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GATES v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO
GATES v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO (2019)
Fred GATES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee.
Decided: February 20, 2019
Before Manion, Hamilton, and Scudder, Circuit Judges. Luanne M. Galovich, Barry A. Gomberg, Attorneys, GOMBERG & ASSOCIATES, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant. Paul J. Ciastko, Lee A. Lowder, Ashley Seales, Attorneys, CHICAGO BOARD OF EDUCATION, Law Department, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.
Plaintiff Fred Gates testified that his direct supervisor, Rafael Rivera, addressed him with the N-word twice, and once threatened to write up his "black ass." The district court granted the employer's motion for summary judgment on Gates's claim for a racially hostile work environment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2. In granting summary judgment for the defendant-employer, the district court noted that Gates faced a high bar, "as '[t]he workplace that is actionable is one that is "hellish." ' " Gates v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, No. 15-CV-1394, 2017 WL 4310648, at *13 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 28, 2017), quoting Perry v. Harris Chernin, Inc., 126 F.3d 1010, 1013 (7th Cir. 1997) (alteration in original). The court ultimately decided that Rivera's comments were not severe or pervasive enough to rise to the level of a hostile work environment, an adverse employment action that could entitle Gates to relief under Title VII. Id. at *15.
The district court's analysis erred in two respects. First, it relied on the "hellish" standard, which is not a standard a plaintiff must satisfy. See Jackson v. County of Racine, 474 F.3d 493, 500 (7th Cir. 2007); Johnson v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., 892 F.3d 887, 901 (7th Cir. 2018), quoting Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 21–22, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993) ("Title VII comes into play before the harassing conduct leads to a nervous breakdown."). Second, the district court failed to focus on the difference in our hostile environment cases between having the plaintiff's co-workers show racial hostility and having the plaintiff's supervisor show racial hostility, especially in using such poisonous racial epithets as shown in the evidence here. See, e.g., Robinson v. Perales, 894 F.3d 818, 828–29 (7th Cir. 2018); Rodgers v. Western-Southern Life Insurance Co., 12 F.3d 668, 675 (7th Cir. 1993). While we affirm all other portions of the district court's judgment, we reverse on the claim for a racially hostile environment.
I. Factual and Procedural Background
A. Facts Relevant to Summary Judgment
Our account of the facts reflects the defendant Board's choice to move for summary judgment. As required, we give plaintiff Gates the benefit of conflicts in the evidence and make reasonable inferences in his favor. Terry v. Gary Community School Corp., 910 F.3d 1000, 1004 (7th Cir. 2018); Johnson, 892 F.3d at 893. The Board and its witnesses will be free to offer their own conflicting evidence at trial, and we do not vouch for the objective truth of Gates's testimony that we must credit in this appeal.
Gates is an African-American male born in 1965. He has been a building engineer with the Chicago Board of Education since 2004. In 2010, Gates was hired to fill the sole engineer position at William C. Goudy Technology Academy. He reported to school principal Pamela Brandt until December 2012, when Rafael Rivera became his supervisor. Rivera was a facilities engineer who oversaw engineering work at sixteen schools, including Gates's. Because Rivera supervised so many schools, he and Gates saw each other in person only three times or so per month.
Gates's issues with Rivera began in June 2013. Gates testified that at a performance meeting that month, Rivera told him: "you will not be promoted because of your age and because you're black[.]" Despite Rivera's comment, Gates still applied for a promotion in July and August of 2013, which he did not receive. Gates testified that Rivera prevented him from getting a better job.
According to Gates, in the late summer of 2013, Rivera's behavior became increasingly offensive. Gates testified that on several occasions Rivera uttered racial epithets against him. Gates described one meeting with Rivera at his school in July or August of 2013. Rivera passed gas and then asked Gates why he did not laugh in response. Gates responded that he did not know why he should laugh or why it was funny. Rivera said "you know what they call that[?]" Gates asked "call what?" and Rivera responded "[w]hen someone fart and a black guy's sitting there." Gates said "no," and Rivera answered, "you call that a shit-sniffing nigger." Gates claimed that he complained about this incident to Rivera's supervisor at the time, Ms. Bilqis Jacob-El. Gates testified that Jacob-El asked him whether he had told anyone else about the comment. He said no. She then instructed Gates to keep to himself the details of his encounter with Rivera.
Gates also claimed that in November 2013, Rivera again came to Gates's school and spoke with him. At this meeting, Rivera yelled at Gates, telling him "you will kiss the principal's ass to make her happy" or Rivera "would write [him] up, which would cause [Gates] to get low work evaluations and get fired." Gates testified later that Rivera specifically threatened to write Gates's "black ass up." Gates also testified that in a March 2014 meeting, Rivera ordered him to sit down, prompting the following exchange:
I said I don't want to sit down, Rafael. He said, well, I'm your boss. I'm ordering you to sit down. So I said I'm not going to sit down. He said I'm tired of you people. I said who are you referring to? He said, nigger, you know what I'm talking about. So I walked out of the library.
On appeal, the Board argued that Rivera could not have exposed Gates to a racially hostile work environment because his interactions with Gates were too infrequent. The Board noted that Rivera made his offending comments over the course of six months, Gates saw Rivera only three times or so per month, and from November 2013 to November 2014, Gates worked only eleven days. (Gates was absent so often because during that year he took multiple approved leaves from work, including bereavement leave for his father's death, a one-month sick leave, leave under the Family Medical Leave Act to care for his grandfather, and then a nearly one-month military leave.) Gates testified that he used the one-month sick leave in December 2013 to seek medical attention for homicidal thoughts he was experiencing towards Rivera, Principal Brandt, and his school's vice principal. The homicidal thoughts, Gates testified, were brought on by the discrimination he faced at work.
Rivera began to prepare a pre-discipline notice for Gates in December 2013 citing uncompleted work orders at Gates's school.1 Rivera did not actually give this notice to Gates. Rivera later wrote up and issued Gates a different pre-discipline notice on March 17, 2014, just before the library incident. The notice told Gates to report to a pre-discipline hearing to address the issues with his performance on March 20, 2014. According to Gates, the library incident in which Rivera called him the N-word for a second time happened on March 17 or 18 of 2014. Rivera issued Gates a second pre-discipline notice on March 19, 2014 citing insubordination. The second notice scheduled a pre-discipline hearing on March 25, 2014. At the first pre-discipline hearing on March 20, Gates and a representative from his union met with Rivera. Gates told his union representative that he believed he was being discriminated against at work, and the representative advised him to hire an attorney. Gates did not attend the March 25 hearing because he had been injured on the job in the meantime. No formal disciplinary action was taken against Gates. After his injury, Gates went on workers' compensation leave, and during that time began working a second job at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Rivera informed an employee with the Board's legal department that Gates had taken several extensive leaves and then found a second job. Gates believed that Rivera took this action to have him fired.
When Gates returned from his leave in November 2014, he was assigned to the Far South Side or Southwest Collaborative, a group of traveling building engineers who work at different schools throughout the southwest side of Chicago. In the position at William C. Goudy Technology Academy that Gates held before his leaves, he was a Class 3 engineer (the lowest-paid of three classes), earning around $82,000 to $87,000 a year.2 When Gates testified at his deposition in 2016, he was a Class 2 engineer with the Southwest Collaborative earning between $94,000 and $97,000 a year.
B. Proceedings in Civil Rights Agencies and the District Court
Gates never filed a formal internal complaint with the Board about the discrimination he says he suffered. Instead, on April 14, 2014, he filed a formal charge of discrimination with the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC issued Gates a notice of his right to sue. Gates then filed a five-count complaint against the Board in the district court alleging age and race discrimination and retaliation. The Board eventually moved for summary judgment on all claims, and the district court granted the motion. Gates v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, No. 15-CV-1394, 2017 WL 4310648, at *1 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 28, 2017).
As the district court noted, neither Gates's complaint nor his answers to the Board's interrogatories said that Rivera had ever used the terms "black," "black ass," "age," or the N-word. Id. at *7. Those specifics surfaced for the first time during Gates's deposition testimony. The district court carefully considered whether to treat those portions of his testimony as part of the summary judgment evidence and ultimately decided to consider this testimony. That was probably the correct decision, and in any event that point is not disputed on appeal. Still, the district court concluded that Gates could not sufficiently establish that he suffered a racially hostile work environment in violation of Title VII. The court explained that "the threshold for plaintiffs is high, as '[t]he workplace that is actionable is one that is "hellish." ' " Id. at *13, quoting Perry v. Harris Chernin, Inc., 126 F.3d 1010, 1013 (7th Cir. 1997). The harassing conduct, the court continued, must be severe or pervasive and Rivera's behavior towards Gates was neither. Id. at *14–15.3
II. Analysis
A. Standard of Review
We review de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. Jackson v. County of Racine, 474 F.3d 493, 498 (7th Cir. 2007); Johnson v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., 892 F.3d 887, 894 (7th Cir. 2018); Whitaker v. Wisconsin Dep't of Health Services, 849 F.3d 681, 684 (7th Cir. 2017). Summary judgment is proper where "the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). In our review, we "constru[e] all facts, and draw[ ] all reasonable inferences from those facts, in favor of the nonmoving party." Whittaker v. Northern Illinois University, 424 F.3d 640, 644–45 (7th Cir. 2005), quoting Telemark Development Group Inc. v. Mengelt, 313 F.3d 972, 976 (7th Cir. 2002).
B. Racially Hostile Work Environment
The district court ruled that Gates provided insufficient evidence to establish that he was subject to a hostile work environment. To prevail on a Title VII claim, a plaintiff must show that
[1] he is a member of a class protected by the statute, [2] that he has been the subject of some form of adverse employment action (or that he has been subjected to a hostile work environment), and [3] that the employer took this adverse action on account of the plaintiff's membership in the protected class.
Abrego v. Wilkie, 907 F.3d 1004, 1012 (7th Cir. 2018), quoting Morgan v. SVT, LLC, 724 F.3d 990, 995 (7th Cir. 2013). Subjecting an employee to a hostile work environment counts as an adverse action ("unlawful employment practice") within the meaning of Title VII's prohibition of race discrimination in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). E.g., Alexander v. Casino Queen, Inc., 739 F.3d 972, 980, 982 (7th Cir. 2014).
To prove that an employment environment was actionably hostile, a plaintiff must show that "(1) he was subject to unwelcome harassment; (2) the harassment was based on race (or another protected category); (3) the harassment was severe or pervasive to a degree that altered the conditions of employment and created a hostile or abusive work environment; and (4) there is a basis for employer liability." Robinson v. Perales, 894 F.3d 818, 828 (7th Cir. 2018), citing Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 66–72, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986), Johnson, 892 F.3d at 900–01, and Alamo v. Bliss, 864 F.3d 541, 549 (7th Cir. 2017); see also Johnson, 892 F.3d at 900.4 Relevant to this inquiry are "the severity of the alleged conduct, its frequency, whether it [wa]s physically threatening or humiliating (or merely offensive), and whether it unreasonably interfere[d] with the employee's work performance." Robinson, 894 F.3d at 828; see Jackson, 474 F.3d at 499; see Whittaker, 424 F.3d at 645. To withstand summary judgment, Gates needed to provide evidence sufficient to allow a reasonable jury to find that Rivera's conduct "was severe or pervasive enough to constitute a hostile work environment." Robinson, 894 F.3d at 828.
The district court identified these inquiries properly but erred in their application. Most important, the court incorrectly stated that "the threshold for plaintiffs is high, as '[t]he workplace that is actionable is one that is "hellish." ' " Gates, 2017 WL 4310648, at *13, quoting Perry, 126 F.3d at 1013 (alteration in original). While a "hellish" workplace is surely actionable, plaintiffs' evidence need not show a descent into the Inferno. In 2007, we rejected the so-called "hellish" standard in Jackson v. County of Racine, 474 F.3d at 500, and in other decisions after the district court's decision in this case, such as Johnson v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., 892 F.3d at 901, we have again made the point. In Jackson we said that language in our earlier opinions indicating that an environment must reach the point of "hellishness" before becoming actionable is impossible to reconcile with Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., where the Supreme Court wrote:
Title VII comes into play before the harassing conduct leads to a nervous breakdown. A discriminatorily abusive work environment, even one that does not seriously affect employees' psychological well-being, can and often will detract from employees' job performance, discourage employees from remaining on the job, or keep them from advancing in their careers ․ The appalling conduct alleged in Meritor, and the reference in that case to environments "so heavily polluted with discrimination as to destroy completely the emotional and psychological stability of minority group workers," merely present some especially egregious examples of harassment. They do not mark the boundary of what is actionable.
510 U.S. at 22, 114 S.Ct. 367, quoting Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 66, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). In Jackson, pointing to this same passage from Harris, we clarified: "The Supreme Court's decision in Harris established that something short of the Ninth Ring" may violate Title VII. Jackson, 474 F.3d at 500; see also Alamo v. Bliss, 864 F.3d 541, 550 (7th Cir. 2017) ("a workplace need not be 'hellish' to constitute a hostile work environment"), citing Jackson, 474 F.3d at 500.
The issue is whether the discriminatory conduct Gates testified to qualifies as sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of his work environment. The principal racial harassment Gates described was at the hand of Rivera. Three incidents are key: (1) the 2013 "joke" in which Rivera called Gates the N-word; (2) the 2013 meeting in which Rivera threated to write up Gates's "black ass"; and (3) the 2014 "you people" comment in which Rivera again addressed Gates using the N-word.5 The district court decided at summary judgment that as a matter of law, this level of harassment from a supervisor was not severe or pervasive enough to render an employee's work environment hostile. The court concluded that our precedents showed generally "that one or two utterances of the N-word are not severe or pervasive enough to rise to the level of establishing liability absent an unusually severe, physically threatening, or humiliating incident." Gates, 2017 WL 4310648, at *14. The district court's analysis is flawed, however, because it overlooked the fact that in most of the cases it cited rejecting hostile work environment claims, a co-worker as opposed to a supervisor uttered the racially offensive language. This distinction is critical in general, and in this case. See Nichols v. Michigan City Plant Planning Dep't, 755 F.3d 594, 601 (7th Cir. 2014) (affirming summary judgment for employer; one use of racial epithet and several other incidents of harassment by co-workers were not severe or pervasive enough to establish hostile work environment); Smith v. Northeastern Illinois University, 388 F.3d 559, 562 n. 2, 566–67 (7th Cir. 2004) (affirming summary judgment on one of plaintiff's hostile environment claims where that plaintiff heard defendant—who may or may not have been her supervisor—utter only one racist comment not directed at her); Rodgers v. Western-Southern Life Insurance Co., 12 F.3d 668, 675 (7th Cir. 1993) (multiple instances of supervisor using the N-word in employee's presence established actionable hostile work environment); Shanoff v. Illinois Dep't of Human Services, 258 F.3d 696, 698–99, 705–06 (7th Cir. 2001) (hostile work environment claim should have withstood summary judgment motion where plaintiff's supervisor repeatedly harassed him with derogatory comments about his race and religion).6
We have repeatedly treated a supervisor's use of racially toxic language in the workplace as much more serious than a co-worker's. See, e.g., Robinson, 894 F.3d at 828–29; Rodgers, 12 F.3d at 675; see also Dandy v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 388 F.3d 263, 271 (7th Cir. 2004) (use of the N-word by supervisors has particularly severe impact on work environments). This is particularly true when supervisors address these derogatory and humiliating remarks directly to the employees in question. See Johnson, 892 F.3d at 902 ("Comments made to non-plaintiff co-workers carry less weight in the evaluation of a hostile environment claim, but they are not irrelevant."); Dandy, 388 F.3d at 271 (in evaluating whether offensive language created hostile work environment, it is necessary to note "whether the remarks were stated directly to the plaintiff or whether the plaintiff heard them secondhand[.] That is not to say that racial epithets must be stated directly to a plaintiff to create an objectively hostile work environment. Repeated use of such highly offensive terms ․ may create an objectively hostile work environment, even if they are heard secondhand."), citing McPhaul v. Board of Commissioners of Madison County, 226 F.3d 558, 567 (7th Cir. 2000), overruled on other grounds by Hill v. Tangherlini, 724 F.3d 965 (7th Cir. 2013).
In Rodgers v. Western-Southern Life Insurance Co., we affirmed a verdict for an employee where his supervisor used the N-word multiple times in his presence and made several other racially offensive comments. Rodgers, 12 F.3d at 671, 676–78. We explained: "Perhaps no single act can more quickly 'alter the conditions of employment and create an abusive working environment,' than the use of an unambiguously racial epithet such as 'nigger' by a supervisor in the presence of his subordinates." Id. at 675, quoting Meritor, 477 U.S. at 67, 106 S.Ct. 2399. "[A] supervisor's use of the [N-word] impacts the work environment far more severely than use by co-equals." Id. at 675.
In Johnson v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., we evaluated plaintiffs' claim that their "supervisors subjected [them] to offensive and derogatory racial comments, creating a hostile work environment." 892 F.3d at 893. Plaintiffs testified that their supervisors made racially-charged comments directly to them and others and used the N-word in their presence. Id. at 901–03. We held that evidence that supervisors engaged in this atrocious conduct "should allow a reasonable jury to find that each of the plaintiffs experienced a racially hostile working environment." Id. at 904.
In Robinson v. Perales, we considered a hostile work environment claim where Robinson, a biracial police officer with the University of Illinois at Chicago presented evidence that Perales, his lieutenant and supervisor, used the N-word in his presence on two occasions, once in reference to Robinson himself. 894 F.3d at 823–24. The district court granted defendant Perales summary judgment on Robinson's hostile work environment claim. We reversed the district court's judgment "that a few instances of the use of this particular epithet [the N-word] were not significant enough to meet the standard for hostile environment." Id. at 828. We emphasized that "Perales was not simply a co-worker; he was a supervisor with direct authority over Robinson." Id. at 828.
In short, when the harassment involves such appalling racist language in comments made directly to employees by their supervisors, we have not affirmed summary judgment for employers.
The district court also found that the harassment Gates described was too infrequent to be pervasive (three racial slurs in a sixth-month period of a four-year employment), not objectively offensive, and not "particularly 'severe,' physically threatening, or humiliating." Gates, 2017 WL 4310648, at *15. In support of its holding, the district court cited cases that fit into one of four distinguishable categories: (1) the alleged actions or comments were comparably horrific to using the N-word but were done or said by a co-worker, not a supervisor; (2) the actions or comments alleged were made by a supervisor but were more ambiguous or significantly less offensive than addressing an employee with the N-word; (3) the alleged remarks were very offensive and made by a supervisor but were not spoken directly to the plaintiff; or (4) the conduct or remarks were evaluated under the now-rejected "hellish" standard. Id. at *13–15. See Nichols, 755 F.3d at 601 (co-worker using racial epithet); McPherson v. City of Waukegan, 379 F.3d 430, 434–35, 439 (7th Cir. 2004) (several sexually-suggestive comments along the lines of asking the colors of plaintiff's and others' bras and underwear did not alone establish hostile work environment); Patt v. Family Health Systems, Inc., 280 F.3d 749, 751, 754 (7th Cir. 2002) (no actionable hostile work environment because of eight gender-based comments by then surgery department chief, when only two such comments were made directly to plaintiff and neither referred to her specifically);7 Baskerville v. Culligan International Co., 50 F.3d 428, 430 (7th Cir. 1995) (applying "hellish" standard, court did "not think that these incidents [sexually-harassing comments], spread over seven months, could reasonably be thought to add up to sexual harassment."); North v. Madison Area Ass'n for Retarded Citizens-Developmental Centers Corp., 844 F.2d 401, 409 (7th Cir. 1988) (two or three offensive statements that at most "might be considered as racial slurs" did not establish "a sufficiently pervasive atmosphere of racial harassment"); Poullard v. McDonald, 829 F.3d 844, 858–59 (7th Cir. 2016) (no actionable hostile work environment where primary allegations concerned three incidents of supervisor harassment that had at best "a tenuously arguable connection to race"; the supervisor comments made "were at worst mild and ambiguous");8 Ford v. Minteq Shapes & Services, Inc., 587 F.3d 845, 846–48 (7th Cir. 2009) (co-worker's comments referring to plaintiff Ford as "black man" and "black African-American," Ford's supervisor's comment that "he didn't have to worry about losing his job because Minteq [employer] wanted to appear integrated[,]" another supervisor's comment calling Ford a gorilla, and Minteq not letting Ford bring his grandchildren to work Christmas parties did not amount to hostile work environment); Whittaker v. Northern Illinois University, 424 F.3d 640, 644–45 (7th Cir. 2005) (no actionable hostile work environment where gender-based comments were made "outside [plaintiff's] presence, and there [was] no evidence that she was aware of these defendants' remarks during her tenure with [employer].").
Gates testified to quite different circumstances. His supervisor used race-based epithets including the N-word directly and in reference to him. The district court acknowledged the severity of Rivera's epithets, but its analysis did not address the significance of the differences between supervisors and co-workers and between direct and indirect harassment that are important in hostile work environment cases. Gates, 2017 WL 4310648, at *14, citing and quoting Cerros v. Steel Technologies, Inc., 288 F.3d 1040, 1047 (7th Cir. 2002) ("there is no 'magic number of slurs' " needed to show hostile work environment, and "an unambiguously racial epithet falls on the 'more severe' end of the spectrum"); Hrobowski v. Worthington Steel Co., 358 F.3d 473, 477 (7th Cir. 2004) ("Given American history, we recognize that the word 'nigger' can have a highly disturbing impact on the listener.").
If the only evidence of racial harassment Gates had was a co-worker's use of the three epithets uttered by Rivera, we would likely reach a different conclusion in this case. Given Rivera's position as Gates's supervisor, however, if a jury credits Gates's testimony about Rivera's comments, it could reasonably find that Gates suffered an actionable hostile work environment. Whether conduct is " 'sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of employment' ․ depends on 'the severity of the allegedly discriminatory conduct, its frequency, whether it is physically threatening or humiliating or merely offensive, and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee's work performance.' " Johnson, 892 F.3d at 900, quoting Scruggs v. Garst Seed Co., 587 F.3d 832, 840 (7th Cir. 2009). A jury would likely have a difficult time concluding that a supervisor calling his employee the "N-word" and threatening to write up his "black ass" were not examples of harassing comments motivated by race. Although Rivera's conduct was relatively infrequent and not "physically threatening" or "humiliating" in a public setting, it was severe and humiliating. A reasonable jury could also find that it did interfere with Gates's work performance, not least because it led him to take a leave from work to seek medical treatment. Supervisor conduct as severe and direct as described in Gates's testimony cannot be deemed insufficiently severe or pervasive as a matter of law.
C. Waiver & Forfeiture of Remaining Claims
Gates is entitled to a trial on his hostile environment case, but he waived or forfeited all of his remaining claims. He argues, though, that he did not forfeit his Title VII retaliation claim in the district court. We disagree. The Board's motion sought summary judgment on all claims. In opposing summary judgment in the district court, Gates failed to assert that he was subject to a hostile work environment in retaliation for complaining about the discrimination he says he suffered. He did not specifically argue that Rivera or Principal Brandt created a hostile work environment because he reported their discriminatory conduct to Jacob-El or the EEOC. Gates did argue that he was retaliated against, but only in the form of not being promoted and being written up by Rivera. In his summary judgment memorandum, Gates also discussed two of the instances of racially-harassing conduct that he used to support his hostile work environment claim—the incident in which Rivera threatened to write up his "black ass" and the library incident in which Rivera used the N-word. However, he never specifically argued that this conduct was retaliatory. Perhaps Gates could have linked those incidents to his claims of retaliation, but he did not. The district court was not required to address a claim or theory that plaintiff did not assert.
The district court's grant of summary judgment on Gates's hostile work environment claim is REVERSED and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings on that claim consistent with this opinion. In all other respects, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
1. Pre-discipline notices notify employees that there is a problem with their work or behavior and that pre-discipline hearings will be held with employees and their union representatives to decide whether discipline is warranted.
2. The term Chief Engineer was abolished in 2012 under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. When the title was in use, it applied automatically to any building engineer appointed to a school with only one engineer—so Gates was the Chief Engineer at Goudy.
3. The district court also granted summary judgment for the Board on Gates's other claims for age and race discrimination based on a denial of a promotion and the pre-discipline notices plus a negative performance review, as well as his retaliation claims based on a denial of a promotion and the pre-discipline notices plus a negative performance review. Gates, 2017 WL 4310648, at *13, *17–18. Gates does not challenge those aspects of the judgment on appeal.
4. "Sometimes our cases phrase the test differently, looking instead for evidence that the workplace was both subjectively and objectively offensive—either in lieu of the first prong—that the employee was subject to unwelcome harassment—or the third prong—whether the harassment was severe or pervasive enough to rise to the level of a hostile work environment." Johnson, 892 F.3d at 900, citing Cole v. Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University, 838 F.3d 888, 896 n.6 (7th Cir. 2016); see also Alexander, 739 F.3d at 982 (requiring plaintiffs to show "(1) that the work environment was both subjectively and objectively offensive; (2) that the harassment was based on membership in a protected class; (3) that the conduct was severe or pervasive; and (4) that there is a basis for employer liability."). "In the end, we have concluded that the inquiry is the same" under these different phrasings of the test. Johnson, 892 F.3d at 900, citing Cole, 838 F.3d at 896 n.6.
5. Gates pointed to additional harassing conduct including the pre-disciplinary notices that Rivera issued him, racially offensive conduct by Principal Brandt, and Rivera's general pattern of speaking to Gates in a "demeaning and unprofessional manner." However, the three incidents discussed here are the most severe comments actually considered by the district court at summary judgment and are sufficient for us to decide that the district erred in granting summary judgment to the Board on Gates's Title VII hostile work environment claim. They are also the only three comments that Gates used on appeal to argue that his work environment was offensive enough subjectively and objectively to be actionable.
6. The district court found more direct support in Roberts v. Fairfax County Public Schools, 858 F.Supp.2d 605, 609 (E.D. Va. 2012), where a supervisor (a teacher) threatened her subordinate and called her by the N-word. The case came before the Eastern District of Virginia court on Defendant Fairfax County Public School's motion for summary judgment. Id. at 606–07. The court held that this conduct was not severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment. Id. at 609–11. But this decision runs contrary to our circuit's precedents that distinguish between supervisor and co-worker conduct as well as between direct and indirect harassment.
7. The defendants' brief in the Patt case made clear that "only two of the alleged comments were heard by Dr. Patt [plaintiff] directly" and that "Dr. Patt acknowledge[d] that neither of the references were directed toward her and admitted that neither statement offended her." Brief for Defendants-Appellees at 26, Patt v. Family Health Systems, Inc., 280 F.3d 749 (7th Cir. 2002) (No. 00-2948).
8. The district court here cited the district court opinion in Poullard. See Gates, 2017 WL 4310648, at *15, citing Poullard v. Shinseki, No. 12 C 7497, 2015 WL 1428105, at *11 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 26, 2015).
Hamilton, Circuit Judge.


Akiko launched her career after winning numerous prizes in prestigious competitions including first prizes at the Yehudi Menuhin (2000), Viotti-Valsesia (2002) and Forval Scholarship Stradivarius Japan (2003). She was also a laureate of the Concours Reine Elisabeth (2001), Paganini (1999) and Szigeti Competition (2002).
Since then she has enjoyed performing with major orchestras such as the Weimar Staatskapelle, Belgian National Orchestra, Lille National Orchestra, Beethoven Academy Orchestra, London Mozart Players, London Chamber Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Polish Radio Amadeus Chamber Orchestra and Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with conductors including Hans Drewanz, George Alexander Albrecht, Shlomo Mintz, Saulus Sondeckis, James Judd, Paul Watkins, Matthias Bamert, Gilbert Varga, Christian Arming, Christopher Warren-Green and Yutaka Sado.
Akiko made her debut with Yehudi Menuhin and the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra at the UNICEF Gala Concert in Germany in 1998. In the same year, she was invited by Vanessa Redgrave, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, to perform at the UN Headquarters in New York to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" where she performed a Bach Partita.
She has performed throughout Europe, the United States, Central America, North Africa, the Middle East and Far East. Venues include Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Vienna, Tokyo Festival Hall, Tokyo Metropolitan Hall and Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels.
Akiko sets great value in outreach activities and educational projects and has worked with the Red Cross, UNICEF and Live Music Now, as well as other institutions. She is one of the appointed artists of the Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities since 2006 and is a course leader of the Maiastra Chamber Music. Akiko also leads the Orpheus Sinfonia which supports the finest young musicians emerging from conservatoires across Britain. Every summer, Akiko coaches and plays chamber music with Yutaka Sado's Super Kids Orchestra in Japan.
In July 2016, Akiko launched a new summer violin course MusicSpace at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, in partnership with Cambridge Summer Music. In demand as a soloist and chamber musician, Akiko is also invited as guest concertmaster by various orchestras such as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Nederlands Symphonieorkest.
Born in Tokyo, Akiko moved to the UK when she was 12 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Subsequently she studied with Dora Schwarzberg and Michael Frischenschlager at the University of Music and performing Arts in Vienna.
Her CD "Favourite Violin Pieces", was released in 2008 with Ichiro Nodaira which has received rave reviews. Most recently, Akiko recorded her second album "Romance", featuring works including Debussy, Stravinsky, Ysaye and Wagner which has been highly rated by top national music publications and newspapers.
Akiko is a violin professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, and the Yehudi Menuhin School.


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Teenager arrested in connection with rape of girl, 17, in Glasgow city centre
The boy, also 17, has been arrested following the alleged incident on Friday evening
Lucinda Cameron
A teenager has been arrested in connection with the rape of a 17-year-old girl in a lane.
The girl was allegedly attacked in Renfrew Lane in Glasgow city centre on Friday evening.
The incident was reported to police on Monday.
Police Scotland said a 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the incident.
The force said inquiries are continuing.
For more breaking news and all that's going on in your city, head to the Glasgow Live homepage - or you can check us out on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home » Docs » API Reference » HexaPDF » Content » HexaPDF::Content::TransformationMatrix
to_a
class HexaPDF::Content::TransformationMatrix
A TransformationMatrix is a matrix used in PDF graphics operations to specify the relationship between different coordinate systems.
All matrix operations modify the matrix in place. So if the original matrix should be preserved, duplicate it before the operation.
It is important to note that the matrix transforms from the new coordinate system to the untransformed coordinate system. This means that after the transformation all coordinates are specified in the new, transformed coordinate system and to get the untransformed coordinates the matrix needs to be applied.
Although all operations are done in 2D space the transformation matrix is a 3x3 matrix because homogeneous coordinates are used. This, however, also means that only six entries are actually used that are named like in the following graphic:
a b 0
c d 0
e f 1
Here is a simple transformation matrix to translate all coordinates by 5 units horizontally and 10 units vertically:
Details and some examples can be found in the PDF reference.
See: PDF1.7 s8.3
a[R]¶
The value at the position (1,1) in the matrix.
b[R]¶
c[R]¶
d[R]¶
e[R]¶
f[R]¶
new(a = 1, b = 0, c = 0, d = 1, e = 0, f = 0)¶
Initializes the transformation matrix with the given values.
==(other)¶
Returns true if the other object is a transformation matrix with the same values.
evaluate(x, y)¶
Returns the untransformed coordinates of the given point.
premultiply(a, b, c, d, e, f)¶
Transforms this matrix by premultiplying it with the given one (ie. given*this) and returns it.
rotate(q)¶
Rotates this matrix by an angle of q degrees and returns it.
This equal to premultiply(cos(rad(q)), sin(rad(q)), -sin(rad(q)), cos(rad(q)), x, y).
scale(sx, sy)¶
Scales this matrix by sx units horizontally and y units vertically and returns it.
This is equal to premultiply(sx, 0, 0, sy, 0, 0).
skew(a, b)¶
Skews this matrix by an angle of a degrees for the x axis and by an angle of b degrees for the y axis and returns it.
This is equal to premultiply(1, tan(rad(a)), tan(rad(b)), 1, x, y).
to_a()¶
Creates an array [a, b, c, d, e, f] from the transformation matrix.
translate(x, y)¶
Translates this matrix by x units horizontally and y units vertically and returns it.
This is equal to premultiply(1, 0, 0, 1, x, y).


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Welcome to America, Your Cell Is Right This Way: Our Long History and Deep-Seated Habit of Criminalizing Migrants - Brooklyn Historical Society
February Thursday
Welcome to America, Your Cell Is Right This Way: Our Long History and Deep-Seated Habit of Criminalizing Migrants
Is immigrant detention a symptom of a broken system, or is it a product of a system working exactly as designed?
In his new book, Migrating to Prison: America's Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants, scholar and legal expert César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández lays out a passionate and unvarnished view of the US immigrant detention industry, the politics that created it, and the circumstances that keep it thriving. Hear García Hernández's analysis first-hand as he contextualizes the crisis at our southern border. Moderated by Lee Wang, director of the New York Immigrant Freedom Fund of the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund.
Presented as part of our on-going series of author talks with the nonprofit public-interest book publisher, The New Press.
Member Admission $5
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández is a professor of law at the University of Denver and an immigration lawyer. He runs the blog Crimmigration.com and regularly speaks on immigration law and policy issues. He has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and many other venues. He lives in Denver.
Lee Wang
Lee Wang is the first director of the New York Immigrant Freedom Fund, a program at the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund that is dedicated to freeing New Yorkers from immigration detention. Before joining the Fund, Lee worked as a Senior Staff Attorney at the Immigrant Defense Project where she helped to lead a statewide campaign to get ICE out of New York's courts. Lee's work at the New York Immigrant Freedom Fund continues her commitment to fighting a detention and deportation system that is fueled by the criminalization of immigrants.


frp.ca has announced its annual conference for 2015 to be held this year in Hamilton, Ontario. Review the program and register here.
Related link: welcomehere.ca ~ a collection of resources for immigrant families, and for those who work with them.
Metropolis 2014 will take place Nov 3-7 in Milan.
The aim of the workshop is to analyse the different uses of social networks by young people, focusing on the way they deal with the issue of cultural diversity through videos and on how education can build competences and awareness to promote active citizenship and intercultural dialogue in social networks. The keywords social networks, youth, media education and intercultural dialogue will lead the debate to understanding the condition of youth in a social scenario marked by the increase of cultural diversity. Social networks can be considered not only as an important tool empowering active citizenship of young people, but also as a field where opinions and attitudes of closure and rejection of others can become widespread.
The presenters will broaden our consideration of the role of social networks in representing diversity related to migration. They will offer some insights and examples on the double role education has to play with regard to the use of social media by young people: to develop their awareness on how social media may be used to misrepresent or act against cultural diversity; to increase their competence for promoting intercultural dialogue in the online public sphere. Young filmmakers from The Netherlands, France-Martinique and Italy will present good practices of video use in social networks. The filmmakers have taken part in YEFF, the Young European Film Forum on Cultural Diversity, promoted since 2005 by a network of 9 European countries.
Among the various forms of international migration that the European Union has experienced for a long time, the arrival of children without any parents or customary guardians ("unaccompanied minors") has emerged as a migration phenomenon of growing importance, and as a particular challenge for receiving countries. While the number of unaccompanied minors in the different Member States is unequal, practices concerning the entry, reception, accommodation, and regulation of stay of these minors vary considerably. This is despite the fact that at EU level much attention has recently been devoted to reach a common approach regarding this vulnerable group of migrants.
This workshop will investigate different migration patterns of unaccompanied minors experienced in selected EU Member States, and the different national policies and practices concerning their entry, reception and stay. Presentations from Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Ireland and Italy will be complemented by a comparative European perspective from the European Migration Network. Ultimately, the workshop aims at identifying achievements, shortcomings and possible future developments at national and EU levels.
Unaccompanied children, who find themselves without parental care, frequently lack a legal status in the country of arrival, and very often it precludes them from benefiting of the rights they are entitled to as minors. Because of the very nature and vulnerabilities of this group of migrants, and consistent with the principles enshrined in the Convention of the Rights of the Child, the assistance provided to unaccompanied migrant children should necessarily be flexible, and able to respond to specific needs of each and every concerned child. The guiding principle of all activities developed for unaccompanied children is the primary consideration of the best interest of the child, so as to identify and implement the most suitable and durable solution on an individual basis – i.e. return the country of origin, integration in the country of destination, resettlement or adoption. Drawing on experiences in different destination countries, the aim of the workshop is to explore the impact such actions have on the well-being of unaccompanied children and the implications of different policies and practices.
NB: Canadian Gardiner Barber Pauline of Dalhousie University is scheduled to participate in this workshop.
Immigration provides opportunities for both the host society and individual immigrants. The young generation of immigrants will contribute to overcoming the economic and social crisis of aging societies. There are chances for innovation and new openings, but there are also challenges which national policymakers should identify and take specific actions to overcome. The workshop will address the situation of young immigrants who are not in education or training or those in situations of near social exclusion. Questions of mental health, education and social inclusion will be discussed in the workshop. We welcome participants representing different fields of action to contribute to the discussion of the potential of young immigrant generation and challenges to policymaking.
Last day to register is Oct 31.
Cities of Migration Learning Exchange series presents a webinar on New Zealand and Canadian programs "that improve language and digital literacy for immigrant families and youth by removing barriers to technology, promoting inter-generational tutoring, and strengthening community relations through education".
In Wellington, New Zealand, Computers in Homes (CIH) adapted a program that provides low income families with computers and training and modified it to cater specifically to refugee families and their unique needs. CIH recognized an opportunity to make Internet access and basic computer technology a passport to improved integration outcomes for immigrant children and their parents.
In Toronto, Canada, Youth Empowering Parents (YEP) is an innovative, award-winning program that equips newcomer youth to teach newcomer adults English and computer skills. Rather than a traditional classroom with an instructor, YEP trains youth with the skills to act as effective volunteer tutors for adults in their community.
Canada's economic prosperity and population depend upon immigration. Canada would not exist nor could it survive without immigration. Population maintenance depends upon immigration. The Canadian birth rate per woman is in the region of 1.6, far below the replacement ratio of approximately 2.1 births per woman. Canada's economic prosperity is linked to having enough well educated people to support an increasingly dependent population.
A high proportion of recent immigrants have university degrees. In fact, by 2001, the portion of immigrants with university degrees was about twice that of the Canadian-born population. Although their parents are well educated, the children of immigrants still face challenges in school. The children of immigrants have lower reading literacy levels than their Canadian-born counterparts. It is fortunate that, over time, this disadvantage disappears for most students, but not all. Despite lower reading literacy, most recent immigrants perform better on average than their Canadian-born counterparts in mathematics and sciences.
… it is important to ensure that students acquire facility in English or French for academic purposes prior to enrolling in courses that depend on such fluency.
As most people recognize, group averages can hide significant variation among groups. When we look beyond the averages for immigrant students, we notice that immigrants from particular backgrounds are doing less well than their peers. Students from Asian immigrant backgrounds are so numerous and, in general, so successful in school, that their performance obscures the results of the students from other immigrant backgrounds who find Canadian schooling more challenging, who perform less well and sometimes leave school prior to graduation.
Time is one of the challenges faced by immigrant students trying to learn English or French in school. Often they do not have sufficient time to both learn the language for academic purposes and to gather sufficient credits for graduation. The problem is compounded in those jurisdictions that place age limits on who can attend school and limits on the amount of additional support that students are able to receive. Older immigrant students are especially challenged by the limited time they can attend school.
Confusion arising from different cultural expectations is also a challenge for immigrant students and for their parents. The prominence given to student engagement, critical thinking and questioning is sometimes quite different than the prior experiences that some immigrant students have had. For some students and parents, Canadian schools seem less demanding and too informal than their prior school experiences. The mismatch in expectations and experiences between prior and current school experiences adds to the challenge faced by immigrant students and their parents.
Immigrant students whose parents have neither educational nor economic advantages are often among those who find school more challenging, perform less well and leave school early. Even among those who graduate from high school, there are socio-economic differences between those who attend post-secondary school and those who do not, favouring those whose parents are more advantaged.
Child refugees or children of refugees who have not had the benefit of schooling prior to arrival in Canada are among the most challenged. Lacking familiarity with schools, prior school socialization, and basic literacy makes school a daunting set of challenges for refugee students.
Over the course of their history, Canadian schools have become better at welcoming and educating immigrant students. There are many factors that have contributed to the noticeable improvement. Canadian society is less overtly discriminatory than in the past when immigration was restricted to persons of European origin. While it has not completely freed itself from its past, Canada has acknowledged and apologized to descendants of Canadians of Japanese, Punjabi, Chinese and other backgrounds whose ancestors were excluded and mistreated. This has contributed to a national climate more accepting of difference that influences all of Canada's institutions, including its schools.
Schools have recognized that early and continuing intervention is necessary whenever students exhibit evidence of being challenged – especially in the acquisition of literacy. Parents whose children appear fluent in social contexts with friends often infer that their children possess the requisite knowledge to succeed in courses demanding greater facility with the language than is normally used in social discourse. Although it challenges the expectations and aspirations of those parents, it is important to ensure that students acquire facility in English or French for academic purposes prior to enrolling in courses that depend on such fluency.
Schools know that they must observe student progress closely and make adjustments to the education and supports that immigrant students require to be successful in the school environment. This requires looking beyond group averages to see how individual students are succeeding.
Canada's need for immigrants often translates into action designed to increase the likelihood of school success because adult productivity, health and engaged citizenship are built upon a foundation of successful schooling. But action is not uniform across all schools or for all immigrant students. To ensure greater uniformity, we need better policies, practices, close monitoring and a willingness to change practice and policy when the evidence suggests that they are not working to the advantage of all students.
Charles Ungerleider, a Professor Emeritus of Educational Studies at The University of British Columbia, is Managing Partner of Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group, LLP, a partnership of professionals with experience in applied research, policy analysis and evaluation in a variety of domains, including K-12 and post-secondary education, social services, justice, and health. He has served as Deputy Minister of Education in British Columbia, Director of Research and Knowledge Mobilization at the Canadian Council on Learning, and Associate Dean (Teacher Education) at The University of British Columbia.
This content was developed exclusively for New Canadian Media and can be freely re-published, with appropriate attribution, please.


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For the month of October, you will be exploring the idea of persona via masking making. "(Masks can be) used for their expressive potential in enactment and ritual. Masks are a universal art form that generally evokes power, magic, and mystery for both those who wear them and their audience." Create one or more masks that embodies something unique featuring a visual element from one of the historical masks listed below)
Suggested Approaches:
You can craft your mask however you like. You may even bring in an old/used mask and repurpose it/transform it into another creature/character.
You can make your own paper mache mask at home then bring it to class to decorate.
You could create an origami mask and decorate it.
Alter a paper plate into a wearable mask
"Halloween has originated from the old Celtic festival and even before that. In those times, a man painted a mask on their face with blackened ashes from the sacred bonfire and dressed up as fearsome beings. It was believed that this is the last night for the dead to have their vengeance before moving on so people wore masks and costumes not to be recognized, to scare away evil spirits and to prevent them from entering homes. They believed it was important to honor dead, so Halloween developed from Pagan ritual to Masquerade party night.
It is believed that in this celebration days the souls of the dead roam the earth. So the most common costume is the white ghost sheet, and the common mask is the ghost or spirit mask. People believed that wearing masks and costumes protected them from ghosts. This night represents the border between the living and the death. The souls of the dead were meant to revisit their homes."
History of Masks
Famous Masks – Information about Different Masks
There are many masks around the world which are used in different purposes. Masks are commonly used in rituals, ceremonies, hunting, feasts, wars, theatres, performances, fashion, sports, films, as well as in medical, protective or occupational purposes. Some of them are used as ornamentation. Here you can find more information about different masks.
Kitsune mask is a mask of a fox. In Japanese culture, Fox has contradictory behavior. It can be benevolent (good) or malevolent (evil) depending on the situation. In Shinto religion, Fox is a messenger of the god Inari, who is the protector of rice, agriculture, and fertility. Fox brings rich harvest, and it is a symbol of wealth.
Hannya Mask
The Hannya mask represents jealous female demon in noh and kyōgen Japanese traditional theater plays and Shinto Kagura ritual dances. The mask has a learing mouth, sharp teeth, metallic eyes and two sharp devil-like horns. The expression of Hannya mask is at the same time demonic, angry, frightening, dangerous and tormented, sad, heartbreaking, melancholic and sorrowful. She begins as typical female, but when she is betrayed, get angry and jealous she turns into a demon.
Traditional Japanese masks are used in theater, festivals or rituals. They are connected to folk myths and tails. Masks represent people, creatures, devil, ghosts, and animals. Some of the Japanese traditional masks are Gigaku, Bugaku, Gyodo, Tengu, Kappa, Noh, Kyōgen, Shinto, Kagura, Kitsune, Hyottoko, Oni, Kabuki, Samurai, Kendo and Animegao masks.
Noh mask represents age, gender and social ranking of human or nonhuman being such as animal, demon or divine. Noh masks are carved from single piece of wood (Japanese cypress) and painted with natural pigments using a neutral base of glue and crunched seashell. There are 60 types and over 400 different masks. All of the masks have a distinctive name. Intent of using Noh mask is to stylize and emphasize the facial expressions and then to match with body language and movement in order to stimulate the imagination of the audience of Noh play.
The death mask is made after death from dead man's face. The material can be plaster cast or wax. The face is covered with plaster or wax until the material solidifies. A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster in 3-D form. It can represent mold for creating portraits or memento of the death. Throughout history in some cultures death mask represented artifact placed on dead man's face before funeral rituals.
Indian Masks
Indian or Native American masks were made for ceremonies, decoration, war rituals, shaman rituals, rituals initiating young man into the tribe, in healing rituals, in entertainment, given as gifts and spiritual rituals. Native Americans believed that the person wearing a mask was taken over by the spirit that mask represents. Masks were decorated with paint, feathers, fur, straw, leather, or leaves. Trained dancers would wear the masks and perform legend stories.
Scold's Bridle
Scold's bridle was iron muzzle with iron framework enclosing the head, usually of a woman, used for torture and humiliation. The humiliation process included a public display and punished people were led through town. Woman of the lower class who was characterized by unpleasant, scolding, aggression, gossiping, nagging or being a witch was punished by wearing the scold's bridle.
Halloween, construction of All Hallows' Evening, is a celebration on the eve on 31st October. It is believed that in this holiday days the souls of the dead roam the earth. Halloween masks and costumes should be frightening, spooky, scary and creepy. People believe it is important to honor the dead. Celts believed that this is the last night for the dead to have their vengeance before moving on so people wore masks and costumes not to be recognized, to scare away evil spirits and to prevent them from entering homes.
Theater Masks
Theater masks are used for representation of the specific mode of fiction in performance. There are many types of theater masks, but two most representative forms of theatrical masks are tragic and comic masks.
Greek Masks
Ancient Greek masks have been used in ceremonial rites and celebrations and they have been used in Greek theatre since the time of Aeschylus. Greek mask is one of the iconic conventions of classical Greek theatre.
Expanding Arms
Zentagles


In the last months our blog has stopped. However, this does not mean that nothing has happened at TeamGrid. The opposite is the case - we have tackled many important structural issues and laid the foundations for further developing TeamGrid in the future even more efficiently. Nevertheless, we promise improvement and will now announce at regular intervals, which topics concern us.
In addition to our headquarters in Göttingen, where TeamGrid software development is at home, we now have an office in Berlin. Here at Friedrichstrasse 68 in Berlin Mitte, we will continue to expand our sales, business development and customer service. By the way, you are always welcome to visit us in our new favorite office. The coffee is waiting.
TeamGrid is used daily by 120 agencies with more than 1,500 users. We were able to achieve this distribution without marketing and sales efforts. By setting up our own sales organization, we now want to carry TeamGrid even faster and further out into the world. We are very pleased to have Samuel Conzelmann, a sales expert for SaaS solutions. Together with Samuel, we will not only establish our sales processes, but also gradually tackle the international sales of TeamGrid.
In recent months we have been able to win bigger and bigger agencies for TeamGrid. Meanwhile, TeamGrid is used by agencies with up to 100 employees. The practice had shown in recent months, however, that there were performance limitations in large teams - because the larger a TeamGrid team was, the slower the task grids were loaded. Therefore, in the last few months we have completely redeveloped the whole task grid technology, thus laying the foundations for the further development of TeamGrid. Max, our CTO, has developed an incredibly smart technology with the new Task Grid, which ensures that it no longer makes any difference whether a TeamGrid team consists of 5 or 5000 employees. We are sure that even Trello is jealous of this "Masterpiece of Technology". Anyway, with the completion of the performance work, we can now fully focus on what we love most: developing great new features!
The resource management is coming!
One of the most requested functions is resource management. We have been working on this topic since mid-2016 and have developed different concepts for it. Resource management should help to efficiently and clearly plan the resources of an agency. Specifically, it is important that you should always know exactly when an employee in the future with how many percent of its capacity is fully booked. However, with resource management we do not want to implement a complicated Gantt chart, but provide an app that convinces with intuitive operation and overview. We are sure that you will like our concept. The development work has already begun.
Now that we have completed the extensive background technology work, the signs are green again to work on exciting new features for TeamGrid. Look forward to smart solutions and let yourself be surprised how smart the work in your agencies will be.


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1More Film Blog
Religious Music & Entertainment
"It Was a Christian Movement" — Wendell Pierce on Selma
December 17, 2014 by Kenneth R. Morefield
"It Was a Christian Movement" — Wendell Pierce on Selma December 17, 2014 Kenneth R. Morefield
Selma is one of the most anticipated films of the holiday season. Having received four Golden Globe nominations, including nods for Best Drama and Best Director, and currently sitting at 100% "Fresh" at Rotten Tomatoes, it is emerging as an Oscar contender.
I was fortunate enough to visit the set during this summer's shoot, witnessing the filming of King's speech on the Montgomery steps. I was also part of a panel of reporters from the evangelical press that participated in a round table interview with co-star Wendell Pierce. The actor, best known for his roles in The Wire and Treme, plays Hosea Williams in Selma. He spoke passionately about his experience making the film as well as that of growing up Roman Catholic in a segregated city–and how racism challenged the development of his own faith. Below are some excerpts from his comments:
On the "Christian" nature of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s advocacy:
All of these people were leaders in their own right, and it wasn't a coincidence that they were reverends. [It] was a Christian movement, and I think the thing that was amazing about it was not only showing the hypocrisy of Americans, challenging them, but challenging Christians also. Dr. King […] really challenged people's spirit, heart, and soul—what they believed in. How could you be Christian and treat others that way? I think that was the combination of the two: the political strategy of understanding what advocacy could do, understanding what God could do in non-violence, but [also] understanding that they were men and women of faith trying to appeal to the hearts of other men and women of faith.
What did he ask those who participated in the Selma march?:
When I asked John Lewis, "In that moment, when you crossed the bridge, what did Hosea say?" He said, "He turned to me and said, 'John, they're about to tear gas us.'" For me, realizing that this man, this reverend had fought in World War II—African-American soldiers, the double V campaign, you know about that? Victory abroad and victory at home. He had fought one battle. There was victory abroad, and now he was fighting a second. Victory at home. He had the waddle of a walk because he was injured in a tank in World War II. And [….] when John said that to me, I remembered that my father, who also fought in World War II, that was a part of the training. [They] basically sent you into a gassed house, filled with gas, and you had to take the gas mask off to see how it would impact [you]. So he knew, because he had experienced it, what was about to happen.
Experiencing racism at church:
I struggle with my faith. I…[long pause]…I grew up Catholic in the South. I'm still Catholic. I don't go to the church near my neighborhood now because when we first got there, the separate but equal neighborhood in New Orleans [….]the parish happened to be on the white side. And when my parents first got there, they sat in their favorite pew, right side, fifth row, anywhere in the world the Pierce family's there. And they tapped on their should, they said, "Excuse me, the Negro pews are in the back." My grandmother's Bible study was segregated. The white kids would go first, and then the black kids would go second. And the white kids would go to the choir loft and pee on them. The reverend would just say, "Stop, stop, stop, stop." That's it. So now, you grew up in a church like that, the first thing you ask as a kid is, "Momma, why do we go to church?" She said, "Baby, we're trying to have a relationship with God. Always separate that which is divine and that which is man-made." [….] In religion, I'm constantly trying to make sure—I want to get to what God is trying to say to me. And so…understand that man is…fallible. So that allowed me to stay in the church, you know, and understand that, okay, all the things I hate about the church doesn't have to do with the divine.
What is the importance of the film now that the generation that lived through these events is passing away?
I think [films like this are] profoundly important because…there are those that don't have our best interest at heart. Who love revisionist history. And to…belittle, to lessen the impact that Martin Luther King had on this country and this world. I told people, as we make this film and celebrate Dr. King and meet all these men and women who actually stood by his side, that developed this movement with him, like the courageous eight in Selma, like Reverend Reese, and C.T. Vivian…those who were on the other side are still alive, too. There are some men and women that…we forget that. We forget that there are those who are in agreement with Bull Conoor and Clark, and to this day think that Martin Luther King was a communist, was a plant, who want to discredit him. That he doesn't deserve the accolades that he's getting, because he actually changed a system that they felt was fair enough. Men who wrote that constitution did not consider me a human being. And there are some that don't have that enlightenment, that feel as though—when they say "America," that doesn't include me. So as we look at these elderly statesmen and women, remember that there are still many men and women who cannot grasp the idea that we deserve—of everybody having those rights. Martin Luther King is emblematic of that change that they cannot accept. And it's important that we not allow those folks to change who he was [with] revisionist history that he didn't make the impact that he did on this country and change one of the great American heroes. We should never allow anyone to demean him to a point where he is ineffectual.
Selma has a limited release on December 25th and will expand to theaters everywhere on January 9, 2015.
Disclosure--Travel
Wendell Pierce
Last Temptation Turns Twenty-Five
December 18, 2014 Ask Me Anything (Burnett, 2014)
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MARY KIRCHER RODDY
Upcoming and Past Presentations
Searching For Stories blog
ABOUT MARY KIRCHER RODDY, CG®
Mary Kircher Roddy, CG®, grew up in San Rafael, California. She earned a Bachelor degree in Liberal Studies from The University of California, Riverside in 1982 and a Master in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas in 1984. She earned a certificate in Genealogy and Family History at the University of Washington in 2005. She was credentialed by the Board for Certification of Genealogists® in 2019, Certificate No. 1113.*
Mary became interested in genealogy in 2000 in anticipation of a sabbatical in Ireland where her husband was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Limerick. She was sure she would complete all her Irish genealogy while her husband taught at UL and her children attended Monaleen school. Fifteen years later, the genealogy is still a work in progress. But the trip to Ireland awakened something deep in her Celtic bloodlines, the Irish tradition of the Seanachi, the storytellers and historians of yore.
Mary has published articles in Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy. She's currently working on a novel set in the San Francisco area in 1900 and 1901, based on stories of several of her ancestors and their associates which she discovered in her genealogical research.
Mary frequently lectures around the Seattle area, and is an active member of Seattle Genealogical Society. Her husband's most recent sabbatical brought them to Sydney, Australia and while he taught at the University of Western Sydney, Mary spent her time swapping research strategies and methodologies with the genealogists at the Botany Bay Family History Society.
She is a member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild, The Association of Professional Genealogists, and the National Genealogical Society.
* Certified Genealogist (CG) is a service mark (sm) of the board for Certification of Genealogists® conferred to associates who consistently meet ethical and competency standards in accord with peer-reviewed evaluations every five years.


Tabetha and Philip from "Reman Mythology". There's some symbolism in here that I tried to infuse into the drawing, Tabetha being the one in touch with the eternal and representing the stars, while Philip is grounded to his city and his regal history so I tried putting patterns that can be seen in Cerian streets into his robes. Since Tabby is the one that's more curious about the world, she gently awakens Philip from his sleep of ennui with a loving touch. Scanned linework and Photoshop 7.


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Home Biology Key difference between humans and other mammals is skin deep, says study
Key difference between humans and other mammals is skin deep, says study
Key difference between humans and other mammals is skin deep says study
While humans and other species share some of the same genetic information, new research found that humans are unique among mammals when it comes to the types and diversity of microorganisms on our skin. This difference could have implications for our health and immune systems.
"We were quite surprised when we saw just how distinct we humans are from almost all other mammals, at least in terms of the skin microbes that we can collect with a swab," said Josh Neufeld, a professor of biology at the University of Waterloo and senior author of the study.
A team made up of researchers from the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph conducted the most comprehensive survey of mammals to date and found that human microbiome—the collection of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses that naturally occur on our skin—contains significantly less diversity than that of other mammals.
"The first line that gets hit by modern hygienic practices is our skin," said Ashley Ross, a co-author of the study and a graduate student at Waterloo at the time of the research. "Our skin is the largest organ of the body and the main barrier to the external environment."
Living in homes, bathing and wearing clothing may all have contributed to the unique makeup of microbial communities on human skin. Habitat was another important factor linked to the skin microbes on mammals that were sampled for this study.
Despite these important influences on mammalian skin microbial communities, the study found evidence that microbial communities on mammalian skin may have changed over time with their hosts, a phenomenon called phylosymbiosis.
"We were able to measure phylosymbiosis between some of the mammalian classes and the corresponding communities on their skin," said Kirsten Müller, a biology professor at Waterloo and co-author of this study. "It's exciting that we can still see this signal despite the contribution of habitat to the skin microbial community."
The team, which also included J. Scott Weese, a professor at Guelph, plans to further examine whether co-evolution has taken place between skin microbial communities and their hosts, which is one mechanism that may account for their observations of phylosymbiosis.
The study appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research funded the project.
Ashley A. Ross et al. Comprehensive skin microbiome analysis reveals the uniqueness of human skin and evidence for phylosymbiosis within the class Mammalia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1801302115
Human skin structure
Credit: Wikipedia
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Itascatown je bilo probno malo naselje na zapadnoj strani otoka Howlanda, koji se nalazi u Tihom oceanu.

Povijest

1935. godine se probalo nastaniti otok Howland. Stoga se dovelo 4 osobe s Havaja na brodu zvanom Itasca na taj otok.

To malo naselje na zapadnoj strani otoka je nazvana po brodu i to Itascatown.

1942. je prekinut taj pokus nastanjenja radi izbijanja drugog svjetskog rata i civile su evakuirali.

 Zemljopis SAD-a

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


WOLA Performance Academy (WPA), aims to improve athletic performance in youth. Our program is a 8 week session focusing on improving agility, core, speed and body fundamentals and is applicable across a myriad of athletic pursuits for ages 8+.
1. Acceleration/Deceleration: Improve first step in drive phase, and control body at top speed to make cuts for change of directions.
2. Explosive Lateral/Rotational Hip Power: Improve ability to move laterally and turn hips to correct positioning for maximum power.


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Judge Reinhold
He is the LAW in 1980s nostalgia.
For the religious among us who choose to believe lies, the self-proclaimed experts at Wikipedia have an article about Judge Reinhold.
Judge Reinhold (1957-2005) was an American actor and jurist, known for his portrayal of 'nice-guy' characters in 1980s comedy movies and for his brutal enforcement of the law in Mega City One.
Biography[edit]
Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Reinhold studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Mega City One Justice Department Academy. His first major film role was in Fast Times At Ridgemont High, which he filmed shortly before his epic battle with the Angel Gang. Following this, he went on to appear in the Beverly Hills Cop movies and fight Jerry Springer, an undead demon from another dimension.
Judge Reinhold's career slowed down after the 1980s, but he was still able to save Mega City One from Soviet aggression and team up with Batman and communistic Strontium Dog. He auditioned for the hit early-90's TV show I am the Law & Order but lost the role to Sylvester Stallone. This is generally considered to mark the end of his media career.
Also may or may not be the interdimensional brother of Night Court actor John Larroquette, we haven't decided yet. Actually, it's pretty damn easy to confuse Larroquette with Reinhold for some strange reason. Part of their master plan?
He is a founding member of the Justice Society.
Tragic Death[edit]
While working with the Justice Society, Reinhold battled many foes. However, he was killed by Freddie Mercury in 2005 after the zombie Mercury used his acid masturbate technique, which caused him to burn up. He was buried in the Mega City One cemetery and his remains were stolen by Greg Louganis, who raped the remains.
He was replaced in the Justice Society by the other Captain Marvel, who was killed shortly afterward.
Retrieved from "https://uncyclopedia.com/w/index.php?title=Judge_Reinhold&oldid=5387952"
American actors


Ok.. first off, before I start sounding defensive, as food blogger, you need to understand that I'm not earning a single cent from this my site, therefore everything you see before you is the work of pure passion. That being said, I'm also not exactly Mr. Moneybags like Warren Buffet either, (although I have to admit, that is an awesome last name). Don't get me wrong.. I do make a decent living, especially since we try to live within our means. I don't have very many fancy gadgets and all that. I never had a PSP, my cell phone is two years old (and i found out if I sell it in greenbelt, I can get a measly P3,500 for it), and I drive Rina's old (but still servicable) 1994 Lancer. The only jewelry you'll find on me is my wedding ring, which is fine because I really have a strong dislike for wearing watches and necklaces.
For a few years now, I set at least one day of the weekend for what I call a "Rina Day" (I take Rina out on a date).And since my beautiful wife loves to chronicle our food adventures, "Rina day" is actually one of the factors that helped me get started with my blog in the first place.
Some time in October, Rina's friend, Zee (A fellow foodie that has given Rina and I numerous suggestions for places to go check out.. and they've all so far been awesome), alerted Rina about the website Cash Cash Pinoy (www.cashcashpinoy.com). Cash Cash Pinoy is a "Group Buying" site, that has become popular here and in the States. I actually first heard about it on "The Today Show", and was pleased to see that there was one here as well.
really couldn't resist. With a deal like "Pay only P1,160 instead of P2,320 (50% discount), I couldn't really blame her. I bought a couple of those vouchers, and we eventually used them for our "Mr. Myfoodtrip" celebration.
After that, I've bought a couple of more deals from Cash Cash Pinoy, including a voucher for Wingman, and one more for an upcoming post. (For "suspense" purposes, I want to refrain from naming the restaurants I'll be going to, but if your curiousity is getting the better of you, there's a pic of the vouchers on the top) Ever since then, I've been on the lookout for group buying sites, and I've purchased quite a few vouchers from them, making my food adventures a little easier on the wallet.
But Group Buying sites aren't just about food either. From Spa Packages, Travel tours, to gadgets, and even Pole Dancing classes (The arrow of my mouse hovered above the "buy now" option before I came to my senses) are not spared from these sites. I'm very particular to sites that use Paypal, just for safety reasons. There are a lot of weirdos on the net, and you can never be too sure.
I've purchased Three vouchers from them and I've used two, and I never had any problems with their site. I do find their new layout a bit more cluttered than their old one, but since they've been expanding their "products", I think they just revamped in order to give their other deals more exposure. Personally, Cash Cash Pinoy is really one of the group buying sites that I constantly keep a watch for, because their deals are usually along my lines, "taste wise". Even my officemate Chi purchased a travel package and had no problems, even with her bookings. Vouchers were emailed within an hour of purchase. The fact that they accept JCB is a nice touch as well!
Though Cash Cash Pinoy may have been the first group buying site I was introduced to, I've bought the most vouchers from Be Economic Groupon. I like how their site has just one major deal featured in the front page, and all other deals on the side bar. Their very active facebook page features a lot of interaction from their moderators, and they some times have "Happy Hour games" about the members of their staff in the afternoon. Questions range from, "What's our account executive wearing around his neck?".. or "What's the height of our finance manager" or something like that. The winner gets a surprise from them. Vouchers take a little bit longer than Cash Cash Pinoy to process, but you DO get them after a couple of hours or so.
Considering I've bought Seven Vouchers from them already, I think it's safe to say that, like Cash Cash Pinoy, they got my tasted in food pegged.
I have purchased one voucher from Ensogo already, but have yet to use it. After purchasing my voucher, I received an email confirming my order, yet the voucher wasn't attached to the email. I wrote them regarding my concern, and they got back to me right away on what bonehead me was doing wrong (I'm supposed to download the voucher from my "Ensogo Account".. whoops). What I like about Ensogo is that, their deals seem to go on longer than the other sites. Right now, the countdown to one of their deals is at 133 hours.. the others usually give two or three days max (I actually get pressured with that darn countdown). Perhaps my only minor comment about their site would be, they should use crisper photos, because often, the pictures they use (especially in the front page) don't really look all the visually appealing.
I haven't used it yet, but its nice to know that when I do, and should I run into any problems, I can always call my friend Abby (who works there) to complain.
Like Ensogo, I've only purchased one voucher from Twangoo. But unlike Ensogo, the choices of Twangoo are rather limited. In fact, as of this writing, the only deals you can get from Twangoo is for overnight accommodations for a resort hotel in Batangas, and a Teeth Cleaning "Side deal". I had no problems receiving or using the voucher.
I've only purchased one voucher from Deal Grocer and have yet to use it. To me, they have the classiest looking webpage among all the other group buying sites. They offer deals a little bit more expensive than the others, and they don't have that many food choices. However, deal grocer will always have a special place in my heart because they were the first group buying site I saw that used a review of mine for their site for their Mochiko deal!
The sister of my friend, the lovely Karen, was the one that pointed it out to her, who in turn told me. It was a pleasant surprise, but I do wish they had told me in advance, (for no other reason than, so I could have bragged about it sooner hehe). I was actually really touched that they found me credible enough to use my review (if only they knew.. hehe).
Another minor draw back of Deal Grocer though, like some other sites I've seen, is that you have to register before you can actually SEE the deals. Most sites allow you to view the deals, but you need to sign up to purchase, which makes perfect sense.
I've signed up already for Pakyaw.com.ph but i haven't bought anything from them yet. I was thisclose to buying vouchers for their Lolo Dad's and Momo deal, but as of this writing, they only offer "PayEasy". I've been exchanging facebook msgs with Doreen, their Online Marketing Manager, and she told me that they'll be utilizing PayPal very soon, so i'm watching out for that. Jel, A dear friend of mine works here as well, so i'm sure this place is legit! As of this writing, they don't have any food deals, but I hope they can offer the Momo deal again!
Other sites that I've heard of but have yet to purchase any deals from them, are Metro Deal, Buyanihan, and Deal Dozen.
My Buddy Eric (fellow foodie and group buying addict) gave me a heads up on another site that compiles current deals so you get to see everything available, all in one page!
Thank you to the lovely Lynne of www.lynne-enroute.com for the heads up on another group buying compilation site: http://frugalpanda.ph/ !
If you find any deals, feel free to let me know!
haha it's all your fault!!
Awesome! I'll revise the info, Doreen! Thanks for the heads up!
Hi Richie! Just bought the Tender Bob's coupon last night from cashcashpinoy. Thanks to your post!
And Buyanihan pala is good din. I bought a treatment coupon (w/c I am not divulging what kind of hehe) from them a few months back. Mabilis lang nila pinapadala yung voucher sa email. At first takot ako gumamit ng paypal, so dinadaan ko pa yung bayad sa office nila! Sa valero lang kasi. :) But now I use paypal na!
Great to hear, Kristine! Will definitely check it out! Thanks!
Hi Richie! I know this is an old blog post but i stumbled upon it while searching for a Group Buying Site that accepts JCB.. I know cashcashpinoy already since I been buying Travel Deals from them but I wanted to have some new choices in buying Travel Deals using my hubby's JCB credit card :D so we can maximized our choices for our vacation. Thank you for this blog!!!
Glad to be of help, Jengie! Enjoy!!


Living with fibromyalgia is extremely difficult, since millions of patients throughout the world can attest. The fact that physical and emotional pain is not visible to others can often make it even more difficult. Fibromyalgia is known as an "invisible disease" because its painful and often debilitating side effects are often not apparent to others.
A person with fibromyalgia may look totally fine on the outside, but be suffering from unbearable pain inside. Understanding this fact is important for those who seek to be supportive of a friend or family member of a person with fibromyalgia.
While it is often difficult to find the words to provide support and hope for those who suffer from fibromyalgia, here is a list of 5 things that definitely does not mean someone with fibromyalgia. We believe we are saying nothing at all better than one of these 5 things.
This comment demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of invisible diseases. Not all serious illnesses come with obvious, outwardly apparent symptoms, such as being in a wheelchair. Fibromyalgia sufferers have often learned adaptive mechanisms and can use their limited energy every day to try to appear more normal to others. But the pain is still there. And even hinting at someone with fibromyalgia they are pretending that they are likely to put their relationship with them at risk.
Uh, no … it's not. The vast majority of those who suffer from fibromyalgia would do anything to regain their independence and the ability to work full time.
The suggestion that not being able to work was a choice or that they are just lazy is incredibly insulting.
You've already heard wrong. The cause of fibromyalgia is still being studied and the amount of research is lagging behind other health conditions due to lack of historical understanding. But that does not mean it's less real for almost 6 million people with fibromyalgia in the United States alone.
Fibromyalgia was officially recognized as a real disease by the health industry in the United States late last year, when it was granted its own diagnostic code and has been recognized for years by the Administration of the FDA and Safety Social.
If only it were that easy. The fact is that many fibromyalgia sufferers push the limits of their physical capacity by getting up and taking a shower every day.
Many do find some relief in yoga or other gentle exercises such as water aerobics. But often the kind of effort that comes with exercise is not a possibility.
We saved the worst for last. Actually no, it's not all in my head. Pain and fatigue is found throughout the body and sometimes I feel that even my hair hurts! Yes, it is so bad and the fact that you can not see my pain does not mean it is not a physical condition. Stress, anxiety and depression can make all symptoms of chronic pain worse, but usually do not cause pain.
If you have come this far, it is likely that you are a fibromyalgia sufferer or someone who really wants to understand fibromyalgia to support someone they love. Soft hugs to you if you are the first and thank you very much if you are the last.