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Posts Tagged 'government'
September 17, 2018 Chris	1 comment
Why is consent only important at some times and not others? Consent is necessary for sex; otherwise, it is rape, and rape is never ok. Regarding sex, it is assumed we are in voluntary relationships with the people who touch us. But we are also in non-consensual relationships and people never talk about them.
For instance, why do I need a "representative"? Surely, to represent me they would need to act in my interests. What if my so-called representative does not represent me? Can I withdraw consent from this relationship? Can I vote for no one? No. Their decisions apply to me. I didn't join anything. I never gave any hint I wanted them to represent me. They never even asked me.
The police are authorized to arrest you if you have drugs. In other words, there are people who will use violence against you for ingesting or possessing something that someone in another city decided you were to face violence for ingesting or possessing. You are not allowed to ingest or possess something if that guy in a suit in the other city wrote down that you were not allowed to. If you do, the people who will use violence against you might hit you, kidnap you and throw you in a cage (and even force you to work as a slave), or kill you. When did I consent to any of this? Why does consent not matter in this case?
The example of drugs shows us the state considers our bodies its own property. Laws against taking drugs show that our masters do not allow us to put things into our own bodies, as if they were loving parents and we were children getting into the chemicals under the sink. The power to criminalize prostitution is another example of the state's claim to have the final say in what you do with your body.
You pay taxes. In other words, if you do not pay money every day to a group of people you do not know who will decide what to do with it, regardless of your opinion on what they do with it, some people can kidnap you at gunpoint and lock you in a cage. Why do you not get to decide how that money is spent? What if you have better ideas than what politicians owned by lobby groups have in mind? Why does consent not matter in this case either?
And I cannot stress enough how important it is for us to care that some of the money we make goes toward making war. In other words, some people take your money and use it to buy weapons to kill and torture people neither you nor they have ever met in other parts of the world, making the people who made these decisions richer and thus more influential over the very system that rewards killing people all around the world. Do you consent to that? Or does your consent not matter?
I have been told that we tacitly consent, usually because we are not actively fighting against these things. But that is not how consent works. Consent must be positive. If want to take your clothes off, I need your consent. If I do not know whether or not it is all right with you, it isn't. However, if I want to harass you, kidnap you, cage you, beat you or kill you, I just need a badge.
Why does consent not matter to us? Because the system that feels normal to us does not ask for it.
A truly democratic system would be one where decisions were made together, and when one does not consent, the others can coax, plead, bargain or apply pressure but should not force the dissenter. That is why such decisions should be taken in groups of 100 or less, not in groups of millions where it is impossible to come to a consensus and an elite develops. We do not need an elite. We can govern ourselves.
Governance just means making and enforcing rules. Government, on the other hand, is an institution that claims a monopoly on governance over its conquered territory. All societies have governance. Not all societies have government. Self-governing, egalitarian, non-hierarchical societies and organizations exist and have always existed. We do not need too many rules. Each of us should play a part in creating them, or if we just arrived, agree to them. We can all have the power to enforce them. At any rate, most of our rules would come from norms, as they already do, rather than written rules that might differ in detail from place to place.
Though nearly all decisions would be made in small groups, such as families, clubs, factories, and so on, for the occasional decision that needed to be made in a larger group, it would be possible to delegate authority to a representative. In other words, you could tell someone to vote yes on a certain proposition. If they do not vote yes, the decision must be retaken or considered null. That said, nowadays even the idea of delegates is probably obsolete, as we have the technology to make decisions across decentralized organizations in minutes.
When is an organization democratic? Joining the organization is presumably consenting to its mission, structure and policies, and members can leave at any time. (Cooperatives often start new people on probation before they can become full members.) At minimum, all members should have a vote on leadership (if there are leaders) and new policies. There should be no secrecy: Meeting minutes and other important information should be available to all members. The members should be able to recall leaders for violating a policy, such as acting outside the scope of their mandate. Again, these organizations would ideally be small, as the smaller they are, the more democratic they can be, as each member has proportionally more influence over decisions. Such organizations do not need to compete with each other to exploit others like the corporation but cooperate to empower people as part of their mission.
Politicians do not consult us on their votes. We do not have access to meetings between lobbyists and their clients, or lobbyists and politicians. We do not know what people who are making the decisions that affect our lives with our money are saying to each other behind closed doors. Why would we ever consent to such a system? Because we've been told it's necessary?
Consent matters.
Categories: Anarchism and Voluntaryism, Democracy, Law, Security and Violence, Taxation Tags: consent, cooperatives, corporations, crime, democracy, governance, government, law, mutual aid, organization, power, victimless
How to kill a million people
Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. – Lord Acton
Power kills. Absolute power kills absolutely. – RJ Rummel
Do you want to know what a sociopath looks like? Think of George W. Bush. Think of all the people he knew were killed due to his policies. Do you think he cared? Did you see him joking about finding weapons of mass destruction in front of the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2004? Do you think he had pangs of guilt later that night? I don't think so. Sociopaths are people with no conscience. Many of those who have lost their consciences kill them over time by committing, ordering, approving or otherwise knowingly facilitate murder.
Psychopathy and sociopathy (in particular the so-called dark triad of narcissism, Machivellianism and sociopathy) broadly refer to the condition of having little or no conscience, no guilt, no feeling of responsibility, no ability to feel sympathy for others. Sociopaths lie, cheat, manipulate, intimidate, use violence for their own benefit and do not feel as though they have done something wrong. Some of them occupy positions of power in big business, politics, the bureaucracy and security agencies. Do you think that matters?
Are people born without consciences? Some might be, but environmental factors play a major role. Do you think we could reduce or eliminate some of the incentives to put aside one's conscience? How might we do that?
Well, how did George take on the characteristics of a sociopath? Was he born that way? Possibly. Did his parents and his upbringing contribute? Probably somehow. But people in power usually kill their consciences over long periods. Few people are dropped into positions of considerable power. They climb to them over time. When Little George was still at university, he connected with other powerful people. He spent years in top positions in oil businesses. Did these roles teach him to control his conscience? When running for Governor of Texas he said he approved lowering the age of the death penalty to 14. If he was a full-blown sociopath by then (which he may have been), he could have signed the death warrants of a million 14-year-olds with no pangs of conscience. But even if he wasn't yet, he had already begun to chip away at his conscience. He could simply tell himself killing teenagers was for the best for Texas, for "society" or for God and remain emotionally detached from any violence.
One reason soldiers commit suicide is because they can't live with the guilt of killing people. George W. didn't see a drop of anyone's blood. He did the killing with strokes of the pen. His job was to shake hands and give speeches, not think. His PR people cultivated a highly likable image that made sense to enough voters. What are politicians but actors? He knew he would be rewarded for doing what other powerful people wanted him to do. If he ever felt ill at ease, he could always tell himself it's all right, this is for the good either of others or of myself. But any excuse would do.
The more things they do they might otherwise have felt guilty about, the more cuts people make to their consciences. Soon, they simply don't care about anyone but themselves. Now, consider how many millions of people around the world have power over us, from bureaucrats who can deny us permits and visas, to taxmen seizing what we worked for, to soldiers occupying our countries, to politicians who make it all official. This is the state, people. This is why your world has been so messed up for so long. They weren't all born to be bad. This system sucked out their consciences like a leech. Its agents go through a process of learning to control any feelings of guilt by finding reasons to justify their decisions.
Actually, all of us justify hurtful actions sometimes. If we tell ourselves we did the right thing, we are more likely to do it again and with less guilt. But not all of us benefit from doing things that make us feel guilty or repressing that guilt. I can lie, but I might lose the trust of those I rely on. I might steal, but I might face all kinds of social penalties if I do, including jail. Having power means not needing to take responsibility. Indeed, unless there is a sufficiently large scandal and perhaps scapegoating (in a democracy) or rebellion, those in power are rewarded with more money and power. The most powerful in today's world wield their power through the state.
The state is an instrument of concentrated force. The small minority who control the state can use it to build consensus for their plans or simply impose them without asking, but ultimately the choice is theirs. As long as the state and its precursors (pharaohs, kings, popes, and so on) have existed they have been a means of theft, whether by overt plunder, such as ransacking a town or enslaving people, defensive violence such as protecting large estates acquired by overt plunder, or covert plunder, such as taxation or economic policies. Working with the state, including trying to change it from within, inevitably means following the orders of those at the top of the pyramid to plunder the people.
Power feeds all the elements of the dark triad. The admiration and awe that come with power feed narcissism. As expert manipulators and ruthless competitors, Machiavellians benefit most from a competitive system. And sociopaths make decisions on impulse and take no responsibility for any harm they cause. The state's monopoly on force shields all these people from consequences.
Any of us could walk the path to these disorders. We are not immune to knowingly hurting others for our own benefit, or in the name of some idea whose implications we do not understand but which we invoke to ourselves for the sake of assuaging our consciences. People have trouble resisting taking power over others when it is offered to them, or when they condition themselves to believe it is right. Concentrating and institutionalising power incentivises sociopathic behaviour. If we considered everyone equal and thus not deserving of power over others we could achieve a free society with far less violence and suffering.
Categories: Security and Violence Tags: accountability, corruption, government, politics, violence
Why I am an anarchist
May 5, 2011 Chris	2 comments
Edit edit, 2/7/17: This post no longer reflects what I believe. I am still an anarchist but I have come to understand why anarchists are so opposed to capitalism. Please see this blog's most recent posts if you are interested in how I think.
Edit, 17/12/13: The post below was written two and a half years ago. My views have changed considerably since then, and I noted these changes in the second edition of my book, available here for free. Unsurprisingly, my opinions have evolved since this last attempt to enshrine them, and I would be glad to discuss them on this blog or on Facebook.
This is the first post of the Rule of Freedom, a blog about why anarchy and voluntarism are preferable alternatives to democracy and statism. This first post is about how I became an anarchist, and some of the reasons why it makes sense to me.
It's hard to know exactly why we believe what we do, because there are so many large and small influences on our opinions and what we choose to read and believe. But it is possible to trace the trajectory of our beliefs. I have been studying politics and government for about 9 years now. My degree is in political science; I still study it. I had some vaguely socialist tendencies in university, but after a while I started realising that freedom was more important than forced equality. Freedom seems to me the best way to achieve equality of opportunity, and equality of wealth and power is more or less impossible in a world where each individual is so different from the next. I started reading economics, and began to believe that the freer the market, the more fairly goods are distributed. By that time you could have called me a libertarian. But I was still a democrat, which means I still believed we needed government, because I hadn't been exposed to other ideas.
One day I was on a Facebook forum for libertarians and someone wrote something to the effect that libertarians should look into anarcho-capitalism. I might have just scoffed but the next sentence was something like "Scoff if you like, but you can't really call yourself open minded until you read about other ideas, can you?" That made sense to me. I wanted to continue to call myself open minded, so I checked it out on Wikipedia. At the bottom of the page it listed a few people I could go to for further reading. One of them was a guy named Stefan Molyneux, a name some readers will be familiar with. I read Stefan's book Everyday Anarchy, and every page made sense to me. I realised that everything he wrote was the logical extension of what I already knew and believed about politics and government. I came to the conclusion that, not only could we be better off without government, government itself is an inherently immoral institution.
I remember one day in kindergarten, I hit my friend, and my friend started to cry. And my teacher said to me, why would you hit other people? Would you like it if they hit you? No, of course not. Since then, I realised something that I think most people can agree on: that the initiation of force is immoral. Using force in self-defence is understandable and moral, as long as it is just enough to end aggression, but initiating force is immoral. Most anarchists believe what they believe, that government should be replaced with voluntary institutions, because they understand that government is based on force and coercion. That is the most important thing for anyone reading this to understand: government is based on violence. Here's why.
Governments could not exist without taxation. Taxation is forcing you to pay for whatever it is the government wants to do. You have no choice but to pay. If you do not pay, you go to jail. If you resist going to jail, they shoot you. Taxation is a gun pointed at your head. Similarly, you have to do everything the government tells you to do, like a bad boss at a job you can't quit. That is called the law. If you do not follow the law, you go to jail. And hey, people who persistently or maliciously hurt others should be locked up somehow. But what about people who do not hurt anyone else with their actions? You can't sell sex to a willing buyer. The government, in its self-declared wisdom, has decided that you can only have sex if you do not pay for it. As a result, the entire sex industry has been driven underground and it is much harder to prevent violence against the women involved. You can't do drugs, even though they do not hurt other people. Oh, sorry, I mean, you can't do those drugs the government has deemed illegal. You can smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol or pop pills as much as you like. If the government made riding your bike illegal, you could go to jail for that too. Whatever this small clique of decision makers decides, you must follow. They know better than you, and if you think otherwise, you'd better be a fast runner.
Now, it is sometimes argued that, despite a few bad laws, the government represents the will of the people. If the purpose of government is to represent the will of the people, how about the people represent themselves? But that is not the point of government. It never has been. The point of government is to consolidate power in the hands of a few, who do not need to listen to all the people, so that the few can control society as they see fit. If that is not true, why do they have to use force for everything? Why can't they just suggest?
The competitive party system could not possibly represent all the people, because only a few win. An election is when people who think their views are right vie for power in order to impose those views on everyone else. An anarchist will not try to impose his or her views on anyone. An anarchist does not mind what you do with your money and will not try to take it away from you by force and call it taxation. An anarchist will not turn a gun on anyone for smoking some herb that does no one else any harm. He only hopes that you will give him the same respect.
Your life, if you think about it, is mostly anarchic. You do most things without being forced by government. Government doesn't decide what food you eat, whom you marry or hang out with, which job you take (with some exceptions), which car you buy or whether you should take your bike instead. Now, we are capable of making those decisions without being forced into them. Why would we want the government in on any of them? But statists think that there are many things, like schools, hospitals and our own safety, that we are simply too stupid or selfish or disorganised to decide for ourselves. We must let this other group of people, whom we just have to hope are smart, selfless and efficient, tell us what to do.
Anarchy is really about freedom. Democracy only allows as much freedom as the people on top are willing to give you. Anarchy means you do what you think is right. Freedom brings many more benefits than just the ability to decide your own path. It allows economies and the arts to flourish. It means scientific advances and technological innovation. And it forces responsibility on those able to handle it while still allowing for us to help each other. In a democracy, we help each other, but not as much as we could, because we have less money, because it's taken away from us, and because we expect and rely on government to take care of people on our behalf. We feel better when we vote for left-wing parties that promise more money for the poor, letting us sweep the poor under the rug of our consciences and pretend government has solved one of society's problems.
I think most people living in our society can agree it is simply naïve to believe that politicians, bureaucrats, the police and the military are looking after your best interests. They just don't have to. The only real mechanism for accountability in government is elections, and no matter how many you have, it is really hard to escape the corruption of human beings that comes with power. If you believe that, because you vote, they have to listen to you, I suggest thinking very critically about your beliefs. Has any party or politician you have ever voted for truly represented you? If it has never gained power, it cannot represent you. If it has gained power, did it do what it said it would? My answer is, represent yourself. You don't need a violent institution that does not care about you.
Government cannot and will not eliminate evil, but it does provide the tools of its perpetuation through the initiation of force, the concentration of power, the taking of other people's property, opaqueness and secrecy, the ability to dole out favours with someone else's money, control of education and the ability to make war. We will deal with all of these subjects and more in coming posts on this blog.
Categories: Anarchism and Voluntaryism, Democracy, Law, Markets, Security and Violence, Taxation Tags: government, liberty, politics


Jasda Physiotherapy has worked closely with many aged care facilities on projects to assist facilities in an area of need that relates to Physiotherapy. From accreditation preparation, large scale staff education, to ACFI funding maximisation and program development. We have had great feedback from facility management to help in their time of need. We carry with us expertise second to none.
We have also helped onsite physiotherapists to develop and refine their program to collect and achieve measurable outcomes required for Accreditation. Jasda Physiotherapy has been working with nurse consultant teams for over 18 years and enjoy assisting facilities to setup great programs and achieve the best outcomes for their residents.
Staff education on any scale.
With over 18 years of aged care industry experience and being one of the first aged care physiotherapy services in Australia, we've seen a thing or two and have worked with facilities big and small.
No problem is too hard to fix and our approach is to collaborate with you on getting the best solution for you and your residents. We are a committed group to helping the aged care sector be the best it can be.
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text:
Trailers [2]
Image gallery [11]
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Paul Greengrass
Billy Ray. Book: Richard Phillips, Stephan Talty
Henry Jackman
Barry Ackroyd
Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Mahat M. Ali, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Michael Chernus, Catherine Keener, David Warshofsky, Corey Johnson, Chris Mulkey, Max Martini, Yul Vazquez, Omar Berdouni
Columbia Pictures, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin Productions, Trigger Street Productions
Drama. Thriller | Sea Adventures. Based On A True Story. Africa. Kidnapping Film / Disappearance. Pirates
Captain Phillips is a multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. It is - through director Paul Greengrass's distinctive lens - simultaneously a pulse-pounding thriller, and a complex portrait of the myriad effects of globalization. The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabama's commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), and the Somali pirate captain, Muse (Barkhad Abdi), who takes him hostage. Phillips and Muse are set on an unstoppable collision course when Muse and his crew target Phillips' unarmed ship; in the ensuing standoff, 145 miles off the Somali coast, both men will find themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their control.
Rankings Position
#136 Best Movies Based on a True Story
2013: Academy Awards: 6 nominations, including Best Film & Screenplay
2013: Golden Globes: 4 nominations, including Best Film & Director
2013: BAFTA Awards: Best Supporting Actor ((Barkhad Abdi). 9 nominations
2013: Critics Choice: 6 nominations, including Best Film
2013: American Film Institute (AFI): Top 10 - Movies of the Year
2013: Satellite Awards: 5 Nominations, Including Best Film and Director
Show 7 more awards
2013: Producers Guild Awards (PGA): Nominated for Best Film
2013: Directors Guild of America (DGA): Nominated for Best Director
2013: Writers Guild of America (WGA): Best Adapted Screenplay
2013: Screen Actors Guild (SAG): Nom. Actor (Hanks) & Sup. Actor (Abdi)
2013: Chicago Film Critics Awards: 2 Nominations including Best Sup. Actor (Abdi)
2013: San Francisco Film Critics Circle: Nom. Best Supp. Actor (Abdi) & Editing
2013: Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Nominated for Best Supp. Actor (Abdi)
Critics' reviews
"Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks team up for a pulsating account of the kidnapping of the captain of an American cargo ship by Somali pirates."
Todd McCarthy: The Hollywood Reporter
"The result is a kinetic docudrama that always impresses without ever connecting emotionally in quite the same way as the helmer's prior 'Bloody Sunday' and 'United 93'."
Scott Foundas: Variety
"Even while proficiently made, the movie fails to go beyond the call of duty, mainly fueling the same cocktail chatter the events have already inspired."
Eric Kohn: IndieWire
"It falls to Hanks and his movie-star presence to anchor this ambitious enterprise, and he does some of his most impressive acting without saying a word. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of four)"
Lou Lumenick: New York Post
"'Captain Phillips', a movie that insistently closes the distance between us and them, has a vital moral immediacy."
Manohla Dargis: The New York Times
"Ambitious, taut and captivating thriller. (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of four)"
Claudia Puig: USA Today
"It is (...) just about perfect in its wrenching emotion, expressed by an actor clearly up to the challenge of acting in a Paul Greengrass docudrama. (...) Rating: ★★★ (ou of four)"
Michael Phillips: Chicago Tribune
Show 2 more reviews
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Ranking Lists Position
12 My Top 10 Movies from 2013 (422)
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package tencentcloud

import (
	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/terraformer/terraformutils"
	cbs "github.com/tencentcloud/tencentcloud-sdk-go/tencentcloud/cbs/v20170312"
	"github.com/tencentcloud/tencentcloud-sdk-go/tencentcloud/common"
)

type CbsGenerator struct {
	TencentCloudService
}

func (g *CbsGenerator) InitResources() error {
	args := g.GetArgs()
	region := args["region"].(string)
	credential := args["credential"].(common.Credential)
	profile := NewTencentCloudClientProfile()
	client, err := cbs.NewClient(&credential, region, profile)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	request := cbs.NewDescribeDisksRequest()

	filters := make([]string, 0)
	for _, filter := range g.Filter {
		if filter.FieldPath == "id" && filter.IsApplicable("tencentcloud_cbs_storage") {
			filters = append(filters, filter.AcceptableValues...)
		}
	}
	for i := range filters {
		request.DiskIds = append(request.DiskIds, &filters[i])
	}

	var offset uint64
	var pageSize uint64 = 50
	allInstances := make([]*cbs.Disk, 0)

	for {
		request.Offset = &offset
		request.Limit = &pageSize
		response, err := client.DescribeDisks(request)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		allInstances = append(allInstances, response.Response.DiskSet...)
		if len(response.Response.DiskSet) < int(pageSize) {
			break
		}
		offset += pageSize
	}

	for _, instance := range allInstances {
		resource := terraformutils.NewResource(
			*instance.DiskId,
			*instance.DiskId,
			"tencentcloud_cbs_storage",
			"tencentcloud",
			map[string]string{},
			[]string{},
			map[string]interface{}{},
		)
		g.Resources = append(g.Resources, resource)

		if *instance.Attached {
			attachment := terraformutils.NewResource(
				*instance.DiskId,
				*instance.DiskId,
				"tencentcloud_cbs_storage_attachment",
				"tencentcloud",
				map[string]string{},
				[]string{},
				map[string]interface{}{},
			)
			attachment.AdditionalFields["storage_id"] = "${tencentcloud_cbs_storage." + resource.ResourceName + ".id}"
			g.Resources = append(g.Resources, attachment)
		}
	}

	return nil
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Volume 1 of the Cambridge World History is an introduction to both the discipline of world history and the earliest phases of world history up to 10,000 BCE. In Part I leading scholars outline the approaches, methods, and themes that have shaped and defined world history scholarship across the world and right up to the present day. Chapters examine the historiographical development of the field globally, periodisation, divergence and convergence, belief and knowledge, technology and innovation, family, gender, anthropology, migration, and fire. Part II surveys the vast Palaeolithic era, which laid the foundations for human history, concentrating on the most recent phases of hominin evolution, the rise of Homo sapiens and the very earliest human societies through to the end of the last ice age. Anthropologists, archaeologists, historical linguists and historians examine climate and tools, language, and culture, as well as offering regional perspectives from across the world.


Innovate Your Cool (IYC) celebrates the power of cool ideas and its impact on Innovation, Music and Culture. The Innovate Your Cool Conference & STEAM Field Day program will pack inspiration, ideas and fun into Friday and Saturday, September 28-29, 2018.
In its third year the Innovate Your Cool Conference introduced over 700 attendees to forward thought by blending common themes within Innovation, Music and Culture. Programming highlights included sessions hosted by global design firm IDEO, Professors 9th Wonder and Mark Anthony Neal and a innovation panel featuring Todd Olsen and Donald Thompson.
The 2017 Innovate Your Cool Conference also featured youth programming offered exclusively to area public school students. Students participated in interactive sessions on beat making and music engineering, coding and live science demos hosted by conference partner Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.
We are looking forward to an excited 2018 Conference packed with a few additions and surprises, more information below on getting involved.
Pictured: Professor Mark Anthony Neal, 9th Wonder and Reggie "Combat Jack" Osse discuss the evolution of hip hop and its impact on the next generation at the 2017 Innovate Your Cool Conference.
The Innovate Your Cool Conference is a one day experience full of interactive and educational content in the form of panel discussions, workshops and performances.
This year's programming features discussions lead by Grammy nominated recording artists, workshops presented in partnership with North Carolina Central University's Fab Lab and rooftop performance to close out the day.
The goal of the Innovate Your Cool Conference programming is to expose traditionally disengaged communities to opportunities at the intersections of Music, Innovation and Culture.
The Innovate Your Cool: STEAM Field Day is a student driven full-day experience packed with interactive STEAM based activities and live demonstrations.
All sessions are exclusively made available to students enrolled in selected Durham Public Schools that receive free or reduced lunch. Students will have the opportunity to interact with Impact Scientist from UNC's Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, Fly Drones while learning to code and produce beats with the gramming winning production team, The Soul Council.
The Innovate Your Cool: STEAM Field Day free to all students who attend and made possible by the generous donations of our sponsors.
Pictured: IYC conference attendees enjoying the challenge of our WerkStatt Workshop in partnership with Moog Music at the 2016 Innovate Your Cool Conference.
The Art of Cool Project and its initiatives are sustained by our amazing partners. Each partner listed below is a dedicated contributor to our overarching mission of expanding the audience for jazz music through education.


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Managing the Risk of Meningococcal Disease among Patients Who Receive Complement Inhibitor Therapy
To learn more about the increased risk of meningococcal disease in patients receiving eculizumab and prevention strategies, read the July 7, 2017 MMWR.
Recent data suggest that meningococcal vaccines likely provide incomplete protection against invasive meningococcal disease in eculizumab (Soliris®) recipients. Experts believe this increased risk likely also applies to ravulizumab (Ultomiris™) recipients. In addition to vaccination, clinicians could consider antimicrobial prophylaxis for complement inhibitor recipients to potentially reduce the risk of meningococcal disease.
Clinicians most commonly prescribe complement inhibitors for treatment of three rare health conditions:
Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS)
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH)
Generalized myasthenia gravis (MG)
Heightened Awareness Key for Clinicians and Patients
Clinicians should have a high index of suspicion for meningococcal disease in patients taking complement inhibitors with symptoms of meningitis or meningococcemia. You need to have this high index of suspicion even if your patient
Has symptoms that initially appear mild
Has been fully vaccinated
Is receiving antimicrobial prophylaxis
Clinicians should also ensure all patients receiving complement inhibitors:
Know the symptoms of meningococcal disease
Are aware of their increased risk
Seek care immediately if they start experiencing symptoms
Obtain rapid treatment
Taking Complement Inhibitors Increases the Risk of Meningococcal Disease
People taking complement inhibitors are at increased risk for meningococcal disease. The risk in eculizumab recipients is 1,000 to 2,000 times greater risk for getting meningococcal disease compared to otherwise healthy individuals in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved prescribing information for complement inhibitors includes a black box warning for increased risk of meningococcal disease. The warning includes a recommendation to administer meningococcal vaccines to patients receiving complement inhibitors.
Risk for Meningococcal Disease Remains Even if Vaccinated
Recent data show that some patients receiving eculizumab who were up to date with meningococcal vaccination still developed meningococcal disease. Nongroupable Neisseria meningitidis caused most of these infections. Nongroupable N. meningitidis typically does not cause invasive meningococcal disease in people with normal immune systems.
Meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) vaccine targets serogroups A, C, W, and Y, and provides no protection against nongroupable N. meningitidis. FDA licensed serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccines specifically for protection against serogroup B meningococcal disease. Researchers have not assessed the extent of any potential cross protection from MenB vaccines for nongroupable N. meningitidis strains.
CDC Still Recommends Meningococcal Vaccination for Patients Taking Complement Inhibitors
Despite disease occurring among vaccinated individuals, clinicians should continue immunizing patients who receive a complement inhibitor. Ideally, you should administer meningococcal vaccines at least 2 weeks prior to administering the first dose of the complement inhibitor. CDC recommends both MenACWY and MenB vaccines for complement inhibitor recipients. Depending on the brand, the full series of MenB vaccine requires 2 or 3 doses. Administer a booster dose of MenACWY vaccine every 5 years, for the duration of complement inhibitor therapy. Administer a booster dose of MenB vaccine 1 year after series completion and then every 2 to 3 years thereafter, for the duration of complement inhibitor therapy.
Food and Drug Administration. UltomirisTM (ravulizumab) product label pdf icon[20 pages]external icon. Accessed 5/2019.
Food and Drug Administration. Soliris® (eculizumab) product label pdf icon[33 pages]external icon. Accessed 6/2017.
McNamara LA, Topaz N, Wang X, Hariri S, Fox L, MacNeil J. High risk for invasive meningococcal disease among patients receiving eculizumab (Soliris) despite receipt of meningococcal vaccine. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017;66(27):734–7.
For Patients: Taking Complement Inhibitors Increases Your Risk for Meningococcal Disease
Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS)external icon
Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH)external icon
Child and Adolescent Indications Schedule: Vaccines That Might Be Indicated for Persons Aged 0 through 18 Years Based On Medical Indications
Adult Immunization Schedule by Medical and Other Indications: Recommended Immunization Schedule for Adults Aged 19 Years or Older by Medical Conditions and Other Indications, United States, 2017
Content source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
homeMeningococcal Home
About the Diseaseplus icon
Risk Factorsplus icon
Group Settings
Certain Medical Conditions
Causes & Transmission
Meningococcal Photos
Meningococcal Vaccination
Meningococcal Outbreaks
Laboratory Information
Meningococcal Disease in Other Countries
Publications & Multimediaplus icon
Print & Multimedia
Preteen Vaccine Campaign
Podcast: Meningitis Immunization for Adolescents


text:
"""
WSGI config for open_humans project.

It exposes the WSGI callable as a module-level variable named ``application``.

For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/howto/deployment/wsgi/
"""

import logging
import os

os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "open_humans.settings")

# pylint: disable=wrong-import-position
from django.conf import settings  # noqa
from django.core.cache.backends.memcached import BaseMemcachedCache  # noqa
from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application  # noqa

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

logger.info("WSGI application starting")

logger.info("DEBUG: %s", settings.DEBUG)
logger.info("OAUTH2_DEBUG: %s", settings.OAUTH2_DEBUG)
logger.info("LOG_EVERYTHING: %s", settings.LOG_EVERYTHING)

# Fix django closing connection to MemCachier after every request (#11331)
BaseMemcachedCache.close = lambda self, **kwargs: None

application = get_wsgi_application()


[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 06/23] indeo3: use hpeldsp instead of dsputil	for half-pel functions.
Previous message: [FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 05/23] vp56: use hpeldsp instead of dsputil	for half-pel functions.
Next message: [FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 07/23] bink: use hpeldsp instead of dsputil	for half-pel functions.
This makes indeo3 independent of dsputil.
@@ -1741,7 +1741,7 @@ huffyuv_decoder_select="dsputil"


Church Street (The Temptation of Sarah Jane, Amy's Choice): 0.03 miles.
Alan Young Butcher's (Amy's Choice): 0.04 miles.
College Street (Amy's Choice): 0.05 miles.
Dimlands Road (fields) (The Temptation of Sarah Jane): 0.11 miles.
The Medieval Dovecot (field) (The Temptation of Sarah Jane): 0.15 miles.
29 Jul 2008: Filming Schedule - The filming schedule posted to villagers indicates that filming took place in the hall on the 29th.


text:
Pseudoamauroascus australiensis är en svampart som beskrevs av Cano, M. Solé & Guarro 2002. Pseudoamauroascus australiensis ingår i släktet Pseudoamauroascus och familjen Onygenaceae.   Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Sporsäcksvampar
australiensis

en:Pseudoamauroascus australiensis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
About Sumatran Sea Turtle Conservation
Sumatran Sea Turtle Conservation is a national organisation of Indonesia,
born in response to the crisis of the sea turtle population in the surrounding ocean.
We started with old baths to contain countless rescued sea turtles, and during our first hatching season we enabled the safe hatchings of nearly four hundred and fifty sea turtles and witnessed their journey into the ocean.
Now we have built our Sea Turtle Clinic on the beach at Sungai Pinang where we have large pools for rescued sick and injured sea turtles, and a secured nesting bed giving hatchlings direct access to the ocean.
Our vision is to lead with integrity and impact positively on the lives of everyone who comes into contact with Sumatran Sea Turtle Conservation.
The Founding Members
Drawn together by the conviction that they could influence their community and safeguard the protection of sea turtles, the founding members of Sumatran Sea Turtle Conservation – Ahmed, Andre, Del and Ricky – formed an alliance in the small village of Sungai Pinang in West Sumatra. They came together with a number of backgrounds including the eco–tourism and fishing industries, university studies, surfing and music. With very little in financial support, they created a sustainable rehabilitation and protection programme for sea turtles and further developed environment and education projects to impact positively on the lives of everyone in the village.
The village of Sungai Pinang in West Sumatra lies on a 5km coastline surrounded by beaches and islands important to all six of Indonesia's sea turtle species, but they are endangered by over-population of wild pigs and monitor lizards.
The villagers are fishermen and boat builders who have used the sea for their livelihood for many generations. Some local traditions are now challenges to sea turtle protection and Sumatran Sea Turtle Conservation works tirelessly to include and support the community as they adjust to the role of marine conservation in everyday life and their children's futures. The fisherman are now selling their fish daily to our organisation, bringing injured sea turtles to the clinic and alerting us of nestings on remote beaches.


An incredible meal will be forgotten if there are mistakes or delays during service. The most beautiful property will be forgotten if busy staff are 'missing in action' and inadvertently test guests' patience too far.
One need not remind hotel executives of the criticality of continually evaluating our vision - and execution - of guest service. This is part in the DNA of industry leaders. A less common trait of this same group is an appetite for exploring technologies that might accelerate or enhance the ability to deliver a quality, personal, exceptional guest experience. Hospitality traditionally trails other industries in adoption of - and the creativity around - new technologies. A notable exception is mobile point-of-sale (POS).
The hospitality industry is second only to healthcare in its adoption of handheld device technology. And as technology begins to catch up with the demands of this market, growth continues to accelerate.


text: Q: Dataset properties for acceptable confirmatory factor analysis I don't exactly figure out the data requirement for confirmatory factor analysis. what kind of dataset gives acceptable performance metrics for the confirmatory factor analysis? For example: if there are three factors, all the items that belong the same factor has high covariance is enough for good results? Thanks.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Jeris organizing decluttering news: 15 ways to store the spices. Free under cabinet spice rack plans pdf woodworking plans online download towersedq. Diy under cabinet spice rack a place to call home pinterest. Small wooden cabinet with drawers, kitchen cabinets pull out spice rack under cabinet organizers.
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Discussion in 'Database' started by louise44, Jun 27, 2007.
I'm still kind of new to this database kind of stuff (this forum has already taught me a couple things, I hope for more ). Does anyone know of a good free web host that supports MySQL (and maybe PHP)?
I am good with Mysql codes if you need any help please let me knwo.
I recomend a hoster called hyperphp, this have mysql so you can a forum plus this hoster is not have adverts on your site like some so its good.
Hyperphp gives me 250MB of disk, you get a sub domain name if you know what that is and you can also use your own domain too.
Googling it out will give you the best in the business but then I would suggest you take a look at GoDaddy.
Ali, Please don't link to your personal sites for any queries relating to web hosting and try to provide the solution to the person looking for something rather than promoting your own stuff. You can always use your signature provided it does not violate the Signature rules and guidelines.
I think free services have came a long way since the start of the internet, such as free email (gmail/yahoo and many more) free video hosting such as yourtube and other copies, I think free hosting is now a reliable service even if free! The support i get from my free host is better than two paid hosts i have used!
hyperphp.com is part of Byethost who are the biggest free hosts on the net. they are banner free that means no adverts They use a cluster of webserver according to their site and i read about this is good!
I am very satisfied with this free host and think yous who say free hosting is not reliable you should try the lastest hosters! i say you use hyperphp.com !
Did you mean to say he recommend you here to make the post about hyperphp where as he is also looking for a host. Now if thats even the case then you responded in less than 3 minutes and don't you think any realistic post some time to type. I may need more than 3 minutes to complete this one.
You just missed the main thing and that is open source and don't you think we are aware of free things available on net.
hyperphp is part of Byethost who are the biggest free hosts on the net. they are banner free that means no adverts They use a cluster of webserver according to their site and i read about this is good!
No search engine consider them as big as you are referring to.
Yeah, you have the chance for some more promotion.
I am very satisfied with this free host and think yous who say free hosting is not reliable you should try the lastest hosters!!
You may be but the site does not look at all what you are speaking about and stop spamming.
You can register host in http://esnips.com voi capa: 5GB .
Who know which appropriate with sqlserver?
hi, Shabir, What name is your blog or homepage?
How does you think its related to the thread in which you have posted this. Please do not jump into any thread and ask anything you feel like. Instead create a new thread for your questions. By the way the answer lies in my signature as well as on my profile link.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'll note it.


text:
A 'different level of grit' — Fashion agency elevates African-American work in Memphis, New York
Brandice Henderson returned home this weekend to share her successes in the fashion world with the people who helped make it happen.
A 'different level of grit' — Fashion agency elevates African-American work in Memphis, New York Brandice Henderson returned home this weekend to share her successes in the fashion world with the people who helped make it happen. Check out this story on commercialappeal.com: http://memne.ws/2A7R16c
Jennifer Pignolet, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee Published 5:19 p.m. CT Nov. 4, 2017
Memphis native Brandice Henderson Daniel is the founder of Harlem's Fashion Row a New Yourk fashion event which spotlights multi-cultural models and designers.(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo
Brandice Henderson moved to New York City for 12 years, but don't you dare call her a New Yorker.
"Everything I do, I always say, 'I'm Brandice, and I'm from Memphis,'" the 40-year-old East High graduate said.
Henderson was back in her hometown Saturday, and she brought the big city with her.
Henderson is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Harlem's Fashion Row, a fashion agency she founded that elevates the work of African-American and multicultural designers. She's here frequently to see family, but every five years she returns to Memphis with Big Apple designers, editors and other industry representatives in tow.
On Saturday, the historic Clayborn Temple was the site of an all-day event providing inspiration for those thinking about a career in fashion and highlighting Memphis designers.
Harlem's Fashion Row celebrated its 10th anniversary with an event in the founder's home city of Memphis. Jennifer Pignolet/The Commercial Appeal
The venue, the site of so much of the organization behind the Civil Rights Movement, provided the perfect backdrop to elevate the voices of people of color, Henderson said,
"When you think about the kind of the history here and what they were trying to accomplish, and being seen as equal, it's basically the same thing I'm trying to do with Harlem's Fashion Row but in a much lighter subject area," she said.
Her organization, inspired by a small fashion show in a Brooklyn restaurant in 2007, provides a platform for designers to showcase their work.
When Henderson set out to start Harlem's Fashion Row, she started looking for black designers and couldn't find any.
"I think they were already there, mostly, and just needed to be discovered and uncovered," she said. "But I think now our platform has said to designers who are thinking about it, 'You know, I can actually have a place to show and actually have my voice be heard.'"
One of the voices heard Saturday is that of Memphian Tiena Gwin, who grew up in Whitehaven and launched her women's apparel fashion line full-time in 2014. She's participated in the last three years of Memphis Fashion Week but was thrilled to get a call from Henderson.
"If you're in Memphis, you don't think that you could get opportunities like that," Gwin said.
Seeing Henderson come back to Memphis after her successes and passing on her expertise is inspiring, she said.
"It's like, if she can do it, I can do it," Gwin said.
Henderson, who also grew up in Whitehaven, graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in fashion merchandising before moving to Atlanta to try and launch her career. But it wasn't until after a few years of struggling in temporary jobs that she found her home at the corporate offices of Catherine's Inc. clothing company in Memphis.
She credits Memphis, not New York, for her never-quit personality that led to her success. Her first fashion show in her Harlem neighborhood took multiple requests before people agreed to participate.
"I feel like Memphis gives you like a little bit different level of grit than other places do," she said.
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.
Read or Share this story: http://memne.ws/2A7R16c
Former U of M great William Bedford on redemption
Seeing more snakes around Memphis? Here's why.
Topgolf remains interested in Memphis, Downtown
Lemoyne-Owen faculty sues board over Andrea Miller era
Fair housing investigation into MLGW in N. Memphis
The new Elvis is Austin Butler


text:
Q: Every time getting nil url for model in core data iOS I'm always getting nil in url in the following code:
NSBundle *bundle = [NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]];
NSURL *url = [bundle URLForResource:@"Model" withExtension:@"momd"];

bundle is not nil, my model name is Model.xcdatamodeld
What can be wrong?

A:  NSURL *modelURL = [[NSBundle mainBundle] URLForResource:@"DataModel" withExtension:@"momd"];
 NSManagedObjectModel *mom = [[NSManagedObjectModel alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:modelURL];

I cleared the Model.xcdatamodeld remove it, add new DataModel.xcdatamodel in my code and restart the simulator, then I got modelURL.

A: I don't think it is immediately obvious what bundleForClass is returning to you. Apple's docs say:

*

*(NSBundle *)bundleForClass:(Class)aClass

Return Value:
The NSBundle object that dynamically loaded aClass (a loadable bundle), the NSBundle object for the framework in which aClass is defined, or the main bundle object if aClass was not dynamically loaded or is not defined in a framework.

It is only going to give you mainBundle under certain circumstances. You don't say what your class is. I think going straight to mainBundle (as you have done) is much safer.

A: use
[[NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]] resourceURL];

instead of
[NSBundle bundleForClass:[self class]];


Ann Vickery (1800-1853) and Mary Ann Taylor (1804-1892) were amongst the longest serving female itinerant preachers within the Bible Christian Connexion. Ann Vickery married Paul Robins, a fellow preacher in 1831. The couple came to Canada in 1846. Ann died a few years later in 1853. Paul Robins returned briefly to England married Mary Ann Taylor in 1854 in Cornwall. Paul and Mary then returned to Canada.
The tombstones for both women acknowledge their service to the Bible Christians as transcribed in 1986.
Source: Gannon B, Schmid H, Pickard K. Providence Cemetery. Conc 3 Lot 3 Darlington Twp. A Genealogical Reference Listing. Ontario Genealogical Society. May 1986. pg. 4.
Further details about the life of Ann Vickery can found in the following Canadian Biography written by Albert Burnside.


Wired Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Come on in every other Wednesday for one-on-one PC help and troubleshooting (by appointment only). Other Wednesdays will be devoted to various computer topics such as home computer/laptop security and maintenance, tablets, Microsoft Excel and Word. See the Calendar for details.
Space is limited for all workshops. Registration required, please. No exceptions!


text:
Jundishapur Journal of Natural Pharmaceutical Products Official Publication of School of Pharmacy, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences
WoS | ESCI
CiteScore 2018 : 1.07
All Issues Current Issue In Press
Journal Information Board & Committee Indexing and Listing Sources Journal Metrics Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement Contact Us
Parameters Affecting Antiradical, Elemental Composition and Microstructural Elucidation in the Heat Reflux Extraction of Dried Piper nigrum Seedlings
Olusegun Abayomi Olalere 1 , * , Hamid Nour Abdurahman 1 , Rosli Bin Mohd Yunus 1 , Oluwaseun Ruth Alara 1
1 Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang, Gambang, Malaysia
* Corresponding Author: Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang, Gambang, Malaysia. Email: olabayor@gmail.com
How to Cite: Olalere O A, Abdurahman H N, Yunus R B M, Alara O R. Parameters Affecting Antiradical, Elemental Composition and Microstructural Elucidation in the Heat Reflux Extraction of Dried Piper nigrum Seedlings, Jundishapur J Nat Pharm Prod. Online ahead of Print ; 14(2):e57498. doi: 10.5812/jjnpp.57498.
Jundishapur Journal of Natural Pharmaceutical Products: 14 (2); e57498
Published Online: May 19, 2019
Revised: June 23, 2018
Accepted: July 21, 2018
DOI : 10.5812/jjnpp.57498
Image Credit: 57498
CHEKING
READ FULL TEXT
Background: Black- and white pepper extracts are natural products, which had been extensively used in food industries as a seasoning agent, and in herbal medicine for the treatment of many free radical-related diseases. Owing to the medicinal and nutritive benefits of this functional spice, the need then arises to find a way of extracting its fixed oil at optimum condition.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of extraction parameters on the extraction yield, antioxidant activities, microstructure, functional group characteristics, and elemental composition of fixed oils extracted from the two cultivars.
Methods: Extraction of fixed oil was carried out using a heat reflux extraction technique. The dietary elemental composition was conducted using Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). The effect of localized heating on the extracts was evaluated to determine the structural changes in the pepper sample using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).
Results: The optimal fixed oil yields under the optimum condition were 10.38 mg/g for the black pepper and 15.27 for the white pepper. The antiradical powers (ARP) of 0.007985 and 0.009046 mL/µg were obtained for black- and white pepper fixed oil, respectively. This suggests that the fixed oil from white pepper exhibited higher antiradical characteristics than black pepper fixed oil. The results of BET-parameters revealed the percentage of deformations related to the black- and white pepper under the localized heating was 21.47% and 29.14%, respectively.
Conclusions: The results revealed a greater deformation on the microstructure of white pepper than black pepper. Moreover, rich dietary elements present in the extracts succinctly unveiled the potential of fixed oil extracts in curative applications and preventive traditional medicine.
Antiradical Power Dietary Elements Heat Reflux Extraction Localized Heating Black- and White Pepper
Copyright © 2019, Jundishapur Journal of Natural Pharmaceutical Products. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.
Black- and white peppers (Piper nigrum) are important functional food used as additives in food industries. The use of these commodity crops for nutritive purposes is due to their amazing aroma and pungency property (1). Fresh black and white peppers are flowering vines of Piperaceae family found mostly in tropical countries such as India, Malaysia, Brazil, and Thailand. While the white pepper is usually produced from fully matured peppercorns, the black pepper is made from the unripe green berry fruits. Recently, the oleoresin extracts (fixed oil) from black- and white pepper are used for treating the common cold, fever and many inflammatory diseases (2). The extracts also offer a remarkable alternative medicine for a lot of free radical-related disorders such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, and some neurological diseases (3). Research has shown the effects of oleoresin extracts in the stimulation of gastrointestinal walls, which explains its medicinal activities in the prevention of constipation and indigestion (2). Meghwal (4) investigated the anti-inflammatory properties of black- and white pepper extracts and it was discovered to inhibit snake and scorpion poisons.
Heat reflux extraction is a conventional method used in the extraction of medicinal constituents from tough nuts, wood, seeds, and hard surface powdered natural products (5). The AOAC method is used for the extraction of essential oils and fixed oils from seeds (6). Silva et al. (6) reported three categories of hydrodistillation process, which consisted of the water immersion, vapor immersion, and direct vapor immersion. This is achieved by the use of a steam or reflux system. The former involves a mixture of distilled water and plant sample with the addition of heat in adequate proportions, while the latter involves passing steam through a bed of plant matrix (7). In both approaches, the hydrated plant sample is distilled and the extract turned into a vapor phase. The condensation of this vapor formed a water-extract phase layer, which can later be separated out to obtain pure extracts (7). The merit of this method is the use of a low-cost inorganic (water) solvent and simplicity of equipment set-up (7), which is implemented before the dehydration of the plant matrix and it is the most suitable when the pepper sample is in dried form (6). The simplicity and availability of its auxiliary equipment make it a better option compared to other extraction methods (5). The advantages of extracting non-volatile oil (i.e. fixed oil) instead of essential oil are that it presents a complete bioactive extract for a myriad of medicinal and nutritional applications.
The aim of this study was to determine the influence of extraction parameters (extraction time, feed particle size, and solvent volume) on the extraction yield, antiradical properties, surface topology, and dietary elemental composition of black- and white pepper fixed oil.
3.1. Materials
Black- and white peppers (Piper nigrum) were purchased from Malaysia Pepper Board (MPB), Sarawak Malaysia. The pepper seed was air-dried for 3-days and later pulverized into powder using a Grindomix grinder (Knife-200 model, Germany). The powdered samples were then categorized into different particle sizes (0.105 mm, 0.154 mm, 0.300 mm, 0.450 mm and 0.900 mm) using the Retsch vibration shaker (AS 200 Basic-Model). The sieved samples were thereafter stored in sealed nylon. Analytical grade ethanol (99.9% purity), and distilled water were obtained from the Chemical Laboratory, University Malaysia Pahang, Kuantan. For antioxidant assay; 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl reagent was purchased from Sigma Aldrich Chemical Co. These chemicals were used without subjecting them to further purification.
3.2. Heat Reflux Extraction and Analysis of Heat Energy Absorbed
Twenty-five grams of the samples were accurately weighed and loaded into a 1L volumetric flask containing distilled water, in accordance with the method used by Jiang et al. (8); but modified into a reflux configuration. The sample was then filtered and concentrated using the rotary evaporator. The extraction yield was calculated on dry weight basis and stored at 4°C and kept away from light. Because of heat loss, not all the energy released from a heat reflux system is converted into thermal energy (9). This energy was estimated from the amount of solvent used up during the extraction process (wf - wi) together with the temperature difference (Tf - Ti). The total absorbed energy (Qtotal) is, therefore, an accumulation of sensible heat (Qsensible) and the heat of vaporization (Qvap.) as presented in Equation 1.
Equation 1.Qtotal=Qvap.+Qsensiblet=hfgwf-wi+ρVCp(Tf-Ti)t
where ρ is the density of water (g/cm3), V is the volume of water (cm3), Cp is the specific heat capacity of water (Jg-1°C-1), hfg is the latent heat of vaporization of water (Jg-1), t is the extraction time (min), Tf is final temperature (°C), Ti is the initial temperature (°C). Moreover, wi and wf are the initial and final weight of solvent before and after the extraction, respectively.
3.3. DPPH Antiradical Evaluation
Furthermore, DPPH radical scavenging activity was performed (10). In brief, 0.1 mM of 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) working solution was prepared by diluting 10 mL stock DPPH solution in 90 mL of analytical grade ethanol (99.95% purity). Then 2.5 mL of the DPPH working solution was added to 0.5 mL of different extract concentrations (A1). The negative control (blank) was prepared by adding 0.5 mL of ethanol with 2.5 mL of DPPH solution (A0). The A2 comprises of mixture 0.5mL of fixed oil extracts (at different concentration of 50 - 250 µg/mL) and 2.5 mL ethanol. Absorbance was measured after 30 min of incubation in the dark. The DPPH radical scavenging activity was calculated using Equation 2.
Equation 2.Scavenging Activity DPPH=A0-(A2-A1)A0×100%
The antiradical power (ARP) was thereafter calculated by finding the inverse of IC50 value.
3.4. Scanning Electronic Microscopy and Energy Dispersive Analysis
A Hitachi tabletop scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (TM3030Plus, Japan) was used to examine the morphological changes in the sample before and after extraction. The SEM-images were used to determine the morphological changes from the conventional heat application layer gold before analyzing. Moreover, energy dispersive is an analytical method employed in the elemental characterization of organic and inorganic samples. It works on the fundamental principle of spectroscopy, which is assumed that each element in an atomic structure has its own unique fingerprints. Hence a characteristic set of peaks is generated on its electromagnetic emission spectra. To determine the dietary elements in the oleoresin extract, a 15 kV voltage and 40 - 300 magnification were used at a distance of 6 mm. In this study, the elemental compositions of fresh dried black- and white peppers were obtained through energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. The EDX of the oleoresin extract were conducted on a Hitachi TM 3030 Plus tabletop microscope. The samples were coated with a gold thin layer to decrease the electron charge on the sample surface and enhance sharpness. In addition, 30 s acquisition time and 5 s process time settings were used.
3.5. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller Analysis
The specific volume distribution and pore size transformation were examined using the results from Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The analysis was carried out using a micrometric unit (ASAP 2020, USA). The rate of structural deformation and surface area changes after the extraction process was carefully elucidated. The cumulative specific pore volume and pore diameters were estimated using 0.140 g of the samples, at a degassing temperature of 110°C in a slow mode for 3 h. The BET data were then analyzed using a computer-controlled physisorption analyzer.
3.6. Statistical Analysis
The results were analyzed using ANOVA test and all experimental procedures were conducted in triplicates. The standard deviation (± SD) between groups of value was estimated to express the extraction conditions using the largest donating rules.
4.1. Investigation of Parametric Effects
A single-factor experiment was used to investigate the effects of three extraction variables on the extraction yield and absorbed heat energy. The merit of this method is that it gives information about the periodic changes in each experimental run, rather than the overall design matrix (11). This design helps to determine the significance of each extraction variable on the response setting, as opposed to varying the factors simultaneously. The extraction parameters were comprised of the extraction time (x1), feed particle size (x2), and feed-solvent ratio (water volume) (x3).
4.1.1. Influence of Extraction Time
The extraction time was defined as 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 min at a constant feed particle size (0.105 mm) and water volume (400 mL i.e. feed-solvent ratio 1:16). The experiments were conducted at the boiling temperature of water (100 °C). With an increasing extraction time from 30 min to 90 min, the oleoresin yield from black pepper was increased accordingly. Similarly, as the extraction time increased from 60 min to 240 min, the extraction yield of the oleoresin from white pepper was increased. However, the maximum yield was achieved at 240 and 180 min, when black- and white peppers were heat-refluxed, respectively. Under this condition, the optimum yield of 9.22 mg/g and 14.04 mg/g were attained for black pepper oleoresin (BPOE) and white pepper oleoresin (WPOE), respectively. The results revealed that the amount of extracted WPOE was higher than BPOE. This could be attributed to the differences in their maturation time. Similarly, the total energy absorbed by the sample peaked at the point where the extraction yield was the highest. These energies were higher in black pepper (220 J/min) than when white pepper (210 J/min) was heat-refluxed. This suggests that the energy required to extract spice oleoresin from black pepper is more than that required for white pepper. This is because the forces of attraction at the cellulosic cell wall of black pepper are believed to be higher than that of the white pepper (12). Figure 1 illustrates the effects of extraction time on the extraction yield and energy absorbed by the water-pepper matrix.
Figure 1. Extraction time variation in HRE
4.1.2. Influence of Particle Size
The feed particle sizes were defined as 0.105, 0.154, 0.300, 0.45, and 0.900 mm at a constant extraction time (240 min for black pepper and 180 min for white pepper), the solvent volume of 400 mL (feed-solvent ratio 1:16) and at the boiling temperature of water (100°C). The oleoresin yield was recorded to have a maximum value at 0.105 and 0.154 mm particle size when black- and white pepper was heat-refluxed, respectively. Under this condition, the BPOE and WPOE were 10.02 and 15.27 mg/g, respectively. At this threshold, the absorbed energy by the water-pepper system was 304 and 320 J/min for black- and white pepper, respectively. Ultimately, there was a steady decrease in the extraction yield as the particle size increased beyond this point. For this reason, a finely divided pepper sample presented a larger surface area for solvent penetration. This is because fine pepper size absorbs more energy than the coarse particle. Figure 2 illustrates the effect of particle size on the extraction yield and total absorbed energy by the water-pepper system.
Figure 2. Particle size variation in HRE
4.1.3. Influence of the Feed-Solvent Ratio
The feed-solvent ratio was defined as 1:12, 1:14, 1:16, 1:18 and 1:20, at a constant extraction time (240 min for black pepper and 180 min for white pepper), feed particle sizes (0.105 mm for black pepper and 0.154 mm for white pepper) and at the boiling temperature of water (100°C) as illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3. The feed-solvent ratio in variation in HRE
As the volume of water was increased from 300 to 400 mL (i.e. 1:12 to 1:16), there was a corresponding increase in the extraction yield. Up to this point, the total energy absorbed and energy required for solvent vaporization were increased with regard to volume rise. Beyond this point, the total absorbed energy by the sample was decreased as the vaporization energy was increased. This indicated when the volume of water exceeded 400 mL (1:16), most of the emitted energy vaporized a large volume of water according to Desai et al. study (13).
4.1.4. Determination of Extraction Condition
The choice of best extraction conditions was based on the 'largest donating rule' as reported by Liang et al. (14). The rule states that as far as each investigated factor is concerned, the maximum value, which affects the response should be the selected value. The extracts obtained from the parametric study at optimum conditions (Table 1) were then employed for subsequent physicochemical analysis.
Table 1. Summary of the Selected Extraction Condition
Black Pepper Heat Refluxed
White Pepper Heat Refluxed
Extraction time x1 min 240 180
Particle size x2 mm 0.105 0.154
Solvent volume x3 mL 400 400
Extraction yielda - mg/g 10.38 ± 0.02 15.27 ± 0.05
aValues are expressed as means ± SD of triplicate runs.
4.2. Determination of Antiradical Power
The IC50 values were estimated to be 125.24 ± 0.20 µg/mL and 110.54 ± 0.01 µg/mL for BPOE and WPOE, respectively. A lower IC50 for the white pepper extract is an indication that the WPOE exhibited higher antioxidant activities than BPOE. Similarly, the ARP of the black- and white pepper extracts were estimated to be 0.007985 ± 0.23 and 0.009046 ± 0.15 mL/µg, respectively. From the ARP value, the WPOE was higher in antioxidant properties with 11.72% compared to BPOE. The higher ARP further confirmed the higher radical scavenging activity of WPOE, which is consistent with the result obtained by Liang-Liang and Jian-Guo (15).
4.3. Determination of Morphological Characteristics
The cellulosic cell wall of the fresh black- and white pepper fruits consist of neatly packed stone-like elongated parenchymatous cells as shown in Figure 4A and B. The application of localized heat in the pepper matrix results in the disorientation of the parenchymatous cells. Therefore the oil and water content inside the cellulosic structure coalesce, resulting in a pressure gradient and a subsequent rupture in the cell wall as shown in Figure 4C and D. The rupture of the cell wall leads to an accelerated mass transfer of volatile compound as reported by Olalere et al. (16).
Figure 4. SEM images of black pepper before (A) and after (B) the extraction and white pepper before (C) and after (D) the extraction
4.4. Elemental Composition
Overall, ten dietary elements were identified from the elemental analysis conducted on the BPOE and WPOE viz carbon (C), oxygen (O), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), phosphorous (P), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S). Among the dietary elements in the extract, C and O have the highest concentration, while Mg, Al, Si, Ca, and K are in moderate amount. However, P, N, and S are in trace amounts. Their presence in trace amounts has led to neglecting their significant role in combating many nutritive and degenerative disorders. The variation in the elemental concentration in both BPOE and WPOE can be attributed to the differences in their chemical structure occasioned by their maturation time (5). The dietary elements such as Mg, Ca, Si, and K are classified as essential dietary elements, while N and S are nearly non-essential to the human body. Potassium helps in the synthesis of nucleoproteins, metalloproteinase, chromoproteins, and lipoproteins, which aid the contraction of muscles, especially the cardiac muscles. Calcium aids the development of bone, rapid clotting of blood, regulation of heartbeat, and blood pressure. Magnesium reduces cholesterol level and helps in the conversion of excess blood glucose to useful energy. Silicon is another dietary element, which helps in the prevention of hardening the veins and arteries. These dietary elements can be explored in curative and preventive traditional medicine.
4.5. Determination of Textural Characteristics
The cumulative pore volume was plotted against the pore size in order to investigate the effects of localized heating on the microstructure of black- and white pepper. The results from the pore distribution curves revealed that the untreated sample exhibits higher pore volume and sizes prior to extraction. A careful comparison of both samples before and after the exposure to localized heating gave a percentage deformation as 43.56% in black pepper and 59.62% in white pepper in relation to their specific pore volume. Similarly, the structural deformation percent related to the black- and white pepper was estimated to be 21.47% and 29.14% in relation to changes in their pore sizes, respectively. This indicated that the deformation percentage is higher in white pepper than in black pepper, which could be due to differences in their maturation time.
This study shows the effects of extraction parameters on the fixed oil yield and the influence of heat energy on the antioxidant and structural integrity of black- and white pepper sample during heat reflux extraction. The result obtained from the ARP values indicated that white pepper exhibits higher antioxidant capacity than the black pepper while that SEM and BET results clearly revealed that the localized heating had a greater deformation effect on white pepper than black pepper.
Authors' Contribution: Olusegun Abayomi Olalere developed the original idea and experimental protocol wrote the manuscript. Hamid Nour Abdurahman is the project leader who supervised the work. Rosli Bin Mohd Yunus conducted a critical revision of the intellectual content of the study. Oluwaseun Ruth Alara helped in the acquisition of data and the preparation of this manuscript.
Conflict of Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Funding/Support: The authors declared that no financial support was received.
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Orly Lewis
Chief Operating Officer of the Weinstein JCC in Richmond VA
Speaker: The Forgotten Narrative: The Story of the Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries
Orly's Jewish communal work began with the program "Operation Exodus" which worked to resettle hundreds of Jews from the former Soviet Union who came to Richmond, Virginia through HIAS. Her passion for the Jewish community led her to a 20 year career at the Weinstein JCC where she currently serves as COO. She received the president's award from the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond in recognition of her commitment and devotion to the Richmond Coalition for Jewish Education and was also recognized as a Distinguished Director of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School.
Orly was born in Israel to a family of Tunisian immigrants who immigrated to Israel in the 1950s, leaving behind their businesses and homes in the capital city of Tunis to flee the growing persecution against Jews. She has been invited to tell the story of her family's harrowing journey from Tunisia to audiences at Virginia Commonwealth University and Georgetown University Hillel.
She received her degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Richmond.


Google Analytics is a fantastic tool for measuring traffic and the behaviour of that traffic on your site.
Best of all it's completely free. However when you open up Google Analytics for the first time, it's very easy to be intimidated by its vast array of menus, navigation, graphs, visualisations and language.
Here I'll offer a quick overview of the language involved when studying Google Analytics, which should help clear a few things up, before pointing you towards further resources on the site for more expansive guidance.
Here are a few of the more common words you'll come across in analytics.
Entry (or Landing) Page: the entry page is the first page viewed by a website visitor.
Page Impression: a page is loaded or reloaded by a user.
Visits: the total number of visits to your site, from unique or repeat visitors.
Unique Visitors: the number of unduplicated visitors to your website over the course of a specified time period.
To make things clearer, let's take a look at how this information is relayed in Google Analytics.
Pages/Session: the average number of pages viewed during a visit to your site.
% New Sessions: the percentage of visits that were first time visits (from people who had never visited your site before)If you would like help or want to learn more about Google Analytics make sure you get in touch. Sharpmonkeys is a digital marketing agency based in Worcester.


Mist Of Nihil is a 5 piece melodic death/doom band stationed in Athens,Greece. The band draws inspiration from themes such as: nature,darkness,vanity and sorrow. Check them out below with as you give their latest ep 'Buried Laments' a spin.
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Companies 1-10
1. Lockheed Martin Corp.<@VM>2. Northrop Grumman Corp.<@VM>3. Boeing Co.<@VM>4. Science Applications International Corp.<@VM>5. General Dynamics<@VM>6. Computer Sciences Corp.<@VM>7. Raytheon Co.<@VM>8. TRW Inc.<@VM>9. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.<@VM>10. Unisys Corp.
Top 100 home page: Nation's woes fuel federal market
Top 100 List
Profiles of companies 11-20
Last year's Top 100 Report
Arthur Johnson, senior vice president for corporate strategic development
Lockheed Martin Corp., which has owned the No. 1 ranking on Washington Technology's Top 100 list since 1995, grew even stronger in 2001.
"Last year was a record year for orders at Lockheed Martin. We have a backlog of more than $70 billion [and] we're on the upswing in customer satisfaction," said Arthur Johnson, senior vice president for corporate strategic development.
The company won the development contract for the Joint Strike Fighter airplane, worth $19 billion over the next 10 years; started the production contract for F-22 aircraft; and purchased OAO Corp. and began integrating its managed services capabilities into Lockheed Martin Information Technology.
Lockheed Martin strengthened its balance sheet last year, according to Paul Nisbet, principal with JSA Research, Newport, R.I., an aerospace research firm.
"They have lowered their debt quite well. They made more divestitures than purchases. Their debt at the end of last year was about $8.5 billion, and it had been up in the double digits," Nisbet said.
While much of the attention paid to Lockheed Martin goes to its high-profile military aircraft programs, the company quietly maintains its position as the largest IT provider to the federal government, more than twice the size of the second company on the Top 100 list.
"Their IT contracts are not consistently very large and average a lot less than aircraft development," Nisbet said. "There are gobs of IT contracts, but you don't hear too much about them."
The company describes its business mix as being 50 percent to 55 percent defense-related, 25 percent to 30 percent civilian government agencies and commercial customers, and the balance made up of international sales.
Air traffic management is one area where Lockheed Martin holds a dominant position. The Federal Aviation Administration tried last year to award the En Route Automation Modernization contract, worth hundreds of millions of dollars over 10 years, to Lockheed Martin without running a competition, but Raytheon Co. protested and the agency decided to go through a competitive bidding process.
The request for proposals has been released, but Raytheon has filed another protest over the design of the RFP, contending that it favors Lockheed Martin.
When it comes to IT contracts, Linda Gooden, president of Lockheed Martin Information Technology, lists as significant achievements winning a place on Encore, the $2 billion Defense Enterprise Integration Services contract, and taking on a $378 million, 10-year task order for the Defense Department's Network Infrastructure Services Agency-Pentagon (NISA-P) project, serving 25,000 computer users in the department. These are in addition to numerous IT contracts with agencies scattered throughout the government.
Gooden counts most of the government's biggest agencies among the company's clients: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, the General Accounting Office, Health and Human Services, Justice, NASA and the Social Security Administration.
Prime IT contracting revenue: $3,839,282,000
Based: Bethesda, Md.
Chairman and CEO: Vance Coffman
2001 revenue: $24 billion
2001 net loss: $1.1 billion
2000 revenue: $24.5 billion
2000 net loss: $519 million
www.lockheedmartin.com
"There are probably only a couple of agencies we don't serve at all today," Gooden said.
The addition of OAO into Gooden's sector of Lockheed Martin brought in almost 2,000 seasoned IT professionals and more than 100,000 seats in desktop outsourcing contracts, she said.
"One of the upcoming opportunities is the Army Enterprise Infostructure Technology job," Gooden said. "OAO brought us a very well-managed seat management operation, and we have software and knowledge management, [so] that's an area where collaboration will be very good."
Homeland security has great potential for Lockheed Martin, but it also has particular meaning for the company. The day the Pentagon was attacked, 200 Lockheed Martin employees were working there on the NISA-P contract.
"Our guys were evacuated with everyone else," Gooden said. "They went to one of our other programs, set up a crisis room, the client joined them, they put together a plan and approach ... and went back in at 7 p.m." to begin the daunting task of restoring capabilities."
The company's own close encounter with the attack provides more insight into the meaning of homeland security, Gooden said.
"A lot of what we do we never thought of as putting people at risk," she said. "We're much more cognizant of the fact that it is in the forefront."
But the advent of homeland security as a contracting opportunity has yet to emerge, Johnson said.
"For the most part, the government is still working to get its arms around the bigger homeland security issues," he said. "For the things we do, the customer is still, for the most part, in the formative stages."
Lockheed Martin is eyeing two major opportunities at the newly created Transportation Security Administration, Johnson said. One is to train the security screeners working at airports around the country; the other is to integrate explosive detection systems into screening stations.
Vendors should be selected very shortly because the congressional mandate is to have the systems and trained personnel in place before the end of the year. Johnson said, however, that John Magaw, the agency head, is on record saying he's not going to make that deadline.
Lockheed Martin also hopes to take a leadership position in other areas of homeland security. For the U.S. Postal Service, the company is working to develop new, large postal sorters capable of filtration, detection and forensic analysis to guard against anthrax and other possible threats, Gooden said.
"Our company is really applying its expertise in many areas [such as] border security and tracking bioterrorism agents," she said. "We look at technologies [we've] developed for locating deadbeat parents, which go into thousands of databases and identify deadbeat parents who are delinquent ... and think that's another system that may have broader implications as we try to identify terrorists in the country."
? Patience Wait


A divine 1930s vintage English barbola wall mirror with a profusion of well detailed colourful flowers and pink ribbon around oval bevelled edge glass. 25" x 16", in lovely condition for its considerable age, the glass bright & clear with some foxing spots, just 2 missing petals, a small half inch repair to the pink ribbon at the base. The wooden backing has two rings and wire to hang.


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Our promise to you—an update.
A few months ago, we took a pledge to do our part to stand up to racism, inequality, and injustice in America. Transparency is a key part of our ethos, so we're taking a moment to share our progress since we first made that promise to you.
We've spent a lot of time digging into the history of financial inequality in America, then passing that knowledge along to our followers. Some eye-opening insights include:
47% of Black households are unbanked or underbanked, compared to 20% of white households.
The average minimum balance to avoid bank fees is $871 in Black neighborhoods, vs. $626 in mostly white neighborhoods.
White households reportedly hold 17x more wealth than Black households in the U.S.
We also leaned in to our customer base to learn more. In July 2020, we surveyed nearly 10,000 Stashers about their relationship with the financial services industry. The results: 1 in 5 people said they felt they'd been denied financial products and services due to their gender, race, or income level1. Among Black Americans specifically, that percentage jumped to 35%—compared to 17% of white respondents.
What we've learned has further stressed the importance of our mission to eliminate the barriers, both seen and unseen, that many Americans face on their journey to financial stability.
As the U.S. faces another racial reckoning, many people have expressed a desire to spend and invest in a way that aligns with their beliefs. To help address that need, we'll soon be launching new curated groups of thematically related investments that highlight Black-led businesses, as well as companies that promote diversity and inclusion. This will make it even easier for Stashers to put their money behind causes they support.
Taking action and giving back
We've recently joined the FINTECH IN ACTION (FIA) and the Fintech Equality Coalition to promote Black inclusion in finance and fintech.
In June 2020, Stash (and Stashers) contributed to FIA's first fundraising initiative, which raised a total of $1.75 million in partnership with APEX. The first $1 million went to Greenwood Project, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization that works to introduce minority students to careers in financial services. We'll also be expanding our partnership with Greenwood Project by supporting a number of internships and programs.
We've also launched a volunteer work program with CompSci High, a charter school in the Bronx that helps Black and Brown students learn tech, build financial literacy, and develop the skills necessary to land jobs.
This is just the beginning. We'll continue to invest in initiatives that combat racial inequality, as well as find ways to empower Stashers to join the journey.
Changes at Stash
Meaningful change starts from within.
We recently launched a Diversity & Inclusion program to support diverse recruiting and retention, and to ensure our culture promotes antiracism and inclusivity. Several other Employee Resource Groups are forming to support the needs of our employees, share learnings, and amplify BIPOC and LGBTQ+ voices internally.
We're also building new relationships with recruiting resources—such as the National Society of Black Engineers and Black Product Managers—to increase the number of Black and LatinX applicants in our recruiting pipeline.
We're focused on creating more learning and personal development opportunities for our employees. The CEO of The Bail Project™ recently spoke to our employees, with more speakers to come. We'll soon be starting unconscious bias training for our leadership and all of our hiring managers. We've also launched an internal Diversity Book Club to encourage conversation and promote growth.
Lastly, we're committed to holding ourselves publicly accountable to our goals. We'll continue to update you on our progress, as well as listen to your feedback on how we're doing.
We're in this for the long haul, and we're excited to see the positive change that the future will bring.
1. This survey was conducted online within the United States by Stash using SurveyMonkey technology in July 2020. The survey was completed by 9,822 people. Of the 9,822 individuals: 59.04% (2,799) identified themselves as males, 39.78% (1,886) identified themselves as females, 0.49% (23) identified themselves as nonconfirming/non-binary, and 0.70% (33) did not disclose. 1,334 (13.67%) identified individuals identified as Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin, 5,844 (59.50%) identified as White, 2,193 (22.33%) identified as Black or African American, 542 (5.52%) identified as Asian, 221 (2.25%) identified as American Indian or Alaska Native, 49 (.50%) identified as Middle Eastern or Northern African, 115 (1.17%) identified as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 451 (4.59%) identified as as Other.
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