text:
- INFRASTRUCTURE
- FACILITIES – EQUIPMENT
- Maxillosurgery
- Stomatology
- Orthodontics
- Aesthetic Dentistry
- Endodentistry
- GINGIVOPLASTY
- Special Services
- ROBOTIC DENTISTRY / CAD-CAM
- Implantology
- Dental Laser
- Pedodentistry-Prevention
- Panoramic Radiography (Digital)
- Dentistry Treating People with Disabilities
- Magazines
- Before & After
- Press Room
Leave us your phone and we will call you back!
Name (necessary)
Telephone (necessary)
I agree with the Privacy Policy*.
Marianna Kontopodi – AESTHETIC DENTISTRY
Home » Staff Member » Marianna Kontopodi – AESTHETIC DENTISTRY
Maxillosurgery
Endodentistry
GINGIVOPLASTY
ROBOTIC DENTISTRY / CAD-CAM
Dental Laser
Pedodentistry-Prevention
Panoramic Radiography (Digital)
Dentistry Treating People with Disabilities
Dr. Marianna Kontopodi graduated from the Dental School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2005.
After her graduation she moved to Brighton (UK), where she started working as a general practitioner in a private clinic. Working as a general dentist she soon decided that her passion was in the field of aesthetic dentistry and applied to New York University College of Dentistry, one of the best universities in the world, where she worked with some of the best and world-wide famous professors such as Jonathan Levine, Denis Tarnow, Steven David and others.
In 2008 she returned to the UK where she started working in private clinics in London as an aesthetic dentist and at the same time occupied the position of Visiting Lecturer at the department of cosmetic dentistry at the University of London (UCL).
In 2010 she moved back to Greece. Since then she has been working as a free-lancer in dental clinics in Athens and in Crete while still practicing as a visiting lecturer in continuing education seminars.
Marianna is a member of the American Association of Aesthetic Dentistry and a member of the General Dental Council in the U.K.
Subscribe now to receive first our latest news news!
100% Respecting privacy.
Interview: Nikolaos Kouvelas, CEO of Eurodentica S.A. Specialized Dental Care, www.healthtourismstyle.com
E TV NIKOLAOS KOUVELAS SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2015
Athens - Center
150, Patision Str. & Ag. Meletiou
+30 210 825 7050 – 60
2018 © Copyright - Eurodentica.gr by nowon studio
中国/中华
Essential: Keep track of what you input in shopping cart
Analytics: Keep track on the time spent on each page


Increase the productivity of an agent must be the first priority of the manager of any customer service business. If you give attention to productivity then it means, you are going to make your business grow not only in the market but also in the hearts of your customer.
The managers of the call center businesses must have an observation about the new techniques to increase their motivation level and keep their moral high. However, for sometimes it's not easy to manage the agents and make their productivity high. So, we are going to describe some ways, you can adapt easily and keep the morale of your agent high.
There is a big problem for many call center managers that they hire wrong people for the right place, and the right people for the wrong place. It means that during employing an agent they do not pay attention to the qualities of an agent, they only put forward their need. It brings a big gap in the productivity of an agent and business too.
So, the need of the time is that the managers should hire quality agents. It results in an increase in the productivity of the agent and the business flourish day and night.
The human being is always in the learning stage. According to this universal truth, the fact is that any agent who is junior or senior always need training. Continuous training can make the agents learn more and more about their field. And it can help them to increase their working values and ethics.
They can get knowledge about the new inventions in the field of technology and learn how to use them. By having continuous and constant training sessions you can get the best productivity of your agent to uplift your business.
Provide your agents to have healthy competition among themselves. It will create an environment of comparison among the agents. Through this kind of environment, they learn more about the other fields rather than their own. They come to know about the work of other agents.
The rewards of this kind motivate the agents who do well and support those who need it. It can refresh the agents too. They get rid of daily boring routine and feel thrilled in their work.
The multi-channel platform makes your agents easy to communicate with customers and they feel it interesting in some contexts. Through Multi-Channel an agent can be on phone call and also the response to the E-mails of the customers. It increases the productivity of the agents and their flow in work is also increased.
But make sure that your agent is reliable and comfortable on Multi-Channel platform. Because some people love to handle Multi-Channel and like variety but some feel hesitation with a lot of channels and feel easy with one channel at one time.
To know your customers is as important for your agent as the water is important for human body. Be sure that you have a CRM software program to make your agents know about the basic information of your customer. In this way, they can easily connect with them according to the need of the customer. It can improve their productivity and leave a positive effect on your business.
Being observant to all the quality nursing tools, listening to the agents regularly, and giving the agents positive feedback where it is deserved. It will be constructive and a supportive criticism of the organization.
They also must have to listen to their own calls to have an eye on their progress. Make them be a part of the process of talking the various areas of improvements in a call center.
To conclude, increasing the productivity of your call center agents is not added by asking them to work long hours, or by taking a few breaks, or by working during the weekends. What is required is their engagement with their work? The race of being the most valuable member of the team will make them break the shell and grow as a good productive agent of the organization.


text:
delete from visit where exists (select * from visit v2 where v2.date = visit.date and v2.householdId = visit.householdId and
v2.id < visit.id);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Welcome to JMJ Residential Care Home, the first licensed residential care home in Corpus Christi, Texas. Our home is classified as a Type B and located in a quiet, picturesque residential area.
Our home combines quality living with quality care – JMJ Residential doesn't just feel like home, it is home. We can be a place for temporary recovery or a loving new home. Private and semi-private rooms are available and designed for safety and comfort. Residents are encouraged to personalize their rooms with their favorite mementos and treasured personal belongings. Our residents enjoy the outdoors and the peaceful view from our front porch and back patio. Nutritious home-cooked meals are prepared daily and served in our dining room. Our menus are designed to meet our residents' needs and preferences, and snacks and refreshments are available 24 hours a day.
If you or your loved one is looking for an alternative to an institutional setting when living at home is no longer an option, our assisted living home might be just the place for you.
JMJ Residential Home is fully licensed by the state of Texas and are proud members of the Texas Organization of Residential Care Homes (TORCH).
JMJ Residential Care Home also has "A Special Care Home" for the terminally ill. Learn more here.
©1996-2018 JMJ Residential Care Home, New LifeStyles Media Solutions, All Rights Reserved.


text:
Lekki Deep Seaport Receives $221m China Harbour Equity Fund, Gets New CEO
Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL) has now received the infusion of $221,047, 248 equity funding from China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), one of the shareholders of the Lekki Deep Sea Port Project currently under construction at the Lagos Free Trade Zone, Ibeju Lekki.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited, Mr. Biodun Dabiri, in Lagos at the end of the board meeting held on Tuesday via teleconferencing.
"I am pleased to confirm that Lekki Port has received the $221,047,248 equity funding from China Harbour Engineering Company. The payment was received on Monday, 30th March 2020", he said.
According to Dabiri, this equity injection coming at this time when the world is battling the COVID-19 pandemic shows the deep commitment of CHEC to the success of the project, which will greatly contribute to fast tracking the timely delivery of the project and bring about economic prosperity to Nigeria as a whole.
Speaking further, the Chairman also announced that the Board of Directors had approved the appointment of Du Ruogang as the new Chief Executive Officer for Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL) with immediate effect.
Ruogang while accepting the appointment noted that he will collaborate with all key stakeholders including the lenders, insurers, EPC Contractor and Government regulators to ensure the smooth and successful development of Lekki Port.
In his new role as the Chief Executive Officer, Ruogang is expected to oversee the overall business planning, development and management of the company.
Ruogang has robust experience in port investment, financing and operation and holds double bachelor's in engineering management and industrial design from Tianjin University, China. He has been with CHEC since 2007.
In addition to the appointment of Du Ruogang to the board of Lekki Port, other directors appointed are Sajen Aswani, Wu Di, Lu Yunpeng and Xu Huajiang while Mohan Vaswani and Joseph Sanusi resigned their positions on the board.
Other executives appointed by the company include Cai Pingzhen who assumes the position of Chief Financial Officer, Steven Heukelom, as Chief Technical Officer and Binay Saraf as Deputy Chief Financial Officer.
It would be recalled that Lekki Port signed a $629 million facility agreement for debt financing, with the China Development Bank for the construction of the Port, which will be Sub-Saharan Africa's deepest port and Nigeria's first deep sea port.
Tags CEO
Burna Boy gave Us a Sneak Peek of "Level Up" off his Upcoming "Twice As Tall" Album | Watch
Rwandan female-focused e-commerce platform Kasha secures $1m funding for expansion
Wesbank appoints new CEO of asset based finance
How To Become A CEO At 16
The CEO who turned down millions for a greener and cleaner Africa
UBA America to facilitate investment, development capital, trade between North America, Africa – CEO

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Our favorite iOS hero pod2g is back into action, this time he will bring the long-awaited untethered jailbreak for Apple's A5 devices such as the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Pod2g today announced via a tweet that the untethered jailbreak for those devices should be released within a week, after making a 'step for the A5'.
Recently released Untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 for A4 and older devices was released last week by pod2g and finished by the Chronic Dev. Pod2g give the untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 to the chronic dev team so he could spend more time working on an untethered jailbreak for the new iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Apparently pod2g is dedicating a lot of time on the untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on newer firmware as he planned to do.


Governor of Poker 2 takes you back to the wild west, straight to the roots of this very exciting card game. You can play Texas Holdem against the old western pros. Now it's time to use your poker skills to start small, win big, buy houses, claim industrial assets, collect rent and finally take over Texas! The main goal is: To get a hold of Texas!
A completely new poker engine will challenge beginners and pro's alike. Refine your tactics to match the countless playing styles of your opponents and watch them go \"Steamy\" after showing off your outrageous bluffs!
Everything in this new installment is completely redesigned for retina display. Feast your eyes on the incredibly detailed city's and watch the hilarious effects when you outsmart your opponents. Fill up your cabinet with tons of beautiful trophy's!
Because there is no live internet connection needed to play a thrilling game of Texas hold'em poker, you can just play Governor of Poker 2 anywhere you want!
Have you always been a Texas hold'em poker fanatic? You'll love Governor of Poker 2! What are you waiting for partner? Click download and prove you're worthy of the prestigious title of: Governor of Poker!


text:
Technology Mobiles and Tabs 06 Jul 2019 Samsung Galaxy Note ...
Technology, Mobiles and Tabs
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 to feature breakthrough camera technology
A new camera feature of the Galaxy Note 10 has leaked and we can't wait for it to be official.
Samsung is no stranger to using ToF sensors as this is already used in the Galaxy S10 5G, which has some of the best cameras available on a smartphone.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 will launch on August 7, 2019, and with it, we will see some pretty interesting features. Although most of the specifications have already been laid bare, there are still a few surprises that are seeping through the woodwork. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 will come in two sizes with the smaller one featuring three rear cameras while the larger model will ship with an extra sensor on the back. Now, a report claims that the Galaxy Note 10 will come with a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor on the rear and this news is brought to you by the same tipsters who spoke about the exact same upgrade a few weeks prior.
In May, ETNews said Samsung has been securing ToF lens suppliers for its upcoming flagship, a camera technology that can offer a variety of features that make use of depth information, from portrait modes to 3D facial recognition to augmented reality (AR).
Samsung is no stranger to using ToF sensors as this is already used in the Galaxy S10 5G, which has some of the best cameras available on a smartphone. The source also reveals that a second supplier is building a new plant in Vietnam just like MCNEX. KOLEN's facility would cost USD 21.6 million with construction said to be completed by the end of July with production to begin in August.
This new plant is believed to be able to manufacture 12 million lenses per month which is almost double KOLEN's capacity. ETNews says the reason why KOLEN invested in its new facility is because of its partnerships with Samsung which manufacturers over half of the smartphones in the country.
A representative states the company plans to produce "lenses through our new plant in Vietnam according to Samsung Electronics' plan to expand the application of ToF lenses for its smartphones."
Samsung isn't the only smartphone manufacturer to be adding ToF lenses in its smartphones, a fair number of brands will be using it in their upcoming flagships.
Disclaimer: The above report is completely based on online rumours and leaks from the respective sources. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Deccan Chronicle and/or other staff and contributors to this website.
Tags: samsung galaxy note 10, smartphones
More From Mobiles and Tabs
Infinix smartphones get massive Flipkart discounts till July 18
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 launch date, price leaked online
Qualcomm launches Snapdragon 855 Plus for 5G, gaming, AI, and more
Shock iPhone leaks confirm Android dominance in smartphone technology race
Stunning Apple iPhone details emerge showing off exciting, breakthrough design


He enlisted in Company L, 3rd Arkansas Infantry at Latonia, Arkansas and was appointed Second Sergeant, July 1, 1861. He was promoted to Third Lieutenant in August 1861, and to Second Lieutenant (date not given).
Basic information from Howerton1. He was listed in Ashley County in the 1860 US Census; occupation clerk.


Iowa programs that prove help with paying electric, heating and utility bills.
Provides local agencies with help for funding weatherization projects. Weatherization improvements may include ceiling, floor, and wall insulation; band joist; air infiltration measures; and water heating measures, such as pipe wrap, water heater blankets, low-flow shower heads, and faucet aerators.
Funding for lower income customers for weatherization is available year-round. MidAmerican's energy efficiency department, using assistance from the Iowa Department of Human Rights, manages the program and distributes the help with paying utility and heating bills that are specifically earmarked for home improvements to qualified lower income customer homes. More on Iowa weatherization programs.
This provides a free energy assessment for homes built before December 31, 1994. It also includes the installation of pipe insulation, water heater blankets, energy-efficient light bulbs, low-flow faucet aerators and shower heads, and waterbed mattress pad.
Recipients of this energy aid include families struggling with medical problems or a job loss, older citizens on a fixed income, and it can also help eligible people who are still trying to pay off last winter's high heating bills.
Customer donations combine with company donations to help people pay their gas bills in Lee county.
All these companies off this program which is funded by customers and the funds are distributed by local community action agencies to help those in need with paying their winter heating bills and to also assist in the weatherization of homes of low-income consumers.
Black Hills Energy - This Iowa energy provider also administers a few different options and resources that can help the low income pay utility and energy bills. Options available range from weatherization to financial assistance. More on Black Hills Energy programs that can help pay bills.


text:
Application Startup Ecosystem Iraq
Business Review: BoozeRun
Written by David Tannourji On September 01, 2016 - 3 min read
Iraq is witnessing a period of online marketing and technological innovation; those two factors have served as cue for the expansion of the Iraqi startup scene to the global startup market. We at Bite.Tech have been meeting with some of those startup projects and business in the country, one of the latest we have reviewed across is BoozeRun247. Boozerun247 is an app that allows customers to order alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages via an app almost 24 hours a day, every day of the week in Erbil.
How the Idea was Formed:
BoozeRun247 is founded by Charles Younes. Charles Younes is an engineer of Lebanese and Canadian origins who has lived in Erbil for the past 4 years. He moved to Ebril to find opportunities to work in the field of construction and design. Aside from being an Engineer, Charles has a keen interest in the Food and Beverages industry. Whilst in Erbil, he established a Lebanese restaurant called Fuul w Hummus. After establishing his restaurant, Charles studied the Food and Beverages market in Iraq, and noticed a gap in the sale of alcohol to private customers. Most liquor stores in Erbil are mostly located in one area, and all close by 8:00 PM. In order to fill the gap, Charles decided to establish a business that will deliver alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, chips, etc to consumers 24/7.
Charles Younes, Founder
Where it was Developed and How it Works:
The plan for creating BoozeRun247 was put into action 6 months ago. The application was developed in 3 months by a team from Germany. BoozeRun247 has been in business for three months now. Each on-call operations team at BoozeRun247 is made up of six employees, two operators, and four delivery drivers. At the moment BoozeRun247 is only available in Erbil, however Charles has plans of expanding to other Iraqi provinces.
The application is simple and user friendly; available for both Apple and Android. Once you have an account you can make your order. Ordering is straight forward from the items list, once you have specified your order, time of delivery, and location your bill will pop up on the screen. You will also receive a call from the operator to confirm your order within minutes. If a customer does not answer the call the order will be canceled. The delivery charge ranges from $4 to $20 depending on the customer's location. All payments are made upon delivery in cash.
BoozeRun247 provides its customers with regular offers and they are also working on a loyalty scheme to reward frequent customers. Charles ensures to work only with genuine distributors to avoid dealing with poor or fake products. BoozeRun247 is privately funded, since Charles says it is very difficult for an expat to receive sponsorships, or loans from banks in the country.
Due to the nature of the business, BoozeRun247 has very strict terms of privacy. The data for customer information is available only to Charles himself. Employees at BoozeRun247 have to sign a confidentiality agreement before starting employment to insure that customers' private data is kept safe.
Items are delivered in discreet paper bags and drivers have no brand markings to give customers total confidentiality. Again, more signs of showing business awareness for the local society and culture.
Difficulties and challenges:
One of the main challenges that Charles faced when launching this business was marketing and staffing. In the interview with us he mentioned he could not find local people to develop his application, so he was forced to take his business overseas. When addressing the marketing issue he said that he couldn't find avenues other than Facebook to advertise for his business.
Future Plans:
Charles is planning on expanding his business throughout Iraq. The next expansion will be in Suliamniyah. He is also working on other projects that would work the same way as BoozeRun247, it makes sense to use his current logistical infrastructure.
Charles's Advice:
We need to work on expanding the startup scene in Iraq because startups and digital businesses are the future of employment, and Iraq needs be a part of that future. By taking part in this international revolution, Iraq would improve its position in the international scene.
We at Bite.Tech wish BoozeRun247 all the success, and are looking forward to reviewing this business at a later stage.
David Tannourji
Iraq Startup
Introducing the Iraqi Startup Scene to the World


6. Don't wait—contact FIRE. Don't wait until you've been found responsible for violating campus policies before asking FIRE for help. We have more than a decade of experience defending student rights, and we have won or helped to resolve hundreds of cases involving students. We stand ready to help students whose rights have been violated by their colleges, and we know where to refer students whose cases are outside of our mission. It's usually far better to get us involved sooner rather than later. If you wish to contact FIRE regarding a potential violation of your rights, I encourage you to submit a case to FIRE through our website.
I hope my brief entry can be of help to the Sigma Nu members at colleges around the country, and to all students, and thank Sigma Nu for reprinting it.


In the last tutorial, I showed you how to connect an Android App to Firebase. Today I am going to show you how to add Email and Google authentication in Android using FireBase. Or in simple words, we will be adding Email and Google Login in an Android App using Firebase.
We will be using FirebaseUI Android library for this. The main advantage of using FirebaseUI is that it is secure and hence you don't have to write complex code of encrypting the user credentials. And it also handles all the cases, right from maintaining user sessions to password recovery.
The below flowchart shows all the cases handled by FirebaseUI.
Add the following dependency to your app level build.gradle file to use FirebaseUI.
Make sure to add the Fabric repository to your project level build.gradle file. To do so add the highlighted line.
Go to Firebase Console, select your project and click on Authentication tab. Click on Sign-in method, select Email/Password and enable it.
Now add the following permission to your manifest file.
Now create a class named Login.java and add the code shown below.
* Created by TEC Staff on 11-05-2017.
The above code checks whether a user is already logged in or not. If a user is already logged in, he/she is redirected to the MainActivity, otherwise, the user is asked to Signup via Email as shown below. Make sure to make the Login activity as launcher activity.
Now when you run the app and signup using Email, you can see the authenticated User in Firebase console.
Again go to Firebase Console, select your project and click on Authentication tab. Click on Sign-in method, select Google and enable it.
Now we need to add SHA Certificate Fingerprint for Google Login to work. For generating SHA go to Android Studio, click on Gradle –> :app –> android and then double click on signingReport.
Now open Gradle console and you can see the SHA.
Now open Firebase, click on Settings icon, scroll down and click on Add Fingerprint and copy the generated SHA.
Now open your Login activity and modify the startActivityForResult code as shown below.
In the above code, we added Google Sign in Builder along with the Email one and also disabled smart lock as it logs in the user automatically without showing the login screen.
Now run the app and login with Google. You can see that Firebase shows that user has logged in using Google account.
In the next tutorial, I will show you how to save and retrieve data from Android app to Firebase.


Using Illustrator for repeats can sometimes be quicker and less labour intensive than using Photoshop, but it all comes down to the type of file you start with or the style of artwork you're after. Stick to illustrator for vector files and images with a very "graphic" orientation, bearing in mind how the artwork was originally generated. Avoid using a jpg, tiff, psd or Photoshop eps you will lose the inherent quality of the original artwork.
To practise your fabric design skills you can use an existing illustrator artwork. Open up an existing illustrator artwork or create a new vector graphic to your specifications. Set up your art board to the repeat size that you'd prefer. Here I'm using a 64 cm repeat. Starting off with squares can be easier to work out half measurements at a late step.
When you are happy with your artwork, move it to the top left corner of your art board so it hangs off the edge. Double click on the move tool to duplicate (click copy) the object the exact repeat size vertically.
Now with all objects selected, use the move tool again. This time you will duplicate the objects across the full repeat width but down by HALF the repeat size, in this case 64 x 32 cm. Click copy.
When you are happy with the layout for your half drop, delete any duplicated objects (across the right side and bottom of art board) so that you only have one group of objects.
Adjust the artboard dimension to to be a full print width, in this case 147cm and proceed to duplicate the objects so that it fills and over hangs the artboard. Remember that it is a half drop, so follow the previous steps for duplication.
A colour overlay was added purely for aesthetic purposes. Save as pdf as previous tutorial.


MSNBC is running a series on the "future of evolution," featuring Peter Ward's book Future Evolution and others. Today (5/4/05) was my last lecture day in my introductory course, and I tend to spend time talking about the future direction of human evolution, so the future is on my mind.
In "The Future is Wild," [Dougal] Dixon, the British geologist, and co-author John Adams create an animal kingdom in which humans no longer reign.
Dixon and Adams give whimsical names to the creatures they dream up, aiming not so much to predict the future but to show some possibilities.
In their vision, humans become extinct in an Ice Age 5 million years from now. "Shagrats," or giant rodents, and "gannet whales," large aquatic birds, have evolved during this stretch of time.
The Ice Age melts away 100 million years later, marking the beginning of the end of large mammals and giving rise to creatures like the "ocean phantom," a jellyfish the size of a truck; the "swampus," a relative of the octopus that emerges from swamps to feed; and the "toraton," a reptile bigger than dinosaurs.
Gone will be the vast grasslands that gave rise to large mammals. "I bet we'll never see a large animal species ever again," Ward says. "Give it a million years," he says, and lions, tigers and bears might all be gone.
Probably true. Even if the current area and density of human habitation was maintained without further increase, the megafauna are probably doomed. Their population sizes and geographic extents are small enough now that a pathogen could easily devastate their population. They might survive this for thousands of years with human help, but large-bodied mammals are definitely not a growth industry. The only way they will be is if we start to farm them. Of course, in light of their natural lean content, this might be a good idea.
"Anything that works we like to do more and more and more of," he said in an interview, noting that in the case of vaccines, insecticides and herbicides, that means short-term gains against disease and pests only to see them develop a resistance and come back even stronger.
Palumbi does see a "movement towards greater awareness" of such dangers and suggests that society take them into account much as it does significant environmental changes that come with development. "There's no reason we couldn't do an 'evolutionary impact statement,'" he says.
This idea appears to be focused on the impact of transferring genes across species barriers. Of course if we could rationally estimate unforeseen consequences of such transfers, they wouldn't be unforeseen. And there is no sense at all in trying to estimate "worst-case scenarios" if no regulation is ever shaped around preventing the worst possible cases from happening.
In the case of genetic engineering, the main problem appears to be that it is fast. The MSNBC article raises the point that dog breeds have evolved tremendous diversity under human influence. Any population geneticist knows that with a few hundred generations of strong selection, it is probably possible to make anything that a genetic engineer could conceivably manufacture. Sure, a genetic engineer could in principle replace many hundreds of genes and create major phenotypic reorganizations, but in practical terms this is almost certainly not going to create a functional organism. Our problem isn't that we can't make the breeds we want through old-fashioned selective breeding, it is that we want results faster, and implanting a bacterial gene into corn is the fastest way to go. If the resulting seeds can't be saved and replanted but need to be bought every year from the supplier, more the better. So filing an "impact statement" for evolutionary changes is a little overwrought, unless we are going to send federal agents to the Westminster Dog Show to stop the breeding of Ch. Miss Fuzzies Snoop of All Doggz.
Another article in the series focuses on diet changes and obesity in an evolutionary context. This one is straightforward science, citing Loren Cordain, whose work I have previously described. Cordain is the author of The Paleo Diet, a health book focused on the qualities of hunter-gatherer diets. It's a NeanderThin for the new generation (except of course that NeanderThin is the NeanderThin for the new generation). There's also The Origin Diet, if you're counting.
Modern life may have solved most of our food-gathering problems, but human evolution has not kept up. Our bodies are still wired for hunter-gatherer biology: Eat all the food you can and store it -- in body fat -- in case your supply of food runs out, as in the case of famine. A dangerous configuration for a society with all-you-can-eat buffets.
Somehow people never seem to mention that the great "caveman" diet that kept us so healthy in the Pleistocene HAD EVERYONE DYING BEFORE 50! Instead of French Women Don't Get Fat, we could just as easily be buying Erectus Women Didn't Get Fat, which would almost certainly omit the likelihood that THEY LIVED WITH CONSTANT HUNGER AND FREQUENT STARVATION.
"What I think we can say conclusively, is that the evolutionary success of our species is ultimately a nutrition story," says Bill Leonard, chairman of Northwestern University's anthropology department.
A high caloric intake isn't so much to blame as an imbalance between calories in and calories out. Though developing nations generally consume fewer calories than industrialized nations, Leonard found subsistence societies that match developed societies calorie for calorie. The reindeer-herding Evenki people of Siberia consume more than 2,800 calories a day, and far more animal foods than the typical American, yet have lower cholesterol and body mass indicators.
Along with nearly universal access to food, the modern economy has allowed an unprecedented number of Americans to survive using our big, evolved brains and little else. We're getting fat off our own evolutionary success and, says University of Wisconsin paleoanthropologist Henry Bunn, "I don't think biological evolution has really had a chance to react."
It's a very nice piece of journalism, really, citing most of the right people. I recommend it.
As for my class, what prediction came up today about the future of humanity? Disease load. Compared to historic levels, today we have a pretty low pathogen and parasite load. We accomplished this by eliminating pathogens directly (smallpox), by changing the circumstances that allows pathogens and parasites to spread (sanitation), by killing pathogens directly (antibiotics), and by training our immune systems with foreign antigens (vaccination). These changes have had a pretty radical effect in increasing human survivorship, especially for kids. Assuming that technology continues to get cheaper, these changes will continue to spread to the developing world and cause great improvements in human health.
The evolution of resistance is a never-ending problem. Not only can bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, but mosquitos become resistant to pesticides. And commensal species like H. pylori and E. coli are affected by the same antibiotics that treat disease, leading to changes in their populations and the potential spread of pathogenic variants.
The outcome of this technological battle is likely to be the increased tolerance of pathogen load in humans. We are already seeing this with treatments for HIV infection. The drug cocktails that delay or prevent the progression of the disease don't cure it or eliminate the pathogen. Instead they restrict the pathogen population to low numbers that the body can tolerate as a chronic infection. This is the goal of many medical treatments--making chronic conditions manageable with medication, rather than curing them. It is what leads many people to take long-term courses of antacids for their chronic H. pylori infections, and why people are looking for pathogens that influence heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic conditions.
The thing is that we have already figured out how to fight most of the pathogens that have immediate impacts on health (if imperfectly in many cases). The ones we are encountering now have greatly delayed health impacts, and not always for the worse. The story with H. pylori is an example in point: although some strains present a higher risk of gastric ulcers or cancer, they may also have benefits in regulating acid levels. So the medical problem is finding the best balance of benefits and drawbacks, and that involves not antibiotics to eliminate infections entirely, but other kinds of medications to regulate the microbial signaling interactions.
In other words, we are no longer defeating most diseases; we are using our technology to live with them, and in some cases to exploit them. And we face every likelihood of seeing many new pathogens in the future, through human-animal interactions (avian flu), through the emergence of resistant pathogen strains (Staphylococcus) and perhaps through the deliberate introduction of bioengineered pathogens in to human populations (anthrax?). It is even possible that we will see the reemergence of viral genomes that have long been incorporated into the human genome as a product of our evolution.
I predict that these changes will mean that future people will live with greatly increased pathogen loads compared to today. This will be a return to what for many human populations was the Pleistocene norm: long-term, low-impact infections. Except instead of being regulated by selection and consequent mortality, the system will be regulated by chemicals and biotechnology.
Other predictions are welcome, and I'll be happy to post the best ones!
'"I get tired of futurists so missing the mark, or so it seems to me," he says. "First, there is the sense that humans will soon be gone, or second, that we will produce some 'Blade Runner' world that is all pollution and Michael Jackson mouth masks."


Wenger's eleventh hour swoop for Everton's Mikel Arteta finally brought some optimism to despondent Gooners. But what if the Spaniard's arrival signals more than just a cause for cheer? What if he's an improvement on their departed idol Fabregas?
There was a delicious irony in Arsenal's desperate, prolonged battle to retain Cesc Fabregas in that he was the main reason the club went so long without silverware. Everything went through their prodigal schemer and on all-too-many occasions he was their sole source of inspiration. As good a player Cesc was for the Gunners – and there is no question he was a playmaker supreme when times were good and a conductor of energy and hope when times were bad – the simple fact is that you don't win anything with an over-reliance on a single individual.
With his recent departure to Barca they can now concentrate on becoming a team once more, and Wenger took the first positive steps in that direction this week with the purchase of Mikel Arteta.
It is easy to be dismissive of Arteta as a poor man's version of his predecessor; they share so many similarities in their playing style only Mikel comes off slightly worse in each category. Though I suppose he is equally as Spanish as Fabregas. That one is a draw at least.
But the ex-Evertonian brings with him qualities that Arsenal's team of talented but scattergun pups are desperately in short supply of at present. He radiates a composed, self-assured authority that will rub off on the inexperienced hotheads around him. Look and learn Frimpong. Furthermore, from his six years at Goodison Park, he's been thoroughly schooled in the importance of the collective. His work ethic may be applied in an understated manner but its there nonetheless. There is no need for showy, grabbing-the-game-by-the-scruff-of-the-neck histrionics like Fabregas could occasionally be guilty of. There is no need to be the all-action hero. In this regard Arteta is Cary Grant to Cesc's John McClaine.
With all this in mind – and this is some claim but its one I truly believe – the newbie from San Sebastian will prove to be a far better tutor and mentor to the likes of Ramsay and Wilshere than their departed captain ever could have been.
It may seem a somewhat strange analogy but for several seasons now the Arse have reminded me of Chris Eubank.
For all of Arsenal's exquisite passing and easy-on-the-eye build-up play there has been a serious problem residing at the heart of their admirable philosophy for far too long now. Wenger and his young disciples bought into their stylish football so wholesale that they developed a ridiculous sense of entitlement - a divine right of the righteous – which quickly turned to exasperation when opposing sides didn't simply comply and die in the face of such perfect tippy-tappy. As a result frustration and a lack of discipline would soon set in the very moment things got a bit tasty. It may seem a somewhat strange analogy but for several seasons now the Arse have reminded me of Chris Eubank. The high-minded pretensions towards the noble art of pugilism suddenly curtailed by an aghast, almost naïve, amazement when an opponent dug in a low blow swiftly followed by Lisping Chris disregarding his ideals and becoming a ragged, disjointed beast.
The main culprit in these disintegrations was always Fabregas. His verbal assault on Mark Hughes all those years back after the then Blackburn gaffer set his inferior team up to destruct and nullify at the Emirates in order to gain a precious 0-0 stalemate illustrated perfectly Arsenal's delusional state of mind. 'Did you play for Barcelona?' he asked the chisel-jawed bore-maester. When hearing the affirmative he shook his head in disbelief. 'That wasn't Barcelona football', he decried.
As if there is only one kind of football! The naivety was staggering.
There will no such quibbles from Arteta. Though he possesses the same silky artistry and intelligent range of passing he wasn't educated at a football equivalent of a fancy prep school but rather a borstal. Everton have regularly over-achieved considering their resources and they've done so by combining decent, attractive possession play with rolling up their collective sleeves and laying down a physical marker.
Arteta brings these values down with him and Arsenal's midfield will benefit enormously as a consequence.
Arsenal: Is Arteta The Greatest Ever Panic Buy?


text:
CM 01/02 Forums The Website Archives
Houdini Think You Are?
CMAdventurer
Post by CMAdventurer » Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:55 pm
It's Like We've Never Been Away
It had been a long winter break. 18 weeks since that thumping win over Dalum before we could get the second half of the season underway. Despite a certain new virus circulating around Europe, football in Denmark continued, so let's see if we could prove our first half of the campaign was no fluke.
March results
Slags 3-1 Aarhus Fremad
Slags 2-0 Hillerød
AB 0-4 Slags
The new year started (strange to say that when we're in mid-March) by welcoming Aarhus Fremad to the Slagelse Stadion. Both Knudsen and Leósson started and both made a very good first impression. The latter delivered two superb crosses which were headed in by Wede to restore our lead and then by chief marksman Jakobsen to make the game safe late on. Jakobsen had opened the scoring very early as we showed no sign of rustiness. We looked like running riot but Aarhus made us pay for missed chances with an equaliser half way through the second half. Luckily that didn't prove too costly and overall, it was a very satisfying start to 2020 against a solid side.
Next, we hosted struggling Hillerød, who put up a lot more resistance than most pundits had predicted. Their defensive 4-1-4-1 line up was designed to frustrate us and it did a good job for a while. We were unusually lacklustre and changed ends still goalless. At least when you've got that man Jakobsen in your team, you always have a goal threat, with his brace finally breaking the strugglers' resistance in the second half. Just what we needed with a trip to AB on the horizon.
AB 0-4 Slags. One of our biggest tests of the season and we passed with flying colours. We even managed it without Jakobsen, who was ruled out with a neck injury. We dominated from start to finish and this time it was the wingers who stole the show. Two of them combined for our opener, with Mourhrib sweeping home from a Luimes Nielsen cross. Mourhrib turned provider for the second just past the hour, with his cross headed home by midfielder Christoffer Thrane. AB looked a beaten team now and we really rubbed it in with two late goals. Luimes Nielsen bagged his second assist, setting up Patrick Andersen and a third substitute winger Grosen delivered the icing on the cake with the last kick of the game. After this demolition, most bookies stopped taking bets on the destination of the title. 11 points clear and surely it's ours to lose.
Despite not being involved in our best team performance of the three, I have to give it to Steffen Klemetsen Jakobsen for netting braces in our first two matches. The one against Hillerød was important as we struggled for creativity but luckily he was having one of his more clinical days. He has lost none of his sharpness in front of goal over the long winter break and I really want to give the player of the month award to someone else in April.
April results
Slags 1-3 B93
Ringkøbing 0-2 Slags
Slags 3-0 Vejgaard
Slags 3-0 Frem
Jammerbugt 0-3 Slags
Slags 2-0 Brønshøj
The month started very disappointingly, as we lost our perfect home record in the league in tame fashion against the team who started the day in 11th place out of 16. Mind you, it was on April 1st! Also, they were rejuvenated since disposing of their gaffer after losing the first game after the winter break, winning their previous two ahead of their visit to the Slagelse Stadion. It's amazing what a change of manager can do for a team's confidence and the visitors were well worth their win. We were well below the high standards we had set ourselves this season and perhaps my decision to change to a 4-3-3 contributed to our downfall.
For our visit to Ringkøbing, I immediately reverted to the 3-1-4-2 formation that had been successful up until now and it helped deliver a far more assured performance. Stenbek and Petersson got the goals in the opening quarter of an hour and we should have had many more. It didn't matter too much as the hosts offered virtually nothing in attack, failing to register a single shot on target. That was followed by a hat-trick of 3-0 wins in a week, all very dominant displays. It left us on the brink of promotion, needing just one point from our remaining seven games. The first of those was the last of April, as we welcomed struggling Brønshøj.
Slags 2-0 Brønshøj. Apart from the opening match of the month, all of our performances in April were very good and it was hard to choose between them. This one wasn't necessarily the best of them but it gets the nod as it's the one that officially saw us promoted. We showed no sign of nerves, more like a steely determination to get the job done. The early stages saw us hit the bar through Knudsen, who then forced a superb save from the visiting goalkeeper shortly after. It was no surprise when we took the lead through man of the match Grosen on 25 minutes. Stenbek's fine run was ended by a last ditch tackle but the winger was first to the loose ball, who finished with aplomb. We were totally dominant, with their keeper keeping them in the contest and the only surprise was that it took until four minutes before the interval to double our lead. A Luimes Nielsen corner was headed goalwards by centre back Oliver "Ra Ra" Rasmussen. Not for the first time, the Brønshøj number one did well to keep it out but he could only parry into the path of Petersson who had an empty net to aim at. 2-0 and we were in party mood. The visitors showed why they were relegation fodder, failing to have a shot all match. We should have had many more to show for our efforts but that's been just about the only criticism I can hand out of our performances this season. A pitch invasion followed the final whistle which confirmed that the Slags would be playing 1st Division football next season. I don't think anyone could reasonably deny that we've deserved it, as we've looked like promotion candidates from the very early stages. Six matches remain, all to be played in May and hopefully the title will be delivered very shortly.
Peter Stenbek. Four goals for the young midfielder in April, including a brace against Frem, as well as pulling the strings and allowing us to dictate most matches. He has had a fine season, so this accolade is well deserved.
Nickje
Decent Young Player
Location: Antwerp
Post by Nickje » Sun Jul 24, 2022 1:02 am
Great writing skills, making this very easy and fun to read
As a returning player I do want to ask; is there anything special you do for receiving so few goals or are you being lucky?
I prefer the 3-1-4-2 formation myself too but even poorly placed teams manage to score (multiple) goals against me.
Good luck in your last matches!
Redknapp69
Post by Redknapp69 » Sun Jul 24, 2022 7:07 am
Still smashing it and a good insight into Houdini and AMC
League looks fine and reputation should get a nice boost. Would imagine you may need to complete the season with these guys to get full benefit of the rep boost though?
Post by CMAdventurer » Sun Jul 24, 2022 2:38 pm
Nickje wrote: ↑Sun Jul 24, 2022 1:02 am Great writing skills, making this very easy and fun to read
Thank you for your kind words, glad to hear you're enjoying it.
For me, the key to having a strong defence in this game is defenders with good positioning attributes. If these are poor, I'm rarely interested, even if the rest of their defensive stats look good. And a good defensive midfielder is key as it's the most overpowered position in the game. I know from experience that 3-1-4-2 is a solid formation, even non-wib-wobbed but our defensive record so far has completely exceeded my expectations. Perhaps it says more about how poor a standard the Danish third tier is.
Redknapp69 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 24, 2022 7:07 am Still smashing it and a good insight into Houdini and AMC
Normally winning promotion gives you a rep boost in the early days, while winning the title gives a further boost. I'll probably have to work my way up more before I can land a decent job so will be looking to win the second tier next season. Whether it's with the Slags or someone else remains to be seen.
Post by CMAdventurer » Tue Aug 02, 2022 10:12 am
By achieving promotion with six matches remaining, we had done the hard work. Now it was time to crown a fantastic season by winning the title, which by my calculations, would be achieved with just four more points. That shouldn't be too much of an ask, the way we had been playing.
Vanløse (away)
The hosts had been marooned at the bottom of the league for much of the season but their season bore parallels with B93, who beat us last month. Like B93, they sacked their manager one match after the restart and it has certainly paid off for them. They went into this one full of confidence on the back of seven wins in eight and like B93, they sat 11th in the league ahead of taking on the champions elect. I was certainly hoping that the parallels would end there and not carry over into the result. Despite the home side's excellent recent form, they were still far from safe and had plenty still to play for. They showed us plenty of respect, starting cautiously and allowing us to dictate proceedings. Wede and Jakobsen both tested Vanløse goalie Mathias Sanchez early on and it looked like being only a matter of time before we made our dominance count. As so often happens in football, when you don't take your chances you're made to pay as on the stroke of half time, we were caught in possession deep in our own half and the Rasmus Carstensen have the hosts the lead with what turned out to be their only shot on goal all game. They had no intention of seeking more goals and the ball was in our court to do something about it. Vanløse defended doggedly and when we did get a sight of goal, Sanchez was equal to everything we threw at him, which led to him being named man of the match. We did everything but score and our championship celebrations would be delayed for at least another week.
Final Score: Vanløse 1-0 Slags
The following day, Dalum in third hosted second-placed Brabrand and it was the visitors who came out on top by a goal to nil. That meant Dalum could no longer catch us and we would still need four points to win the league.
Sydvest 05 (home)
Playing at home, where we have been almost untouchable this season, against second from bottom Sydvest, I would have been mad had we not claimed three of the points we needed here. The form book held well and truly firm here as Jakobsen gave us an early lead, following up after his own effort had been saved. Then it became the Peter Stenbek show. He had already played a significant part in our opener and seven minutes later, his mazy run was far too much for the Sydvest defence to handle and he scored a fine solo goal. He proved that was no fluke on the half hour mark as he carved through the defence again like a hot knife through butter and buried his effort in the top corner to make it 3-0. Four minutes later, he completed his hat-trick with a brilliant 25-yard strike which would have graced any level of football, never mind the Danish third tier. 4-0 up after 34 minutes against a poor side, it could have been a cricket score. However, the remainder of the match was a complete non-event. We were hoping for some good news from elsewhere but we didn't get it. Brabrand won convincingly at AB Gladsaxe so the champagne remained on ice for now, but just one point was needed from our final four games.
Final score: Slags 4-0 Sydvest
HIK (away)
Although we only needed a point, I was never going to set the team up to play for a draw and that was clear early on as we created a couple of decent chances but without reward. On 18 minutes, HIK had their first chance, as Lundgren had to be alert to tip a Brandrup drive round the post. It was only a temporary reprieve. From the resulting corner, HIK midfielder Simon Raahave rose highest to nod the home side ahead. That tipped the balance of the game as we lost our early composure. On 38 minutes, a cross into our area was not dealt with, as their winger calmly nodded the ball into the path of striker Jonas Felfel, who made no mistake in doubling the hosts' advantage. We needed a rapid response and thankfully we got it four minutes later. Good interplay between Knudsen and Stenbek resulted in the former finding Patrick Andersen in a bit of space. He took one touch to steady himself and one to hammer the ball past HIK goalkeeper Victor Smedsrud. One goal now needed to win the league but despite that lifeline, I still gave the team a stern talking to at half time, as I felt we had a couple of extra gears to find. We came out firing and HIK were dropping deeper into their own half by the minute. Smedsrud kept his side's lead in tact with a fine save from Jakobsen and Venzel headed over from the resulting corner. On 54 minutes, another superb Stenbek pass found picked out Jakobsen, who calmly slotted us level. However, our joy was short-lived as the linesman raised his flag very late. It looked a very dubious decision but there's no VAR in this tinpot league. We continued to knock on the door but the closest we came to an equaliser was when Knudsen's low drive hit the post six minutes from time. Elsewhere, Brabrand scraped a win at home to lowly Hillerød and the wait went on.
Final score: HIK 2-1 Slags
Middelfart (home)
Surely today was the day. We were dominant in the first half, with Grosen firing just wide from the edge of the box and the visiting keeper denying Andersen, Knudsen and Perisic. Middelfart had barely forayed into our half but on the stroke of half time, they delivered a sucker punch. Sloppy defending allowed Hansen a run on goal and he buried his effort to silence the home support. Surely we wouldn't have to wait another week for the title! Ten minutes into the second half, the tension was eased. The outstanding Kristijan Ilic ran from deep inside his own half and delivered a pinpoint cross onto the head of Jakobsen who made no mistake in bringing us level. It was fitting that our chief marksman and player of the season should score the goal that put us back on track to secure the title this time, and possibly the goal that would win it. Ilic deserved the lion's share of the credit for that goal, though. The visitors were clearly content with a point and didn't even try to score again. We had a few other chances but the winner proved elusive. Never mind, we had done enough today to get the required point and more than enough over the course of the season to fully merit our status as top dogs of the division. The referee blew his whistle and we could celebrate.
Final score: Slags 1-1 Middelfart
Aarhus Fremad (away)
With the title secured, we still had two more games to see out the season, starting with our final trip. A few of the fringe players were given a chance to shine. Despite these changes, we still had the better of the game played in difficult conditions but it was Aarhus who took the lead five minutes before the interval. Poor marking allowed prolific Aarhus forward Mathias Laursen a free effort on goal. Lundgren saved but could only parry straight back into the path of the hitman who wasn't going to miss for a second time. The defence must have overdosed on champagne the previous week! The second half was very scrappy, with very little football being played. A Jakobsen strike a minute from time prevented a third successive away defeat but it was now just one win in five since sealing promotion.
Final score: Aarhus Fremad 1-1 Slags
Dalum (home)
We had the chance to finish with a flourish in front of our own fans, who were unsurprisingly in buoyant mood. Who could blame them knowing that there was to be a trophy presentation at the end of the match? While we could enjoy ourselves, the game held real significance for Dalum. At one point they looked like challenging us for the title. However, they had gone off the boil in 2020 and went in to this game still needing a point to secure promotion. With B93 on a phenomenal run, surely they wouldn't slip up at home to already-relegated Hillerød. You'd think the visitors would be right up for this considering what was at stake but they were very poor, failing to register a shot all game. We played with complete freedom and it was no surprise when the young Swede Joel Wede swept us into the lead on 34 minutes. Dalum needed a response but the pressure of the promotion race had clearly overcome them, as they never looked capable. After the break, Jakobsen hit a quick fire double to move him on to 22 league goals for the season. This was second only to B93's Daniel Stückler with 28. 3-0 was how it finished with the score flattering Dalum, whose minds were only on an unlikely favour from elsewhere. Against the odds, they got it, with B93 being held to a goalless draw, so Dalum could celebrate with us, despite putting in such a shoddy performance. Jakobsen held the trophy aloft to the delight of the 1,541 fans in attendance (minus a few Dalum supporters) and it was time to celebrate what we had achieved this season.
Final score: Slags 3-0 Dalum
Steffen Klemetsen Jakobsen. A boring choice but with five goals and two man of the match performances, I have to give it to him. 23 goals in 26 games in all competitions this season, what a signing he has been for us! 30 grand very well spent.
The final table shows us as convincing winners, ten points clear of Brabrand. And I feel like we were a cut above the rest, often dominating games and when we did drop points, it was normally down to a sensational performance from the opposition goalkeeper, or failing to take our chances. Despite this, we still ended up as top scorers in the division and our defensive record was on a completely different level. A special mention must go to B93. Despite failing to capitalise on Dalum's poor form at the final hurdle, they had still achieved an astonishing 37 points from the last 42 available. They were second from bottom after 16 games when they sacked their manager! That's a turnaround in form that even Houdini would be envious of.
Deleted User 86
Post by Deleted User 86 » Tue Aug 02, 2022 10:43 am
Title decided at Slags v Middlefart. How come I can't think of a schoolboy, toilet humour joke when I need one ?
Are you ready for the step up the leagues ? Jakobsen certainly looks ready.
Post by Redknapp69 » Tue Aug 02, 2022 12:58 pm
Pummelled your way to the title!
Gonna stick with these guys in the next league or find another job?
Post by CMAdventurer » Thu Aug 04, 2022 10:01 am
Kingsley wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 10:43 am Title decided at Slags v Middlefart. How come I can't think of a schoolboy, toilet humour joke when I need one ?
You can't let it go, can you? We also beat Brabrand to the title, who I'm sure have plenty of support!
Our cup performances suggest we can hold our own in the division above and possibly even challenge for a second successive promotion. Jakobsen should certainly be able to make the step up. The question is, will Houdini remain a Slag next season?
Redknapp69 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 12:58 pm Pummelled your way to the title!
Ideally I will be jumping ship but it depends on what's available. At this early stage, there's no guarantee of being offered a better job. If I am forced to stay here, I'm sure we can make a good fist of the 1st Division next season.
Squad Rotation Player
Post by AMC » Thu Aug 04, 2022 7:10 pm
Congratulations on a well deserved title win, I've no concerns for you next season if you're with the club for the full campaign in challenging for the title, especially with Jakobsen on fire and some further strengthening of the squad.
Post by Nickje » Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:10 am
Congratz!
Interested in seeing how well your defense will do next season
Moved from Stories to Archives on Sat Jan 07, 2023 6:52 am by samsami
Return to "Archives"


text:
Metriophasma crassum är en insektsart som först beskrevs av Morgan Hebard 1924.  Metriophasma crassum ingår i släktet Metriophasma och familjen Pseudophasmatidae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Spökskräckor
crassum

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Animal Enrichment Gifts
Gifts on the wild side this Christmas!
Help us safeguard threatened species and make this Christmas unforgettable with gifts from Edinburgh Zoo
Our incredible keeper experiences let you join our expert team and get up close and personal with the rare and endangered animals at Edinburgh Zoo.
Animal adoptions help to look after our animals and protect those in the wild.
And for a present that lasts all year round, RZSS membership provides unlimited visits to Edinburgh Zoo and our Highland Wildlife Park as well as a whole host of special benefits.
New for 2020! What do you get someone who has everything? Our e-gift donations are the solution. There's a variety of gift cards available, so one of our animals can be fed in their name. You can even contribute to one of our overseas conservation projects!
RZSS Gift Vouchers
RZSS Gifts
Animal wishlist
E-gift donations
Great gifts for people who love animals
Treating your family and friends to a great gift directly cares for animals in your zoos and protects them in the wild.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is a wildlife conservation charity working to safeguard endangered species and connect people with nature. We care for thousands of rare and endangered animals in our much loved and treasured zoos, Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park. Our dedicated conservationists and scientists are working across Scotland and in over 23 countries around the world to protect wildlife and wild places.
Every gift and purchase supports this vital work. Thank you for caring for animals by shopping with us.


text:
Problems Surrounding the Oil-Boom in Northwestern North Dakota
Leave a Comment / Economic Geography, Economics News, Energy, News Map, North America / By Martin W. Lewis
North Dakota is a sparsely settled state that has seen its population languish for decades. Home to 680,845 people in 1930, North Dakota held only 672,591in 2010. Currently, however, the state is experiencing a rebound, most notably in its oil-rich northwestern region. Workers are flowing into Williston (population 14,716 in 2010), the main town in Bakken Formation area, which has oil reserves estimated at some 18 to 24 billion barrels.
The recent population surge is resulting in major issues in the Williston area. Workers are arriving faster than they can be accommodated. The lack of local housing has forced oil-field employees to set up "man camps" where they live in recreational vehicles. Many established residents view such settlements with alarm. As a result, the Williston City Commission has recently "introduced an ordinance that would make it illegal to live in a camper within city boundaries. If passed, the law would make living in a home on wheels a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine." Many workers stay in Williston during the work week only, returning home during their off periods. As a result, Williston's train station is now the fastest-growing Amtrak depot in the country: "The once-sleepy little train station in western North Dakota where the sole ticket agent knew passengers by name is now overflowing with oil workers."
The booming economy of the region demands other forms of infrastructural investment as well. Communications demands were recently addressed when Midcontinent Communications announced a $3 million plan to extend its fiber optic network to Williston, promising rapid, broadband internet connections.
Rapid growth is also resulting in a crime surge. Although North Dakota still has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, the Williston area is no longer particularly safe. According to a recent article in Boston.com, "Booming oil production in the Northern Plains is spurring law enforcement from the U.S. and Canada to gird for a spike in crimes ranging from drug trafficking to prostitution."


text:
\section{Introduction}
Quantum computers may significantly outperform classical ones in the area of simulation of quantum systems~\cite{Feynman1982,Lloyd1996} and other specialized algorithms~\cite{Boixo2018, Shor1997}.  However, we are currently in the era of noisy quantum computing~\cite{Preskill2018} where only a small number of qubits, with relatively short coherences times, can be entangled. Fortunately, recent results demonstrating hardware specific optimization~\cite{Shi2019,Glaser2015,Leung2017} and quantum advantage with short-depth noisy circuits~\cite{Bravyi2020} offer hope for the usefulness of near-term systems.
Here, we simulate a quantum topological condensed matter system on an IBM Quantum processor within the qubits' coherence times using pulse-level instructions provided by Qiskit Pulse~\cite{McKay2018, Alexander2020}. Ideally, the simulation would occur by a continuous time-evolution of the qubits under the appropriate spin Hamiltonian obtained from a transformation of the fermion Hamiltonian. Practically, this ``analog'' simulation must be decomposed and mapped onto the calibrated native basis gates of a quantum computer, making it ``digital''. This digital implementation on noisy quantum hardware limits the flexibility needed to avoid the accumulation of unnecessary errors. Here, we demonstrate a ``semi-analog'' approach to noise reduction: a pulse-scaling technique that, without additional calibration~\cite{Alexander2020, Garion2020}, gets us closer to the ideal analog simulation.

Topologically protected quantum computation works by moving nonabelian anyons, such as Majorana zero modes (MZMs), around each other in two dimensions to form three dimensional braids in space-time~\cite{Kitaev2001,Nayak2008}. This approach is advantageous as it offers protection from local perturbations.
The quest for topological quantum computation has focused on hybrid superconducting-semiconducting~\cite{Alicea2012,Beenakker2013,Chen2017,Deng2016,Kitaev2001,Lutchyn2010, Mourik2012,Oreg2010,Sau2010,Sau2012,Stenger2019,Shach2015} and fractional quantum hall devices~\cite{Camino2007,Goldman1010,Chamon1997}. While trivial-topological phase transition~\cite{xiao2020} and measurement-based braiding~\cite{Wootton2017} have been observed on a (non-topological) quantum computer, thus far there has been no definitive experimental evidence of braiding due to dynamical state evolution~\cite{Bartolomei2020,Camino2007,Ofek2010,McClure2012,Willett2013, Nakamura2019, willett2019}.

In this work, we simulate the key part of a topological quantum computer: the dynamics of braiding of a pair of MZMs on a tri-junction.
Specifically, we use the results of Ref.~\cite{Backens2017} to map a minimum model of a topological tri-junction~\cite{Alicea2011,Halperin2012,Hyart2013,Heck2012,Hassler2011,Stenger2019} onto a three-qubit Hamiltonian. Braiding is implemented by parametrically adjusting the Hamiltonian parameters; the time evolution is implemented using the Suzuki-Trotter decomposition, with each time step implemented by one- and two-qubit gates. We significantly boost the fidelity of our quantum time-evolution code by using pulse-level control to scale cross resonance (CR) gates~\cite{Chow2011} derived from those pre-calibrated on the backend, thereby enabling coupling of qubit pairs with shorter CR gate times.  Specifically, we observe that using native CNOT gates, we can move a MZM from one arm of the tri-junction device to another arm, thus performing 1/6 of a full braid. However, using the scaled gates, we are able observe a complete braid. We remark that this result can be interpreted as an experimental observation of braiding in a quantum system.

\begin{figure}[t]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{Fig_1_d.pdf}
\end{center}
\vspace{-2mm}

\caption{Topological tri-junctions. (a) Schematic depiction of a tri-junction device as proposed in Refs.~\cite{Alicea2011,Stenger2019,Halperin2012,Hyart2013,Heck2012,Hassler2011}.  The arms of the device are represented by blue bars, Majorana modes by red circles and the tunable couplings between pairs of inner Majorana modes by dashed lines. (b) Minimum model composed of three qubits, each qubit contributes a pair of Pauli operators to the description of the Majoranas.  The representation is written in the blue ovals.}
\label{F1}
\vspace{-3mm}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{fig2-annotate.pdf}
\caption{Gate sets that implement a single Suzuki-Trotter step $t_i$ of the time evolution. (a) Implementation with 2-qubit basis gates; each set of gates is labeled by the corresponding Hamiltonian terms above. (b) Implementation with analog scaled 2-qubit ECR gates $A(\theta)$, where $ZX(\theta) = R_x(\pi/2) A(\theta) R_x(\pi/2)$, as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig:qpt}c.}
\label{F2}
\end{figure}

{\it A minimal model of a topological tri-junction --}
Our model is constructed using the six Majorana operators depicted in Fig.~\ref{F1}a and is described by the Hamiltonian~\footnote{See Section A of the supplement for a model that describes both high energy modes and MZMs and the corresponding quantum code.}
\begin{equation}
    H=i\alpha\sum_{a=0}^2\gamma_a^x\gamma_a^y+i\frac{1}{2}\sum_{a\neq b}J_{ab}\gamma_a^x\gamma_b^x.
    \label{eq:Hfermion}
\end{equation}
Here, $\gamma_a^x$, $\gamma_a^y$ are Majorana operators on the inner and outer ends of arm $a$ respectively, $\alpha$ describes the coupling between Majorana modes on the same arm,
and $J_{ab}=-J_{ba}$ couples Majorana modes at the tri-junction.  Initially, we set $J_{01}=J_{\text{max}}$ and $J_{12}=J_{20}=0$. This setting results in $\gamma_0^x$ and $\gamma_1^x$ fusing into one complex fermion and $\gamma_2^x$ and $\gamma_2^y$ fusing into another complex fermion. The low-energy sector is spanned by the operators $\gamma_0^y$ and $\gamma_1^y$, which are the two MZMs that we would like to braid. Braiding is preformed by moving the two MZMs around the arms of the tri-junction, which is accomplished by modulating each $J_{ab}(t)$ as a function of time from $0$ to some maximum value which we call $J_\text{max}$ and then back to $0$ following the protocol enumerated in Table~\ref{T1}.  This is the same braiding procedure that would be used on a real tri-junction~\cite{Stenger2019}. This braiding procedure relies on a separation of timescales: braiding should be slow compared to the timescale of the fused MZMs, but fast compared to the splitting of the two ``free'' MZMs~\footnote{See Section B of the supplement for a discussion of topological protection}.

\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c}
\hline
step & time & couplings \\
\hline
  1  & $t: 0\rightarrow\tau$ & $J_{01}:J_\text{max} \rightarrow 0$, $J_{12}: 0\rightarrow J_\text{max}$ \\
  2  & $t: \tau\rightarrow 2\tau$ & $J_{12}:J_\text{max} \rightarrow 0$, $J_{20}: 0\rightarrow J_\text{max}$ \\
  3  & $t: 2\tau\rightarrow 3\tau$ & $J_{20}:J_\text{max} \rightarrow 0$, $J_{01}: 0\rightarrow J_\text{max}$ \\
  4-6 & $t: 3\tau\rightarrow 6\tau$ & repeat steps 1-3
\end{tabular}
\caption{Procedure for braiding Majorana zero modes depicted in Fig.~\ref{F1} by modulating the couplings $J_{01}$, $J_{12}$, and $J_{20}$.  Each step moves a Majorana from one arm to another.  In our calculations, we set $J_{\text{max}} = 1$, $\alpha = 3~J_{\text{max}}$, and $\tau = 3.3~1/J_\text{max}$.}
\label{T1}
\end{table}

To simulate braiding on a quantum computer we map the fermionic Hamiltonian Eq.~\eqref{eq:Hfermion} onto a Hamiltonian
\begin{equation}
    H(t)=\alpha\sum_{a=0}^2\sigma_a^z+J_{01}(t)\sigma_0^y\sigma_1^x+J_{12}(t)\sigma_1^y\sigma_2^x+J_{20}(t)\sigma_0^y\sigma_1^z\sigma_2^x
    \label{eq:Hboson}
\end{equation}
that acts on qubits. Here, $\sigma_a^{\nu}$ is the Pauli $\nu$-matrix acting on qubit $a$.
The Hilbert space of the minimal model of Eq.~\eqref{eq:Hfermion} is equivalent to the Hilbert space of three qubits, depicted in Fig.~\ref{F1}b. The Majorana operators are related to the qubit operators via the Jordan-Wigner transformation, see Fig.~\ref{F1}(b).

To simulate the dynamics of Eq.~(\ref{eq:Hboson}) we must find the quantum gates that approximate the time evolution operator $U=\mathcal{T}\prod_i\exp{\left(-iH(t_i)dt\right)}$, where $\mathcal{T}$ is the time ordering operator and $dt$ is a small time step. Throughout, we rely on the second order Suzuki-Trotter approximation to decompose the time evolution into manageable pieces. We choose the time step $dt$ to maximize the fidelity of the braiding procedure which is determined by a competition between (1) the Suzuki-Trotter error that is minimized by making a large number of small time-steps $dt$ and (2) the error from the imperfect quantum gates which is minimized by reducing the gate count by making $dt$ large.

{\it Quantum simulation with basis gates \/ --}
We split the time evolution of a single Suzuki-Trotter step into four parts.  Each part is decomposed into single-qubit rotations labeled $R_{\nu,i}(\theta)$ for a $\theta$-rotation around the $\nu$-axis of qubit $i$, and CNOT gates labeled $C_{x,ij}$, as depicted in Fig.~\ref{F2}a.
We initialize the qubits to
\begin{equation}
    \psi_{\pm}(0)= R_{y,2}(\pi) R_{y,0}(\mp\pi/2) C_{x,01} R_{x,0}(-\pi/2)\ket{000},
\label{psi+}
\end{equation}
where the states $\psi_{\pm}(0) = \ket{e}\pm\ket{g}$ with $\ket{g}$ and $\ket{e}$ being the ground and first excited state of the tri-junction corresponding to the even $\ket{e}$ and odd $\ket{g}$ parity states of the two MZMs.  Because there is a finite coupling between the MZMs, given by $\alpha$ in Eq.~\eqref{eq:Hboson}, $\ket{g}$ and $\ket{e}$ are at slightly different energies.  Any state outside of the low energy subspace defined by $\ket{g}$ and $\ket{e}$ can be understood as a linear combination of higher energy states.  After a single braid we expect: $\psi_{\pm}  \underset{\text{braid}}{\rightarrow} \psi_{\mp}$. To check if braiding was successful, we invert the initialization gates so that $\ket{000}$ corresponds to successful braiding.

\begin{figure}[t]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{Fig_3e.pdf}
\end{center}
\vspace{-2mm}
\caption{Panel (a): Comparing the probability distributions obtained using noiseless classical simulations and quantum computer calculations (see legend) obtained after moving a MZM from one arm of a tri-junction to another arm (as depicted in panel (b)).
The $\psi_{+}(\tau)$ and $\psi_{-}(\tau)$ states form the low-energy subspace, with $\psi_{+}(\tau)$ corresponding to the target state in the absence of time-step and gate errors; in constructing the plot we normalized probabilities in this subspace so that $P_{\psi_{+}(\tau)}+P_{\psi_{-}(\tau)}=1$. The probability to end up in all other states is grouped together and labeled `High Energy States'.
}
\label{F3}
\vspace{-3mm}
\end{figure}

A full braid with only three time steps per MZM swap (i.e. $\tau$ is broken into three time steps) requires 96 CNOT gates and cannot be simulated on {\it ibmq\_athens} as the CNOT gates (the dominate source of error) have an error of $1.3\%$ and $0.9\%$ between qubits $(0,1)$ and $(1,2)$, respectively.  The CNOT gate for qubits $(0,2)$ is built out of the other two.
However, moving a single MZM from one arm of the tri-junction to another arm (thus performing 1/6th of a complete braid),  requires only $3\times4=12$ two qubit gates.  This corresponds to step 1 in table~\ref{T1} with $J_{20} = 0$. The set of gates depicted in Fig.~\ref{F2} was translated into the basis gates using Qiskit's transpile function at optimization level 3 and 1024 shots were measured. Figure~\ref{F3} shows the resulting probability distribution~\footnote{See section C of the supplement for additional data and details of the measurement procedure.}.
The probabilities labeled `noiseless' were calculated using the QASM simulator in Qiskit to perform fully coherent quantum evolution and represent the size of time-step errors.
We observe a clear preference for the $\psi_{+}(\tau)$ state when running on {\it ibmq\_athens}, indicating that we have successfully moved a MZM from one arm of the tri-junction to another. However, when performing the full braid, there is no longer a clear preference as we measure $P_{-}(\tau)/P_{+}(\tau) = 1.04 \pm 0.12$ where $P_{\pm}$ is the probability of system ending in the $\ket{\pm} state$

{\it Designing scaled quantum gates \/ -- }
We decrease two-qubit gate errors by designing scaled gates which implement smaller rotations in the two-qubit Hilbert subspace than the basis CNOT gates, which apply a full $\pi/2$ rotation in the Hilbert space.
We focus on the operator $U_{yx}(\theta) = e^{-i \theta\sigma^y_1 \sigma^x_2/2}$, which arises from the Jordan-Wigner transformation, see Fig.~\ref{F2}a.
$U_{yx}(\theta)$ can be implemented with 2 CNOT gates as in Fig.~\ref{fig:qpt}(a). The basis CNOT gates are created from $U_{zx}(\pi/2)$ implemented by CR. These CNOTs are echoed CR pulses~\cite{Sheldon2016} on the control qubit with rotary echoes~\cite{Sundaresan2020} on the target qubit, combined with single-qubit gates before and after the echoed CR gate that generate the correct direction of CNOT. Since errors mainly arise during CR pulses, we minimize their duration in the braiding algorithm. This is achieved with pulse-level control enabled by Qiskit Pulse~\cite{McKay2018}.  We implement $U_{yx}(\theta)$ using $U_{zx}(\theta)$ operations (see Fig.~\ref{fig:qpt}b) derived from the highly-calibrated CNOT pulse schedules~\cite{Gokhale2020, Alexander2020}. Modifying the CNOT pulse schedules avoids additional calibrations which is paramount when running jobs through a queue on cloud-based quantum computers \footnote{see section D of the Supplement for details on the implementation of the scaled gates}. The rotation angle $\theta$ depends on the area under the pulses, and is often considerably less than $2 \times \pi/2$ for the Majorana braiding simulation schedule (Fig.~\ref{F2}). This allows us to build $U_{zx}(\theta)$ gates with considerably shorter CR pulses, and hence introduce less error per Suzuki-Trotter step.

\begin{figure*}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{majorana_qpt.pdf}
    \caption{Quantum process tomography of $U_{yx}(\theta)$ as a function of $\theta$ on {\it ibmq\_athens}.  Both the double-CNOT circuit (a) and the parametric $ZX(\theta)$-based circuit (b) create $U_{yx}(\theta)$.
    The circuit in (b) at $\theta=\pi/2$ is implemented by the pulse schedule shown in (c). Here, each sample lasts $0.222~{\rm ns}$.
    (d) Fidelity $F_{(a)}$ (blue up-triangles) and $F_{(b)}$ (orange down triangles) of quantum circuits (a) and (b), respectively, obtained with QPT.
    (e) Relative error reduction of the pulse-efficient circuit in (b) over the circuit in (a), i.e. $1-E_{(b)}/E_{(a)}$ where $E_{(x)}=1-F_{(x)}$.}
    \label{fig:qpt}
\end{figure*}

To benchmark the $U_{yx}$ analog quantum gate, we compare it to the double-CNOT basis gate implementation (see Fig.~\ref{fig:qpt}a and b).
We measure the gate fidelity with quantum process tomgraphy (QPT) for 15 values of $\theta$ linearly spaced between 0 and $\pi$.
Each measurement is done with 2048 shots and repeated four times to gather statistics.
We mitigate readout errors by preparing each of the four basis states and measuring the outcome which we use to correct the QPT data~\cite{Bravyi2020b, Barron2020}.
Fidelity measurements of the benchmark circuit are interleaved with those of the scaled CR circuit to mitigate biases in our comparison due to drifts.
We observe that the scaled CR pulses systematically have a higher fidelity than the double-CNOT implementation at all measured values of $\theta$, see Fig.~\ref{fig:qpt}d.
The double-CNOT benchmark should have a constant fidelity as the rotation angle $\theta$ is implemented by a virtual $Z$ gate~\cite{McKay2017} once the schedule is transpiled to {\it ibmq\_athens}.
We therefore attribute the fidelity fluctuations in Fig.~\ref{fig:qpt}d to drifts as the data were acquired over a three-day period. Such fluctuations are also observed in the fidelity of the scaled CR pulses.
We observe that the analog circuit is strongly advantageous to the basis gate circuit at small $\theta$, see Fig.~\ref{fig:qpt}e, which is the relevant case for quantum simulation. We attribute the decrease in fidelity of the analog circuit at larger $\theta$ to an increase in errors caused by the longer duration CR pulses.

{\it Quantum simulation with scaled gates \/ -- }
The Hamiltonian~\eqref{eq:Hboson} contains a three-qubit coupling term which induces a unitary time evolution that cannot be efficiently encoded using our analog two-qubit quantum gates. We perform one more basis transformation, which results in the three-qubit gate being replaced by a pair of two-qubit gates~\footnote{see section E of the supplement for details of the basis transformation}. The resulting quantum circuit, after hand optimization to combine single-qubit rotations, is depicted in Fig.~\ref{F2}b.

\begin{figure}[t]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{Fig_Delay_f.pdf}
\end{center}
\vspace{-2mm}

\caption{Bias towards braiding as a function of delay time added to the ZX rotation gate.  We plot $(P_{-}-P_{+})/(P_{-}+P_{+})$ so that 1 (-1) corresponds to perfect braiding for the plus (minus) state and 0 corresponds to an equal distribution of shots in the braiding target state and in the trivial (non-braiding) state.}
\label{F5}
\vspace{-3mm}
\end{figure}

We now return to Fig.~\ref{F3} to compare the fidelity of the  simulations implemented with basis and scaled gates.  We note that quantum simulations performed with basis and scaled gates use a different wave function basis and therefore have slightly different time-step errors as seen from the high energy states in Fig~\ref{F3}.  We observe a larger leakage out of the low energy subspace for the scaled computation than for the basis gates, but the fidelity in the low energy basis is better.
Crucially, the scaled-gate computation on the quantum computer is much closer to its noiseless ideal than is the basis-gate calculation on the quantum computer to its own noiseless ideal, highlighting the improvement in the fidelity achieved with analog quantum gates.

In Fig.~\ref{F5} we plot the results of running the braiding pulse schedule on {\it ibmq\_athens} with a variable amount of incoherent error added in the form of an additional delay time appended to all 2-qubit gates~\footnote{See Section F of the supplement for additional data}.  The probabilities $P_{+}$ and $P_{-}$ are found by counting the number of shots that end in the $\psi_{+}$ and $\psi_{-}$ states, respectively, after the braiding procedure. Each data point is the average of four trials with 8192 shots in each trial after applying the same readout error mitigation as with the QPT~~\cite{Bravyi2020b, Barron2020}.  We use the ratio $(P_{-}-P_{+})/(P_{+}+P_{-})$ to measure success in braiding, this ratio should be positive if the final state is closer to $\psi_{-}(0)$ and negative if it closer to $\psi_{+}(0)$. In the absence of additional noise, we observe a strong preference for successful braiding. As we introduce additional noise this preference slowly diminishes, disappearing completely when the delay exceeds 150~ns or about $25\%$ of the duration of a CNOT gate. The observation that additional noise washes out the braiding signal (a) supports our interpretation that we are indeed observing a quantum coherent process of braiding and (b) explains why we were unable to observe braiding with CNOT gates which extend the pulse schedule significantly past the 150~ns per two-qubit gate at which the braiding signal disappears~\footnote{See Section G of the supplement for a noise model}.

{\it In summary \/ --} We have demonstrated that pulse-level control of quantum computers enables us to simulate the braiding of Majorana zero modes, thus expanding the ``digital'' capabilities offered by the native basis gates on IBM Quantum backends. These two-qubit operations were derived from the highly-calibrated basis CNOT of the backend and required no further calibration. Our demonstration shows that we have reached the point at which quantum computers can perform interesting quantum simulations, but to achieve a sufficient quality it is crucial to understand the performance of the hardware and compose software that respects its limitations.
Looking towards the future, the ease of programming obtained from digital abstractions is outweighed by the increase in performance obtained by programming the ``analog'' pulse schedules in a noise-aware method.  We therefore argue that the path forward for quantum simulation in the noisy quantum era is the use of abstraction-free programming of quantum computers.  This allows for continuous time evolution on part of of the Hamiltonian and could be a path towards fully continuous Hamiltonian evolution.

\section{Acknowledgements}

The authors acknowledge use of the IBM Quantum Experience devices for this work. The authors also thank S.M. Frolov, N. Earnest-Noble, D.T. McClure, N. Kanazawa and E. Pritchett for insightful discussions. J.S. and D.P. acknowledge support from NSF PIRE-1743717.

\newpage

\bibliographystyle{apsrev4-1}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Never miss a moment of your favourite community radio station ever again by downloading the brand-new Penistone FM app.
The app works on iPhone, iPad and iPod. It is completely free and easy to use, so why not download it today and listen to your favourite Penistone FM shows wherever you are – at home, at work or on the move?
You can also see the current "now playing" information, browse our website and send messages and requests direct to the studio, all from the comfort of your mobile device.
Click here to download our app now and take Penistone FM with you!
Using a non-Apple device? You can listen live online via the TuneIn app.


Take advantage of our grand opening pricing and request a quote today!
The team of Absolute Comfort and Connected Technology do solar a little different than the big chain solar companies. We are not a "high volume" production company. Instead, we listen to you, our customer, and design a system that exactly fits your needs. Our consultants take the time and help you make the best decision on the brand, type, and location of the solar modules (commonly known as solar panels).
Our customers have been thrilled with the results.
Many companies claim that they have "the best modules," but what they usually mean is that they have the "most expensive" modules. These are modules that produce the most electricity per panel.
We find that the best value for our customers is not the highest producing, most expensive module, but instead, one that combines both production high production and solid warranties at a reasonable price.
You'll be eligible for the Federal Investment Tax Credit if you buy your own solar system. The tax credit amounts to 30% of the cost of purchasing your solar system, but only after deducting the value of your state rebates. But the ITC credits will begin declining to 30% at the end of 2019. The tax credit for systems in service after 12/31/19 will drop to 26%. After 12/31/20, it'll drop even further to 22%. Visit the energy department website for more information about the tax credits, and be sure to check with a tax specialist.
Many companies lease modules or provide a fixed rate for electricity that you buy from them. The benefit is that they don't usually require you to pay them up front for the panels, you just pay as you go. But, the downside is that you don't own the system installed on your home. You don't get the increase in home value and it can be difficult to transfer if you sell your home. It would be similar to trying to sell a car that you have leased from another company! With the team of Absolute Comfort and Connected Technology, the system is yours, supported by us, for long-term, hassle-free benefit.
As technology improves, prices on modules have been dropping down. Solar is now less expensive with a quicker return on investment than most people think; usually 5 to 7 years. However, this drop is slowing and now is an excellent time to buy.
With the shift in our utility bills to the time of day, and peak demand pricing, whole house battery storage should be an important consideration as it will save lots of energy dollars for you down the road. All of our systems are pre-planned with battery storage in mind so that when the right battery product is ready, our customers will be able to receive the most benefit. Stay tuned for more details as the whole house battery market is changing rapidly.


Trump took the first shot at about 1 p.m.
President Donald Trump and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum carried their Twitter war of words into overtime in Election 2018.
It is the latest in a series of heated exchanges between the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful on social media. Over the course of the election, Trump tweeted that Gillum was a "failed mayor" and a "thief." Gillum always responded to each twitter attack, often saying Trump was "weak" for not tagging him directly on Twitter. He also dusted off a saying from his grandmother about not wrestling with pigs in the mud because the pig likes it.


"Yes!" I shouted, to make my point.
About the author: Christopher Bremicker was a Special Forces medic at Ft. Bragg NC from 1968 to 70. He has a BA in English and an MBA, both University of Minnesota. He is a handball player, downhill skier, grouse hunter and a sales associate at Walgreen's in St. Paul, MN. His hometown is Cable, WI.


text:
Guava Varieties
Brazilian guavas originated from an Australian variety.
1 How Tall Can the Pigeon Pea Tree Grow?
2 How Long to Harvest Guavas?
3 Early Pear Varieties
4 Avocado Tree Height
Tropical guava (Psidium guajava) is prized for its delectable taste and aroma. Guava's fragrance is characterized by San Francisco-based chef Brett Emerson as a combination of "ripe pear, cut pineapple, and some heaven-sent flower." Although the taste varies by cultivar, one variety has a custard-like consistency and an exotic taste reminiscent of pears, bananas, mango and pineapple combined. There are many named varieties grown in the tropics worldwide. A more limited number of varieties are grown in areas of the United States. Guavas are either processed into canned fruit, juice, jams and jellies or eaten fresh, depending on the variety.
Frost-tender guava is limited to U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 9b through 11. For the United States, this means Hawaii and parts of Florida, the Gulf Coast states, and southern and coastal California as far north as Mendocino County. In areas where young trees might experience temperatures below 30 degrees Fahrenheit, guavas need a protected microclimate such as the south side of a building, a roof overhang or a temporary sheltering framework. Established trees can survive brief exposure to 28 degrees Fahrenheit but experience defoliation or dieback of branches.
Cultivars Grown in the Continental United States
Guavas are predominantly grown in the United States as home orchard shrubs or small trees. There are some commercial plantings. In the San Francisco area, Will Brokaw grows "White Malaysian" guavas for market. A trial guava planting is under way in Cameron County, Texas. In Southern California, a Granada Hills nursery grows varieties such as "Vietnamese," "Purple Malaysian," "Ruby Supreme" and "Turnbull White." Other growers market fruits of "Benjamin," "Giant Bangkok" and "Mexican Cream" guavas. Florida has commercial plantings, and horticulturalists there recommend 11 varieties for home growing.
Cultivars With Pink to Red Flesh
Guava varieties are classified by the color of their flesh. There are more than 10 red- to pink-fleshed cultivars. "Beaumont" and "Ka Hua Kula" are planted commercially in Hawaii. "Red Indian" originated in Florida in 1946 and bears medium to large fruit that are eaten fresh. "Ruby X" is a hybrid of Florida cultivars "Ruby" and "Supreme." The variety "Uma" is a vigorous tree with heavy yields that originated in San Diego, California.
Cultivars with White Flesh
More than 12 white-fleshed cultivars are known. Flesh can be crisp and crunchy or soft. "Sweet White Indonesian" guavas have large fruit with thick, soft, delicious flesh. Trees produce several crops a year. "Giant Bangkok" or "Donrom" guavas have fruits weighing over one pound with firm greenish-white flesh. "Mexican Cream" guavas are small to medium yellow-skinned fruits with very sweet creamy flesh.
Yellow-Fleshed Fruit
There is only one know variety of yellow-fleshed tropical guava, the cultivar "Detwiler." The tree bears heavy crops of greenish-yellow 3-inch fruits with firm, medium-sweet yellow-to-salmon flesh. The seedling originated in Riverside, California in the early 1900s.
In Praise of Sardines: Guavas in San Francisco?
Top Tropicals: Tropical Guava
Trade Winds Fruit: Guava
Texas A&M University Horticulture Department: Texas Citrus and Subtropical Fruits: Home Fruit Production: Guava
Los Angeles Times: Growing Guava of a Different Color
Purdue University: Guava
Cornucopia II: A Source Book of Edible Plants; Stephen Facciola
University of Florida IFAS Extension: Guava Growing in the Florida Home Landscape
Los Angeles Times: In Season/Guavas: Tropical Treat Tastes as Good as It Looks
California Rare Fruit Growers: Tropical Guava
Cathryn Chaney has worked as a gardening writer since 2002. Her horticultural experience working in the nursery industry informs her garden articles, especially those dealing with arid landscaping and drought-tolerant gardening. Chaney also writes poetry, which has appears in "Woman's World" magazine and elsewhere. Chaney graduated from the University of Arizona in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Medioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
Chaney, Cathryn. "Guava Varieties." Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/guava-varieties-28294.html. Accessed 17 July 2019.
Chaney, Cathryn. (n.d.). Guava Varieties. Home Guides | SF Gate. Retrieved from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/guava-varieties-28294.html
Chaney, Cathryn. "Guava Varieties" accessed July 17, 2019. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/guava-varieties-28294.html
Types of Papershell Pecans
How Big Do Persian Lime Trees Get?
What Is a Tangelo Orange?
When Does Satsuma Fruit Ripen?
How Long Is It for a Citrus Tree to Produce?
How Much Do Avocado Trees Yield?
Different Kinds of Walnut Trees
How Long Does It Take for a Granny Smith Apple Tree to Produce Fruit?
How Long Does It Take for Tangerines to Ripen?
Cold Climate Persimmon Trees
Which Dwarf Fruit Trees Can Tolerate Shade?
Linden Tree Growth


Graphic Design - Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, GIMP, Etc.
- Ryzen 7 1700 vs. Ryzen 5 1600?
- Wraith Spire Cooler vs. AIO (Is it needed over the Wraith)?
- GPU that can handle my needs (Again I DON'T GAME - So I don't care about 80FPS +) I use PowerDirector 15 (Not Davinci Resolve) CUDA vs OpenCL? AMD vs. GTX Series?
- Will a GTX 1050 Ti work well?
RAM - There are so many conflicting views with RYZEN. Is it worth to OC to 3200 or leave at 2666?
I am getting DDR4 32gb, 2x16 Single Rank - Brand? Model that works great?
Should I overclock anything? Bios Asus Settings?
That's a lot, but I hope someone has experience and can help. Video editing, not gaming.
Content tagged with video editor.
for the graphics card It really depends on if you like opencl or cuda aceleration. AMD is king in open formats however if you want Cuda then all you can go with is Nvidia. I use Adobe Premire Pro for my video editing and it works best with Cuda acceleration. as for the processor it really depends on if you are doing multiple things or not. I use the 1700 myself and it works great. but you will want to overclock at least lightly. core speed is more important than core count with most programs.
For ram Trident Z or Geil works well and you will want the fastest AMP profile you can get up to at least 3000 mhz with the infinity fabric gaining more from faster ram than higher core speed. there has been some issues with 3200 MHZ ram but 3000 seems to be the sweet spot from what I have heard.
In regard to the cooler if you have the ability to overclock then by all means do it. the wraith cooler is very well made however i have noticed that with rendering being how it is you may want an after market cooler to keep the temps down if you overclock.