text:
Annual Report 2021 The Partnership Career Opportunities Funding Our Board Our Team Partners
Business Services Job Seekers Sector Centers Success Stories Youth Services
Equal Opportunity Find Your Agency Occupational Training Providers Policy Letters Request a Letter of Support Request for Proposals
Outcomes and Information
The Partnership's COVID-19 Response Initiatives AARP Foundation Back to Work 50+ A Hire Calling: ReEntry Navigation Chatham Education & Workforce Center Chicago COVID Contact Tracing Corps Chicago & Cook County Young Adult Workforce Development Portal Construction Initiatives Hospitality Hires Chicago OpportunityWorks Services for CHA Residents & HCV Recipients
Hire Frequency Podcast Media Coverage: The Partnership in the News
Inaugural "Opportunity Summer" Program Provides Paid Internships to Nearly 200 Young Adults in Suburban Cook County
August 18, 2022 News, Press Releases
Media Contact: Susan Massel (773) 318-2224
Cook County Funds Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership Program That Connects Young Adults to Sector-Based Career Opportunities
CHICAGO – Nearly two hundred young adults today completed the first-ever Opportunity Summer paid internship program, funded by Cook County and administered by The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (The Partnership). Participants earn $15 an hour, working for one of more than 30 employers in high-growth, high-demand sectors in Suburban Cook County.
Opportunity Summer provides young adults who are not in school and not connected to employment with a 7-week paid internship with employers including Walton Contractors, Catholic Charities, Housing Authority of Cook County, and more, working in a variety of positions ranging from IT Technician to Web Designer and Clerical Assistant.
Cook County is allocating $15 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to The Partnership to create programs and services to support residents and businesses impacted by COVID-19. Engaging with young adults is a priority for The Partnership. Reaching out to this important population through programs such as Opportunity Summer and Opportunity Works, the year-round intern program funded by Cook County, can lead to the start of a lifelong successful career journey.
"This year alone, nearly 200 hundred students were able to develop job skills, earn a paycheck and contribute toward the local economy," said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. "Our partners both in the private and non-profit sectors have done an incredible job in providing a space for our underserved youth to impact their communities while earning money. Every opportunity afforded to our youth this summer is a success story, and I look forward to continuing this initiative for years to come."
"Young people often find themselves either wanting or needing to work, but not knowing where to begin," said Partnership Interim CEO Patrick Combs, "Opportunity Summer can serve as an "on ramp" to a career, connecting interns to local employers in need of talented summer interns who provide paid work experience that can lead to career opportunities in high-demand, high growth industries."
Hannah J. worked at Northbrook's Chamber of Commerce:
"As someone who is passionate about accessibility for everyone, I enjoyed being able to connect with organizations such as the food bank, the local farmers market, and the Rotary Club, to learn about the often-overlooked ways our community makes resources available to everyone. This paid internship experience was valuable to my goal of working with an organization that works closely with the local government and community," said Hannah J., Opportunity Summer Intern, Northbrook, IL Chamber of Commerce.
Samuel T. worked at Morton West High School.
"This internship opened a door to a new job for me. I'm also grateful for the transportation, which helped me a lot financially," said Samuel T., Opportunity Summer Intern, Morton West High School in Berwyn, IL.
Christopher P. worked at MuzicNet School of Music:
"I was able to showcase my music skills through interning with MuzicNet. I'm looking forward to returning next year," said Christopher P., Opportunity Summer Intern, MuzicNet School of Music in Park Forest, IL.
For more information about Opportunity Summer, Opportunity Works and other Partnership youth programs, visit https://chicookworks.org/services/youth-programs/
The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (The Partnership) is a non-profit umbrella organization operating the public workforce system for the City of Chicago and Cook County.
The Partnership combines federal and philanthropic resources to provide comprehensive workforce development services to employers and job seekers. As the largest public workforce development system in the nation, The Partnership has helped place more than 70,000 individuals in employment; collaborated with more than 2,000 employers; and administered more than $400 million in federal and philanthropic funds. The Partnership's network consists of 90+ community-based organizations, American Job Centers, satellite sites and sector-driven centers, serving more than 140,000 people annually. Learn more at www.chicookworks.org.
About Cook County
Cook County is the second-largest county in the United States representing 5.2 million residents in Illinois. The President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cook County and oversees the Offices Under the President and presides as president of the Forest Preserves of Cook County.
Request for Proposals (Archived)
Chicago Cook
Workforce Partnership
69 W. Washington St, Ste 2860
© Copyright 2023 Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership All Rights Reserved. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy
This workforce product was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration. For more information please visit this page.
Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Programs Auxiliary Aids and Services Are Available Upon Request to Individuals with Disabilities. Learn More.


Camp for €18,- a night at Campsite Val di Sole in low season with CampingCard ACSI. Campsite Val di Sole, located in Bolsena (Viterbo), is a campsite with 350 touring pitches. With your CampingCard ACSI you can camp on one of the pitches during the following periods: 01-05-2019 - 30-06-2019 and 02-09-2019 - 30-09-2019.
Directly on Bolsena Lake in a 10 hectare forest. Campsite offers all facilities for an untroubled holiday.
Would you like to book Campsite Val di Sole or request more information? You can do both using the information below.
A1/E6, exit Orvieto. Then via SS71 to Bolsena. In Bolsena turn right to S. Lorenzo (Via Cassia Rd). Campsite 5 km on the left.
CampingCard ACSI will send your information request to "Campsite Val di Sole".


With Clinton and Trump neck-and-neck in the polls, one winner is certain — the powerful plaintiffs' bar. For the first time in history, the presidential nominees of both parties are champions of aggressive legal tactics and excessive litigation.
One candidate, Trump, views legal intimidation as an effective weapon to stymie personal and political criticism. The other, Clinton, is a former law firm partner whose perpetual campaign has long run on trial lawyer donations.
As the plaintiffs' bar anticipates tightening its grip on the Oval Office, it is also renewing class-action assaults on business. Engorged by large winnings from tobacco settlements, litigants are spinning frivolous claims based on junk science into contingency-fee gold.
Take some recent cases from just one sector, food companies, as examples of a trial bar out of control.


There has been a bit of chatter since the EOS 5D Mark IV announcement about the upcoming Canon EOS 6D Mark II. We're told to expect the camera in the first half of 2017, with CP+ in February being a strong possibility for an announcement. We're told the new camera is going to be 25mp (prototypes exist), have an articulating screen, dual SD card slots and shoot some form of 4K. I'd assume DPAF is also going to be included in the camera. Also expect some weight savings and a slightly smaller size.
This is [CR1], so treat it accordingly.
All of the nominated documentaries at the Oscars were shot on Canon cameras.


On Tuesday evening I was lucky and excited to be able to attend A Sweet Meet with Brisbane cake wizard Zoe Byres at Lollipops Cake Supplies.
Zoe shared some of her decorating tips and tricks with us (including an amazing demonstration of her skills), showed us the different tools and materials she uses for her masterpieces and how she adds colour and dimension to her cakes, and even gave us the opportunity to try it for ourselves. My primary-school-level art skills were not quite up to the task, but it was so much fun!
My attempt at fondant painting – I doubt the Great Australian Bake Off will be banging at my door any time soon!
It was a privilege to see Zoe work, and to be able to admire the other creations she had on display, from sculptures to portrait to faux food! You can see Zoe's awesome work and even take a class with her at the upcoming International Cake Show Australia, and she also teaches classes at Lollipops Cake Supplies in Eatons Hill.
It was a fantastic event – I learned a lot about cake decorating and was definitely inspired! Thank you for having us Zoe, and thank you Kath Rose & Associates for organising the event!
Another of Zoe's amazing creations – a towering faux burger!


I was making lunch and looked behind me and saw little Avery trying so hard to walk in Daddy's shoes. It was so cute, I had to take a picture. She is growing up so fast!!
Sadly what I notice the most is the fact that she has on short sleeves and shorts! Here on the other hand today is snowing!! Will it ever stop?? She is super cute so thanks for a smile on a poop day!!
Too cute! Emma loves to wear our shoes too...very fun! Go Avery!


What if: Could Anakin Skywalker have chosen not to become Darth Vader?
In Star Wars Episode III, The Revenge of the Sith, Jedi Master Mace Windu and Sith Lord Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) are engaged in battle when Anakin Skywalker enters the room. As Anakin watches on, Palpatine fires force lightning which Windu deflects with his light saber. Locked in this struggle, the Sith looks at Anakin and cries out that he must choose whom he will help.
The young Jedi is faced with a decision.
Help Mace Windu defeat Palpatine.
Help Palpatine defeat Mace Windu.
In choosing to help Mace Windu, Anakin can reject the Dark Side and fulfill the prophecy that, as the Chosen One, he would bring balance to the Force. However, Anakin is fearful of losing Padme and wants Palpatine's help. In helping the Sith Lord, Anakin would be completing his journey to the Dark Side and becoming Darth Vader.
It appears that Anakin has an important choice to make. Or does he?
In his essay, Predestination in the NT, which appears in Grace for All; (see post here) I. Howard Marshall compares the meticulous view of God's sovereignty (aka Divine determinism) to an author writing a script. In this post we will flush that idea out using the Star Wars movies.
By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man.
God in eternity past decided what would occur in the creation that He would make. We could see why Marshall would compare this idea to an author writing out a script for a movie. If God wrote out the decrees, they would be analogous to a movie script.
Meticulous sovereignty also rejects that the decrees are influenced or based on future actions that are foreknown. It stresses that all foreknowledge of future actions is based on the decrees that preceded them.
Continuing with the analogy, we can know in advance what is going to happen in the movie because we can pick up the script and read it, knowing that what we are about to watch is going to follow along with what was written prior to the film being made.
When God says let there be light that is the beginning of creation and the decreed story begins. This is very similar to the director yelling – lights, camera, action. The story comes alive, but all that occurs has been predetermined by what is written in the script.
So as Anakin stares at the two warriors locked in battle and contemplates his decision, we look to the script and see that the script denies Anakin an actual contingent choice. Anakin cannot choose #1, because the script is written so that he will choose #2.
It is at this point in a discussion on meticulous sovereignty that proponents start to deflect from this analogy.The discussion usually moves into debates about compatibilistic choices, which are still rooted in the choice being fully determined ahead of time, moral responsibility, and whether foreknowledge allows contingent choice (see this post for details).
After all, proponents of meticulous sovereignty will argue, we all knew before we saw Episode III that Anakin would become Darth Vader. Therefore, Anakin never had a contingent choice even if there was no script and nothing was decreed ahead of time. He had to choose to help Palpatine. How did we know this? Because we saw the original trilogy (Episodes IV – VI). Our knowledge seems to limit Anakin's choice. But take a moment to consider something. When you watched Episodes IV-VI did you cause Anakin to become Darth Vader? Of course not. We knew what Anakin would choose in Episode III, but foreknowing an action that will occur in the future is not causative. The actions cause the foreknowledge.
Did the creator of Star Wars "permit" the slaughter of Jedi Younglings when he wrote that into the script? Or did he "author" it?
Is Anakin Skywalker "choosing" to join the Dark Side when he plays out his part in the script?
Is Anakin Skywalker "morally responsible" for killing the Jedi Younglings as he plays out his part in the script?
What part, if any, did Anakin Skywalker play in the repentance of his evil actions in Return of the Jedi, which allowed him to exist as a Force Ghost after he died?
Did the creator of Star Wars "bypass" Palpatine when he wrote into the script that he would remain wicked and perish? Or did he "choose" to create him with the intent of perishing?
Did Palpatine "deserve" to be thrown into a reactor shaft for his wicked actions as he was only playing out his part in the script?
These are important questions to wrestle with. But it is not until we understand meticulous sovereignty and have a clear picture of what that looks like that we can move on to examine them.
Whether you are a proponent or opponent of meticulous sovereignty, do you think Marshall's analogy is accurate? If you don't think this is a reasonable illustration of meticulous sovereignty what analogy would you use to explain this view?
This entry was posted in Blogging Through a Book, Theology and tagged determinism, foreknowledge, free will, Grace, Grace for All by MikeB (@AnAgileJedi). Bookmark the permalink.
Later Palpatine will tell Luke Skywalker that everything is coming to pass as he foresaw (Episode VI). Did Palpatine mean the rebels attacking Endor? Either way, it seems Palpatine did not have exhaustive knowledge since he did not see Vader destroying him.
Difficult to see the future is, unless one has read the script… or is God capable of seeing the future.
Palpatine was evil. He was flawed by the dark side of the Force. To get into some Star Wars debate (which I love): does the rise of the Sith come from too many Jedis? I have heard this before. Some say that the reason for a Sith lord is because the Jedi have become too strong and need balance. Skywalker brought that balance by bringing the Jedi to just one (Luke).
Diving into this from a SW point of view, I would see Palpatine as a force sensitive individual from Naboo who was wicked, being bent on power and immortality. But I don't think I would say he was flawed by the dark side but rather influenced by the lure of the power & strength he could achieve from it. He, as an individual, made a choice to rely on the dark side of the Force for personal gain, rather than use his force abilities for helping others. Outside the movies he is said to have been trained by the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis. He was never part of the Jedi Order (at least not that I know of).
I would then see the rise of the Sith being related to force sensitive individuals, like Palpatine, who choose to go over to the dark side rather than rely on the light side of the Force or join the Jedi Order. I have not heard of the rising of Sith being related to the number of Jedi that exist (but I am sure fans or other story arcs may offer such a view).
Regarding the prophecy, what the balance that is to be restored by the chosen one is debated (at least it is by SW nerds). In a Clone Wars cartoon episode, Anakin is faced with helping a powerful figure (the Father) keep his children, who represent the light side and dark side of the force, contained on the planet Mortis so they do not upset the balance of the Force. If this what the balance refers to then the prophecy would not seem to relate to dealing with Palpatine or the Sith. Other story arcs and most fans see Anakin as the "Chosen One" who would bring balance (ie peace) by destroying the powerful Sith, which was accomplished at the end of RoJ.
Thank you, my friend. I have a son who is happy to listen to me about Jesus and his Kingdom. I think he has great respect for my life in Christ, but he can't get himself interested, and he is open about it. (Age 17). He loves Star Wars, Dr. Who, etc. So this made a great opportunity to get him discussing things relating to the only one who can predestine. (He will engage if I find a theological subject of interest to him, which fortunately are the deeper issues. I always pray God will grab his heart.) He read your blog with groans and out-loud complaints. He's prone to strong opinions, and in a few sentences gave an in-between idea of choice verse no choice I had never considered.
He said Anakim had no choice, but not because of predestination. He was manipulated, and he had insufficient power to resist.
I have never considered the ramifications of such an idea.
As a Star Wars nerd, I would agree Anakin was manipulated and influenced by Palpatine. As the "chosen one", it seems it was his destiny to restore balance to the force, which he ultimately did in Return of the Jedi when he sent the Emperor plummeting down a reactor shaft. So it seems that maybe he could have resisted these influences and helped Windu defeat him. Of course it would have made for a much less epic story if he did.
Sounds like you son is a deep thinker. And he is right there probably are times (hypnosis is often the example given) that people can be manipulated so that they are not actually the one choosing. Especially the weak minded in the presence of a Jedi mind trick. But in general I think we all choose amidst influence and manipulation and these are certainly factors in how we ultimately decide.


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Boca da Mata é um município brasileiro do estado de Alagoas. Sua população, conforme estimativas do IBGE de 2021, era de  habitantes.

História
O nome do município é uma referência às primeiras residências construídas na entrada de uma grande mata, estendida rumo a Atalaia. As terras ofereciam condições para a implantação de sítios e fazendas, que desenvolviam as lavouras e a criação de gado. A maior parte das terras pertencia ao Engenho Santa Rita, de propriedade de Antonio Pinto da Cunha Coutinho. E a primeira capela foi obra de Pedro Simões, antigo proprietário do engenho Mucambo.

Com o rápido desenvolvimento do povoado, surgiu o movimento pela emancipação. Uma lei elevou a vila à condição de município autônomo, mas a lei não foi cumprida e Boca da Mata permaneceu integrada a São Miguel dos Campos. Registrado na divisão administrativa em vigor no ano de 1955, quando possuía 463 habitantes e 160 domicílios. A emancipação aconteceu em 1958.

Geografia
Boca da Mata revela belezas naturais exuberantes como a Serra de Santa Rita, bicas e balneários como o Balneário Águas de São Bento, a Bica do Arlindo, além das Bicas Baixa Grande e Quebra Carro, ambas em APA (Área de Proteção Ambiental).

Com o fechamento da Usina Triunfo em 2015, mais de 5 mil pessoas deixaram a cidade. Boa parte migrou para a Região Sudeste a fim de se restabelecer.

Cultura
O ponto de encontro da cidade é a Praça Padre Cícero. A animação do povo do município pode ser vista em suas principais festividades: Festa da Padroeira Santa Rita de Cássia, no dia 22 de maio; Emancipação Política, no dia 11 de novembro; e Festa do Padre Cícero Romão, comemorada no dia 20 de julho.

A cidade é também conhecida por conta do seu artesanato em madeira, legado do Mestre Manoel da Marinheira e hoje com vários seguidores, entre filhos e discípulos.

Esportes
O Sport Club Santa Rita é o time local, que disputa o Campeonato Alagoano e eventualmente a Copa do Brasil.

O Santa Rita manda seus jogos no Estádio Olival Elias de Moraes, que tem capacidade para 2.500 espectadores.

Ligações externas

Fundações em Alagoas em 1958

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Styling column/columns in pandas if it contains a certain string I have a pandas dataframe and I want to style a particular column if the row contains a particular string. Here is the function is used and how I called it.
def color_code(value):
    match_b = re.search(r'\bball\b',value)
    match_c =re.search(r'\bcar\b',value)
    if match_b == True:
        color = 'red'
    elif match_c ==True:
        color = 'yellow'
    else:
        return
    return f'background-color: {color}'

res=df.applymap(color_code,subset['Interest'])

Assuming I have a column like this
Interest
coin
racecar
bumper-car
ball
beachball
volley ball
base-ball
bat
car
beach
nascar
remote car

I want the cell to be colored as long as the value contains ball or car, but I am not able to find a way to do so. I am only able to find ways to color the cell only if the value is exact as 'ball' or 'car'
This is the kind of output I am looking for

A: Remove word bouncaries \b\b:
def color_code(value):
    match_b = re.search(r'ball',value)
    match_c = re.search(r'car',value)

    if match_b:
        color = 'red'
    elif match_c:
        color = 'yellow'
    else:
        color='white'
    print (color)
    return f'background-color: {color}'

res=df.style.applymap(color_code,subset=['Interest'])

Or:
def color_code(value):
    if 'ball' in value:
        color = 'red'
    elif 'car' in value:
        color = 'yellow'
    else:
        color='white'
    print (color)
    return f'background-color: {color}'

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The first Social Dialogue MCESD meeting for 2023 addressed social vision, research and innovation
The Parliamentary Secretary for Social Dialogue, the Hon. Andy…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Website-News-Post-20.01.23.jpeg 1066 1600 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2023-01-21 08:26:102023-01-21 08:26:10The first Social Dialogue MCESD meeting for 2023 addressed social vision, research and innovation
MCESD's Civil Society Committee presents proposals on public bus service to the government.
The CSC within the MCESD presented its proposals for the improvement…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/meeting-news-post.png 543 1600 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2023-01-13 19:09:462023-01-14 15:28:49MCESD's Civil Society Committee presents proposals on public bus service to the government.
The MCESD is pleased to announce the appointment of its seventh chairperson.
Architect David Xuereb has been appointed…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Andy-Ellul-_David-Xuereb_1.png 741 1600 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2023-01-12 09:19:222023-01-13 14:13:32The MCESD is pleased to announce the appointment of its seventh chairperson.
The Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) held its last council meeting for the year 2022.
Following the conclusion of the ESF program entitled "Enhancing…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/WhatsApp-Image-2022-12-16-at-18.05.42.jpeg 899 1600 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2022-12-19 09:01:482022-12-19 09:03:00The Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) held its last council meeting for the year 2022.
The International Monetary Fund met with the Executive Secretary of MCESD
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met the…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/WhatsApp-Image-2022-12-02-at-15.22.35.jpeg 901 1600 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2022-12-02 14:54:082022-12-02 14:54:52The International Monetary Fund met with the Executive Secretary of MCESD
MCESD attends the 2022 Annual meeting of the EESC and the national ESC's of the EU
MCESD Chairperson James Pearsall and Executive Secretary Adriana…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/WhatsApp-Image-2022-11-11-at-13.42.01-1.jpeg 1067 1600 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2022-11-11 13:20:512022-11-11 13:20:51MCESD attends the 2022 Annual meeting of the EESC and the national ESC's of the EU
MCESD discussed health and safety at the workplace
A presentation by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Work-Safety-e1671536843165.jpeg 856 1600 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2022-10-21 17:25:512022-12-20 12:48:00MCESD discussed health and safety at the workplace
The EY Chief Economist for the Eurozone discuss economy with the social partners
The Ernst and Young (EY) Chief Economist for the Eurozone Dr…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/WhatsApp-Image-2022-10-18-at-16.23.55-cropped1.jpeg 720 1135 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2022-10-18 14:42:152022-10-18 15:01:41The EY Chief Economist for the Eurozone discuss economy with the social partners
𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲: 𝗖𝗼𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀
The Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD)…
https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/WhatsApp-Image-2022-09-30-at-08.51.37.jpeg 1365 2048 Ray Bartolo https://mcesd.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NEW-MSCD-LOGO-merged-300x212.png Ray Bartolo2022-09-30 10:00:142022-09-30 10:31:00𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲: 𝗖𝗼𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Elemental Wildfire Documentary Worth Viewing Black Ram Vegetation Management-Another Example of Chainsaw Medicine
Wyoming Extension Service Grazing Report: Economic Exaggerations
By George Wuerthner On November 21, 2022 · 7 Comments · In Wildlife News
Cattle grazing in riparian zone on the Bridger Teton National Forest. Photo George Wuerthner
When I was in graduate school, required reading was a slim book titled "How to Lie with Statistics."
It opened my eyes to the multiple ways you can misuse statistics to "prove" a point. A new report published by Wyoming Extension Service, Economic Impacts of Removing Federal Grazing Used by Cattle Ranches in Wyoming, is an excellent example of the principle of how to lie with statistics.
The first thing I do whenever I read any paper is look at the source. The article is authored by ranching advocates and funded by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. That doesn't mean what is reported is inaccurate, but it does tell me to read the paper a bit more carefully.
The report is full of what How to Lie with Statistics warns readers about misuse of statistics. One is the lack of context. For example, the Wyoming Extension Service paper exclaims that "many ranches in Wyoming depend on federal grazing to support their livestock operations."
An important question is to what degree do Wyoming ranches depend on federal forage. And how much does federal forage contribute to local employment and income?
What constitutes "many" in this report? The report says there are 1,982 federal grazing permits in Wyoming.
Wyoming, the Cowboy State, ranks 29th in cattle and calves production and just in behind such well-known livestock-producing states as New York (19th), Virginia (20th), Alabama (24th), and Florida (18th), among others.
There are approximately 12,000 ranches in Wyoming, so many ranch operations do not use federal grazing permits.
Total ranch employment related to federal forage access is less than 1% of all jobs in Wyoming. Photo George Wuerthner
According to Headwaters Economics, total farm employment (which includes more than just beef cattle operations) is 14,497 people, or 3.8% of Wyoming jobs. However, the Wyoming Extension Service paper estimates that only 3,857 jobs depend on federal forage, or roughly 25 percent of all farm employment. Thus federal forage contributes to less than 1% of all income in Wyoming.
But even this number of jobs is an exaggeration. First, people must be aware that most Ag economic analyses include "Ag-related" employment. For instance, in a study I did on Vermont Dairy Farms, I discovered the state Department of Agriculture considered grocery store clerks, servers in restaurants, and even Green Mountain Coffee employees, as Vermont ag-related jobs. Adding Ag-related jobs to the total employment figures vastly inflated Ag employment. Even if there were no dairy farms, there would still be grocery stores and coffee producers in Vermont.
Ag proponents often include "secondary economic interests" in their total employment figures. For instance, because some ranchers ride ATVs, the report assumes that all people employed servicing and selling ATVs in Wyoming are dependent on ranching for their livelihood. Photo George Wuerthner
The Wyoming Extension Service paper includes jobs in what it terms "secondary economic interests," such as feed stores, veterinarians, bulk fuel dealers, and other associated businesses. These were included in the total Ag employment picture. So the authors conclude that the total economic impact for federal grazing-dependent Wyoming cattle ranches was $532.4 million. The $532.4 million in economic activity supported the employment of nearly 3,900 jobs and $140.7 million in total labor income.
However, this assumes that there would be no veterinarians, fuel dealers, or even feed stores, much less other associated businesses, if there were no grazing on public lands. Since most Wyoming ranch operations do not depend on federal grazing leases, there would still be ranchers and ranch operations. But even if all ranching in Wyoming disappeared, Wyoming residents use veterinarians, fuel dealers, feed stores, etc., because most "ranching associated" businesses have other customers outside the cattle ranching community.
It is important to note that Wyoming farm income is 2.1% of the state's total. To imply, as the Wyoming Extension Service suggests, that farming (thus ranching) is essential to the state's economic well-being is, at best, an exaggeration.
Old Faithful erupting. Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks play a big part for employment in Wyoming's Tourism industry. Photo George Wuerthner
By comparison, Headwaters Economics finds the travel and tourism sectors which are also largely dependent on Wyoming's extensive federal lands, such as Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, employed 41,066 persons in 2020, accounting for 15.7% of the personal income. Even more telling is that service sector jobs accounted for 73% of all employment. The contribution of Ag-related employment is a minor part of the state's economic profile.
The Wyoming Extension Service report assumes that economic sectors are static. For example, if livestock grazed on federal lands were terminated, the study's authors suggest the state would suffer a complete financial loss. But in reality, the rapid growth of the non-farm sector would quickly evaporate all ranching employment losses.
Even in Wyoming, which has an abundance of federal lands, most Wyoming cows are fed forage from private sources. Part of the reason is that settlers selected the most productive lands. So on a simple per-acre basis, private lands grow more vegetation, have more water, and are generally at lower elevations where the climate is not as extreme. So we must consider how much federal lands contribute to farm sector employment.
Well, it turns out not much.
Another ploy that ranch proponents use is "dependence" on federal forage. But again, this can be deceptive because if a ranch use any federal forage, even grazed by one cow, it is labeled as "dependent" on federal grazing. In reality, most ranching operations in Wyoming, due to cold, snow, extreme climate, and lower productivity that characterizes federal lands, typically get most of their forage on private lands.
In some western states, including California, Montana, and Washington, federal lands contribute to less than 10% of the forage consumed by livestock. Even in Wyoming, with its abundance of federal lands, federal forage contributed to approximately 21% of all forage consumed by cattle and sheep.
In an economic analysis of public lands livestock grazing in my book Welfare Ranching published in 2002, economist Thomas Power found that the percentage of income derived from federal grazing allotments was 0.24% of the state's total. Power estimated it would only require 54 days of real income growth to replace all federal grazing-derived income in Wyoming.
Today's exact numbers are likely less than when Power contributed his paper to the book since the number of ranching operations in Wyoming has declined since Welfare Ranching was published. In contrast, jobs in the non-farm sector have increased dramatically.
Another clever deception Ag interests use to exaggerate Ag's economic contribution is an assumption that federal forage is the only significant variable in Wyoming ranching operations. However, other economic factors typically ignored in the above figures contribute to ranch income, including labor, water, land, and equipment.
This is where it gets interesting.
According to Headwaters Economics, between 1970 and 2020, farm employment increased by about 1.4 percent. By comparison, from 1970 to 2020, non-farm employment grew from 145,092 to 371,794 jobs, a 156.2 percent increase.
According to the Wyoming Extension Service report, removing all federal grazing permits in Wyoming would result in a total loss of 1,700 jobs (including those secondary businesses, so not just a loss in ranch operation employment). But a loss of 1700 jobs in an economy that grew by 226,702 jobs between 1970 and 2020 would barely be noticed.
Indeed, Power calculated that removing all livestock grazing for the 11 western states would only pause income growth by eight days of normal economic expansion.
But the authors of the Wyoming Extension Service report assume stable and static employment. In other words, any loss of federal livestock grazing is a net loss to all Wyoming income and jobs.
However, livestock grazing on federal lands has numerous detrimental impacts on the state's wildlife and fisheries.
It is reasonable to assume that reducing or eliminating all federal grazing would increase other economic opportunities.
Wildlife watching is a big part of Wyoming's tourism industry. If federal livestock permits were terminated, it would undoubtedly lead to more wildlife watching opportunities. Photo George Wuerthner
For example, wolf-watching is popular in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. But wolf killing by Wildlife Services or ranchers significantly reduces the state's wolf population. If livestock operations were eliminated, we would likely see more jobs related to wildlife guide services.
Similarly, livestock grazing has a massive negative impact on streams and water quality. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that if livestock operations on public lands were terminated, fish populations would increase, as would sport fishing.
Removal of livesock grazing on fedeal lands would permit "rewilding" of the West that would result in more water storage in upland streams, meadows and wetlands, which in this age of extreme drought would be worth far more than any economic values assocaited with federal ranching.
As Thomas Power noted in his economic analysis: "Given that agriculture is the direct source of only a small fraction of total economic activity, that livestock grazing is only a fraction of total agricultural activity, that federal forage is only a fraction of total feed required by western livestock, and that feed is only one source of the value created in livestock production, it should not be surprising, if that federal forage supports only a small fraction of total economic activity in the West."
Many ranchers are adjusting to labor shortages and costs by importing foreign workers who often are exploited by long hours, and low wages. Photo George Wuerthner
Finally, ranchers would respond to the loss of federal grazing forage in numerous ways. They would not simply disappear, as assumed by the Wyoming Extension Service Report. Instead, they might cut costs and increase efficiency. They could reduce labor costs by importing more foreign workers, leasing or buying more private land to produce forage, or they may turn to cow-calf operations or other means of achieving wealth.
In the TV series Yellowstone, John Dutton decides a way to improve his bottom line is to breed and sell the best cow horses in the West.
While ranchers often praise the "free market," they are addicted to federal subsidies for their existence. Grazing on federal lands costs $1.35 an AUM (Animal Unit Month or the amount of forage consumed by a cow and calf in a month), while similar costs on private lands often exceed $20 an AUM. Government welfare doesn't end with subsidized grazing.
Taxpayers pay for predator and pest "control" by federal Wildlife Services. There is federal drought relief and other payments available. Taxpayers subsidize most western water irrigation projects. Even the electrical rate paid by irrigation to pump water is typically far lower than what someone living on minimum wage in the city would have to pay for the same amount of water.
If federal grazing permits were retired by the Voluntary Grazing Permit proposal, ranchers would have to begin living in the free market that they always praise but never actually experience.
Tagged with: Ag-related employment • federal grazing • federal grazing permits • Grand Teton National Park • Headwaters Economics • livestock grazing • Rewilding the West • voluntary grazing permit retirement • Wyoming • Wyoming Extension Service • Yellowstone National Park
George Wuerthner
George Wuerthner is an ecologist and former hunting guide with a degree in wildlife biology
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7 Responses to Wyoming Extension Service Grazing Report: Economic Exaggerations
Its obvious the damage that livestock does to any riparian area as well as the destruction to the range in general. It doesnt take a rancher, farmer or someone who lives on the West Coast – anyone who has seen pastures with cattle or sheep in them should be well aware of what it does to any area of land or water. The West is NOT a place for livestock grazing! Its arid, some mountainous, has predators (where they should be).
As this article says, not meant for livestock.
The prey & predator creatures who have existed in these areas for hundreds(thousands) of years do so in harmony with the environment.
Doesnt take a genius to understand that – which certainly says something about the people who insist on raising livestock in an area that wasnt meant for them.
franc mengels says:
In my experience 50 years in federal grazing, the report is true and accurate. Excellent. Appears that many TES species may increase and likewise, associated incomes to over-ride WY economic losses. A few trappers might lose their income with no cowboys hassling then to shoot wolves bears and lions, but 1000 sightseers would drop LOTS of $$$ income to see a wolf. I would!
Jeff Hoffman says:
This shouldn't be about money. It should be about maintaining the land and the life there in the most natural condition possible. That means removal of all cattle and domestic sheep.
Nadine R. says:
Welfare Ranching….interesting, living in WY I've used that tern alot. You can always tell where private land abuts public grazing, the public grazed land looks bad..It is interesting to read about how small the economic impact is % wise, and how we lag behind other "non-beef producing" states (really, who thinks, ah yes, New York beef?)
Will have to check out the statistics book.
Jerry L Thiessen on Indian Influence On The Extinction of Bison In Southeast Idaho and Adjacent Areas


The MB&W exhibition is honored to include for the first time exclusive photographs of the Jackson 5 Tour of Japan in 1973.
This is a must see for all Michael Jackson fans.
These unique and rare photographs, being shown publicly for the first time, have been provided to MB&W by Adam D.Worthy, Worthy Vision Archives LLC.


Edma celebrated its 70th Anniversary in 2007 and has earned a well deserved reputation for the quality of its products and for innovation. Edma has a large number of patented products in its range, a range of products used in a wide range of applications, in fact - anywhere there is a need for durable, professional quality tools.
Edma has extensive manufacturing and distribution facilities, with three sites in France, one in the UK and one in Spain.
Edma is famous in the UK and Ireland for its MAT Slate Cutter with Punch and also as the owner of the MONODEX brand and manufacturer of the MONODEX range of Sheet Metal Nibblers.


The chess book auctions began in 1975 with the sale of Manhems till then club library. Pretty soon it turned out that there was great interest for a channel to give the old chess books new owners and the premiere was followed by another auction - and more of them ... The initiator was Manhems old workhorse Arne Berggren and Håkan Olsén, who ran the auctions until the year 1980. This year the auction was taken over by Sten Jansson, in whose hands it remained until 1996.
After a hiatus the tradition was resumed in 2004, directed by Stellan Persson, who still shoulder the responsibility, when the 48:th auction now takes its first steps on the Internet.
The Manhem Chess Club was founded in 1906 by some youngsters in the Gothenburg Haga District. Pretty soon, the association had become one of the city's leading and into the new millennium defends it a place among the nation's premier in several areas. Book auctions has for many years been a major source of funding for other activities.
Is one of the nation's premier youth organizations with an extensive outreach in Gothenburg and training activities at the club for children from 6 years up to the elite level.
Parks at one of the premier locations in the marathon table for Chess Allsvenskans Elite League, a place that the club has reached with a team of almost exclusively own products.
Also spreads knowledge about the game of chess among adults through outreach and through course work, "New in Chess", from where the adults at home players are channeled into the regular club activities.
Is a very active club organizer of the annual Chess Week as one session for interested chess players with an emphasis on elite, who have the opportunity for advancement in tournaments from the grand masters to Elo-rated players. Manhem organizes virtually every year one of the national competitions for young people and has a rich variety of local competitions for players of all ages.


This property sold for $810,000 over 2 years ago.
World class views of turquoise Pacific Ocean waters, marina and beach-wrapped lagoon. Newly renovated in 2014 with modern accents, high ceilings that bring style and luxury. Aqua hotel rental guarantees $3000 gross income per month. Enjoy fantastic views of the fireworks every Friday night. Perfect for the part time owner; rent out when not using and occupy when vacationing. Granite counters, stainless steel appliances. Prime location in an iconic hotel. Close to Waikiki and Ala Moana. Enjoy the building amenities, nearby shopping, and out door activities.


I regret to inform all NM readers of the second of three new LM cases I mention above (an earlier post in the same thread).
The first case, that of ajarn Suraphot Thawisak, had already been reported.
The accused in this case is Miss Natthakarn Sakuldarachat (her name at the time of the incident she is being charged with, she has since changed her name and surname to avoid harassment). At this moment she is a first year student in the Faculty of Social Welfare, Thammasat University.
During March-April 2010, at the height of the rallies and crackdown in Bangkok, Natthakarn or "Kan Thoob" the nickname she used online then, under which she is more widely known, had just finished her high school course, and had already passed the written exam to the Silpakorn University.
She posted some comments on her Facebook. Some online royalists saw them, quickly accusing her of LM, and widely attacking her on the internet and in "Yellow" media outlets.
These fierce attacks were such that the Dean of the Silapakorn Faculty (a known royalist) where Natthakarn "Kan Thoob" already passed the written exam, decided to reject her as new student, claiming she was not qualified because of her lack of loyalty to the monarchy.
A few weeks afterward, Natthakarn earned the right to take a oral exam at Kasetsart University. But the royalists hounded her, threatened to stage a protest at the university the day she was scheduled to appear for an oral exam. So Natthakarn decided to not show up and forfeited her right to study there.
Because of this, between mid-2010 and mid-2011, Natthakarn stayed at home, losing a whole year of study.
In mid 2011, i.e. at the start of this academic year, she passed the exam into the Faculty of Social Welfare, Thammasat University; although the administration knew of her case (Dr.Somkid, the university rector recently gave an interview about her case), she was more fortunate that here at Thammasat, they were more tolerant of differing opinion and accepted her without any incident. She already finished her first term as student … and is about to start the second term, postponed because of the flood until the middle of this month.
However, some royalists were not satisfied with just ruining her study for a year; unknown to Natthakarn, some of them apparently lodged LM complain about her case with the police.
At the end of last October, an LM charged and a summon had been issued to Natthakarn by the Bang Khen Police precinct. But because of the flood (the police precinct itself was flooded, and Natthakarn herself was back in her home province of Ratchaburi), the date she was summoned to appear was re-scheduled twice, finally being set at 10 am., Wednesday 11 January.
During the past two months (from the time Natthakarn received her summon), I together with some academic friends have tried to made informal contact with people in the authorities, urging them to reconsider Natthakarn's case. After all, there is really little merit in the charge and still less any benefits to social and political order, but to no avail. So, Natthakarn is now officially the latest victim in this LM madness.
In addition to legal repercussions, internet users who post controversial content can face societal harassment, termed "online witch hunts" by local observers. In a case reported in May 2010, an 18-year-old high school graduate became the subject of an online hate campaign over her alleged insult of the monarchy. The woman claimed that she was refused a place at Silpakorn University because of her Facebook postings, and expressed fears of a physical attack after her name and address were posted on public websites. She said that she faced hostility in her neighborhood as well as threatening leaflets and phone calls, and that police had refused to accept her complaint.  A network of users calling themselves the "Social Sanction" group has actively sought out individuals who have expressed views deemed to be disrespectful of the monarchy and launched online campaigns to vilify them. In some cases, these campaigns have sparked official investigations of the targeted individual.
 Sawatree Suksri, Siriphon Kusonsinwut, and Orapin Yingyongpathana, Situational Report on Control and Censorship of Online Media, Through the Use of Laws and the Imposition of Thai State Policies (Bangkok: iLaw Project, 2010), http://www.boell-southeastasia.org/downloads/ilaw_report_EN.pdf, p. 14.
Natthakarn has decided to ask the police for postponement of her reporting for LM charge, from next Wednesday to sometime next month. The police agreed. The new date is tentatively set at 11 February.
The reason for the request is that she has upcoming final exams for last semester (held up from October because of flood) within a few days after next Wednesday. At first she thought she could manage the preparation for both the exam and the reporting to police within few days of one another, but apparently the latter interfered too much with her time and concentration for the exam preparation.
I'd like to emphasize that the LM charge against Natthakarn "Kan Thoob" stills stands, the summon still stands, only the date of her reporting to police has been rescheduled.
I'd like also to give some further info about Natthakarn, just checked with her. She was born in May 1992. This means that her posting on Facebook between March and April 2010, for which she is being charged, happened when she was not quite 18 years old. I am not quite sure about the law on this, but as I understand it, should the case come to court, she could be tried as a minor, presumably even in juvenile court (?).
In any case, this fact (and the fact that even now she has not yet reached 20 years), makes the charge all the more depressing. While nobody of any age (or political persuasions – not even Sondhi Lim), should be charged with LM, in the case like Natthakarn's, the police should have exercised good sense and should not have laid a formal charge against her. At most they should have contacted her, perhaps with her parents and her university supervisors, to warn her of potentials danger of posting ambiguous messages online. They should have let her get on with her life and study.
Back in 2010, as the Thai people were busy counting the corpses resulting from former-PM Abhisit's Bangkok massacre, a young 17-year-old girl left a message on her public Facebook page. The message was a rebuke to Thailand's royalty that was so mild it didn't even attract a charge under Thailand's draconian lese majeste. But what it did attract was something far more sinister.
It might have been sinister then. It is far worse now. Lese majeste madness indeed.


There were many underlying problems and factors which connected together and lead to the Wall Street Crash in 1929, causing the depression which in turn caused many problems for America and sent waves across the rest of the world. Over-speculation was one of the main factors which lead to the Wall Street Crash. During the 1920s more Americans invested and bought more shares. As they did so, prices kept rising which meant their profits did too. This lead to confidence and Americans just wanted to invest more money in order to gain more profit.
When shares stopped rising at the same rate in 1928 due to companies not selling many goods and their profits decreasing, people were less willing to buy shares and confidence dropped. Nonetheless, once this minor downturned was over, greed took over and Americans returned to speculating as prices rose. This failing to see the warnings of upcoming failure and assuming and speculating too much meant that in the running up to the Wall Street Crash, Americans were unable to see it coming.
How Far Was over-Speculation Responsible for the Wall Street Crash?
The decisions and choices that m=bankers made when faced with the result of over-speculation also affected the stock market, the reaction of the people and ultimately the devastation of the Wall Street Crash. This short term cause was controlled by the moves that the American bankers made. In addition to them, the actions of large shareholders also affected the decisions that others made; when big shareholders began to sell their shares, others followed and despite bankers' efforts to put money into them and save the stock market, this failed to work.
The uncertaincy and lack of preparation when it came to controlling the market meant that investors were extremely concerned as to what would happen to their money. This in turn led to the mad rush to sell shares as a last option. Despite the idea that the boom of the 1920s was a prosperous period for all, it did not affect all American's positively. Nearly 50% of American families had an income which was less than $2000 a year which was the minimum to survive.
The fact that the amount of income across America was not distributed fairly meant that those who had more money were in a more comfortable position. They invested more shares into the market and because they were so comfortable, poorer Americans may have invested too in order to try and gain wealth as they did. This resulted in a huge amount of money being put into the stock market and the eventual overheating caused the crash. Unequal distribution of income was also one of the causes of overproduction.
After the war had ended, overproduction had become a problem immediately for farmers and continued to be, as well as affecting manufacturers and businesses. Fewer mass produced products were being sold as less Americans had the money to buy then due to the wages dropping. More goods were being produced than there were Americans to buy them and this was not helped by the new Tariff policy which had been introduced. This meant that I was far more costly to purchase goods from America, resulting in them losing a large export market.


text:
published: true
title: Images and SVG
subtitle: Adding graphical components
layout: post
---
> ### Learning Objectives
>
> * Adding images to your page
> * Understanding Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs)
> * Adding multiple SVGs to your page

Websites that only consist of text can sometimes be quite boring. So let's have a look at how
we can add an image.

```html
<img class='image' src="cat.jpg">
```

Note that the image element does not need a closing bracket. Having a closing bracket in this case would imply that there could be content between the brackets, which, in the case of an image does not make sense.

If you want to follow along, you will need to download the cat image from our repository. Or you can select any other image from your computer.

And by adding a class called 'image' to our CSS file, we can define the size and
position of the image we load and apply the style to other images we might want to load.

```css
.image {
	width: 200px;
	position: relative;
	left: 20px;
}
```

The end goal for us is to create a graph, which will be made up of graphical
objects such as lines, circles, and squares (not photos of cats).
We could just find an image of a circle and use this to represent the data by
scaling and positioning it on the page, but that might not be the best way.
An image is an inefficient way to represent lines and circles and your webpage
would spend an unnecessary amount of time downloading each of these image files.

A better way to include graphical elements that aren't photos, is to use Scalable
Vector Graphics (SVGs).

An SVG is just another element in the HTML file, used in the same way as a division.

```html
<svg class="chart">
 	<circle cx="25" cy="25" r="15" class="circ1">
 	</circle>
</svg>
```

Here, we've created an SVG canvas, using the styles of the class 'chart'.
Within this element, we've created a circle, using the styles of the class 'circ1'.
Both of these classes need to also be defined in our CSS file:

```css
.chart {
	width: 100px;
	height: 100px;
}

.circ1 {
	stroke: green;
	fill: white;
	stroke-width: 5;
}
```

The circle element is already defined. 'cx', 'cy', and 'r' are attributes that
are special to the circle element. 'cx' and 'cy' define the x and y coordinates of
the center of the circle, 'r' is the radius of the circle.

But what if we don't want to only use circles, but instead want to use other shapes?
On the internet we can find tons of helpful examples. A good resource to
find simple examples of using different, commonly used SVG shapes is
[w3school](https://www.w3schools.com/graphics/svg_circle.asp).

> ### Challenge: Question
>
> What happens if 'cx' and 'cy' aren't set?

> ### Challenge: Make art!
>
> Make some art, using at least one circle, one rectangle, and one polygon.
> If you don't know what to do, draw a robot!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
/**
@module ember
@submodule ember-runtime
*/

import CoreObject from 'ember-runtime/system/core_object';
import Observable from 'ember-runtime/mixins/observable';

/**
  `Ember.Object` is the main base class for all Ember objects. It is a subclass
  of `Ember.CoreObject` with the `Ember.Observable` mixin applied. For details,
  see the documentation for each of these.

  @class Object
  @namespace Ember
  @extends Ember.CoreObject
  @uses Ember.Observable
  @public
*/
var EmberObject = CoreObject.extend(Observable);
EmberObject.toString = function() {
  return 'Ember.Object';
};

export default EmberObject;


Waterford Technologies is pleased to announce that we have a new team member Bijan Boromand (Corporate Sales -EMEA) joining our UK Team, based in London. A senior IT Sales & Marketing professional, Bijan brings to the team over 20 years of experience working alongside IT heavy weights such as IBM specialising in Data Management and configuration systems.
We are pleased to have Bijan work as part of our New Sales Team and we are confident that he will help Waterford Technologies expand its growing customer base in the UK market.
Waterford Technologies, the market leader in email and file archiving & compliance solutions today has announced it has been selected to supply North Ayrshire Council with its MailMeter Email Archiving & Compliance Solutions. John Brennan, CEO Waterford Technologies outlined that "we are delighted to win this contract as we continue to expand our customer base in the Local Government Sector.
Waterford Technologies at Interop Las Vegas 2015!
At Waterford Technologies, we are committed to helping companies with their email and file archiving needs. By implementing our services, your organization can save a considerable amount of time and money. We do the hard work for you and provide you with manageable data.
Waterford Technologies offer a Personalised one to one Demo of our products now for Free.
Take a 30 minute demo of our MailMeter solution and see just how much you could be saving. See the actual software in action and get a feel for how simple and easy it is to deploy and use. One of our Technical consultants will tailor the Demo to your requirements and interests.
Contact Us now, and schedule your live demo.
Take a 30 minute demo of our File Archiver or MailMeter solutions and see just how much you could be saving. See the actual software in action and get a feel for how simple and easy it is to deploy and use. One of our Technical consultants will tailor the Demo to your requirements and interests.
Professional Liverpool is an exciting organisation with a clear objective – to promote professional excellence in the City and the City Region and to enhance its reputation as a financial and professional centre of excellence.
This is achieved through its members – the organisation facilitates the development of business and personal relationships among its members and enables access to support services to achieve improved business performance in the city.
Liverpool is brimming with qualified professionals, from accountants, stockbrokers and solicitors to architects, media and digital professionals and surveyors, all of whom contribute to the thriving economy. Professional Liverpool represents all of these skillsets and sectors, and creates business networks for them to interact with on every level and in doing so, assists in the economic development of the region.
The Board, Chaired by Jim Gill, is made up of a team of professionals from Liverpool's thriving business community, movers and shakers with the experience and foresight to guide its members in the appropriate direction for their business.
Waterford Technologies is delighted to have been welcomed into the Group as a new member. With our office at Exchange Flags, in the heart of Liverpool it is fantastic to be part of a professional group to help us get connected.
To read the Professional Liverpool November newsletter click here.
Tommy Walsh may be leaving Sydney Swans but Waterford Technologies partnership is still going strong.
Kerry Footballer is said to be leaving Sydney Swans at the end of the year and returning home, this great news for Kerry football fans comes on the back of a long awaited All Ireland Football Championship win last month.
Waterford Technologies has been working with Sydney Swans since 2006. We provide both Email and File Archiving solutions for the Australian Football League Team. Read the brief case study on Sydney Swans by clicking here.
Read about the Kerry Footballers plans to return home here.
The Irish Independent has featured Waterford Technologies as one of eight firms to keep an eye on.
All of the firms featured are Waterford based Technology companies. Waterford Technologies is going from strength to strength over the last 10 years and continues to grow with revenues in 2014 expected to be $10 million. Operating out of four locations with offices in Nashville and California in the USA, our Head Quarters in Waterford, Ireland and in 2013 opened new offices in Liverpool, UK. In recent months we also announced a €500k development project with Waterford Institute of Technology and TSSG which will help us to secure our position in the market and benefit the 1000+ customers we have worldwide.
Click here to read our Press Release about our Investment.
John Brennan CEO of Waterford Technologies met this week with the BBC's Legendary Sir Peter O Sullevan to discuss Waterford Technologies and prestigious horse racing event The Yorkshire Ebor Festival.
Sullevan, originally from Kenmare, Co Kerry shared his knowledge as to how he became a leader in his field in the UK, an achievement John Brennan plans to replicate for Waterford Technologies as they grow their business in the UK from their Liverpool Office.
O'Sullevan was involved in some of the earliest television commentaries on any sport in the late 1940s and made many radio commentaries in his earlier years (including the Grand National before it was televised for the first time in 1960). On television, he was the voice who guided viewers through many of the biggest events of the racing year, from the Cheltenham Festival until 1994, The Derby until 1979, to the Grand National, Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood until he retired in 1997. During his career, he called around 30 renewals of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris and racing from the United States and Ireland as well as trotting from Rome during the 1960s.


text:
WW2Wrecks.com
Like World War II Wrecks? You've come to the right place. https://www.ww2wrecks.com A variety of wrecks -ships, aircraft, submarines and vehicles, battlefield archaeology, interviews and first-hand accounts – Enjoy!
WW2 in Greece
WW2 Pacific Treasures
Scapa Flow, the largest shipwreck graveyard in Europe
By Pierre Kosmidis
Divers from around the world visit Scapa Flow to explore the WW1 wrecks and to discover European history resting on the seabed of Scotland.
Armistice and internment of the German fleet
Scapa Flow is a natural bay, sheltered from the wind, located in the Orkney Islands. This port was used as naval base for the Royal Navy during both world wars.
In November 1918, a few days after the Armistice, Germany is forced to surrender all warships. A fleet of 74 battleships of the German Imperial Fleet arrive at Scapa Flow accompanied by over 250 other ships.
Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow
Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, all German ships have to be handed over to the allies. In June 1919, Vice Admiral Ludwig von Reuter decided to scuttle the fleet, in order to avoid the enemies of WW1, i.e. mainly the British and the French, to take hold of the fleet. Almost all of the 74 German ships were deliberately sunk within hours.
Salvage Operations
The strategic importance of Scapa Flow for the Royal Navy made it imperative to remove the wrecks that posed an immediate threat to navigation.
The company Cox and Danks bought the rights to exploit the wrecks and began the salvage operation. Innovative processes, despite repeated failures, allowed the company to salvage 32 ships.
Another company takes over in 1936 and many other ships are slowly salvaged. However, 7 vessels between 150 and 180 meters in length, the König, the Markgraf, the Kronprinz Wilhelm, the Brummer, the Köln, the Karlsruhe and the Dresden, are still resting on the seabed, making Scapa Flow their graveyard for eternity.
The German U-Boat U-47 and the sinking of the Royal Oak in October 1939
One more battleship joined the WW1 German warships in the dark seabed of Scotland, but this time it was the turn of the Royal Navy to pay a heavy price: The HMS Royal Oak is sunk by the German U-Boat U-47, commanded by Korvettenkapitän Günther Prien in October 1939, in a daring operation, which cost the lives of 834 British sailors.
U-47 approached Scapa Flow through the narrow approaches at Kirk Sound with surprising ease. It was high tide and a little after midnight on 14 October 1939.
U-47 first sailed towards Lyness but, finding no ships in the area and encountering no resistance, then turned to the north where HMS Royal Oak, HMS Pegasus and possibly HMS Iron Duke were spotted (Wood, 2008, p.92).
A total of 51 ships were in Scapa Flow at the time, 18 of which can be described as fighting ships (Weaver, 1980, p.39).
When the first torpedo struck HMS Royal Oak at 12.58am, the dull thud confused the sailors – they thought the muffled explosions were an on-board problem, perhaps an explosion in the paint store. They certainly did not think it was a U-boat attack.
A second salvo failed to deliver a hit but the confusion surrounding the first hit gave Commander Prien an additional 20 minutes to return to his firing position, reload, and fire a third salvo. This third discharge landed direct hits amidships.
Royal Oak Seabed. HMS Royal Oak. Scapa Flow
Such was the ferocity of the explosions, the ship heeled over alarmingly and all the lights went out. It had been fine weather so all of the ship's hatches were open.
Undoubtedly Royal Oak would have taken longer to sink and more lives would have been saved if the watertight hatches had been closed; but it is not normal procedure to have all hatches closed when in a supposedly safe harbour with no alerts.
When the ship rolled its gun barrels shifted, pulling the ship faster beneath the surface. Water crashed through the open hatches and men asleep in their bunks were unable to get out in time. It took just minutes for the battleship to sink.
Hundreds fought for their lives in the water, trying to swim for shore through thick fuel oil and in freezing temperatures. A total of 834 men lost their lives. Many of the men are buried in the Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery on Hoy (Wood, 2008, p.92).
With info from
http://www.spotmydive.com
http://www.scapaflowwrecks.com/
The most iconic aircraft of WW2 and beyond, through the eyes of author Jonathan Falconer
Ατομικόν Βιβλιάριον (Μητρώου-Υγείας-Βολής) του 1937


text:
Tag: Bollinger
The Bollinger Family to Acquire Oregon's Famed Ponzi Vineyards
The Bollinger family, owners of iconic Champagne Bollinger in addition to four other historic estates in France, announce the upcoming acquisition of their first winery in the United States, with the purchase of Oregon's famed Ponzi Vineyards. The transaction will unite the Bollinger family with the Ponzi family, building on the legacy the Ponzis have established as one of Oregon's original wineries, leading the success and growth of the region's Pinot Noir over the last 50 years.
Bollinger family holding group Chairman & CEO Etienne Bizot comments, "The United States is such an important market for luxury Champagne, Burgundy, Sancerre, Cognac, and other regions in which our family owns wineries. If there was anywhere outside of France where we felt it was critical to invest, it is in the U.S. We have quietly considered opportunities for a number of years, but it is finally with the Ponzi family that we feel we have found the ideal fit. Their bold vision to come to Oregon, the subsequent decades of recognition for continually innovating and improving – we have so much respect for what the Ponzis have achieved, and look forward to building on it together, and connecting all our brands more closely with the U.S. market."
"We have dedicated our lives to demonstrating Oregon's Willamette Valley as one of the greatest places on the planet for producing cool climate, high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay," remarks Luisa Ponzi, the winery's recognized leading winemaker who trained in Burgundy. "This transaction makes sense for our respective families because of our well-aligned values and shared commitment to producing wines of the very highest quality."
"It gives us immense satisfaction to have the opportunity to pass our legacy winery on to the Bollinger family, who will continue to elevate the brand on a global scale," Winery president Anna Maria Ponzi shares. "This is the natural next step for our brand and winery."
The purchase includes the winery and hospitality facilities 40 minutes from Portland, Oregon in addition to 35 acres of vineyard land in the newly established Laurelwood District AVA. The winery has been an introduction to the region for countless numbers of people through not only visits but major events that the Ponzi family has been instrumental in creating and supporting, such as the International Pinot Noir Celebration, Oregon Pinot Camp and the Salud Pinot Noir Barrel Auction.
Under the leadership of a new CEO, whose recruitment is ongoing, Anna Maria will continue to lead the sales & marketing over the transition period and Luisa will remain as the Director of Viticulture and Winemaking. The Ponzi family will retain 100 acres of vineyard land and will grow and sell the grapes to Ponzi Vineyards under a long-term contract.
VINTUS, current Ponzi Vineyards national sales and marketing agent, and importer of Champagne Bollinger, Champagne Ayala, Domaine Chanson and Langlois-Chateau, will continue to represent Ponzi's trade distribution in the United States.
#winenews #industrynews #champagne #bollinger #bollingerchampagne #Ponzivineyards#wineindustry #oregon #wine #oregonwine #willamettevalleywine #instawine #winewednesday @ponzivineyards @champagne_bollinger
Author lizpalmerPosted on April 7, 2021 Categories Articles, Champagne, News, Press Release, US Wine, Wine NewsTags Bollinger, Bollinger Champagne, Industry News, Ponzi Vineyards, Wine News
Celebrating 40 Years of Bollinger and James Bond
Champagne Bollinger is celebrating its 40th-year partnership with James Bond with a Limited Edition Millésimé 2011.
To mark the release of the upcoming movie No Time To Die, the 25th installment of the James Bond series, Bollinger has created a limited-edition dedicated to 007, with a 2011 vintage. The jet-black 75cl bottle is adorned with the number "25", formed from the titles of the previous films, which are similarly etched on the glass of the wooden box. The 2011 vintage, created entirely from Pinot Noir from the Grand Cru village of Aÿ, where the House was first established in 1829. This is the first time that both the vintage and village have been used exclusively by Bollinger to make a dedicated wine. The 2011 harvest in Aÿ, produced complex, powerful and harmonious Pinot Noirs, fully expressed in this characterful wine.
Released by pre-sale on 5 October to mark James Bond Day, with an RRP of £150.
The decision to use Pinot Noir for this 2011 vintage, exclusively from the home village of Aÿ with its mighty fruit is nothing short of brilliant. Perhaps wait about ten years until the wine has reached its peak and completely integrated its enormous fruit with the barrel notes, but the wine is already magnificent with its deep ripe aroma of apples, backed by fresh wooden notes. House typical and powerful.
The first bottle of Bollinger appeared alongside 007 in 1979 with the release of Moonraker. Since then, the association has gone on to inspire numerous limited-edition bottles, with the Bollinger cooperage also home to a collection of vintage Bond posters.
Commenting on this milestone, Etienne Bizot, CEO of Société Jacques Bollinger, states: "It brings me an immense amount of pride to be celebrating 40 years of partnership between Bollinger and James Bond, it is a testament to the friendship started in 1979, between my father Christian Bizot and James Bond producer Cubby Broccoli. A friendship based on our shared values such as excellence and elegance."
www.champagne-bollinger.com
Author lizpalmerPosted on October 8, 2019 Categories Articles, Champagne, champagne region, Champagne reviews, Press ReleaseTags 007, Bollinger, Champagne, Champagne region, James Bond, Vintage
Queen Elizabeth Ends Every Day with a Glass of Champagne
Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning English monarch, ends each night with a glass of champagne.
Her majesty's cousin Margaret Rhodes reports that Elizabeth II drinks at least one glass of champagne before bed. The exact brand of her nightly libation is unknown, it's almost certainly one of the eight brands that have been granted royal warrants, including Bollinger, Krug, Lanson, and Pol Roger.
Author lizpalmerPosted on March 4, 2017 Format ImageCategories Articles, ChampagneTags Bollinger, Champagne, Krug, Lanson, Liz Palmer, Pol Roger, Queen Elizabeth II
Not Shaken, Not Stirred – What is James Bond's Champagne of Choice?
As a connoisseur of all things fine, what does James Bond drink?
Champagne seems to be high on his list. From Sir Roger Moore KBE to Daniel Craig choices include some of the top champagne houses: Dom Perignon, Taittinger, and Bollinger.
Bollinger seems to be the front runner as it has been featured in 14 Bond films, starting with Live and Let Die in 1973 staring Roger Moore – vintage and style unknown.
Also in Moonraker, Octopussy, The Living Daylights, A View to Kill, License to Kill, and Skyfall James Bond shows a preference for Bollinger RD – vintages include 1969, 1975, 1979, and 1997.
He switches to one of my favourites in 1995 to Bollinger La Grand Année in Goldeneye and also drinks it in Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Vintages include 1988, 1989, 1990, 1995 and 1999.
To celebrate the release of SPECTRE this October, Bollinger has launched the Champagne Bollinger Spectre Limited Edition. This unique Bollinger cuvée is from the 2009 vintage, notable for its aromatic elegance.
Author lizpalmerPosted on October 27, 2015 August 22, 2018 Format GalleryCategories Champagne, Champagne reviews, Other, WineTags 007, Bollinger, Champagne, Champagne Bollinger Spectre Limited Edition, James Bond, Liz Palmer, SPECTRE
Bollinger has named Gilles Descotes its new Chef de Cave.
Descotes joined the famous Champagne House in 2003 and worked his way up to technical director, a role he held since last July. He will be responsible for the production of Champagne up to the point of shipping, the supply of grapes and the House's vineyards.
President Jérôme Philipon said: "He has shown, over the course of the last 10 years, the great leadership qualities required to assist Champagne Bollinger in its controlled growth."
Descôtes added: "It is with the greatest respect for the 'savoir-faire' of Champagne Bollinger that I accept this post. My experience at the heart of this House will help me continue its development through maintaining the style and excellence of its cuvees."
To support Descôtes and his team, and to assist with his new responsibilities, Bollinger has decided to create the role of deputy chef de cave.
Denis Bunner, who has worked for the Comite Champagne since 2002 and is currently head of oenology, will join Gilles Descotes and the team in this role on September 2.
Bunner said: "My goal is to use my experience in viticulture and vinification to serve the ambitions of Champagne Bollinger, in accordance with the quality requirements of the House."
Author lizpalmerPosted on June 14, 2013 August 20, 2018 Categories ChampagneTags Bollinger, Champagne, Liz Palmer


The Vine interview: Larry LaLonde of Primus, December 2010 - Andrew McMillen - A journalist and author based in Brisbane, Australia.
An interview with Primus for The Vine. Excerpt below.
How best to explain a band like Primus to someone unfamiliar with their music? You could throw around words like 'quirky', 'oddball', or just plain 'weird'. You could attempt to stick genre tags like alternative rock, alternative metal, funk metal, or progressive metal to the band, but none would be entirely sufficient. Singer/bassist-extraordinaire Les Claypool once described the trio's music as 'psychedelic polka', which seems apt coming from the horse's mouth. They're probably the weirdest American band to be signed to a major label – except Mr Bungle, perhaps. Despite writers' frequent inability to accurately define their work, one factor has remained consistent throughout their 26-year lifespan: prodigious musical talent.
Formed in California in 1984, the band has been through several iterations over the years; Claypool has been the only consistent member. Though their last original album was released in 1999 (Antipop), the band have been infrequently active since 2003. In March, their website announced a seemingly permanent reformation with long-time contributors Jay Lane (drums) and Larry LaLonde (guitar).
Ahead of their appearance on the national Soundwave Festival tour in late February and March 2011, The Vine was patched through to Primus' guitarist, Larry LaLonde, whose style is generally characterised by searing lead phrases and unconventional guitar sounds that interplay curiously with Les Claypool's bass – which is, in effect, the band's lead instrument.
Hey Larry. Where are you calling from?
We're in Argentina. It's about 6 o'clock at night. What time is it there?
Yeah man, I'm getting up especially to talk to you.
How many shows are you playing in South America?
We're going one tonight and then we're playing one in Chile with Faith No More. It should be cool.
Awesome. That's a nice little segue, because you're playing Soundwave Festival next year, and Faith No More headlined last year.
That's right, I heard. How was that, did you go?
I went and it was fantastic. What else have you heard about Soundwave Festival, Larry?
I don't know a lot about it. I just heard that Faith No More played it and my guitar tech was telling me it's fun. And I saw a bunch of the bands; I'm a super huge Iron Maiden fan so that's going to be awesome. And Slayer. Slayer's always great.
I know you're a big Slayer fan. Are you looking forward to seeing them play five times from up close?
[Laughs] Yeah. We toured with them before in the States too, it was pretty fun. I could watch Slayer every day, and Iron Maiden should be cool to see too. There's tons of bands, a lot of bands out there that I like.
For the full interview, visit The Vine. For more Primus, visit their website. The music video for their song 'Wynona's Big Brown Beaver' is embedded below.


Featuring the fine arts and talents of BC is a full-time business for many Galleries and Event Coordinators. Spotlighting handmade and traditional works to the community and the world in an educational and exclusive format promotes appreciation for BC artists. By visiting these venues or purchasing from them you help to ensure that art and the artists are considered an enriching experience complementing our lives.


The online store where you can buy acrylic sheets, glue and everything you need for DIY.
This space is dedicated to all those who love hobby, you will also find showcase, boxes already-built or to be built.
Transparent acrylic display showcase composed by 5 transparent panels ready to assemble with screws provided.
Liquid Glue for Acrylic. Solvent adhesive fast-setting, easy-to-use.
Kit do it yourself for the cleaning and maintenance of your products in acrylic, for any type of acrylic.


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Q: Redimensionar array PHP Con el siguiente código pretendo pasar el contenido de un array con caracteres a su correspondiente valor en la tabla ASCII. Tengo un problema a la hora de acceder al array porque no puedo redimensionarlo. ¿Cómo podría hacerlo?
 $data = array("H","O","L","A","M","U","N","D","O");

 for($x = 0; $x < count($data); $x++ ){

     $ascii = array(ord($data[$x]));
     echo $ascii[$x];
 }

A: El error que vi al ejecutar tu código es que en la tercera línea en vez de añadir una posición al array estabas reiniciando el array en cada pasada del bucle, por lo que siempre estabas guardando todos los valores en el campo 0 del array.
Corregí el código y así me quedó:
<?php
   $data = array("H","O","L","A","M","U","N","D","O");

   for($x = 0; $x < count($data); $x++ ){

       $ascii[$x] = ord($data[$x]);
       echo $ascii[$x];

   }
?>

Espero haberte ayudado. Un saludo :)

A: Podrías manejar el array con foreach. Es mucho más cómodo para lo que necesitas hacer. También lo suyo sería que declarases el array $ascii como array y fuera del bucle para que no tengas problemas de que deje de ser accesible y luego lo vas llenando dentro del bucle con array_push().
$data = array("H","O","L","A","M","U","N","D","O");
$ascii = array();

foreach($data as $letra){
    array_push($ascii, ord($letra));
}

print_r($ascii);

A: PHP no es como c, en el sentido de la memoria en los arrays. En php puedes añadir un elemento directamente al array. Solo hay que indicarle lo siguiente:
  $data = [];

  $data[] =  "cadena1";
  $data[] =  "cadena2";

Ademas es posible añadir datos con una key, lo que en PHP denomina "array asociativo":
  $data = [];

  $data["key1"] =  "cadena1";
  $data["key2"] =  "cadena2";

Ademas, podrias cambiar el codigo de esta manera:
function toAscii($n)
{
    return(ord($n));
}

$data = array("H","O","L","A","M","U","N","D","O");
$ascii = array_map("toAscii", $data);

En php tienes la funcion array_map , que te devuelve un array en el que se ha ejecutado por cada elemento, la funcion que le pasemos. En este caso, te he definido una funcion que devuelve un elemento convertido al ascii correspondiente. Array_map ejecutara esa funcion en cada uno de los elementos, devolviendote el array que quieres.
Si imprimes el array $ascii que resulta de ejecutar este codigo, veras el siguiente resultado:
Array (
    [0] => 72
    [1] => 79
    [2] => 76
    [3] => 65
    [4] => 77
    [5] => 85
    [6] => 78
    [7] => 68
    [8] => 79 )


Pie Five Pizza is getting on board with one of the biggest restaurant trends of 2016: vegan dining. The Dallas-based company is adding a vegan cheese option made by pioneer Daiya, to serve at all Pie Five restaurants nationwide, including four Houston-area locations.
Called Daiya Classic Blend Shreds, it's a blend of mozzarella and cheddar vegan shredded cheese, like nothing offered at other chains. It does what most people want cheese to do on a pizza: It melts and stretches to create a gooey, rich topping, just like dairy-based cheese.
The cheese blend is soy-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, tree-nut free, plant-based, lactose-free, and vegan.
Patty Scheibmeir, VP of research and development and product innovation at Pie Five, says that guests were requesting it, and that Daiya was the best dairy-free alternative.
"The thing about Daiya's cheese is that it worked well with our current oven settings, and it works with all of our pizza crusts," she says. "It cooks perfectly, with a beautiful stretchiness. With some of the vegan cheeses we tried, they came out looking like burnt marshmallow. Daiya was the only one tested that looked and tasted good."
"Those have always been vegan," she says. "We don't have egg in any of our crusts."
Pie Five is a spin-off of Pizza Inn that specializes in customized personal pizzas. It is named for the amount of time it takes to get your pizza made to order: five minutes. Toppings include upscale options such as spinach, artichoke hearts, caramelized onions, and three kinds of olives. Fresh vegetables are prepped at each store.
The first Pie Five opened in Fort Worth in 2011; there are now 87 locations in 24 states.
Five of Pie Five's seven sauces are vegan, including Tuscan marinara, spicy marinara, barbecue, olive oil, and olive oil with garlic. (The Alfredo and ranch sauces have milk.) That allows customers to create an entirely vegan pie.
"The vegan trend is expanding," Scheibmeir says. "We hear it from young people, women, millennials, and we're working on more options."
Daiya Classic Blend Shreds will be available at every Pie Five location by the end of March.


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Title: Sexual conflict and division of labour during incubation
Author: Hill, Davina Louise
Awarding Body: University of Glasgow
Current Institution: University of Glasgow
http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1688/
Individuals have limited time and energy and so they face a trade-off between the resources they allocate to parental, mating and self-maintenance activities and between care of current and future offspring. Within a biparental system, models predict that an individual will do better if it can reduce its own level of investment and rely on its partner to compensate, but that the partner should not compensate completely or it will be exploited. The costs and benefits of care can differ between males and females, leading to sex-specific differences in optimum resource allocation to a given breeding attempt. Sexual conflict can occur over evolutionary or ecological time, as predicted by 'sealed bid' and 'negotiation' models of parental investment, respectively. While researchers have traditionally used handicapping or mate removal to induce variation in paternal effort and then measure the female response, I achieved this by carrying out two experiments in which I separately manipulated (a) paternal certainty and (b) male extra-pair copulation (EPC) opportunity during incubation in a biparentally incubating passerine, the Zebra Finch, Taeniopygia guttata. Both experiments were based on a 'crossover design', which took place over two breeding attempts: in the first attempt half the pairs experienced a treatment (i.e. reduced paternal certainty or increased male EPC opportunities, depending on the experiment) while the remaining pairs were control; in the second breeding attempt the type of treatment was switched between groups. This allowed me to explore the effects of previous events on current effort. I also statistically controlled for male attractiveness, based on association times obtained from mate choice trials, as this varies between males, and females may respond differently to it. In the first round of the experiments, when all subjects lacked breeding experience, treatment males reduced incubation effort relative to controls. However, when the treatments were switched, males continued to invest the same level of effort that they had shown previously, which suggests that individuals may use early life experiences to shape their later responses. Males and females responded to each other's contributions over ecological time, and control and treatment pairs negotiated different patterns of effort. Contrary to predictions of most game theoretic models, treatment females compensated fully for the reduction in partner effort. Since there can be a trade-off in investment between reproductive stages and attempts, I tested whether compensating females showed reduced reproductive output in a subsequent breeding attempt. In the second attempt, clutch size was negatively related to the amount of time spent incubating the first clutch in females that had previously fledged a large brood. I also found that the number of offspring surviving to maturity increased with total incubation attentiveness. Together, these findings suggest that incubation attentiveness is an appropriate proxy for parental investment since it enhances offspring survival at a cost to the mother's future fitness. Incubation effort can be measured in terms of temperature as well as time, and the sexes may differ in the quality of the incubation they provide for a given unit of time. In the Zebra Finch, the female alone possesses a brood patch, a bare area of thickened, loose ventral skin which facilitates heat transfer from parent to egg. I examined sex differences in incubation ability by comparing the ventral surface temperature of incubating males and females using infra-red thermography (IRT) under standard incubation conditions and also under more challenging conditions where the energetic costs of incubation had been experimentally increased by a clutch size manipulation. The ventral surface was warmer in females than males under standard conditions, and ventral temperature was higher than baseline body temperature in females but not males. Moreover, females increased ventral temperature after the clutch enlargement, whereas males showed no response. These results suggest that the sexes differ in their ability or willingness to incubate, presumably due to sex differences in parental certainty or mate availability. Since the female has a warmer ventral surface and spends more time incubating than the male, I predicted that she would be able to re-warm cool eggs more quickly and incubate eggs to a higher temperature. I used IRT to measure egg surface temperature and a temperature probe inside a dummy egg to measure rates of re-warming. Following the clutch size enlargement, the variance in egg temperature increased with clutch size more rapidly in males than in females, but no sex differences were otherwise detected in clutch surface temperature or rate of re-warming. This suggests that there are differences in the quality of incubation provided by males and females for a given contribution of time, but that these are subtle. In conclusion, variation in male and female incubation effort can be influenced by paternal certainty, male EPC opportunity, clutch size and the partner's behaviour and these effects can be observed over ecological time. The flexibility of an individual's response depended on the type of cue and the stage in an individual's reproductive life that the cue was presented. Variation in parental effort can influence offspring fitness, and females that invest more effort in one breeding attempt may be unable or unwilling to do so in a subsequent attempt. Male and female parents can differ in their abilities to care and this can lead to differences in the amount and quality of care provided.
Keywords: QL Zoology ; Q Science (General)


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AMT-061 Increases FIX Activity, Reduces Bleeding in Phase 3 Trial, Data Show
by Marisa Wexler MS | November 20, 2020
AMT-061 (etranacogene dezaparvovec), an investigational gene therapy uniQure is developing to treat hemophilia B, successfully increased factor IX (FIX) activity and controlled bleeding — while markedly reducing the need for other treatments — in the Phase 3 HOPE-B clinical trial, top-line data show.
These findings will be presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting & Exposition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), to be held virtually Dec. 5-8. The presentation is titled "First data from the Phase 3 HOPE-B Gene Therapy Trial: Efficacy and Safety of Etranacogene Dezaparvovec (AAV5-Padua hFIX variant; AMT-061) in Adults with Severe or Moderate-Severe Hemophilia B Treated Irrespective of Pre-existing AntiCapsid Neutralizing Antibodies."
Hemophilia B is caused by missing or defective FIX, a clotting protein. AMT-061 uses an AAV5 viral vector to deliver the Padua variant — a version of the F9 gene that has high FIX activity — to patients, thereby allowing their cells to produce functional FIX.
In the HOPE-B trial (NCT03569891), 54 men with severe or moderately severe hemophilia B (mean age 41.5) were given a single dose of the investigational gene therapy by intravenous (into-the-vein) infusion. Most participants (70.4%) had bleeds during the lead-in to the trial, despite preventive treatment.
The trial's main goal was to determine the effect of AMT-061 treatment on FIX activity after 26 weeks (about six months). At this timepoint, FIX activity had rapidly increased to a mean of 37.2% — a 36% increase relative to the start of the trial — which was sustained over 18 months.
"We are extremely pleased that these top-line pivotal data show that a single administration of etranacogene dezaparvovec gene therapy led to sustained increases of Factor IX (FIX) to functionally-curative levels capable of eliminating the need for regular infusions to control and prevent bleeding episodes," Ricardo Dolmetsch, PhD, president of research and development at uniQure, said in a press release.
At the study start, 42.6% of participants had antibodies against AAV5 that could neutralize the viral vector. For most of the men, the team found no association between the presence of these antibodies and treatment response — though one participant, who had exceptionally high antibody levels, did not respond to treatment.
"The ability to dose a gene therapy in patients with pre-existing neutralizing antibodies has not been demonstrated for any other gene therapy and illustrates the potentially unique ability of our AAV5 platform to address the needs of a broad set of patients living with hemophilia B and other disorders," Dolmetsch said.
Apart from the participant with the highest antibody levels, and one other individual who received a partial dose, all of the patients (96.3% in total) were able to discontinue routine preventive treatment. Relatedly, the mean annual FIX use prior to the trial, which was 292,304 units per participant, was reduced by 96% — to 12,622 units — at six months.
Also, 39 patients (72.2%) experienced no bleeds during this period; 21 total bleeds were reported among the remaining 15 men.
The gene therapy was generally well-tolerated; no serious adverse events or on-study deaths were reported. In total, 37 participants (68.5%) reported adverse events, of which 81.5% were mild. The most common treatment-related adverse events were elevated levels of liver enzymes, which occurred in nine men (17%) and were treated with steroids, as well as infusion-related reactions, headaches, and flu-like symptoms, each reported in 13% of participants.
"The safety profile was consistent with early phase AAV5 studies and together these data support a favorable safety and efficacy profile for etranacogene dezaparvovec," the researchers wrote.
The participants will be monitored for five years to evaluate the long-term safety of etranacogene dezaparvovec, the company noted.
"We believe that etranacogene dezaparvovec has the potential to be a first- and best-in-class gene therapy for patients with hemophilia B," said Matt Kapusta, uniQure's CEO. "We are very pleased to have met the 26-week FIX primary endpoint [goal] and to feature these promising data at the upcoming ASH conference."
"Based on interactions with the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] and EMA [European Medicines Agency], we plan to incorporate FIX activity and bleeding rates at 52 weeks as additional co-primary endpoints in the study," Kapusta added. "We look forward to holding our pre-BLA [biologics license application] meeting with the FDA and completing the last patient's 52-week follow-up visit in the first quarter of 2021."
Information on registering for the ASH annual meeting can be found here.
AAV5, AMT-061, ASH annual meeting, etranacogene dezaparvovec, factor IX, FIX, gene therapy, hemophilia B, HOPE-B, uniQure


The Turkish club returned some of the tickets it was entitled to, those tickets were offered for sale, but they have sold out.
Sold out! Sport Lisboa and Benfica e Fenerbahçe play this Tuesday evening (8pm), at the Estádio da Luz, the first leg of the Champions League 3rd qualifying round. The Turkish side returned some of the tickets it was entitled to, those tickets were offered for sale, but they have sold out.
Gedson: "The fans show the Club's greatness"
Cervi: "To score at Luz is always beautiful"