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The Four Wisher
By Harry J. Chong
Mr. Lynch contemplated suicide after losing all his money in the stock market. He had yet to tell his wife. The house was quiet, because he was often absent, out at the pub drinking with his buddies. While they understood his woes, they thought he was foolish for hoping to get-rich-quick—but then again who doesn't want to get rich quick?
"Aw, you'll make it back," said Paul, Mr. Lynch's best friend. "Don't worry."
"I'll be losing my home soon," said Mr. Lynch. "Wife's going to divorce me once she finds out. Is this not the time to worry?"
"I really don't know what to say to that."
"Neither do I."
Dennis returned with a pitcher of beer. He set it down on the table. "It's on me," he said with a smile. Nobody else was smiling. He put his arm around Mr. Lynch. Mr. Lynch frowned and rested his chin on his arm.
"Hey, hey, hey," said Dennis. "We'll help you out. No problem."
"And how will you do that?" asked Mr. Lynch. "Magic? This isn't Harry Potter."
"You're alive and healthy—presumably intelligent—you should be able to get back on your feet. Just think of a way to dig yourself out of this hole. Have you gotten an extra job? If not, I know a restaurant down the street looking for waiters."
"I'm a 40 something man with tits. You think I'd get much in the way of tips. I think not."
"Well, what do you propose?"
Paul and Dennis sat closer together. They stared at Mr. Lynch waiting for him to say something. They knew it'd be negative, as such was his mood, but they were hoping he'd have some daring plan. The trio was always looking for adventure.
The reply was mundane. Just another complaint. "I knew I should've stayed home," said Mr. Lynch. "It was a bad idea to come out here. American dream indeed."
The waitress came along. She had a blue pen and notepad to take down orders. "Can I get you boys anything else?" she said in an Irish accent. "Last call."
"No," replied Mr. Lynch. "I'll be going home now." And without saying good bye to his friends, he left.
He went outside, and dragged his feet. He walked in a droning pace. He would've preferred to drive, but his car was crushed and cube. It resulted from a fiasco the week earlier where he got drunk and smashed into a police cruiser.
Mr. Lynch sung to himself while trying to get home; though, his words were slurry. It was about "money, money" or something other. As he came to the traffic light, he leaned against the lamppost. Snow fell upon his face. "Isn't this grand?" he said to himself. "A white Christmas."
"Grand indeed," said a voice.
Startled, Mr. Lynch spun around. His head nearly hit the jutting part of a stop sign (he was quite tall). "Who's there?!" he exclaimed.
A little man came out from the shadow. He was wearing a green jacket. "Greetings," he said with a bow. "How are you today?"
"How am I?" said Mr. Lynch, sarcastically. "Bloody swell!"
"Well, I think you are lying."
With a pointed finger Mr. Lynch exclaimed, "ARE YOU CALLING ME A LIAR?!"
"Didn't say you were," replied the little man. "Just saying that you were lying. Now calm down, and let's have a chat. I get awfully bored during the holidays."
"Are you an elf?" asked Mr. Lynch.
"Not quite an elf. A close relative."
"Elves would surely be appropriately around this time of the year."
"I know it would."
"So, what're you up to then? Just here to make small talk. Well, none of my talk is small. Tends to be big and loud. If you wouldn't mind that we'd get along fine."
The little man nodded, and buttoned up his jacket. He went closer to Mr. Lynch and tilted his head back to look him in the eye. Mr. Lynch took a step back, feeling a bit uneasy. "Don't be getting too close," he said.
"Goodness," said the little man. "You're awfully hostile—"
"I may be a tad sauced, but I know when somebody wants something from me. Out with it!"
"I'm here to help you. I can grant you four wishes."
A chilly wind blew while there was a moment of silence. Then Mr. Lynch stamped his feet and laughed, "Haw-haw! That's a laugh! Are you a genie?!"
The little man corrected him. "No," he said. "I'm a four wisher—a distant relative to the elf and leprechaun. Every four wisher, on his hundredth birthday, must grant four wishes to a random stranger. At that point we transform into our true-selves. A metamorphosis if you will."
"WELL! DAMN!" yelled Mr. Lynch. "Give me a car! First wish! I wish for a car!"
The little man, the four wisher, clapped his hands. "Done," he said.
Mr. Lynch stretched his neck, "Where is it?" He sauntered about, going around in a circle, mocking the little man. "Here, car, car! Where are you! Come to papa! Here, car, car! Here, car, car!" The little man didn't look offended at all. The expression on his face was rather smug and confident.
THEN A CAR DROPPED FROM THE SKY. It squashed Mr. Lynch, killing him instantly. The little man put his face into his hands. "Every single time!" he exclaimed. "Ugh! They always wish for something heavy."
"I'm alright!" said Mr. Lynch. The little man's eyes brightened. "Yuh! You thought I was dead! No, I slipped and fell. I'm just stuck under this thing! I must say, bloody good show! You really gave me a car!"
"Whew," went the little man. "What's your next wish?"
Mr. Lynch crawled out from underneath the car, which was a convertible. He hopped inside of it and went behind the wheel. "A fancy car," he thought aloud. "I half thought I was going to get screwed on this deal." He looked behind. The little man was in the back waiting. His legs were up, resting on the seat in front.
"For my next wish," said Mr. Lynch. "I'd like a certified check for $100,000,000."
After the little man clapped a check, indeed, did appear. It too fell from the sky. Mr. Lynch took it before it got caught in the wind. He eyed it hungrily. "Outstanding!" he exclaimed. "For my next wish I wish to know the cure for cancer! Might as well do something good for the world!"
A vial of cloudy liquid dropped into Mr. Lynch's hand. Mr. Lynch looked at it and then stored it in his pocket. "I'll get this analyzed by a lab," he said. "Or maybe I'll open my own!"
"Last wish," reminded the little man. "Make it a good one. After this I'll be reward and transform into my true self."
Mr. Lynch came out of his convertible. He had one more wish, and wanted to use it wisely. He paced back and forth, leaving his footprints in the snow-ridden sidewalk. "What to wish for?" he thought. "Assuming wishing for more wishes is out of the question—as it usually is."
"Hurry up now," said the little man. "I haven't all day, contrary to what you think."
"Okay," said Mr. Lynch. "I've decided… I want you to make my wife happy. I, I, I, I don't deserve her. I wish my wife happiness. Even if that means not being with me."
"Quite unselfish wishes," replied the little man. He clapped his hands. "And it is granted."
At that moment Mr. Lynch blacked out. He awoke in bed. His wife was standing over him, clapping. "Wake up," said Mrs. Lynch. "You've been drinking again and I don't like it."
"I apologize," replied Mr. Lynch. "I apologize for everything."
"No need to apologize," said Mrs. Lynch. "I know what happened. How you lost our savings."
"And we are going to have a divorce? Well, you certainly deserve better."
"Why'd you say that? I don't care about money… Well, I do, but it's not more important than you."
"Can I have a hug?"
Mrs. Lynch wrapped her arms around Mr. Lynch. Tears were coming down her face. "What are we going to do about our home?" she asked. "The bank is going to take it away soon." Mr. Lynch got up. He put on his slippers and went to the window. He looked outside. There was a full on blizzard. The trees were covered in snow, which was so heavy it weighed down the branches to the point of breaking. Therein, it was realized that the little man did grant at least one wish.
Bio: Harry Chong is an amateur writer living in Canada.
Labels: Harry J. Chong


That one Treasure Island sequel should follow so quickly on the heels of another would seem strangely coincidental. Indeed, it seems almost yesterday that I was reviewing "Silver" by Edward Chupack, and yet here I am now reviewing "Flint and Silver" by John Drake. But in truth, the similarities between these two works are few and far between. Where Silver was a re-envisioning of the characters of Treasure Island, full of sinister murder, mind-bending cyphers, and dry villainy that intentionally lacked a devout "faithfulness" to its inspiration, Flint and Silver instead attempts to perfectly mesh with the expectations set by the original work and takes a more swashbuckling, lighthearted approach to material. It follows in the "boys adventure" spirit of Treasure Island, albeit from a slightly more grown-up perspective.
Not be be too blunt, but Flint and Silver is exceptional work. The characters of Long John Silver and Joseph Flint are fleshed out and expanded upon in incredible, believable detail. Long John is every bit the dubious anti-hero he was in Treasure Island, and more-so. Flint, on the other hand, being only referenced in the original novel, is an original character of a truly compelling nature – clever, heartless, bitter, yet human. To see the friendship between the two develop, flourish, and then crumble is an adventure every bit as worthy as was Treasure Island itself. And to see the development of other "minor" characters develop alongside – Mad Dog, Blind Pew, Billy Bones… only adds to the fun, and further helps establish this as a 'genuine' prequel of which Rober Louis Stevenson would surely approve.
Beginning with Silver's reluctant initiation into the ways of the Brethren of the Coast, the story traces his rapid rise to quartermaster (further advancement being staved off by his frustrating inability to master the arts of navigation) and eventual teaming up with Flint – Naval Lieutenant turned mutineer and eventual pirate captain. Each man finds he perfectly compliments the other in skill – Silver being a true leader of men, and Flint being a master navigator and strategist. Together they form a wildly successful pirate career until their inherent differences in motivation and humanity drive them apart. As the story unfolds, you can clearly see the foundation of Treasure Island laid out, although not to final completion as it would appear that one more novel remains before we would see the introduction of Jim Hawkins and company. I await this book with baited breath, and once you've read Flint and Silver, I'm confident you'll feel the same.
This entry was posted in Books and tagged bilgemunky's favorites, john drake, treasure island by Bilgemunky. Bookmark the permalink.
I just happened to see this on a shelf at Borders and waited for it to become available at the library, but having read it, I am so reluctant to put it back that I am definitely going to fork over hard cash to own it, and that says something these days. I'm usually wary of prequels, but this one does not disappoint and in fact drove me to a re-reading of "Treasure Island," where I discovered that even such small details as Silver's faith in banks (there is a wonderful bit of dialogue to this effect in "Flint and Silver') and his relative youth in TI (50 might be old for a pirate, but it's younger than he is usually portrayed) were right on the money. The mystery behind Silver's failure to be captain, when he is so clearly the superior of everyone around him, makes perfect sense. I could have maybe done with fewer details of pirate perversity (I honestly don't need the details every time some lowlife gets aroused, as I think we can take it as a given) and once or twice the violence got a little too CSI, but the author's flair for dialogue and language, the many colorful details of life at sea, and (on the whole) the characterizations make for a book that stands up to repeated readings and deserves to be incorporated as part of the "real story" of Long John Silver. I look forward eagerly to the next installment.
In the past three months I have read Pirate Latitudes, On Stranger Tides and Flint and Silver. Liked Flint and Silver the best, by a long shot the best. On Stranger Tides was well done and an excellent read, I'm just not much on magic and voodoo no matter how ya spell it.
Keeping mine eye peeled for Pieces of Eight.


According to independent consumer surveys of satellite TV providers and cable companies in Holmen, WI, DIRECTV has earned the title of best TV service provider in Holmen.
In analyzing the results of a number of independent consumer surveys, it's clear that DIRECTV is ranked as the best TV service provider around. This ranking was earned after careful review of satellite TV and cable companies in Holmen, WI. With the help of our comprehensive research and accurate ratings, it's never been easier to see how the best cable companies compare with other paid television services available in your area.
It's rarely quick and easy to find the best cable company in Holmen, WI. Cost is always a key factor, but you also need to consider other important details, like the quantity and quality of the channels being offered. Major national networks are usually available regardless of your location, but the selection of local channels featured with TV packages in Holmen may be different from even similar packages in nearby cities. But with the right premium package, you can enjoy access to all of your favorite shows, the hottest movies, and full coverage of your and Green Bay Packers games. That's why we've compiled tons of information on the highest rated providers available in Holmen—so you can easily find a package that offers the channels and features you're looking for.
Great customer service and dependability are key factors when you're looking for a cable company in Holmen, WI. Fortunately, you can find all the tools you need to find the best possible provider at CableTV.com. When rating and endorsing various TV providers, CableTV.com always considers customer service and dependability. Our ratings will help you find a new provider that offers reliable service and great customer support.
Of all the Internet service providers available in Holmen, Wisconsin, CenturyLink High-Speed Internet comes out on top.When ranking Internet providers, we check their download speeds and compare them to the Wisconsin average download speed of 22 Mbps. Keep in mind, however, that Internet providers' speeds may vary depending on where you live, so you should narrow down your choices according to which providers offer the fastest connections in Holmen, WI. CableTV.com's Internet rating system takes speed into account, which helps you to quickly find the perfect brand for your needs.
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Greece Sees Impressive Solar PV Growth Despite Banking Crisis
Despite on the ongoing financial tragedy that has gripped Greece for the past three years, the country has risen Phoenix-like from the ashes to become one of the world's largest markets for solar photovoltaics (solar PV).
According to data compiled by the Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Companies (HELAPCO), Greeks installed more than 900 MW of solar PV last year, bringing total installed capacity to more than 1,500 MW.
Both in relative and absolute terms Greece has become a world leader in solar energy development. The country now ranks third in solar PV per capita worldwide, behind only Germany and Italy.
Greece has now installed five times more solar PV per capita than the U.S.
As in Germany and Italy, the world's two largest markets for solar PV, Greece uses a system of feed-in tariffs. The Greek feed-in tariff program has revolutionized solar development in the country. Nearly one-fourth of all solar PV capacity in Greece has been installed in small rooftop systems.
The solar association notes that rooftop systems, regardless of size, no longer require environmental permitting. Permitting has been streamlined for ground-mounted systems as well.
The solar association says that "practically every bank in Greece now offers up to 100% financing for the installation of residential PV systems." As proponents of feed-in tariffs have noted elsewhere, when the tariffs are well designed there's no need for complex loan programs, such as PACE grants. Banks will step in because the revenue streams from the feed-in tariffs are predictable.
"Any citizen," says the association, "who wants to install a solar system with a capacity of up to 10 kilowatts on their roof, can do so easily, simply by visiting the local electricity company office."
Lead image: Athens, Greece via Shutterstock

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Tar det inte personligen…
av Marko - Crew | maj 6, 2014 | Nyheter
Ace uttalar sig om Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame:
ACE FREHLEY Claims He Does Not Take Personally Anything PAUL STANLEY And GENE SIMMONS Say
On April 23 at the Revolver Golden Gods awars show in Los Angeles, original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley spoke to Artisan News about the band's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame following the April 10 ceremony at Brooklyn, New York's Barclays Center.
"Luckily, everybody was on their best behavior, and the vibe was pretty cool," Ace said.
Asked for his opinion on KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley's claim that Frehley and fellow former KISS member Peter Criss (drums) were anti-Semites who felt that the band was being "unfairly manipulated by money-grubbing Jews," Frehley said: "Paul's trying to make headlines, he's trying to sell [his recently released memoir, 'Face The Music: A Life Exposed'.]"
He continued: "I don't take anything Paul says — or Gene [Simmons, KISS bassist/vocalist] — personal."
Stanley last month said that he stood behind his claim that Frehley and Criss were anti-Semites, telling Artisan News: "It's very clear that there are a lot of people who are anti-Semites. There are a lot of people who, underneath the surface, have a resentment towards the resiliency or the determination of Jews.
"If you wanna hang your inadequacies or your failures on somebody, it seems that, 'Hey, it's his fault.'
"So, no, I stand behind what I said and I have no agenda and I'm not saying anything to be vindictive, I'm not saying anything to be malicious. I'm just stating the facts."
Criss has denied that he is a raging anti-Semite, telling TMZ.com that he supports all religions and that his favorite aunt was Jewish.
Speaking to VH1 Radio Network's Dave Basner on April 7, Frehley stated about Stanley's claims: "We say good things about each other and we say bad things about each other [in our memoirs], but it is what it is. It's rock and roll. I mean, if all we did was pat each other on the back for every book, people would say, 'That's a boring book.' They want to hear the dirt. I've got plenty of dirt."
KISS did not perform at the April 10 event. The Hall Of Fame wanted the original quartet only to play, while Simmons and Stanley insisted on the current lineup performing as well. In the end nobody won that battle.
The 29th annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony was taped and will air on May 31 on HBO.
Källa www.blabbermouth.net


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"The Rainmaker" at Yellow Tree Theatre
Sometimes something or someone comes along in life that changes everything. Such is Starbuck, aka The Rainmaker, to the Curry family in Depression era middle America in N. Richard Nash's play 60-year-old play. Yellow Tree Theatre is mounting a lovely new production of this play with an all-star team of YTT regulars and newcomers. It's funny and sweet, hopeful and devastating, a prime example of the beautiful theater that Yellow Tree has been doing for going on seven years, made only richer by the influx of talent from the larger Twin Cities theater scene.
The Curry family consists of patriarch H.C., smart and capable daughter Lizzie, older son Noah who runs the ranch, and the youngest, the easygoing Jimmy. The boys are worried about Lizzie's future and try to marry her off, first by sending her to a nearby town to stay with a family with six sons, then by inviting the local deputy over for dinner. But Lizzie isn't like other the other girls in town, flighty and flirty and intent on "getting a man the way he needs to get got." She speaks her mind, and thinks that no man would want her because she's always been told that she's plain. One hot, dry night, a stranger shows up and offers them something they're all craving - rain. Gullible Jimmy believes him, practical Lizzie and Noah do not, but H.C. wants to give it a chance just in the hopes of something happening.
Something does happen, maybe not what they expected, but something that changes all of their lives. Whether or not Starbuck is a rainmaker as he claims remains to be seen, but what he is is a dreamweaver, a catalyst for change to get them out of this rut they've fallen into. He's Professor Harold Hill, come to sell River City, or in this case, the Curry family, something more than a big band or rain, something much more vital - hope for the future, faith in something, and a belief in oneself. He teaches Lizzie to say "I'm pretty" and mean it, but it's not really about being "pretty," it's about believing she's a beautiful woman deserving of love and happiness and all that life has to offer. Even though the plotline about "marry her off before she becomes an old maid" could seem sexist and offensive, it's a product of its time and really represents any longed for and almost given up dream.
Lizzie and Starbuck (Dawn Brodey and
Peter Christian Hansen, photo by Keri Pickett)
Ivey Award winning director Craig Johnson brings out the best in this excellent cast. When Peter Christian Hansen's Starbuck says that he can bring the rain, I believe him, so perfectly does he portray this con man's confidence and determination, but also his uncertainty and insecurity that he only reveals to Lizzie in quiet moments. I've been a Dawn Brodey fan for a few years, but this may be the best I've ever seen her - so real and raw and natural; you can read Lizzie's every thought and emotion in her facial expressions and body language. Pat O'Brien brings a warm compassion to the role of H.C., who only wants the best for his three very different children. Nathan Cousins is adorable as the simple young Jimmy, and provides much of the humor, while James Rodriguez as the pragmatic Noah is the strong center of the family who may act like a jerk sometimes but has the best of intentions. Rounding out the cast are Tim Tengblad as the friendly town Sheriff who talks Jason Peterson's reluctantly charming Deputy File into letting go of past pain and his life of solitude for something more.
the Curry family at breakfast (photo by Keri Pickett)
Yellow Tree's intimate stage is crowded with furniture in the cozy Curry home, with an elevated part in the back as the Sheriff's office and, later, the tack room, allowing for easy and subtle transitions between scenes (scenic design by Eli Schlatter). It's so wonderful to be in that small intimate space, where you can see the expressions on the actors' faces up close and personal. There's nowhere to hide and no need to; each of them is so present in every moment, you could spend the entire show just focused on one of their faces and get a full experience of the story, although a slightly different one depending on who you chose.
This play marks the opening of Yellow Tree Theatre's 7th season in the little strip mall in Osseo. I've been with them since the 3rd season, and it's been a pleasure to watch them grow and succeed. They have a wonderful pool of talent that they regularly pull from, but to see them bring in the likes of Ivey Award winners Craig Johnson and Peter Hansen says a lot about how far they've come. I love to see the mixing and mingling of talent at theaters around town; I think it makes everyone better, as can be seen in this piece. The Rainmaker is a beautiful play and a beautiful experience at the theater. Head up to Osseo and spend some time with these warm, funny, stubborn, flawed, relatable people as someone comes into their lives and shakes things up so they'll never be the same.
Labels: Craig Johnson, Dawn Brodey, Eli Schlatter, James Rodriguez, Jason Peterson, Nathan Cousins, Pat O'Brien, Peter Christian Hansen, Rainmaker, Tim Tengblad, Yellow Tree
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"Nature" by TigerLion Arts at the Minnesota Landsc...
"Hello Dolly!" at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres
"Sexy Laundry" at Park Square Theatre
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"The Underpants" at Theatre in the Round
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Storyhill Fest 2014


At Children's Colorado, we see more, treat more and heal more kids than any hospital in our seven-state region. We're experienced and forward-thinking when it comes to the latest methods for diagnosis and treatment. This translates into less invasive treatment, less time, and less stress on you and your children.
Since we are always pioneering new ways of curing childhood diseases, your child will receive the most effective care years before it may become available at other hospitals. We are doing everything we can to help you get your child healthy and home faster than at any other hospital.
When it was founded in 1908 in Denver, Children's Hospital Colorado set out to be a leader in providing the best healthcare outcomes for children. That calling has consistently made us one of the top children's hospitals in the nation and a place parents across the Rocky Mountain region have come to trust.
As a private, nonprofit pediatric healthcare network, Children's Colorado is 100% dedicated to caring for kids at all ages and stages of growth. We have more than 3,000 pediatric specialists and more than 5,000 full-time employees helping to carry out our mission.
We provide comprehensive pediatric care at our hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora and at several locations throughout the region.
No matter which location you visit, you'll receive the best possible care for your kids with our specially trained staff and facilities designed just for kids. Unlike other hospitals and urgent care locations, we partner with your child's pediatrician or your family doctor to make sure you receive integrated care.
Children's Colorado at I-225 and Colfax is the only dedicated Level 1 trauma center in our seven-state region, handling the most challenging emergencies. We offer emergency and urgent care at multiple locations as well as numerous specialty care centers and clinics.
In addition to these locations, we bring our expertise to doctors and families throughout the Rocky Mountain Region with more than 400 outreach clinics every year.
Children's Colorado is committed to providing continuing educational opportunities that will enhance and advance the pediatric knowledge and clinical skills of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals across the region. These educational topics range from primary care to critical care and are available in-person and online. This is our way of ensuring kids across the region have access to up-to-date techniques and treatment for kids.
We are at the forefront of research in childhood disease with several nationally and internationally recognized medical and surgical programs. Together, with our partners, we are responsible for virtually all of the pediatric research published in the Rocky Mountain region for at least a decade. We are always striving to find new and better ways to cure kids so you can be sure you are receiving the best care for your child at our facilities.
Our clinical work may be the most visible part of our mission, but advocacy is just as important. Advocacy is how we influence decisions relating to children's health policy issues, such as injury prevention and access to quality care.
Children's Hospital Colorado's advocacy efforts expand out into communities across Colorado and are aimed at making sure that kids' concerns are always heard when public policies are made.
From providing immunizations and car seat checks, our goal is to help keep kids healthy and out of the hospital. We envision a world where no child needs a hospital. Until we make that happen, we're here for your kids.


Anna joins the Wheels Garage team and accepts nothing less than her dream car first up - a Jeep Renegade Trailhawk.
Three years ago I packed up my life in Adelaide for an opportunity to take on the big smoke in Melbourne as a journalist at 4X4 Australia.
There was so much to love about that job: like Captain Jack Sparrow on the hunt for Davy Jones' Locker, it brought the opportunity to breathe in the fresher air of Australia's most far-flung locations and hunt for the ultimate hidden treasure of solitude.
There was one thing I just couldn't get used to, though. Coming from wide-laned, traffic-rare Adelaide to congested, poorly urban-planned Melbourne was a daunting experience. Throw in oversized 4x4 press cars and endless bottleneck traffic and I felt like a rat in a sewer pipe.
You can therefore imagine my excitement when Fiat Chrysler Australia announced they'd be bringing a baby Jeep to Australia.
So when 4X4 Australia editor Matt Raudonikis showed me photos of the new pint-sized Renegade, I begged for a long-termer. Trailhawk model only, of course – a Jeep that can't go off-road is no Jeep at all.
Fast-forward three years and I'm now the proud holder of the keys to a bright orange Jeep Renegade Trailhawk, which thanks to new Wheels staffer Cameron has already been dubbed Donald because it's orange, obnoxious and American.
On first impressions, there's a lot to like about the Renegade. I like its boxy design and rainbow colour palette, off-road ability in a segment that otherwise sticks to bitumen, and its stature – it's compact enough for city streets, but tall enough to still feel like you're sitting above other cars.
It's as if Jeep designers took the Patriot, procreated it with a Cherokee and threw in a bit of Wrangler DNA for fun.
But it's the design story of the Jeep Renegade that really caught my attention.
Styled in America and built in Italy, the Renegade is based on a similar body to the Fiat 500X, only cooler and less conceited. The designers at Jeep HQ in the US took the Renegade's core values of freedom, authenticity, adventure and passion, instilled them in their day-to-day life through snowboarding, paintballing and, of course, off-roading, then used that adrenaline-fuelled lifestyle to shape the Jeep. And it has certainly rubbed off.
On the local launch of the new car, Jeep designer Vince Galante told us that the team had hidden a bunch of 'Easter eggs' in the Renegade's design. There are said to be multiple hidden design cues drawn from the adventurous lifestyle of the designers, and more that hark back to Jeep's heritage.
No one has yet put an exact number on how many of these hidden motifs are to be found, but I love as Easter egg hunt so I've made it my mission to find them.
I've only found 11 so far, but given that I've only had the keys to The Donald for a week, I don't yet consider this a defeat.
The Jeep brand's iconic seven-slat grille is featured throughout the Renegade. First up, on the headlights and tail-lights.
The oversize rear-view mirror has a grille motif on either side.
Then there's the grille on the speakers.
The unusual X-shape on the tail-lights is a throwback to the X formed on US Army fuel cans during World War II.
The X also features inside the cupholders.
A silhouette of an old Willys Jeep on the lower edge of the windscreen, homage to the original Jeep used during the war.
Don't jump when you go to refuel… that's not a real spider behind the fuel cap.
There's a map of Moab, Utah in the storage compartment below the 4WD system controls; this is homage to the spot where Jeep holds its annual Easter Jeep Safari.
The redline area of the tacho is a splash-of-paint-like graphic. Apparently this pays homage to the design team's favourite team-bonding exercise, paintballing.
Above the infotainment screen is etched 'Since 1941', which is Jeep's way of reminding you how long it has been around.
This article was originally published in Wheels magazine September 2016.


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Santa Barbara Infrared (SBIR) & Labsphere Partner to Provide Unique, Fully-Calibrated / Integrated E-O Test Systems
Written by AZoMMar 31 2017
New COLOSUS™ family of fully-calibrated 0.3 to 14+ micron E-O test systems will be showcased at SPIE's Defense & Commercial Sensing (DCS), Anaheim, CA, April 11-13, 2017 in booths #601 and #800.
Santa Barbara Infrared, Inc. (SBIR - www.sbir.com), a leading manufacturer of advanced infrared (IR) and electro-optical (E-O) test hardware for aerospace and defense, has partnered with Labsphere, Inc. (www.labsphere.com) to provide an unparalleled family of E-O test systems. The COLOSUS™ systems, which include collimated optics, software, and uniform sources, are complete test solutions for optical characterization of sensors and cameras, offering both collimated and flood-mode test configurations. The two companies have merged their engineering expertise in hardware and software to offer turnkey, fully-calibrated solutions.
Integrating spheres, blackbodies, collimators, target wheels, system peripherals, and traceable calibration data are combined and controlled by the IRWindows4™ automated test software package to provide a single, easy-to-use testing method for each of the new systems in the product series. In addition to the COLOSUS family of standard product configurations, custom test solutions can be designed to achieve specific program requirements.
Labsphere's director of marketing for remote sensing, Chris Durell, says, "Due to our combined market and application knowledge, SBIR and Labsphere are ideally suited to bring an unprecedented solution, from the UV to LWIR, for sensor fusion and today's E-O system performance needs."
Our two companies have a reputation for creating world-class solutions for the toughest remote-sensing applications. The COLOSUS product line represents the next generation of fully-calibrated E-O test systems to meet these demands. Good decisions are based on good data and we are confident that the COLOSUS family will help our customers focus on troubleshooting their sensors, rather than their test hardware.
Fred King, SBIR's director of engineering
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With its HELIOS™ product line of sphere-based sources, Labsphere is a premier global provider of ground-based calibration systems for large, earth-observing satellites. The company also offers optical calibration solutions for remote sensing and terrestrial imaging systems.
Santa Barbara Infrared's blackbody sources, including the recently introduced
VANTABLACK®-S that features carbon nanotube technology, provide the industry's highest infrared emissivity, enabling unparalleled radiometric accuracy across the mid-wave and long-wave infrared bands. SBIR is the leading supplier of sophisticated, integrated, multi-function E-O test systems used by commercial, science, and military markets in laboratory, factory, depot, and field-test environments.
To see a demonstration of the new COLOSUS family of fully-calibrated, integrated E-O testing solutions, please visit Santa Barbara Infrared's booth #601 and/or Labsphere's booth #800 at SPIE's DCS Exhibition in Anaheim, CA, April 11 - 13, 2017.
For questions about SBIR or COLOSUS products, or to find your local SBIR representative, please contact Gabe Amparan at [email protected] or call +1-805-965-3669.
For more information on the Labsphere HELIOS product or COLOSUS solutions, please contact Labsphere customer service at +1-603-927-4266, [email protected], or your local Labsphere representative, who can be found at www.labsphere.com/about/locations.
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Home / Business & Money / Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Wants Tighter Controls Over Banking System In The Sub-region
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Wants Tighter Controls Over Banking System In The Sub-region
in Business & Money September 11, 2013 0
CASTRIES, St. Lucia CMC – The Eastern Caribbean Monetary Council is considering a proposed amalgamation of the banks in the sub-region in order to create more efficiency and stability within the financial system.
There are more than three dozen banks listed across the OECS region where individual countries hold responsibility for licensing banks in their respective territories.
But Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Sir Dwight Venner, is describing the situation as a "banking overload".
Sir Dwight said there exists a strong case for amalgamating banks across the Eastern Caribbean which has a population of just over half a million.
"Legally we have 40 banks in the OECS and that is to say that because each country licenses banks separately, the Bank of Nova Scotia for example which has seven branches in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union is regarded as seven banks, so we end up with 26 foreign banks and 14 local banks.
"For a population of 600,000 based on all the arithmetic these are too many banks," Sir Dwight said.
The Eastern Caribbean Monetary Council has examined the possibility of amalgamating banks across the Currency Union and there is consensus that steps must be taken to advance this initiative.
But the ECCB Governor advises that the amalgamation process must be undertaken carefully.
"Banks are not like supermarkets. If so, they could be closed down with impunity. Banks hold the deposits of citizens and therefore must be treated differently.
"There is also the payment system where cheques are exchanged not only within countries but between currencies and any unraveling of that system could be chaotic so one must proceed in a very measured way and that is what is taking place," he said.
The ECCB Governor warned that in order for the region's banking system to remain profitable and viable several banks must join forces.
Last month, the St. Kitts-based ECCB assumed control of two indigenous banks in Anguilla indicating that the move was designed to ensure the stability of the banking system in the entire Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
Sir Dwight confirmed that the operations of the Caribbean Commercial Bank (Anguilla) Limited (CCB) and the National Bank of Anguilla Limited (NBA) had been taken over and that the circumstances that led to the action include the fact that the economies of the ECCU are mainly dependent for their growth on the tourism and construction and that the global crisis has had a major impact on these sectors.
He said that growth in Anguilla "has virtually collapsed falling from an average of 15.8 percent between 2005 and 2007 to an average contraction of 5.5 percent for the period 2008- 2012".
He said also the banks have seen their non performing loans escalate to levels beyond the guidelines set by the Central Bank and this in turn has resulted in the banks not meeting their capital requirements.
The ECCB acts as a Central Bank for Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.
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text:
//
// ThreadRing.scala -- Scala benchmark ThreadRing
// Project OrcTests
//
// Copyright (c) 2018 The University of Texas at Austin. All rights reserved.
//
// Use and redistribution of this file is governed by the license terms in
// the LICENSE file found in the project's top-level directory and also found at
// URL: http://orc.csres.utexas.edu/license.shtml .
//

package orc.test.item.scalabenchmarks

import scala.concurrent.Channel

/*
Threadring
    * create 503 linked threads (named 1 to 503)
    * thread 503 should be linked to thread 1, forming an unbroken ring
    * pass a token to thread 1
    * pass the token from thread to thread N times
    * print the name of the last thread (1 to 503) to take the token

Description from
http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/u32q/benchmark.php?test=threadring&lang=all
*/

object ThreadRing extends BenchmarkApplication[Unit, Int] with ExpectedBenchmarkResult[Int] {
  import Util._

  // Lines: 7
  def threadRing(id: Int, m: Int, in: Channel[Int], next: Channel[Int]): Int = {
    val x = in.read
    if (m == x)
      id
    else {
      next.write(x + 1)
      threadRing(id, m, in, next)
    }
  }

  val N = 503

  // Lines: 14 (5)
  def threadRingRunner(p: Int) = {
    val ring = (0 until N).map(_ => new Channel[Int]()).toArray
    ring(0).write(0)

    val result = synchronized {
      var result: Option[Int] = None
      val threads = (0 until N).map(i => thread {
        result = Some(threadRing(i + 1, p, ring(i), ring((i + 1) % N)))
        synchronized {
          notify()
        }
      })

      while (result.isEmpty) {
        wait()
      }

      threads.foreach(_.terminate())

      result.get
    }

    println(result)

    result
  }

  def benchmark(ctx: Unit) = {
    threadRingRunner(BenchmarkConfig.problemSizeScaledInt(2000)) +
    threadRingRunner(BenchmarkConfig.problemSizeScaledInt(20000))
  }

  val name: String = "ThreadRing"

  def setup(): Unit = ()

  val size: Int = BenchmarkConfig.problemSizeScaledInt(2000) + BenchmarkConfig.problemSizeScaledInt(20000)

  val expectedMap: Map[Int, Int] = Map(
      1 -> (2001 % N + 20001 % N),
      10 -> (20001 % N + 200001 % N),
      100 -> (200001 % N + 2000001 % N),
      )
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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text:
NABARD sanctions Rs. 35 lakhs to IIT Mandi and EWOK Society to set up 3 Farmer Producer Organisations
By India Education Diary Bureau Admin Last updated Mar 2, 2020
Mandi: Indian Institute of Technology Mandi along with the Enabling Women of Kamand (EWOK) Society of IIT Mandi, have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD) on 22nd February 2020 for collaboration on setting up Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The MoA was signed by Dr. Venkata Krishnan, Dean Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT Mandi; Ms. Sandhya Menon, Secretary, EWOK Society; and Mr. Nilay Kapoor, Chief General Manager, NABARD.
Speaking about the collaboration, Dr. Venkata Krishnan, Dean Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT Mandi, said, "IIT Mandi is pleased to have this collaboration with NABARD. With the recent MoA signed, IIT Mandi and EWOK society will be able to connect and help the community at large in Himachal Pradesh".
Expressing his views on this collaboration, Mr. Nilay Kapoor, Chief General Manager, NABARD, said, "NABARD, Himachal Pradesh Regional Office is delighted to sanction three Farmer Producer Organizations to EWOK and IIT, Mandi. This marks a new beginning for collaboration with prestigious institutes like IIT, Mandi. The Regional Office proposes to sign a tri-partite agreement involving NABARD, EWOK and IIT, Mandi for developing farmer-friendly equipments. In addition, opportunities will be explored for collaboration in areas like Internet of Things in Agriculture, Watershed, Rural Mart etc. I am sure, our collaboration will go a long way in solving the problems of farmers of the State and achieving the dream of Doubling of Farmers' Income".
The MoA signed by the 3 organisations is a result of the brainstorming meetings held between December 2019 and February 2020 to identify the key areas related to farm and non-farm sectors in Himachal Pradesh. As a result, NABARD has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 35 lakhs to IIT Mandi and EWOK Society to promote and setup 3 Farmer Producer Organisations in a period of next 3 years. For this, the Institute and the Society will be involved in the following activities:
● To identify clusters for setting up the FPOs
● To create awareness among farmers
● To establish and register the FPOs
● To train the Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors of the FPOs
● To prepare the business development plan
● To organise capacity building programme
● To assist FPOs in raising credit/ bank loans
IIT Mandi and EWOK Society share a common vision of helping the society at large by exchanging knowledge and expertise. Apart from setting up the FPOs, other potential areas of collaboration in which the Institute will provide its expertise includes tourism, rural marts run by Self-Help Groups (SHGs), engineering solutions for farm-friendly equipments, research on the impact of climate change on agri incomes, among others.
Speaking about the role of EWOK Society, Ms. Sandhya Menon, Secretary, EWOK Society, said, "EWOK has been working with the women and family in the greater Kamand area in both farm and non-farm sectors to encourage women entrepreneurs at grass root level. In the farm related activities, along with IIT Mandi Medicinal Plant lab, some successful pilot programmes have been run for the past 2 years. The support from NABARD has come at the right time in order to scale up these programmes to ensure a sustainable model in income generation for farmers in the long run in this area. In the coming years, EWOK will play its role to form FPOs and guide in building out the FPO business activity and market linkages. Additionally, EWOK will continue to focus on skills development and increasing incomes of the women & families in the surrounding rural areas, especially through entrepreneurship".
Enabling Women of Kamand (EWOK) is an initiative of IIT Mandi Women's Center to help rural women set up small enterprises in 5 panchayats of Kamand, Kataula, Katindhi, Batheri and Navlaya in Mandi district by providing them guidance, training and information. With a vision to enable women of the Kamand area to grasp the opportunities provided and grow their skills for income generation, EWOK is trying to establish a model in which it evaluates the skills and aspirations of rural women based upon which a personalised plan can be prepared to groom their skill set. Since its inception, EWOK has supported 12 women entrepreneurs of the Kamand region. In 2019, EWOK got registered as a society.
An FPO is a group of farm producers, with members as shareholders in an organisation. It is a registered body which deals with business activities related to the farm produce and works for the benefit of the member producers. In April 2013, the Government of India issued a National Policy on the formation of FPOs. This policy encouraged the state governments to provide incentives, including credits for and support of the formation and ongoing operation of FPOs in various states. Through the formation of FPOs, farmers will have better collective strength for better access to quality input, technology, credit and better marketing access through economies of scale for better realisation of income. Recently, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) granted approval for 10,000 FPOs to be formed by 2024.
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text:
Q: Cross-validation on small dataset I have a very small dataset (n=42) and use simple bivariate linear regression to predict the target variable. As i understood from several posts on this webpage, in case of small datasets one should skip the train-split method and directly use the cross-validation, specifically LOOCV.
What i do not quite understand is how one gets model coefficient and intercept of the best fit? I am using the following script:
   loocv = model_selection.LeaveOneOut()
   lm=LinearRegression()
   predictions = cross_val_predict(lm, x, y, cv=loocv.get_n_splits(x))
   cross_val_score(lm,x,y,cv=loocv.get_n_splits(x)

A: Cross validation will give you an out-of-sample estimation for your prediction performance. For example you could use it to report your out of sample R2.
As pointed out by @user2974951 the coefficients are estimated on your complete dataset. I would recommend you use statsmodels for this task, which will give you a nice OLS summary.
Please note that you will have to check your ols model for statistical regression assumptions, because you want to use it for explanation (i.e. study coefficients). You need to do this no matter what R2 you achieved.
Please also note that with statsmodels you need to add the intercept manually.

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Home / NEWS / TECHNOLOGY / Wi-Fi Gets Simplified Version Numbers & Next Version is Wi-Fi 6 !!
Wi-Fi Gets Simplified Version Numbers & Next Version is Wi-Fi 6 !!
Do you know what is the latest version of Wi-Fi?
802.11ac is the current version but going forward that is all going to change. Wi-Fi Alliance, the group in charge for the shepherding Wi-Fi standards through various iterations is changing the naming convention to a simpler, more comprehensible standard - version numbers.
"To help users identify devices that provide the latest Wi-Fi experience, Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced simplified generational names that may appear in device names and product descriptions," the WiFi Alliance says."Wi-Fi devices supporting the latest generation of connectivity are based on the 802.11ax standard and are known as Wi-Fi 6 devices."
the Wi-Fi Alliance also expects manufacturers, operators and software developers to adopt these simple numerical indicators into their user interfaces, instead of classic lettered versions, as shown in the example screenshot.


Artificial intelligence (AI), the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience. Since the development of the digital computer in the 1940s, it has been demonstrated that computers can be programmed to carry out very complex tasks—as, for example, discovering proofs for mathematical theorems or playing chess—with great proficiency. Still, despite continuing advances in computer processing speed and memory capacity, there are as yet no programs that can match human flexibility over wider domains or in tasks requiring much everyday knowledge. On the other hand, some programs have attained the performance levels of human experts and professionals in performing certain specific tasks, so that artificial intelligence in this limited sense is found in applications as diverse as medical diagnosis, computer search engines, and voice or handwriting recognition.
All but the simplest human behaviour is ascribed to intelligence, while even the most complicated insect behaviour is never taken as an indication of intelligence. What is the difference? Consider the behaviour of the digger wasp, Sphex ichneumoneus. When the female wasp returns to her burrow with food, she first deposits it on the threshold, checks for intruders inside her burrow, and only then, if the coast is clear, carries her food inside. The real nature of the wasp's instinctual behaviour is revealed if the food is moved a few inches away from the entrance to her burrow while she is inside: on emerging, she will repeat the whole procedure as often as the food is displaced. Intelligence—conspicuously absent in the case of Sphex—must include the ability to adapt to new circumstances.
Psychologists generally do not characterize human intelligence by just one trait but by the combination of many diverse abilities. Research in AI has focused chiefly on the following components of intelligence: learning, reasoning, problem solving, perception, and using language.
There are a number of different forms of learning as applied to artificial intelligence. The simplest is learning by trial and error. For example, a simple computer program for solving mate-in-one chess problems might try moves at random until mate is found. The program might then store the solution with the position so that the next time the computer encountered the same position it would recall the solution. This simple memorizing of individual items and procedures—known as rote learning—is relatively easy to implement on a computer. More challenging is the problem of implementing what is called generalization. Generalization involves applying past experience to analogous new situations. For example, a program that learns the past tense of regular English verbs by rote will not be able to produce the past tense of a word such as jump unless it previously had been presented with jumped, whereas a program that is able to generalize can learn the "add ed" rule and so form the past tense of jump based on experience with similar verbs.
To reason is to draw inferences appropriate to the situation. Inferences are classified as either deductive or inductive. An example of the former is, "Fred must be in either the museum or the café. He is not in the café; therefore he is in the museum," and of the latter, "Previous accidents of this sort were caused by instrument failure; therefore this accident was caused by instrument failure." The most significant difference between these forms of reasoning is that in the deductive case the truth of the premises guarantees the truth of the conclusion, whereas in the inductive case the truth of the premise lends support to the conclusion without giving absolute assurance. Inductive reasoning is common in science, where data are collected and tentative models are developed to describe and predict future behaviour—until the appearance of anomalous data forces the model to be revised. Deductive reasoning is common in mathematics and logic, where elaborate structures of irrefutable theorems are built up from a small set of basic axioms and rules.
There has been considerable success in programming computers to draw inferences, especially deductive inferences. However, true reasoning involves more than just drawing inferences; it involves drawing inferences relevant to the solution of the particular task or situation. This is one of the hardest problems confronting AI.
In perception the environment is scanned by means of various sensory organs, real or artificial, and the scene is decomposed into separate objects in various spatial relationships. Analysis is complicated by the fact that an object may appear different depending on the angle from which it is viewed, the direction and intensity of illumination in the scene, and how much the object contrasts with the surrounding field.
At present, artificial perception is sufficiently well advanced to enable optical sensors to identify individuals, autonomous vehicles to drive at moderate speeds on the open road, and robots to roam through buildings collecting empty soda cans. One of the earliest systems to integrate perception and action was FREDDY, a stationary robot with a moving television eye and a pincer hand, constructed at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, during the period 1966–73 under the direction of Donald Michie. FREDDY was able to recognize a variety of objects and could be instructed to assemble simple artifacts, such as a toy car, from a random heap of components.
An important characteristic of full-fledged human languages—in contrast to birdcalls and traffic signs—is their productivity. A productive language can formulate an unlimited variety of sentences.
It is relatively easy to write computer programs that seem able, in severely restricted contexts, to respond fluently in a human language to questions and statements. Although none of these programs actually understands language, they may, in principle, reach the point where their command of a language is indistinguishable from that of a normal human. What, then, is involved in genuine understanding, if even a computer that uses language like a native human speaker is not acknowledged to understand? There is no universally agreed upon answer to this difficult question. According to one theory, whether or not one understands depends not only on one's behaviour but also on one's history: in order to be said to understand, one must have learned the language and have been trained to take one's place in the linguistic community by means of interaction with other language users.
AI research follows two distinct, and to some extent competing, methods, the symbolic (or "top-down") approach, and the connectionist (or "bottom-up") approach. The top-down approach seeks to replicate intelligence by analyzing cognition independent of the biological structure of the brain, in terms of the processing of symbols—whence the symbolic label. The bottom-up approach, on the other hand, involves creating artificial neural networks in imitation of the brain's structure—whence the connectionist label.
To illustrate the difference between these approaches, consider the task of building a system, equipped with an optical scanner, that recognizes the letters of the alphabet. A bottom-up approach typically involves training an artificial neural network by presenting letters to it one by one, gradually improving performance by "tuning" the network. (Tuning adjusts the responsiveness of different neural pathways to different stimuli.) In contrast, a top-down approach typically involves writing a computer program that compares each letter with geometric descriptions. Simply put, neural activities are the basis of the bottom-up approach, while symbolic descriptions are the basis of the top-down approach.
In The Fundamentals of Learning (1932), Edward Thorndike, a psychologist at Columbia University, New York City, first suggested that human learning consists of some unknown property of connections between neurons in the brain. In The Organization of Behavior (1949), Donald Hebb, a psychologist at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, suggested that learning specifically involves strengthening certain patterns of neural activity by increasing the probability (weight) of induced neuron firing between the associated connections. The notion of weighted connections is described in a later section, Connectionism.
In 1957 two vigorous advocates of symbolic AI—Allen Newell, a researcher at the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, and Herbert Simon, a psychologist and computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—summed up the top-down approach in what they called the physical symbol system hypothesis. This hypothesis states that processing structures of symbols is sufficient, in principle, to produce artificial intelligence in a digital computer and that, moreover, human intelligence is the result of the same type of symbolic manipulations.
During the 1950s and '60s the top-down and bottom-up approaches were pursued simultaneously, and both achieved noteworthy, if limited, results. During the 1970s, however, bottom-up AI was neglected, and it was not until the 1980s that this approach again became prominent. Nowadays both approaches are followed, and both are acknowledged as facing difficulties. Symbolic techniques work in simplified realms but typically break down when confronted with the real world; meanwhile, bottom-up researchers have been unable to replicate the nervous systems of even the simplest living things. Caenorhabditis elegans, a much-studied worm, has approximately 300 neurons whose pattern of interconnections is perfectly known. Yet connectionist models have failed to mimic even this worm. Evidently, the neurons of connectionist theory are gross oversimplifications of the real thing.
Employing the methods outlined above, AI research attempts to reach one of three goals: strong AI, applied AI, or cognitive simulation. Strong AI aims to build machines that think. (The term strong AI was introduced for this category of research in 1980 by the philosopher John Searle of the University of California at Berkeley.) The ultimate ambition of strong AI is to produce a machine whose overall intellectual ability is indistinguishable from that of a human being. As is described in the section Early milestones in AI, this goal generated great interest in the 1950s and '60s, but such optimism has given way to an appreciation of the extreme difficulties involved. To date, progress has been meagre. Some critics doubt whether research will produce even a system with the overall intellectual ability of an ant in the forseeable future. Indeed, some researchers working in AI's other two branches view strong AI as not worth pursuing.
Applied AI, also known as advanced information processing, aims to produce commercially viable "smart" systems—for example, "expert" medical diagnosis systems and stock-trading systems. Applied AI has enjoyed considerable success, as described in the section Expert systems.
In cognitive simulation, computers are used to test theories about how the human mind works—for example, theories about how people recognize faces or recall memories. Cognitive simulation is already a powerful tool in both neuroscience and cognitive psychology.
The earliest substantial work in the field of artificial intelligence was done in the mid-20th century by the British logician and computer pioneer Alan Mathison Turing. In 1935 Turing described an abstract computing machine consisting of a limitless memory and a scanner that moves back and forth through the memory, symbol by symbol, reading what it finds and writing further symbols. The actions of the scanner are dictated by a program of instructions that also is stored in the memory in the form of symbols. This is Turing's stored-program concept, and implicit in it is the possibility of the machine operating on, and so modifying or improving, its own program. Turing's conception is now known simply as the universal Turing machine. All modern computers are in essence universal Turing machines.
During World War II, Turing was a leading cryptanalyst at the Government Code and Cypher School in Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, England. Turing could not turn to the project of building a stored-program electronic computing machine until the cessation of hostilities in Europe in 1945. Nevertheless, during the war he gave considerable thought to the issue of machine intelligence. One of Turing's colleagues at Bletchley Park, Donald Michie (who later founded the Department of Machine Intelligence and Perception at the University of Edinburgh), later recalled that Turing often discussed how computers could learn from experience as well as solve new problems through the use of guiding principles—a process now known as heuristic problem solving.
Turing gave quite possibly the earliest public lecture (London, 1947) to mention computer intelligence, saying, "What we want is a machine that can learn from experience," and that the "possibility of letting the machine alter its own instructions provides the mechanism for this." In 1948 he introduced many of the central concepts of AI in a report entitled "Intelligent Machinery." However, Turing did not publish this paper, and many of his ideas were later reinvented by others. For instance, one of Turing's original ideas was to train a network of artificial neurons to perform specific tasks, an approach described in the section Connectionism.
At Bletchley Park, Turing illustrated his ideas on machine intelligence by reference to chess—a useful source of challenging and clearly defined problems against which proposed methods for problem solving could be tested. In principle, a chess-playing computer could play by searching exhaustively through all the available moves, but in practice this is impossible because it would involve examining an astronomically large number of moves. Heuristics are necessary to guide a narrower, more discriminative search. Although Turing experimented with designing chess programs, he had to content himself with theory in the absence of a computer to run his chess program. The first true AI programs had to await the arrival of stored-program electronic digital computers.
In 1945 Turing predicted that computers would one day play very good chess, and just over 50 years later, in 1997, Deep Blue, a chess computer built by the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), beat the reigning world champion, Garry Kasparov, in a six-game match. While Turing's prediction came true, his expectation that chess programming would contribute to the understanding of how human beings think did not. The huge improvement in computer chess since Turing's day is attributable to advances in computer engineering rather than advances in AI—Deep Blue's 256 parallel processors enabled it to examine 200 million possible moves per second and to look ahead as many as 14 turns of play. Many agree with Noam Chomsky, a linguist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who opined that a computer beating a grandmaster at chess is about as interesting as a bulldozer winning an Olympic weightlifting competition.
In 1950 Turing sidestepped the traditional debate concerning the definition of intelligence, introducing a practical test for computer intelligence that is now known simply as the Turing test. The Turing test involves three participants: a computer, a human interrogator, and a human foil. The interrogator attempts to determine, by asking questions of the other two participants, which is the computer. All communication is via keyboard and display screen. The interrogator may ask questions as penetrating and wide-ranging as he or she likes, and the computer is permitted to do everything possible to force a wrong identification. (For instance, the computer might answer, "No," in response to, "Are you a computer?" and might follow a request to multiply one large number by another with a long pause and an incorrect answer.) The foil must help the interrogator to make a correct identification. A number of different people play the roles of interrogator and foil, and, if a sufficient proportion of the interrogators are unable to distinguish the computer from the human being, then (according to proponents of Turing's test) the computer is considered an intelligent, thinking entity.
In 1991 the American philanthropist Hugh Loebner started the annual Loebner Prize competition, promising a $100,000 payout to the first computer to pass the Turing test and awarding $2,000 each year to the best effort. However, no AI program has come close to passing an undiluted Turing test.
The earliest successful AI program was written in 1951 by Christopher Strachey, later director of the Programming Research Group at the University of Oxford. Strachey's checkers (draughts) program ran on the Ferranti Mark I computer at the University of Manchester, England. By the summer of 1952 this program could play a complete game of checkers at a reasonable speed.
Information about the earliest successful demonstration of machine learning was published in 1952. Shopper, written by Anthony Oettinger at the University of Cambridge, ran on the EDSAC computer. Shopper's simulated world was a mall of eight shops. When instructed to purchase an item, Shopper would search for it, visiting shops at random until the item was found. While searching, Shopper would memorize a few of the items stocked in each shop visited (just as a human shopper might). The next time Shopper was sent out for the same item, or for some other item that it had already located, it would go to the right shop straight away. This simple form of learning, as is pointed out in the introductory section What is intelligence?, is called rote learning.
The first AI program to run in the United States also was a checkers program, written in 1952 by Arthur Samuel for the prototype of the IBM 701. Samuel took over the essentials of Strachey's checkers program and over a period of years considerably extended it. In 1955 he added features that enabled the program to learn from experience. Samuel included mechanisms for both rote learning and generalization, enhancements that eventually led to his program's winning one game against a former Connecticut checkers champion in 1962.
Samuel's checkers program was also notable for being one of the first efforts at evolutionary computing. (His program "evolved" by pitting a modified copy against the current best version of his program, with the winner becoming the new standard.) Evolutionary computing typically involves the use of some automatic method of generating and evaluating successive "generations" of a program, until a highly proficient solution evolves.
Holland joined the faculty at Michigan after graduation and over the next four decades directed much of the research into methods of automating evolutionary computing, a process now known by the term genetic algorithms. Systems implemented in Holland's laboratory included a chess program, models of single-cell biological organisms, and a classifier system for controlling a simulated gas-pipeline network. Genetic algorithms are no longer restricted to "academic" demonstrations, however; in one important practical application, a genetic algorithm cooperates with a witness to a crime in order to generate a portrait of the criminal.
The ability to reason logically is an important aspect of intelligence and has always been a major focus of AI research. An important landmark in this area was a theorem-proving program written in 1955–56 by Allen Newell and J. Clifford Shaw of the RAND Corporation and Herbert Simon of the Carnegie Mellon University. The Logic Theorist, as the program became known, was designed to prove theorems from Principia Mathematica (1910–13), a three-volume work by the British philosopher-mathematicians Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. In one instance, a proof devised by the program was more elegant than the proof given in the books.
Newell, Simon, and Shaw went on to write a more powerful program, the General Problem Solver, or GPS. The first version of GPS ran in 1957, and work continued on the project for about a decade. GPS could solve an impressive variety of puzzles using a trial and error approach. However, one criticism of GPS, and similar programs that lack any learning capability, is that the program's intelligence is entirely secondhand, coming from whatever information the programmer explicitly includes.
Two of the best-known early AI programs, Eliza and Parry, gave an eerie semblance of intelligent conversation. (Details of both were first published in 1966.) Eliza, written by Joseph Weizenbaum of MIT's AI Laboratory, simulated a human therapist. Parry, written by Stanford University psychiatrist Kenneth Colby, simulated a human paranoiac. Psychiatrists who were asked to decide whether they were communicating with Parry or a human paranoiac were often unable to tell. Nevertheless, neither Parry nor Eliza could reasonably be described as intelligent. Parry's contributions to the conversation were canned—constructed in advance by the programmer and stored away in the computer's memory. Eliza, too, relied on canned sentences and simple programming tricks.
In the course of their work on the Logic Theorist and GPS, Newell, Simon, and Shaw developed their Information Processing Language (IPL), a computer language tailored for AI programming. At the heart of IPL was a highly flexible data structure that they called a list. A list is simply an ordered sequence of items of data. Some or all of the items in a list may themselves be lists. This scheme leads to richly branching structures.
The logic programming language PROLOG (Programmation en Logique) was conceived by Alain Colmerauer at the University of Aix-Marseille, France, where the language was first implemented in 1973. PROLOG was further developed by the logician Robert Kowalski, a member of the AI group at the University of Edinburgh. This language makes use of a powerful theorem-proving technique known as resolution, invented in 1963 at the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois by the British logician Alan Robinson. PROLOG can determine whether or not a given statement follows logically from other given statements. For example, given the statements "All logicians are rational" and "Robinson is a logician," a PROLOG program responds in the affirmative to the query "Robinson is rational?" PROLOG is widely used for AI work, especially in Europe and Japan.
Researchers at the Institute for New Generation Computer Technology in Tokyo have used PROLOG as the basis for sophisticated logic programming languages. Known as fifth-generation languages, these are in use on nonnumerical parallel computers developed at the Institute.
To cope with the bewildering complexity of the real world, scientists often ignore less relevant details; for instance, physicists often ignore friction and elasticity in their models. In 1970 Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert of the MIT AI Laboratory proposed that likewise AI research should focus on developing programs capable of intelligent behaviour in simpler artificial environments known as microworlds. Much research has focused on the so-called blocks world, which consists of coloured blocks of various shapes and sizes arrayed on a flat surface.
An early success of the microworld approach was SHRDLU, written by Terry Winograd of MIT. (Details of the program were published in 1972.) SHRDLU controlled a robot arm that operated above a flat surface strewn with play blocks. Both the arm and the blocks were virtual. SHRDLU would respond to commands typed in natural English, such as "Will you please stack up both of the red blocks and either a green cube or a pyramid." The program could also answer questions about its own actions.Although SHRDLU was initially hailed as a major breakthrough, Winograd soon announced that the program was, in fact, a dead end. The techniques pioneered in the program proved unsuitable for application in wider, more interesting worlds. Moreover, the appearance that SHRDLU gave of understanding the blocks microworld, and English statements concerning it, was in fact an illusion. SHRDLU had no idea what a green block was.
Another product of the microworld approach was Shakey, a mobile robot developed at the Stanford Research Institute by Bertram Raphael, Nils Nilsson, and others during the period 1968–72. The robot occupied a specially built microworld consisting of walls, doorways, and a few simply shaped wooden blocks. Each wall had a carefully painted baseboard to enable the robot to "see" where the wall met the floor (a simplification of reality that is typical of the microworld approach). Shakey had about a dozen basic abilities, such as TURN, PUSH, and CLIMB-RAMP.
Critics pointed out the highly simplified nature of Shakey's environment and emphasized that, despite these simplifications, Shakey operated excruciatingly slowly; a series of actions that a human could plan out and execute in minutes took Shakey days.
The greatest success of the microworld approach is a type of program known as an expert system, described in the next section.


DHX Media – Vancouver is looking for an experienced BG Builds Supervisor to join our team!
The BG Builds Supervisor will be responsible for ensuring the technical and creative success of production backgrounds for our highly anticipated Peanuts content! An in-depth understanding of Photoshop and ToonBoom Harmony combined with several years of BG builds experience is required.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2019 at 11:27 am	and is filed under Jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


Briefly describe transition plan KWBA must replace its main antenna and transmitter in order to move it its new channel. See attached narrative for a more detailed explanation.
Arizona Sales Tax on Retuning of Existing Aux Transmitter and New Mask Filter.
Justification for New Transmitter Current Acrodyne transmitter is orphaned and no longer supported by the manufacturer. Parts are in very limited supply or not available. It cannot be re-tuned. Current transmitter has headroom. Station asking for 1 step-up.
Description Necessary conduit, wiring and fuse disconnects as quoted by electrical contractor.
Cost associated for 1 step from the required transmitter power to account for extra headroom station has in current transmitter.
Justification for New Transmission Line KWBA will use its current main facility as the interim facility. It will need new transmission line for the new top-mount antenna.
The road to the transmitter site must be improved in order for a new antenna and rigging equipment to be delivered. Also investigating helicopter option.
Professional Engineering review of proposed rigging plan as required by ANSI/ASEE A10.48 and ANSI/TIA 322 standards.
Explanation Project manager needed to manage all work at transmitter site required to transition to new channel (both the main and interim facilities). With the size of the current engineering staff, KWBA cannot spare personnel to ensure these tasks are completed.
GatesAir performed a site survey to access changes to facility as necessary to transition to new channel including, power and HVAC requirements, available transmitter room space and existing antenna and transmission line RF characteristics at new channel.
Time needed by Scripps corporate and KWBA employees to work on the transition to a new channel.
Transmitter Headroom Replication Step-up Information not provided.
Other Electrical Service: Necessary conduit, wiring and fuse disconnects as quoted by electrical contractor. Information not provided.
Arizona Sales Tax Information not provided.


"I am an avid animal lover, especially Donkeys and Mules, hence the name Hybrid Hollow. Having grown up in St. Louis County I knew by the age of ten that I would someday have a farm of my own. Around this time I was also given my first camera, a little Kodak 110. Somewhere along life's journey to become a farmer a passion for photography developed which allows me to capture the little things that give me pause and bring me joy. With a degree in Animal Science I have enjoyed the country life as a Hobby Farmer for over twenty years now. My photography reflects my everyday life and the simple pleasures that surround it. For anyone who enjoys animals, the outdoors, and the simple life…I hope my photos put a smile on your face and warm your heart."
Kim Carr's photography is a deep reflection of her life on the farm. Raised in St. Louis, Kim took an early interest in animals and rural life. Her work is based purely on passion for the art. Kim has lived on a small farm in mid-Missouri for twenty five years. Combining her love of animals, sustainable agriculture, country living and photography, you can see these passionate interests are woven together to create the beautiful photography of Kim Carr. Kim has a BS in Animal Science and went on to establish Hybrid Hollow Production in 2010. She is a Juried Member of Best of Missouri Hands.
Learn more about Photographer Kim Carr on her website.
"Sophia is a little Sicilian jenny who belongs to a friend of mine outside of Columbia, MO. She has two sons, Leonardo and Picalo. They are family pets but donkey's are often used as guardians in flocks of sheep or other small livestock. Some farmers use them as companion animals to keep young calves or other animals company. Donkeys come in three sizes. Miniature like Sophia, Standard which is pony size and Mammoth which is horse sized. I photographed Sophia with my pocket Fuji XP camera."
"Two Eggs and a Chick"
"Two Eggs and a Chick came about when I had this little baby hatch out on my farm. I love to show the baby animals off to my grandma who is now 99 years old. As a farmer, I collect eggs throughout the day. When I came into grab my camera I set the chick in the carton for safe keeping. The baby was just hatched so he wasn't sure what was going on. I thought it looked pretty cute in the carton so I took this photo which has become one of my most well known. There's always something new and exciting going on at the farm and I love being able to capture little moments like this with my camera. Shot with my pocket Fuji XP camera."
"Brutus is a big lovable Great Pyrenees, Golden Retriever mix. He is a protector and friend belonging to a family with a young son who calls Brutus his best buddy on the farm. I love capturing the heart and spirit of animals. Although they may not have words to say their eye's speak volumes. I photographed Brutus with my Canon Rebel."


A great office space is even better when it's a convenient commute from home. That's why we strategically chose our Weston, Florida location. Even if you're not a local, you can get here in minutes via I-595, I-75 and The Sawgrass Expressway. That makes it easy on you and on your clients and associates who come to visit.
IDEAS HAPPEN AT 3AM, SUCCESS DOESN'T KEEP STANDARD HOURS. DO YOU?
24/7/365 ACCESS! PAJAMAS ARE PROPER BUSINESS ATTIRE WHEN THE WORLD SLEEPS AND YOU STRIVE.
We all have missions. Ours is creating office space for yours.
One Size Does Not Fit All. BUT ONE BUSINESS ADDRESS ... YES!
Your business is a dynamic enterprise. It can grow, build, change shape, and point in new directions in the blink of an eye. At Lakeside Executive Suites, this is how we approach office space. We don't build boxes. We create workspaces that are as future-minded as the entrepreneurs who occupy them and that deliver the flexibility and technology required to operate on the cusp of tomorrow. Whether it's a full-time office space, or just a meeting room for the day, we offer a range of options and services designed to help you conduct business your way.
As the end of 2018 draws closer, our thoughts naturally turn to the holidays and giving. For businesses of any size, charitable giving has long been a way to end the year right. It's a great way to ease the tax burden, but best of all, it's a way to get involved with causes that mean something to you and to make a difference in lives of those less fortunate.
At Lakeside Executive Suites in Weston, FL, we have chosen a cause that is very dear to our hearts. Children's Harbor is a community organization dedicated to helping children in foster care, siblings, and teen mothers a place to belong and call home during some of the most trying times of their young lives.
They provide residential services and more, offering counseling, mentoring, and a way for siblings in care to stay together while issues such as abuse or neglect are being addressed.
They also offer residential maternity support for pregnant foster teens between the ages of 14 and 18 years, helping to break the cycle of abuse by helping them complete their education while addressing medical, psychological, and mental health issues that may impede their progress to independent living.
Of course, there is so much more that Children's Harbor does, but the point is that they are providing essential supports for vulnerable children as well as the people who need it most. During the holidays, it is especially important to ensure that the children in their care have the ability to delight in the season and smile with the joy it brings. This is something we feel should be their right and we are proud to count ourselves as part of the solution.
If you are a new business, you may not have thought a great deal about charitable giving and what it means to you.
Just as Children's Harbor has meaning to us, you can find a cause that pulls at your heartstrings. Heart and Stroke, cancer research, a local hospice, church group, humane society, homeless shelter, or mission are all great organizations you can consider.
Even if you don't have a lot to give in the way of cash, you could find ways to help that are hugely supportive that don't necessarily involve money. Help out by donating your time or business services to a local charity. Saving them money is just as valuable as giving it.
Don't get taken in by a scammer this holiday season. There are plenty of disreputable people out there ready to relieve you of your cash for a cause that is either shady or non-existent. Check national non-profit databases like Give.org or Charity Navigator to be sure your donations are not falling into the wrong hands.
Do you have a favorite charity? We'd love to hear about it! Drop by Lakeside Executive Suites in Weston anytime and find out more about how we can help.
What's the difference between a dedicated desk and coworking?
© 2019 - Lakeside Executive Suites. All rights reserved.


NCATS launched the Rare Diseases Registry Program (RaDaR) website to provide the rare diseases community with easily accessible guidance on how to set up and maintain high-quality registries. A registry is a collection of information about individuals, usually focused around a specific diagnosis or condition. The goal is to enable rare diseases patient organizations to better promote and support patient-focused research.
RaDaR will serve as a living website. NCATS staff will continue to expand the content to include additional instructions, best practices, testimonials and shared resources from the rare diseases community in a phased approach.
Using your registry to communicate and connect with researchers.
Identify patients who are interested in participating in research studies.
Describe the personal characteristics of participants in your registry.
Contact participants to inform them about new studies.
Discover trends and common needs of participants.
Improve scientific understanding of the disease.
Build the foundation for therapy development with your disease.
This website is an educational platform based on the NCATS Toolkit for Patient-Focused Therapy Development. You can find information and tools developed for and by patient groups in concert with their academic, government, industry and advocacy partners in order to create and maintain registries. Share your suggestions, resources, or tools today!


text:
Winning London is een Amerikaanse familiefilm uit 2001 van regisseur Craig Shapiro. Het scenario is van Karol Ann Hoeffner en de muziek van Brahm Wenger.

Verhaal

Amerikaanse tieners zijn geselecteerd voor een Model United Nations conferentie, waaraan groepen van over de gehele wereld meedoen. Elke groep vertegenwoordigt een lidstaat van de Verenigde Naties, maar niet het land waar de groep zelf vandaan komt. Ze krijgen allerlei opdrachten, die ze tot een goed einde moeten brengen. De twee meisjes Chloe en Riley reizen (samen met enkele andere tieners van hun school) naar Londen, waar ze hun dagen vullen met de stad te ontdekken en zich voor te bereiden. Maar zullen ze alles ook tot een goed einde kunnen brengen ondanks de liefdesfiascos die zich tussendoor afspelen? En ondertussen worden ze gesaboteerd en wordt de winst in gevaar gebracht.

Rolverdeling
 Mary-Kate Olsen - Chloe Lawrence
 Ashley Olsen - Riley Lawrence
 Brandon Tyler - Brian
 Jesse Spencer - James Browning
 Eric Jungmann - Dylan

Externe link

Familiefilm
Amerikaanse film
Film uit 2001
Komische film
Romantische film

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Macro sites deliver voice up to the cell edge, but data rates drop off quickly. The further a user moves away from the site center, the weaker the signal. Less signal means less bandwidth and lower data rates by far.
Users are unaware of cell-edges and expect high data rates 'at their location' From a network point of view, most users are near the edge of a cell most of the time. Thus, operators must improve cell-edge data rates to match users' expectations of a good, consistent experience 'at their location'.
Multiple cells can transmit data to a device at the same time Today, data is transmitted to a device from a single cell called the serving cell The Multiflow feature, a 3GPP release 11 work item, allows two cells to simultaneously transmit data to the same user. Thus the signal from a neighboring assisting cell helps the serving cell. Without Multiflow, it would interfere somewhat with the serving cell and so decrease the bandwidth.
Prerequisites Terminals can receive two flows from two base stations. The terminals must have a minimum of two receive antennas and interference-aware receiver chains to be able to spatially separate and successfully decode the flows.
Existing terminals work as before When a cell acts as a 'serving cell' for a first terminal and an 'assisting cell' for a second terminal, traffic for the first terminal is prioritized. This rule ensures that existing non Multiflow terminals perform as before.
Multiflow mostly benefits the cell-edge and also offloads highly loaded cells Users at the cell edge gain most from the Multiflow technology, since they are the most likely to receive transmissions from multiple cells with adequate signal quality. Furthermore unused capacity in neighbor cells is utilized to offload traffic from highly loaded cells, thus improving user experience.
Three quarters of all cells have free resources and can thus "help out" other cells When cells do not serve a user, their radio resources are idle. These cells can assist those cells that are serving Multiflow users. In today's networks, only a quarter of all cells are ever fully loaded; so three quarters of the cells can help out other cells.
Network loading conditions are dynamic The more uneven and dynamic the loading conditions, the greater the benefits of HSPA+ Multiflow.
This demonstration is using Nokia Siemens Networks' commercial Single RAN equipment (Flexi Multiradio Base Station and Multicontroller platform) and Qualcomm Prototype Multi-Flow Mobile Terminal. The demo is being shown at MWC 2012.
This post is by Maik Braun from our Mobile Broadband team.