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'Home Work' hosts say they are 'not OK' after show was pulled from Magnolia Network
"We have effectively lost it all," Candis Meredith said in a series of emotional videos posted days after her and her husband's show was pulled from Magnolia Network.
Andrew and Candis Meredith / Instagram
Jan. 12, 2022, 11:14 PM UTC / Updated Jan. 14, 2022, 4:21 AM UTC
By Kerry Breen
"Home Work" hosts Candis and Andy Meredith released a series of responses Wednesday after several Utah homeowners shared stories of "nightmare" renovations by the couple for their show. The show was on Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Network until it was pulled last week.
On Thursday, Jan. 6, homeowners Aubry Bennion and Teisha and Jeff Hawley wrote lengthy Instagram posts about their experiences working with the Merediths, alleging renovation issues like ballooning budgets, workmanship that needed to be repaired by outside contractors and other difficulties. Vienna and Robert Goates, another couple who was set to have their home renovated by the Merediths, told TODAY that they lost tens of thousands of dollars to the hosts, who are in the process of paying them back.
In an interview with TODAY last week, the Merediths said they outsourced the bulk of the renovation work to a general contractor and were only consulting on the projects. At the time, they said they would not be making further statements, but said that they did have records to disprove the claims made by Bennion and the Hawleys. (The Merediths confirmed that they do in fact owe money to the Goates family.)
However, on Wednesday afternoon, the couple shared a series of posts on Instagram where they responded to the allegations from the Goates, the Hawleys and Bennion.
"We are responding in the only way we know how to protect our family and we haven't had a lot of time to prepare … but we hope that this can add context to the public opinion that is being made," Candis told TODAY in a text message before sharing her Instagram posts.
"We do not believe in bullying online, we feel like this attack was particularly calculated for the day before the network launch and we are hopeful that this can allow the narrative to continue on a more equal playing field without malicious intent."
The Merediths began their Instagram series Wednesday by emphasizing that they believed the claims from the affected families were "calculated" to "hurt (them) the most" because the publication of the claims aligned with the launch of Magnolia Network, where "Home Work" would have aired. Shortly after the claims were shared on social media, "Home Work" was pulled from the network.
"If you have invested in every detail of the other stories of those involved, we hope you will watch this in its entirely," wrote the Merediths in one of eight posts, along with a 25-minute video.
The couple repeated claims that they had already told TODAY, such as that they serve as a go-between for licensed general contractors and are "held as the only responsible party" when things go awry. The couple continues to "adamantly deny" allegations of scamming, theft or lies.
"(Aubry Bennion) has made false claims and is purposely trying to take anything she can from us. This is apparent in the way she has launched this attack two years later instead of mediation/suit," the Merediths wrote in one Instagram post. "(Jeff and Teisha Hawley) have also not contacted us in over a year and a half and have decided to go public along with Aubry."
While several families have spoken out about their negative experiences, one woman whose home was featured on "Home Work" shared her positive renovation with the Merediths on Instagram last week.
"Many of you know that I had to wait longer than I would have liked for my reading cottage to get finished, but ultimately I love what they did and would have done it all over again," wrote @hotcocoareads, identified on Instagram as Jeana. "I don't think their intentions were to hurt or steal from anyone, but they simply couldn't take on all the projects they were trying to."
Response to Aubry Bennion
Homeowner Aubry Bennion, a project manager in Bountiful, Utah, told TODAY on Jan. 6 that in 2019, she and the Merediths agreed to an initial budget of $25,000 to renovate her kitchen and a completion time of three weeks. She said she became concerned when she could not get detailed expense estimates from the Merediths. Work on the project was also slow, she said, with contractors frequently missing appointments, and she alleged that she was often not able to contact Candis. Bennion also said she noticed escalating issues in her home, especially as new entrances were suggested, a deck was installed and her backyard was leveled.
Bennion told TODAY that late in the process, she was told that her renovation now cost $40,000. Bennion told TODAY that she said she made it clear to Candis that she couldn't pay for any more work.
"I said, 'Tear it out. Tear it out and take it back,'" Bennion recalled. "This is not the appropriate time to tell me that's what you've already (spent.) You've had times to tell me, I've been begging you to talk to me and you haven't."
Bennion said that the renovation continued, and Candis confirmed in one of their Instagram posts Wednesday that the couple put $32,000 of their own money into Bennion's kitchen renovation. Candis told TODAY that she "wanted to do a good job for" Bennion.
"We have paid our own personal funds on every client project for our show and did not charge anything for the hundreds of hours we put into the projects," the Merediths wrote in one post.
"We figured because (Bennion) knew that we paid $32,000 for her to have a finished kitchen, any differences we may have had during the process were chalked up to very expensive lessons learned by us," the Merediths said in another.
The Merediths wrote that they had been in contact with Bennion until after the reveal had been filmed, noting that they spoke with her on March 12, 2019, to discuss anything she still wanted done in the space.
The Merediths also shared a video of Bennion seeing her kitchen revealed on Feb. 20, 2019. The Merediths said that they believed Bennion was satisfied with the work, due to her reaction. Bennion wrote on Instagram that during the reveal, she "feigned excitement while I dreamed the moment they'd leave my house and never come back."
"We know there were misunderstandings and hard discussions along the way but we were absolutely given the impression that, final payment of any kind from Aubry withstanding, we had resolved those issues," the Merediths wrote. "We did ask to sit down and go through all final spend, fully planning on not recovering the full $32,000 we had spent, but at least making a compromise together to cover any of those miscommunications. When we asked on this day, she told us her dad would reach out. We never heard from him whatsoever."
The Merediths did not respond to Bennion's claims about the workmanship on the renovation, such as her allegations about the backyard being leveled incorrectly and her floors being improperly sealed after installation. Bennion told TODAY that she had to pay about $18,000 to have the backyard repaired after the show.
Bennion did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TODAY Wednesday.
Response to Teisha and Jeff Hawley
When the Hawleys began working with the Merediths in 2019, they set a budget of $45,000, which included some things they would purchase themselves. The Merediths wrote that the "scope changed mutually," though on Jan. 6, Teisha told TODAY that Candis had suggested a more expanded renovation and reassured them that it would remain within budget.
"It sounded so wonderful. But I also was like, 'I don't know, I don't think we can afford it.' I was like 'Can you really do that?' on tape," Teisha said. "And (Candis) was like, 'I know all the secrets ... I've never gone over-budget on anything.'"
Throughout the process, the Hawleys said they were unable to get a fixed budget or breakdown of costs, despite multiple requests.
On Instagram Wednesday, the Merediths wrote that they "could have done a better job explaining that finishes would be of a different caliber if the space tripled in size." The couple wrote that issues with the Hawleys began during the demolition phase, when they expressed concern with the renovation so far.
Like Bennion, the Hawleys say they were promised a finished project in a matter of weeks, and the family decided to stay in their home with their three children during the renovation process. Teisha told TODAY that living there during a demolition process that stretched on for weeks longer than intended had a negative impact on herself and her children.
The Hawleys and the Merediths both confirmed that the two parties had a meeting in Jan. 2020, where the Hawleys allege they were told that they needed to double their budget to complete the renovation. The Merediths wrote that at that meeting, the Hawleys were presented with a budget spreadsheet that showed different price points for the renovation. Candis told TODAY that she spent "$10,000" on the Hawley renovation.
"It had a column that was within budget (we would cover $5,000), one with more of the items they mentioned for $57,000 they wanted and a third column with "hopes and dreams" for $79,000 After that difficult conversation, Teisha herself adjusted the budget to reflect $64,698," wrote the Merediths.
The Hawleys told TODAY that they "considered" raising their budget by $20,000, which would have led to the number that the Merediths shared in their Instagram post, but decided it was too risky. Instead, they quit the show and had the work finished by a family friend.
"In my head, it was like, 'We're already stretched. If we stretch that far, we're going to be stretched beyond what I felt we could repair,'" Jeff recalled. "For us to stretch that much further, we would have just been beyond a point where we could actually return and fix this and not be just hostages in our house."
The Merediths confirmed in a post that Jeff "took the project over," although they said it happened after the designers declined to sign an agreement that required countertops to be installed by Friday, something that the Merediths said was out of their control since the installer had "repeatedly cancelled" appointments. The Merediths did not respond to the Hawley claims of shoddy worksmanship, including poorly placed floors.
The Hawleys told TODAY that a family friend completed their renovation for $25,000, noting that the cost was "deeply discounted."
TODAY reached out to the couple to respond to the Instagram posts make by the Merediths Wednesday but they were not immediately available for comment.
Response to Vienna and Robert Goates
Vienna and Robert Goates told TODAY that they sent the Merediths a $50,000 down payment for their $100,000 renovation, but the project never began.
"We want everyone reading this to know that the Goates family do not deserve anything that has happened to them. We were all very excited to create a beautiful addition together," the Merediths wrote.
On Instagram, the Merediths confirmed that they do owe money to the Goates family, and last week told TODAY that the Goates claims were "true." TODAY reviewed a judgement, signed by Candis, that confirmed that as of Sept. 30, 2021, the Merediths owed the Goates family $39,537.94.
On Instagram, the Merediths said that the money was given to a general contractor, who was first unable to complete work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the delays stretched on, the Goates family asked for their money back, and the Merediths said that the contractor told them he "could not return the funds." Candis also said in a Instagram video Wednesday that she would not identify the contractor.
"We were absolutely panicked and after trying and trying to get that deposit back, it was very apparent that there was no way whatsoever to recover that," the Merediths wrote.
"We personally took on the debt and also agreed to pay all interest accrued and lawyer fees with a confession of judgement so the Goates would not be out any of their own money ... We wholly agree it has taken too long to get their principal and fees back to them, but we have paid about $14,000 to date and will continue to pay until it is paid in full. We care deeply about the Goates and we are taking this responsibility seriously."
Candis said in a video that the allegations were making it more difficult to make payments to the Goates family.
"All of my income has been cut off. I hope we can pay them soon," she said. "It has taken too long and I admit that."
Emotional response to allegations
In a final, emotional message, Candis said that her family has been impacted by the allegations. She and Andy share seven children, who she said are "being bullied at school" and that they pulled their daughter out of public school because they didn't feel she was safe.
"We are not OK," Candis said.
"We have received death threats, our home is under police surveillance for our safety, and these comments and judgments of us, stating that we are liars, thieves and con artists are so extremely hurtful and based on one narrative amplified by others who were not part of any of these situations," the Merediths wrote.
"We have effectively lost it all," Candis said in an Instagram video. "And I don't know what the future is."
Update 1/13/2022: Magnolia Network announced that it would return to airing "Home Work." TODAY wrote about the announcement here.
Kerry Breen
Kerry Breen is a reporter and associate editor for TODAY.com, where she reports on health news, pop culture and more. She holds a master's degree in journalism from New York University.


Libra has officially become the exclusive distributor for TongWei in the Benelux. TongWei is the largest solar cell manufacturer in the world. They now make 12GW, but the production will increase to 20GW.
The shingled cell technology is a new patented technology that has been incorporated into the latest solar panels from TW Solar to enable much higher power per panel. Currently, up to 335Wp with white back sheet and 330Wp as Full Black. These solar panels are now exclusively available at Libra Energy. Libra Energy also supplies the 60 cell Mono Perc modules (300 / 305Wp) from TongWei. During the Solar Solutions Int. trade show, the deal is sealed. Libra Energy will sell around 150 MW TongWei modules in 2019.
Order Online Read more here.


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El puente Old Wye (nombre original en inglés: Old Wye Bridge o Town Bridge), también conocido históricamente como puente de Chepstow, cruza el río Wye entre Monmouthshire en Gales y Gloucestershire en Inglaterra, cerca del castillo de Chepstow. Aunque hubo puentes de madera anteriores en este lugar desde la época de los normandos, el puente de carretera actual fue construido en fundición de hierro en 1816 durante el período de regencia, por John Rastrick de Bridgnorth, quien modificó en gran medida el proyecto original de John Rennie.

El puente cruza un río con una de las carreras de marea más altss del mundo. Formaba parte de la carretera principal A48 entre Newport y Gloucester hasta 1988, cuando se abrió un nuevo puente río abajo junto al puente ferroviario de Chepstow. El puente de carretera ahora transporta tráfico local entre Chepstow y Tutshill. Es un monumento catalogado de Grado I.

Estructuras anteriores
Antes del período romano en Gales, el cruce de Wye más alejado río abajo estaba en Tintern. Los romanos construyeron un cruce 1 km aguas arriba del puente actual en Chepstow, y se cree que continuó en uso durante siglos a partir de entonces. Había un pequeño hospital y una capilla dedicada a David de Gales en el lado del puente de Gloucestershire, que se describió como arruinado ya en 1573. Algunos restos del puente romano fueron descubiertos en 1911 por el Dr. Orville Ward Owen durante sus excavaciones en el lecho del río.

Después de que los normandos construyeran un castillo en Chepstow (entonces conocido como Striguil), se construyó un puente de madera a través del río en o cerca de su emplazamiento actual. Los primeros registros de un puente en Chepstow datan de 1228. Se sabe que el puente de madera ha sido reemplazado varias veces. La reconstrucción se vio dificultada por la amplitud de la marea, lo que requirió diez pilas de madera de , quizás las más altas del país en ese momento. Los registros de 1399 lo describen como "débil y ruinoso y a punto de perderse", y menos de treinta años después se describió un nuevo puente construido en 1546 como "caído en gran ruina y decadencia y con probabilidades de caerse". En 1576, se aprobó una ley (la primera en hacer referencia específica a Monmouthshire) que responsabilizaba a Gloucestershire y Monmouthshire de la reparación de sus respectivas mitades, y también se conservan registros de los pagos realizados por las parroquias de Gloucestershire para ayudar a mantener el puente hasta el siglo XIX.

El descuido continuó, sin embargo, y en 1605 se dijo que el puente estaba nuevamente "roto, caído y bastante arrastrado por la Corriente... por lo que dicho cruce está totalmente inutilizado..." Bajo una nueva legislación se acordó que el puente se mantendría mediante un impuesto especial conocido como "dinero del puente", que deberían soportar los residentes de los dos condados. Durante los siguientes dos siglos, cada condado nombró a un topógrafo responsable de cada extremo del puente. Aparte de un pilar de piedra en el centro, el puente fue construido completamente de madera. La estructura fue destruida deliberadamente por las tropas realistas durante la guerra civil en 1644, siendo reconstruido en 1647. Resultó gravemente dañado por las tormentas en 1703 y nuevamente por la marea alta en 1738, pero fue reparado en ambas ocasiones. William Cole escribió sobre el puente en 1746 que era "el más ligero de Inglaterra y el más alto desde el agua". Una sugerencia en 1768 de que los dos condados deberían compartir el costo de construir un nuevo puente fracasó porque Monmouthshire (un condado más pequeño y menos próspero que Gloucestershire) no consideró razonable que debiera pagar la mitad del costo. Sin embargo, en 1785, los pilares de madera del lado de Monmouthshire se reconstruyeron como cuatro arcos de piedra, aunque la mitad de Gloucestershire siguió siendo de madera hasta 1815.

El puente de 1816

En 1810, se volvió a declarar que el puente estaba "en descomposición" y era peligroso, de forma que los magistrados locales encargaron al ingeniero John Rennie, proyectista del puente de Waterloo en Londres, que diseñara un nuevo puente. Los diseños de Rennie, con un costo estimado de 41.890 libras (equivalentes a  £ en ), se consideraron demasiado caros, pero finalmente se retomó la propuesta después de que un barco chocara con el puente de madera en 1812, derribándolo parcialmente y causando seis fallecidos. La primera piedra del nuevo puente se colocó el 13 de abril de 1813.En 1814, el contrato para construir el puente se otorgó a la firma Hazeldine, Rastrick & Co. de Bridgnorth, a un costo de 17.850 libras esterlinas, menos de la mitad del costo estimado por Rennie.

El puente fue diseñado por John Rastrick, en un estilo aparentemente inspirado en el trabajo de Thomas Telford. Comprendía cinco arcos de hierro fundido elaborado en Bridgnorth, con un tramo central de , tramos intermedios de  y tramos exteriores de . El puente fue inaugurado con una elaborada ceremonia el 24 de julio de 1816.

Es el puente vial de arco de hierro más grande que queda del primer medio siglo de construcción de hierro y acero, antes de la introducción de la innovación tecnológica de los puentes colgantes.El historiador de la arquitectura John Newman lo describe como "una composición supremamente elegante de cinco arcos de celosía segmentados poco profundos que llevan la calzada suavemente curvada... Esta superestructura descansa sobre pilares cónicos tranquilizadoramente fuertes de sillería cuadrada...". Unos herrajes ornamentales situados en el puente marcan el punto límite entre los condados de Gloucester y Monmouth. Las farolas de hierro fundido se compraron al ayuntamiento de Sheffield y se instalaron en 1969. El puente se convirtió en un elemento catalogado de Grado I el 24 de marzo de 1975.

Cuando formaba parte de la carretera principal entre Gloucester y Gales del Sur, el puente se convirtió en un cuello de botella notorio y se mejoró varias veces, siendo reforzado por primera vez en 1889, y acometiéndose importantes reparaciones estructurales en 1979.Fue reemplazado, excepto para el tráfico local, por el puente de la carretera A48 inaugurado en enero de 1988.

El puente ahora transporta el tráfico local en la carretera secundaria que conecta Chepstow y Tutshill, y está controlado por semáforos en cada extremo. Estuvo cerrado al tráfico de vehículos durante varios meses en 2015, por trabajos de mantenimiento con ocasión de la celebración del bicentenario del puente en julio de 2016. Un miembro del grupo que coordinó los arreglos de conmemoración describió el puente como "el mejor puente de arco de la Regencia georgiana en Gran Bretaña y el mundo", y sugirió que debería proponerse como Patrimonio de la Humanidad. Las celebraciones del bicentenario incluyeron una recreación de la ceremonia de apertura original, con discursos de líderes cívicos locales y de Sir John Armitt, presidente de la Institución de Ingenieros Civiles.

Véase también
 Anexo:Cruces del río Wye

Imágenes

Referencias

Enlaces externos

Puentes inaugurados en 1816
Puentes de hierro
Puentes del Reino Unido del siglo XIX
Edificios listados de Grado I de Inglaterra
Puentes arco

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa is one of the founders of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), which was established in 1989 with leading Buddhists. Besides, he is the initiator of a number of social, humanitarian, ecological and spiritual movements.
Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa was educated in Bangkok at the University of Wales, Lampeter, where he is now an honorary fellow in Buddhism. Soon after his return to Thailand, he directed his energies towards the development of sustainable models for a rapidly changing economic and social environment. In 1963, Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa founded and edited the Social Science Review – a journal that became the most influential intellectual outlet in the country. It was instrumental in awakening student awareness that eventually led to the overthrow of the military regime in 1973.
Mr. Sivaraksa's commitment to peace was strengthened during the military coup in 1976 when he was forced into exile for two years. Since then he has been championing non-violence in war-torn and repressed countries. His devotion to peace and non-violence[ is demonstrated by his leadership and membership in international peace organization like Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Peace Brigade International and Gandhi Peace Foundation. He is councillor of the World Future Council.


More than 50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy made the bold pledge that within a decade, we would go to the moon. At the time, most American rockets had either blown up on the launch pad or meekly waivered off course. Kennedy's pledge seemed foolhardy.
When Kennedy said America would go to the moon, scientists and engineers did not focus on what was impossible. They instead began figuring our how to build what no one except science fiction novelists had even imagined.
Today, our scientists again are reaching for the stars as they begin the incredible task of mapping the human brain to unlock the secrets of devastating neurological diseases, a job certainly of the magnitude of going to the moon.
The Obama administration has called for national commitments to make that map a reality within a decade.
To be fair, Kennedy had an ally in his reach for the stars: He had the Russians. Much of the reason that Americans were willing to take on that massive program was the real fear that the Russians were going to get to the moon first.
America no longer has a convenient boogeyman like the Russians, but brain mapping offers more than a glimmer of hope to those who have loved ones trapped by brain disorders and deteriorations about which medical science can do very little. It also offers hope to a nation whose population is aging yet needs to pare down the costs of health care.
This time the race is with terrifying enemies such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and traumatic brain injury. In a time of small government and stingy budgets, pursuing such a massive project may seem foolhardy, but it's a challenge worth taking on.


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search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsSouth Atlantic Quarterly
About South Atlantic Quarterly
Bruno Bosteels
Jodi Dean
Research Article|October 01 2014
Can Dialectics Break Brics?
Joshua Clover
Aaron Benanav
South Atlantic Quarterly (2014) 113 (4): 743-759.
Joshua Clover, Aaron Benanav; Can Dialectics Break Brics?. South Atlantic Quarterly 1 October 2014; 113 (4): 743–759. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-2803624
Certain currents within communist thought have emphasized a return to the party form as a model of organization for communist struggle. This essay takes the basic historical materialist position that this demand must be evaluated not according to normative claims about the party's desirability as a political form but according to its possibility within the concrete situation of potentially revolutionary classes. We inquire into the political economy of revolutionary struggle rather than abstracted political theory—particularly the circumstance that afforded the party form in the twentieth century, the possibility for a specific fraction of labor to stand in place of the proletariat as a whole and to stage its organization from within the material structure of the current labor processes, implementing a program for the seizure of state power and productive means. Finding the conditions that previously made the party form possible to be absent in the postindustrial capitalist core, we assess the political-economic data pointing toward whether such conditions might be present in emerging economies and thus whether these regions might be more conducive to such organizational forms. The available data persuade us against this likelihood and suggest that the kinds of gains available historically to such party formations are no longer on the table—and thus that communist struggle will emerge from transformed conditions, not from any sense of an ideal organizational model based on material conditions that no longer exist.
© 2014 Duke University Press
Introduction When Ethnography Goes Public
Rancière's Leftism, Or, Politics and Its Discontents
The Revolution Abandoned
"I Am We" The Demise of the Black Panther Party, 1977–1982

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Allen Gallery
http://www.allengalleryonline.com
Art Gallery in New York, United States.
Allen Gallery proudly represents and exhibits the work of contemporary international artists that specialize in technique based work. The gallery is located in New York 's Chelsea contemporary art district, with an emphasis in site-specific work.
Site-specific work for the gallery artists has included exhibitions in the last year: Chelsea Art Museum, Chelsea, Franklin Reihlman Gallery, Upper East Side, NY, ROOM, Tribeca, Sylvester, Amagansett, Brunschwig Fils, New York/Philadelphia, Biggs Powell, Memphis, Hamlett Dobbin's Material Gallery, Memphis and Martin Gallery, New Orleans during Prospect 1.
Southern entrepreneur and Allen Gallery director, Michel Allen, has been curating exhibitions in New York since 2000. Originally launching her career in New York in Fall of 1999, Ms. Allen was recruited to work in sales at artnet.com. Soon thereafter, completed a Masters in Art Management and Business Administration from New York University, where she also received a certificate in appraisals from NYU. Later was then recruited to launch ART+AUCTION's artinfo.com and worked at Sotheby's in trust and estates. While working in art publishing, Michel was consulting and represented several artists, in which she works with today.
Allen Projects is an international gallery with a local focus. We have a passion for Memphis and Delta-region artists. Our mission is to support the growth of Memphis artists through local shows as well as shows at the gallery in New York and travelling exhibitions.
Allen Projects strongly support and are members of Powerhouse, Memphis and The Bronx Museum.
The director has been actively supporting Art In General since 2002.


Very few of you would argue against the seemingly irreversible trend for digital technologies and applications to reinvent and shape the way we work; the way we live our lives and the way we deliver public services.
The reality is, we can't ignore it. We are being challenged daily to deliver better services, despite limited money and resources. Getting there requires departments to think and behave differently. But success will never be achieved through a one-off transformation programme.
If you are coming to the end of a long-term contract with a large Systems Integrator, or if you are wanting to use digital technologies to help deliver better services for less, here are our top five areas to focus on.
Every department will be starting their journey from a different place and with differing levels of digital maturity. We have learnt that situational awareness is a critical step in any transformation journey, but one that is often neglected.
If you don't understand where you are, you can't begin to plan how you are going to get to where you want to go. This is why we co-create visual maps of how users, processes and technology components interact to meet the organisation's needs. It is these maps which help the department understand the environment in which it is operating and which will highlight how opportunities for strategic change may be exploited.
Every department needs a clear articulation of its vision; one that describes its desired future. To spell this out is to provide an aspirational destination for the organisation to head towards. Without clarity of vision and purpose, ambiguities are more likely to arise on the journey, leading to expensive changes of direction and increasing the time it takes to deliver.
Vision statements must be co-developed by listening to the views of those within an organisation, not simply imposed from the top without consultation. Done well, they will unite key stakeholders and provide a clear governance framework to support transformation delivery.
At the heart of all transformations are people, not technology. Successful transformation starts by understanding user needs, pain points, user journeys and personas. It requires a service design approach to ensure that the services being designed meet those user needs. This involves working collaboratively across disciplines, engaging users and citizens to define, develop and embed transformation.
Too often, we see tools, systems and programmes being implemented without conducting sufficient user research, also known as 'technology-led change'. This results in services which aren't fit for purpose and which causes users to disengage from the service as their needs have not been met. In short, user research is essential. It crystallises the understanding around what users need to be able to do their jobs more easily or use a service with less effort. It means we are able to deliver more fundamental transformation by re-imagining services, rather than salami slicing existing services and cutting them to the bone.
The quickest route to failure is to try and fit new technologies to existing ways of working. In the long-term, it simply doesn't work. True transformation must also address culture, workplace skills, leadership, governance and supplier relationships. It must be able to adapt to changing business requirements and changing user needs.
Having taken a user-centric approach to understanding where the department is and where it is headed, a transformation roadmap helps the department explore the path it needs to take to achieve its vision. They help it understand the way its people, processes, data and technology should combine to deliver value to its users. They inform decisions on where to act and why.
Collaboration is key. We like to call it 'working out loud'. This is vital if transformation isn't just to be 'for Christmas'. It encourages all stakeholders to buy into the transformation plan, creating a culture which adopts digital at its core. It ensures the plan can endure ongoing iteration as circumstances change, whether due to market forces, product availability, organisational vision, performance or changing user needs.
It is through a detailed understanding of the department and its users, combined with a map of how their needs connect with technology, that we are able to work together to create a change in mindset, embedding digital change and transformation. Sometimes the answer will be 'Agile'. Sometimes it won't. But we start on that journey on day one and begin making real differences from the outset.
In a world where departments need to iterate constantly, a more flexible model for investing in technology and skills is needed. A framework that can respond to a more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. Gone are the days of large outsourcing contracts, often single vendor arrangements, lasting from five to ten years. They no longer represent value for money and they constrain departments from achieving their visions.
Using proven partners and 'as a service' type models, which provide rapid access to skilled resources and the ability to scale according to the roadmap, can be a powerful way of achieving required outcomes. They allow departments to benefit from knowledge transfer in key skills like user research and analysis, agile project management and financial modelling. They avoid departments having to risk large investments in specialist in-house skills that may become irrelevant. If you hire a group of .NET developers, then they'll see everything as a .NET development problem, whether that's the right solution or not.
As a digital and business transformation business, we have helped many departments, agencies and local authorities accelerate their digital transformation journeys by taking a user-centred approach to transformation and using the department's vision and values to guide it.
Most often, success stems from leadership teams who are prepared to question the status quo. From leaders who want to reimagine service delivery and ways of working. From leaders who want to challenge target operating models that are out-of-date as soon as they are implemented.
If you want to understand better where you are on your own journey, you can find us at rainmaker.solutions.


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OPINION: 400 years ago they came in chains
February 27, 2019 Opinions Editor Opinion, Opinions, Opinions 0
Brianna Scott, Opinions Editor
This month marks 400 years since the first slaves were brought to North America. Kidnapped from their homes, forced onto boats, their destiny unknown — the arrival of these slaves to Virginia in 1619 left an imprint on our society forever.
Some historians identify this as the beginning of slavery in the U.S., but I'm not here to give you a history lesson. I'm here to discuss what this 400-year anniversary means to me.
It might seem quite selfish to be thinking about myself, but it's more so about my own ancestry. I'm originally from Alabama; yes, sweet home Alabama. It's where my parents were born and raised.
I know my family's roots are buried in slavery. There's no getting around that when you're black and from Alabama. Where I'm from, there are beautiful white antebellum houses surrounding my parents' modest childhood country homes.
When we go back to visit Lowndes County, Alabama, there are fields and fields of crops — probably the same fields that grew cotton for slaves to pick. There's an old pool near my dad's childhood home that was for black people only and a shed right next to my dad's childhood home where his mom went to school.
My mom's father built the first black well in his area. Old photos show my grandparents voting for the first time. Historic sites litter my hometown and Confederate flags display the deep-seeded delusions of racist rednecks.
I moved to Virginia pretty early in my life, so I didn't grow up in Alabama. But moving from one slave state to another isn't any better.
I currently live in Jackson Ward, which used to be called Black Wall Street. Now, it's an empty shell of what it used to be; gentrification swept away the last remnants of its history.
Shockoe Bottom was the second-busiest slave-trading site in the country before the Civil War. Now, it's a booming neighborhood with restaurants, shops, nightclubs, art galleries and $1,000 one-bedroom apartments.
Shockoe Bottom was named one of 11 most endangered historic places in the U.S. in 2014 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
It's strange knowing I'm walking, standing and sitting where the dehumanization of my people happened. Where families were ripped apart. Black bodies sold, whipped and hung from trees — all those things happened right where we live.
I moved from the Chesapeake suburbs to Richmond for college. Going to school in the former capital of the Confederacy opened my eyes.
You see, I was a starry-eyed girl with democratic blue braids when the 2016 presidential election sparked my passion for activism. I felt something ignite inside me, something in my head telling me that I needed to act. Everyone knows what I'm talking about: Donald Trump. President Trump didn't create the racial problems in America, but he embodies white supremacy — the ideology that enslaved my people.
I believe my ancestors would be pained in a bittersweet way by the current state of the U.S. I know my grandparents are. For all the progress we've made — and we've made so much — it can seem so fruitless when thinking about issues that continue to plague the black community, from police brutality to mass incarceration to modern-day disenfranchisement.
The first slaves might have been brought to what is now the U.S. 400 years ago, but slavery's painful effects lasted far longer. The Jim Crow era was 142 years ago. Brown v. Board of Education was only 65 years ago. It was only 54 years ago that Malcolm X was assassinated and 51 that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.
While Brown v. Board banned public school segregation, we know that segregation was happening illegally. My grandparents lived through that. My grandparents lived the civil rights movement — they sat at the back of the bus, they walked to work in protest. My dad's parents are still alive, and they remember all of it. They remember the deaths of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. People cannot argue that this was so long ago and we should forget it when people can still recall these events and talk about their lasting impact.
America has yet to reconcile its dark past with slavery and the oppression of black people.
You can't say we've moved on as a country or that we live in a post-racial society when the Unite the Right rally happened less than two years ago. The two-day white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville resulted in three people killed and more than 30 injured.
People continue to preach the gospel of white supremacy in 2019 that colonizers preached in the 18th and 19th centuries.
America looks at slavery as a mistake. But enslaving, beating, raping, lynching, segregating and dehumanizing thousands of black people for years was not a mistake. It was a horrific choice that was made. This country has to take responsibility for that choice because it has affected the black population ever since.
Four hundred years ago, the first slaves were brought to Virginia and their fight began. It's heartbreaking to think about what my ancestors went through to gain their freedom.
My people were supposed to get 40 acres and a mule after slavery ended, but that never happened. That promise was below the bare minimum of what they deserved and it's insulting. What they received instead was years and years of fighting to prove their humanity and rights to a group of people who never saw them as anything but property. And we're still fighting today, just for different reasons.
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Shelttilaumamme muodostuu tällä hetkellä soopeleista Nepparista, Naksusta, Noomista, Rusinasta, Murusta, Nemosta, Neelasta sekä tricolour-uroksesta Rangerista.
Tarkempaa infoa saat kustakin koirasta sen omalta sivulta.
I have eight shelties at this stage. Three males; sables Nacho and Nemo and a tricolour Ranger and five females; sables Neppari and Noomi who are already retired from breeding. Latest additions to our team are Noomi & Ranger's pups Rusina, sable girl Muru from Golden Rose kennels and Noomi's daughter Neela from her last litter.
You can find more information about my shelties from their own pages.


Brennero motorway (A22) until Bressanone, then 40 km on state road until San Vigilio di Marebbe. Pay attention at San Lorenzo di Sebato and Longega forkings.
Railway and bus connections to San Vigilio di Marebbe: Rome – Bologna- Verona – Fortezza (not always) – Vandoies – Casteldarne – Brunico. Direct bus line from Brunico.
Seasonally, direct railway line Rome – Brunico.
Tank to air-liner from/to Bolzano, San Vigilio di Marebbe is now reachable in a moment. Bolzano airport is operating since 1999. From here air-liners to Rome – Frankfort – Linz – Vienna.


text: furcatus, Aphanius Teimori [A.], Esmaeili [H. R.], Erpenbeck [D.] & Reichenbacher [B.] 2014:329, Figs. 2a-b, 3, 4a-d, 5a-e, 6a [Zoologischer Anzeiger v. 253; ref. 33203] Shur River, along road Bandar Abbas - Minab, 20 km east of Bandar Abbas, Hormuzgan Province, Iran, 27°19'37.6''N, 56°28'10.2''E, altitude 2 meters. Holotype: ZM-CBSU 225. Paratypes: ZM-CBSU (14). Appeared in the key of Gholami et al. 2013:136 [ref. 33004] without a description. •Valid as Aphanius furcatus Teimori, Esmaeili, Erpenbeck & Reichenbacher 2014 -- (Jouladeh-Roudbar et al. 2015:893 [ref. 34062], Teimori et al. 2015:90 [ref. 34095], Esmaeili et al. 2015:122 [ref. 35030], Esmaeili et al. 2017:90 [ref. 35254], Freyhof et al. 2017:561 [ref. 35649], Esmaeili et al. 2018:72 [ref. 36089], Esmaeili et al. 2018:5 [ref. 36738], Kärst et al. 2020:100 [ref. 38165]). •Valid as Aphaniops furcatus (Teimori, Esmaeili, Erpenbeck & Reichenbacher 2014) -- (Charmpila et al. 2020:[2] [ref. 37697], Esmaeili et al. 2020:5 [ref. 37446], Freyhof & Yoğurtçuoğlu 2020:428 [ref. 37656]). Current status: Valid as Aphaniops furcatus (Teimori, Esmaeili, Erpenbeck & Reichenbacher 2014). Aphaniidae. Distribution: Middle East: Salty rivers and hot sulphuric springs, Hormuz and Makran basins (Hormuzgan and Fars, southern Iran). Habitat: freshwater, brackish.


text:
Diadasia albovestita är en biart som beskrevs av Léon Abel Provancher 1896. Diadasia albovestita ingår i släktet Diadasia och familjen långtungebin. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Långtungebin
albovestita


I'm not used to doing big projects. Most of my projects are either a one-time set of articles or a recurring set of articles. It's easy to quote those since I do them all the time. Recurring payments are either set up on an automatic subscription or invoiced weekly. When I do a one-time set of articles, I ask for an upfront deposit and the balance due on my deadline.
So when I was contacted last fall to do an ebook/ecourse for a client, I was a little stumped on how to set the payment terms. I knew how much to quote for the project – my hourly rate x the number of hours I expected to spend on the project. I also knew to get an upfront deposit – no way I could work on something that big without getting a deposit – and to get regular payments throughout the project.
The client wanted the project finished ASAP, so I thought three equal payments would be sufficient – one payment upfront, one midway through the project, and one due at project completion. The problem was we somehow negotiated that the project was "complete" when the client was satisfied with the finished product. Doh!
Since I emailed a final draft two months ago and followed up with the negotiated number of revisions, the client's priorities have shifted elsewhere and the project is not completely finished. I didn't see that coming. As a business owner, I should have known that things happen, projects get sidelined, review and edit rounds take longer than expected and most of all payment due dates are not subjective.
Payment due dates are tangible: January 15, 2011, every Monday, 14 days after the final product is delivered, etc. I might as well have said, "You can pay me whenever you feel like it." Lesson learned: set firm payment due dates. I do it on short-term projects, I should do it on long-term projects, too.
There's a happy ending. I emailed the client several days ago and gently nudged to close the project and settle the balance. The next day the client wired the final payment. Whew!
Not only include firm payment dates, but also a revision policy. Spell out how many are included. If there are more than that, specify how and when you get paid for them.
Glad you got your money in the end!


The state of Ohio has excluded people from receiving Medicaid by claiming that spouses are not family members—a position that a federal appeals court has rejected.
Justices with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Cincinnati ruled in favor of two plaintiffs, George Hart and Joe Turner, who were denied Medicaid assistance because the state insisted they didn't have enough family members in their household to meet the income eligibility. Hart and Turner live with their respective wives whom the state's Medicaid department said weren't family members.
The two men, who are on Medicare, won their fight after a three-judge panel concluded the exclusion of spouses for Medicaid eligibility was unreasonable.
Kethledge further wrote: "Reasonable people might disagree, as a matter of ordinary usage, as to whether the term 'family' should include adult children who live with their parents, or a 17-year-old child who does not, or nieces and nephews who live with their aunts and uncles." But, he added, there was no ambiguity when it comes to an individual's husband or wife being a member of their family, according to Courthouse News Service.
The case has been sent back to the district court and now the plaintiffs' attorney plans to have the case certified as a class action covering between 80,000 and 100,000 members. "To say an individual who is a family of two or four should be denied that benefit when a larger income is needed to support a larger family is nonsensical," Miriam Sheline, the attorney for Hart and Turner, told the Toledo Blade.
Am I reading this article correctly? If a spouse who lives with you in your shared house is not "family," then just who else would be? Trying to save money meant to improve the health of poor people, regardless of why they are poor, is truly low. Did this silly interpretation that a spouse is not "family" come from state bureaucrats or from the Kasich Administration on down? Beyond the Court writing this decision, it seems like some form of punishment for such blatant disregard of Medicaid rules is called for.


On this episode of Radio Free Acton, John Couretas, Director of Communications at Acton, speaks with Aaron Rhodes, a human rights activist based out of Hamburg, Germany, about Aaron's new book "The Debasement of Human Rights." Where does the notion of human rights come from and how can we better defend it? Then Caroline Roberts, Producer of Radio Free Acton, talks to Stephen Smith, Professor of Economics at Hope College, about the new North American trade agreement, the USMCA. They discuss the major differences between the USMCA and NAFTA and the benefits of the new agreement.
Image credit: United Nations Photo/Flickr.com (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Image modified. Not for reuse or redistribution.


Domestic C-sUAS Intelligence Analyst JAST Req 219194 Location Reston VA US Job Category Intelligence Security Clearance TS SCI Clearance Status Must Be Current Job Description What You ll Get to..
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text:
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under the MIT License.

package com.azure.spring.cloud.resourcemanager.implementation.crud;

import com.azure.core.management.exception.ManagementException;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.AzureResourceManager;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.servicebus.models.ServiceBusNamespace;
import com.azure.spring.cloud.core.properties.resource.AzureResourceMetadata;
import org.springframework.lang.NonNull;

/**
 * Resource manager for Service Bus namespace.
 */
public class ServiceBusNamespaceCrud extends AbstractResourceCrud<ServiceBusNamespace, String> {

    public ServiceBusNamespaceCrud(@NonNull AzureResourceManager azureResourceManager,
                                   @NonNull AzureResourceMetadata azureResourceMetadata) {
        super(azureResourceManager, azureResourceMetadata);
    }

    @Override
    String getResourceName(String key) {
        return key;
    }

    @Override
    String getResourceType() {
        return ServiceBusNamespace.class.getSimpleName();
    }

    @Override
    public ServiceBusNamespace internalGet(String namespace) {
        try {
            return this.resourceManager.serviceBusNamespaces().getByResourceGroup(resourceMetadata.getResourceGroup(),
                                                                                namespace);
        } catch (ManagementException e) {
            if (e.getResponse().getStatusCode() == RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND) {
                return null;
            } else {
                throw e;
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public ServiceBusNamespace internalCreate(String namespace) {
        return this.resourceManager.serviceBusNamespaces()
                                   .define(namespace)
                                   .withRegion(this.resourceMetadata.getRegion())
                                   .withExistingResourceGroup(this.resourceMetadata.getResourceGroup())
                                   .create();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


For other people named John Greaves, see John Greaves (disambiguation).
John Greaves (1602 – 8 October 1652) was an English mathematician, astronomer and antiquary.
He was born in Colemore, near Alresford, Hampshire. He was the eldest son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore, and Sarah Greaves. His brothers were Nicholas Greaves, Thomas Greaves and Sir Edward Greaves, physician to Charles II.
His father ran a school for sons of the neighbouring gentry, where Greaves began his education. Aged 15, he went to Balliol College, Oxford between 1617–1621, gaining a B.A. degree. In 1624 he was the first of five newly elected Fellows of Merton College, becoming M.A. in 1628. He began to study astronomy and oriental languages, and especially the works of the ancient eastern astronomers. In 1630 Greaves was chosen professor of geometry at Gresham College, London. Through his predecessor, Peter Turner, he later met archbishop William Laud, the chancellor of Oxford University and Visitor (patron) of Merton College. Laud was keen to make English editions of Greek and Arabic authors, and Greaves' later travels abroad involved collecting manuscripts and books for presentation to his new patron.
Greaves enrolled at University of Leyden in 1633, where he became friends with Jacob Golius, professor of Arabic at Leyden. He enrolled at the University of Padua in 1635 along with George Ent, meeting the Dane Johan Rode (John Rhodius), an expert on ancient weights and measures, who also made a commentary on Celsus. A brief return to England was followed by a second European journey; in 1636 he sailed via Livorno (Leghorn) to Rome, dining with Ent on 5 October at the English College, Rome; he also met William Harvey, who was entertained at the College on the 12th, Gasparo Berti, Lucas Holstenius and Athanasius Kircher. Probably in the same month he met and consulted with the Earl of Arundel's art-collecting agent, William Petty (who dined at the College on 14 October), on the Earl's attempted acquisition of the Obelisk of Domitian, then still lying broken in the Circus of Maxentius. Though 'now it is broken into 5 stones' he measured these and including a sketch of the obelisk as hypothetically repaired in his almanac-notebook (Bodleian Library Savile MS 49,1). Though Arundel paid a 60 crown deposit for the obelisk, pope Urban VIII vetoed its export and it was erected by his successor Innocent X above Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona.
Greaves toured the Catacombs and made drawings of the Pantheon and Pyramid of Cestius. During his stay in Rome he instituted inquiries into the ancient weights and measures that are among the early classics of metrology.
In 1637 he made a journey to the Levant, one (unfulfilled) intention being to fix the latitude of Alexandria where Ptolemy had made his astronomical observations. He sailed from England to Livorno in the company of Edward Pococke; after a brief visit to Rome, he arrived in Istanbul (Constantinople) around April 1638. There he made the acquaintance of the English ambassador Sir Peter Wyche. He procured various manuscripts there, including a copy of Ptolemy's Almagest ("the fairest work I ever saw"). Greaves ended up owning two copies of the Almagest. He was going to have visited the many monastic libraries at Mount Athos, in order to make a catalogue of their MSS and unprinted books. Athos was normally open only to members of the Orthodox church, but thanks to a special dispensation from the Patriarch of Constantinople Cyril Lucaris, Greaves would have had access; but the execution of the patriarch by strangulation in June 1638 for treason against Sultan Murad IV prevented his journey.
Instead, Greaves continued on to Alexandria, where he collected a number of Arabic, Persian and Greek manuscripts. He was an inveterate note-taker, making countless observations in notebooks and on blank pages of other books he bought; he also visited Cairo twice, and made a more accurate survey of the pyramids of Egypt than any traveller who had preceded him. He returned to England in 1640.
On the death of John Bainbridge in 1643, Greaves was appointed as Savilian professor of astronomy and senior reader of the Linacre lecture at Oxford; but he was deprived of his Gresham professorship for having neglected its duties. In 1645 he essayed a reformation of the calendar; but although his plan of omitting the bissextile day (29 February) for the next 40 years was approved by the king, the matter was dropped owing to the turbulent times.
In 1642 Greaves had been elected subwarden of Merton College. Merton was the only Oxford college to side with the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, through an earlier dispute in 1638 between Nathaniel Brent, the Warden of Merton, and Greaves' patron William Laud. Brent had been a hostile witness at Laud's 1644 trial. After Laud was executed on 10 January 1645, Greaves drew up a petition for Brent's removal from office; Brent was deposed by Charles I on 27 January.
However, in 1647 a parliamentary commission (visitation) was set up by Parliament "for the correction of offences, abuses, and disorders" in the University of Oxford. Nathaniel Brent was the president of the visitors. After Thomas Fairfax had captured Oxford for the Parliamentarians in 1648 and Brent had returned from London, Greaves was accused of sequestrating the college's plate and funds for king Charles. Despite a deposition from his brother Thomas, Greaves had lost both his Merton fellowship and his Savilian chair by 9 November 1648. Many of his books and MSS disappeared after his rooms were rifled by soldiers, although his friend John Selden managed to recover some of them. However, Greaves was not actually deprived of the professorship until August 1649. He was succeeded as Savilian Professor of Astronomy in that year by Seth Ward, who ensured that Greaves was paid the arrears (£500) of his salary; Greaves was unlikely to have got his money, since the Savilian professors were paid from the income of lands held in Kent and Essex, which were under control of Parliament (rather than the king). Ward also gave over a considerable amount of his own salary to Greaves.
But Greaves' private fortune more than sufficed for all his wants till his death; he retired to London, married and occupied his leisure writing and editing books and manuscripts. He died in London aged 50, and was buried in the church of St Benet Sherehog, which was destroyed during the Great Fire of London.
Withers, Robert (ed. John Greaves) A Description of the Grand Signour's Seraglio; or Turkish Emperours Court (1653) London: Printed for Jo. Ridley, at the Castle in Fleet-street by Ram-Alley.
Chorasmiae et Mawaralnahrae, etc. (1650). A description of Khwarezm and Mawarannahr (Transoxiana) translated from the Arabic of Abu'l-Fida, with tables of latitude and longitude for the principal towns.
Abulfedae Peninsulam Arabum. This is an edited translation of part of Abu'l-Fida's History.
Lemmata Archimedis, apud Graecos et Latinos iam pridem desiderata, e vetusto codice manuscripto Arabico... This is a translation of part of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's edition of the so-called Middle Books. Greaves' unpublished MS was revised and amended by Samuel Foster and appeared posthumously in 1659.
Foster, Samuel (1659). Miscellanea sive lucubrationes mathematicae. London: printed by R. & W. Leybourn, published by John Twysden.
Greaves, John. The origin and antiquity of our English weights and measures discover'd... (Google books 1745 edition) London: Printed for G. Sawbridge. This book, thrice printed in 1706, 1727 and 1745, discusses Greaves' findings and measurements: but it appears to be the work of another hand.
^ Shalev, Zur (2005). The travel notebooks of John Greaves in Intersections: Yearbook for early modern studies Vol. 5, 2005. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV.
^ a b Birch, Thomas (1737). Miscellaneous works of Mr. John Greaves. London: J. Brindley and C. Corbett. p. i–lxxii. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
^ Edward Chaney, "Roma Britannica and the Cultural Memory of Egypt: Lord Arundel and the Obelisk of Domitian", in Roma Britannica: Art Patronage and Cultural Exchange in Eighteenth-Century Rome, eds. D. Marshall, K. Wolfe and S. Russell, British School at Rome, 2011, pp. 147–70, fig. 11.11.
^ Twells, Leonard (1816). The Lives of Dr. Edward Pocock: the celebrated orientalist, Volume 1. London: Printed for F.C. and J. Rivington, by R. and R. Gilbert. p. 123. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
^ Pope, Walter (1697). The Life of Seth Ward, Lord Bishop of Salisbury. London: Wm. Keeblewhite. pp. 18–21. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
^ Abstracts of probate acts in the Prerogative court of Canterbury (Volume 6). Will proved 19th? October 1652.
^ Smith, Thomas (1707) (in Latin). Vita quorundam eruditissimorum virorum. London: David Mortier, at the sign of Erasmus, p.34.
^ Hogendijk, Jan P. (2008). "Two Beautiful Geometrical Theorems by Abū Sahl Kūhī in a 17th Century Dutch Translation" (PDF). Tārīkh-e 'Elm: Iranian Journal for the History of Science (History of Science Institute of the University of Tehran) 6: 1–36. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
Astrolabe belonging to John Greaves, inscribed by Nicholas Greaves.


Developing a campaign that would inspire expectant mothers to quit smoking.
Hertfordshire County Council recognise the impact smoking during pregnancy can have on a baby's life. The risk of having a miscarriage, damaged respiratory organs and long term health conditions such as diabetes and obesity increases as a result of smoking in pregnancy.
Hertfordshire County Council asked us to develop a campaign that would encourage expectant mothers to quit smoking, as well as partners and close relatives who may expose the mother and baby to second-hand smoke. The campaign aimed to connect with the target audience in a way that would encourage them to access smoking cessation support provided by local stop smoking services.
We developed four different concepts, each with a different angle and visuals but all had the aim of invoking an emotional response from viewers.
We conducted telephone interviews with women who have smoked while pregnant or stopped smoking when they became pregnant to find out which approach communicates the most effectively in encouraging them to stop smoking.
The insights around the visuals, copy and what would create an impact and change their behaviour from the telephone interviews was used to develop the final campaign and brand. We designed print material for this campaign in a way that made the campaign more visible and prominent. The campaign and strength of the Love Your Bump brand made it widely recognizable to NHS organisations and public health departments across the country.


OTSU, SHIGA PREF. - A security firm in a city known as the birthplace of a prominent ninja school is enjoying success by providing guards dressed as the medieval warriors and assassins.
SCC Co., in Koka, first tried to tap the city's growing fame for ninja tourism in 2016, when it introduced security guards dressed as ninja to provide traffic control services for the opening of a coffee franchise.
Its special ninja squad has worked steadily since. The head of the firm, Maya Miyoshi, now hopes to win a contract for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo.
"Ninja are world-class icons and we want people to feel familiar with security at sports facilities," said Miyoshi, who was dressed in the guise of a kunoichi, or female ninja.
Miyoshi has surprised many in the industry since taking over SSC, a spinoff from a security unit of her husband's company, in 2011. Her experience studying design in high school has inspired unorthodox ideas, such as dressing the security guards in yellow uniforms.
SCC's business model has also proven popular with the public, including high school students and foreign visitors who have asked to take photos with the security guards.
The All Japan Security Service Association said the industry bloomed as a result of its success during 1964 Tokyo Olympics, when its work guarding the athletes' village was widely acknowledged by the public and in the business sphere.


Lexus Execs Pushing For Tiny UX Crossover In The U.S.
With the CT 200h gone, the company could use the UX to fill that spot in the lineup.
Lexus execs in the United States see the potential for expanding the lineup in the country by introducing a production version of the UX – a concept for a subcompact crossover from the 2016 Paris Motor Show.
The UX would be Lexus' entry-level product in the United States. The CT 200h previously occupied that spot, but the company decided to axe the hybrid hatchback in the United States due to lack of sales.
At the Geneva Motor Show, Lexus International Executive Vice President Yoshihiro Sawa confirmed plans to put the UX into production. However, it wasn't clear whether the automaker planned to bring the little crossover to the United States.
Details about the production UX remain scant. However, the company already holds trademarks on the UX 200, UX 250, and UX 250h in the United States, which could point to powertrain possibilities, including a potential hybrid. In addition, Bracken said that Lexus has decided not to offer models with an MSRP below $30,000, meaning the UX would cost at least that much.
Bracken said that crossovers and SUVs currently occupy around 60 percent of Lexus' sales in the United States. The company has been doubling down on the segment, too. At the L.A. show alone, the automaker unveiled the new three-row version of the RX and a two-row variant of the LX.


text:
Contres – miejscowość i gmina we Francji, w Regionie Centralnym, w departamencie Cher.

Według danych na rok 1990 gminę zamieszkiwało 28 osób, a gęstość zaludnienia wynosiła 2 osoby/km² (wśród 1842 gmin Regionu Centralnego Contres plasuje się na 1077. miejscu pod względem liczby ludności, natomiast pod względem powierzchni na miejscu 936.).

Bibliografia

Miejscowości w departamencie Cher


text:
Q: Hive - flutter: are boxes deleted when app is closed? I need a way to store simple data in my Flutter project, and I'm considering using Hive flutter.
What I don't quite understand, is if the data stored in the boxes is cleared (as in, deleted from the disk) when the user closes the app/website.
The official documentation says:

Before your application exits, you should call Hive.close() to close all open boxes. Don't worry if the app is killed before you close Hive, it doesn't matter.

which is somewhat ambiguous.
So: Is data stored in boxes cleared upon closing the app/website; and if not, how can I manually clear it?

A: When you close a box, hive saves the data in the box to a local storage file ("long term memory") and frees the cache ("short term memory") to be used for other stuff. You will not lose your app data. Closing the box is also not strictly necessary, Hive will close the boxes itself on exit.
Hive's FAQ has more details: https://docs.hivedb.dev/#/more/faq
If you want to clear data from a given Box box = Hive.box("box_name"), you can:

*

*Delete a single entry: box.delete("entry_key")

*Delete all entries: box.deleteAll(box.keys)

*Delete the whole box: box.deleteFromDisk() or Hive.deleteBoxFromDisk("box_name")

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Dinesh conveys "strong objections" over Shavendra ban to US Ambassador
Sunday February 16, 2020 17:17
Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunewardena meeting US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz in Colombo/MFR release
Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Sunday formally conveyed to the US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz Sri Lanka's strong objections on the travel ban on Army Chief Shavendra Silva saying "individual criminal responsibility can only be determined by a Court of Law with all necessary due process guaranteed."
Silva and his immediate family were banned from entering the US because of "credible information of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violation of human rights, namely extrajudicial killing by the 58th Division of the Sri Lanka Army" in the final phase of the conflict in 2009, a statement from the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
Minister Gunawardena told Ambassador Teplitz that the investigation into these allegations was "a human rights investigation and not a criminal investigation", and that "the names provided in the description of the chain of command do not imply criminal responsibility for those particularly alleged violations listed in this report, either as direct responsibility or under command or superior responsibility," a press release issued by the Ministry said.
Teplitz was summoned to the MFR Sunday for Gunewardena to formally deliver Sri Lanka's objections and call for a revision of the decision.
On coming to learn that the designation was not based on independently verified information, but on the much-disputed OISL Report of 2015, the Minister requested the United States to verify the authenticity of the sources of information. Foreign Relations Minister asked that the United States Government review its decision.
Teplitz had said she "would convey the concerns of the Government of Sri Lanka to Washington DC, and reiterated the continued commitment of the US Government to all aspects of on-going collaboration with Sri Lanka and to ensure its expansion, including in the field of defence."
Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha, Director General/ North America, Dharshana M. Perera, and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Relations were associated with the Minister at the meeting. Martin Kelly, Deputy Head of Mission accompanied the US Ambassador to the meeting.
Tags : Army Commander Shavendra SilvaDinesh Gunawardenashavendra silva banned in us
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text:
Adjunct Associate Professor of Political Science
710 International Affairs, Mail Code: 3320, United States
Professor Chuck Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser in Israel and long-time senior fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center, has taught political science at Harvard, Columbia, NYU and Tel Aviv University. He is the author of Zion's Dilemmas: How Israel Makes National Security Policy (Cornell Press 2012); Israeli National Security: A New Strategy for an Era of Change (Oxford Press 2018); and Israel and the Cyber Threat: How the Startup Nation Became a Global Cyber Power (forthcoming 2020). He has published numerous academic articles and over 150 op-eds, and appears frequently on US, Israeli and international TV and radio stations.
ISRAELI NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY, POLICY AND DECISION MAKING
ISRAELI NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY, POLI