'm in a Hurry." He said.
I pointed out that a lot of people in the queue were in a hurry but they seemed to recognise the need to queue, so maybe he should consider heading to the back of it.
"Mind your own fucking business." He said.
Well obviously I did the only sensible thing a man can do in that situation.
I turned to the old lady behind him, smiled sweetly at her and said:
"Would you like to go in front of me madam?"
And she did, the queuejumper being forced to shuffle back as I did to let her in.
Then i turned to the bloke who had been behind her, and said to him:
"Want to go in front of me mate?"
And he did as well.
In fact, the next sixty or seventy or so people all replied in the affirmative as well, and slowly but surely I (and the queuejumper) shuffled further and further back the line until we reached the end of the line and the end of our strange comedic queue-based dance, me holding eye contact with him the whole time.
By the time we got there he was furious, but was still unwilling to risk saying something to me.
Then as the bus finally pulled up, from the front, came a shout. It was the old lady who I'd first let in front of me.
"Young man! Do you want to go in front of me?!"
"That would be lovelly - thanks!" I shouted back, still holding eye contact with the queuejumper. I shot him my warmest (and smuggest) smile...
...and suddenly he snapped.
With a roar of primaeval anger he lunged at me, fist swinging. Luckily I'm quicker than I look and managed to sidestep just in time. His swing whistled past my nose, missing by milimetres. Overbalanced and unable to stop, he tumbled arse-over-tit onto the ground as everyone looked on in a mixture of shock and amusement.
As he fell I felt a strong but firm hand on my shoulder and turned to see a member of the London Constabulary there with a huge grin on his face. Him and his partner had been watching amused from a distance as the whole scene had unfolded.
"You want to press charges?" He said, laughing.
"Nah." I replied, "Not fucking worth it."
"Fair enough," He said, "You better go get your bus. Don't worry about tosspot here - we'll make sure he won't forget today in a hurry anyway."
"I fucking HATE queue jumpers" His partner muttered, as he held the guy down on the ground. "Should be a law against it..."
(story found at Metafilter)
Labels: ethics, humor
Anchorage, Alaska newspaper endorses... Obama
Anchorage is Alaska's largest city (Wasilla is a bedroom community about 40 miles away). In terms of politics, "Anchorage leans heavily Republican in both State and Presidential elections." Here are portions of the editorial from the Anchorage Daily News, the city's leading newspaper:
Alaska enters its 50th-anniversary year in the glow of an improbable and highly memorable event: the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate...
Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.
Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain...
He is both a longtime advocate of less market regulation and a supporter of the huge taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout. His behavior in this crisis -- erratic is a kind description -- shows him to be ill-equipped to lead the essential effort of reining in a runaway financial system and setting an anxious nation on course to economic recovery...
Gov. Palin has shown the country why she has been so successful in her young political career... Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.
Disposing of a dead body
...the national Catholic Cemetery Conference is raising alarms about a potential option for disposing of human bodies in which a lye solution dissolves tissues into a sterile, syrupy substance that can be safely flushed down a drain.
"I guess I don't know how to say it any better than it's a desecration," Deacon Tylutki said. "The process has no dignity and respect for the human body. In our faith, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit."
...Tylutki said the church accepted the practice of cremation in 1963 but taught clearly that it was not a sign denying the sacredness of the human body. The cremated remains are to be treated with reverence and interred, not kept in an urn in the house, scattered on the seas or kept in a locket.
What utter rot. I have to imagine that such words come from people who think that human bodies after death remain in a state of purity like the preserved saints. They need to familiarize themselves with the process of decomposition. The process is much less dignified than having a corpse consumed by vultures.
And re disposing of cremated ashes, my uncle's ashes have been recycled in the Gulf of Mexico, my father's in the harbor of a lake, and mine will fertilize a woods (or be sprinkled in the cats' litter box if I misbehave).
Source link found at J-Walk. Image credit here.
Labels: religion
Brooms banned for Halloween
And these are not even the infamous vibrating Harry Potter broomsticks. These are ordinary brooms. As noted at Arbroath:
Langham Pre-school near Colchester, Essex, announced it was barring brooms from its annual Pumpkin Party on Sunday after a child was hurt last year.
The fancy-dress party has been running at the village's community centre for more than six years and is the nursery's main fundraiser, attracting about 100 children and their families.
John Smith, committee chairman and a primary school headteacher, said: "It was not a whim, it was a considered decision. Last year, a child brought a full-size broomstick and another child got hurt."
They are also banning devil forks. Pretty soon, only criminals will have broomsticks and devil forks.
Image credit here.
And it's not really a gooseneck lamp...
Labels: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Candidate for the Darwin Awards
TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) – A man died just as he was about to win a university binge eating contest in Taiwan, scoffing down two buns filled with rice and cheese as well as some of his teammate's food, the college said on Friday.
The 23-year-old, described as tall and strong, vomited relentlessly, passed out and died on Thursday during the "Big Stomach King" contest at Dayeh University in central Taiwan. He had pulled ahead of 30 other teams.
"I can't say why he died," said Huang Te-hsiang, the university's dean of student affairs. "He had been in the contest before. He was a strong guy."
The graduate student, surnamed Chen, may have eaten too fast rather than too much, a campus publicist said. Chen was on course to win the five-year-old annual competition, she said. He would have won ... $60.
(Is "scoffing" the correct slang term? Cause of death ?esophageal rupture secondary to vomiting?)
A restored Raphael
Three separate undated photos show the restoration process of Italian artist Raphael's 1506 oil-on-wood painting "Madonna of the Goldfinch," which had been shattered into 17 pieces then nailed back together following a house collapse. After 10 painstaking years of work, the Italian Renaissance artwork is returning to the public. (Reuters/Opificio Delle Pietre Dure/Handout)
"The goldfinch is a symbol of Christ's future violent death. St. John offers the goldfinch to Christ in warning of his future."
What never ceases to amaze me is the enhanced brilliance and coloration of restored paintings, murals, tapestries etc. Those of us who grew up visiting old museums have a muddied view of how things looked in the distant past. But goldfinch = violent death?? Who is it that comes up with the meanings of symbols in paintings??
Questions about 9/11 - from an air traffic controller
This is Part 6 of a 10-part series. The other parts can be accessed at YouTube.
Labels: conspiracy theory
Lithopedion - a "stone baby"
"In 1955 in a small village just outside Casablanca, 26 year old Zahra Aboutalib is pregnant with her first child. She was looking forward to giving birth, but after 48 hours of painful labour, she was rushed to the local hospital. Doctors informed her that she would need a caesarean section. On the ward Zahra saw a woman in terrible pain die in child-birth. She fled the hospital fearing she would meet the same fate if she remained.
In the days that followed, Zahra continued to suffer excruciating labour pains but the baby remained resolutely in her womb. After a few more days the pains ceased and the baby stopped moving.
In Moroccan culture, it is believed that a baby can sleep inside the mother to protect her honour. Zahra believed this myth and put the pregnancy out of her mind. She adopted three children and in due course they made her a grandmother.
Many years later when Zahra was 75 years old, the pains suddenly returned. Her son being concerned for his mother's well-being wanted her to see a specialist. For this they had to travel to Rabat where they saw Professor Taibi Ouazzani. He suspected the protruding belly was being caused by an ovarian tumour and arranged for her to have an ultra-sound scan. This revealed a large mass that he could not identify.
He referred Zahra to a specialist radiographer for a second opinion. He could see it was a calcified structure of some sort, but it took a detailed MRI scan to reveal that it was the baby Zahra had conceived 46 years earlier.
Zahra had an ectopic pregnancy where the egg had implanted in the fallopian tube. The foetus that developed, burst out of the fallopian tube and continued to develop in the abdominal cavity…
When they operated they discovered that the foetus had calcified and was a hard, solid lump. It was, essentially, a stone-baby."
(Text and image credit here.)
Labels: impressive, medicine, TYWKIWDBI
Words fail me
An explanation of "walking around money"
From the often-interesting Slate Explainer, a discussion of a term that will be heard more frequently as election day approaches:
"It's cash that's given to help get people to the polls. The money can go toward perks like coffee and doughnuts for door knockers, gas for volunteers to chauffeur elderly voters, or pocket money for kids who distribute fliers and sample ballots on Election Day. Also known as "walking-around money" or "get-out-the-vote money," it's most common in poor areas of Philadelphia; Chicago; Newark, N.J.; Baltimore; Los Angeles; and other big cities. Both parties use street money, but it's more common among Democrats, who tend to be better represented in the areas that rely on it...
In Philadelphia, the candidate sends a check to the chairman of the city's Democratic Party, who then divides the money up among the 69 ward leaders, who in turn divvy up their cash among the 50 or so committee people in each ward. In 2004, John Kerry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Philadelphia street money, and ward leaders received checks for as much as $8,000. Individual volunteers can generally expect anywhere from $10 to $200, depending on the location and the type of work they're doing.
The practice is legal everywhere—it's protected by the First Amendment—but some states have tougher restrictions than others. In Philadelphia, committee people can hand out cash for any reason, as long as they're not paying someone for their vote. (The U.S. Code prohibits vote purchasing.) In New Jersey, campaign officials have to pay the workers in checks and their names, addresses, and amounts paid must be submitted to the Election Law Enforcement Commission. Presidential campaigns are always required to report the money to the Federal Elections Commission..."
(Much more at the link. I've always been amused by the prohibition against buying votes while candidates from both parties compete to see who can promise voters the biggest tax decreases...)
Yes, I know it's a training session...
... but it still looks funny...
A humorous anecdote about Jean Harris
Jean Harris was mentioned in an Atlantic article. I had to look up who she was. In short: headmistress of a Virginia girl's school who in 1980 murdered her lover, Herman Tarnower, creator of the Scarsdale Diet. Convicted, sent to prison. More details here.
So, what do you do while incarcerated if you are a headmistress (and magna cum laude from Smith College)? She noted that visitors' day at the prison was disorganized, apparently because the guards had to look up visitors names on a jumble of clipboards. She approached the guards and offered to help:
"Please let me have the list and I'll arrange it alphabetically for you."
And the guard's reply? Wait for it...
"It won't do any good, because they don't come alphabetically."
World Series, 1912
Or, as described at the time, "World's Series." Great pictures, which, like all Shorpy images, enlarge to wallpaper size for exploration.
October 1912. Washington, D.C. "Baseball, Professional. Electric scoreboard." A close-up of the "baseball game reproducer" from the previous post showing results of the 1912 World Series between New York and Boston to crowds on a Washington street. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative
In the top photo, note the elaborate "electro-mechanical" scoreboard, displayed on a street in Washington, D.C. (and reportedly in other cities around the country). "Baseball, Professional. Crowds at scoreboard."
Watching the 1912 World Series courtesy of the Washington Post on an electro-mechanical scoreboard that looks something like a big pinball game. In the years before the first radio broadcasts in the early 1920s, newspapers, linked to reporters by telephone, wire service or "wireless telegraph," provided live coverage of sporting events like prizefights and baseball games to crowds on the street, with announcers and scoreboards giving play-by-play results. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.
In the bottom photo what fascinates me are the hats.
Labels: history, photography, sports
When your body is "not yet fully formed..."
A hill on the Alcan Highway
Captain Obvious works for the highway department
Fake political hate crime - or dyslexic robber?
"Two roads diverged... "
... in a "yellow wood"
Scotch tape can produce xrays!!
Blackwater has its own warship
Hi tech, 1955
Fascinating pie chart
Faces in the broccoli
Borromean rings
The Obama family wardrobe
Obama panders to World Series fans in the swing st...
Palin's scarf - the Democratic scarf!
Exposing Sarah Palin
Obama photos
"Dead water" explained
Care for some Vin de Merde?
African witchcraft curses against McCain/Palin
An egregious error by McCain
Arrested for keeping a football that landed in her...
Salaries of University faculty and football coaches
Wooden Path - a fiendishly addictive flash game
TYWKIWDBI is ten months old today
Things you didn't know about Pi
The Triumph of Death
Ostrich lady
Cellphones cause a rash of problems
Canada and Australia echo their support the Iraq w...
School for Crippled Children


text:
Home | Press Releases | SFL – Share incentive program 2009 and correction relating to the 1Q09 dividend election
SFL – Share incentive program 2009 and correction relating to the 1Q09 dividend election
Press release from Ship Finance International Limited, July 13, 2009
Ship Finance International Limited (NYSE:SFL) ("Ship Finance" or "the Company") today announced that there will be an adjustment to the share option awards to the Company's management team.
A total of 505,000 new options will be awarded to employees while all of the 355,000 previously awarded options to employees will be cancelled. The new options will be issued pursuant to the Company's Share Option Scheme and will have a five-year term with a three-year vesting period. The initial strike price will be equal to the weighted average share price for the three trading days following the date of this announcement, and the first options will be exercisable in July 2010.
The Company also refers to its press release dated July 3, 2009, regarding elections concerning the first quarter 2009 stock dividend. Due to a reporting error in the number of shareholders who elected to receive the stock dividend, this figure is higher than previously communicated. Fifty-two percent (52%) of our shareholders elected to receive shares in lieu of a cash dividend, and the correct number of new shares issued is approximately 1.0 million. Accordingly, the cash dividend paid was then reduced to approximately $10.7 million.
Ship Finance International Limited
Ole B. Hjertaker: Chief Executive Officer, Ship Finance Management AS
+47 23114011 / +47 90141243
Magnus T. Valeberg: Vice President, Ship Finance Management AS
About Ship Finance
Ship Finance is a major ship owning company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SFL). Including newbuildings, the Company has a fleet of 67 vessels, including 33 crude oil tankers (VLCC and Suezmax), two chemical tankers, eight oil/bulk/ore vessels, one dry-bulk carrier, 13 container vessels, six offshore supply vessels, one jack-up drilling rigs and three ultra-deepwater drilling units. The fleet is one of the largest in the world and most of the vessels are employed on long-term charters.
More information can be found on the Company's website: www.shipfinance.org
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward looking statements. These statements are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including Ship Finance management's examination of historical operating trends. Although Ship Finance believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control, Ship Finance cannot give assurance that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or intentions.
Important factors that, in the Company's view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in this presentation include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions including fluctuations in charter hire rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and world wide oil consumption and storage, changes in the Company's operating expenses including bunker prices, dry-docking and insurance costs, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Reducing disputes on Criminal Record Check certificates
By Personnel Checks
Advice LBV Hub
The DBS received 1,233,367 applications in the last four months and 3,657 of those were disputed.
These disputes occur when the applicant feels there has been a mistake in either the records provided or incorrect personal information.
A massive 62% of disputes regarding personal information could have been avoided as illegible hand writing on paper applications and mistyped characters on e-bulk applications are the most common reasons for a dispute.
Here are the three most common avoidable mistakes:
Applicants Address (23%)
Applicant's forename and surname (10%)
Applicant's place of birth (4%)
These disputes unfortunately cause delays to your recruitment process, which is why it is essential that applications are completed carefully and thoroughly.
What happens if the result of a check is disputed?
The DBS compare the information on the application form with the certificate, this will then give them the information of whether the error was made during the DBS process or if the applicant has provided incorrect information on their form.
If the error was due to the applicant then the DBS cannot provide a new certificate and the applicant would unfortunately have to reapply to receive an accurate certificate.
However if the fault lies with the DBS they will issue a new certificate with the correct information free of charge. If you have carried out your criminal record check with Personnel Checks and think you have received a DBS Certificate with incorrect information please call us on 01254 355688.
LBV Hub, Advice
How divorce could affect your life insurance
By CoverMyBubble - Jan 08 2021
If you and your partner happened to get a divorce, it would be a difficult time for the whole family ...
Be bold, be brave
By Laura Weldon, StudioLDW - Jan 11 2021
Visual marketing and brand awareness have, arguably, never been more important.
Advice, LBV Hub
Business tenancies: Landlord remedies for non-payment of rent
By Brabners LLP - Dec 18 2020
Business Tenancies - Landlord Remedies for Non-payment of Rent. Reflecting the introduction of various legis...
What lies ahead for employment law in 2021?
By KMC Human Resources - Dec 21 2020
Employment law changes to look out for in 2021
Advice, LBV Hub, Video
Watch DTE Online Tax Club, December 2020
By DTE Business Advisers - Dec 18 2020
DTE's final online Tax Club of 2020, covering the latest updates over the last 2-3 months in the UK tax worl...
How to meet the needs of online shoppers in 2021
By eBusiness UK Ltd - Jan 08 2021
As the internet evolves and the ability to shop spreads to more and more devices, it's increasingly importan...
What is CRM and how to choose the right CRM software for your business
By Blue Wren Ltd - Dec 16 2020
CRM is one of the most widely used and most misunderstood aspects of business.


text:
Q: Reiniciar contagem ao mudar o ano Possuo uma View que me retorna dados que o contribuinte pagou a previdência no ano atual, onde retorno o pagamento mensal do mesmo. Necessito realizar a soma dos meses, criando um subTotal mensal. Com ajuda eu consegui funcionar, deixando o resultado como o exemplo:
Exemplo JsFiddle
Porém necessito que a soma reinicie ao virar o ano. Esta lógica que não estou conseguindo elaborar.
Preciso que o resultado final torne algo do tipo:
Exemplo Resultado esperado
Meu controller está assim:
public ActionResult Index()
        {
           //realizo a busca no BD
            var usuario =
                previdenciaRepository.Previdencias.Where(p => p.CdMatricula == matricula && p.SqContrato == contrato).ToList();

            return View(usuario);
        }

E na view que faço o calculo para somar os dados retornados, ficando assim:

                    Mês

                        Contribuinte

                    %

                    R$ Ano

                    Acumulado R$

            @foreach (var item in Model.Previdencia.GroupBy(g => g.NmPessoa))
            {
                double subtotal = 0;
                foreach (var contribuicoes in item.ToList())
                {
                    subtotal += contribuicoes.Contribuinte;

                            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => contribuicoes.dtCompetencia)

                            11

                            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => contribuicoes.Contribuinte)

                            @subtotal.ToString("c")

                }
            }

Meu Model está assim:
public class Previdencia
    {
        [Key]
        public Int64 Cod_Previdencia { get; set; }
        public int CdMatricula { get; set; }
        public Int16 SqContrato { get; set; }

        public string NmPessoa { get; set; }

        [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
        public DateTime? dtCompetencia { get; set; }

    }

A: Bastante simples. Basta mudar o seu GroupBy().
Por comentário foi perguntado sobre a totalização sobre todos os registros. Isto pode ser feito inicializando uma variável fora do loop e incrementando ela dentro do loop:
        @{ var total = 0; }

        @foreach (var item in Model.Previdencia.GroupBy(g => new { g.NmPessoa, g.dtcompetencia.Year }))
        {
            double subtotal = 0;
            foreach (var contribuicoes in item.ToList())
            {
                subtotal += contribuicoes.Contribuinte;
                total += contribuicoes.Contribuinte;

                        @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => contribuicoes.dtCompetencia)

                        @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => contribuicoes.dtcompetencia)

                        @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => contribuicoes.Contribuinte)

                        @subtotal.ToString("c")

            }
        }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
«Наука молода» — збірник наукових праць молодих вчених, заснований у 2003 році Тернопільським національним економічним університетом.
Свідоцтво про державну реєстрацію друкованого засобу масової інформації КВ № 12266-1150 ПР від 1 лютого 2007 р.

Мови видання: українська, англійська.

Збірник наукових праць «Наука молода» призначений для фахівців, які цікавляться теоретичними та прикладними проблемами економіки, управління, фінансів, обліку, аналізу й аудиту, дає змогу науковій громадськості ознайомитися з результатами досліджень молодих вчених-економістів.

Код ідентифікації журналу, згідно реєстру періодичних засобів масової інформації Міжнародного центру ISSN —  (Print).

Тематика
Тематично журнал зорієнтований на висвітлення актуальних питань теорії макроекономіки та мікроекономіки, державного регулювання економіки, проблем у сфері міжнародної економіки, державних фінансів, фіскальної і монетарної політики, державного адміністрування і фінансового менеджменту, банківської справи, обліку і аудиту.

Наукометрія
Журнал входить до переліку фахових видань у галузі економічних наук.
Електронний архів журналу зберігається в Національній бібліотеці України імені В. І. Вернадського та в інституційному репозитарії бібліотеки ім. Л.Каніщенка Тернопільського національного економічного університету.
Журнал включено до національного рейтингу наукових періодичних видань, що розробляється Центром соціальних комунікацій в рамках проекту «Бібліометрика української науки».  Пошукова система Google Scholar, яка індексує повні тексти наукових публікацій всіх форматів і дисциплін станом на 1 січня 2019 року, оцінила внесок журналу «Наука молода» двома ключовими показниками:
 індексом Гірша (Хірша) — 13
 індексом i10 — 22.

Засновник журналу
 Тернопільський національний економічний університет

Адреса редакції
вул. Львівська, 11, м. Тернопіль, 46009, Україна

Редакційна колегія
Головний редактор
 Маршалок Т. Я., кандидат економічних наук, доцент, Тернопільський національний економічний університет, Україна
Заступник головного редактора
 Тимків А. О., кандидат економічних наук, Тернопільський національний економічний університет, Україна
Відповідальний секретар
 Рудан В. Я., кандидат економічних наук, ст. викладач, Тернопільський національний економічний університет, Україна
Члени редакційної колегії:
 Адамик Б.П., к.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Адамів О.П., к.т.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Валігура В.А., к.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Галько Л.Р., к.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Десятнюк О.М., д.е.н., проф. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Дзюблюк О. В., д.е.н., проф. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Довгань Ж.М., д.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Дудар В.Т., к.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Желюк Т.Л. д.е.н., проф. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Задорожний З.-М.В. д.е.н., проф. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Карась П., к.е.н.,ад'юнкт (м. Краків, Польща)
 Кізима Т.О., д.е.н., проф. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Клапків Ю.М., к.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Кравчук І.С., к.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Кравчук Н.Я., д.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Крисоватий А.І., д.е.н., проф. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Мартинюк В.П., д.е.н., проф. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Мельник Ю.В., к.е.н доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Монастирський Г.Л., д.е.н., проф. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Пуцентейло П.Р., д.е.н., доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Стечишин Т.Б., к.е.н доц. (м. Тернопіль, Україна)
 Цвьонкала-Малис А., д.е.н., проф. (м. Вроцлав, Польща)

Посилання
 Сайт журналу «Наука молода»
 Репозитарій журналу «Наука молода»
 Рейтинг наукових періодичних видань

Примітки

Всеукраїнські журнали
Друковані видання, засновані 2003
Наукові журнали України
Економічні журнали
Українськомовні журнали України

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Harbhajan also spoke about the positives for the Indian team from their overseas tours and how it will help them in the upcoming World Cup.
After India lost the third and final T20I to New Zealand by four runs, one of the biggest talking points from the game was Dinesh Karthik denying Krunal Pandya a single on the third ball of the final over. Pandya, who was on a boundary hitting spree, looked good to hit another one out of the park, but Karthik backed himself to get the big one and things panned out differently.
Team India's search for their first T20I series win against the Kiwis still continued. Meanwhile, veteran Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has given his opinion on the controversy surrounding Karthik, wherein he said that the KKR captain should have ideally taken the single and that might have just changed the end result of the game.
Harbhajan also spoke about the positives for the Indian team from their overseas tours and how it will help them in the upcoming limited-overs series and the World Cup.
"India have gained a lot for sure. Australia and New Zealand tours are not easy and it was a long tour. Mentally you get tired by the time you reach the last game but overall I feel we have gained a lot. A lot of good things happened, beating Australia in Australia and then coming to New Zealand and dominating them in one-days," Bhajji added.
India will travel back home and host Australia for two T20Is and five ODIs starting February 24 before the IPL and the World Cup.


Indusgeeks offer solutions for leadership training, sales, and soft skills training, safety and compliance, onboarding and induction, policy awareness and more.
Mumbai, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/27/2017 -- Indusgeeks is a highly revered company that deals in business simulations, game-based training, gamification for all industry types. They offer solutions for leadership training, sales, and soft skills training, safety and compliance, onboarding and induction, policy awareness and more. They provide affordable customized game-based learning and gamification that are also LMS compatible and congenial with both mobile and desktop platforms.
Their Chief Gaming Officer is reported to have said, "Our game based training and learning solutions contain gamification and social layers like leaderboards. Others are the ability to post top scores to Twitter and Facebook among others, to improve user engagement and to bring back the element of competition with your transformed learning content which is one of the most important elements of social learning. Our Game Based Learning and training platform supports self-paced learning via guided learning, with the aid of interactive avatars which engages the user and deliver an immersive experience. This results in a fun, engaging learning experience that will keep your learners coming back for more."
Being one of the world's leading sales training and simulation development companies, Indusgeeks uses their expertise and prowess to design high-quality customized simulations for sales training that are the most effective for their clients' specific gamification needs, taking into consideration, their client's industry, requirements and user demographics.
The Chief Gaming Officer added, "Based on client needs, our simulation-based training and gamification platforms support the inclusion of formative and summative tests like the pre and post tests to quantify the knowledge retention of the learners who play the game based learning solution. We offer customized sales training gamification, and create soft skills games and sales training games that actively use our INIT platform to interact with the learner to drive up sales, enterprise-wide in the end. With our highly versatile platform, we have the potential to create unique and highly customizable game-based sales training and gamification solutions that will allow your mobile sales workforce to have an increased effort while on the go or minimize the downtime needed for them to be field-ready."
Indusgeeks has a rich, interactive 3D induction and onboarding gamification solution dubbed All Aboard recommended for clients looking for onboarding gamification. The platform allows for ILT or Self-Paced learning and is immersive in nature thus providing for greater retention. All Aboard improves productivity and saves costs by reducing the time for new employees to get up to speed. The onboarding games and induction training are products of Indusgeeks using the All Aboard platform. They showcase the numerous capabilities and possibilities that gamification in corporate or business training and game based training have to offer.
Indusgeeks delivers simulations that are LMS/CMS friendly and provides intelligent analytics about user activity with the objective of helping businesses achieve their objectives. Business simulations are a cost-effective way to reduce time to train, boost efficiency, and increase productivity levels. For over eight years now, Indusgeeks has worked with governments, corporations, and academic institutions around the world to reconstruct legacy learning content into immersive gamification, fun, and sales training gamification solutions that involve learners and captivate their attention. The benefits of corporate training games are immense. Indusgeeks uses their content transformation platform, INIT, and are able to create customized gamification solutions for some corporate training processes.


The 2018 California wildfires are reported to be the most destructive ever in the West. Already, the state has spent $432 million on fighting the fires, with an extra £234 million requested in September. Thanks to a nearly six-year drought, the 100m acres are susceptible to fires and this year has proved how dangerous they can be.
For Australians, it isn't anything new. Living in a hot country with lots of dry grasslands, there are fires all of the time. Like the residents of California, we try and get on with it as best as possible and live to fight another day. However, there is something different about these wildfires in the most populous state in the US. With the emphasis on global warming, it feels like a sign that the world is almost beyond repair.
Rather than watch it from a distance then, we can learn lessons which might safeguard the future of the country. What can Australia learn from the wildfires across the Pacific? Read on to find out more.
The likes of Trump and other right-wing conservatives like to play down humanity's impact on the planet. Plastics pop up out of nowhere, defying the laws of physics. A rise in carbon emissions isn't down to us; it's a natural occurrence as the world has gotten hotter. Of course, the evidence doesn't back up this claim. The one stat which is clear is the rise in temperature of land and seas in the past 150 years – there has been a 1°C rise.
Although it doesn't sound like much, it was one of the main reasons for the IPCC's conclusion. The panel said: "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia." What's clear is that we can't let the fake news advocates spew their lies. Better yet, we shouldn't believe them to appease our conscious.
Australia needs to accept the fact that temperatures are increasing and causing disasters. Only then will there be a long-term solution to the problem.
Let's start by saying that no one is blaming the victims of the fires. The thousands of people affected are in everyone's prayers and thoughts. Hopefully, nobody will have to go through what they did this past couple of months as the fires are still burning. The problem of population is trying to figure out where to house people. A study from the University of Villanova found that there are 7 million homes in fire-prone areas in California today. In 1940, there were 600,000.
Clearly, more people have been impacted in America because of their proximity to the danger. In many ways, they didn't have much of a chance to fight back once the wildfires started and spread throughout the region. An important lesson here is that we need to be careful where we build our homes. Just because it's free doesn't mean it's a suitable plot.
The most appropriate places are the ones which aren't prone to natural disasters. At the very least, they should be contingency plans in place in case the worst happens.
As well as the population problem, California's grew by three million in the last seventeen years, there is a geographical issue. Not many people know it, but almost 129 million trees have died since 2010. That means there are millions of tonnes of dead, dry wood waiting to catch fire.
On top of that, the increase in population means the likelihood of a human-made fire is high. The prospect is as great as ever before; we are responsible for 84% on average. Put this all together and you get a deadly mix which is a time bomb waiting to happen. Yes, it's vital that we focus on global warming and reducing the earth's temps, yet we can't forget the other major details either.
As well as relocating residents to a safe area, we also need to crack down on unwanted pests. Bark beetles are thought to be behind the death of trees in California. Australia is one of the leaders in wildlife immigration, and it's important to carry on the practice. As over-the-top as it seems, it might be the difference between life and death.
It's tempting to watch the news and think "they're going to get away with it." The people that start fires don't tend to see their day in court, especially if they are big businesses. And, believe you me, they are at fault a lot of the time because they hardly take the environment seriously.
The good news for cynics is that fire attorneys at Walkup Law Office in California are fighting back. Since 2017, they've been trying to get the higher-up at PG&E to own up to their negligence. While their liability grows on a daily basis, they won't open the firm up to a plethora of lawsuits willingly. Thankfully, lawyers in the area are keeping them honest.
The one thing to take away from this is that we can all do our bit. The perpetrators might be massive companies with resources yet they are accountable. By hitting them with a civil and criminal suit, it will send a message to the world. Think before you act because we are watching.
Around 4 to 6 inches of rain is expected to fall in the next few days to dampen the fires. Experts suspect this will help put out the flames and cleanse the dirty air in northern Cali. But, there is a catch: there is no vegetation on the ground because of the blaze.
As a result, the people in the danger zone might have to deal with mudslides. It never rains but it pours seems like an apt adage in these circumstances.
For us, this is a reminder there is still plenty of work to finish.
Wildfires will continue to rage around the world, and we have to learn from our mistakes.


SHAKOPEE, Minn. — March 27, 2018 — RTI, a leading control and automation manufacturer for residential and commercial settings, today announced that the company is now shipping an extensive line of A/V signal management solutions. Offering tight integration with the RTI control ecosystem, the video matrix switches, extenders, presentation scalers, and audio mixer amplifiers deliver a complete end-to-end solution for residential and commercial projects.
The comprehensive video distribution offering utilizes proven HDMI and HDBaseT technology to deliver reliable, high-quality 4K video throughout an installation. The VHD-4 and VHD-8 HDBaseT video matrix switchers extend video, IR, and RS-232 signals up to 230 feet over a single Cat 5e/6 cable. Also new to the lineup are the VHX-4 and VHX-8 HDMI® matrix switchers, featuring cross-point switching and HDMI 2.0 to deliver 4k video at 60MHz. In addition, a range of extenders, splitters, and wall plates is available to meet the unique needs of every installation.
To meet the A/V requirements of today's corporate, education, and retail environments, RTI now offers high-performance, modular matrix switchers and presentation scaler switchers. Delivering the ultimate in versatility, the VFX-124 and VFX-248 flexible-matrix switchers have the perfect blend of fixed outputs and open slots (12 and 24 respectively), each configurable as inputs or outputs depending on the application. To handle different signal types, a wide variety of input and output cards is available for HDMI, HDBaseT, VGA, audio, and more.
The VSS-51 Presentation Scaler Switcher Kit combines seamless switching with advanced scaling to provide excellent picture quality regardless of the source. Perfect for conference rooms, classrooms, and lecture halls, the unit accepts a variety of video input formats and includes a microphone input. The kit also includes the VSW-51R HDBaseT receiver for convenient delivery of video to an additional display.


text:
Q: How to add a new record with an existing primary in microsoft access I am having a problem in executing one of my system's features (a parking registration system)
I have set the relationship to a many-to-many relationship which many students are able to register many vehicles.Right now I can't find any solutions on how to add a new record while using an existing primary key (in this case, is the student's id number) A very clear guide would be much appreciated!

A: A Primary Key, by definition, must be unique for every record.  The Primary Key in your table should be neither the StudentID nor the VehicleID.  Those should be the Primary Keys within the Student table and the Vehicle table respectively, but the table that stores all of your data should use a separate Autonumber field as a Primary Key.


text:
August 19, 2020 October 2, 2020
MediPharm Labs Australia Expands Revenue Opportunity On Expanded GMP Licence
— MediPharm Labs Corp. (TSX: LABS) (OTCQX: MEDIF) (FSE: MLZ) ("MediPharm Labs" or the "Company") a global leader in specialized, research-driven pharmaceutical-quality cannabis extraction, distillation and derivative products, today announced that its Australian operation – MediPharm Labs Australia Pty. Ltd. ("MediPharm Labs Australia") – has received an important enabling amendment to its Good Manufacturing Practice ("GMP") Certification and Licence to Manufacture Therapeutic Goods.
The licence expansion, granted under Section 40B of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration of the Australian Government's Department of Health, provides MediPharm Labs with the ability to manufacture Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient ("API") derived from cannabis and cannabis intermediates – such as resins, extracts and isolates – as well as medicinal cannabis finished products including oral liquids, soft-gel capsules and oil. This is one of very few licenses of its kind for dedicated medicinal cannabis manufacture in Australia.
MediPharm Labs Australia is poised to service the entire Australian patient population. July was a record month in Australia with over 5560 SAS-B medical cannabis approvals, an increase of 20% from June (4,630). As of 31 July 2020, the TGA approved over 56,000 SAS Category B applications for unapproved medicinal cannabis products(1). At current levels, MediPharm Labs anticipates more than 70,000 patient approvals could be achieved by the end of 2020.
"This licence amendment paves the way for MediPharm Labs Australia to immediately begin using our facility as it was intended: to manufacture the highest quality APIs and finished medical cannabis formulations for our rapidly growing base of customers," said Warren Everitt, CEO, Asia Pacific, MediPharm Labs. "We are extremely proud of this achievement and the MediPharm Labs Australia team that made it happen as it reflects our longstanding commitment to GMP standards and pharma principles of production."
MediPharm Labs Australia was certified by the Therapeutic Goods Administration ("TGA") as meeting GMP quality standards of practice and secured a Licence to Manufacture Therapeutic Goods in May 2020 and is already generating revenue. MediPharm Labs Australia reported over $600,000 revenue in Q2 2020 from the final packaging of products, originally bulk manufactured in its Canadian headquarters, for sale to Australian customers. As the Company's Canadian facility was TGA GMP certified in late 2019, MediPharm Labs boasts a global pharmaceutical-quality supply chain that is qualified to serve emerging medical markets internationally.
"Whether we manufacture in Canada or now Australia, or a combination thereof, for our current worldwide demand, MediPharm Labs meets the most rigorous standards set out by established health authorities and this licence update serves as another reminder of that very important fact," said Pat McCutcheon, Chief Executive Officer of MediPharm Labs. "As a multi-jurisdictional GMP-certified producer, licences such as this differentiate us in the marketplace, serve as a door-opener to sophisticated new pharma and consumer packaged goods customer accounts and represent a highly sought after, valuable and irreplaceable asset that we will protect. Now that we have the green light to manufacture a variety of products and formulations in Australia, we intend to make the most of our first-mover advantage."
MediPharm Labs also holds Australian Office of Drug Control (ODC) Import and Export Licences covering cannabis resin and extracts, bulk medicinal cannabis oil and finished medicinal cannabis products. It received State Licences for cannabis substances from the Department of Health and Human Services in Victoria, Australia in December 2019 when it completed construction of its manufacturing facility.
MediPharm Labs Australia features multi-phase supercritical CO2 extraction equipment, clean rooms and testing laboratories. The Company also has capabilities to manufacture soft gels, oral liquids and oils and API. It was modelled on the Company's state-of-the-art facility in Barrie, Ontario.
More Details of the Licence Update
Under the updated licence, MediPharm Labs may manufacture medicinal cannabis finished therapeutic goods intended for: registration in Australia (Registered Therapeutic Goods); Clinical Trial use (excluding labelling activities); and products for export or which are exempt from registration and listing on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods under the provisions of Section 18(1) or Section 19 (1)(a) of the Therapeutic Goods Act. MediPharm Labs Australia may also manufacture API intended for Further Manufacture by other licensed manufacturers.
1) https://www.tga.gov.au/access-medicinal-cannabis-products-1
About MediPharm Labs
Founded in 2015, MediPharm Labs specializes in the production of purified, pharmaceutical-quality cannabis oil and concentrates and advanced derivative products utilizing a Good Manufacturing Practices certified facility with ISO standard-built clean rooms. MediPharm Labs has invested in an expert, research driven team, state-of-the-art technology, downstream purification methodologies and purpose-built facilities with five primary extraction lines for delivery of pure, trusted and precision-dosed cannabis products for its customers. Through its wholesale and white label platforms, MediPharm Labs formulates, develops (including through sensory testing), processes, packages and distributes cannabis extracts and advanced cannabinoid-based products to domestic and international markets. As a global leader, MediPharm Labs has completed commercial exports to Australia and completed commercialization of its Australian extraction facility which generated its first revenues in H1 2020. MediPharm Labs Australia was established in 2017.
Laura Lepore, VP, Investor Relations and Communications
Telephone: 416-913-7425 ext. 1525
Email: investors@medipharmlabs.com
Website: http://www.medipharmlabs.com
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:
This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, supply of products to Hybrid Pharm for distribution pursuant to the agreement. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the inability of MediPharm Labs to obtain adequate financing; the delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; and other factors discussed in MediPharm Labs' filings, available on the SEDAR website at http://www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, MediPharm Labs assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change.
SOURCE GLOBENEWSWIRE
CANDLR MEDIPHARM LABS COMPANY PROFILE
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