text:
We do not take humor seriously enough.
Konrad Lorenz's quotes
It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.
Historians will have to face the fact that natural selection determined the evolution of cultures in the same manner as it did that of species.
Every man gets a narrower and narrower field of knowledge in which he must be an expert in order to compete with other people. The specialist knows more and more about less and less and finally knows everything about nothing.
I have found the missing link between the higher ape and civilized man; it is we.
Evil, by definition, is that which endangers the good, and the good is what we perceive as a value.
We had better dispense with the personification of evil, because it leads, all too easily, to the most dangerous kind of war: religious war.
Most of the vices and mortal sins condemned today correspond to inclinations that were purely adaptive or at least harmless in primitive man.
Truth in science can be defined as the working hypothesis best suited to open the way to the next better one.
I believe that present day civilized man suffers from insufficient discharge of his aggressive drive.
Barking dogs occasionally bite, but laughing men hardly ever shoot.
The bond with a true dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth will ever be.
'I don't need brains,' says the billionaire contemptuously. 'I'm brainy enough myself!' The broker cries out in desperation, 'What, in heaven's name, do you want?' 'Goodness,' is the answer.
Ethologists are often accused of drawing false analogies between animal and human behaviour. However, no such thing as a false analogy exists: an analogy can be more or less detailed and, hence, more or less informative.
From a neighbour, I got a one-day-old duckling and found, to my intense joy, that it transferred its following response to my person. At the same time, my interest became irreversibly fixated on water fowl, and I became an expert on their behaviour even as a child.
I consider early childhood events as most essential to a man's scientific and philosophical development.
I grew up in the large house and the larger garden of my parents in Altenberg. They were supremely tolerant of my inordinate love for animals.
I owe undying gratitude to my patient parents.
In the course of evolution, it constantly happens that, independently of each other, two different forms of life take similar, parallel paths in adapting themselves to the same external circumstances.
Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to a minimum.
The father-mother family with two children isolated in a city flat is already insufficient.
There is indeed the possibility that the evolutionary process has, in gray antiquity, bred into us an excess of aggression.
When I was about ten, I discovered evolution by reading a book by Wilhelm Boelsche and seeing a picture of Archaeopteryx.
Whenever we find, in two forms of life that are unrelated to each other, a similarity of form or of behaviour patterns which relates to more than a few minor details, we assume it to be caused by parallel adaptation to the same life-preserving function.
Men live by intervals of reason under the sovereignty of humor and passion.
Humor can help you cope with the unbearable so that you can stay on the bright side of things until the bright side actually comes along.
It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.
What we're doing is fun - if you have any sense of humor at all!
You've got to have a sense of humor to keep your sanity.
I don't think I could ever do a network sitcom because the humor is often based on some trite circumstance. I don't want to be a part of a show where it's mostly about coming up with the jokes.
Sherilyn Fenn
All my jobs have been with food in one way or another since 1948. My parents were in the hotel business, and I just loved the warm hearted people who worked so hard with such good humor.
You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.
The man with the real sense of humor is the man who can put himself in the spectator's place and laugh at his own misfortune.
Advertisers also know that humor can help bond us to their product.
I am a great believer that what makes our show different is the humor.
Treat Williams
The comic is the perception of the opposite; humor is the feeling of it.
Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.
Once we got over the origin story, we could really delve deeper into their lives and characters and angst. So this movie actually has more heart, more humor.
Incongruity, they say, is one of the main ingredients of humor. Maybe it's because everybody can feel superior to me. I honestly don't know.
I love Sell Out, I think it's great. I love the jingles. The whole thing as an album is a wonderful piece of work. The cover. Everything about it. It's got humor, great songs, irony.
In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.
I'm not for gratuitous nudity, but if there's humor, I don't have a problem.
It felt as if things were literally slipping through my fingers. Things were just streaming away from me. I lost my sense of humor. I'm still looking for that.
Robert Walker as Bruno was excellent. He had elegance and humor, and the proper fondness for his mother.
I'm not really big on slapstick humor. I like gentle humor.
But it also became the experience, or was the experience, of the writers who were attracted to this kind of humor. They're all men or women who come from the same kind of experience in their own lives.
Puns are a form of humor with words.
No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor.


Urgent. In Ukraine Walk Viruses Pneumonic Plague and Swine Flu.
The head physician of the medical institutions sent out an informal disposal - not to sow panic, to refute the information about the plague, but to speak only of swine flu. Pneumonic plague is a particularly dangerous infections. This is one of the most aggressive infections that threaten human life, along with anthrax. Typically, the agent of pneumonic plague is transferred ferrets, coney, other rodents, including rats, living in warm climates. They are the natural reservoir. There are two main clinical forms of plague: bubonic and pneumonic.
Urging its citizens not to panic, Ukraine on Monday closed the nation's schools for a week to avoid the spread of swine flu and suggested that nightclubs, cinemas and food markets in the west also shut down. The World Health Organization said Monday there was no evidence that Ukraine had a bad outbreak of swine flu. Nevertheless, all schools have been closed for a week across Ukraine, even in the capital, Kiev, where there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu. All outdoor markets have been closed in the western region of Lviv, where the governor also urged cinemas, cafes, nightclubs and theaters to shut down until further notice.
Rumors abound, but the current outbreak of the plague in the Ukraine is not a deliberate release of droplets via small planes, is not an attempt by the Russians to punish and threaten Ukraine or European politicians, is not caused by contaminated vaccines produced by Baxter or other production companies, and is not some kind of New World Order incentive to declaring martial law around the world. The great plague outbreaks, the Black Death, occurred in Europe which obviously has the plague bacillus indiginous in its rat population. At the onset of winter, rats seek shelter indoors, and invade human lodgings. The onset of winter is also a cold and flu season for humans. Traps are set, and in handling the dead rats, those with a cold or mild flu might pull out a hanky to blow their nose. What is causing the spread of the pneumonic plague at this time in the Ukraine is fear of the swine flu. This fear is ramped up by authorities intent on immunizing the public to the greatest extent possible, due to their own fears of another genetically engineered flu virus being released. Thus nervous, those who empty rat traps and wipe their runny nose with a hanky, also put this hanky up as a face mask when encountering others. They thus send any plague bacillus to their lungs, and the cycle begins.
An unusual outbreak of pneumonic plague that has killed at least 61 people and potentially sickened hundreds of others is the focus of a World Health Organization (WHO) mission in a war-torn area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Plague is endemic in the northeastern province of Orientale, near Uganda, but this outbreak is unusual because it appears to be exclusively the pneumonic form of plague, which accounts for only 2% of reported plague cases overall. The pneumonic form can spread from person to person via aerosolized bacteria, bypassing the usual route of flea bites or infective materials. Antibiotics can treat the disease and prevent a secondary outbreak.


text:
The Pazmany Aircraft Corporation is an American aircraft design and manufacturing company. The company provides plans for the PL-2, PL-4 and PL-9 for the homebuilder market.

History
The company was founded as L. Pazmany & Associates at San Diego, California to produce the PL-1 single-seat light aircraft designed by Ladislao Pazmany. The PL-1 was followed by the two-seat PL-2. The PL-4 is a single-seat trainer. The latest aircraft is Pazmany PL-9 Stork a high-wing two-seat monoplane for the home builder market, it is a 3/4 scale homebuilders version of the Second World War Fiesler Storch.

Aircraft

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Aircraft manufacturers of the United States
Manufacturing companies based in California
Companies based in San Diego
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1957
Technology companies established in 1957

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Augmented Reality/
Why look at reality when you can edit what you see in real time?
An AI demo points to the future of mixed reality
By James Vincent
Oct 13, 2021, 10:30 AM UTC |
The adoption of augmented reality is happening slowly but surely, and it's easy to see one possible future for the technology: hardware that lets you edit what you see in real time, replacing objects around you with virtual overlays. Call it mixed reality, to be more precise.
Recent research from academics at the University of Duisburg-Essen and ETH Zurich, along with the AI team at Porsche (yes, the carmakers — we'll get to that in a bit), shows how this might work. The team has built an AI system dubbed TransforMR that detects objects like cars and people, removes them, then replaces them with CGI alternatives in real-time. The end results are hardly flawless (edits are haphazard and the CGI models look like they were borrowed from 3D Movie Maker) but the concept is striking. It's not hard to imagine applications like this becoming commonplace in decades to come.
It's a rough demo, but the concept is striking
The team behind the work told The Verge that although individual elements of their work had been done before, the composite system is novel. TansforMR can run on regular smartphones and tablets, but requires a 4G connection to send data to the cloud. Images are processed so that objects are not just covered up, as with Snapchat AR lenses or Apple's Memoji, but edited out entirely. Objects are detected, segmented, then "inpainted" (replaced with AI-generated background), and a CGI model substituted for the original.
The TransforMR model involves many distinct steps.
There are obviously lots of areas for improvement. The frame-rate is just 15fps at low quality inpainting; the lag is 50 to 100 milliseconds; and the CGI replacements are not the best quality. But, the team behind the system say these aspects are relatively easy to improve.
"The main limitation is that large images are very compute-intensive," Mohamed Kari, a machine learning researcher at Porsche, told The Verge. "So for the inpainting we do this with very small images currently, operating on 512 x 512 images. But the bandwidth [usage] is negligible. If you can do FaceTime you can do TransforMR."
One of the key elements of the system, says Kari, is its use of pose detection. This means that when the system detects a person, for example, it identifies 18 separate joints in the body. That means the CGI replacement can be anchored to the target's movement in real time. Kari compares this to other AR systems which simply identify geometric surfaces.
Integrating this technology into AR glasses is impossible right now
Looking at clips of TransforMR in action, it's not hard to imagine such software being integrated into AR glasses. Users could pick a "theme" for their day, replacing cars, buildings, and people with sci-fi alternatives, or items taken from nature. But, as Kari points out, this would involves a huge hardware challenge. Current augmented reality glasses can only project low-resolution, semi-opaque overlays onto their lenses. Right now, we just don't have the technology to "edit" what users are seeing with this sort of hardware. (Though it could presumably be done using a "passthrough" VR system, where first-person cameras play a live video feed onto screens that completely occlude the wearer's vision.)
"We are reproducing the full image on screen, so we can remove whatever we want to, but with augmented reality glasses removing objects is difficult because it adds light intensity," says Kari. "In HoloLens for example, you are looking through the glass, so removing stuff is more difficult. That question is open to research."
But why is Porsche investigating this sort of tech in the first place? According to one of the company's AI architects, Tobias Grosse-Puppendahl, it's all about improving the experience of passengers and drivers. Future versions of the TransforMR software could be used to entertain people when they're stuck in traffic, Grosse-Puppendahl tells The Verge. "Our main question was, how can we modify reality in a way that is fun and entertaining to react with? And that's where our idea originated from."
Other research projects at Porsche follow a similar theme. For example, the company has also built a prototype system called SoundRide which uses a car's machine vision to detect changes in scenery and cue up appropriate music. "Maybe, for example, you're driving through the Alps, driving through a beautiful route, and suddenly you have a wonderful view and maybe the music changes," says Kari. "We're thinking how technology can make the experience in the car even more interesting and beautiful." And that means tinkering with what people would otherwise see and hear.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Spike Lee Joins NBA2K16 For Joint Collaboration
Tim David Harvey
He still in this game.
EA Sports may not be, with the way they keep losing to the new king on the console video games throne, but the man who sits courtside at Knicks games is…live!
Lee, the legendary director of films (or "joints) like 'Do The Right Thing', 'Inside Man' and 'He Got Game' is about the follow in the digital sneaker steps of music curated players Jay-Z and Pharrell Williams to contribute to the new NBA 2K Sports game for 2016.
You may notice MVP and finalist Stephen Curry on one of the big three (James Harden and Anthony Davis being the others) legendary, iconic red covers of the forthcoming NBA2K16-which is set to keep NBA fans on the couches even when regular season games end-but above that you will read something different…
"Featuring 'A Spike Lee Joint'"
No we're not talking about 'Mo' Better Blues' or the forthcoming 'Ciraq' starring John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson and comedian Dave Chappelle, but a new 'MYCareer' mode wrote and directed by the '25th Hour', four quarter aficionado.
On the digital dry-erase as writer, director and co-producer, Spike is doing the video game thing in regards to his favorite sport. Out at the end of September on the Playstation, XBOX and P.C., 2K says Lee's direction will elevate the video game like a dunk, "from both a visual and narrative perspective", as the director looks to "push the boundaries of innovative storytelling."
Currently getting the world pumped for this game and the real NBA Finals one with his 'Story Is Everything' epic trailer that even beats the goosebumps of 'Empire' star Terrence Howard's one from years back. Lee is offering fans of basketball and video games alike a look at the "trial and tribulations" of rising as a star in the NBA with a story of his own.
Is Howard's End In Hollywood?
His players name…'Frequency Vibrations"!
We guess Mars Blackmon was busy.
Still we can get with the Frequency and what a player "whose personal exploits off the court are just as chaotic as the game on it" as Frequency vibrates between the hardwood and the high-life. As cool as all this sounds with those old 'not-actual in-game footage' cut-sequences that could even be as good as the storytelling ones you see in the likes of 'Grand Theft Auto', it looks like the influential filmmaker who is furthering his career innovation is looking to give a moral message to both aspiring ballers and those who choose to sit back on the sofa and play through someone else.
Still, we'd sure love to see a digital version of his famous alter-ego from those classic Nike Air Jordan commercials. It must be the consoles. Because when it comes to Blackmon, nobody can beat our main man Mars.
Noooobody!


text:
О́бер-офице́ры (от ; ) — наименование категории младших офицерских чинов в русской армии и во флоте до 1917 года, соответствовавших 9-м — 14-м классам Табели о рангах. Обер-офицеры представляли командный состав роты. Немецкое название (буквально «старшие офицеры») идёт из XVII века.

К обер-офицерам полагалось обращение: «Ваше благородие».

Прекращение существования
На территории Петроградского военного округа прекратили существование с  года на основании приказа по округу.

В армейских частях на остальной территории Российской республики, подконтрольной Совнаркому, прекратили существование с  года — даты вступления в силу принятого Совнаркомом «Декрета об уравнении всех военнослужащих в правах».

Во флоте прекратили существование с  года — даты вступления в силу «Декрета о демократизации флота», подписанного наркомом по морским делам П. Е. Дыбенко и управляющим Морским министерством М. В. Ивановым.

На территориях, подконтрольных белому и казачьим правительствам, применялись до октября 1922 года.

См. также
Обер-офицерские дети
Генералы
Штаб-офицеры
Унтер-офицеры
Рядовые

Примечания

Ссылки

Табель о рангах


text:
White roses against indifference and resistance dismiss David Sassoli from the European Parliament
White roses, the hymn of joy and his family at the plenary session of Strasbourg to finally bid farewell to President David Sassoli (PD/S&D). White roses as the name of the Christian collective, Rosa Bianca, in which the Italian has participated for decades. An association inspired by the tradition of democratic Catholicism promoted by Paolo Giuntella and which brought together groups of young people from Catholic associations (ACI, FUCI, ACLI). White roses distributed in the European Parliament against indifference, because the name of the Italian collective is inspired by the memory of Weisse Rose. That is, of the ideas, the words, the political action of resistance, the courage to the point of sacrifice of the students who in the years 1942 to 1943 at the University of Munich chose to make their voices heard against the indifference and fear of the people. German to the Nazi dictatorship.
Since the end of the 1970s, the "we will not be silent" of the victims of Nazism and the cry "long live freedom" began to become slogans of a group of young Catholics committed to associationism (Catholic Action, Fuci, Agesci, Acli… .) such as David Sassoli, who met periodically to discuss political news, plan initiatives, exchange educational readings, build alternative lifestyles to the consumerism that grew in Italy in the early 1980s, which left behind the political violence heralding the collapse of the Christian Democracy and led multiple attempts to combine Christian solidarity with socialist ideals, as well as the expansion of feminist movements.
Sassoli's political culture drank from there. "Pain cannot be inflicted on pain," said David Sassoli. "We are the hope when we do not close our eyes to those who need help, when we do not build walls on our borders, when we fight all forms of injustice", declared the President of the European Parliament on December 23 last, three days before his final entry at the Aviano Referral Center (CRO).
This Monday he received the goodbye of his fellow MEPs in a plenary session in Strasbourg full of his white roses.
The leader of the Partito Democrático, the formation of Sassoli, Enrico Letta, has affirmed in the plenary session of the European Parliament: "The smile, his; the eyes, those of others; the word, that of those who have no voice. David has inspired us with its fight against authoritarian drifts. It has left us a great legacy. Europe is, above all, its people, its soul, its hearts. It has always been committed to a Europe that does not succumb to the temptation of standardization, working for a unity respectful of traditions and specificities".
"It was not an accident, but the legacy of those who found the antidote to hate", said Letta about the Europeanist vision of Sassoli, who was buried in Rome with the coffin wrapped in the European flag: "The EU is not just directives , institutions, acronyms, but people. Hugs, emotions, smiles and tears. People who cry at the farewell of one of their own".
For the French president, Emmanuel Macron, rotating president of the EU Council, Sassoli was a man "of rare benevolence, convinced, charismatic, determined to reaffirm his attachment to the European project and to everything that unites us. I remember with emotion a clairvoyant man, a characteristic that everyone has remembered, with a vision as broad as that of the entire continent. He put many stones in the building of the European Union and prepared many others for its future. He has taken out a majority that has laid the foundations of a common debt [para los fondos europeos]".
The president of the socialist group in the European Parliament, Iratxe García, pointed out a speech that closed emotionally: "Sassoli embodied the soul of Europe. We have not only lost a great president, but also a colleague, a friend and an exemplary politician. The politics as a service to the common good, as a collective effort to improve people's lives".
"Delors said that Europe lacked a soul. David was that soul", said the leader of the Socialists in the European Parliament: "I am going to ask David one last favor, to give me a bit of that Christian faith that he I had and I didn't. Addio David, addio amico. Rimarrai con noi [Adiós David, adiós amigo. Te quedarás con nosotros]".
The best tribute we can give you is to continue with your legacy.
Addio dear friend, expensive President, rimarrai always with noi. pic.twitter.com/Tz5yTn4GCq
– Iratxe Garcia Perez/♥ (@IratxeGarper) January 17, 2022
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who had to return home after her driver tested positive, was unable to attend the ceremony. But on Twitter he remembered Sassoli: "My heart cries for having had to give up the tribute to my great friend David Sassoli. I want to pay tribute to him once again with a white rose, a symbol of his lifelong political and moral commitment."
It is with a heavy heart that I have had to forego my tribute to my good friend David Sassoli.
I still want to honor his memory with a white rose that was a symbol of his lifelong political and moral engagement.
Good road, dear David.
– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 17, 2022
Sassoli was also remembered by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. "In my first meeting with him, I was struck by his relaxed, generous attitude, totally focused on others. And then this smiling face, a smile that was his trademark and that didn't lie. You're leaving, David, and a part of you remains in each one of us. Your example inspires us. Thank you dear president, thank you dear David. Rest in peace".
Manfred Weber, president of the EPP, referred to Sassoli as "a man who has always built bridges" and invited all MEPs to make "a more social and more united Europe. Let's row together so that David's legacy materializes".
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My June/July playlist is filled with pop-bangers, italo disco heaven, 90s boybands, norwegian soul queens, early 2000s indie rock bands making a comeback, remixed reggae and swedish singer-songwriters! What more can you ask for to make your summer soundtrack complete?
This is more of a #throwbacksunday to May 1st if I can call it just that. The show was originally sold out in 4 minutes, way before I even had the time to log on to buy tickets. But I was determined to get into that arena to see the show, and two hours before the show they released a very limited amount of tickets. I called up my friend Ida with the good news and off we went! We expected some of the worst seats in the house, but surprisingly to us, it was only a few rows from the stage.
I have a long musical history with Adele. I first discovered her on myspace before she was even signed to a record company over ten years ago, and knew already then that this amazing artist was going to get far in the music industry. Her album 23 helped me through a tough period last year, and her new album 25 helped me even more (I think I've never heard songs as heartfelt and accurately describing as Hello and Set Fire To The Rain).
It's the middle of may, I'm planning my summer, working around the clock and planning my summer. As always accompanied by great music.
This March I went on what can only be described as a trip of a lifetime! I have been wanting to visit Japan for such a long time, and this easter I finally went. What a trip it was! Here's my video vlog from my trip to Tokyo, and also my favourite photographs. I might make a Tokyo guide with all of my favourite places this summer.
If you're thinking about going to Tokyo – take my word for it and go!
My April playlist is filled with cheerful tones, catchy dance-songs and the comeback of one of my favourite girl groups of the 90s All Saints. These are the songs I listened to while in London, Tokyo and on my way to work in Oslo. I never really got into The 1975, but I heard this first track of the list in Topshop and got really into it in the fitting room. Haha! Enjoy this month's playlist, as always it will be updated throughout the month.


We live in an age characterized as narcissistic and self-obsessed. But, in reality, collaboration — not self-reliance — has become our primary mode of both work and play. Instead of turning to centralized "authorities" for news, politics, or daily fashion cues, we look to friends on social media. We're reaching across cultural and geographical boundaries in unprecedented ways — finding new ways to grow in business, healthcare, technology, and the arts.
"The impulse towards collaboration has always been there," says Ioana Literat, Assistant Professor at Columbia University's Communication, Media, and Learning Technologies Design Program.
For Sarah Daly, joining an online community of artists was an appealing escape from the drudgery of her day job. In 2009, Daly — a musician and screenwriter who goes by the name Metaphorest — signed up for hitRECord, an open-collaborative production company founded by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. She began uploading songs and writing that had been gathering dust on a hard drive.
Now a "Resident Curator" at hitRECord, Daly has seen her work performed by the likes of Sia, Anne Hathaway, and Channing Tatum — not to mention Gordon-Levitt himself. And while not everyone's contributions gain so much traction, hitRECord's open platform gives a piece of work the chance to speak louder than its author's resume.
Indeed, anyone can join the hitRECord community and upload snippets of text, audio, video, or illustration, which are all called "records." Then, anyone else can remix those records by, say, adding an illustration to the text of a short story, or creating an animation to accompany a song. Everything uploaded to the site is collectively owned, and users interact with one another not via consensus, but by individual interest in a particular record.
In other words, HitRECord streamlines the collaborative process.
A fully formed "record" that began its life as a song by Metaphorest.
Whether in art or business, it seems organizations that engage individuals as co-creators are most effective in establishing vital digital platforms.
Indeed, organizations the world over have noted the many benefits of the digital "hive mind." And the collaborative processes they've come up with are as diverse as the organizations themselves.
Twine Health is a collaborative digital platform that helps users steer their own ship in the notoriously decentralized medical field, where patients are often left frustrated, or even in danger. (For example, an if an out-of-state ER doctor doesn't have access to their patient's full medical history.) Twine functions as a sort of virtual healthcare village. Patients set goals with physicians, and share them with an inner-circle of concerned individuals. Family members, therapists, doctors, and life coaches can all interact and check on patient progress and vital stats via an app — increasing accountability and centralizing scattered resources.
"As the intensity of participation increases," writes Ioana Literat, "So does the creative agency of the contributors." In other words, successful digital collaboration is not about simply having access to the technology, but the ways in which we are invited to make it our own.
Still, digital collaboration is a not exactly a democratizing panacea, and we should be wary of viewing digital space as protected from the social and political dynamics of everyday life. Even open-sourced, wiki models — which, like hitRECord, are open to anyone with Internet access — rely on editors to determine the quality and relevance of an entry. Based on a 2015 report, "It's a Man's Wikipedia?" by authors Claudia Wagner and David Garcia, Wikipedia's community of self-selected editors are primarily white and male, which Wagner and Garcia argue may create systemic bias in articles.
Ultimately, it's about how we learn to make the technology work for us. As virtual space helps solve problems presented by boundaries such as time and geography, the success of digital collaboration hinges on the agency and awareness of its participants IRL.
Forget what you've seen in movies — working in a library is no gig for the lazy curmudgeon.
Bridges serve as emblems of a region's culture, at once exhibiting and engendering a sense of identity.
Stop giving kids summer reading lists. Do this instead.


RAIL users were delayed after a tree fell on the Henley Branch Line in Wargrave.
Services on the line between Henley and Twyford were postponed or cancelled after the blockage was reported at about 7.45am on Thursday last week.
Workmen with chainsaws cleared the tree and the normal timetable was resumed at about 10am.


text:
JUVENILE FICTION >
Action & Adventure/ General >
Nick Hupton
In this sequel to The Ridge, past and present collide as Zach learns the fate of his brother, Chris. Join Zach and his friends for another heart-pounding adventure that gets to the bottom of what's haunting the Sutton family. Hupton's keen writing and silver-tongued prose bring suspense to the boiling point! An A-one job!
About Nick Hupton of Minneapolis, MN
Nick Hupton received his BA from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1999 and his MA from Hamline University in 2008. He teaches high school English in Bloomington, Minnesota. Stone Ridge is Nick's third novel for young people. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Tara, and two children.
JUV001000 (JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure/ General)
Age/Grade Range: 8-14 / 4-8
E-Book 9780878399956 087839995X 2014-09-15 192 0.00 x 6.00 x 9.00 in $6.99
Slider's Son
by Fjelland Davis, Rebecca
Friendship.Danger.Murder. Grant O'Grady wants nothing more than to be a major league baseball pitcher. He's only thirteen, but his dream seems possible . . . until Big Joe turns his life upside down.Grant and his buddies are no strangers to risk...
Song of Destiny
by Legler, Paul
Jake was the ultimate big brother: cool, suave with the girls, tough, and a Vietnam veteran. Peter, the younger brother, was always the "good kid," eventually becoming a monk at St. John's Abbey. But they came of age on the North Dakota plains at a time when sex, drugs, and rock & roll blasted onto the prairie. Thirty years later, neither brother can escape his past.


This is an archival quality digital print. The original work, "Nature's Pinup" 2014, was made through the process of collage and was created from a hand selected number of high quality papers. Each paper is then cut and arranged in a way that brings life to the elements in the scene. Once the collaged image is completed, a mat varnish is used to seal all of the layers and then a high resolution digital image is created from the original work.


Changes in federal government keep coming fast. That's why GovLoop is giving you these weekly recaps of presidential transition news that may affect agency management and employment.
Is Shutting Down the Federal Government Ever Justified?


Migrating to Amazon Web Services (AWS) can bring your organization many tangible benefits, but to get your business leaders to adopt this cloud service you're going to have to outline your strategy first.
And 2 more. Finally, read about 6 common migration strategies you can use to get your own AWS journey underway.


In this episode of Remix Your Content Experience, Nate Skinner, Vice-President, Enterprise Marketing and Strategy at Salesforce, discusses the value of creating a memorable, authentic experience in your B2B marketing. How do you do that? And what are the four key components? Watch the video to find out!
Remix Your Content Experience is a video series showcasing provocative thought leadership from today's marketing leaders. Proudly presented by Uberflip.
In this video, Scott Stratten, Chief Yapper at UnMarketing, calls for ethics and integrity in marketing. No more fake reviews or cooked data. Just honesty and truth.
In this video, CMO of Uberflip Randy Frisch issues a call to action to B2B marketers -- personalize like consumer brands or be left behind.


HomePatriot News NetworkThousands stage anti-government demo in Peru!
LIMA, Peru (PNN) - August 2, 2013 - Thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with terrorist pig thug cops in Peru while marching towards the congress building in the capital.
On Saturday, terrorist pig thug cops used tear gas and batons in an attempt to halt the march in Lima.
The protest was staged by students against a bill - that if passed - would reduce university autonomy, and by workers who took to the streets against a new civil service law that they say could bring massive dismissals.
Lima terrorist pig thug cop chief General Luis Praeli said 15 people were arrested in the protest.
Peruvians held their fourth popular demonstration this month ahead of the country's independence day on July 28, when Peruvian President Ollanta Humala is supposed to give a state-of-the-union address.
Humala's rejection of congress' voting to name 10 officials to bodies including Peru's high court has caused discontent against the government.
Doctors and nurses have also been on strike at public hospitals, while according to reports, the president's approval rating is now at 33%, which is his lowest since taking office in July 2011.


Led Huntington North to two State Championships, three State Finals appearances, six regional championships & 10 sectional championships in his 10 years leading the Lady Vikings ... teams were 206-49 (80.8%) from 1987-1997, including state titles in 1990 & 1995 ... between 1994 & 1996 his teams won 44 games in a row & reached #3 in the national polls ... coached three Indiana All-Stars, including 1996 Miss Basketball Lisa Winter ... head coach of the 1996 girls' Indiana All-Star squad ... coached the Whitko boys' program from 1997-99 ... Coach-of-the-Year awards; 1989 Coaches' Choice Poll; Ball State University Alumni; Ind. Sportswriters & Sportscasters Assoc. 1990, 1995; Ind. Basketball Coaches Assoc. 1994, 1995, 1996; ICGSA 1994, 1995, 1996; Olympic Conference 1995, 1996 ... Nat'l. Federation Interscholastic Coaches Assoc. 1996.


Schneider Electric specializes in energy management and automation. In addition to that, they specialize in manufacturing of electric accessories of all sizes. From basic home appliances to large-scale machines in power plants. Given the fast-paced development of the industry, keeping up with newest trends and innovations is key, which means Change in Production projects have to be optimized and managed effectively.
Before implementation of Easy Project, the project management in Schneider Electric was done using Excel sheets, Outlook e-mail client, noticeboards in meeting rooms and endless meetings.
The downsides of these tools are well known. Excel sheets, even when they are shared, do not allow simultaneous editing. In addition to that, Excel offers poor visualization of the plan and available capacities. Outlook lacks organizational features that would allow to manage issues discussed over emails. Furthermore, Outlook does not allow users to easily share and control the information. If someone is not included in a particular e-mail list, he/she has no information.
While noticeboards have their definite benefits, for example, they are great for brainstorming sessions and increasing creativity, they also have their limitations. Noticeboards are not the best suitable tool for up-to-time information sharing, they lack centralized shared dashboards with a complete overview and status updates with the latest news, which would be of utmost importance for project meetings.
Three project management software solutions were under consideration in Schneider Electric: Easy Project, MS Project, and Jira. Easy Project was chosen as the best solution because it met all company requirements. The second criterion for choice was the usability and overall user experience, in which MS Project underperformed. Last but not least, value for money was also of great importance, making Easy Project the definite winner for Schneider Electric.
Change-in-production projects are very challenging since they normally come with strict guidelines and time limits. Changeover has to run smoothly and with minimal downtime for the machinery, with all depending process diligently planned.
Implementation of Easy Project commenced with the basic setting of the software and workshop training of the key users on site. From there, implementation can be split into two big steps. Firstly, the best-suited project template for change-in-production had to be customized to fit Schneider Electric needs. The goal was to create a template that would give the best overview of all the process of the changeover. Together with Schneider Electric, we created several templates, which were analyzed and tested using pilot projects and the best fitting solution was chosen for implementation. Secondly, Easy Project had to be customized to fully meet needs of Schneider Electric. For example, documents module had to be completely restructured and full-text search was expanded to meet the needs and fit Schneider Electric's use cases.
After successfully completing this milestone, Easy Project was presented as the best practice for management of changes in production in the whole of Schneider Electric Group. Implementation of Easy Project as a unified solution across all of Schneider Electric locations is currently under discussion. Furthermore, some of Schneider Electric Group subsidiaries have already reached out to us independently, once again showing that Easy Project is a solution that is responsive to needs and requirements of the client.
Change-in-production is a very specific type of project. If organized well, this type of project should keep the downtime of production machinery to a minimum. Well-organized change project eliminates mistakes and brings the company a competitive advantage in a form of product innovation, with fasted release and innovation cycles.
It is crucial to bear in mind that change-in-production projects are also very demanding. Over the years Schneider Electric has developed a standard procedure, which we integrated into their Easy Project solution. Easy Project templates include all the necessary steps and logical connections. These templates save time and provide guidelines to standard change-in-production processes while allowing personnel to focus more on the specific requirements of a particular project.
Due to the fact that change-in-production projects are regular in Schneider Electric and must fulfill standard requirements and legislative regulations, project templates is the ideal solution. Project template includes all the tasks, milestones and deliverables, which provide guidelines to the team while allowing them to focus more on the business value of the project.
Project overview dashboard is a very powerful tool. After defining this template once, it can be effortlessly applied to every project. With project dashboard yo get an instant overview of key metrics and documents relevant to the specific project.
Easy Gantt is a great tool for visualization of your project timeline. In one glance you can see at which stage is your project, you can see how complex is a particular project and you can instantly see if the project is running smoothly and according to the set timeline.


text:
Nets not buying the Joel Embiid-won't-play talk
April 12, 2019 | 1:58am
Joel Embiid NBAE/Getty Images
Another team tried prying Sarah Kustok away from Nets
Why this Nets-Knicks war will be different
Former Knick is latest addition to Nets' roster
The final addition to the Nets' new-look roster
Elton Brand, the 76ers' general manager, said there's a chance All-Star big man Joel Embiid will miss Game 1 of their playoff series against the Nets on Saturday in Philadelphia. The Nets, however, don't appear to be buying any of what Brand is selling.
"We can't do that. We don't do it. We're planning on him playing," coach Kenny Atkinson said. "I think that's what's going to happen. That's my experience. We'll adjust if he doesn't play."
Atkinson added the Nets aren't going to attack Embiid specifically to test his sore knee.
"No, no. I'm afraid it's what you did with your little brother. 'Ah, my knee hurts,' and then, the guy gets 50 on you," Atkinson said. "If he's out there, we'll play it normal. We won't go at him any more. This is the playoffs, I expect him to play. I expect him to be full force. If he doesn't play, we'll make adjustments."
There is clearly something amiss with Embiid, from his knee to his conditioning to his purported weight gain. He has missed 15 games since the All-Star break, with the Sixers going just 8-7 without him.
Sixers coach Brett Brown — after saying he was hopeful the center could play — refused to elaborate and shut down any more Embiid-related questioning.
The Nets had no such problem talking about Embiid.
"I mean we certainly want to try to make it as tough for him as possible, both offensively and defensively. He's one of the most dominant centers in the league if not the best, so it's our job to make it difficult on him," Spencer Dinwiddie said.
"I think whether he's healthy or not, that's definitely in the game plan: Make him play defense as well as offense," Caris LeVert said. "We know he's going to be aggressive offensively, but making the play on defense, attacking him in pick-and-roll, and other situations as well, whether he's healthy or not."
The 76ers didn't practice Thursday and offered no Embiid update.
Five years ago, current 76ers star Ben Simmons was D'Angelo Russell's high school roommate at Montverde (Fla.) Academy, a friend the Nets point guard viewed as his little brother. Saturday, they'll face off in the playoffs.
"Man, it's crazy the irony. I think it's meant to be to get in the playoffs and match up. May the best man win. Let's get it done," said Russell, who didn't plan to reach out to Simmons before the series. "We want to get that win. Whatever we can do to get the win and we'll talk after."
When asked about the matchup, Atkinson said: "It must've been a hell of a high school team. I hope they won the mythical national championship."
Actually, the Orlando-area power won back-to-back high school national championships, the first versus St. Benedict's Prep of Newark and the second over Oak Hill Academy from rural Virginia.
Filed under ben simmons , brooklyn nets , d'angelo russell , joel embiid , kenny atkinson , nba playoffs , spencer dinwiddie
Nets trusted a very different process than tanking 76ers


text:
Intrinsic, Wicked
Interlace
Love Is A Wild Computer
Hayley Quentin
BFA cum laude, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
Myth, Ro2 Art, Dallas, TX
Velvet Ropes, 0-0 LA, Los Angeles, CA
Other Places Art Fair with The Barker Hangrrr, San Pedro, CA
Baby Cakes, Big Pictures Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (curated by Mélanie Faure, Doug Crocco)
Sweet Cheeks, Big Pictures Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (curated by Mélanie Faure, Doug Crocco)
IOS Group Show, Residency Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Some of Our Favorite Things, Ben Maltz Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
L.A. Looking, Lava Projects, Los Angeles, CA
New Favorites, Ro2 Art, Dallas, TX
An Art Den with The Barker Hangrrr, Odd Ark LA, Los Angeles, CA
Chaos!!!, Ro2 Art, Dallas, TX
Vibrant Matter, Beacon Arts Building (with Maiden L.A.), Inglewood, CA (curated by Richelle Gribble, Janna Avner)
Art Aspen with Ro2 Art, Aspen, CO
SIDESHOW, Ro2 Art, Dallas, TX
The Women of Ro2, Ro2 Art, Dallas, TX
Mind's I, Dalton Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA
Plus One, Soft Core LA at the Museum of Broken Relationships, Los Angeles, CA (curated by Megan St Clair)
Sing the Body, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (curated by Soo Kim, Virginia Arce)
Works on Paper, Long Beach Island Foundation, Long Beach, NJ (Juror: Jane Panetta)
California Open Exhibition, TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA (Juror: Kent Twitchell) (catalogue)
Small Works, Lemonade Stand Gallery, Key West, FL (Jurors: Jed Dodds, Liz Young, Hal Bromm)
On the Street, Digital Domain, Venice, CA (curated by Scott Greiger)
Pony Up: Otis Fine Art BFA Exhibition, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA (catalogue)
Down the Rabbit Hole, Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (curated by the Loyola Marymount Curatorial Group) (catalogue)
General Cluster, Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Shuffle, Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Junior Show, Studio 107, Los Angeles, CA (curated by Doug Harvey)
Architecture of an Atom, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
(Deep End, installation in collaboration with Juliacks; part of a film screening and exhibition by Juliacks)
Assistant Director, Art Production
Architecture of an Atom, dir. Juliacks (Lyon, France)
Invisible Forces, dir. Juliacks (Helsinki, Finland)
Full Blede, Issue 9, June 2019, p. 2 (curated by Sacha Bauman)
Polluxzine, Volume 5, June 2018, p. 17-24 (curated by Kaleigh Coleman)
Full Blede, Issue 5, June 2018, p. 2, 8 (curated by Sacha Bauman)
Art Maze Mag, Issue 4, August 2017, p. 66-67 (editorial selection)
Full Blede, Issue 2: The City, July 2017, p. 2 (curated by Sacha Bauman)
Create! Magazine, Issue 1, November 2016, p. 196-199 (curated by Hannah Stouffer)
California Open 2016 Exhibition Catalogue, August 2016
Fresh Paint Magazine, Issue 11, February 2016, p. 34 (curated by Alice Herrick)
Pony Up Otis Fine Arts BFA Exhibition Catalogue, May 2008
Down the Rabbit Hole Exhibition Catalogue, November 2007
Genie Davis, "2018 Inglewood Open Studios: Fresh Work, SoCal Feel," Art and Cake, November 10, 2018
https://artandcakela.com/2018/11/24/2018-inglewood-open-studios/
Corley Miller, "Beacon Arts Building: Vibrant Matter," Artillery Magazine, August 14, 2018
https://artillerymag.com/beacon-arts-building-vibrant-matter/
Alaena Hostetter, "In the Old Dallas Power & Light Building, Three Art Shows Find Space This Month," D Magazine, April 2, 2018
https://www.dmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2018/04/in-the-old-dallas-power-light-building-three-art-shows-find-space-this-month/
"Exploring Male Beauty and Eroticism: Interview with Hayley Quentin," Create Magazine, January 13, 2018
https://createmagazine.com/read/hayley-quentin-interview
"On Painting Men, Embracing Social Media, and Rediscovering L.A.," Otis College of Art and Design, October 12, 2017
https://www.otis.edu/news/painting-men-embracing-social-media-rediscovering-la
"In the Studio with Artist Hayley Quentin," Creative Founders, July 3, 2017
http://www.creativefounders.com/interview-hayley-quentin-artist/
Ericka Bahner, "Hayley Quentin: Do the meaningful and the rest falls in line," Artisster, March 13, 2017
https://www.artisster.com/hayley-quentin-do-the-meaningful-and-the-rest-falls-in-line/
"Studio Visit with Hayley Quentin," Art Maze Magazine, January 6, 2017
http://artmazemag.com/hayley-quentin
online publications - blogs
"In Bed With Valentina No.2: Hayley Quentin," La Camera di Valentina, April 14, 2019
https://lacameradivalentina.com/2019/04/03/in-bed-with-valentina-hayley-quentin/
"11 Instagram Accounts We're Loving This Month," Creative Founders, May 30, 2017
http://www.creativefounders.com/11-instagram-accounts-loving-may/
"Artist and Instructor Hayley Quentin," Brentwood Art Center Blog, March 29, 2017
http://www.brentwoodart.com/artist-and-instructor-hayley-quentin
"In the Studio with Alumna Hayley Quentin and ArtMaze Mag," Otis College of Art and Design, March 9, 2017
http://www.otis.edu/news/studio-alumna-hayley-quentin-artmaze-mag
"Spotlight: How Far Can I Push It Without Breaking The Spell? Studio Visit With Hayley Quentin," ArtConnect, February 27, 2017
https://blog.artconnect.com/2017/02/27/how-far-can-i-push-it-without-breaking-the-spell-studio-visit-with-hayley-quentin/
"Artcyclopedia: Hayley Quentin," EMITTRA, January 31, 2017
https://emittra.com/2017/01/31/artcyclopedia-hayley-quentin/
"Hayley Quentin," Create Magazine Blog, October 31, 2016
https://createmagazine.com/read/2016/10/hayley-quentin-2?rq=hayley%20quentin
"Hayley Quentin," Create Magazine Blog, October 20, 2016
https://createmagazine.com/read/2016/10/hayley-quentin?rq=hayley%20quentin
"2016 California Open Selections," TAG Gallery Blog, August 10, 2016
http://taggallery.blogspot.com/2016/08/2016-california-open-selections_10.html
"Female Artists on Instagram," EMITTRA, July 30, 2016
https://emittra.wordpress.com/2016/07/30/female-artists-on-instagram/
"Meet Hayley Quentin," Many Shapes Art, July 15, 2015
http://manyshapesart.com/portfolio/meet-hayley-quentin/
Panels/discussions/talks
Masterclass and Artist Talk, Brentwood Art Center, Los Angeles, CA
Foundation Forward Panel, Foundation Forward, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
Careers in the Arts Panel Discussion, National Portfolio Day, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
Artisster
Faculty, Brentwood Art Center, Brentwood, CA


text:
Q: Modifying nested data in clojure How can I manipulate a nested data structure?
I have a list of this kind
[["first_string" {:one 1 :two 2}]
["second_string" {:three 3 :four 4}]
["third_string" {:five 5 :six 6}]
["fourth_string" {:seven 7 :eight 8}]]

And I need to change it to this form:
[["first_string" 1]
["second_string" 3]
["third_string" 5]
["fourth_string" 7]]

Essentially, I want only the first element of each of the inner vectors first key of the map

A: Try defining a function that operates on a single entry in the vector and then map over it:
(defn manipulate-nested
        [entry]
        [(first entry) (last (first (last entry)))])

(let [input [["first_string" {:one 1 :two 2}]
             ["second_string" {:three 3 :four 4}]
             ["third_string" {:five 5 :six 6}]
             ["fourth_string" {:seven 7 :eight 8}]]]
  (into [] (map manipulate-nested input)))

;; [["first_string" 1]
;;  ["second_string" 3]
;;  ["third_string" 5]
;;  ["fourth_string" 7]]

I need to change it to this form

NB: Keep in mind that strictly speaking you're not changing (mutating) the original vector, but describing a modification of it.

A: You can't get a reliable first key of a hash-map because hash-maps are an unsorted data structure and seqing them thus has no order guarantees.  So there is no first or second.
There is no way of numerically ordering the keywords :one, :two, :three without parsing their names which I leave as a separate problem.
Here is your problem reposed with ordered structures in place of the hash-maps:
(def data [["first_string" [[:one 1] [:two 2]]]
           ["second_string" [[:three 3] [:four 4]]]
           ["third_string" [[:five 5] [:six 6]]]
           ["fourth_string" [[:seven 7] [:eight 8]]]]

One typical and idiomatic solution is to extract from each vector in data independently via map, using destructuring in the transformation functions binding vector to bind the desired nested elements and returning this extraction in a new vector:
(map (fn [[s [[_ n] _]]] [s n]) data)

The input data structure of your specific problem offers a way with less overhead by reusing the passed vector instead of constructing a new one in each step:
(map #(update % 1 (comp second first)) data)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Tachina occidentalis är en tvåvingeart som först beskrevs av Christian Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann 1830.  Tachina occidentalis ingår i släktet Tachina och familjen parasitflugor.

Artens utbredningsområde är Jungfruöarna. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Parasitflugor
occidentalis


text:
Joanna and Chip Gaines Explain How They Curate the Shows for Magnolia Network
Armando Tinoco
Chip and Joanna Gaines finally launched Magnolia Network as they took over the DIY Network on cable. The couple found tremendous success as the hosts of Fixer Upper on HGTV. However, it all ended after five seasons when the stars decided to quit despite their massive accomplishment. It wasn't long before Discovery offered them their own network to curate their own programming and find the next home superstars. In a recent interview, the power couple explained how they find shows and talent to showcase on their network.
Joanna and Chip Gaines | Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Magnolia Network doesn't have the typical casting process
Joanna and Chip amassed a great following after fronting their own show on HGTV. When the couple ventured into the entertainment territory, they had no experience with production. Throughout their time on television, they have been able to keep grounded making them one of the most loved couples by fans.
As they lead a search to find the possible next Chip and Joanna, they don't have the typical casting process and they explained how they curate the network to have authentic personalities.
"We don't do it the typical way. We're not the network that says, 'Send in your casting tapes,'" Joanna explained during an interview with Variety. "For us, it's been this really authentic way of finding talent. It's either talent that we're just completely enamored with as far as what they do, what they're passionate about. It's been a little harder, honestly, because it takes a lot of time on the phone and hours of talking them into even wanting to do television. I'd say most of our talent didn't come to us and say, 'I want to do a show.' We came to them and said, 'Can we highlight what you're doing? It's so amazing and inspiring.'"
Chip added that most of their day "is spent coaxing people into trusting that, yes, television is going to be wonderful for them and their families and their futures."
RELATED: Joanna Gaines Opens up Winter Village at Magnolia Market and Fans Want to Experience It
Why Chip and Joanna Gaines left 'Fixer Upper'
Being on a television show with no experience before can take a toll on personalities and their newfound fame. After five seasons of Fixer Upper, the couple called it quits to the surprise of their loyal fans. However, Chip and Joanna had a powerful reason to pause their television career as their fame caught up to them.
"I think towards the end we just lost steam, we lost the purpose in it," Joanna told Oprah on Super Soul. "We wanted to wake up every day and say this is why we're doing this and I think towards the end, it almost felt like it was wagging our tail, and it was controlling us."
The couple decided that a year-long hiatus would be perfect for them to step away from the television. After the year was over, Chip and Joanna would then decide what they would want to do next.
"We basically just told our agent to just take all the calls and put them in a folder somewhere and that we would get back to them later. We didn't know that the phone was ever gonna ring again we didn't know that anybody was going to care about us 12 months down the road," Chip added.
Chip and Joanna Gaines | Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM
The couple eventually landed a deal with Discovery, where they would be able to curate their own shows for Magnolia Network. Fixer Upper returned with a twist and called Fixer Upper: Welcome Home as a bridge from their roots to the new era. Joanna also hosts Magnolia Table, a cooking show with delicious recipes that her family enjoys.
Magnolia Network is now available on cable television.
RELATED: 'Magnolia Table': Joanna Gaines Makes Mac & Cheese and Fans Are Drooling for the Recipe


For decades, the image of Ethiopia in the rest of the world's imagination was one of poverty, a people entirely dependent on the aid from Western countries. Of course Ethiopia struggled under desperate real socio-economic issues, but that wasn't all there was to the country, just like poverty isn't all there is to poor people.
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu knew poverty but she also knew that it shouldn't limit herself or the community she lived in. So when she completed university just as the country was finding its feet, she was determined to remain in Ethiopia and help her community stand up from poverty. She's done just that, with shoes.
"Typically the people talking about poverty alleviation as the goal are not connected to the communities they are trying to 'alleviate' poverty in," Alemu says.
Alemu is an example of an entrepreneur determined to create a manufacturer in Africa that benefits the local economy without exploiting local workers or the environment. As Ethiopia tries to develop its textile industry, the country has fallen into international bad habits like low wages. In Ethiopia, and around the continent, developing an industrialized manufacturing sector is key to alleviating poverty, if the sector is developed sustainably.
Just don't limit SoleRebels to the "low bar" of poverty alleviation, says Alemu. She is much more ambitious: 500 global soleRebels branded retail stores and $1 billion in revenues by 2028. This month, SoleRebels opened its 22nd location in Hamburg's trendy St. Pauli district—the ideal area for an ethical shoebrand that now also caters to vegans.
SoleRebels is one of the few brands started and run from a developing country and exporting to the world. Long before they were awarded the Free Trade label, the company was clear they wanted to remain a sustainable, environmentally conscious brand in Africa, for the world. SoleRebels' other locations include Silicon Valley, Athens, Barcelona, Singapore and nine locations in Taiwan.
In the thirteen years, Alemu developed business model centered on eco-sensibility and community empowerment by inventing a supply chain in line with the brand's aim. Each shoe is created by the hands of a locally-trained artisan. The designs of flip-flops, slip ons and sneakers are based on the seleate or barabasso, the traditional Ethiopian tire soled shoe.
The aim is to use the country's traditional techniques and textiles in new innovative ways. With this, she's been able to scale a handmade product into a manufacturer with a global footprint.
SoleRebels' supply chain is staffed by artisans divided into teams for leather cutting, assembly and spinning and cutting the fabric. The brand's sustainability and almost non-existent carbon footprint is thanks to recyling car and truck tires, and hand-spinning fabrics from loca hemp and koba. The aim is to use the country's traditional techniques and textiles in new innovative ways. With this, she's been able to scale a handmade product into a manufacturer with a global footprint.
"There are no 'hidden executives' or third party layers to reach me—you want me, email me," she says. Named one of Quartz Africa's 30 most innovative young Africans in 2015, innovation plays a role in the factory and the storefront.
In the factory, the SoleRebels' spinning team has come up with a new thread and weaving technique to create a more breathable and absorbent shoe lining. Stores now boast kiosks in stores that allow customers to have a say design their own shoes, picking the elemts to create customized shoes, all while connecting them to the artisans who will make their shoes back in Ethiopia.


Affordable comfort! Lathrop and Sons has teamed up with award-winning mold designers, Extreme Tool with one goal in mind; enhancing the fit and feel of all outdoor footwear. Utilizing state of the art CAD programming we designed a footbed that fits and functions similar to a custom orthotic without the custom price! Using a digital design program allowed us to incorporate features typical of custom devices. All of these features are captured within our medical-grade polymer and capped with our new Kinetic Topcover. Nearly everyone has experienced foot fatique and pain, as well as blisters and/or hotspots, stop them before they start with the High Country Synergy.


text:
TM88 Interview: 808 Mafia co-founder looks back on career, 'Yo!88,' 'Way 2 Sexy' & more
Mason Kirby
Atlanta has clearly become an absolute powerhouse when it comes to breeding talent from the ground up.
The city itself has played a major role in shaping the sound of rap music that's celebrated globally today. While many producers hailing from the ATL have impacted the culture and sound in their own ways, TM88 seems to be in a class of his own.
A post shared by Our Generation Music 🔰 (@ourgenerationmusic)
TM88 is one of the co-founders of the iconic production and songwriting team that is 808 Mafia. With over a decade in the game — and a track record inimitable in comparison to industry giants — he's aided some of the most notable artists of our generation, elevating them to superstar acclaim. Previously working on Lil Uzi Vert's "XO TOUR Lif3," Future's "Codeine Crazy," Travis Scott's "No Bystanders," XXXTENTACION's "going down!" and more, TM88's influence is encapsulated by hits spread throughout his career.
Working with Drake on his chart-topping hit "Way 2 Sexy," he touts memorable projects in his 2016 album TGOD Mafia: Rude Awakening which he collaborated on with Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa. He also helped craft Young Thug's legendary 2016 album Jeffery — producing multiple songs off of the project.
🔰 𝗢𝗚𝗠 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 🔰
.@TM88 chopped it up with #OGM host @ayoohakeem to speak on 'Yo!88' with @pierrebourne, "Way 2 Sexy," the producer community & more! ⬇
READ + WATCH: https://t.co/ilUn2mLCdS pic.twitter.com/kOY1Ag3OQ1
— Our Generation Music (@OGMusicCo) December 7, 2021
If his resume wasn't already elite enough, it's only becoming more impressive with each passing track. Linking up with coveted producer-rapper Pi'erre Bourne on "Block boy" this past week (Dec. 3), the pair is poised to release their collaborative album Yo!88 on Dec. 10 — further asserting TM88's consistency and relevance in striving to be the best he can be.
TM88, Pi'erre Bourne announce upcoming album 'Yo!88' with lead single 'Block Boy'
Discussing how the producer grind has significantly changed in recent years — as it is now easier for producers to gain exposure and make money — the longtime curator and beatmaker is still gleaming at the top of his game. Focusing on getting his mind and health right — recently living a more reserved and peaceful life as compared to previous years — TM88 is a true example of hard work and dedication to one's craft, able to inspire aspiring producers along the way.
Speaking openly and honest, the generational producer sat down with OGM host Hakeem Rowe, as the pair discussed his hobbies, Yo!88, "Way 2 Sexy," 808 Mafia, Pi'erre Bourne, securing placements, and more in his Our Generation exclusive interview.
Watch TM88's OGM exclusive below!
Hakeem Rowe: What are your whole overall thoughts on chasing placements as a producer?
TM88: "I mean you can chase placements, but it just depends on what you got in this for. Did you get into it to chase placements? Or, did you get into it for the love of it? A lot of us get into it for the love, and it'll turn into chasing placements you know because you get so wrapped in it. It's a high. It's like, I just had five on this album, I need six on the next, I just had three come out on this one and two of them went platinum. You'll get to a point where you stop kinda liking this shit and you gotta step back, and once you step back you gotta do it because you want to do it.
I think another thing is, a lot of people when they come in, they don't have the funds to sit back and do it for the love, like bruh I gotta get my money. If you're chasing, are you chasing for the right reasons? Chasing placements, you might need the bread, you know? To take care of your family or your family member's surgery or something. It just depends."
HR: You're about to have a diamond record…
TM88: "I mean shout out Uzi. Man, You know, thank you -we went crazy on that. It was one of them that we didn't know was gonna be like this. I told everybody though, this is going to be a song you hear for the rest of your life. At some point, you are going to hear it. I don't care if it's at a festival, at a carnival, at a stadium, football game, basketball, baseball, whatever, you are going to hear it at least one time."
HR: How many times have you known off hearing a beat or a song, and said like "This is it. This is platinum. This is a hit." Has this happened to you?
TM88: "Once… It was XO… I aint even gonna lie bro."
Rollin Thrax Interview: 'I'm definitely ready to take this to the next level'
Thomas Galindo
Rich Amiri's 'Evolution' is all for the better
OGM's 2023 Artists To Watch
OGM Staff
A$AP Bari Interview: It's all about the 'lifestyle' for A$AP, Vlone founder
Isaiah Pacheco with the MOVES 🕺 @Chiefs
Happy 39th birthday to @KiDCuDi! 🐐🎉 #OGM
This man has done so many amazing things for music. His contributions to the culture are incalculable. Celebrate his birthday by sharing your fav track below! ⤵
Patiently waiting for @TeezoTouchdown to come thru with his next project… so so excited for it. #OGM
https://ourgenerationmusic.com/featured/teezo-touchdown-interview-ogm/


text:
package org.assertj.core.api.byte_;

import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
import static org.mockito.MockitoAnnotations.initMocks;

import java.util.Comparator;

import org.assertj.core.api.ByteAssert;
import org.assertj.core.api.ByteAssertBaseTest;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.mockito.Mock;

/**
 * Tests for <code>{@link ByteAssert#usingComparator(java.util.Comparator)}</code>.
 *
 * @author Joel Costigliola
 */
public class ByteAssert_usingComparator_Test extends ByteAssertBaseTest {

  @Mock
  private Comparator<Byte> comparator;

  @BeforeEach
  public void before() {
    initMocks(this);
  }

  @Override
  protected ByteAssert invoke_api_method() {
    // in that, we don't care of the comparator, the point to check is that we switch correctly of comparator
    return assertions.usingComparator(comparator);
  }

  @Override
  protected void verify_internal_effects() {
    assertThat(comparator).isSameAs(getObjects(assertions).getComparator());
    assertThat(comparator).isSameAs(getBytes(assertions).getComparator());
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Angus Library and Archive: Exhibition Research Volunteers Needed!
We need volunteers specifically to work on preparing materials for our upcoming exhibitions. Themes include: Women, Slavery, Fairtrade, and Literature. The exhibitions will coincide with national events: Black History Month, International Women's Day & Fairtrade Fortnight.
Volunteers will be able to interpret our archive treasures in a way to make them presentable to the public.
We rely on volunteers to make our outreach project work! If you are a keen historian, would like to work in museums or archives, or just have some spare time which you would like to donate to a good cause, then please get in touch!
Looking forward to welcoming you into The Angus Family.


text:
Dispatch December 21, 2012 04:52 pm
What's So Public about Public Art?
by Neilson MacKay
Who likes public art? More to the point, whom is it for? Ostensibly, it's for us, which is all good and well. But who decides what we get? In New York, more often than not, it's the Public Art Fund. Its last big project, Discovering Columbus, was sized up by James Panero in his piece for The Wall Street Journal back in September. The PAF says it's sending "a message that the arts are alive in this city," which is great news for everyone. But is it really? And what's so "public" about public art anyway?
The PAF was founded in 1977 by Doris C. Freedman. From 1971 to 1980 she was the president of City Walls Inc., a nonprofit founded in part by Tania Lewin, a Polish contemporary artist best known for her murals on the Lower East Side. In 1971 Freedman founded the Public Arts Council under the wing of the Municipal Art Society. During the Lindsay Administration she served as New York City's Director of Cultural Affairs, a post now filled by Kate D. Levin, who looks after a quadrennial capital budget of $630 million, propping up an army of cultural organizations including today's PAF. In 1977 Freedman merged City Walls Inc. and the Public Arts Council to form the Public Art Fund. Over the years the PAF has funded over four hundred public exhibitions throughout the five boroughs. Its goal has been to "offer the public powerful experiences with art and the urban environment."
Its latest project is Monika Sosnowska's Fir Tree, (showing, felicitously, in Doris C. Freedman Plaza [60th Street and Fifth Avenue]) a forty-foot-tall hamstrung spiral staircase shaped like an evergreen tree. The PAF say Sosnowska's "site-specific interventions... challenge our perceptions and expectations of architectural space." Purportedly Fir Tree "echoes the industrial steel staircases found on the exterior walls of Polish housing blocks."
But what's so public about public art? Is it "public" simply because it's stuck in public places? And who asks for it? In a recent interview with Manner of Man Magazine, Alexander Stoddart, Sculptor in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen in Scotland, hits the nail on the head:
No-one ever refers to the "public art" we find standing in Florence in Orcagna's Loggia, nor to the "public art" we see among the ruins of Delos or Athens. Public art is, in fact, a form of the private art of the contemporist imperium simply foisted upon the unhappy populace.
Public art, (or at least, what public art has come to mean) is private art. Of course, no-one asks for it, but that's not the problem. Its subject is not "us", but "them." By this I mean that public art is not the product of things shared – values, history or culture – but the product of its artist (and its patrons). Instead of asking questions about our shared experience, we find ourselves asking about something else: the artist (Tradition and the Individual Talent, anyone?) In this sense, public art is the opposite of the monument, which is the true public work of art. For traditionalists this is a familiar headache. Stoddart asks:
Can you tell me, straight off the top of your head, who was the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, or the Christ at Rio, or even the Statue of Liberty? You cannot, and this is because the monumental imperative drives away the name of the maker in these wonderful cases. But that enlarged Baseball Bat? That Curtain of fabric slung across a canyon? That bird-man standing in the North of England? They are, above all, an Oldenberg, a Christo, a Gormley. Thus public art is not only private in truth, it is also highly egotistical. These things do not belong to culture, but merely to that thing which culture, unfortunately, has come to mean – which is "creativity"; a kind of arty itch that is scratched for relief but to no avail and and maintains what they call the "cultural industries" as a widening wound, festering.
What sort of experience does the PAF expect us to have with Fir Tree? Its subject is incognizable. Its purpose, if any, is to not belong. Above all, it is unexpected; something which, at first blush, seems exciting. We are invited to "interact" with our public art, or in the worst cases, to "play with it." But is this enough? Professedly, Fir Tree does more. It is not just an upside down spiral staircase, but a "dialogue," a "discourse," or at worst, an "intervention," But it "intervenes" in our lives in the way only something prodigiously tasteless ever could; making its impact, as Stoddart says, "much as a demented person makes his impact on a bus queue or other location where people are trapped."
These sculptures are, of course, all temporary. Most of the PAF's projects are taken down within six months or so. They exist for the present. As Stoddart points out, monuments do something different. They are not there just to remind us of our past, but to remind us that the present is fugacious, and moreover, that a future will come. In short, they still us. They bestride the arc of history, and in doing so, demonstrate our place within that history. They remind us of things shared. He writes:
What I loved, and love, about the Monument is that its subject is not "now", but "then". And the Monument survives all the "nows" it goes through to exist in many other "thens", extending into the very distant future, far away from us. It links the past with the future and in the process demonstrates the strange fatuity of the "now". This is why the Monument was much castigated in the recent past, and it also explains why political leftists (left-liberals) have such a dyspeptic attitude to the Monument or statue. It refuses to take part in the "dialectic" but rather postulates something immutable and lasting. Its mind, so to speak, is concentrated on the distance, which is blue in colour.
Could there be anything more public than that?
A Full listing of The Public Art Fund's projects can be seen here. The full interview with Alexander Stoddart can be read here.
Neilson MacKay is a Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Durham and a Visiting Fellow at Harvard.
E-mail What's So Public about Public Art? by Neilson MacKay


Zach is a CMT Discovery Artist, plus an ASCAP Plus Songwriter Award winner. The song is featured on Zach's upcoming album Flâneur – available September 22. Zach has also opened shows for Old Dominion, Josh Abbott Band, Jack Ingram, Turnpike Troubadours, Jerrod Niemann and Randy Houser.


text:
Only in Sussex: This weekend
Andre Lamar andre.lamar@doverpost.com@302DoAndre
Southside Johnny in southern Delaware tonight.
1. Asbury band opens weekend
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes have more than 30 albums under their belt.
The band was born from Jersey Shore scene in 1974. Though they were influenced by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, the Jukes evolved as more of an R&B horn band in the Memphis Stax Records tradition.
Southside Johnny will gig in SoDel at 7 p.m., Friday. Tickets are $28.
436-3015 ADDRESS Freeman Stage 31750 Lake View Drive, Selbyville WEBSITE freemanstage.org
2. Firefly trio in Dewey
Sometimes you need to level-up on your own. But other times you'll need to have Cheat Codes. The latter would be most appropriate for you this weekend.
After playing Firefly last year, the EDM trio Cheat Codes will bring their festival vibe to a more intimate (yet intense) setting at the beach.
The trio is responsible for tracks like "No Promises" featuring Demi Lovato and "Only You." Most recently they are on the song "All of My Life" with Trixxie.
Cheat Codes will heat up the stage at 9 p.m., Sunday. Tickets are $40.
227-7272 ADDRESS Bottle & Cork 1807 Highway One, Dewey Beach WEBSITE bottleandcorkdewey.com
3. Sock-hop show
As long as the music of Buddy Holly is played, his memory will Not Fade Away.
This Buddy Holly tribute band keeps those tunes alive, sharing them with some listeners who weren't alive when Holly was making his mark.
Not Fade Away will create a sock-hop atmosphere at 8 p.m., Friday. Tickets are $20 to $25.
684-3038 ADDRESS Milton Theatre 110 Union St., Milton WEBSITE pcade.com


In business, you need to be lucky, you have to work hard and you always take a very conservative approach.
Persistence is the key to any success.
[Three principals he lives by which has led to his success.] The first is to seize the moment. Second, is the recognition of an unusual opportunity and the final one is to action a carefully thought out plan.
We have a family philosophy that is partly derived from our Jewish heritage, which by law recommends that everyone should give 10 % of what they earn to charity.
We've been successful, but I always say you need timing and good luck to stay stable and increase your net worth.
For me, giving is an obligation. It's part of our philosophy, our way of life.
I think we've been fortunate and hope to help those we can.
[At the age of 77] We work not to make more money.
[At age 77 in 2012] I have no plans to retire.
I watched as our house burnt down… It was very emotional.
We relate to the pain and loss of the victims of Black Saturday.
[On his house burning down] We tried to salvage what we could. We paid large dry-cleaning bills to try and save some clothes but they were all ruined and smelt of fire.
We'd never experienced fire before. I couldn't believe how quickly it destroys.
My parents always donated money for various philanthropic causes.
[On the Carbon tax] The tax comes at an inappropriate time.
[In 2010] I don't think anybody knows how long the journey to recovery will be.
We have been around for a while and have not had any financial disasters.
[In 2012] We anticipated the global financial crisis and slowdown.
I have no idea how much I'm worth, but… if there's only one bid of $10.
We looked at each other and knew we had to do something immediate and substantial.
We felt if we came forward it might enthuse other families and corporations.
We didn't want publicity but we wanted others to join us in supporting these victims.
I watched as our house burnt down.
We have given substantial amounts of money to charity.
You always take a very conservative approach.
[In 2012 at the age of 77] We have to make ourselves relevant and keep all our faculties going.
[In 2010] There's a greater need for charity now more than ever.
We give as we see fit.
I always say you need timing and good luck to stay stable and increase your net worth.


Will new reality show 'Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club' be a flop?
Lindsay Lohan's new show "Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club" is finally here, and the reviews are mixed. Lohan, formally known as "LiLo" is now the proud owner of a beach club in Mykonos, Greece. The new show follows the club owner, and the staff as drama and hookups inevitably occur. Many are comparing Lohan to Lisa Vanderpump due to the venture. Some also say the show is a "Vanderpump Rules" knockoff and Lohan is a joke. Are you watching "Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club"?
What's it like to work at Lindsay Lohan's club? Preview the series here.
Critics are not speaking highly of Lohan's "comeback."
But Lohan's fans are ready to go all in and support the series.


Even though cats can fend for themselves for a few days at home with a litter pan and someone to stop by and feed them, if you have to be gone for longer than a few days, it is always best if you seek out a good boarding facility. Even though cats may not be as finicky as dogs when it comes to staying in a strange place, it can still be overwhelming for your feline friend. To make sure that any time your kitty spends in daycare is no more stressful than it has to be, there are three key features you should be looking for in any facility you consider.
1. Make sure the facility has separate housing for other animals. - If there is one thing that can get a cat irritated and disconcerted, it is the sound of barking and howling dogs or the general noises made by other animals. The cat daycare facility you choose should have completely separate housing for other animals so you can be sure your kitty does not spend her time upset due to a lot of noise and commotion.
Think of it this way: If a boarding facility is strict about letting your cat in, this means that every other feline will be in just as good of health. So you can rest assured with knowing your cat will not be housed with other unhealthy animals who may be contagious.
3. Tour the facility and check for spacious kennels. - Cats don't really have to have a whole lot of room to be happy, but they can get pretty antsy if they are contained in a tiny space for long hours. Before you choose to leave your cat at a daycare or boarding facility, take a tour of the place and get a good look at the holding areas. They should be big enough to house a litter pan, a sleeping spot, and some room to move around.
For more information, talk to a professional like Animal Care Center of Forest Park.


Founder Robert Pein established State Auto Mutual Insurance in 1921 because he was disappointed with the expensive cost and horrible customer service he received from his own insurance company. Starting with only three employees State Auto opened its doors and began its successful history as an insurer. Using only well-known local agents, State Auto aims to have their customers be completely satisfied with all of their services. These agents must pass an extensive course and test outside of the required state curriculum to be certified to sell State Auto Insurance policies. This extra effort is what Pein believed would set his company apart from others, and his commitment to customer service and care is still something State Auto prides itself on to this day. What began as a small company now employs over 2,000 people in the United States and processes over $1 billion dollars in gross premiums per year.


Despite false starts, scams and startup crash-and-burns, the digital currency bitcoin is enjoying the tail end of a strong year. According to The Hacker News, however, a number of core developers have now left bitcoin to form their own organization — Company 0 — and develop a new kind of cryptocurrency called Decred. But can this venture succeed where others have failed? And if so, is there enough global elbow room for two digital-dollar giants?
A Shiny Future for Digital Currency?
Predictions from Coin Desk suggested that bitcoin will enjoy a banner year through 2016 as the network begins to scale and the currency shines as a safe-haven asset for investors looking to shore up liquidity. Sidechain technologies — which allow bitcoins to be moved from the main blockchain to higher-level protocols — will also enjoy a boom as they adopt an open-source model.
Of course, successfully mining, trading and commoditizing bitcoins isn't easy. EconoTimes noted that startup after startup has fallen as bitcoin prices fluctuated and companies weren't able to stay profitable.
For example, Mining ASIC Technologies got off to a solid start but was bankrupt by the end of 2014. Similarly, bitcoin buying service Brawker, which lets consumers buy products with the digital currency, will shutter its doors in April 2016, citing competition and workload issues. So it's worth asking: What makes Decred different, and how can it avoid the same pitfalls as bitcoin?
Simply put, Decred wants to eliminate governance and decision-making issues that plague bitcoin while keeping many of the central functions intact. It makes sense: Bitcoin has garnered enough positive attention and investor confidence that there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Rather, the cryptocurrency aims to coast along on bitcoin's momentum with promises of improved security and better collaboration.
Is Decred the next bitcoin? Maybe. More importantly, however, is that bitcoin is the current bitcoin — in other words, a digital currency that actually garners public and investor support. The result is a positive outlook for bitcoin and tangent technologies, which encourages two outcomes: increased security for investors and the emergence of strong competition. It's capitalism at work — if not Decred now, then another competitor in the near future. Bitcoin is up, business is booming and the virtual finance future is just starting to take shape.


Transcendence stars Johnny Depp as a scientist pushing the boundaries between science, biology and computer science.
Warner Bros. has released a series of stills featuring Depp and his all-star cast, including Morgan Freeman, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany and Kate Mara.
Pushing science will create enemies and Johnny Depp meets one who tries to kill him!
Rebecca Hall is just one part of an all-star cast.
Paul Bettany stars with Johnny Depp, and he, above everyone else, is searching for answers.
Kate Mara has issues with Johnny Depp's work... as she explains to Paul Bettany.
Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany share a tense moment.
Rebecca Hall plays a co-worker of Depp's. Here, she is playing up his revolutionary work.
Transcendence Featurette: The Promise of A.I.
Transcendence Clip: Johnny Depp Explains What Transcendence Is!
Transcendence: Johnny Depp Dishes Wanting "Intelligence"
Transcendence DVD Review: Does Depp Deliver?


text:
Turkey firmly enters the Syrian theater
by Sadık Ünay
Turkish army tanks and armored personnel carriers moving toward Karkamu0131u015f in southeastern Gaziantep province on Turkey's border with Syria, Aug. 25.
The increasing intensity of terrorist attacks on Turkish soil by both DAESH and PKK operatives in recent days demonstrate that Turkey's entrance in the Syrian theater will create shockwaves and trigger counter-moves by the illicit structures on the ground
While U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden was on board Air Force One en route to his ice-breaking visit to Ankara following the dismal performance of his administration following the failed coup attempt, Turkish jets were hovering in the skies of Jarablus about to kick start one of the most critical military operations in recent years. Having been sidelined from the sophisticated turf wars in Syria following the jet crisis with Russia last November, Ankara was finally able to create some breathing space thanks to ongoing normalization with Moscow. Ankara has perfectly utilized this new-found space. The vital breathing space enabled by the strategic rapprochement with Russia was institutionalized during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to St. Petersburg on Aug. 9, which paved the way for intensive shuttle diplomacy that included work with Iran. A relative harmonization of strategic priorities in Syria among the three crucial regional powers constituted the critical diplomatic backdrop for the effective realization of Operation Euphrates Shield.
As the air defense systems of Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime in the area were demobilized, Turkish Special Forces, F16s, AWACS, tanks and armored personnel carriers moved into Jarablus and performed a swift operation supporting the Free Syrian Army forces. The strategic town of Jarablus was rescued from DEASH within 12 hours, but this pioneering operation is expected to last for around two weeks, and its geographic scope toward the south is being widely discussed. While the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and intelligence services were successfully spearheading the fight against DAESH in Syria, there were rare supportive voices coming from the Western media and diplomatic sources that went against the misinformation campaign that long-depicted Ankara as a DAESH supporter and the PKK-affiliated People's Protection Units (YPG) as freedom fighters. As Turkish artillery began to bomb YPG forces in the south of Jarablus towards Manbij, the strategic priorities of Turkey and the U.S. finally began to clash on the ground as well.
The lame duck Obama administration seems insistent on continuing to use the YPG as their ground forces by providing logistical, strategic and air support. This is, on the face of it, compatible with the popular "no boots on the ground" narrative. The YPG, in turn, abuses the wide space of maneuver provided by extensive American support to galvanize its hold on the Azaz-Mare corridor on the precept of fighting DAESH. It is a poorly kept secret that the PKK-YPG nexus are aiming to work for a northern corridor in Syria that could constitute the basis of a future claim for a federal unit within Syria or even an independent state that could align with a transformed Northern Iraq and parts that could be disassociated from southeastern Turkey via terror. This unrealistic and ideological vision might seem a far cry from American pragmatism, but the conjunctural alliance between the YPG and the U.S. facilitated the construction of a de facto corridor that reached the Euphrates.
The fact that Turkey stood behind its declared red lines and acted swiftly to curb the YPG's expansion to the west of the Euphrates is a strong reminder that Ankara will resist fait accompli attempts in the future configuration of Syria. It is noteworthy that the renewed breathing space that Turkey found in protecting its border security, preventing new migration flows and interrupting the de facto YPG corridor was only made possible by an intense diplomatic dialogue with Russia and Iran that might reduce friction with the embattled Assad regime. Premature "axis shift" arguments notwithstanding, Ankara's ability to normalize its diplomatic relations with regional powers and expand its strategic options beyond those presented by the U.S., NATO and the EU seem to be paying off.
While Biden was unsuccessfully trying to complete his charm offensive in Ankara by extending sympathetic messages aimed at smoothing the tide of rising anti-Americanism, the cold reception from President Erdoğan and the public was indicative of the dominant mood. Gaining the hearts and minds of Turkish society will require concrete steps in the Gülen extradition process and downgrading collaboration with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), especially west of the Euphrates.
The increasing intensity of terrorist attacks on Turkish soil by both DAESH and PKK operatives in recent days demonstrate that Turkey's entrance in the Syrian theater will create shockwaves and trigger counter-moves by the illicit structures on the ground. Yet the resolve of both political actors and the public in general are resolute enough to withstand blackmail attempts and protect its national interests in Syria.


A starter kit with everything you need to dive into homebrewing. Discover the hobby that's sweeping the nation with craft brew can-do.
Are you ready to embark on a grand adventure? The Platinum Pro Beer Brewing Starter Kit with Front Porch Pale Ale is an all-in-one home brewery.
Included in the kit is all of the brewing and fermentation equipment required to make your first beer, plus an exclusive recipe kit to get you into the swing and play hard with homebrew in hand.
Pale ale is one of the most popular styles of beer among homebrewers and craft beer lovers alike. Front Porch uses our customers' favorite ingredients--Gold malt extract and Cascade hops--to craft a session beer ripe for the season. Whether brewing for a wedding, a tailgate, a summer yard party or just to have a few while pushing the mower around, it's a perfect beer to share with friends for a refreshing summer buzz. With a homebrew in hand to fuel good spirits, get ready for lawn games, sunshine and crisp sips of homemade craft beer.
All Inclusive kit to get started in Homebrewing; even your first recipe.
Includes a 5 gallon kettle.
Front Porch Pale Ale - A perfect beer to share with friends for a refreshing year-round buzz.
Works with any of our other extract beer recipe kits for future batches.


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Eastern Michigan Division
The Salvation Army Service Extension Department provides emergency assistance to residents in 17 counties in eastern Michigan. The goal is to provide supportive assistance to people during crisis situations and to identify other community resources which are available to provide additional help.
A service unit is an extension of The Salvation Army that functions in communities without a Salvation Army building directed by a Salvation Army officer. A unit consists of volunteers from the community who have been organized to assist The Salvation Army with its religious and charitable activities.
The Salvation Army Service Extension program is funded through generous donations from individuals who care about helping others. Additional funds in some communities are raised through traditional Christmas bell ringing campaigns, mail appeals and at times through the United Way. Funds received by The Salvation Army are used to benefit the area they originated from.
We serve the following counties:
Alcona, Arenac, Clare, Cheboygan, Crawford, Gladwin, Huron, Iosco, Lapeer, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle, Roscommon, Sanilac, Tuscola
Available: November through June
Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) funds, PeopleCare Bill Credits and Matching Funds are available for utility bills and Consumer Energy bills from our main office.
Those needing groceries are given a food voucher, based on the size of the family. We notify each party that we do not provide alcohol, tobacco products or lottery tickets.
Referrals should be made to local emergency shelters, or if one is not available, to a moderately priced motel for up to three nights.
Bus tickets may be purchased for destinations within the state of Michigan. We do not transport across state lines.
Rent/Mortgage
Those needing help with rent or foreclosure will also be able to receive assistance.
Fire Assistance
Clothing, furniture and household items may be supplied to fire victims by contacting our administrative office.
Contact (810) 232-2197 or email serext_emi@usc.salvationarmy.org for more information.
The Salvation Army Mission Statement
The Salvation Army Eastern Michigan
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