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Nicole Cook
Posted by Debra E. Marvin May 14, 2019
THE PRINTED LETTER BOOKSHOP by Katherine Reay, Release Day #Interview, #Review and #Giveaway hosted by Nicole Cook
Nicole here, and I am delighted to have award-winning author Katherine Reay join us today at Inkwell Inspirations to discuss her newest release The Printed Letter Bookshop. Katherine, thank you so much for joining us today!
As an avid reader, I absolutely love the idea of a novel taking place in a bookshop, so right away I was very interested in reading The Printed Letter Bookshop. Author Lindsay Harrel's latest release The Secrets of Paper and Ink also takes place in a bookshop. Both books have similar themes of self-discovery and friendship, and the two of you recently did a live Facebook chat together about your bookshop books. Did you and Lindsay Harrel brainstorm ideas for your books together or discuss your storylines throughout the writing process?
Katherine: We never talked at all about our books. In fact, we didn't know until she read The Printed Letter Bookshop how many themes we both tackled and how similar our stories felt in many ways. It was such a fun revelation. And I loved the way it all unfolded as there was this newness and excitement about our discoveries and commonality in our FB live event. I had just finished reading The Secrets of Paper and Ink days before.
Nicole: The characters in The Printed Letter Bookshop range from a younger career woman (Madeline) to middle age women (Claire and Janet), and the elderly Maddie, who made a lasting impact in many people's lives during her own lifetime. The variety in characters will definitely appeal to a wide range of readers. Where did you get your inspiration for your characters, and did you base them off real-life and/or famous people? I always like hearing about if authors used specific photos or had specific people in mind as a basis for writing their character descriptions.
Katherine: No one came from real life, and yet they all came from real life — not a particular real life, just a glimpse into many lives. I loved the new turning point that Madeline faced and believe, for many women, that first real turning point can occur in the late twenties/ early thirties. At that time in life, a career shift might happen, a serious relationship begins or changes, or even just a clear understand of — as my kids say — "adulting" occurs. As for Claire and Janet, I loved playing with their stories. I loved exploring women my age wanting a "second chapter" and what that might mean for them and their families.
One of the inspirations for the entire story was the C.S. Lewis quote: For the present is the point at which time touches eternity. Each woman has to recognize how to examine the past and view the future in order to not dismiss — and completely miss — the beauty of the present.
Now… My favorite character in the story might the one who never appears on the page: Maddie Carter. She was inspired by Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. That book has always fascinated me. Rebecca is dead with no on page time at all, yet she dominates the story. I wanted to create a woman who influenced a story and lives beyond her own, but, unlike Rebecca, was light.
Nicole: What can you tell us about your 2020 release? I am already looking forward to it!
Katherine: I am returning to Winsome and I'm so excited about that. I have never returned to a town before — Well, I've returned to Chicago, but that's not the same thing — and I am eager to stretch the borders of the town to include another story. I think I have a desire to create another Mitford — not that is possible. But wouldn't it be fun to find such a wonderful town that welcomes you home once again? In my 2020 release — which has no title at the moment — Janet's daughter Alyssa returns home and works out life in her home town. I also have my first male lead with his one point-of-view in this novel. Very excited about that too. Curtis was great fun to develop.
Nicole: I read primarily Christian fiction and love discovering new authors. As a member of the Avid Readers of Christian Fiction Facebook group, I have found so many new-to-me authors and my to-be-read list is always growing. Who are some of your favorite authors?
Katherine: Ah that's a tough one because when you ask an author who are her favorites, you are actually asking Who are your friends? and I'll feel horrible if I leave anyone out. That said, Rachel Hauck can't write a bad story — she always writes a winner. Kristy Cambron writes lyrical historical prose. Sarah Ladd transports me into the past. Lindsay Harrell writes poignant contemporary — which I'm biased towards, of course. And… Goodness… too many to name. It's an exciting time right now with writers getting more daring and creative by the minute.
Nicole: Do you have any fun plans for this summer or anywhere exciting that you will be traveling?
Katherine: I am so glad you asked this question! I have something very special coming up this summer and it will work its way into future books. My elder daughter graduates high school next month and she and I are going on a trip together — just the two of us. We will travel for ten days and visit Budapest, Vienna and Prague. I can't wait. I am having so much fun with the research and know good stories will come from this — and getting to spend that kind of time with my daughter leaves me giddy.
Nicole: Katherine, thank you again for joining us today! This has been so fun chatting with you.
Katherine: Thank you so much for asking me here.
Katherine Reay is a national bestselling and award-winning author of several novels, including Dear Mr. Knightley and The Printed Letter Bookshop. She has enjoyed a lifelong affair with books and brings that love to her contemporary stories. Her first full-length nonfiction work will release in December 2019. Katherine holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University. She currently writes full time and lives outside Chicago, IL with her husband and three children. You can meet Katherine at www.katherinereay.com or on Facebook: KatherineReayBooks, Twitter: @katherine_reay and Instagram: @katherinereay.
Nicole's Review:
Katherine Reay's latest novel, The Printed Letter Bookshop, is the perfect book for avid readers everywhere. She takes readers into the cozy, family owned Printed Letter Bookshop where book lovers come to visit, find their favorite books and the employees actually know the customers by name and can recommend books that the customers will love. What avid reader doesn't love going to a cozy bookshop in real-life and getting to experience that joy? It's a true booklover's dream. Unfortunately, with the popularity of online shopping and e-books, many small, family owned bookshops are losing money and struggling to stay open.
This scenario plays out in The Printed Letter Bookshop when Madeline inherits the struggling bookshop from her late aunt Maddie and needs to modernize the bookshop to meet the needs of the customers in this digital world or else she will lose her beloved aunt's legacy. With help from the bookshop's employees, Janet and Claire, all three women work together to save the treasured bookshop and to find purpose and healing in their own lives.
This novel is a story of self-discovery, friendship, and forgiveness, and one that will appeal to a wide range of readers. The story is told through the different women's perspectives, which provides more insight into each character's background. Katherine Reay weaves many topics into the storyline that readers can relate to, such as infidelity, strained relationships with family members, and teenage rebellion. The Printed Letter Bookshop is highly recommended for readers of contemporary fiction, and especially those who loved Lindsay Harrel's The Secrets of Paper and Ink, which also takes place in a bookshop.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson and was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine.
BackCover Blurb:
Love, friendship, and family find a home at the Printed Letter Bookshop
One of Madeline Cullen's happiest childhood memories is of working with her Aunt Maddie in the quaint and cozy Printed Letter Bookshop. But by the time Madeline inherits the shop nearly twenty years later, family troubles and her own bitter losses have hardened Madeline's heart toward her once-treasured aunt—and the now struggling bookshop left in her care.
While Madeline intends to sell the shop as quickly as possible, the Printed Letter's two employees have other ideas. Reeling from a recent divorce, Janet finds sanctuary within the books and within the decadent window displays she creates. Claire, though quieter than the acerbic Janet, feels equally drawn to the daily rhythms of the shop and its loyal clientele, finding a renewed purpose within its walls.
When Madeline's professional life falls apart, and a handsome gardener upends all her preconceived notions, she questions her plans and her heart. Has she been too quick to dismiss her aunt's beloved shop? And even if she has, the women's best combined efforts may be too little, too late.
Available in digital ebook, paperback, audiobook and hardcover:
Buy The Printed Letter Bookshop at Amazon
Buy The Printed Letter Bookshop at Christianbook.com
Enter the giveaway for a paperback copy of The Printed Letter Bookshop:


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"The Police Have Kettled the March on Brooklyn Bridge"
Contributed by Richard Chilton
In an act widely reported on the Internet-based alternative media, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) made a tactical error with its premeditated theatre piece on October 1st in guiding Occupy Wall Street (OWS) demonstrators assembled in downtown Manhattan to first walk freely onto a roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge, and then corral or kettle them by the hundreds in a deliberate attempt to intimidate and cower the growing Movement.
Five demonstrators, "as Class Representatives on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated," allege the NYC police on October 1, 2011 to have:
1...engaged in an unconstitutional effort to disrupt and suppress the ability of the people to come together and advocate for social change using the time-honored methods of mass assembly and collective action.
2. ...(and) engaged in a premeditated, planned scripted and calculated effort to sweep the streets of protestors and disrupt a growing protest movement in New York.
The scripted play was first performed on September 23rd in Union Square Park; at that time, 80 OWS demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights - but without a permit to march - were arrested in much the same way as they were at the Brooklyn Bridge. Using the rational of "blocking vehicular and pedestrian traffic" the police used orange plastic netting first to herd the group and then, for the arrests, bound hands with plastic zip ties.
In as many as five instances pepper spray was used to disorient civilian participants.
Having been a longtime borough resident a quarter-century ago, I had participated in numerous demonstrations over the years where, as Jefferson Siegel of the local Manhattan newspaper The Villager reported on the OWS actions, "...the demonstrators were peaceful, more concerned with disseminating their message than with exhibiting defiance." [http://www.thevillager.com/villager_440/withnets.html]
But "without incidence" was this March not to be. Siegel quoted a member of the Granny Peace Brigade, Ann Shirazi, 66, who along with two other Seniors were among the 80 arrested. "Police were violently flinging people to the ground, grinding their faces into the pavement. They put their feet on people's heads. It was a shocking and terrifying scene."
Local reaction was swift to what was perceived as an overreaction by the police. Over the next week where scores of people had assembled now hundreds gathered. Even an otherwise skeptical New York Times reporter noted how historically, local police attempts to disperse crowds in New York City have been approached "with a style that emphasizes micromanagement and obsessive pre-emption."
[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/nyregion/for-police-another-protest-brings-another-overreaction.html?nl=nyregion&emc=ura3]
Such micromanagement and obsessive pre-emption by the police was clearly in evidence at the Brooklyn Bridge. While hundreds were being arrested the cry of "White Shirts! White Shirts!" was chanted by many, indicating the unusual, active presence of senior lieutenants, captains and inspectors who normally stand aside and direct the arresting process by "Blue Shirt" regular police officers.
[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/nyregion/nypds-white-shirts-take-on-enforcer-role.html?_r=1]
This unusual presence of "White Shirts" which has been evident since the very start of the OWS Movement on September 17th may indicate a reluctance of the rank and file "Blue Shirts" follow the order of their superiors and arrest American citizens who are in fact protesting the diminution of public employee unions, such as teachers, firemen and the police, in other states and cities.
With the Chief of Police Joseph J. Esposito himself leading the pre-emptive action of steering the marchers onto the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge, the resultant mass arrest had sanction at the highest level, which would have included both Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the latter who had conjectured upon the possibility of "riots" throughout the country due to unemployment and poverty in a radio commentary broadcast September 17th. "The public is not happy... The public knows there is something wrong in this country, and there is. The bottom line is that they're upset." [http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/09/17/Bloomberg-Jobless-poor-likely-to-riot/UPI-24121316270617/#ixzz1ZpEDHrgU]
So to forestall public discontent, the Mayor allowed longstanding tactical policies of the NYPD to be pursued unheeded.
Chaz Valenza wrote on OpEd News:
"Police lead protesters on to the Brooklyn Bridge Roadway and arrest them. Clearly entrapment according to those not arrested who took the walkway of the bridge."[http://www.opednews.com/articles/Occupy-Wall-Street-Day-14-by-Chaz-Valenza-110930-267.html?show=votes]
From Chicago, Marci Savage quoted references from dispatches originally published by the New York Times and other sources:
Over 500 were arrested yesterday when protestors attempted to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. Police had shut down traffic and appeared to be guiding protestors onto the bridge according to accounts from protestors and confirmed by law enforcement officials.
"Police Department highway cars escorted as many as 10 Department of Correction buses from Rikers Island to Lower Manhattan in preparation for what one law enforcement official said was "a planned move on the protesters." [http://www.examiner.com/civil-rights-in-chicago/occupy-wall-street-hundreds-led-onto-brooklyn-bridge-by-police-and-arrested]
The official said that the buses, which can carry roughly 20 prisoners each, were needed because of the expected large number of arrests and the need to transport those arrested to central booking."
Once protestors were a third of the way onto the bridge, officers rolled out orange barricades and started pulling protestors from the crowd one by one. There were no bullhorns. No warning to move off of the right of way and onto the sidewalks.
Police escorting protests on streets are not unusual. Several protests have been performed utilizing police escorts to cross large numbers of individuals from one location to another safely. Protestors initially thought this was what was occurring.
"The cops watched and did nothing, indeed, seemed to guide us on to the roadway," said Jesse A. Myerson, a media coordinator for Occupy Wall Street who was in the march but was not arrested.
An anonymous posting on Freakout Nation rephrased the same reportage, adding that "...the protesters remained peaceful as the police officers plucked them out one by one in a scripted effort to quiet this movement which is picking up in other states around the country." [http://freakoutnation.com/2011/10/01/protesters-arrested-on-brooklyn-bridge-appear-to-be-planned-ahead-of-time/]
This latter point was also spoken to by Pham Binh of the New York Independent: [http://www.indypendent.org/2011/10/02/tale-of-two-rallies/]
"Like in Egypt, every time they back down and let marches happen it bolsters the confidence of OWS; every time they clamp down, it infuriates people who are barely paying attention and support for OWS grows."
Of course the cops will claim the activists were "blocking traffic," but why let them march onto the bridge to begin with if that was really the concern? Most likely, this is a test to see how OWS reacts and how the public reacts.
And that is exactly the script the police are stumbling over.
Throughout the United States and much of the world, the police are held accountable under the colour of civilian authority of law to protect both life and property; this is a good thing, because civilian control, in theory, checks the propensity of an armed, paramilitary-trained force to overreact.
However, as fellow blogger Liandra Dahl points on this website (September 24th):
Police forces around the world are revealing themselves to be a fascist institution that will not uphold laws that protect people and their right to protest. They play pick and mix with which laws they uphold and unsurprisingly they uphold the laws that protect the rich and corporate America by keep revolution and dissent down. (italics added).
Part of the basis for the police upholding the laws of the rich and powerful over those who dissent is how they are trained in the first place. By definition, to be trained militarily is to become aware of the plausibility of using lethal force ("kill, or be killed"), which is to say for the police as well as the soldier: to suspect everyone in every situation one encounters as being a potential lethal assailant, and trust no one but your fellow officers.
How can the police be accepted by civilians "serving the community as 'protectors'" when one is trained (militarily speaking) to suspect everyone?
All of us, certainly in our adults lives, can see the (re)actions of the police in this light. I have faced down the barrel of a nine millimeter pistol where the officer holding the gun was more afraid in having to use it than I was in receiving its possible discharge.
Many police officers who enter the force do so because the hierarchy of command suits their need of self-control. There are many reasons for this, most of them dealing with the inability of culture to address the realities of multi-generational, unresolved trauma among individuals and families, a source of where the capacity for violence comes from in human beings.
When such unresolved trauma becomes institutionalized, as with armies and the police, micromanagement, obsessive pre-emption, and overreaction inevitably occurs. This is because these "styles" are the result of the human psyche's blockage from the unresolved trauma culturally built into the institutional response.
So it is that the police (and later military) attempts to contain and control the actualities of peaceful civilian protest across the planet are often turned around in favor of the dissidents because of the predictability of paramilitary-trained reaction and its institutional propensity to over-respond.
In contemplating the Wall Street actions, for example, OWS organizers deliberately chose Zucotti Park as a staging area because the legal status of utilization of publicly accessible, private space has been rarely tested in court.
[http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/legal-questions-arise-as-occupy-wall-street-protesters-occupy-zuccotti-park-owned-by-brookfield-office-properties] . [http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2011/10/3583314/anti-corporate-occupy-wall-street-demonstrators-semi-corporate-statu/]
This is the basis for the NYPD to have repeatedly said that no attempt was to be made by the Department to impede the OWS folks "occupying the space" at Zucotti Park itself.
When this public space was originally created in 1968 in downtown Manhattan it was in conjunction with construction of what was then-known as the U.S. Steel Building. The developers at the time had received a variance from the City for an extra 50,000 square footage of building space in exchange for creating a three-quarter acre park.
Irreparably damaged on September 11, 2001, the park's current owners, Brookdale Office Properties, spent $8 million in a creative renovation of then-named Liberty Plaza Park that introduced trees, flowerbeds, walkways and benches to the space. Brookdale renamed the space Zucotti Park for John Zucotti, in honor of Brookdale's Chairman and the New York City's former point man for private development of another downtown property originally city-owned (where piers used to be), the landfilled Battery Park City.
Between the Union Square and Brooklyn Bridge incidents Brookdale tried to change the rules governing Zucotti Park but OWS participants reacted creatively. In one instance, reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Brookfield posted rules against a range of behaviors such as laying tarps, sleeping bags and personal property on the ground.
Previously, the only rules posted in the park prohibited skateboarding, rollerblading and bicycling. Men in suits tried to pass out printed copies of the rules, but protesters refused and chanted "Don't take the papers". So they put stacks on benches and tables, prompting the protesters to accuse them of littering.
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204831304576593371443552888.html]
And that is how the theatre of dissent is being played out not only in downtown New York City but in scores of cities across the country and even internationally. As of this writing (October 3rd) there are 147 locales in 47 states and the District of Columbia (including Dr. Dodson's hometown of Wichita, Kansas), and 28 cities in 13 countries, including Canada, Mexico, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Slovena, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Australia and Japan where occupy actions are being organized.
So by following their own obsession with micromanaged pre-emption to break the back of dissent, the local police in over 150 locales now have an entire Occupy MOVEMENT to contend with, albeit just beginning.
While it remains to be seen whether or not Occupy will evolve into a worldwide phenomenon, it's obviously clear that the New York City Police blundered themselves into a much bigger frying pan than they ever expected. As New York journalist and activist Don Debar said during a broadcast interview on RT: "This has the potential in the environment of, where people are frightened and have no confidence in their structure, of becoming explosive." [Occupy Everything: 'US protests have explosive potential' - RT]
Debar was then asked about his reaction to the police response:
Well, the most important thing is what's going to be the impact it has...See, before, many of these people who are now hurting that were formally middle class or believe were middle class while they were spending borrowed money, are starting to feel the wrong end of the Billy Club, or see their kids with the wrong end of the Billy Club. And so what they saw before when minority kids were getting beating up on television as something alien to them, they're going to internalize it very quickly, and you're going to see a huge turnaround I think, in what the public's perception of where they stand in relation to the power structure as a direct consequence of the police beating people up who are making legitimate demands basically, for the right to live in security.
Morning Joe 7/17/19 - Joe and Mika discuss the big news of the day.
If Dan Coats Leaves, No Tears Goodbye - The director of national intelligence has turned a blind eye on torture, secret prisons and international off-the-books kidnappings.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Are you embarking on a new spiritual journey?
Have you been a spiritual seeker for awhile?
Do you ever find yourself feeling confused?
There is a ton of spiritual information out there, and let's face it, some of this information greatly contradicts each other. Some websites and teachers say one thing, others say something else. This can cause you to feel frustrated and overwhelmed at the most, and just plain confused at the least.
On todays show I will help you understand "why" there is so much contradiction when it comes to spiritual information, as well as, how you can learn to sort through all of this confusion while you grow and expand your spiritual knowledge bank.


Our Human Services Transformation team works to help transform how our Government and Public Services clients deliver their services to customers across a variety of channels such as walk-in, mail-in, call center, and self-service applications.
We deliver large, complex systems development and transformation projects to Human Service agencies at the federal, state, and local government level enabling us to collaborate with clients who serve those most in need. Budget constraints paired with increased demand for human services have challenged our clients to find efficiencies, do more with less, and rethink the way they deliver services.
Provides environment support for all environments (production and non-production) across tools WebSphere, Hyperion, Adobe Forms products, Finalist, Content Manager, MQSeries, WebSEAL, TAMe, TWS, DB2.
Manages the account request process for all environments. Monitors system security and investigates security incidents.
Develops and maintains WebSphere scripts (Java TCL - JACL or Java Python - Jython), AIX scripts (Korn shell & Perl), Build scripts (Ant).
Monitors system performance and capacity, batch processes, and external interface file transfers.
Maintains direct knowledge of all operations management and technical processes, procedures, quality standards, and status of service delivery for all operations-related activities. Proposes systems management process improvements and additions.


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Rewriting the Digital Marketing Playbook w/ Parry Malm
This is a podcast episode titled, Rewriting the Digital Marketing Playbook w/ Parry Malm. The summary for this episode is:
This week we're joined by Parry Malm, CEO of Phrasee. Phrasee is an AI powered SaaS platform that has changed the digital marketing landscape through brand language optimization. Parry lets us in on how Phrasee was able to extend awareness of COVID testing and vaccinations, and how he became interested in language and marketing. Tune in now for Parry's Uncaged Wisdom and a few pop culture references that'll brighten your day!

Phrasee Origins Story
Phrasee Helps Brands Say it Better
Cutting Out a Biased Task
Bringing Awareness to COVID Testing and Vaccination
The Shift in Language Being Used
The Balancing Act Between Man and Machine
Parry's Uncaged Wisdom
Parry Malm: It's like you can't believe everything influencers say on Instagram.
Kayla Siegmeier: Who knew?
Julian Bracey-Davis: When will we learn?
Kayla Siegmeier: Uncaged Wisdom, Cheetah Digital's podcast for modern marketing.
Julian Bracey-Davis: Hello, and thanks for tuning into another episode of Uncaged Wisdom, the podcast for modern marketers. I'm Julian Bracey- Davis. We like words. Words are good. If we can make words and sentences better in our communications, well, by gum, we'll try. Having the bestest words and sentences is also very important to the brands we work with, as they try to find the right things to say to individual consumers. With that in mind, on this special episode of Uncaged Wisdom, we are joined by Canada's best export since Rush and Keanu Reeves. Parry Malm is the CEO at Phrasee, an AI powered SaaS platform that revolutionizes customer experiences through brand language optimization. Parry will be telling us how Phrasee is rewriting the digital marketing playbook, one optimized word at a time. So let's see what he has to say.
Kayla Siegmeier: What is an ad piece that really influenced your desire to join marketing?
Parry Malm: So growing up on the mean streets of the suburbs of Vancouver in Canada, in the early nineties, you did a few things. Number one, you grew a mullet. Number two, you watched hockey. And number three, you knew everything about every wrestler to ever step into the square circle. And what really attracted me to wrestling was, first of all, the drama of it. It was storytelling, but nobody ever got hurt beyond the injuries that the sports entertainers get through the applying of their craft. One thing that always stuck with me though, is how every single wrestler who is successful, always had a catch phrase. And those catch phrases have stuck with me throughout the years. So, if you ever wonder what it smells like when The Rock is cooking. Or give me a hell yeah, and that's the bottom line because Stone Cold said so. Or even going back further, and old Curt Hennig saying," And that's perfect." These things just stick in your mind, and always sort of struck me that it's really impactful. And when you can get 20,000 people at the PNE Agrodome in east Vancouver, saying your catchphrase along with you, then you really got something there. And it really sort of showed me what the power, the limitless power of language can have.
Speaker 4: inaudible What The Rock is cooking.
Julian Bracey-Davis: The Moose had phrases as well.
Parry Malm: I mean, I was always parsing Bret, The Hitman, Hart, sharp shooter. Because once he locked it in, you were done. There's no coming back.
Julian Bracey-Davis: It's game over man, game over. How did you find yourself in Europe? What's the sort of origin story? I guess wrestlers have origin stories and inaudible but what's your particular one?
Parry Malm: I've always been a bit of an anglophile. My mum's English, half of my grandparents were English inaudible a boy growing up. And always, just back in the nineties, I'd always just want to go to England. I was always specifically London, right? I always had this thing about DM clash, the Sex Pistols, Blur, all those Seminole London bands. I'm like, I need to be a part of that. So I found out, right, that by virtue of my grandmother being English... Because my mom doesn't have an English passport, long story. My grandmother did. By virtue of her being English, I could get what they call a UK ancestry visa. So I got that and I said," Okay, I'm just going to move to London." So I wound up in London in August of 2006, I had about 1000 pounds to my name and two suitcases. And I just went there for two or three months just to experience life, and here I sit, 50 and a half years later and they haven't gotten rid of me yet.
Julian Bracey-Davis: Yeah. Were you in the ad world?
Parry Malm: So I started working brand site for a big multinational and did that for a few years, which was the full gamut of marketing stuff, both from agency management, all the different channels, stuff like that. It was cool. And then it was cool until it wasn't. So then I wound up joining one of our vendors who was a marketing technology provider, and wound up working there for three and a half years in order to run the customer success function, which was cool. Had a great time doing that. And then I left there because I had spent three and a half years there and I was just like, I don't want to have a boss anymore. And then I joined Phrasee. Well, I didn't join Phrasee, I kind of invented Phrasee.
Julian Bracey-Davis: What was the Phrasee moment where you were like, actually, there's an idea here.
Parry Malm: When I was doing marketing brand side, I would send out millions of emails to millions of people, right? And I would test out all sorts of subject lines and one of them would work and one of them wouldn't, and I'd always go, why does this one work? And I'd try my damnedest to build some sort of predictive equation to do something with that, but I could never get it right. It was much more of a complex problem than I could work out. I can work out most problems, so it was quite flummoxing. So then when I joined the MarTech company, they were operating in the email space. I talked to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of customers throughout the world. And the number one question that they would always ask me is," What makes a subject line good?" My answer was always just, try out a bunch of stuff and one of them might work. And that always felt really intellectually incurious to me, right? And I didn't have a better answer. So I got bored one day and I go out talking to one of our Devs and I'm like," Hey, could you download me the 50, 000 most recent subject lines our customers have sent out with their open rates and click rates and unsubscribed rates and stuff? Just so I can have a bit of a play with it." So then I was looking through the data and I built this little thing in Excel where you put in a keyword and then it would spit out the impact that keyword had on open rates, click rates, stuff like that. I'm like, oh, it's cool and it's neat. So I thought of a bunch of words and I tested them out, and then I put them into a white paper type thing and wrote a blog about it. And I clicked post on the blog and I went home that night. I got into work the next morning and our head of sales called me up and he's like," You just made my life a living hell." And I'm like," Oh, what's going on, man? What's the crack?" So every time somebody downloaded that white paper, it created a lead in Salesforce, our CRM system, which would then ping him a notification going, somebody just downloaded this thing. And there was 10, 000 of them overnight, so his inbox just basically exploded, right? And it was all from people who were just interested in learning more about the language you should use in subject lines. And that's when I thought to myself, there's clearly demand for something here. I did a quick scour of the market and there was just nothing tradable out there.
Julian Bracey-Davis: Other than your just natural curiosity, did you have a sort of, even at school, a background in writing different things or just being curious of the phrases?
Parry Malm: Look, my mom was a languages teacher and my dad was a physicist/ engineer who took an AI product to market in the nineties. So I guess I'm my parent's son.
Speaker 6: I'd call that a big, yes.
Julian Bracey-Davis: So Parry, with all that in mind, how would you sum up your company?
Parry Malm: The concept is quite simple. For years and years, as marketers, we've been fed this story that we need the right message to the right person at the right time. Now, there's all sorts of personalization and segmentation tools to sort out the right person issue. That's a solved problem. And then the right time, we got APIs, we got triggers. You can send people messages within seconds based upon any action which they take. So we got the right time things sorted. We spent so much time focusing on the right person and the right time, we've forgotten about the right message. So that's the exact problem that Phrasee solves, we help brands say it better. And we do that by using advanced AI techniques to optimize and analyze the language which you use in your brand language optimization. The best way to think about it is this, if you get emails from eBay, Walgreens, Domino's, a whole bunch of brands which you probably interact with on a daily basis, then you use us, not only in email, but across the marketing spectrum, to optimize the languages that are... The language that their brands use. So you've probably bought stuff as a direct result of Phrasee's kit. So I don't know if I should be apologizing or congratulating, based upon that fact.
Julian Bracey-Davis: How do you start off as a brand, working with yourselves, to find that golden message?
Parry Malm: So let's step back a bit and let's think about the way that things used to be done, right? So let's say that we were going to do... It doesn't matter if it's a Facebook, an email, a push message. It doesn't matter. Let's just stick with email as the example, to keep it simple. Let's say you work for a shoe company and you got to send out an email saying that shoes are half off, right? Pretty standard thing. The way that people used to work is, they would fill out briefing form and they would send that to a Don Draper type. The esteemed doyen of creativity and copywriting. Mr. Draper would sit there in his fancy three- piece suit, in his corner Madison avenue office, and he put his feet up on the counter and he would look out the window wistfully, sipping on some whiskey, patting his secretary's bum. And he would think. Mr. Draper would think and then he would think a bit more. And then he would use his extreme creative prowess to write some language for you to then use. He would send that back to you, and then you would go through it and you would put in your two cents about what you think is good, what you think is bad. Then you would show it to your boss, and they'd put in their two cents. And everybody has an opinion about language, from the CEO to the janitor, right? So then, the one you wound up going with and taking to market, is the one that the most persuasive person in the audience or in your team, convinced you is the best one. Often the boss, right? What you're doing is, you're extrapolating one person's gut feeling on millions and millions of people. And I don't know about you, but gut feeling is fundamentally fallible. So, that's the old way of working. The way that Phrasee works, is like this. Instead of briefing the esteemed Mr. Draper, you brief Phrasee's AI, which is just a SaaS product, which you log into. It then runs it through what's called a natural language generation system, which will create thousands and thousands and thousands of ways of saying the same thing. Imagine a thousand Don Draper's on a thousand typewriters. Now that by itself, is not actually that useful. It peaks a lot of intellectual curiosity, but you don't need thousands of ways of saying the same thing. You need a small amount of ways of saying something very effectively. So what we then do is, we layer a deep learning engine. If you're wondering what deep learning is, it's a form of machine learning that sounds more expensive. And we feed it through there, where it takes all of the information that the 1000 Don Drapers on 1000 typewriters have written, and then it ranks them from best to worst, with higher accuracy than any human on the planet. We then sample from that ranking, to give you the output of highly effective language. So what that effectively means is, we are cutting out, first of all, the cognitive task of writing the same thing in a bunch of different ways because that's actually quite challenging. But then we're cutting out this very biased task of trying to pick which one to then use, and trusting that one person's gut feeling is superior to everyone else's. We've removed those two problems and you get, by clicking a single button, one bit of language that's more effective than what humans write.
Julian Bracey-Davis: I mean, we're trying with our brands, obviously to get the message out to the right people at the right time and the right place. And that's that. But the right message is at the heart of everything you should be sending. And to your point you made a minute ago, that's something that's been forgotten.
Parry Malm: Absolutely, man. I mean, I could log into a system right now and I could send a million messages to a million people by clicking a single button. But what if that message sucks? All that effort, all that operational efficiency that has been built up through technology stacks over the last 10 or 15 years, it's all just a waste of time. And more importantly, a waste of money. If your message sucks, then you're farting in the wind because nobody's going to smell it.
Speaker 6: Prepare to take it great leap forward. Prepare to swim the English channel and then drown in champagne.
Kayla Siegmeier: I've heard that you guys have had some really good luck with Walgreens. So why don't you kind of give us a brief overview of the work that you've been doing with them?
Parry Malm: Yeah, we've really enjoyed working with Walgreens. We've worked with them for a while now. Starting with this small bit and then just gradually, as the impact has felt throughout the org, the partnership has expanded further and further. We originally, of course, started working with them on the various revenue generating functions. And what they reported back to us is, the impact that Phrasee has had, has been in the millions of dollars of revenue impact, which I'm no accountant, but that's good, right? But that's cool and we've got loads of stories like those from pretty much all of our clients. That's sort of par for the course. But what we've really been doing with Walgreens lately, is really exciting. In the US particularly, they're one of the prime providers in both COVID testing and COVID vaccination accessibility. And they came to us asking," You've proven to us that your tech can have a real sort of impact on inaudible and action from the comms which we send out about our revenue generating functions. What if the target was not to maximize revenue, but the target was to maximize awareness of both the availability of COVID tests and later on, availability of vaccination appointments?" And we thought to ourselves, all this stuff has been going on for the last while, we want to be part of this solution. And we were willing to basically drop everything and do whatever we could to help achieve that lofty goal. So what we wound up doing is, we wound up pointing our attack with, instead of the objective being revenue maximization, the objective being awareness maximization of those two specific goals at different time periods, of course, right? And the impact which Walgreens has reported back, has been a 30% awareness lift, which is, that's a material impact. When you think about the scale that Walgreens and their sort of sister brands like Dwayne Reed have throughout the US, it's been absolutely powerful. So we're super proud of having done that, and it does make you think. What Phrasee effectively does is, it optimizes language to make people follow a certain course of action without being manipulative, without following a sort of race to the bottom clickbait style thing. Actually having a real sustainable lifetime value impact.
Julian Bracey-Davis: Last year, was there anything that you guys particularly noticed or anything changed when COVID struck for that period of time? Because obviously the things that we saw, from the messaging side, there was a download point where people were sending less because they were working out the right things to say. And also, the messaging had to change.
Parry Malm: Yeah, man. In about, I think it was March or April of 2020, suddenly every word that got put out in public by every company, was scrutinized to a crazy level. To an unsustainable, unscalable level. I mean, and I get why, because there is hysteria and uncertainty and fear. And when you combine all of those things, people tend to become very risk averse. But as things went on, after two or three weeks, people realized that this was going to be for a while and things are... They didn't get back to normal, but they got back to sort of regular frequencies. And people let marketers go and do their jobs again, instead of everybody scrutinizing every crossed T and dotted I kind of thing. But what's most interesting, is not necessarily the variances in marketers perceptions about what they should and shouldn't do. What's more interesting is, the variances in what consumers were actually responding to. And since we have a wide variety of people who send out a load of messages to a load of people, and we've got the tools that we built in- house to actually monitor and analyze this stuff at scale, we've seen some really interesting changes. So one is, just the style of emojis which people respond to now. So there was a debate a few years ago, going, should we use emojis or should we not? And I think we're past that point. Emojis, when they're contextually relevant, can have a beneficial impact. But if you just stick them in there as a gimmick, then you may as well just use clickbait and be a scumbag, right? So now that it's accepted that emojis are taking the form of a sort of modern hieroglyph and they're broadly accepted as a, as a linguistic structure, it's interesting to see how the usage of them has changed. Pre COVID, there was a lot of people who would use sort of a time- based thing. So if there was a deal which was ending, there would be a little alarm clock or a little lightning bolt or stuff like that. As time went on, those became less impactful. The ones that became more impactful, were ones that expressed some sort of happiness or the sort of inaudible the gratitude thing. The crying, smiling guy that's on his angled side of it. You know the one I mean? Ones like those, actually were having much of a greater, positive impact than they were previously. I mean, I could theorize as to why, and I'm sure that whoever is listening to this, has probably got their own theories as to why. The thing is, I'm not a theorist. What I know is, that's what the data shows and that's what our machines have automatically learned. So now, the language that Phrasee generates on the fly, has adapted to how consumers have adapted, not just within an individual brand but within the populace as a whole. It's really quite fascinating to deconstruct and theorize about. The theory doesn't matter. What matters is that it works.
Kayla Siegmeier: Are you seeing those vary by those industries? So retail versus inaudible for example, two very different industries. Are you seeing different emotions and language resonating?
Parry Malm: So first off, let me challenge one of the premises of that question. I don't believe that breaking things down into emotions, is the way forward. The benefit of using a more advanced technology like Phrasee, where we have thousands and thousands of different parameters which it looks at, is it goes a level beyond 16 or 18 emotions that are easily interpretable by the human brain. So I'd be loath to try and break things down, to going, this emotion is working better, this emotion is not working better, because it's not. Emotions are not mutually exclusive things and they're not things which are binary. You can't have all the joy or none of the joy. You can be joyful and angry at the same time, at different intensities, right? So I hear a lot of chatter these days of people going back to the 1950s theories, the wheel of emotions and stuff like that. And the thing is, the technology has outpaced that. And the only reason why people talk about that, is because they don't have a more robust, technically sound method to actually measure this stuff. Now what I can say is, there has been a shift in the language which people have been using or that customers have been approving. And those are constraints that are enforced by customers, not by consumers themselves. Marketers have generally become more risk averse in the last year, not just because of coronavirus, but there's this risk of being shamed on Twitter, right? Where everybody is at home every day, all the time these days, pretty much, right? Not everywhere, but people are spending a lot more time at home. So a lot more people are going into Twitter wormholes and the risk of being canceled, if that's a thing which exists. I'm not even sure if it does, but if it does, that risk is super high. So marketers have reacted. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And the risk of being canceled, the risk of being shamed, the reaction has been, marketers with their language, have become much more risk averse than they were previously. So whether or not the emotions have changed to which customers respond or something, is by the by really. What matters more is, the language that marketers are putting out has been less edgy, less risky in the last year. So they're sort of dictating what sentiments, what sort of reactions customers are eliciting. There's not a huge amount of risk taking, of challenging going on these days, for fear of this public shaming stuff, which goes on.
Julian Bracey-Davis: Just a final one on this point by brands perspectives on how they're writing and sort of the tone they're using. Will they come to yourselves, at Phrasee, and say," Can we try something a little bit edgier? Can you have an influence with this?"
Parry Malm: Absolutely. And it sort of goes both ways. Sometimes customers have a very good reason for the approach which they currently have, and they want to optimize within the constraints which they've set, and that's totally cool. What usually happens is, when customers sign up, they'll send us their brand guidelines and we'll then, effectively codify those brand guidelines into constraints, which guide the various generation models which we use, right? The thing is, there's no market standard for what brand guidelines should be. So they come in all shapes and sizes and they get interpreted by different people in the organization, in different ways. So in my opinion, when you have a brand guideline documentation which is interpretable in different ways, ambiguous ad points, entrusting that to humans to then scale and write with, is incredibly dangerous, because we can always find a way to justify anything. Humans, we're the best justifiers in the world, right? That's why we have thousands of lawyers who argue cases against laws that are black and white, right? Because everything can be argued in different ways. The thing is, with something like your brand, your brand's voice, right? You want that to be inarguable. You want that to be set, so that every piece of advertising you put out, regardless of channel, adheres to those core brand voice values, right? The only way you can do that is by codifying it. And the only way that you can police that codification is either by having a brand sort of police in- house, who will have their own bottlenecks and biases and interpretations. Or turn it into a program and then use high- tech, like Phrasee guys, to operate within those codifying constraints. The argument which I'm effectively making, is that machines are actually better at experimenting within the constraints that humans set, but humans still need to set what those constraints are. That's the sort of balancing act between men and machine, if you will.
Kayla Siegmeier: You're already working with quite a few Cheetah Digital clients and doing some amazing things, but for everyone else, how can Cheetah Digital clients work with Phrasee? How can they catch up with you?
Parry Malm: You can come to my house. I've got a bunch of sauerkraut that I'm making right now. So if you come back in a couple of weeks, it will be fermented just perfectly for sharing. I'm going to braise it. But really, there is only one Phrasee. It's spelled phrase with an extra E, P- H- R- A- S- E-E. Find us, check us out. We've got a plug in with Cheetah that we just launched, I think a couple of months ago, which is really cool, which means that the entire experience is seamless. So really, the only thing stopping you is the status quo. And marketers of the future, can no longer let the status quo hold them back. So it's probably about time that, if you send out lots of emails, if you send out lots of messages across lots of channels to lots of people, you probably need to say it better, so you probably need Phrasee.
Kayla Siegmeier: So the last thing that we'd like to do is conclude with some Uncaged Wisdom. So this can be pertaining to career, personal life, anything throughout your entire life.
Parry Malm: I need to say something wise? I think that anybody who works in marketing, should put down any book which is written by a self- proclaimed marketing expert. The best books that I've ever read about marketing are Candide by Voltaire, which teaches you all about scarcity and the importance of it. It was written in about 1750 years. And No Logo by Naomi Klein. It was written about 20 years ago and it's all about how marketing can go wrong and cause a lot of problems for lots of people. So I mean, to me, it's all about stepping outside of your comfort zones. If you only read stuff by people who are stuck in your wormhole, you're never going to grow. You're never going to do anything different. Think outside of your world. Follow some people on Twitter who you don't actually like, and listen to what they have to say. Get rid of the block button. The block button is this scourge or public discourse. Listen to different points of view and make up your own mind.
Julian Bracey-Davis: Okay. Well, thanks for this. Appreciate it.
Parry Malm: Right on.
Kayla Siegmeier: (Singing) Subscribe to Uncaged Wisdom for the latest and greatest in digital marketing insights, and how they're solving problems with software and strategies.( Singing)
This week we're joined by Parry Malm, CEO of Phrasee. Phrasee is an AI powered SaaS platform that has changed the digital marketing landscape through brand language optimization. Parry lets us in on how Phrasee was able to extend awareness of COVID testing and vaccinations, and how he became interested in language and marketing. Tune in now for Parry's Uncaged Wisdom and a few pop culture references that'll brighten your day!
Perry Malm
|CEO
Parry is a self-described digital anarchist, although according to the Metropolitan police he's just an anarchist. When not teaching wayward youths the error of their ways through the magic of interpretive dance, he is the CEO of Phrasee. He's quite a well-known dude in marketing circles… he was Econsultancy's #2 guest blogger in 2015, which sucks as in 2013 he was #1. Then he got busy running an awesome company, and doesn't blog much anymore, which is a darn shame. He has many leather-bound books. His apartment smells of rich mahogany. He is kind of a big deal. What Parry especially enjoys is talking about himself in the third person. It gives him a sense of unnecessary grandiosity. Parry enjoys watching grown men on skates punch each other in the face. On weekends, he polices the mean streets of London wearing a Mountie uniform. And he likes Megadeth. A lot. To sum him up in three words: anarchy, innovation, and awesome. (Editors note: Parry wrote this himself.)
Parry's LinkedIn


text:
\section*{Paper versions}

\textbf{Version 1}
First derivation of the GGN-model with rigorous derivation starting from \cite{arXiv_GN-model}.

\textbf{Version 2}
Typos corrections including a small fix in the derivation of the GGN-reference formula. The mismatch in NLI estimation with respect to Version 1 is not relevant for reasonable power levels (up to $\sim2$ dBm/channel), i.e. where the perturbative approach is valid.
More details with respect to the GN-model-like averaging procedures are also provided.
Updated references to other independent derivations following the same approach firstly reported in Version 1, are also reported \cite{roberts_channel_2017,semrau2018arxiv}.
\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:intro}
\IEEEPARstart{E}{xperiments} have shown NLI generation limiting perfomances up to multi-THz spectral occupations -- as for instance in \cite{Pastorelli2012,UCL_OFC17,OE_UCL} --
indicating that NLI and ASE noise
accumulation are the limiting phenomena also when exploiting the full the C-band (and possibly beyond),
at least for the experimentally tested scenarios.
Moreover, from these experimental results appears that in the analyzed scenarios the Gaussian noise (GN) model
\cite{Carena-JLT-2012}, is an accurate yet conservative approximation of NLI generation due to Kerr effect over ultra-wide bandwidth occupation.
A wide-bandwidth use of the GN-model needs its generalization considering frequency variation of loss and gain,  including cross-talk induced by the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS).
Consequently, we introduce the Generalized GN-model (GGN) following the procedure of \cite{arXiv_GN-model}
introducing frequency/space variations of power evolution in fiber spans.

\section{Problem Definition}
GGN-model derivation follows the method already exploited in deriving the GN-model
detailed described in \cite{arXiv_GN-model}, so assuming to analyze the propagation of
Gaussian distributed spectral components.
Then, in addition to \cite{arXiv_GN-model} hypotheses,
we suppose frequency/space variation of power profile in fiber spans.
As in \cite{arXiv_GN-model}, we develop the model exploiting the single-polarization wave equation in fibers -- the non-linear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) -- then, we generalize the results including polarization relying on the Manakov equation (ME), i.e., on the dual-polarization NLSE with random birefringence -- and consequent PMD effect -- averaged out.
It has been shown that the ME can be reliably used far beyond its validity bandwidth in case of propagation of Gaussian distributed and depolarized signals \cite{OE_UCL}, and polarization division multiplexed signals based on multivelel modulation formats \cite{cantono_observing_2018}. This will be
the validity scenario for GGN-model.

The non-linear Schrödinger equation (NLSE), in the frequency domain, has the following form:

\begin{equation}\label{eq:NLSE}
	\partial_z  E(z,f) = \left[ g(z,f) -j\beta(f) \right] E(z,f) + Q_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)
\end{equation}
where $z$ is the propagation direction, $E(z,f)$ is the Fourier transform of the propagating
modal amplitude, $\partial_z$ is the partial derivative of $E(z,f)$ with respect to $z$,
$\beta(f)$ is the dispersion coefficient, $g(z,f)$ is the profile of amplitude evolution
of modal amplitude that may vary with respect to both $z$ and $f$, $Q_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$
is the non-linear term determined by the Kerr effect that is given by:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:Qnli}
	Q_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = -j \gamma E(z,f) \ast E^\ast(z,-f) \ast E(z,f) \; .
\end{equation}
where "$\ast$" is the convolution operator.
according to the theory of differential equation, the formal solution of
Eq. (\ref{eq:NLSE}), i.e., of the evolution of the Fourier transform of the modal amplitude vs. $z$, has the following form:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:NLSEsol}
	E(z,f) = e^{\Gamma(z,f)} \int_{0}^{z} e^{-\Gamma(\zeta,f)} Q_{\textup{NLI}}(\zeta,f) {\rm d} \zeta  \, + \, e^{\Gamma(z,f)}E(0,f)
\end{equation}
where $\Gamma(z,f)$ is given by:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:Gamma}
	\Gamma(z,f) = \int_{0}^{z} -j\beta(f) + g(\zeta,f) {\rm d} \zeta = -j\beta(f)z +  \int_{0}^{z} g(\zeta,f) {\rm d} \zeta
\end{equation}

We can subdivide $E(z,f)$ solution of  Eq. (\ref{eq:NLSEsol})
as the sum of two components: $E_{\textup{LIN}}(z,f)$ considering linear propagation effects
only ($g(z,f) -j\beta(f)$), and $E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$ considering the impairment of Kerr effect and its interaction with linear propagation.
Therefore,

\begin{equation}
	E(z,f) = E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) + E_{\textup{LIN}}(z,f) \;,
\end{equation}
where the linear component $E_{\textup{LIN}}(z,f)$ is:
\begin{equation}
	E_{\textup{LIN}}(z,f) = e^{\Gamma(z,f)}E(0,f) \;,
\end{equation}
and the non-linear component $E_{NLI}(z,f)$ is:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:Enli}
	E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = e^{\Gamma(z,f)} \int_{0}^{z} e^{-\Gamma(\zeta,f)} Q_{\textup{NLI}}(\zeta,f) {\rm d} \zeta
\end{equation}

In general, the  formal solution of Eq. (\ref{eq:NLSEsol}) for the
modal amplitude evolution is useful to observe the two contributes
-- linear and nonlinear -- to propagation impairments, but cannot be practically exploited, because the unknown function $E(z,f)$ is also in the right side term of
Eq. (\ref{eq:NLSEsol}) being the cause of $Q_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$ as clearly displayed by
Eq. (\ref{eq:Qnli}).
\section{Perturbative Approach on the Non-Linear Impairment}
In $SiO_2$ fibers, strength of Kerr effect is much less intense of impairments of linear propagation, mainly given by chromatic dispersion.
So, we are legitimate to exploit a perturbative approach
for which $E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$ is indeed a perturbation of $E_{\textup{LIN}}(z,f)$.
Consequently, we may assume that the non-linear term defined in Eq. (\ref{eq:Qnli})
is induced only by the linear component $E_{\textup{LIN}}(z,f)$ of the
modal amplitude $E(z,f)$.
Such an approximation yields to not considering the second-order effects,
i.e., the nonlinear effects induced by $E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$.
So, practically, the perturbative approach implies to use the following form for
$Q_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$ in place of the \emph{exact}  one of Eq. (\ref{eq:Qnli}):
\begin{equation}\label{eq:QnliPert}
	Q_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) =
	-j \gamma E_{\textup{LIN}}(z,f) \ast E_{\textup{LIN}}^\ast(z,-f) \ast E_{\textup{LIN}}(z,f) \; .
\end{equation}
As the convolution operator is defined as:
\begin{equation}
	x(t) \ast h(t) = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} x(\tau) h(t-\tau) {\rm d} \tau \;,
\end{equation}
we can expand Eq. (\ref{eq:QnliPert} in the following form:
\begin{align}
	&Q_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = \notag\\
	%
	&=-j\gamma \left[  \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty} e^{\Gamma(z,f_1)}e^{\Gamma^{\ast}(z,f_1-f)} E(0,f_1) E^{\ast}(0,f_1-f)  {\rm d} f_1 \right]  \ast \notag\\
	& \qquad \ast \left[ e^{\Gamma(z,f)} E(0,f) \right]\\
	%
	&= -j\gamma  \iint_{-\infty}^{+\infty} e^{\Gamma(z,f_1)}e^{\Gamma^{\ast}(z,f_1-f_2)} e^{\Gamma(z,f-f_2)} \cdot \notag\\
	& \qquad \cdot E(0,f_1) E^{\ast}(0,f_1-f_2) E(0,f-f_2)  {\rm d} f_1 {\rm d} f_2\\
	%
	&= -j\gamma  \iint_{-\infty}^{+\infty} e^{\Gamma(z,f_1)+\Gamma^{\ast}(z,f_1-f_2)+\Gamma(z,f-f_2)} \cdot \notag\\
	& \qquad \cdot E(0,f_1) E^{\ast}(0,f_1-f_2) E(0,f-f_2)  {\rm d} f_1 {\rm d} f_2\\
	%
	&= -j\gamma  \iint_{-\infty}^{+\infty} A(z,f) \cdot \notag\\
	& \qquad \cdot E(0,f_1) E^{\ast}(0,f_1-f_2) E(0,f-f_2)  {\rm d} f_1 {\rm d} f_2
\end{align}
where $A(z,f)$ is:
\begin{align}
	&A(z,f) = \notag \\
	&= \exp \biggl( \int_0^{z} -j [\beta(f_1)-\beta(f_1-f_2)+\beta(f-f_2)] + \notag\\
	& \qquad + [g(\zeta,f_1) + g(\zeta,f_1-f_2)+ g(\zeta,f-f_2)] {\rm d} \zeta  \biggr)
	\; .
\end{align}
Then, inserting  Eq. (\ref{eq:Gamma}) in Eq. (\ref{eq:Enli}) we get the following expression for the perturbation $E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$:
\begin{align}\label{eq:Enli2}
	&E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = \notag\\
	&= e^{-j\beta(f)z}e^{\int_0^z g(\zeta,f){\rm d} \zeta} \cdot \notag\\
	& \qquad \cdot\int_0^z e^{j \beta(f)} e^{-\int_0^{\zeta} g(z_1,f) {\rm d} z_1} Q_{\textup{NLI}}(\zeta,f) {\rm d} \zeta \notag \\
	&= e^{-j\beta(f)z}e^{\int_0^z g(\zeta,f){\rm d} \zeta} I(z,f)
\end{align}
where $I(z,f)$ is:
\begin{align}
	&I(z,f) = \notag\\
	&= -j\gamma \iint_{-\infty}^{+\infty}E(0,f_1) E^{\ast}(0,f_1-f_2) E(0,f-f_2)  \notag\\
	&\qquad \int_0^z \exp (+j \beta(f)\zeta)  \notag\\
	&\qquad A(\zeta,f) \exp\left( -\int_0^{\zeta}g(z_1,f) {\rm d} z_1 \right)  {\rm d} \zeta {\rm d} f_1 {\rm d} f_2
\end{align}
Substituting in Eq. (\ref{eq:Enli2}) the expression of $I(z,f)$ we obtain the following expression for the nonlinear perturbation introduced by the Kerr effect:
\begin{align} \label{eq:Enli_final}
	&E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) =\notag\\
	&= e^{-j\beta(f)z}e^{\int_0^z g(\zeta,f){\rm d} \zeta} I(z,f) \notag\\
	&\qquad -j\gamma \iint_{-\infty}^{+\infty}E(0,f_1) E^{\ast}(0,f_1-f_2) E(0,f-f_2) \notag\\
	&\qquad \int_0^z \exp (+j \beta(f)\zeta) \notag\\
	&\qquad A(\zeta,f) \exp\left( -\int_0^{\zeta}g(z_1,f) {\rm d} z_1 \right)  {\rm d} \zeta {\rm d} f_1 {\rm d} f_2 \; .
\end{align}
Note that Eq. (\ref{eq:Enli_final}) relies on the only approximation of Kerr effect being
a perturbation of linear propagation and does include frequency/space variations of loss and gain as $g(\zeta,f)$ in addition to frequency variations of the
propagation constant $\beta(f)$.
\section{NLI Power Spectral Density}
In this section, we rely on the same signal form -- depolarized and Gaussian signals -- and follow the same procedure of \cite{arXiv_GN-model} to derive the power spectral density $G_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$ of $E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f)$, that is assumed to be a Gaussian random process. Specifically, using Eq.~16 of~\cite{arXiv_GN-model}, one can write the NLI field as
\begin{align}
    &E_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = -j \gamma f_0^{\frac{3}{2}} e^{-j\beta(f)z}e^{\int_0^z g(\zeta,f){\rm d} \zeta} \cdot \notag \\
    &\sum_{i=-\infty}^{+\infty} \delta(f-if_0)\sum_{m,n,k \in \widetilde{A_i}} \sqrt{ G_{\textup{TX}}(mf_0)G_{\textup{TX}}(nf_0)G_{\textup{TX}}(kf_0)} \cdot \notag\\
    & \xi_m\xi_n^{\ast}\xi_k \int_0^z \exp [-\Gamma(\zeta,(m-n+k)f_0) + \Gamma(\zeta,mf_0) + \notag \\
    &+\Gamma^{\ast}(\zeta,nf_0)+\Gamma(\zeta,kf_0)]  {\rm d} \zeta
\end{align}
where $f_0$ is a divider of the symbol rate, $\xi$ is a complex Gaussian random variable and $\delta(f)$ is the Dirac delta function. $\widetilde{A}_i$ represents the set of all triples (m,n,k) such that $m-n+k=i$ and $m\neq n$ or $k\neq n$. This set identifies all non degenerate fourwave mixing components, as detailed in \cite{arXiv_GN-model}. Following the same averaging procedure of Sec. IV (D) of \cite{arXiv_GN-model}, one obtains the following expression for the single polarization expression of the power spectral density of the NLI noise, i.e.
\begin{align}
    &G_{\textup{NLI}}^{sp}(z,f) = 2 \gamma^2 f_0^3 \left|\exp\left[\int_0^z g(\zeta,f){\rm d} \zeta\right]\right|^2 \cdot \notag \\
    &\sum_{i=-\infty}^{+\infty} \delta(f-if_0)\sum_{m} \sum_{k} G_{\textup{TX}}(mf_0)G_{\textup{TX}}(kf_0) \cdot \notag \\
    & G_{\textup{TX}}((m-i+k)f_0) \int_0^z \exp [-\Gamma(\zeta,if_0) +\notag \\
    &+ \Gamma(\zeta,mf_0) +\Gamma^{\ast}(\zeta,(m-i+k)f_0)+\Gamma(\zeta,kf_0)]  {\rm d} \zeta
\end{align}

Similarly, considering a dual polarization signal, following the exact derivation of the previous section and the averaging procedure of Sec.IV (E) in \cite{arXiv_GN-model} one can write the PSD of the NLI noise generated by dual-polarization signals as
\begin{align}
    &G_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = \frac{16}{27} \gamma^2 f_0^3 \left|\exp\left[\int_0^z g(\zeta,f){\rm d} \zeta\right]\right|^2 \cdot \notag \\
    &\sum_{i=-\infty}^{+\infty} \delta(f-if_0)\sum_{m} \sum_{k} G_{\textup{TX}}(mf_0)G_{\textup{TX}}(kf_0) \cdot \notag \\
    & G_{\textup{TX}}((m-i+k)f_0) \int_0^z \exp [-\Gamma(\zeta,if_0) +\notag \\
    &+ \Gamma(\zeta,mf_0) +\Gamma^{\ast}(\zeta,(m-i+k)f_0)+\Gamma(\zeta,kf_0)]  {\rm d} \zeta \label{eq:discrete}
\end{align}
Then, taking the limit of Eq.~\ref{eq:discrete} for $f_0 \to 0$, such expression can be written as:
\begin{align}\label{eq:Gnli1}
	&G_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = \notag\\
	& = \frac{16}{27} \gamma^2 \left| e^{\int_0^z g(\zeta,f){\rm d} \zeta}  \right|^2 \cdot \notag \\
	&\qquad \cdot \iint_{-\infty}^{+\infty} G_{\textup{TX}}(f_1)G_{\textup{TX}}(f_2)G_{\textup{TX}}(f_1+f_2-f) \cdot \notag \\
	&\qquad \cdot \left| \int_0^z e^{+j [\beta(f_1+f_2-f) -\beta(f_1)+\beta(f)-\beta(f_2)]\zeta} \notag \right. \notag \cdot\\
	&\qquad \cdot \left. e^{+\int_0^{\zeta}g(z_1,f_1)-g(z_1,f)+g(z_1,f_2)+g(z_1,f_1+f_2-f) {\rm d} z_1 } {\rm d} \zeta \right|^2 \cdot \notag\\
	&\qquad \cdot {\rm d} f_1 {\rm d} f_2 \; .
\end{align}
To compact the expression, we introduce the following function $\rho(z,f)$ that considers
the evolution of the modal amplitude vs. $z$ for each spectral component $f$:
\begin{equation} \label{eq:rho}
	\rho(z,f)=e^{\int_0^z g(\zeta,f){\rm d} \zeta} \;.
\end{equation}
This expression may include the effect of frequency variation of loss coefficient,
of SRS-induced crosstalk and of distributed amplifications applied to
a limited portion of the exploited WDM spectrum.

Exploiting the linearity of the integral operator and the properties of the exponential function, we can rewrite the Eq. (\ref{eq:Gnli1}) as:

\begin{align}
	&G_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = \notag\\
	&= \frac{16}{27} \gamma^2 \rho(z,f)^2 \cdot \notag \\
	&\qquad \cdot \iint_{-\infty}^{+\infty} G_{\textup{TX}}(f_1)G_{\textup{TX}}(f_2)G_{\textup{TX}}(f_1+f_2-f) \cdot \notag \\
	&\qquad \cdot \left| \int_0^z e^{+j [\beta(f_1+f_2-f) -\beta(f_1)+\beta(f)-\beta(f_2)]\zeta} \right. \cdot \notag \\
	&\qquad \cdot \left. \frac{\rho(\zeta,f_1)\rho(\zeta,f_1+f_2-f)\rho(\zeta,f_2)}{\rho(\zeta,f)}{\rm d} \zeta \right|^2 {\rm d} f_1 {\rm d} f_2 \; .
\end{align}

Finally obtaining the following expression for the NLI PSD that is the also the
final expression of the the generalized Gaussian noise model for NLI generated by a
single fiber span.
\begin{align} \label{eq:GGN_final}
	&G_{\textup{NLI}}(z,f) = \notag\\
	&= \frac{16}{27} \gamma^2 \rho(z,f)^2 \iint_{-\infty}^{+\infty} G_{\textup{TX}}(f_1)G_{\textup{TX}}(f_2)G_{\textup{TX}}(f_1+f_2-f) \cdot \notag \\
	&\qquad \cdot \left| \int_0^z e^{+j \Delta\beta(f_1,f_2,f) \zeta} \Delta\rho(z,f,f_1,f_2) {\rm d} \zeta \right|^2 {\rm d} f_1 {\rm d} f_2
\end{align}
where $\Delta \rho$ is given by
\begin{equation}
    \Delta\rho(z,f,f_1,f_2) =\frac{\rho(\zeta,f_1)\rho(\zeta,f_1+f_2-f)\rho(\zeta,f_2)}{\rho(\zeta,f)}
\end{equation}
The use of Eq. (\ref{eq:GGN_final}) in multi-span links is straightforward as for
the GN-model.
and $\Delta \beta$
\begin{equation}
    \Delta\beta(z,f,f_1,f_2) = [\beta(f_1+f_2-f) -\beta(f_1)+\beta(f)-\beta(f_2)]z
\end{equation}
that can be further expanded as
\begin{equation}
    \Delta\beta(z,f,f_1,f_2) = 4\pi^2 (f_1-f)(f_2-f)[\beta_2+\pi\beta_3(f_1+f_2)]z
\end{equation}
as detailled described in Eq.~G.2 of \cite{arXiv_GN-model}.
Eq.~\ref{eq:GGN_final} can be also expanded to be used with coherent accumulation with spans inserting
the "phased-array" factor, or rely on the incoherent accumulation simply adding up
independently NLI generated by each fiber span.
\section{Conclusions and future investigations}
We introduce the GGN-model in order to enable the estimate of NLI generation
when loss/gain profiles vary with frequency.
The GGN-model can be used in case of frequency variations of loss coefficients,
frequency-varying distributed gain and SRS-induced crosstalk.
The GGN-model derivation relies on a perturbative solution of the Manakov equation
and holds also for bandwidths much larger of the ME validity bandwidth in case
of depolarized Gaussian channels \cite{OE_UCL}, and for non Gaussian channels like shown in \cite{cantono_observing_2018}.
\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
China Inflation Sinks 0.5% On Year In November
This means that pork prices have fallen considerably. Food prices fell 2 percent year on year in November, retreating from the 2.2 percent rise in October, dragging the headline CPI down by around 0.44 percentage points to be the main reason for th...
Tesla seeks to sell $5B in stock; CEO Musk moves to Texas
| December 9, 2020, 21:03
He also could be moving because Texas has no income tax. Tesla is now building two new factories - one in Austin, Texas, and its first European plant, near Berlin - and expanding output at its existing vehicle-assembly facilities in Fremont, Califo...
Elon Musk says he moved to Texas
| December 9, 2020, 3:33
Mr. Musk made the comments Tuesday during The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council annual summit in an interview with Editor in Chief Matt Murray. Goldman Sachs has reviewed potential offices north of Miami that could service wealthier clients in th...
United Kingdom and EU Reach a Deal on Northern Ireland Border
Tuesday's agreement fills in some of the blanks left by the January treaty, covering issues such as what export declarations are needed, supply rules for medicines and food to supermarkets, and the process for border checks on animals and plants.
TSX outshines Wall Street as gold, uranium stocks rally
The other major USA indexes ended lower, but the TSX closed positively for the day thanks mostly to gains in precious metals stocks. Gold prices hiked $24.80 to $1,864.80. But with President-elect Joe Biden due to take office on January 20, analyst...
Senator says Trump, McConnell likely to back COVID-19 relief
The direct payments were popular when they were first distributed after the pandemic hit, and Mr. Biden on Friday had expressed hope that a second wave might come after weekend negotiations. While favoring the $1,200 checks, Biden said the emerging c...
IKEA Is Discontinuing Its Printed Catalogue As The Company Goes Digital
IKEA's catalogue was one of the few publications of its type that millions of people still awaited with anticipation each year. Mr Gruss, an Ikea veteran who took on the new position in June, said he felt emotional about the decision as the catalog...
10,000 Stores Will Test The Digital Yuan
JD.com is set to become the first e-commerce platform to accept China's digital yuan for online shopping. In addition to that, the city will also be delivering virtual red packets of money to the residents and a total of 100,000 digital red packets...
Oil prices fall as surging virus cases force more lockdowns
On the January Nymex market, USA light crude oil (WTI) gained 1.4 percent to $46.26 a barrel, while the Brent contract for delivery in January advanced 1.1 percent to $49.25. In America's most powerful economic region, there were restrictions in key ...
79% of Tesla's US workforce male, shows diversity report
Black and African American employees represent 10 per cent of the company's U.S. workforce. Some 60% of its workforce is made up of people who are Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American and Pacific Islander. In 2020, almost 25% of all American em...
After Pfzier, Pune's Serum Institute Seeks Nod For COVID Vaccine
The Serum Institute of India , the largest vaccine-maker globally by number of doses produced, has sought the Indian government's approval for emergency use authorisation of a COVID-19 vaccine that it is developing with the University of Oxford and B...
China trade surplus hits record USD 75B as Nov exports soar
Data released early on Monday morning showed that exports grew 21.1% year-on-year in November. Total exports rose to $268 billion, up from October's 11.4% growth. The widening trade surplus could put further upward pressure on the yuan, which has...
China's Suzhou to issue 20-million digital yuan in pilot program
Prior to Suzhou's move, Shenzhen had launched the country's first large-scale public trial of the beta version back in October. On top of that, JD.com Inc. JD.COM or Jingdong, the largest online retailer in China, is the latest company to support C...
Denmark to curb oil drilling
Denmark is this year estimated to pump a bit more than 100,000 barrels of crude oil and oil equivalents a day, according to the government. That is relatively little in a global context. They are considered key in the transformation of the energy s...
November Jobs Report: Retail Loses, Warehousing and Transportation Gain
In Oshawa, the unemployment rate remained lower than the national average and below other, nearby cities. According to the monthly labour force survey released Friday, B.C.'s unemployment rate was at 7.1 per cent in November - down from eight per c...
Govt Hikes Diesel Price Ahead Of Festive Season
In Mumbai, the petrol price on Friday was raised to ₹89.78 per litre from ₹89.52, while diesel rates went up from ₹79.66 to ₹79.93. Though retail pricing of petrol and diesel has been deregulated and oil marketing companies were following a dai...
UK, EU talks to resume after top phone call
British and European Union negotiators will resume talks in Brussels in a "final throw of the dice" as they try to secure a post-Brext trade deal. The pair spoke on the phone for an hour on Saturday but failed to break the deadlock on "critical iss...
Fortune Of Elon Musk Has Grown By Almost € 79 Billion In 2020
Not only he is building Tesla's Giga Texas factory, which is Tesla's 5th Gigafactory in Austin, but also his SpaceX is in Texas as well. California has seen quite an exodus of certain notable tech names during the ongoing pandemic as certai...
Oil prices gain as OPEC+ resumes talks on 2021 output policy
The OPEC+ producers, however, failed to find a compromise on a broader and longer-term policy for the rest of next year. Brent settled up 54 U.S. cents or 1.11 per cent at US$49.25 a barrel. In light of the current oil market fundamentals and the o...
Gold falls Rs 136 silver declines Rs 346
Silver also declined ₹ 346 to ₹ 63,343 per kg, from ₹ 63,689 per kg in the previous day. In global markets, spot gold prices were slightly higher today amid investor optimism over additional more USA stimulus. Hopes of a stimulus deal and optimi...
Facebook extends work from home until 2021 (Includes interview)
Essential employees for the tech giants may return to the office as soon as July, with additional safety measures in place, but other employees who can work from home have been granted additional flexibility to stay there. Both Google and Facebook ...
BlackRock CEO thinks Bitcoin could threaten the United States dollar dominance
Saying that Bitcoin, the largest crypto currency, has recently "started to attract the attention" of many people, Fink touched on a difference between the crypto money market and traditional markets. The 7.4 trillion BlackRock CEO stressed that altho...
After being fined by US, Hyundai recalls more vehicles
Kia is recalling almost 295,000 vehicles in the USA because the engines can stall or catch fire. The recall will address a manufacturing issue that could lead to wear of connecting rod bearings and engine failure, Hyundai said. This is the latest ...
Walmart workers in PG to receive cash appreciation bonus
The company sent out approximately $319 million in quarterly bonuses, which were added to associates' November 25 paychecks. The announcement by Walmart Canada that it would pay a December bonus comes a day after Walmart in the USA said it would ...
Brad Garlinghouse Discusses the Impact of XRP Regulatory Uncertainty on Ripple's Customers
Garlinghouse is one of many United States crypto stakeholders to hold this view as some exchanges have even been forced to geofence specific tokens to prevent running afoul of securities regulations in the country. Not complying with the financial re...


"Rodinný pokoj (Extra extra velký)" tohoto zařízení se skládá z 1, 2 nebo 3 pokojů, které se mohou v závislosti na momentální dostupnosti nacházet na různých patrech. Na vyžádání mohou být k dispozici sousední pokoje. Pro další podrobnosti se obraťte přímo na ubytovací zařízení pomocí údajů uvedených v potvrzení rezervace.
Restaurace Il Gozzo: Specializací zdejších kuchařů je místní kuchyně a podává se zde oběd, večeře a lehké občerstvení.
Městská daň: 3.00 EUR za osobu za noc. Tato daň se nevztahuje na děti do 14 let.
This hotel is in a good location almost next to the Aquarium. My room was comfortable, except that the bed was a little lumpy -- I had to move to the middle to attain any amount of firmness. Also, there is no soundproofing, you can hear everything in the hall and in the next rooms. Other than that it is a nice hotel, with an excellent restaurant and outdoor patio. The food was very good at dinner -- I ate there once and was not disappointed, the service at dinner was attentive and friendly. However, the service in the bar and the patio was often not good as they seemed to forget you existed and were not interested in providing good service. Overall, I think this was a good location and the hotel had what I needed. Front desk staff were efficient. The guest services person was the most helpful and friendly -- I would give him 5 stars. He was very interested in helping to make your stay exceptional. Breakfast was extremely good -- they had just about everything.
Good hotel in excellent position for hop on hop off bus,harbour tour and tourist office.also within easy walking distance of old town.The metro was also close. Our room had a good view of marina and breakfast was of a high standard.
Very good but restaurant food was mediocre.


Now, experts in endoscopic imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and pioneers of flat metalens technology at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), have teamed up to develop a new class of endoscopic imaging catheters – termed nano-optic endoscopes – that overcome the limitations of current systems. The research is described in Nature Photonics.
This paper was co-authored by Mohammadreza Khorasaninejad, PhD, Vivien Ding, and Alexander Zhu, PhD, SEAS; Lida Hariri, MD, PhD, and David C. Adams, PhD, MGH; Zhujun Shi, Harvard University; and Cheng-Wei Qiu, PhD, National University of Singapore. The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the LUNGevity Foundation/Upstage Lung Cancer.


Next: our robot will wait on hold for GetHuman-bilmathi to get a Audible.com rep on the line!
I purchased two audio books that said they come with PDFs. I downloaded the audio and while listening to the book it stated to contact you for the PDFs. The two books I purchased are "Growing Marijuana for beginners" and "Cannabis Oil Quickstart Guide". Both by Clyde Bank. I ordered them under *****@***.com through Amazon. I have another email you could send them to which is *****@***.com thanks.
GetHuman-bilmathi did not yet indicate what Audible.com should do to make this right.
We are waiting for GetHuman-bilmathi to fix the problem and share the solution with the rest of us customers.
See how GetHuman-bilmathi fixes it.


This article provides an overview of PlexiDrone's unique and genuine portability.
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PlexiDrone is designed so that you do not need any tools to assemble. Just snap everything together and get ready to fly with PlexiDrone's cutting edge modular design.
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How much can I fit into PlexiPack?
PlexiPack is a carry-on sized backpack specially designed for PlexiDrone. You can fit one (1) PlexiDrone chassis, four (4) Detachable Arms, eight (8) Propellers, three (3) of PlexiDrone's Smart Battery, one (1) Shock-Absorbing Landing Gear set, one (1) PlexiHub CS controller, one (1) Universal Payload Clip and payload (e.g. camera & gimbal), and up to two (2) mobile devices (e.g. including up to size of large tablet).
What Exactly Can be Assembled in One Minute?
In less than one minute you can unzip PlexiPack and assemble PlexiDrone while doing so. Simply pull out the Shock-Absorbing Landing Gear and pop that in on both sides then pull out the Detachable Arms and triple-click those in. Then attach your payload via the quick-release Universal Payload Clip and your PlexiDrone is ready to fly!


"I am an audit associate at a CPA firm, who is in the process of taking the CPA exam. I have a bachelor's degree in accounting with a concentration in forensic accounting as well as a master's degree in forensic accounting and analytics. I have been tutoring for over 3 years both on campus and 1 on 1. I personalize my tutor plan for each person, because everyone learns differently. Some people are visual learners and others verbal learners. Some can learn from theoretical problems, while others"


text:
Q: Equal spacing for figures and listings I want to include figures and listings in my document and I want them to have the same spacings to text and captions.
\documentclass[a4paper,12pt,openany,parskip,oneside,ngerman,headsepline]{scrbook}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{caption}
\captionsetup{font=small,labelfont=bf}
\usepackage{listings}
\lstset{captionpos=b,frame=single}

\begin{document}
Some text

\begin{lstlisting}[caption={Some caption}]
Some code
\end{lstlisting}

Some text

\begin{figure}[H]
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{image.png}
    \caption{Some caption}
    \label{fig:test}
\end{figure}

Some rext
\end{document}

The result is following (I added boxes to show the spacing).

*

*As you can see, the red boxes have the same spacing.
How can I make the spacing start above/below the frame?

*The spacing below the figure is bigger than the listing.
How can I make them the same?

A: When the caption is below the float contents, you can adjust the following caption parameters through \captionsetup:

*

*aboveskip (space between the float contents and the caption)

*belowskip (space after the caption)

The default values are, for scrbook class, aboveskip=10pt and belowskip=0pt. Also, a \baselineskip is added by default before the floating object and 1.2\baselineskip after it, IIRC.
The above settings don't work for listings. But you can similarly set these parameters for listings through \lstset:

*

*abovecaptionskip (space between the float contents and the caption)

*belowcaptionskip (space after the caption)

*aboveskip (space between the float contents and the preceding text)

*belowskip (space between the float contents and the following text)

So leaving figure parameters untouched and adding in your \lstset something like
abovecaptionskip=10pt,belowcaptionskip=0pt,aboveskip=\baselineskip,belowskip=1.2\baselineskip

should do what you want.
Complete code
\documentclass[a4paper,12pt,parskip]{scrbook}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx} %option demo only for the example
\usepackage{caption}
\captionsetup{font=small,labelfont=bf}
\usepackage{listings}
\lstset{
  captionpos=b,
  frame=single,
  abovecaptionskip=10pt,
  belowcaptionskip=0pt,
  aboveskip=\baselineskip,
  belowskip=1.2\baselineskip
  }

\begin{document}
Some text

\begin{lstlisting}[caption={Some caption}]
Some code
\end{lstlisting}

Some text

\begin{figure}[H]
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{image.png}
    \caption{Some caption}
    \label{fig:test}
\end{figure}

Some rext
\end{document}

Output

You can adjust these values if you think they don't meet your needs.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Enjoy a glass of wine, a beer, or a cocktail as well as coffee, tea, and snacks at our Concessions Counter.
Whether you want a pre-theatre dining experience, or drinks and conversation afterwards, enjoy yourself at one of Olympia's premiere downtown establishments.
Inviting, affordable and stylish, Waterstreet Café is located in the historic American Legion Building, across from Heritage Park and Capitol Lake in downtown Olympia. Perfect for a pre-theatre meal.
Dillinger's Cocktails and Kitchen is a prohibition themed craft bar and restaurant housed within one of Olympia's oldest buildings, The Security Building (built in 1927). You truly will feel like you stepped in a time machine, but that is only the beginning.
Relax on the outdoor patio where beautiful views of Capitol Lake, Budd Inlet and the Olympic Mountains await you, or reserve our downstairs Wine Cellar for special events.
Lost? Need a little help?
We're located right in the heart of downtown Olympia on 4th Avenue, which is the main drag, eastbound.
Late night at the theatre?


I wasnt planning on upgrading to another 1.6x crop body.. I figured I'd just keep my 40D as my 1.6x and get a full frame later on down the line. Even then, I didnt expect Canon to update the 40D so soon. Odd that when consumers demanded the 30D be upgraded, Canon stuck to an 18 month lifecycle back then. You can definitely give Nikon the credit for pushing Canon to update the XXD body so soon.
I think Canon is ready to play ball.. and what makes me say that? 15.1 megapixels. We've long known that megapixels is all for show (marketing).. but hey, thats what sells. With Nikon's D90 coming in at 12+ megapixels, I think its a rather strong statement from Canon to "skip" that game altogether and move right on up to 15.1 megapixels. Think about that. Its 50% more pixels than the 40D. The largest jump in pixels ever, I'd guess. Also with the 50D comes the new Digic 4. That means the Digic 3 was rather short lived. Hell, the Digic 3 is in their 2 flagship models, the 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III. So its a pretty huge step to introduce the Digic 4 so soon. Also take a page from Nikon's playbook, Canon will be stuffing a 3″ 920k pixel screen in the 50D.. its about freakin time. ISO 12,800 (also from Nikon's playbook) is mostly marketing hype, but its the hype the sells.
I'll admit I gave some thought to dumping my 40D.. I cant help it. But I dont think it'll happen this time. Unless the 50D has MUCH better AF tracking, I dont think I need it.. thats mainly what I'd want at this point.
Another surprise is Canon has FINALLY made the 18-200mm lens. It'll be an EF-S, but thats probably where its needed the most anyhow. I was actually looking at the Sigma version of this range as a "Disneyworld" lens (as much as I'd like to pack my 24-70 and 70-200, its just not worth it). At $699 MSRP, I'm not so sure I'd bite. But if Canon's last few offerings are any indication, the 18-200 EF-S will probably sell for around $500 (or less) on the street. That might be do-able.
Canon's newest entry into the fall season Olympics is the EOS 50D, which sports an impressive 15.1-megapixel APS-C format CMOS sensor that takes full advantage of Canon's new DIGIC 4 image processor.
To keep noise under control and maintain optimum image quality at higher ISO ratings the EOS 50D allows you to choose from four levels of noise reduction – Standard, Weak, Strong, and None. The camera's DIGIC 4 image processor also features in-camera peripheral illumination correction, which can automatically smooth-over uneven blue skies and other large areas within an image that can benefit from smoother tonality. This feature, along with other image enhancing tools such as Auto Lighting Optimizer can also be performed post-exposure using Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DDP) software, which is included with every camera.
Image viewing has also been improved via a greatly enhanced 3″ LCD that employs 920,000 pixels for breathtaking clarity. Canon also tweaked the Live View function by incorporating a 'Quick Mode AF', 'Live Mode AF', and 'Face Detection Live Mode AF' that can detect up to 35 individual faces within the camera's frame.
Other features of the Canon EOS 50D include an Integrated Cleaning System for preventing dust and other forms of airborne schmutz from gathering on the sensor's low-pass filter and a choice of two smaller RAW formats (sRAW1 and sRAW2) in addition to the 50D's standard RAW mode.
The Canon EOS 50D will be available in October as a body only, or in kit form with a Canon EF 28-135/3.5~5.6 IS USM zoom lens, which covers the field of view of a 44.8-216mm lens on a full-frame 35mm camera.
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Kentucky coach John Calipari asks freshman Cam'Ron Fletcher to 'step away' from team
Cassandra Negley
December 21, 2020, 4:44 PM ·3 min read
Kentucky coach John Calipari has asked a star recruit to step away from the program. (AP Photo/James Crisp)
Kentucky men's basketball head coach John Calipari responded to Cam'Ron Fletcher's emotional outburst on the bench by tweeting news that the star freshman has been asked to step away from the team.
Calipari said Monday that the program asked Fletcher "to take some time" and gather his priorities. Fletcher, a four-star recruit, was seen crying at the end of the bench and being comforted by the strength coach toward the end of Saturday's 75-63 loss to No. 22 North Carolina.
Kentucky is on a five-game losing streak. At 1-5, the Wildcats are out to their worst start since the 1926-27 season.
Calipari asks Fletcher to step away from program
Calipari, the 12th-year Kentucky coach, said in a series of tweets that Fletcher "needs to reflect and do some soul searching to get his priorities in order" and the culture at Kentucky "WILL NOT CHANGE."
Fletcher played two minutes in the loss and is averaging 8.7 minutes of playing time per contest. After being subbed out with about three minutes to play, he was seen on the CBS broadcast crying at the corner of the bench area. A few minutes later Terrence Clarke mouths "Cam left?" with clear surprise on his face.
Clarke also appears upset and was consoled on the footage broken down by Kentucky Sports Radio. Calipari was caught shaking his head in dismay.
Fletcher apologized for outburst
Calipari said after the North Carolina loss that Fletcher had apologized for his emotional actions, calling it "immaturity." Fletcher took to Twitter later to apologize directly to fans.
"I was frustrated and let my emotions get the best of me," he wrote. "I always feel I can help the team. I am a team player and it hurts to see my team struggled. That's why I was frustrated and my emotions peaked."
Fletcher wasn't the only player in a foul mood on Saturday. No one wanted to speak to the media so injured sophomore Keion Brooks did instead, per The Athletic. The program has a history of displeased players in recent seasons.
Kentucky is back on the court against Louisville on Saturday. The Wildcats begin SEC play against South Carolina next week.
Fletcher praised Calipari's honesty during recruitment
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound forward signed to play at Kentucky over Missouri. He ranked in the top-40 by ranking websites. Upon signing his letter of intent, he praised the program and Calipari to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"Right from the start of the recruiting process (Calipari) told me the truth," Fletcher said. "He told me as a freshman nothing was going to be easy. I liked that."
He also mentioned to the Post-Dispatch potentially leaving the school after one season to join the NBA. Fletcher is 6-for-11 from the field, including 1-for-4 from 3-point range, with 13 rebounds, three assists and two turnovers. His five steals are tied for third on the Wildcats roster behind two players with seven each.
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Today we have a guest on the show!
Scott from Scott's English Success is here to give you his top 3 tips on how to pass the IELTS Exam.
Get to know the test: You need to know all four sections well. The more that you know, the easier it will be to anticipate what's coming. You don't want to be wasting time reading the instructions. You should already know the instructions by taking practice tests. There should be no surprises and nothing unfamiliar in terms of the format of the exam. Get familiar with all of the different question types on each test section. This can't be done overnight. It takes time, effort, and energy. You need to plan ahead and give yourself the time you need to get to know the test well. This will save you money because it's expensive to take this test.
Stick to an exam plan: The students who have a plan and stick to it always do better on the exam. You should have a plan for what you will do every day during your preparation time. You also need solid strategies for each part of the exam. It's important to use strategies so that you feel comfortable and oriented when you are in any part of the exam.
* Bonus tip! You need to have a large vocabulary. If you understand more words on the exam you won't have to slow down to try to understand words as they come up on the IELTS Reading or the IELTS Listening test.
Don't just learn the definitions of words. You need to know how to use the words and in what contexts. Practice them with a native speaking partner before your exam.
Spend a good chunk of your study time focusing on vocabulary for more confidence and speed on the exam.
Scott Jennings is an IELTS professional who has been in the IELTS field for ten years. He has prepared thousands of students for the IELTS Exam. Scott is based on the Gold Coast in Australia.
Scott is the founder and creator of Scott's English Success.
What are your thoughts on today's episode?
Which tips will you implement into your IELTS study routine?