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How to Play 90 Ball Bingo Online
Posted By: Nicole Smith Date: 02/04/2012 at 12:00 am Leave a comment
90 Ball Bingo is the favored bingo game all across Europe. Derived from the traditional North American version of 75 Ball Bingo, the European form uses more numbers, 1 through 90, on a more diversely designed ticket that allows for up to 3 winners per game, instead of the usual single winner in 75 Ball Bingo.
A 90 ball bingo ticket consists of a grid with 3 rows and 9 columns. Although there are 27 squares in all, only 15 of them will actually contain numbers. Each column of 3 is restricted to a range of specific numbers. The first column may contain numbers of 1-9, second column 10-19, then 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and finally 80-90 in the last column. Each row of 9 will contain 5 numbers in random squares along the grid.
In the front of the bingo hall, a large wire cage holds all of the balls, numbered 1-90. The cage spins and releases the balls one at a time. The Bingo Caller will take the ball that pops out, display it to the players in the hall and call out its number. The players use a dauber, a large highlighter style marker, to mark off the number if it appears on any of their tickets.
There are three ways to win at 90 Ball Bingo. The first player to mark off all 5 numbers on a single row is the "One Line" winner, and is awarded a small prize. The game continues from there and the first player to successfully mark off two rows of 5 numbers is the "Two Line" winner, and is awarded another small to medium sized prize. Again, the 90 ball bingo game continues and the player to mark off all 15 numbers in all three rows of their bingo ticket is said to have a "Full House", and thereby wins the largest prize of all. At this point the game is over. Players may purchase new tickets and prepare to play the next round of 90 ball bingo.
90 Ball Bingo is played in the exact same manner in an online bingo room, however, the software creates for a less interactive game. Players can choose to mark their own cards if they wish, but the Auto-Daub feature is generally preferred. All numbers are instantly marked as they are called, and winners are automatically declared. Even if a player choose to daub their own tickets and misses a few numbers, a winning ticket will still be declared regardless of its correct or incorrect markings. This allows the player to enjoy the bingo chat feature and not worry about missing out on a win, creating a more relaxed atmosphere for all players.
Tags: Bingo, Gambling Tips, Reviews
Categories: Learn How to Play
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Projects and Services | Center Services | Center Projects | Past Projects
PROJECTS AND SERVICES: CENTER PROJECTS: Case Studies on Universal Design
Most Popular Resources
Universal Design Principles
Projects and Services
North Carolina Focus
LidsOff Adds to Ergo Approach
Applica Consumer Products, Inc.
Applica, Inc.
5980 Miami Lakes Dr.
www.applicainc.com
LidsOff as a word document
TXT format
"A New Consumer Small Appliance Category"
On May 14, 2003, Applica announced it was ".creating a new consumer small appliance category with the launch of its new Black & Decker®* LidsOffT! Automatic Jar Opener". In fact, its interest in customers of all ages and abilities had begun years earlier.
Black & Decker Ergo Chopper
At the January, 2000 Housewares Show in Chicago, Applica introduced its Ergo line of small kitchen appliances-a handmixer, cordless can opener, electric knife, and food chopper. The products were designed to optimize handle configurations, handle angles, balance, weight, and functions and had been tested with consumers of all ages.
Black & Decker Gizmo Can Opener
In June, 2001, Applica introduced its GizmoT Can Opener. Cordless and designed to fit in the palm of the hand, the Gizmo was designed to operate over the sink, near the stove or on picnics and camping trips. It was also designed for hands-free operation - to automatically walk around the can and then automatically shut off.
In its press release for the Gizmo, Applica noted, ".those who suffer from arthritic or manual dexterity problems will appreciate the hands-free operation that relieves stress placed on the hand that is typically associated with more traditional can opening methods." (Applica, 6/05/01)
Stuart Naft, industrial design manager at Applica Consumer Products Inc., noted that "appliances should be designed to accommodate a range of limitations, including lack of mobility or reduced vision. As a result, manufacturers can appeal to a broad market."Controls should be easily read and understood, easy to turn, with larger knobs, and designs should communicate major functions, rather than secondary functions" (Jones, 2001).
In June, 1998, Windmere-Durable Holdings, Inc. acquired Black & Decker's Household Products division, tripling its size and making it the #1 US maker of toaster ovens, can openers, and steamers. The company changed its name to Applica, Inc. in May, 2000.
Applica Consumer Products operated the U.S. distribution, marketing, and sales for Applica Inc. A large part of Applica's business comes from small household appliances sold under the brand names of Black and Decker, Windemere, and Littermaid. Applica also markets small appliances and tools to the salon industry.
From Twistmaster to LidsOff
In 1998, Black & Decker approached Yale University with an offer to fund student design projects, based on B&D's internally generated ideas for new household products. In return, Yale would assign intellectual property rights for promising inventions to B&D. Yale University accepted the offer and encouraged student design teams to participate.
In 1999, a Yale student named Jen Davis chose the B&D design topic of an automatic jar opener. The completed "Twistmaster" worked well enough for her to submit the prototype device to the BF Goodrich Collegiate Inventors Competition and win.
LidsOff makes jar opening a one-hand operation The prototype was designed to be accessible to people of all dexterity and strength levels, and to work with a wide range of jar and lid sizes. The general population - especially women - constituted the primary market because of difficulty in opening jars, particularly lids on vacuumed sealed jars. Secondary markets included the elderly, people with physical disabilities and children. Black & Decker acquired ownership of the Twistmaster in late 1999.
Rehabilitation Engineering Center Provides a Market Research Boost
By the time LidsOff was released in 2003, Applica had already demonstrated its interest in customers of all ages and abilities with the release of its Ergo and Gizmo small kitchen appliances. During the same period, The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Transfer (T2RERC) at the University of Buffalo had followed Jen Davis's development of the Twistmaster.
Through the sponsorship of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, T2RERC's mission is to facilitate the introduction of new products and technologies into the marketplace benefiting persons with disabilities.
The T2RERC staff saw Davis's Twistmaster described in an announcement of the BF Goodrich Collegiate Inventors Competition Award winners in early 2000 and offered help to B&D in bringing the idea to market, or reach out to other manufacturers if B&D did not wish to pursue it internally. Black & Decker confirmed their interest in the prototype but had several reservations about its functionality and marketability.
Through market research that included analysis of potential competitive products and a panel of consumers with a variety of functional abilities, the T2RERC concluded that the device had substantial commercial potential, given its ability to open a variety of jars with little effort from users. There were no existing products that both gripped the jar and twisted the lid, and those features received an overwhelmingly positive response from consumer panels.
Jim Leahy, Project Manager of the T2RERC stated, "Applica Consumer Products, Inc. encouraged consumers to evaluate initial concept models and to identify both the functional and design features that the ideal automated jar opener should have from the consumer point of view. In effect, these consumers were performing a type of 'consumer engineering' that would ultimately lead to the finished product."
Continued Development by B&D
Black and Decker felt that the T2RERC's approach offered a new perspective to their own internal primary market research on need, identified price points and estimated purchase intent. In October 2000, Black & Decker announced their decision to establish an internal design and development team for the product. They started the design process from scratch rather than building off of existing prototypes, to avoid constraining the design team. Over the next several months, they mocked-up several different models, each representing a different approach to opening jars.
In October 2001, B&D sent their revised model back to the T2RERC for Beta focus group evaluation. The Beta groups each involved seventeen potential consumers, consisting of a mix of the general population, elders, and people with disabilities. This group evaluated three product models, each representing a different approach to incorporating the features and functions.
Black and Decker selected their final product version based on consumer feedback from the Beta focus groups. The production version received approval in the Spring 2002, and LidsOff was introduced the following year.
The Finished Product
Packaging foods in jars offers advantages of assured freshness and resealability. But the difficulties of opening them have forced consumers to resort to rubber grips, dish towels, running under hot water, using scissors or knives, and banging on the counter.
Black & Decker's LidsOff was designed to open a wide multitude of jar lids - from larger lids found on pickle jars to small baby food jar lids. LidsOff is about the size of a standard countertop coffee maker. It utilizes a motor driven gear system and a lid-engaging unit that adjusts to the height and diameter of the jar lid to break the vacuum seal on a jar and unscrew the jar lid. It accommodates most standard sized jars measuring from four-and-a-half inches in diameter to eight inches in height.
As David Arnott, Marketing Director for Black & Decker®'s Kitchen Brand noted, the design requires minimal effort to open jars for all consumers ".whether you're young or a bit older, struggling from hand ailments or just struggling to escape the otherwise monotonous task of opening jars..."
Strong Promotion and Customer Response
An integrated marketing communications program was established beginning the second quarter of 2003. This program included direct response print and television advertising, public relations and web site support.Shelf displays were created for retail support. The projected advertising cost was estimated at $1.5 million.
LidsOff was officially launched at the product show "Christmas in June" in New York City and went on sale through major retailers including Wal Mart and Target.The marketing program was successful enough that LidsOff was sold out well before Christmas, 2003. By January, 2004, the product was backordered by 50,000 units.
A Unique Application of Consumer Research, Design, and Education
Originally conceived as an aid to people with disabilities, LidsOff became a commercial product through determination that it would not only fulfill this role but also be useful and appealing to customers of all ages and abilities. Throughout the process, the B&D internal design team used the T2RERC as a complimentary resource rather than as a competing source of expertise and recognized the value of the RERC's consumer groups' input. Building on the success of the LidsOff collaboration , Applica and the T2RERC have begun working together on development of a digital toaster oven. The development of LidsOff, from Jen Davis's student project in 1998 to its commercial debut in 2003 illustrates a unique cooperation between design education, rehabilitation research, and commercial product design and manufacture.
Applica, Inc."APPLICA CONSUMER PRODUCTS, INC. INTRODUCES BLACK & DECKER®* LIDSOFFT! AUTOMATIC JAR OPENER".January 8, 2004. Available: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/applica/10799/
Applica, Inc."THE NEW * GIZMOT CORDLESS CAN OPENER ADDS VERSATILITY, PERSONALITY TO ANY KITCHEN". January 8, 2004.
Jones, Charmaine. "Designing for Baby Boomers and Beyond". Appliance Manufacturer Magazine.10/26/01. January 8, 2004. Available: http://www.appliancedesign.com/CDA/Archives/9dcac4ee3d938010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____
T2RERC (2003)."Hats off to the LidsOff". Assistive Technology Transfer Update: Vol. 5 Issue 1 (Spring).
© Copyright 2008 Center for Universal Design, College of Design, North Carolina State University

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: jQuery tooltip plugin not making tooltips I'm having no luck getting the tooltips to work on Firefox.  So I decided to give the jQuery tooltip plugin a try.  But it's not working for me.
The images are being inserted into html by user action.  The status variable holds the string and the section of html below  (div class="statusicons"...) is what it looks like in firebug after the insert and tooltip() function is run.  The tooltip() doesn't modify the html in any way.  However, I'm not getting the "tooltip() is not a function" so I have to assume the code plugin is found.

...
jQuery("#devinfo").jqGrid('setCell',id,'status',status);
$("#davo img[title]").tooltip();

A: Amended Answer:
Try this
Head section of your page as in  tags use a style sheet for your tooltip and set its display to none first.
Here is a small mockup based on what you have provided :

And now:
Since you are dynamically adding the images to the page in the code where you are adding the images to the page you will need to execute the following JQuery statement:
$(function(){$("#davo img[title]").tooltip();});

This way every time it will get binded whther the images exist upon document.ready or you force it on every time you add things in.
See this link also:
http://flowplayer.org/tools/demos/tooltip/index.html

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Part of HuffPost Environment. ©2020 Verizon Media. All rights reserved.
Vo Hung, Contributor
UN-Habitat Youth Advisor
The World Is Completely Urbanized
In 2008, the United Nations declared that the world passed an unprecedented, but silent, benchmark: for the first time in history, the world is more urban than it is rural. This event had been anticipated for some time and was subject to constant academic reference in support of an "urban age" thesis. This conceptualization has been used in support of "city growth" and to justify the dominance of the city -- simultaneously conceptualized as the urban -- over other geographies and settlement types. In more recent years, this topic has been revisited by critical urban theorist Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Contrary to popular beliefs, Brenner argues that the world has been completely urbanized and warns of the danger in fetishizing "cityness."
Brenner and his colleague, Christian Schmid, have already deconstructed the flawed methodologies deployed by United Nations demographers to quantify the global urban population in an earlier publication. These demographers rely on UN Member States to individually report data on its population, which vary greatly by country. Mexico and China could have different urban populations depending on which official methods were used. Meanwhile, in India, an urban area has to satisfy these requirements:
i. A minimum population of 5,000
ii. At least 75 percent of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits;
iii. A density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.
Not considering these practices, the natural inconsistency of UN Member States' reporting also raises questions over the accuracy of our urban age. UN reports could use data from Member States that can be nearly a decade old. If this is the case, what use does this narrative have in framing our decision-making at the local, state and global level, when the data is epistemologically and methodologically flawed in a way that makes international comparisons meaningless? Meanwhile, equating "urban" with "city" is problematic because it suggests that once a city's administrative boundary ends, the area is suddenly non-urban. This is only useful for planners to demarcate a line where services to a city's electricity, plumbing, water and the like become unavailable to developers wanting to build outside this border.
In his new piece titled "The Hinterland, Urbanised?", Brenner contends that the "capitalist form of urbanization continues to produce contextually specific patterns of agglomeration, but it also relentlessly transforms non-city spaces into zones of high-intensity, large-scale industrial infrastructure -- operational landscape." Because these landscapes lie outside our commonly perceived "urban" and beyond our immediate view in a conceptual "outside" or "blind field", it has subsequently evaded our attention and critical inspection. These sites range from deforested areas in Mato Grosso, Brazil, to phosphate mining pits in central Florida, to desert-agro-industrial infrastructures in Saudi Arabia. Brenner says "spaces of the non-city have been continuously operationalised in support of city-building processes throughout the global history of capitalist uneven development." These urban areas, which can be found throughout the world, even in "extreme territories", reflect a global or planetary urban phenomenon.
Image of a phosphate mining pit in Florida in 2011. USGS snapshot.
Brenner's investigation of contemporary urban conditions raises critical questions about the nature of our urban world from epistemological, pedagogical, and practical dimensions. If the entire world is urbanized in varying scales across the globe, how can planners and decision-makers respond to these changing geographies and develop comprehensive action plans? Surely the roles and responsibilities of managing these operational landscapes do not end with a city's administrative boundaries. Are state and national governments equipped with the professional knowledge and are in a position to ethically manage these sites?
The recent protests organized by the Sioux tribe to halt the construction of a $3.8 billion crude oil pipeline project in North Dakota clearly demonstrates the need for new forms of collaborative and participatory governance to curve the negative impacts of capitalist urbanization. The severity of the urban condition could be ascertained through taking a brief glance at the following map representing the various oil and gas pipelines in the United States. If complex and dense infrastructures are commonly associated with urban areas, wouldn't these expensive pipelines constitute those structures, too, and suggest large-scale "urban-ness"? This is just one of the many visualizations of our extensive urban framework--think about the effects when multiple layers of infrastructures and conditions, such as air pollution, are layered upon one another.
Image of gas transmission and hazardous liquid pipelines in the US. NPMS
It is clear that the world is more urban than commonly understood, or even completely in varying degrees. Decision-makers and planners must work in an open, democratic, and participatory manner to engage citizens in the development and management of these operational landscapes; otherwise, we will continue to allow "the silent violence of accumulation by dispossession and environmental destruction in the world's hinterlands and operational landscape." For aspiring planners (broadly defined) like myself, how can we re-imagine or fantasize about an alternate, more equitable and sustainable reality for these landscapes?
With the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) just around the corner, the urban--as more narrowly conceived by the global community--is entering the forefront of national and international agendas. The international community needs to leverage this opportunity to more critically examine our existing and emergent urban conditions in an effort to ameliorate the urban condition and honor the spirit and commitment of Agenda 2030, by "transforming our world".
City Cities Sustainability Population Growth Urban Planning


[Brussels, 12 October 2016] Gudrun Schyman is not only a Swedish feminist thought-leader but also the founder and spokesperson of the Feminist Initiative party in Sweden. Founded in 2005, the party - currently has elected seats in both the European Parliament and in 13 Swedish municipalities. During her trip to Brussels, EWL's Matilda Flemming interviewed her, as part of a European-wide study, conducted by the Feminist Initiative.
What's new in the European Commission in regards to parity in decision making?
[Brussels, 29 April 2015] It is now a well-known fact that women represent more than half of the population of the European Union, but they are not represented equally in decision-making at all European levels. This current and lingering under-representation is a serious obstacle to the democratic legitimacy of the EU.
[Brussels, 24 April 2015] As part of the European Women's Lobby (EWL) 50/50 campaign, we're evaluating the results of Finland's parliamentary election that took place on Sunday, April 19 and looking ahead to the General Election taking place in the United Kingdom May 7.
How many women candidates were elected to the Finnish Parliament? What does the scene look like for women candidates across the UK with campaign season in full swing and less than 2 weeks to go before Election Day?
And Poland will be holding presidential elections on 20 May.
The EWL continues to work with our members compiling and sharing concrete information on women's participation in national governments and encouraging discussion of the issue of gender equal representation.
Pushing towards parity in European national elections— Vote for #womeninpolitics 2015!
What is happening with regards to equal representation of women and men in the EU institutions?
[Brussels, 16 September 2014] Here you find some reactions of international newspapers to the new Composition of the European Commission. El Pais speaks about a conservative Junker "El conservador Juncker crea una Comisión Europea más política" Urbania says in Europe we prefer men as decision makers "L'Europe se conjuge au mascule" Emma states "Frauen in der EU-Kommission: #NotEnough"
[Brussels, 12 September 2014] The European Women's Lobby (EWL) welcomes the appointment of Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers & Gender Equality.
[Brussels, 5 September 2014] Today future European Commission (EC) President Juncker published the full list of commissioner-candidates.
The potential new European Commission: back to the future?
No thank you! Not my EU.
[Brussels, 28 August 2014] The composition of the new European Commission is going to be confirmed at the meeting of the EU Heads of States this weekend. Almost all Member States have however already proposed their candidates for Commisioner and at the moment only 4 women have been designated out of 28. This means that not even 15% of the Commission would be women, less than half as many as in the outgoing Commission Barroso.


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Nash Has Triumphant Return; A.I. Fizzles
Wednesday, February 21st 2007, 5:58 am
Two-time MVP Steve Nash was as sharp as usual in his return from injury while Allen Iverson showed some rust.
Nash, who had missed four and a half games with inflammation in his right shoulder, had 13 points and 12 assists in the Phoenix Suns' 115-90 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.
His performance was typical Nash, driving the lane and dishing off assists, and mixing it up by pulling up and hitting jumpers.
``On a personal level, it's nice to just be out there with your teammates, and as a group, it's a lot of fun to win after three straight losses,'' Nash said.
``It's maybe good for us that we suffered a little bit, and hopefully we can regroup here.''
Iverson scored only nine points in Denver's 95-80 loss to San Antonio. He had missed nine of the Nuggets' last 10 games before the All-Star break with a right ankle sprain.
``The shots that I took, I know I can hit with my eyes closed,'' said Iverson, who went 3-of-11 from the field. ``Maybe I should have closed them. I took 11 shots, and I thought I got 11 good looks.''
Iverson said his ankle bothered him on a couple of plays ``but for the most part I was all right.
``Usually when I come back from injury, I have my rhythm back. I didn't today,'' he said.
In other NBA games, it was: Washington 112, Minnesota 100; Charlotte 104, New Orleans 100; Detroit 84, Milwaukee 83; New York 100, Orlando 94; Chicago 106, Atlanta 81; Seattle 121, Memphis 105; Sacramento 104, Boston 101; and Portland 103, Utah 100.
In San Antonio, Tony Parker scored 17 points, Manu Ginobili added 14 and Tim Duncan had 12 as the Spurs played at home for the first time in three weeks.
After trailing for most of the first, the Spurs took a 25-21 lead into the second quarter. Parker helped them extend the lead scoring 10 of his points in the quarter. San Antonio led 49-38 at the break.
The Spurs broke the game open in the third quarter outscoring the Nuggets 30-10. Carmelo Anthony and Iverson were just a combined 1-for-10 in the quarter as Denver had nine turnovers.
In Los Angeles, Shawn Marion scored 31 points and had nine rebounds.
The slumping Clippers, who lost their fourth in a row, were led by Corey Maggette's 19 points and seven rebounds. Elton Brand, back after sitting out two games because of back spasms, had 17 points and five rebounds.
The Clippers were missing swing man Cuttino Mobley (left groin strain) and center Chris Kaman (flu-like symptoms).
Wizards 112, Timberwolves 100
At Washington, Gilbert Arenas scored 38 points to help the Wizards beat the Timberwolves.
Arenas, who has struggled with his jump shot all month, relied on layups and free throws for most of his points. He went 12-for-24 from the field and 13-for-15 from the line but made only 1 of 8 from 3-point range _ including an air ball _ and is 10-for-57 behind the arc over his last seven games.
Kevin Garnett led the Timberwolves with 26 points on 8-for-17 shooting and had 13 rebounds.
Bobcats 104, Hornets 100
At Charlotte, N.C., Raymond Felton had 21 points and 11 assists and outplayed Chris Paul in a matchup of second-year point guards.
Paul, a former college opponent of Felton, had 20 points and seven assists, but the Hornets lost for only the fourth time in 13 games.
Pistons 84, Bucks 83
At Milwaukee, Chauncey Billups scored 19 points to help the Pistons hold off the Bucks.
Detroit spoiled the return of Milwaukee star Michael Redd, who played for the first time since straining the patellar tendon in his left knee Jan. 5. Redd scored 17 in limited minutes for Milwaukee.
Knicks 100, Magic 94
At New York, Jamal Crawford and Eddy Curry each scored 20 points to lead New York to its 24th win, surpassing last season's total.
The victory moved the Knicks to within three games of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Dwight Howard led the Magic with 27 points and 14 rebounds.
Bulls 106, Hawks 81
At Chicago, Chris Duhon scored 17 points and the Bulls held the Hawks without a field goal in the third quarter.
It was the first time the Bulls held a team without a field goal in a quarter. Chicago's previous best was holding the Knicks to a single basket in a quarter in 1999.
Atlanta was outscored 28-8 in the third quarter and finished the period 0-for-16 from the field.
Salim Stoudamire gave the Hawks their first basket of the second half on a three-point play with 10:34 left in the game.
SuperSonics 121, Grizzlies 105
At Seattle, Rashard Lewis returned to his early season form, scoring 21 of his 34 points in the first half, and the SuperSonics won their third straight.
Lewis missed 22 games in late December, January and earlier this month with an injured shooting hand.
Mike Miller led the Grizzlies with 20 points and rookie Rudy Gay finished with 19.
Kings 104, Celtics 101
At Sacramento, Calif., Kevin Martin scored 22 points and Ron Artest added 18 and a key blocked shot as the Kings sent the Celtics to their 19th loss in 20 games.
The Kings managed just one field goal and five points in the final 9:37, but still held off the Celtics' late rally. Brad Miller scored Sacramento's final points on two free throws with 1:37 to play, and Artest blocked Al Jefferson's shot under the basket to thwart one of Boston's several attempts to get closer.
Paul Pierce scored 26 points and Delonte West had 23 before missing a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Trail Blazers 103, Jazz 100
At Portland, Ore., Brandon Roy scored 27 points to lead the Trail Blazers over the Jazz.
Zach Randolph added 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, who beat Utah for the first time in their last six tries.
Mehmet Okur had 25 points and eight rebounds to lead Utah, which saw its six-game win streak end. Okur had two chances to tie the game in the final 8 seconds, but missed both 3-pointers.
News On 6 Two-time MVP Steve Nash was as sharp as usual in his return from injury while Allen Iverson showed some rust.
Nash, who had missed four and a half games with inflammation in his right shoulder,


Releases on 26/07/2019. 93 Days left to Preorder!
Wolfenstein®: Youngblood™ is a brand-new co-op adventure from award-winning studio MachineGames, developers of the critically-acclaimed Wolfenstein® II: The New Colossus, in partnership with Arkane Studios® Lyon. Play as one of BJ Blazkowicz's twin daughters and undertake a do-or-die mission to find their missing father in 1980s Paris. Wield an arsenal of new weapons, gadgets, and power armor abilities in a fight to kick Nazis out of the city of lights.
Paris 1980. BJ Blazkowicz, hero of the second American Revolution, is missing. Nineteen years after the events of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, BJ has disappeared after a mission into Nazi-occupied Paris. Now, after years of training and guidance from their battle-hardened father, BJ's twin daughters Jess and Soph are forced into action. Team up with a new cast of freedom fighters and brave the unsettling sights and sounds of twisted, alternate reality 1980s Paris.
Team up with a friend or play alone with an AI companion in the first modern co-op Wolfenstein adventure. Perform new tag team maneuvers, crank up the voltage with the devastatingly powerful new co-op weapon, the Tesla Gun, and show off your flair with skins and emotes.
The wonder years, these are not. Featuring harrowing takes on iconic Parisian landmarks to graffiti-tagged streets, leather-clad Nazis, and an all-new soundtrack inspired by the synth heavy tones of classic 80s action films.
Wield the latest advancements in power armor tech, weaponry, and armor to stamp out Nazi scum. Level up, explore, and complete missions to unlock new abilities, weapon attachments, gadgets, cosmetics, and more to complement your playstyle.


text:
Q: How to delete all hidden .swp files from terminal How can I delete all .swp files? I tried rm *.swp but I got rm: *.swp: No such file or directory
rwxr-xr-x  16 teacher  staff    544 Jan 17 13:19 .
drwxr-xr-x  19 teacher  staff    646 Jan 16 12:48 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 teacher  staff  20480 Jan 17 09:48 .6-1-period-2.txt.swp
-rw-r--r--   1 teacher  staff  16384 Jan 17 09:05 .6-2-period-6.txt.swp
-rw-r--r--@  1 teacher  staff   6148 Jan 15 16:16 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r--   1 teacher  staff  12288 Jan 16 19:46 .grade8.txt.swp
-rw-r--r--   1 teacher  staff  11070 Jan 17 09:48 6-1-period-2.txt

A: What you wanted to do is
rm .*swp

The * does not match files starting with a . unless you turn on dotglob (assuming you are using bash):
$ ls -la
-rw-r--r--   1 terdon terdon        0 Jan 17 05:50 .foo.swp
$ ls *swp
ls: cannot access *swp: No such file or directory
$ shopt -s dotglob
$ ls *swp
.foo.swp

A: If you say: files are hidden, then they start with a dot (.), so try:
find . -type f -name ".*.swp" -exec rm -f {} \;

With this approach you're looking for all hidden files into the current directory and subdirectories. If you want delete the hidden files of just the current directory, a simple rm -f .*.swp works ok

A: Try using this
find . -type f -name "*.swp" -exec rm -f {} \;
-name "FILE-TO-FIND" : File pattern.
-exec rm -rf {} \; : Delete all files matched by file pattern.
-type f : Only match files and do not include directory names.


text:
Home NFC South Carolina Panthers Will The Panthers Return To The Playoffs?
Will The Panthers Return To The Playoffs?
3 reasons why the Panthers will make the playoffs in 2017, and 3 reasons why they won't.
By Erik Drew -
As the NFL enters its dead period between the end of mandatory mini camps and the start of training camp, the Panthers and their fans hope the team can rebound from a disappointing 6-10 season. Let's look at the best and worst-case scenarios for this season. Here are three reasons why the Panthers will make the playoffs, and three reasons why they won't.
Why the Carolina Panthers Will Make the Playoffs This Year:
Cam Newton returns to MVP form.
Just about every aspect of the 2016 Carolina Panthers was extremely disappointing. One of the biggest disappointments was the play of franchise quarterback Cam Newton, who was coming off a magical 2015 MVP winning season in which he led the 15-1 Panthers to their second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. Newton does not deserve all of the blame for his 2016 struggles. The offensive line provided little protection for the quarterback all season long, allowing Newton little time in the pocket and leading to him taking far too many hits. Newton does deserve some of the blame, however. Every statistical category for Newton regressed from 2015 to 2016, but none more than the difference in touchdowns. In 2015, Newton threw for 35 touchdowns and ran for 10 more. In 2016, he only had 19 passing and 5 rushing touchdowns.
If Cam Newton can return to his 2015 form, or anything close to it, the team's offense should flourish. With new rookie weapons Christian McCaffrey and Curtis Samuel, as well as additions to the offensive line, Newton has all he needs to improve on his underwhelming 2016 season and lead the Panthers to the playoffs.
James Bradberry takes the next step in his development.
No position was more of a disaster for the 2016 Carolina Panthers than cornerback, which sorely missed former All-Pro Josh Norman. Three rookies, James Bradberry, Daryl Worley, and Zack Sanchez all dealt with injuries and the typical rookie struggles last year. The most impressive of the three, and graded as the top rookie cornerback last year by Pro Football Focus, was James Bradberry. Bradberry looks like he has a floor of being a solid starting cornerback, but his potential can take him even further. If Bradberry takes the next step in his development and becomes the lockdown cornerback this team desperately needs, the Panthers will improve their pass defense enough to make the playoffs.
Christian McCaffrey is the real deal.
Run CMC landed in Carolina's lap with the eighth pick in the draft. While some felt this was a reach, labeling the explosive running back as a mere "scat back," others felt the versatility McCaffrey brings makes him more valuable than any ordinary running back. One thing is for sure… there will be lofty expectations on the Stanford alum.
If Christian McCaffrey can live up to his billing, and give the Panthers offense the spark they lacked last season, then this team could certainly make the playoffs. Offensive Coordinator Mike Shula is creative and innovative enough to get the most out of McCaffrey, drawing up plays that use him in the backfield, in the slot, or even out wide. Don't forget that McCaffrey was also one of the most electric returners in college football the past few years too. The versatility he brings gives him the potential to transform the Panthers offense. If McCaffrey can make a big enough impact this year to be in the running for offensive rookie of the year, then you can count on the Panthers making the playoffs.
Why the Carolina Panthers Will Miss the Playoffs Again:
The offensive rookies disappoint.
The expectations for Carolina's first two picks in April's Draft are lofty. Both running backs Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver/running back Curtis Samuel are expected to help take some of the load off of Cam Newton's shoulders for this offense. They are expected to inject this offense with the explosiveness and big plays that it lacked in 2016. Can they deliver on these expectations?
Neither player comes with any great size, so durability when it comes to taking hits from NFL defenders all season long is a valid concern. Don't expect McCaffrey to be running between the tackles on 3rd and 1 or Samuel to be going for a jump ball in the back corner of the end zone…they have Jonathan Stewart and Kelvin Benjamin for that. The idea will be to get the ball to both McCaffrey and Samuel in open space. If these two offensive rookies cannot live up to their billing as electric big play threats or if they are not durable enough to last a whole 16 game season without getting injured, then Cam Newton will once again have to do it all to make anything happen on offense. If that is the case, as we saw in 2016, don't get your hopes up for a playoff run.
The offensive line continues to struggle.
Last year, quarterback Cam Newton was forced to extend plays and take far too many big hits due to the poor play of the offensive line. Michael Oher suffered a concussion against the Vikings in the third game of the season, and it left the offensive line in disarray. Mike Remmers struggled to replace Oher at left tackle, while right tackle was just as much of a disaster. The season-long inconsistent play of Daryl Williams on the right side forced starting right guard Trai Turner to kick out to tackle, where he also struggled.
Michael Oher is still suffering from post-concussion syndrome with headaches, and he does not appear to be in the team's plans going forward. The Panthers signed former Vikings left tackle Matt Kalil, the fourth overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, to a hefty five-year $55.5 million deal that includes $25 million guaranteed. Kalil is expected to replace Oher at left tackle, two spots over from his older brother, veteran center Ryan Kalil. This was one of the riskiest signings in the league this offseason. The Panthers gave a massive contract to a player who has struggled with knee injuries and inconsistent play after making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. There is a reason Minnesota let their former fourth overall pick walk in free agency.
If the Matt Kalil signing turns out to be a bust, and the offensive line continues their struggles from 2016, then don't count on this team making the playoffs in 2017.
Lack of depth at linebacker.
The Carolina Panthers have one of the best trios of starting linebackers in the league with Thomas Davis, Luke Kuechly, and Shaq Thompson. These three are by far the strength of this defense, but the problem lies behind them on the depth chart. Ben Jacobs, David Mayo, Jeremy Cash, Jared Norris and undrafted rookie Ben Boulware (yes, the Clemson player that grabbed other players' butts) are all inexperienced. None of them have a single career start on their resume. Concussions have been an issue for Luke Kuechly over the past two seasons and this team cannot afford any injuries to their three star linebackers. The lack of depth at this position is worrisome. If Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, or Shaq Thompson miss any significant time to injury this season, you can likely kiss the playoffs goodbye.
Keep Pounding.
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Erik Drew
SOURCEFeatured Image: Tyler King
Curtis Samuel
Daryl Williams
Daryl Worley
James Bradberry
Jared Norris
Jeremy Cash
Kelvin Benjamin
Matt Kalil
Michael Oher
Ryan Kalil
Shaq Thompson
Thomas Davis
Trai Turner
Zack Sanchez
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So over the weekend I got to work with the always talented Vanessa Rees on a food feature for Laika Magazine which I'm dying for you all to see when the next issue comes out. During the recipe testing for the almond vegan cheese recipe in the feature, I ended up with this rouge half a container of a fancy vegan coconut yogurt and following our philosophy that no ingredient should be left behind – we obviously had to use it in another recipe.
This recipe is inspired by a perfect storm of happenstance… first, there was this photo of a pistachio crusted cheese log* that I stumbled across awhile back when looking for inspiration for what to do with a bunch of leftover nuts. Then there was the aforementioned coconut yogurt. There was a comment Vanessa made while we were eating the tester cheeses… that the ones made with the coconut yogurt were sweet like a dessert cheese**. Then there was Dan saying that he wanted to eat vegan cashew cheese for dessert after I told him about Vanessa's comment. So I made that happen. OK – So it's not some supernatural origin story but sometimes the best stuff comes from humble beginnings and not Krypton.
I'm super tired today so I admit this post lacks the usual tangents about TV shows, babies, travel, etc… but what it does offer is a DIY recipe for vegan cheese that anyone can make using some of the oldest tricks in the book that I hope you'll try out and use to make your own vegan cheeses… dessert or otherwise.
Drain and rinse your pre-soaked cashews. Line a 4 to 5″ mini springform pan*** with parchment paper. Leave the edges of the paper out to help you lift out your cheese round later. Toss all your ingredients except the agar agar and pistachios in your handy dandy food processor and blend until liquified. Pour your cheese mix into a saucepan.
Whisk in your agar agar while heating your cheese mix over a medium heat. Once your cheese begins to bubble and is thick remove from heat and pour into your lined pan. Gently fold the edges over the top and put in the fridge to chill overnight.
Right before serving, take your cheese out of the fridge, unsnap your springform pan and gently lift your cheese out while wrapped in the parchment paper.
Crush your pistachios in a food processor until you have small chunks – but don't turn it into dust. Pour your pistachios into a shallow dish. Unwrap your cheese. They should come out looking a lot like this.
Carefully coat your cheese round in the crushed pistachios by rolling it in your dish and using your hands to press the larger pieces in.
Serve at room temperature with slice of baguette bread or light crackers that would work with a sweet "dessert" cheese.
* "Cheese Log" – Really can we think of a more unappetizing description?
**Never heard of "Dessert Cheese?" It's cool we're all vegan or at least vegan friendly here and some of us have been out of the cheese game for a while now. According to Saveur Magazine dessert cheeses are "Soft, creamy and rich with a subtle tang to balance out the sweetness." You can can have sweetened cheese like cheesecake or mascarpone or you can pair a tangy or salty cheese with a sweet fruit so that they bring out the flavors in each other. We combined this sweet cheese coated in kinda savory nuts with tangy red grapes to make an sort of unconventional take on "Dessert Cheeses" but we also used coconut and cashew instead of milk so I guess once we jumped outside the box we kept going.
*** We also use these pans to make things like the mini pumpkin cheesecakes we serve on Thanksgiving.


Produce world-class, worldwide research. With 150 researchers, of whom 45 are appointed faculty, FSI houses a diverse group of research centers and programs dedicated to deep investigation of critical global issues.
FSI's director is Prof. Michael McFaul, the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies at Stanford and former US Ambassador to Russia.
FSI's first director was former Stanford President Richard Lyman. In 1991, Professor Walter P. Falcon was appointed director with Law Professor Thomas C. Heller as deputy director. In 1998, they were followed by David Holloway as director and Coit D. Blacker as deputy director. In 2003, Blacker succeeded Holloway as Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute. After Blacker stepped down as director in 2012, former Stanford President Gerhard Casper led FSI for one year. Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar was FSI's director from 2013-2015.
No, but it has active programs for training and teaching both graduate and undergraduate students. The Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy is housed under FSI though the degree is granted by Humanities and Sciences.
As a university research institute, FSI does not represent any political ideology.
Rather, it provides independent scholarship that is guided by disciplinary standards of academic excellence. Our scholars produce research that meets the requirements set by peer-reviewed journals, academic presses, and granting foundations, independent of partisan political or commercial interests.
It stands for the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education.
Since 1976, SPICE has served as a bridge between FSI and K–12 schools and community colleges by developing multidisciplinary curricular materials on international topics, conducting teacher professional development seminars, and teaching distance-learning courses.
The Rural Education Action Program (REAP) is an impact evaluation organization that aims to inform sound education, health and nutrition policy in China.
REAP's goal is to help students from vulnerable communities in China enhance their human capital and overcome obstacles to education so that they can escape poverty and better contribute to China's developing economy.


Babies sleep. A lot. Older children also need a lot of sleep. The trouble is, they don't always want it.
The 12 hours from 7pm to 7am should primarily be a time of quiet in our house. It is rarely so. OK, the kids do tend to be asleep not long after 8pm, but on some nights it's not an easy transition into the land of dreams.
Take Monday evening. Lucy decided to defy my requests to get ready for bed, ignore my pleas to come and clean her teeth and eventually went for outright defiance when I asked her to lie down in her bed. "No!" she exclaimed, sitting up in bed with the posture of a prize fighter. At this point I decided it was best for everyones sanity to leave her to her own devices for a while to see if she would cool off… at which point she went ballistic. There were tears and tantrums. For about half an hour.
Eventually, she decided to "be a good girl". I reciprocated by holding her hand as she lay in bed and singing her lullaby to her. Not long afterwards she fell asleep.
All was quiet then, until in the middle of the night, I heard her wake crying. I entered her room to find that she had fallen asleep with her sippy cup lying next to her but without having put the lid down properly. She was soaked.
We changed her clothes and bedding (thank goodness for zippable mattress covers) and after taking her to the loo settled her back into her bed.
With that, she reached out so her fingers could just feel my face. And finally, we both fell into a very sound sleep.
You have my sympathy. Our son is going through a phase of waking up with nightmares. When he gets in with us his elbows and knees are lethal!
Yes, sleep is so important. We don't usually get Lukas to sleep until nearly 9:00 PM because we come home from work so late. Thankfully, he still naps and sleeps until 7 most morings.
What a great picture! I love it. And such a sweet story too.
I wish humans didn't need to sleep. It would make so many things easier.
Its really nice post. both children are so sweet and yah sleep is so much important. Thanks a lot for sharing this.


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Daily Picks 12/25: Christmas Day NBA Picks
Our NBA expert picks his best bets for the Christmas Day NBA games
Wed, December 25, 9:28 AM
Christmas Day is loaded with five games and nearly 12 hours of NBA action!
Headlining Christmas is a showdown in Los Angeles between two of the best teams in the NBA - the Lakers and Clippers.
Milwaukee Bucks (+1.5) @ Philadelphia 76ers, 10:00 PM:
Milwaukee has a 21-11 W/L record against Philadelphia since 2010-11.
The 76ers have a (14-16-2 ATS) record this season which is the ninth worst in basketball. Stat courtesy of Statschecker.
Milwaukee (27-4) heads into Christmas Day with a five-game lead of first place in the Eastern Conference, and on a three-game winning streak after blowing out the Indiana Pacers 117-89.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was a force as usual totaling a near triple-double with 18 points, 19 rebounds and nine assists.
The Greek Freak is the frontrunner to repeat as NBA MVP averaging a double-double on the season with the second most points (31.0 ppg) and the sixth most rebounds (12.9 rpg) per game.
Philadelphia (22-10) picked up a second straight win after handling the Detroit Pistons on the road 125-109.
Former Piston Tobias Harris showed out in a big way against his ex-team scoring a game-high 35 points with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Ben Simmons also had himself a huge night totaling a triple-double with 16 points, 17 assists and 13 rebounds.
The Bucks have been listed as an underdog just once this season and won that matchup convincingly. As if they weren't normally a lot to handle, Milwaukee has been elite on the road with a (12-2) record. Roll with Milwaukee getting the points (+1.5) in Philly.
2u - Milwaukee Bucks (+1.5) @ -121
Los Angeles Clippers (-1.5) @ Los Angeles Lakers, 8:00 PM:
The Clippers have an 18-13-1 ATS record this season which is seventh best in the NBA.
The Lakers have an 11-18 ATS record at the Staples Center against the Clippers since 2012-13. Stat courtesy of Statschecker.
These teams opened the season facing each other in late October which resulted in the Clippers taking down the Lakers 112-102 without Paul George in the lineup.
Fast forward to Sunday, the Clippers (22-10) lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-112 without Kawhi Leonard in the lineup despite George making his return to OKC.
George had an underwhelming outing, scoring 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting with three assists and two steals.
The Lakers (24-6) have doubled the team's total losses over the last week courtesy of a three-game losing streak which continued on Sunday night, losing to the Denver Nuggets 128-104.
Without LeBron James, Los Angeles looked lost. Yet, Anthony Davis managed to still dominate as he usual does totaling a double-double with 32 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Both these teams should be at full strength with James and Leonard only missing time for "load-management" purposes. However, even if those two don't suit up, I'm going with the team I believe has the most depth and deepest bench beyond the superstars which is the Clippers. Take the Clippers to cover (-1.5).
1u - Los Angeles Clippers (-1.5) @ -110
New Orleans Pelicans (+10) @ Denver Nuggets, 9:30 PM
The Pelicans have a 9-6 ATS record in night games against the Bucks since 2015-16. Stat courtesy of Statschecker.
Denver (21-8) kept the wins coming on Monday night by picking up a seventh straight win after edging out the Phoenix Suns 113-111.
Nikola Jokic totaled his second triple-double in the last three games, scoring 22 points with 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Jamal Murray added a game-high 28 points on 12-of-19 shooting with seven assists and two steals.
New Orleans (8-23) have seemed to finally figure it out and won two of the last three games, defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 102-94.
Brandon Ingram and Derrick Favors both contributed double-doubles - Ingram scored 19 points with 11 rebounds, and Favors had 12 points with 13 rebounds. Jrue Holiday added a team-high 21 points with six rebounds and five assists.
Denver has struggled against the spread this season (13-14-2) which is the 13th worst in the NBA. Despite the Nuggets' success at home (13-3), I'm going with the Pelicans to keep this game within double digits (+10).
1u - New Orleans Pelicans (+10) @ -120
24/12/2019 Daily Picks 12/25: Christmas Day NBA Picks


We are looking for someone experienced and reliable to clean and prepare our used vehicles for deliveries and display. Must obtain a valid drivers license and be able to drive a manual transmission. This position requires a high attention to detail and a strong work ethic.


Planning your conditional access deployment is critical to make sure you achieve the required access strategy for apps and resources in your organization. You should spend most of your time during the planning phase of your deployment to design the various policies you require to grant or block access to your users under the conditions you choose. This document explains the steps you should take to implement secure and effective conditional access policies. Before you begin, make sure you understand how conditional access works and when you should use it.
Think of conditional access as a framework that allows you to control access to your organization's apps and resources, instead of a stand-alone feature. Consequently, some conditional access settings require additional features to be configured. For example, you can configure a policy that responds to a specific sign-in risk level. However, a policy that is based on a sign-in risk level requires Azure Active Directory identity protection to be enabled.
If additional features are required, you might also need to get related licenses. For example, while conditional access is Azure AD Premium P1 feature, identity protection requires an Azure AD Premium P2 license.
There are two types of conditional access policies: baseline and standard. A baseline policy is a predefined conditional access policy. The goal of these policies is to make sure that you have at least the baseline level of security enabled. Baseline policies. Baseline policies are available in all editions of Azure AD, and they provide only limited customization options. If a scenario requires more flexibility, disable the baseline policy, and implement your requirements in a custom standard policy.
In a standard conditional access policy, you can customize all settings to adjust the policy to your business requirements. Standard policies require an Azure AD Premium P1 license.
Azure Active Directory conditional access enables you to bring the protection of your cloud apps to a new level. In this new level, how you can access a cloud app is based on a dynamic policy evaluation instead of a static access configuration. With a conditional access policy, you define a response (do this) to an access condition (when this happens).
Helps you to outline the responses and conditions for each policy.
Results in a well-documented conditional access policy catalog for your organization.
You can use your catalog to assess whether your policy implementation reflects your organization's business requirements.
At a minimum, when this happens defines the principal (who) that attempts to access a cloud app (what). If necessary, you can also include how an access attempt is performed. In conditional access, the elements that define the who, what, and how are known as conditions. For more information, see What are conditions in Azure Active Directory conditional access?
With then do this, you define the response of your policy to an access condition. In your response, you either block or grant access with additional requirements, for example, multi-factor authentication (MFA). For a complete overview, see What are access controls in Azure Active Directory conditional access?
The combination of conditions with your access controls represents a conditional access policy.
For more information, see what's required to make a policy work.
While a descriptive name helps you to keep an overview of your conditional access implementation, the sequence number is helpful if you need to reference a policy in a conversation. For example, if you talk a fellow administrator on the phone, you can ask him to open policy EM063 to solve an issue.
ENABLE IN EMERGENCY at the beginning to make the name stand out among the other policies.
The name of disruption it should apply to.
An ordering sequence number to help the administrator to know in which order policies should be enabled.
When planning your conditional access policy solution, assess whether you need to create policies to achieve the following outcomes.
If you want to block access for all users, you should at least exclude one user (typically emergency access accounts) from the policy. For more information, see select users and groups.
To simplify the sign-in experience of your users, you might want to allow them to sign in to your cloud apps using a user name and a password. However, typically, there are at least some scenarios for which it is advisable to require a stronger form of account verification. With a conditional access policy, you can limit the requirement for MFA to certain scenarios.
From network locations, you don't trust.
Addressing the sign-in risk as condition is the preferred method because it gives you more customization options.
The user risk level is only available as user risk policy in identity protection.
For more information, see What is Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
The proliferation of supported devices to access your cloud resources helps to improve the productivity of your users. On the flip side, you probably don't want certain resources in your environment to be accessed by devices with an unknown protection level. For the affected resources, you should require that users can only access them using a managed device. For more information, see How to require managed devices for cloud app access with conditional access.
One of the first decisions you need to make for bring your own devices (BYOD) scenarios, is whether you need to manage the entire device or just the data on it. Your employees use mobile devices for both personal and work tasks. While making sure your employees can be productive, you also want to prevent data loss. With Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) conditional access, you can restrict access to your cloud apps to approved client apps that can protect your corporate data. For more information, see How to require approved client apps for cloud app access with conditional access.
Azure AD supports several of the most widely used authentication and authorization protocols including legacy authentication. How can you prevent apps using legacy authentication from accessing your tenant's resources? The recommendation is to just block them with a conditional access policy. If necessary, you allow only certain users and specific network locations to use apps that are based on legacy authentication. For more information, see How to block legacy authentication to Azure AD with conditional access.
Before rolling out a policy into production, you should test is to verify that it behaves as expected.
To test a policy, create a set of users that is similar to the users in your environment. Creating test users allows you to verify that your policies work as expected before you impact real users and potentially disrupt their access to apps and resources.
Some organizations have test tenants for this purpose. However, it can be difficult to recreate all conditions and apps in a test tenant to fully test the outcome of a policy.
The test plan is important to have a comparison between the expected results and the actual results. You should always have an expectation before testing something. The following table outlines example test cases. Adjust the scenarios and expected results based on how your CA policies are configured.
Managing conditional access policies is a manual task. In the Azure portal, you can manage your conditional access policies in one central location - the conditional access page. One entry point to the conditional access page is the Security section in the Active Directory navigation pane.
Become familiar with the user interface.
Get a first impression of how conditional access works.
While a simulated run gives you impression of the impact a conditional access policy has, it does not replace an actual test run.
Run test cases according to your test plan. In this step, you run through an end-to-end test of each policy for your test users to make sure each policy behaves correctly. Use the scenarios created above to execute each test.
It is important to make sure you test the exclusion criteria of a policy. For example, you may exclude a user or group from a policy that requires MFA. You should therefore test if the excluded users are prompted for MFA, because the combination of other policies might require MFA for those users.
Remove the assigned users and groups.
Provide internal change communication to end users.
Start with a small set of users and verify that the policy behaves as expected.
When you expand a policy to include more users, continue to exclude all administrators. Excluding administrators ensures that someone still has access to a policy if a change is required.
Apply a policy to all users only if it's required.
Disable the policy - Disabling a policy makes sure it doesn't apply when a user tries to sign in. You can always come back and enable the policy when you'd like to use it.
This option should be used sparingly, only in situations where the user is trusted. The user should be added back into the policy or group as soon as possible.
Delete the policy - If the policy is no longer required, delete it.
Check out Azure AD Conditional Access Documentation to get an overview of the available information.


About 1300 Peshmerga fighters have been deployed into contested areas of Diyala province, where they will operate in the heavily Kurdish areas of Jalawla, Saidiya, Qara Tappa, and Mandali. Due to increased security concerns, the Kurdish parliament recently voted to redeploy the soldiers even though Diyala is not one of the three provinces that belong to Iraqi Kurdistan. The Peshmerga, so far, have been able to work peacefully alongside Iraqi army troops. Meanwhile, at least 43 Iraqis were killed and eight were wounded across the country.
Lawmakers in Iraqi Kurdistan have decided to send Peshmerga fighters into a neighboring province of Iraq to secure the unstable region and act as negotiators with Iran over a brewing water crisis. Meanwhile, at least 16 Iraqis were killed and 22 more were wounded in ongoing violence elsewhere.
Light violence left two dead and seven wounded in Baquba. Also, the U.S. military announced that U.S. troops will cease daily joint operations with Peshmerga and Arab security forces in northern Iraq at the end of the month but will be on hand should any need for them arise.
Updated at 10:53 p.m. EDT, July 25, 2010 Security has been tightened ahead of Shi'ite religious holiday, but at least 15 Iraqis were killed and 36 more were wounded in unrelated violence. Meanwhile, a State of Law M.P. complained that the delay in forming the government has shaken the international community's trust in Iraq. Despite that fear, Iraq's political blocs postponed the parliamentary session by one day to pick a speaker, among other issues plaguing the new parliament. The government, however, was able to make a decision on changing Iraq's state logo and stamp. Mirroring parliament, the Iraqi Football Association has postponed board elections until further notice.
Updated at 9:29 p.m. EDT, July 6, 2010 At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 48 were wounded in attacks that focused on pilgrims traveling through Baghdad for an important Shi'ite observance. Reports were scarce from other regions of the country, perhaps due to tightening security ahead of the holiday. There were several other stories mostly regarding foreign relations, but even the plight of Iraqi widows made the headlines.
At least six Iraqis were killed and 46 more were wounded in attacks across the country, but rocket and mortar attacks that may have targeted U.S. Vice President Joe Biden left no casualties in the Green Zone. Meanwhile, Biden spoke with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani before wrapping up his trip to Iraq.
Updated at 7:07 p.m. EST, Feb. 11, 2010 Hundreds of former Blackwater security guards have until Sunday to leave Iraq in a clear act of retribution for the dismissal of a U.S. court case against the company. The Iraqi government, meanwhile, also complained about former PM Allawi's "dangerous" statements about civil war. At least three Iraqis were killed and eight were wounded in light violence, while a U.S. soldier died of injuries received in a non-combat incident.


text:
Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Hard and Soft (04/23/09)
TITLE: A Heart of Stone...A Heart of Flesh
By Lollie Hofer
Eleanor felt immediate concern when her husband walked into the church leadership meeting she was attending. She could tell by the sadness on his face that something was wrong.
"Your stepfather's in the hospital and they've called the family home," he said. "It's urgent you leave immediately, if you want to say good-bye." Eleanor was surprised at her willingness to go to San Diego.
The next day on the airplane, she was still pondering her reaction to her stepfather's illness.
"Are you going to San Diego for vacation?" the white-haired gentleman sitting next to Eleanor asked.
"No, actually I'm going home. My father..." she said then stopped as her voice faltered and tears began welling up.
Meeting her sister at the airport, Eleanor gave her a quick, wordless hug. She was afraid to say anything for fear of crying in public. Eleanor wasn't even sure if her stepfather was still alive, but didn't want to know until they were in the privacy of Annie's truck.
"Dad's real bad!" Annie said once they were settled in the truck. "It has everyone shook up, even Mom."
Eleanor's mother and stepfather had recently divorced, an ugly grudge match where they fought their battles publicly, trying to tear apart both family and friends.
Her mother and stepfather married when she was five years old. Up until then, she and her older sister had lived an idyllic life with their grandparents. After the wedding, they had moved from a loving home into the home of an alcoholic. They also moved across the country to a world which was foreign to them in Connecticut.
After a year of suffering from the stepfather's cold-hearted abuse, Eleanor, her mother and sister moved back home. Her mother already had experienced one miscarriage after a severe beating. Once her mother discovered she was pregnant with triplets, she felt the need to protect the babies from this man. Even then, the stress caused her to miscarriage Eleanor's half-brother. Fortunately, her two half-sisters were born healthy and safe.
"Hey, are you still here with me?" Annie asked when they got to the hospital. "You seem like you're miles away."
"Try years away," she replied. "I guess I got lost in the past somewhere, thinking about how things were when we were growing up. To be honest, I don't know why I'm here. Why do I even care?"
"Yeah, I've had those same thoughts!" Annie replied.
"I hated the day they kissed and made up. I use to dream up ways to torture him. But here I am, actually crying over this man. It doesn't make sense."
When Eleanor walked into the ICU, she was shocked to see the man lying on the bed. The once-upon-a-time fierce monster was now a frail, old man. He had gone on a drinking spree for several weeks causing his ulcers to bleed. His diabetes compounded the problem making it difficult for his body to heal itself. Some teenagers had found him roaming the streets late at night; he was completely incoherent and had a raging fever. His arms and legs were blackened by the effects of peritonitis.
Eleanor walked over to her stepfather's bed. At first, she hesitated to touch him since his arms were covered in bloody sores where his skin had burst open in its bloated, blackened condition. Finally, she touched his arm. "Daddy, it's me, Eleanor. I'm here." That was the first time she had ever called him "Daddy".
He opened his eyes, smiling at her. If Eleanor was confused about her emotions before, she was even more confused when she saw his smile. Although he was dying, his eyes held a twinkle in them and his face had a softening glow to it. And yet, what freaked her out more than anything was that smile. It was genuine!
Struggling to speak, he said only one word, "Jesus!" His eyes were already looking beyond her to another world.
A couple hours later Eleanor understood the transformation in her stepfather. A hospital chaplain had visited him earlier in the day. Knowing he was dying without a relationship with Jesus, the chaplain pulled no punches. That day her stepfather met his Savior, Jesus Christ.
With relief and understanding, Eleanor was happy she had listened to the tug on her own heart.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV)
Connie Dixon
Thank God for hospital chaplains and for the work of the Holy Spirit. This story is proof that God's love is more powerful than we can ever imagine. Good job!
Jae Blakney
You have a powerful concept carried through with a well-laid-out plot. There is a certain stiffness to the narration, though. Maybe instead of telling how Eleanor felt, you could show it by describing her gestures and physical feelings.
Mary Lou Cook
What a great description on hurt and forgiveness that a family went through. Good job!
You have the framework for a great story. However, this seemed to read more like an essay rather than a story. Show the character's emotions through action or dialogue rather than spelling it out. I'm glad this had a happy ending.
Joshua Janoski
Isn't it wonderful the change that takes place in our lives when we accept Christ into our heart? Good ending to what was an otherwise sad story that happens all to often in this world we live in.
Lollie Hofer
I recevied a couple PMs with folks asking if this was a true story. First, thanks for asking. It is a true story up to the point of my stepfather dying. (Including him saying, "Jesus.") The doctors gave him a 10-20% chance of surviving. After a six-month hospital stay, he lived another year and a half. (I guess I had the stepfather in the story die for a more dramatic effect.)
Genia Gilbert
This is a very real story! Thanks for sharing it, and reminding me that in Jesus a heart of stone can be changed.
Except possibly for the redemptive ending of this story, this could be the history of so many who read it. Great job with telling this tale, using a good range of emotions. Loren


text:
Q: Unexpected result from code of array_diff_assoc documentation Here is an example from PHP documentation about array_diff_assoc.

In this example you see the "a" => "green" pair is present in both arrays and thus it is not in the output from the function. Unlike this, the pair 0 => "red" is in the output because in the second argument "red" has key which is 1.
<?php
$array1 = array("a" => "green", "b" => "brown", "c" => "blue", "red");
$array2 = array("a" => "green", "yellow", "red");
$result = array_diff_assoc($array1, $array2);
print_r($result);
?>

The above example will output:
Array
(
    [b] => brown
    [c] => blue
    [0] => red
)

red is present in both arrays, but it is returned in the output of array_diff_assoc, why PHP think that red in $array1 and $array2 is different?

A: That is because in the first array the index of red is 0 and in the second array the index of red is 1 so they are different.
array_diff_assoc
From the docs:

Computes the difference of arrays with additional index check

Check the vardumps:
<?php

$array1 = array("a" => "green", "b" => "brown", "c" => "blue", "red");
$array2 = array("a" => "green", "yellow", "red");
var_dump($array1);
var_dump($array2);

Output:
array(4) {
  ["a"]=>
  string(5) "green"
  ["b"]=>
  string(5) "brown"
  ["c"]=>
  string(4) "blue"
  [0]=>
  string(3) "red"
}
array(3) {
  ["a"]=>
  string(5) "green"
  [0]=>
  string(6) "yellow"
  [1]=>
  string(3) "red"
}

A: The key for red in $array1 is 0:
$array1
( [a] => green [b] => brown [c] => blue [0] => red )
$array2
( [a] => green [0] => yellow [1] => red )


After the previous day of fervent sight-seeing, we decided to give our legs and our budgets a break with a day of casual exploration in the downtown wedge of Siem Reap. There we found affordable street food, and an abundance of fifty cent draft Angkor beer. One of our favorite cheap treats in Siem Reap was the chive cake. Chives are stuffed into a small patty of glutinous rice-flour and fried in shallow pans. They're then cut up and drowned in a delicious sweet-spicy fish sauce. A must-try if you're in Siem Reap.


"A troop of at least thirty cavaliers have broken through the main entrance. Signs of intense battle are everywhere from the lawn of the manor to the dungeon."
At Vine Manor, a knight under the Tricolor Iris Flower flag, Lord Seychelles, who wore a green striped armor, frowned while stroking the manor's iron-made main door that was warped from the impact.
The knights around him went searching for clues in the manor that has long since been empty of people for what little evidence they could find among the scattered corpses.
At that moment, they heard the thin-haired Lord Seychelles say gravely, "Both parties launched a massive battle. Up until at least half an hour ago, this Place was probably in chaos. Obviously, the Blood Clan lost the battle as all the dead bodies on the floor belong to the blood slaves. The number of dead bodies also matches the one reported by the fleet that transported them.
"Based on the wounds on the dead bodies, the other party used high-purity silver weapons. They came prepared.
"All the members of the Blood Clan's Corleone family have gone missing; either they were killed and their corpses carried away, were captured alive, or have escaped; maybe even all three. Whatever it is, we don't have to worry about the secret they harbor anymore; it has either fallen into the enemy's hands or disappeared without a trace."
However, both situations are far from good. Seychelles' heart sank and stroked his sparse hair with his right, iron-gloved hand.
Another voice came from behind him. "The only good news is that the duke wasn't planning to mobilize them anyway. That's why they don't know anything about our plans and movements."
The neat-looking Lord Cassain was another knight with a lordship. He stood up from beside the corpse of a blood slave and looked at Seychelles. "This is my fault, I will apologize to the duke later." The knight's expression was horrifyingly dark, but this noble knight did not shirk his responsibility. He spoke with solemnity and with misery, "I neglected the fact that I saw a large number of cavaliers during our journey; it seems clear now that they were the ones who attacked Vine Manor. If we had advanced at full speed then, we might have been able to stop them."
However, Seychelles did not think so. His intuition told him that these cavaliers that attacked Vine Manor were extremely suspicious. Even if they were able to stop the troops, it might not necessarily have ended well.
Even though both he and Cassain were supreme class Knights of Eradication.
However, Seychelles knew that it was not the time to make his good friend even more miserable. The neglect due to his carelessness had brought about this mistake, and this had caused him to be full of self-blame.
"There are two questions that are in urgent need to be solved." Seychelles glanced at the mottled manor wall and entered the house. "First, who were those people? Second, why were they here?"
Cassain entered the hall with his best friend. Although he could already smell the overwhelming stench of blood, when he saw the gruesome scene in the hall, he could not help but turn away.
Compared to Seychelles, who was once a mercenary in the Eastern Peninsula and lived every day by the tip of a knife, Cassain's origin was much better than his compatriot's. When the old duke conferred the title of a knight to him years ago, he was a first-rate Swordsman of Eradication who had just completed his training at the Tower of Eradication and was a young, ignorant brat who had a bright future ahead of him.
Ever since he became a Knight of Eradication, Cassain had not experienced a bloodbath greater than the tourneys in a very long time.
"If we immediately dispatch a unit to conduct a thorough investigation, we might be able to find some clues about these cavaliers." Cassain looked at the body on the table in disgust—it had been drained off all its blood—and spoke with a frown, "If they are members of a certain family, then the best camouflage would be to enter the manors of various nobles in the eastern town districts."
However, his compatriot, Seychelles, shook his head. He thought of the rabbits that roamed and scrambled around the prairies in the Eastern Peninsula. No matter how many clever traps the nomads of the Sele Tribe set up, the rabbits always found a way to survive.
The rabbits' only mortal enemies were the falcons who roamed the sky and could see everything happening on the ground at once.
Seychelles followed the trail of blood and walked towards the dungeon. He opened his mouth to argue. "We are already operating in a very flashy manner, and now you want to dispatch troops to search through all manors in the eastern town districts? Yeah, sure, we might be able to get some clues about those people, but that's only after we manage to offend all the people in the upper-class society in the entire Constellation because we searched their manors. Since we can't uncover their identities, we can only identify their motives."
Cassain picked up an Everlasting Lamp and covered his mouth and nose while inwardly cursing at these insatiable vampires. As he walked along the stone steps leading to the bloody dungeon, his voice became muffled and echoed between the dark walls.
"This Place was lent to Blood Bottle Gang as a temporary encampment to receive and hide the elites of the Corleone family. However, both Nikolay and Corleone are nowhere to be seen."
"We and the Corleone family are behind the Blood Bottle Gang. This is an open secret among us. However, the aiders in the Corleone family have always been our secret contacts. That's why, if they are discovered, it is highly likely that whoever discovers them would trace their connections and discover our plan too."
"All the families who are participating in "New Star" know about the plan to an extent, so it's not something to be worried about." Lord Seychelles did not feel any difference at all as he walked through the blood-saturated air. He calmly analyzed, "I have already sent someone to report this to the duke. Blood Bottle Gang's contact will also arrive soon. However, what secret is the Corleone family harboring, to the extent of provoking these people?"
Cassain held an Everlasting Lamp and tried hard to maintain his composure. He stopped at a pile of ruins in the dungeon and sized up the place, his gaze full of puzzlement.
It was obvious that these ruins used to be a prison cell. But right now, it was completely disfigured.
It was as though it went through terrifying destruction; the iron fences, chains and stone walls had been smashed into tiny pieces, debris scattered everywhere in the cramped prison cell.
It was as though someone had cut them into smithereens.
"The dungeon doubles as the Blood Clan's blood bank," Seychelles said coldly. "Looks like somebody didn't really like this place."
"Whether it was vampires or people from Blood Bottle Gang, or even intruders; why would they destroy the dungeon like this? To vent their frustrations?" Cassain asked, puzzled.
"The dungeon wasn't destroyed by them." Seychelles picked up small, black piece of mysterious material made of a stone that had weird patterns and words engraved on it. His face was somber. "This is a dungeon; I'm afraid that a dangerous person who was locked here had escaped. The cavaliers who barged in had probably 'cleared' this bloody manor by working together with this person. They coordinated by having one work from the inside while the other party worked from the outside."
If Thales were here, he would probably be clapping for and praising this balding knight because his guess was very close to the truth.
"This degree of destruction…" Cassain, who was frowning deeply looked at the degree of demolition in the dungeon and said in awe, "only supreme class elites are able to do it."
"No." Seychelles' gaze suddenly became extremely strange. He held the piece of mysterious, black, stone-like fragment and said, "According to this shape, I'm afraid that this piece of stone was part of a shackle. I suspect that the shackles were used to chain up that mysterious person."
The next moment, he flung the black stone into the air with his left hand. Seychelles' gaze sharpened as he drew his Cross Hand Guard Saber from his left waist.
The sharp and clear edge of the saber cut through the mysterious stone.
During that instant, all was silent.
A second later, invisible waves riding on the compression in the air swept through the narrow dungeon.
Huge, deep cracks were etched into the surrounding walls!
Behind him, Cassain nodded in admiration. This perfect swing was a balanced combination of precision, speed, and skill. The "Fortress Flower" was probably something like this.
The sound of the saber cutting through stone finally came.
The sound was crisp and sparks flew in all directions.
The strong wind brought about by the swing of the saber simultaneously blew around their ears.
The momentum of Seychelles' saber brought down plenty of debris from all four walls. As the strong wind blew, swirling clouds of dust filled the dungeon.
The Everlasting Lamp in Cassain's hand was extinguished by the strong wind in the blink of an eye.
Seychelles did not change his expression as he sheathed his saber.
Cassain covered his mouth and nose. Although he disliked the dust, he reignited his Everlasting Lamp and bent down to search among the debris.
As Cassain brought the mysterious black stone in front of Seychelles, both stared at each other. The two supreme class Knights of Eradication saw shock and fear in each other's eyes.
The black stone, which had been cut by a supreme slass elite's saber was resting on Cassain's hand, was completely intact without a single scratch.
They were silent for a long time until Cassain spoke with difficulty.
"Looks like I was wrong again. This degree of destruction—"
Cassain turned his head, his face greenish and pale. Looking at the shattered dungeon, his face was full of disbelief.
"Even supreme class elites can't achieve this!"
In a bedroom on the third floor of Mindis Hall, the mysterious person who was the topic of discussion of the two supreme class Knights in Vine Manor—Thales (who had recently escaped great calamity and wore clean, tidy clothes) sat awkwardly on the bed.
He stared absent-mindedly at the female official, who was forty-something years old but still attractive and had a beauty mole beside her mouth. She was reprimanding two other people.
"Is this the kingdom's heir that you people are looking after?"
"What His Majesty entrusted to you is his heir! Constellation's future! Not some gray monitor lizard you can just throw on an island and expect to survive!"
"With your manners, you people probably can't even take good care of a monitor lizard!"
The stately female official was growling in a dominating manner and reprimanding His Majesty's two most trusted followers—Count Gilbert Caso, and Protector Yodel Cato. The two of them lowered their heads obediently and accepted the rebuke.
"His everyday diet consists of only bread and beef? Do you people know that he's growing up right now? Have you people actually given him a bath? Don't tell me that scrubbing with clear water counts as bathing! Can't you see that all his wounds need delicate care? Bandages? What is this? Have you people taught him the correct way of putting on clothes? Don't use the lack of time as an excuse!
"What sort of beddings are you letting him use? These blankets and pillows are practically child killers! You people have the audacity to prohibit him from going outdoors? Do you know how important sunlight is for growth?!
"Safety? Don't look for an excuse! Didn't he get kidnapped right under your eyes when he was indoors? Place the vampire girl in a room at least a hundred meters away! What? There's no such room? Then go and dig one out now!
"From tomorrow onwards, apart from when offering protection and giving lessons, you both stay at least ten meters away from him! You useless men!"
After a while, when Jines finished her angry reprimanding, she chased the two "useless men" out of Thales' room ("Go and prepare everything on the list immediately!" -Jines). Then, she suddenly turned her head around.
It terrified Thales, who was on the bed drinking a glass of water and watching the whole thing. He scooted a half-meter back.
As he looked at Jines' stern eyes, the boy was reminded of the high school class teacher in his memories.
However, Jines only looked at Thales hesitantly and with a complicated gaze. In the end, she sighed delicately, then forced a smile and tried her best to speak gently.
"Don't be scared, Thales. You are safe now and will always be safe.
"In the one month you're staying in Mindis Hall, I will be wholly responsible for your everyday life."
Thales swallowed a mouthful of water and nodded. "Thank you, err—"
Jines continued her sentence softly. "I am Jines Bajkovic, a first-grade female official. I am your father's loyal friend, follower and… Erm, how do I put this…" Having said that, Jines paused, as if contemplating something.
But in the end, she raised her brow as if she had thought of what term to use. She spoke decisively, "… and his lover."
Thales could not hold it in and spat his mouthful of water onto the bed.
On a road not far away from Mindis Hall, Yodel manifested in the air and kneeled on one leg in front of a muscular figure.
"You should go inside and take a look." Yodel growled.
However, the muscular figure only remained silent.
It took a while before he spoke, "You're still the same as twelve years ago," the figure spoke slowly, "always doing ridiculous things."
Yodel knew that he was not referring to the incident in Vine Manor.
"But you sent Gilbert here." Yodel lowered his head slightly. "You are also hesitating."
The figure did not speak for a long time.
In the end, he raised his head and looked at the lights shining out of the room on the third floor. He then turned and left, flanked by a troop of elite bodyguards clad in silver armor.
Only the Mask Protector's lone form was left kneeling under the moonlight.


text:
Q: Shell script to retrieve node NAME from XML file I have a XML file like below, I am trying to retrieve the first child node name and store it in an array and use it for reading the attributes.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="config.xsl"?>
<cell name="servicesPrd">
    <env>Prod </env>
    <console>
        ...
    </console>
    <vhosts>
        ....
    </vhosts>
    <clusters>
        ....
    </clusters>
    <nodes>
        ....
    </nodes>
</cell>

I am looking to retrieve env, console, vhosts, cluster, nodes through shell script
BTW I am able to read the node attributes using xmllint which is working fine, currently hardcoded the nodenames to it.

A: xmlstarlet is generally useful for querying XML files:
$ xmlstarlet sel -t -m '/cell/*' -v 'name()' -n your.xml
env
console
vhosts
clusters
nodes

$ xmlstarlet el your.xml
cell
cell/env
cell/console
cell/vhosts
cell/clusters
cell/nodes


When a bathroom design exudes cleanliness, the overall feeling in the room is correct. Sydney Frameless Glass work to ensure that the frameless shower screens are not only stunningly designed but they are also functional.
Easy to clean and maintain shower screens can make what was once cramped feel open.


text:
SPARK Training and Employment Programs - COVID-19 Update
SPARK Training and Employment Programs – COVID-19 Update
By	Emma Sckrabei
Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation we have had to make the difficult decision to postpone all programs under the Ginninderry SPARK Training & Employment Initiative until further notice.
The SPARK team and program stakeholders will reassess the COVID-19 situation at the end of April 2020, in the hope that all programs can be delivered later in the year.
We sincerely appreciate the interest from all those who have been in contact with us and we look forward to welcoming new participants into the SPARK programs as soon as we can get back up and running. We will be in touch with a further update in early May 2020 via email.
In the meantime if you have any questions or concerns please contact Ashleigh Johnston from the SPARK team on T: 1800 316 900 M: 0450 626 221 E: ashleigh@ginninderry.com


text:
Conjure a sheep out of thin air
Rethinking Cognitive Computation: Turing and the Science of the Mind. by Andrew Wells
Palgrave Macmillan, 265 pp, ISBNs 1 4039 1161 4 and 1 4039 1162 2
Times Higher Education Supplement, Feb 2006, p 29
(This is the version submitted. It may have been edited before publication.)
Imagine that you wake from a dreamless sleep and find yourself in a cube-shaped room with nothing in it but a door marked "R". You have no memory of your life before this moment and no emotion. It occurs to you that the room would benefit from a sheep, so you say "sheep", and one appears. This scenario is one of Andrew Wells' descriptions of what it might be like to be a Turing machine.
In Rethinking Cognitive Computation, Wells revisits many of Turing's famous ideas on computation, using diagrams of what he calls "mini-minds" as a way of explaining the functions of finite automata. He argues that these ideas naturally lead to an ecological or situated approach to computation, although this aspect of Turing's work has rarely been appreciated. On this basis he criticises the major ways in which Turing's work has been applied to understanding human thinking.
The traditional computational theory of mind treats the human mind as functionally equivalent to a universal Turing machine. In some versions the brain is likened to the hardware and the mind to the software of such a machine, leading to the functionalist conclusion that psychology can be studied independently of neuroscience. More recently this has given way to approaches recognising that actual brains have evolved to solve real world problems. Then connectionist theories have explored the behaviour of simulated neural networks whose structure is thought to reflect the structure of actual brains.
Wells criticises all of these. The usual computational theory of mind, he argues, requires implausible input mechanisms and places an insupportable burden on the idea that the organism constructs internal representations of its environment. Computational psychology has, he says, wrongly taken its inspiration from von Neumann computers rather than from Turing machines. By contrast, connectionist models treat the mind as a finite automaton but fail to recognise the importance of structure in the environment. So Wells tries to redress this by examining Turing's theories in detail and demonstrating that a Turing machine is really a model of a mind interacting with symbol structures in its external environment, and that this leads naturally to an ecological perspective.
He then proposes his own new approach that he calls ecological functionalism. Ecological functionalism claims that brain structure and environmental structure are equally important for cognitive processes. It treats the mind as a finite automaton rather than a universal machine, and stresses that it interacts directly with its environment rather than with an internal symbolic representation of the environment, and there is no symbolic language of thought. This new approach has in common with previous computational theories the idea that thinking is a kind of computation, but it stresses that thinking is not a product of the brain alone, but rather of the whole organism situated in its environment. In the last part of the book Wells explores how this new approach might deal with behavioural flexibility, adaptive and goal-oriented behaviours, the use of language and symbols, development and learning.
Ecological functionalism is a welcome approach, and one that fits in important ways with developments in neuroscience and psychology, but Wells fails to place his new theory firmly within this context. He briefly discusses J.J. Gibson's well known ecological theory of perception, proposed in the 1960s, but does not consider the recent flurry of new theories that take a similar ecological or embodied approach. These include the theoretical work of psychologist Nicholas Humphrey, neuroscientist Francisco Varela, and philosophers such as Susan Hurley and Andy Clark, and there is also lots of recent empirical work inspired by these enactive or embodied theories of cognition. Perhaps the most extreme example is Alva Noë and Kevin O'Regan's "sensorimotor theory of vision" in which there are no internal representations at all and vision becomes a kind of action. Wells's book would have benefited greatly from some discussion of how his ecological functionalism relates to all these exciting developments in understanding action, perception and cognition.
I also wondered just who the book is aimed at. Wells expects his readers to do lots of increasingly complex exercises as they go along. I coped with the first few, struggled with some more, and then gave up, acknowledging that such tasks are not for the general reader or for me. Although Wells claims that the book is aimed at psychologists, I fear that much of it requires the skills of a competent student of maths or logic rather than psychology.
At some points I was deeply confused and was not always sure whether this was because of my shortcomings or his. For example, right at the beginning of the book Wells derides several descriptions of a Turing machine given by other authors, concluding that "Some are incomplete, some are simply wrong, others are misleading". One of these descriptions refers to the machine erasing and changing a symbol, but this, Wells claims, is wrong for "The machines in Turing's 1936 paper never erase a zero or one once it has been printed." (p 5). Yet later on he quotes directly from that very paper in which Turing says "in other configurations it erases the scanned symbol." (p 77).
These problems aside, Wells gives new insights into Turing's ideas, proposes new ways of thinking about computation, and his theory of ecological functionalism is relevant to any psychologist, neuroscientist or philosopher who is interested in the vexed question of whether the human mind can be understood as a computer.
Website maintained by Sue Blackmore. This page was created on 3 March 2006 and last modified on 30 May 2017 at 13:26.