Most Google Now cards, like its flight information card, are designed to make you more efficient, but Google's newest addition actually encourages you to waste time. The new cards will suggest you take a detour to check out "nearby discoveries," which are businesses or points of interest that are worth checking out.
The suggestions come from a somewhat forgotten [company]Google[/company] app called Field Trip that's currently available for iOS and Android. There is also a very cool implementation of Field Trip on Google Glass. But the feature is simply a great fit for Google Now, and there are a lot more people out there with a Google Now on their phone than the Field Trip app or a pair of Google Glass.
While Google Now has provided nearby attraction cards for ages, Field Trip's database has much more detailed info on architecture, points of interest off the beaten path, and current restaurants. While Field Trip could be a great feature for travelers passing landmarks they might not even know were there, it's businesses that should be the most excited. The Field Trip cards could end up driving sales: Google Now's contextual nature means that it will suggest businesses to mobile passerby who are actually in a position to stop by and spend money.
Google Now continues to gain features at a rapid clip. Earlier this week, the card for flights was updated to offer alternatives in the case of a cancellation, and Google added cards for bus and train travel as well. A few weeks ago Google started suggesting nearby restaurants if you stay in a hotel. No longer is Google Now simply providing information you already know in a handy way — now it's providing information you didn't even know you wanted.
The Field Trip feature is currently rolling out through Google Search on iOS and Android.


text:
Method and System For Intelligently Retrieving and Refining Information
A system and method for intelligently retrieving and refining information, wherein the system includes an intelligent data refining sub-system, a refining database, a releasing and management module, a retrieving database, and intelligent retrieving sub-system. The releasing and management module comprises a releasing and synchronization module, and a data open and management module, wherein the data is classified into twelve categories and refined by the system. The method of the present invention includes the steps of: inputting query terms, pre-processing, fractionizing the retrieving requirements into simple and direct retrieval, advanced and combined retrieval, classification browser retrieval, full text retrieval, and intelligent logic retrieval, wherein the former three kinds of retrievals will be directly performed by the relation retrieving engine, the full text retrieval will be directly performed by the full text retrieving engine, and the intelligent logic retrieval will be achieved by the relation retrieving engine after the query terms re-organized. Finally, return to the retrieved results.
Zhao, Kaihao (Beijing, CN)
707/999.1, 707/E17.014, 707/E17.075, 707/999.003
G06F7/06; G06F17/30
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GEBRESENBET, DINKU W
ZHEN ZHENG LU (DUARTE, CA, US)
1. A system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, comprising: an intelligent data refining sub-system; a refining database, wherein said data refining sub-system is used to refine a text, image, audio and video data into knowledge units and index information which are completely and correctly divided and indexed, wherein said knowledge units and index information are stored in said refining database, and there are still a great deal of index information and bridging information for accelerating refining stored in said refining database; a retrieving database; an intelligent retrieval service sub-system providing a service platform for intelligent retrieval, wherein said retrieval service sub-system jointly processes all the retrieving requirements, and performs corresponding retrieval from said retrieving database to intelligently retrieve the related content; and a releasing and management module including a data releasing and synchronization module, and a data open and management module, wherein said releasing and management module makes the approved content and index information synchronous to the data displayed in said retrieval service sub-system, wherein said data synchronization is realized by said data releasing and synchronization module which synchronously transmits the contents from said refining database to said retrieving database, and the feedback information produced during retrieval will be synchronously transmitted from said retrieving database to said refining database, wherein the access authority is configurated by said data open and management module
2. The system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, as recited in claim 1, wherein all data will be refined by said intelligent retrieval service sub-system to be classified into twelve categories, wherein said twelve categories comprise character, event, time, place, article, creature, clothes, food, house, transportation thing, sports thing, entertainment thing.
3. The system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, as recited in claim 2, wherein each of said twelve categories is fractionized into a number of sub-categories, and each of said sub-categories is fractionized into a number of secondary sub-categories, wherein the level structure of said twelve categories are formed into the structure of a tree to service as the indexing structure, wherein the nodes of said knowledge units of said tree structure comprise a number of networking subjection relations, and each of said twelve categories and their sub-categories are coded.
4. The system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, as recited in claim 3, wherein the level of said sub-categories is less than 30.
5. The system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, as recited in claim 1, wherein all data is refined by said intelligent data refining sub-system to be divided into a number of knowledge units according to the content length and file size of said data.
6. The system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, as recited in claim 5, wherein the characters included in said text knowledge unit within 600.
7. The system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, as recited in claim 1, wherein said intelligent data refining sub-system adopts a relation tri-gram comprising an organization of Ka, Kr and Kr, wherein the Ka stands for keyword a, the Kb stands for keyword b, and the Kr named relation keyword stands for the relation between the keywords a and b, such that three kinds of associated relation between the keywords a and b is represented and realized by the tri-gram, wherein the relation keyword Kr comprises subjection relation, equivalent relation with different names, and relation of background reference.
8. A method for intelligently retrieving and refining information, comprising the steps: (a) inputting query terms; (b) pre-processing said query terms, wherein said pre-processing comprises code-switching and index complexity evaluation; (c) fractionizing the retrieving requirements into simple direct retrieval, advanced combined retrieval, classification browser retrieval, full text retrieval, and intelligent logic retrieval, wherein said former three kinds of retrievals will be directly performed by the relation retrieving engine, said full text retrieval will be directly performed by the full text retrieving engine, and said intelligent logic retrieval will be achieved by the relation retrieving engine after the query terms re-organized based on the logical relation deduction; (d) returning to retrieved results when said retrieved results are obtained by the relation retrieving engine and the full text retrieving engine.
9. A method for intelligently refining and processing data, comprising the steps of: (a) refining basic data to make sure all the texts in the database are correct, wherein the system proofreads all the data inputted in the database, wherein the words, catalogues, paragraph levels, and comments citation of the data are carefully proofread by the system. (b) intelligently refining knowledge units, wherein the system completely divides the data consisting of paragraphs into a number of independent and comprehensive "knowledge units", and the association relation between the "knowledge units" and the index keywords is configurated by the system. (c) intelligently refining index, wherein the index refining is processed at the same time with the step (b), and the keywords extracted from the step (b) are intelligently refined in the step (c), wherein the refined results obtained from the keywords refining will be through a secondary refining to realize a flexible, correct, multidimensional direction, networking intelligent index. (d) re-processing the knowledge units based on the feedback retrieving requirements from the intelligent index, wherein according to users' random requirements, a new classification, ordering and clustering is realized to produce a secondary literature, a tertiary literature, or multi-literatures, forms, imagines, audios and videos
10. The method for intelligently retrieving and refining information, as recited in claim 8, wherein a number of special Chinese characters included or not included in the standard Unicode database are applied to the system through dividing, ordering, coding the variant characters and pictograph characters, that is, the retrieval and display of said variant characters and pictograph characters are achieved.
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to a kind of method and system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, and more particularly, relates to a method and system for intelligently retrieving and refining information from text, image, video and audios.
2. Description of Related Arts
As known to everyone, database is widely applied to all kinds of electronic data, literature, business data resource, and network search. Such that, for the application field of database, it is very important to effectively retrieve and refine data information and documents.
Recently, the retrieving techniques for data information in this field generally perform a search by using the Boolean expression as a query term which is based on the statistical keywords. For documents database, there is a dictionary storing a lot of keywords and each of the keywords are concretely positioned in the related documents. Depending on such a dictionary, through comparing the keywords of query terms with the one of basic documents, the corresponding documents will be retrieved. In addition, in order to improve the retrieving techniques, a fuzzy logic module, a vector space module, and a probabilistic retrieval module are adopted for retrieving documents and data information.
However, the existing retrieving method only can performs a search based on comparing the keywords of query terms with the one of basic documents. Although the basic documents are in relation to the keywords of the query terms, if the keywords cannot be retrieved from the basic documents, there will be no retrieving results show up. Therefore, we need do our best to improve the retrieving techniques to realize the retrieval depending on a comparability degree between the keywords of query terms and basic documents, such that the retrieved results will have more association with the keywords of query terms. For example, depending on the existing retrieval techniques, we may retrieve the documents comprising the same keywords with the query terms, but actually the retrieved basic documents has no relation to the query terms; On the contrary, if there are no same keywords included in the basic documents with respect to query terms, the associated basic documents will not be retrieved under the existing retrieval techniques. For the data included in the basic documents, the existing retrieval method can not distinctively identify it, or refine and make use of the retrieved information based on the property relation of information. Of course, it is impossible for the existing method to realize inter-analysis and intercomparsion among different documents, and to refine and make use of information content time after time among different documents.
Recently, for all kinds of database, the information refining and retrieving results are processed from one document to another, that is, if there will no corresponding keywords match the keywords of query terms, the retrieving method will change its target to another document without doing information refining or relation analysis on one documents. However, the information property is very rich included in one document, but the existing retrieving method only aims at one point, which leads to many problems produced during information refining and results retrieving.
Presently, when doing an information retrieval, the retrieval always is performed by appointing a subject, marking specific keywords, and determining a type of document abstract to identify the property of the original documents, then using the identified property to work as a retrieval keyword during the retrieving process. However, there is a pressing problem with this conventional information retrieval method. The identified property can not completely embody all the information data of the documents. For example, although the content of original documents are related to the query terms, there is no keywords of original documents corresponding to the one of query terms, finally there will be no documents to satisfy the query term, and the user will retrieve nothing.
For retrieved results from database, because there is rich information contained in one document, a great deal of information which has no relation with the query terms will make the retrieved result redundant. Finally, a lot of retrieved documents having no relation to the query terms will be retrieved out, which decreases the efficiency of retrieving method.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
A main object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, wherein all kinds of data and document retrieval can be realized by the method and system. The present invention even can satisfy the intelligent refining requirements of data information, such as, the information comparison and analysis among different keywords which are included in the same document or existing in different documents can be realized in the system, and new relation among different keywords can be configured by the present invention. Therefore, although there are no corresponding keywords between a query term and a basic document, one still can retrieve the data which actually has relation with the keyword and connotatively existing in the database. At the same time, depending on the position expression technology of various formats existing in the system, the content of many kinds of medium formats can be retrieved and refined, such as text, image, audio and video.
Another main object of the present invention is to configurate a retrieving method and indexing system for many medium formats which are based on completely division, index text content, and the configuration of advanced, flexible and intelligent index system. A flexible and efficient networking index system is configurated through designing and achieving the relation tri-gram, and describing the relation among Chinese characters from different perspective. Depending on the networking index system, an intelligent and semantic retrieving technology is achieved. At the same time, depending on the standardization of content index method, the association and comparison among words and contents are more intelligent. Therefore, one can retrieve the data which actually has relation with the keywords and connotatively existing in the database.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, depending on such method and system, the retrieved results can be refined so as to maximumly decrease the retrieved results having no relation with the query terms, such that the retrieved results can match with the retrieving requirements to the maximum extent.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system which can satisfy random retrieving requirements during intelligently retrieving and refining information.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system which can provide retrieved results based on a real relation among query terms and basic database, but not based on a comparison between the keywords of query terms with the one of basic database, which can be realized through the rich information background and exact information release paths of the system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system which can realize the integration of new information content and knowledge among any information sources based on the lever of knowledge unit. And can realize the networking comparison among universal properties of any information contents which are based on character, event, time, place; article, production, life, and activity. Moreover, the present invention can realize a second refining for many kinds of medium formats which include text, image, audio and video, such that a secondary literature, tertiary literature, or multi-literature can be automatically produced.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system which can realize the activation and refining for the great deal of basic information, so as to quickly and orderly transform the information into knowledge.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system which can provide a best retrieval path for retrieving and refining information in compliance with the query terms, and there is rich knowledge contained in the system coming from different ways, such as the knowledge from production, life, and activities. Therefore, the system and method of the present invention can provide a comprehensive retrieval.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for intelligently retrieving and refining information, wherein the system perfectly matches with the human subjective requirements of knowledge, and the method is universal and can be applied to many formats. One can retrieve information from different ways and perform the retrieval without training. It is very convenient to retrieve and remember the information by using the present invention.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a system for intelligently retrieving and refining, comprising:
an intelligent data refining sub-system;
a refining database, wherein the data refining sub-system is used to refine a text, image, audio and video data into knowledge units and index information which are completely and correctly divided and indexed, wherein the knowledge units and index information are stored in the refining database, and there are still a great deal of index information and bridging information for accelerating refining stored in the refining database;
a retrieving database;
an intelligent retrieval service sub-system providing a service platform for intelligent retrieval, wherein the retrieval service sub-system jointly processes all the retrieving requirements, and performs corresponding retrieval from the retrieving database to intelligently retrieve the related content; and
a releasing and management module including a data releasing and synchronization module, and a data open and management module, wherein the releasing and management module makes the approved content and index information synchronous to the data displayed in the retrieval service sub-system, wherein the data synchronization is realized by the data releasing and synchronization module which synchronously transmits the contents from the refining database to the retrieving database, and the feedback information produced during retrieval will be synchronously transmitted from the retrieving database to the refining database, wherein the access authority is configurated by the data open and management module
The present invention also provides a method for intelligently retrieving and refining information, comprising the steps of:
(a) inputting a query term, wherein excepting the keywords input and index browser adopted in many existing retrieving system can be performed in the present invention, a lot of special Chinese characters which included or not included in the Unicode database also can be inputted as a query term through etymon, strokes methods;
(b) pre-processing the query terms, wherein the pre-processing comprises code-switching and index complexity evaluation;
(c) fractionizing the retrieving requirements into simple direct retrieval, advanced combined retrieval, classification browser retrieval, full text retrieval, and intelligent logic retrieval, wherein the former three kinds of retrievals will be directly performed by the relation retrieving engine, the full text retrieval will be directly performed by the full text retrieving engine, and the intelligent logic retrieval will be achieved by the relation retrieving engine after the query terms re-organized based on the logical relation deduction;
(d) returning to retrieved results when the retrieved results are obtained by the relation retrieving engine and the full text retrieving engine.
In the step (a), the relation keywords Kr comprise subjection relation, equivalent relation with different names, and relation of background reference.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a typical tri-gram according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates the relation between keywords for retrieving person according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 illustrates the relation of relation keyword Kr to another relation keyword according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a deducting schematic view of the inverted relation according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a deducting schematic view of the secondary relation according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a deducting schematic view of the relation of same subject according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a deducting schematic view of the symmetrical relation according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the system according to the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a flow chart of the method according to the present invention.
The present invention is to configurate a retrieving and refining system based on dividing the real meaning and structure of the retrieved or refined information. Therefore, the performance of the present invention will not be limited by comparing the words expression of query terms with those of basic texts, such that the retrieved information can be mostly associated with the query terms. Even the basic information comprises a same keyword with the query term, if the information has no association with the query term, the information will not be retrieved. On the other hand, the present invention provides comprehensive information for retrieving requirements, although the words expression of basic information are not the same with the query terms, the information associated with the query terms also can be retrieved.
Moreover, an advanced and flexible intelligent index system is configurated by the present invention. Based on the system, it can make sure that all kinds of basic information are scientific and logical. On the other hand, the basic information falls into various categories according to users' habits, such that it is convenient for users to retrieve information based on the system of the present invention.
The existing retrieving engines and service systems will not be rejected by the present invention. On the contrary, the present invention can be perfectly integrated with the existing retrieving engines and service systems to perform corresponding function according to the retrieving requirements, such that a more powerful retrieving system will be implemented.
To provide exact retrieved results in compliance with the query terms is realized by dividing the retrieving results which display in the form of knowledge. The division comprises two levels, one is to divide the retrieving results into several independent and complete "knowledge units" or "knowledge paced"; the other level is to extract all keywords included in the basic information to enrich the associated information of the keywords, and outstand a keywords having the same meaning with a query term but having different words expression. Therefore, the knowledge property is enriched by the present invention. The keywords have no association with the query term will be excluded, depending on which, the interruption of sub-information with respect to a query term will be greatly decreased in the database.
The existing classification browser and keywords match are integrated in the intelligent retrieving system of the present invention. Different from the existing retrieving engines, the classification Brower of the present invention not only can be fractionized according to the relation of member subjection, such as classification of subjects, custom, but also provides two lateral developing retrieving paths based on the equivalent relation with different names and the relation of background reference. Different from the related link jump included in the existing systems, the lateral retrieving paths have specific targets based on the classification Brower. Moreover, according to keywords match between database and query terms, the keywords having same word expression with the one of the query term will be retrieved from the database, while the retrieved keywords maybe has different meaning with the retrieving requirements. However, users can clearly understand the related information of the retrieved keywords through the system instruction, then directly and quickly pursue a second retrieval to locate the results.
The simplest unit of natural semantem is the division standard of the knowledge units, such that the property of each knowledge units can be completely displayed, which make sure the retrieved results maximumly math the query terms to decrease the information having no association with the retrieving requirements.
The intelligent retrieving and refining system of the present invention is completely configurated based on the instinct requirements and thought logic of human being. According to the thought ways of human being used to retrieve and make use of knowledge, the database of the present invention are classified into twelve categories, that is character, event, time, place, articles, creature, clothes, food, house, transportation thing, sports thing, entertainment thing. Each of the twelve categories can be fractionized into a number of sub-categories, such as, the sub-categories of character comprise name, sex, birth place and so on. Moreover, each of sub-categories can be fractionized into a number of secondary sub-categories, such as, name of character can be classified into Zhao, Zhang, Li and so on. The level structure of the present invention is just like the structure of a tree, and an index structure comprises 30 levels can substantially express all kinds of fractionized data. The index categories and their sub-categories are coded, based on which, a second information refining will be performed. After totally extracting the background reference of the index structure, the extracted information will be indexed, reordered and re-categorized. Therefore, an advanced and flexible intelligent index system will be achieved.
All kinds of information data comprising different kinds of literatures, electronic data will be divided into a number of knowledge units according to the content length or file size of the information data, wherein the characters included in each knowledge unit are within 600, and each of the knowledge units are coded with corresponding code. Then each knowledge units will be analyzed and divided by the system, and all the keywords included in the knowledge units will be extracted and categorized according to the above classification method. Moreover, the keywords will be coded and located to the corresponding sub-categories of the relation tree.
The classification method of the present invention is essentially different from the conventional classification logic, and completely breaks the conventional classification concept. Presently, the other classification methods are mainly based on the structural levels in compliance with the related specialty, not dedicated to satisfy the natural knowledge requirements of different human being. Therefore, the existing classification method is limited by their classification concept.
What is worth mentioning is that the existing classification methods based on specialty also integrated in the present invention, and the classification method of the present invention aims to satisfy the natural knowledge requirements of human beings. Therefore, the present invention can cover and include all kinds of other classification methods based on its universal classification perspectives, such that all kinds of classification methods can be integrated in the present invention so as to create technical support for knowledge processing and usage integration.
In order to configure a flexible and intelligent index system, a kind of self-contained and self-organizing tri-gram is configured in the present invention. As known to everyone, all the normal languages comprise main grammatical structure which includes subject, predicate and object. This kind of grammatical structure is simulated in the present invention. Based on the tri-gram, the data expression, store, and retrieval are realized in the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 1 the drawings, a tri-gram according to the present invention is illustrated. The tri-gram comprises an organization of Ka, Kr and Kr, wherein Ka stands for keyword a, Kb stands for keyword b, and Kr named relation keyword stands for the relation between the keywords a and b, such that three kinds of associated relation between the keywords a and b represented and realized by the tri-gram. The relation keyword Kr comprises subjection relation, equivalent relation with different names, and relation of background reference.
Moreover, each of the three associated relation between the keywords a and b can be continuously fractionized, and two of the three associated relationship still can realize the three associated relationship again. Depending on such deducting pattern of the tri-gram, a logical retrieval can be realized by the method of the present invention, which is very different from the existing retrieving method performing a search by comparing keywords.
Referring to FIG. 1 again, Krr represents a kind of relation to make Kr has logical relation with another relation keyword, such as inverse relation, secondary relation, same subject, and symmetrical relation, wherein depending on Krr, Kr can deduct a new relation called Kr′ which is the new relation of keywords Ka′ to Kb′.
As shown in FIG. 2, it illustrates an embodiment for retrieving person, such as, there are three tri-grams existing in the system of the present invention, they are:
(Zhang Lao San, son, Zhan San) (Zhang San, son, Zhang Xiao San) (Zhang San, son, Zhang Xiao Si).
At the same time, as shown in FIG. 3, based on the relation keyword Kr, three corresponding tri-grams are identified by the system of the present invention, they are:
(son, inverse relation, father); (son, secondary relation, grandson); (son, same subject, brother);
(brother, symmetrical relation, brother).
So the system will automatically deduct retrieving results without increasing any other information.
Referring to FIG. 4, based on the inverted relation, the system of the present invention will deduct the follow retrieving results:
(Zhang San, father, Zhang Lao San) (Zhang Xiao San, father, Zhang San)
(Zhang Xiao Si, Father, Zhang San).
Referring to FIG. 5, based on the secondary relation, the system of the present invention will deduct the follow retrieving results:
(Zhang Lao San, grandson, Zhang Xiao San) (Zhang Lao San, grandson, Zhang Xiao Si).
Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, based on the relation of same subject, the system of the present invention will deduct the follow retrieving results:
(Zhang Xiao San, brother, Zhang Xiao Si), and follow the retrieving result obtained from the relation of same subject, the system will deduct the retrieving result of (Zhang Xiao Si, brother, hang Xiao San).
However, we should know that the deducting sequence will be changed according to the actual situation. All the above logical results can be deducted through the relation tri-gram being applied once. If the relation tri-gram is applied for many times, there will be more logical results deducted for retrieving.
Compared with the existing retrieving system, the above deduction possesses the follow features:
a. the basic data is greatly decreased. As shown in the above example, the basic data only comprises three character tri-grams and four relation tri-grams, while in order to satisfy different retrieval requirements, the existing retrieving system should store comprehensive database, and all the deduced results should be stored in the system to serve as the basic database.
b. the retrieving data is greatly increased. From the deduction of the above example, the retrieving data for users is not only determined by the basic data, but also has relation with the quantity of tri-gram. Generally, a tri-gram is very common, when adding a tri-gram, the retrieving data deducted by the tri-gram will be double increased, or even increased following the geometric series.
c. the retrieved results are more associated with the retrieval requirements. Because most of the retrieving results of the present invention are obtained through logical deduction, the deducted results can be more close to the retrieval requirements. However, for the existing method, all the basic data are independently inputted into the database, so the association among the basic data can not be guaranteed, such as, the results of (Zhang Lao San, Son, Zhang San) and (Zhang San, Brother, Zhang Lao San) maybe be retrieved out at the same time
d. the retrieving results are of expansibility depending on the tri-grams. From the deduction of the above example, we know that all kinds of tri-grams can be defined in the system of this method, as long as the tri-grams are in compliance with logical relation. From this perspective, the relation concluded through life experience and the developmental situation of the existing technology can be realized in this system. On the other hand, as the development of society and technology, there will be new relation keeping produced, and the new relation also can be applied in the system of the present invention. Moreover, depending on the defined new tri-grams, all the data previously inputted will immediately and correspondingly be re-organized for retrieving.
Moreover, the present invention adopts an indexing method, such as tri-gram of keywords. The indexing method is realized and represented through two tri-grams, wherein one tri-gram comprises C, R, K, and the other one includes Ca, R, Cb, wherein C stands for the content of documents, K stands for keywords, and R stands for the relation of documents to the keywords; while Ca stands for the content of a, Cb stands for the content of b, and R stands for the relation of a to b. The position, length, correlation of keywords and the association relation among documents will be stored in the system of this method. Through this kind of indexing, on one side, the retrieved documents can be presented according to the structure of the documents, on the other hand, the retrieved documents can be shown up based on the data source.
What is more, through the tri-gram of C, R, K, The indexing method can perfectly solve the associated relation between the original documents and the retrieval requirements. For example, entering a pronoun of he, through determining the actual associated relation between the keyword "he" and the content of the original documents, the system can provide a retrieved content corresponding with the keyword "he" instead of only providing the content comprising the same keyword with the entering keyword "he".
As shown in FIG. 8, it illustrates the whole structure of an intelligent retrieving and refining system of the present invention. The system comprises an intelligent data refining sub-system 1, a refining database 2, a releasing and management module 3, a retrieving database 6, and intelligent retrieval service sub-system 7, wherein the releasing and management module 3 comprises data releasing and synchronization module 4, and data open and management module 5.
The data refining is achieved by intelligent data refining sub-system 1. Depending on the sub-system 1, all data in the form of different mediums will be refined into a kind of text which has been completely divided and indexed, or a kind of content in the form of other medium form, or a flexible and correct index information. During this phase, to operate the refining database 2 is the major thing, wherein excepting the information prepared for final retrieval, there is still a great deal of indexed information and bridging results adapted for accelerating refining stored in the refining database 2.
The data refining comprises the steps of:
(a) refining basic data to make sure all the texts in the database are correct. During this step, the system will proofread all the data inputted in the database, wherein the words, catalogues, paragraph levels, and comments citation of the data will be carefully proofread by the system. Moreover, a number of special Chinese characters included or not included in the Unicode database also can be recognized in the present invention, that is, the inquiry and display of variant characters or pictograph characters will be realized by coding the variant characters or pictograph characters.
(b) intelligently refining knowledge units based on the correct basic data. The system will divide the data consisting of paragraphs into a number of independent and comprehensive "knowledge units". At the same time, the association relation between the "knowledge units" and the index keywords will be configurated by the system.
(c) intelligent indexing refining, which will be processed at the same time with the step (b), wherein in the step (c), the keywords extracted from the step (b) will be intelligently refined, and the refined results will be through a second refining, such that a flexible and correct, multidimensional direction, network intelligent index will be realized.
(d) re-processing the knowledge units based on the feedback retrieving requirements from the intelligent index, wherein according to users' random requirements to produce a secondary literature, a tertiary literature, or multi-literatures, forms, imagines, audios and videos.
The intelligent data refining sub-system 1 further comprises an operation management and control module which is used to manage the bridging results and data states existing in the above steps. The operation management and control module will not directly affect the data, but will monitor and manage the flow direction of the data.
The releasing and management task will be achieved by the releasing and management module 3. This module 3 mainly makes the approved content and index information synchronous to the data released in the intelligent retrieval service sub-system 7, wherein the data synchronization is reversible. The main data stream flows from the refining database 2 to the retrieving database 6. At the same time, the feedback information produced during retrieval will be synchronous to the refining database 2 from the retrieving database 6, wherein the data synchronization will be realized by the data releasing and synchronous module 4. In addition, setting up the authority of data access is another important task for the releasing and management module 3, which will be functioned by data open and management module 5.
If the retrieving operation is driven by network users, the retrieving requirements will be satisfied by the retrieval service sub-system 7. All the retrieving requirements including lateral universal retrieval and longitudinal special retrieval will be transformed into corresponding internal retrieving requirements to intelligently retrieve the content and index information. The universal requirements are performed by the universal keywords or combined keywords, while the special retrieval requirements will be realized by the classification method of the system. Moreover, during this phase, the system further provides a common access connector for providing service to the special retrieving requirements, such as, another networks can be linked to the system of the present invention to provide service to the special retrieving requirements.
The system further provided a common intelligent retrieving platform used to deal with all kinds of retrieving requirements. Moreover, the system further provides a lateral network universal retrieval service 8 which is used to obtain rich association content, and provides a longitudinal network special retrieval service 9 which is used to obtain high level knowledge. In addition, the common access connector is provided in the form of special retrieval service 10.
Referring FIG. 9 of the drawings, it illustrates how the present invention deals with the retrieving requirements from user 11, depending on the method for intelligently retrieving and refining information. The panes included in the FIG. 9 stand for all kinds of processing operations, the columns stand for the retrieving database 6 comprising index data 61 and content data 62. The solid line arrows stand for the operation flow, while the dashed stands for the flow direction of the main data.
During actual operation, users 11 enter the query terms 12 through networks provided by the system, or enter query terms 12 through the user interfaces of other systems connected to the system by open connectors. Excepting providing keywords input and index browser, the system further provides spelling input method or Chinese strokes input method to enter a lot of special Chinese characters included or not included in the Unicode database.
After the system obtains the retrieving requirements from users 11, the query terms 12 will be pre-processed 13 by the system, wherein the pre-processing 13 comprises regular code-switching 14 technologies, and index complexity evaluation 15 technologies. After being pre-processed 13, the retrieving requirements will be fractionized into simple direct retrieval 16, advanced combined retrieval 17, classification browser retrieval 18, full text retrieval 19, and intelligent logic retrieval 20. The former three kinds of retrievals will be directly performed by relation retrieving engine 22, the full text retrieval 19 will be directly performed by full text retrieving engine 23, and the intelligent logic retrieval 20 will be achieved by the relation retrieving engine 22 after the query terms 12 re-organized based on logical relation deduction 21. The logical relation deduction 21 is based on the above relation tri-gram, the classification index database, and the method of index knowledge units. After the retrieval results 24 being obtained through the relation retrieving engine 22 and text retrieving engine 23, the system will return to the retrieval results 24 making use of the interface which can substantially embody the internal logical relation between the query terms 12 and retrieval results 24.
The system and method referred in the present invention can be applied to computer stand-alone, local network, enterprise intranet, Internet and so on, the users of this system can be any user who wishes to do information retrieval. The present invention can realize the integration in new information content and knowledge among any information sources based on the lever of knowledge unit, and can realize the intelligent classification, ordering, and clustering among the universal properties of any knowledge source which are based on the human being, event, time, place, article, production, life, and activity.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. It embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Europe|Russia to Release First Whales Held in 'Jail' for Months
Russia to Release First Whales Held in 'Jail' for Months
An orca is hoisted from the water in Srednyaya Bay, in far eastern Russia, on Thursday, one of almost 100 captive whales set to be transported and released.CreditCreditYuri Maltsev/Reuters
By Ivan Nechepurenko
MOSCOW — Russia on Thursday started the process of releasing almost 100 valuable orcas and belugas that have been held for months in what became known as the "whale jail" in the country's Far East, following an international outcry and intervention by President Vladimir V. Putin.
The movement of the first batch of two orcas and six belugas was first broadcast during Mr. Putin's annual call-in show on Thursday, highlighting his role as a modern, televised czar, ready to solve any issue, big or small.
The first eight animals were moved from the watery pens where they were forced to spend almost eight months to water reservoirs installed in trucks. They will spend six days traversing more than 1,100 miles to reach the Shantar Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, the area where they were caught last year.
This route was not the only option considered by the Russian authorities. The initial decision was to release them where they were held in captivity, farther south along Russia's Pacific coast.
An international group of scientists and marine mammal specialists, which included Jean-Michel Cousteau of the Ocean Futures Society and Charles Vinick, the executive director of the Whale Sanctuary Project, pleaded with the government to choose the more costly option of releasing them in their natural habitat, where they were caught.
The whales were initially captured by four private companies linked to one man. The companies used loopholes in Russian law to obtain permits to catch animals and then sell them to China, where they would spend their lives performing in theme parks.
An aerial view in January of the enclosures where the whales were being held. They had been captured to be sold to theme parks.CreditSergei Petrov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The companies moved their catch to Srednyaya Bay near the Russian city of Vladivostok, where they were spotted by local environmental activists and journalists, who sounded the alarm.
Mr. Putin directed government officials to determine the fate of the mammals; they took custody of the whales and sought the advice of Mr. Cousteau and Mr. Vinick.
The prices the captive animals would have brought could have surpassed $100 million, Mr. Putin said during his call-in program. The companies that held the whales were reluctant to release them, even after he got involved.
"That's why there are many interested parties and the problem could not get solved easily," he said. "Wherever big money is involved, it gets difficult to solve things. Thank God a solution was found."
The whales are going to be released in groups from June until October, the Russian government's Fisheries and Oceanography Institute said in a statement. They will be monitored by 70 specialists, including veterinary doctors and scientists. Each whale will be accompanied by two people and will be equipped with a GPS tracker before release.
The institute also said that it would be the first time so many captive whales had been returned to the wild, anywhere in the world.
The companies that took the animals will have to pay hefty fines and might face criminal charges. A Russian court ruled that their permits to catch the whales were illegal, and activists say that aside from the validity of the permits, the companies violated legal restrictions on capturing the creatures.
During Mr. Putin's call-in show, officials also reported to him that the government decided to ban catching whales for cultural reasons — the legal pretext that businesses had used for years to capture and then sell the animals.
Follow Ivan Nechepurenko on Twitter: @INechepurenko.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: Russia Is Releasing Whales Held in Far East for Months. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe
Russia Says It Will Try to Free Almost 100 Whales Held in 'Jail'
Smart, Social and Erratic in Captivity
SeaWorld Says It Will End Breeding of Killer Whales
Meet the Narluga, Hybrid Son of a Narwhal Mom and a Beluga Whale Dad


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Philip Fox (1878 - 1944) Papers
Identifier: 29/3
The Philip Fox papers, comprising one box, include correspondence, astronomical notes and calculations, notes and drafts of publications, and lists compiled by Fox of outstanding scientists.
The general correspondence covers the years from 1904 to 1941. Of interest are the four letters written in 1909 urging the purchase of the Simon Newcomb Library for the Astronomy Department at Northwestern. The standard equinox correspondence records Fox's interest in 1915 in establishing such a standard internationally.
In 1923 there occurred a traditional "class fight" between the freshman and sophomore classes at Northwestern. Members of each class attempted to carry off students from the rival class. In the course of one such episode, a high speed automobile chase through Evanston and Wilmette ended tragically with the death of Louis Aubere, who had been riding on the running board of one of the cars. Fox was a member of the committee of which investigated the incident. His detailed notes, three reports, and a chart of the events are included in the papers.
Also included are miscellaneous astronomical notes and calculations, unrelated to specific publications, followed by notes and drafts of several papers on flocculi (cloudlike shapes of calcium, hydrogen, or other elements, revealed in the solar atmosphere by the spectroheliograph).
Fox's publications (1911 to 1928) are listed in reports he sent to the president of Northwestern from 1922 to 1928. A few articles and offprints of publications by Fox are included in the papers, followed by the minutes of the 19th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in 1916, when Fox served as secretary.
The major publication of Fox, aside from volumes one through three of the Annals of the Dearborn Observatory, is the Rotation of the Sun (1921) which is found both as a rough draft and as a galley. Also included is his Paper on the Rotation of the Sun. The Catalogue of Stellar Parallaxes was compiled in the spring of 1939. The biographies of scientists were written by Fox in 1940, perhaps as a result of his investigations in connection with compiling a list of great scientists.
The remainder of the files consist of lists of astronomers, physicists, and other scientists. The correspondence which accompanies the lists of great astronomers was compiled for the Planetarium, and the list of physicists, astronomers, chemists, and mathematicians, was compiled for the Museum of Science and Industry.
The addition is comprised of thirty-six postcards, to and from Fox or the Dearborn Observatory. Each postcard carries a picture of an astronomical observatory. The addition has been incorporated into the Philip Fox Papers as Folder 22 of Box 1.
Fox, Philip, 1878-1944 (Person)
This collection is stored off-site and requires 48 hours advance notice for retrieval. Please contact us at archives@northwestern.edu or 847-491-3136 to schedule an appointment to view the collection.
1.00 Boxes
The Philip Fox papers were donated to the University Archives by Dr. Robert Fox on April 14, 1981 as accession #81-81. Additional materials were separated from the records of the Dearborn Observatory (29/2) on October 8, 1982 as accession #82-126. The addition was transferred to the University Archives by the Dearborn Observatory on April 10, 1987, as Accession #87-66.
Separated Materials
One phonograph record was added to the NUA audio collection. One 1914 Syllabus was filed with NUA duplicate holdings. A number of photographs went to the Philip Fox folder in the Archives photographic collection.
Marion McMahon, fall 1982; Patricia Cloud, April 10, 1987 (addition).
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum
Astronomy--Observations
Astronomy--Study and teaching
Dearborn Observatory
Fox, Philip, 1878-1944
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago, Ill.)
Guide to the Philip Fox (1878 - 1944) Papers
Marion McMahon and Patricia Cloud
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Philip Fox (1878 - 1944) Papers. Northwestern University Archives. https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/repositories/6/resources/256 Accessed January 23, 2020.


PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh lawyer prominent in the field of Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits will again be going to court over a dispute with a former coworker.
law firm is suing a former partner for an alleged violation of trade secrets regarding its Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) practice.
Carlson Lynch Sweet Kilpela & Carpenter LLP filed a lawsuit on Feb. 22 against Benjamin Sweet, The Sweet Law Firm PC and Dean Henry in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Feb. 22, claiming violation of the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act, procuring information by improper means and civil conspiracy.
Bruce Carlson says Sweet took the Carlson firm's trade secrets in order to get his new firm off the ground. Records show Sweet has filed 10 lawsuits in federal court since Feb. 15.
The type of ADA claims these lawyers file allege businesses do not adhere to the proper specifications that allow disabled persons to access them. Here, the Carlson firm used a spreadsheet with measurements taken from parking lots to identify potential targets for litigation.
Carlson also files cases against websites that allegedly don't use the proper software that allows blind persons to use them.
And, as the Pennsylvania Record has previously reported, Carlson is currently in a court battle with his former employer over $2 million in lawyers fees from a $24 million settlement. Carlson has called the claims "absurd."
Meanwhile, Sweet, a former attorney for Carlson Lynch, started working as a partner on Sept. 1, 2014. As the firm's ADA litigation presence continued to grow, the firm hired full-time investigators, with defendant Henry being hired as one of those investigators.
The complaint said, "Carlson Lynch's staff investigators, including Henry, traveled around the country, at expense of Carlson Lynch, using a specific process and protocol developed by the firm at a substantial cost, to assess and record the accessibility of parking facilities and paths of travel at places of public accommodation."
Every investigation made by Carlson Lynch was recorded into a spreadsheet database, accessible only to a certain number of the firm's employees because of its confidential nature.
The complaint continued, "While Sweet was employed as a partner of Carlson Lynch, he also had access to the pre-litigation investigations performed by, and the spreadsheet database compiled and maintained by, Carlson Lynch as part of its ongoing ADA public accommodation accessibility practice."
Sweet was expelled from Carlson Lynch and opened his own firm, Sweet Law, which also works with ADA litigation.
Right after Henry resigned from his job, he agreed with Sweet to provide him with Carlson Lynch's trade secrets, giving the new firm the information from the spreadsheets, court filings said.
"Defendants obtained the trade secrets by improper means and/or through an abuse of confidence, despite defendants' knowledge that the information constitutes Carlson Lynch's trade secrets," the complaint said.
to attempt to gain leverage over Benjamin Sweet, a former partner who was expelled from the firm as part of the remaining partners' plot to increase their own share of the profits expected in 2019."
Carlson Lynch is seeking punitive damages and damages for the losses, as well as both pre- and post-judgment interest.
The firm is represented by attorneys Jeffrey Ward and Lucy Hill of Cohen & Grigsby PC of Pittsburgh. Sweet and his firm are represented by William Pietragallo II of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti LLP of Pittsburgh.


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HomeAnalysis…. INVESTIGATION WAS PAYBACK FOR TRUMP FIRING COMEY
…. INVESTIGATION WAS PAYBACK FOR TRUMP FIRING COMEY
January 14, 2019 This article was posted by TLB Staff Analysis, COMMENTARY, GOVERNMENT, MEDIA, Tyranny 0
NY TIMES: COUNTERINTELLIGENCE INVESTIGATION WAS PAYBACK FOR TRUMP FIRING COMEY
We have an actual government of elected officials. And a vast unelected body of officials who pursue their own agendas.
With the Mueller coup, the two have come in direct conflict with one another.
Here's the New York Times narrative.
In the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president's behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests, according to former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.
The inquiry carried explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president's own actions constituted a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow's influence.
The premise here is a tissue of nonsense and lies.
Nobody in the FBI actually believed that Trump was working for the Russians. The upper echelons knew very well that it was a theory put out by an operative working for the Clinton campaign. No amount of plausible deniability by Comey and Co. is going to change that.
But the payback? That part is real.
Everyone knows that if you go up against a Federal or State agency, they will come after you twice as hard. But now they did it to the President of the United States.
(TLB) published this story from FRONTPAGEmag with our thanks for the availability.
[Edited/emphasis/pictorial insert by TLB]
DANIEL GREENFIELD, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. READ MORE
Related article from The Liberty Beacon: President Trump Responds to Leaked FBI Claims in Recent NYT Article….
Clinton Campaign
Mueller coup
nonsense and lies
Florida's Richest Man Blasts America's Wanna-Be Socialists, Says "Soros Is An Anarchist" [Video]
RINO AZ Senator Who Voted Against Election Integrity Bill Booed Off Stage
Leaker Crackdown.. Top Senate Staffer Arrested..


text:
Everything is Permuted
The Complete Fox of the Day
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Camera: Canon EOS 40D | Date: 19-06-2009 | Resolution: 1000 x 667 | ISO: 500 | Exp. Mode: Auto exposure | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 1/500s | Aperture: 7.1 | Focal Length: 400.0mm
Total images: 5524 | Last update: 13-01-2021 | Visit my Blog for regular news | Help
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all text and images copyright Paul Cecil, Sussex 2005-2019


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1 comment: at 1:53 PM
The Story of My Journey into the Secular Community
I was raised Catholic. My mother has been a devout (liberal) Catholic as long as I've known her. Dad's been an atheist most of his life, but I guess my parents agreed to let Mom raise me and my brothers in the Church.
When I was little, I loved being Catholic. I went to a Catholic school in the Midwest, where religion classes were mandatory beginning in preschool. I guess "age of reason" was a pretty accurate description in my case, because by second grade I was very serious about understanding theology. I considered preparing for first communion a grave responsibility. It was, after all, the first sacrament I'd take of my own choice. I was dedicated to understanding transubstantiation, why it matters, and what sacraments are really all about. I remember struggling with the idea of symbols; I was never satisfied by the explanations of them my mother and teachers would give.
I was told that symbols are "outward signs of inward grace", and that they are there to help our small mortal minds comprehend God's infinite love and wisdom at least enough to let ourselves be transformed by them. I was skeptical, even then. I was worried that symbols might actually be distractions, or, worse yet, artificial barriers designed by the Church to control my relationship with God. Why are priests the only ones who can ask God to turn bread into the Body of Christ? I wondered. If God is infinitely wise, what does He care for the infinitesimal wisdom accumulated through seminary? I felt fairly certain that the only reason priests could serve as special conduits of God's grace was that their hearts were pure and fully devoted to Him when they made the request. It seemed implausible that the sacrament of Ordination, really just a collection of very fancy symbols, could grant you magic powers in virtue of its role within the thoroughly human structure of the Church.
I called bullshit. I decided to become a priest. "The Church doesn't let girls become priests," my second grade teacher informed me. I told her I didn't really intend to ask permission.
My teachers had no idea what to do with me. They weren't trained in theology. We didn't have that sort of funding. Besides, no one expected that an eight-year-old might singlehandedly attempt the Protestant Reformation. But I knew nothing of the other sects of Christianity, and I was comfortable with my personal interpretation of Catholicism, so I took my first communion happily in a white dress like all the other little girls, and that was that.
I encountered even greater challenges to my faith in third grade. One day, while sitting with my classmates in a circle for story time, my teacher said something deeply puzzling. I don't recall what story she was reading to us or what led her to say this, but she said, "Of course, I'm sure all your parents are good Catholics, or at least Christians." I raised my hand.
"Actually," I corrected her, "my dad's an atheist."
She gasped. Then, with shock on her face, she responded, "Oh, I'm so sorry!" As I write this, it occurs to me for the first time that she probably meant to apologize for expressing offhandedly to a fragile group of children her rude presumption. I've always thought, as I did when it happened, that she felt sorry for me because I was in the awful position of having an atheist for a father.
I didn't understand her concern. I'd never talked to either of my parents about Dad's atheism, or about whether there are other people who aren't Catholics. I didn't know it was supposed to be a bad thing. I just considered it one of the many ways in which he differed from the other people I knew, like his being a biology teacher or keeping lizards as pets.
I talked to Dad about this incident. I don't remember the content of that conversation, but I know it resulted in his recommendation that I read The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. He lent me a copy. Over the next year I read that and several other Sagan books. Needless to say, I became even more of a nuisance during religion class.
I think I was more upset that the adults in my life were satisfied with ignorance when they understood my questions and criticisms but couldn't answer than I was by the discovery that God isn't real. It caused me to lose respect for them. I even lost respect for my mother, to some extent.
From mid fourth grade on, school was a horribly painful experience for me. I kept pretending to be Catholic. What skepticism I couldn't contain during class and my feeling that no one else cared about what was true created enough of a rift between me and my peers, my mother, and my teachers that I was not about to give up plausible denyability, thereby formalizing my isolation and rendering it impenetrable. I became deeply depressed. I refused to turn in homework or study for tests. I paid as little attention to class as possible, spending all of my time absorbed in science fiction, fantasy, and pop physics books. I remember telling my mother that I wanted to drop out of school forever, that I'd make a living by playing my saxophone on street corners. Fortunately, I discovered early in seventh grade that I could get straight A's with minimal effort, thereby keeping my teachers and my mom off my back, at least as long as I stayed quiet.
But I couldn't stay quiet in religion class, which, by this point, was being taught by a priest. His name was Fr. McCarthy. Fr. McCarthy was The Enemy. Not only was he a particularly conservative Catholic who'd apparently slept through Vatican Two, but he was the most wretched, underhanded debater I've encountered to this day. He knew I disagreed with everything he taught, and he'd purposefully pick fights with me so the other students could watch him trample the heathen.
He never trampled me fairly, though, even when I was in fact wrong. True, in eighth grade I was already a more advanced philosopher and theologian than he was, but I was still a kid and had most of my cognitive developing yet to do. I was quite a bit more wrong then. He often could have won fairly. But he didn't. Instead, he would use insults, snide and disparaging remarks, and often outright lies to undermine my credibility in the eyes of my classmates. He could win merely by exploiting his authority. Occasionally, I'd even catch him misrepresenting or outright misquoting scripture, the Catechism, or Aquinas. But I'd catch him, of course, well after the fact while researching his more dubious claims. By then it was always too late.
The school was very small--seventeen people in my graduating class--so everyone in every year got a play-by-play of these skirmishes. Obviously, this did not help my social situation. I was unbearably lonely. I tried to defend myself by being arrogant, by thinking that no one was worthy of my friendship anyway, and that everyone else was, after all, boring. It was a terribly dark saga.
One day during Mass, there was only one line for Communion. Usually, there were two. But this day, taking Eucharist from Fr. McCarthy was unavoidable. I stood before him, holding out my hands to receive the now empty sacrament. "Body of Christ," he said to me, raising the stale wafer in offering.
"Amen," I responded quietly. But his hand didn't lower immediately. He held still, staring at me quizzically. There was a sickeningly long moment of tension, and then, quietly so that only I could hear, he said,
"Really?"
I was mortified. Frozen. I don't remember how I responded, but I know that soon after I ran from the church and hid from my teachers behind a bush, crying. At some point I told my mom, who told the (far more liberal) main priest of our parish, who was furious.
I hear that Fr. McCarthy was harshly reprimanded. But I would like to thank him. If I'd not felt that moment of intense discomfort at my years of deception, I don't know how long it might have taken me to learn to be true to myself. I don't know that I'd ever have found the courage to stand up, to speak out, and to be counted. I certainly would not have found myself announcing to every other non-Christian in my brand new public school junior year, "You are not alone."
I was tired of hiding. I wasn't any good at it anyway. Mine had always been an awfully noisy closet, and people were listening. I cared about the truth, and I was angry at the world for systematically neglecting it. So I resolved one morning to give it a voice.
The school secretary was in charge of making announcements over the intercom at the beginning of each day, after which she led the school in the Pledge of Allegiance. That morning--a Friday, I think--I skipped class for the first time. I went to the secretary's office, introduced myself, and requested the honor of leading the Pledge. She seemed delighted that a student was taking interest, and obliged me.
As she read the announcements for Friday morning, my heart pounded. My hands trembled. I was worried I might not be able to speak. Then she handed me the intercom, and I became calm, focused, and clear. I spoke:
The static of a silent intercom hung in the air for several seconds. I was trying to hand back the receiver, but no one in the office--not the assistants, not the principal, and not the secretary--was moving. They all just stood petrified, staring at me, their mouths hanging open. I turned off the intercom myself, and walked, confidently but as quickly as possible, to my first period class.
A few minutes later, I was called to the principal's office. The secretary was sitting in a corner. She'd clearly been crying. The principal folded his arms and gave me a Very Stern Talking To. "Do you understand the significance of what you've done?"
I felt awful. I'd never wanted to hurt anyone. I'd just wanted to defend the First Amendment and to try telling everyone the truth on for size. I certainly didn't want to make the friendly school secretary cry. I apologized, but I did insist that including God in the pledge every morning is unconstitutional, and that it marginalizes people who don't believe in God. He told me that I'd offended many more people than that, because I was probably the only non-Christian in the school. I thought he was probably right. I left his office in tears.
The truth is, I didn't understand the full significance of what I'd done. And neither did he.
But someone did. I don't know his name, but he was a small mousey freshman whose voice I'd never heard before, and he came to me as I was rummaging in my locker. "Hey," he said. His voice was shaking, and he spoke so quietly it was nearly a whisper. "That was really cool, what you did. I've always been too scared to tell anybody I'm an atheist. I thought I was the only one. It means a lot to me, what you said. Or didn't say, I guess. Thank you." He ran off before I could even say you're welcome.
He wasn't the only one. More people thanked me that day. And more the next week. And the next month. And they weren't just telling me. I overheard people talking constitutional philosophy in the halls, saying it's not fair to Hindus or Buddhists either, and saying they'd just found out some of their friends don't believe in God. A few weeks later I found out someone had pulled the same stunt in a neighboring town, and then, to my great astonishment, that it had even happened at my old Catholic school.
I thought coming out as an atheist was mostly just about me. I was wrong.
By coming out publicly, I did not further ostracize myself. There was a lot of retaliation from those who felt threatened by the challenge to Christian authority, but I was not standing up to them alone. None of us was. In a matter of seconds, I founded a community that had been waiting the whole time and needed only to be given a voice. They all just needed to see one person stand up and say, "It's ok to be an atheist."
"Get your ass out of that closet!"
James Corft talks to closeted atheists through the We Are Atheism campaign.
It's definitely time for me to make one of these. You have my word it'll happen as soon as I run into a decent camera. Stay tuned.
By the way, I'm about 90% sure that James recorded this at Skepticon 5. WAA had a table, and they were recording interviews... in a tiny closet. This probably amuses me more than is strictly warranted.
No comments: at 12:52 PM


Many sales people I have talked to enjoy their jobs. They enjoy the sales process, the quota, President Club and helping improve their customers business. They are the most happy when they have a higher than average "Sales Closing Ratio".
The sales closing ratio is the success rate of completing your sales. For example, let us say that you make ten sales presentations per week. On average you make two sales per week. That means your sales closing ratio is two out of every ten, or 20% when expressed as a percentage. The higher the closing ratio is the better. That means more commission in your pocket. I saw some statistics that show the average SCR is 25%. That kind of makes sense since if you have a $2M quota you need a funnel that is 4 times that in order to succeed.
Factors that influence sales closing ratios are many and include such things as persuasion skills, product knowledge, and physical appearance, level of professionalism, likeability, friendliness, and verbal skills of the salesperson. All skills that can help close sales can be learned by reading books, taking sales courses or workshops, and watching You Tube videos. In the end, the responsibility lies on the salesperson shoulders. Many times it's blamed on marketing or the customer which in fact they are just doing their job (not advertising the company value or adding objections to every step in the sales process).
So if Sales is a numbers game then the higher SCR you have among your peers the better off you are in the sales rank sheets pinned up on the Sales Manager's whiteboard.
You need to deliver the potential customer's buying message not a sales message. Learn why a prospect wants to buy and shape your message to that need.
Too often, salespeople ask basic questions about the customer that they could have answered for themselves with proper research. Instead, seize the opportunity to engage more intellectually and emotionally with your prospect. Be genuine in learning and understanding their business and needs.
Salespeople often ask about money or budget. This is none of your business and leads to getting off on the wrong foot. Spend your time doing better discovery and the question will answer itself.
"Price is what you pay and Value is what you get". Price can be a factor but many times it is not so it is better to focus on the value your product or company will deliver to the customer. Sometimes this is the differentiator that plays in your favour.
It is important that you differentiate yourself, and your product or service, in memorable ways from your competitors. A better approach is to place competitive land mines in your story that will have the customer ask the competitor to compare themselves to you.
Many times we are told to find the customers pain points and offer a solution. Great discovery will uncover those issues while you build a rapport and relationship with your customer. I recall being in a meeting when the salesperson asked "What is keeping you up at night?". The customer replied "Afraid that people like you will ask me that question". The room got uncomfortably silent after that comment.
Too often, salespeople meet with a prospect who is not the ultimate decision maker. This becomes a waste of your time, and theirs. During your initial conversations you will need to uncover who is the decision maker and meet that person. Of course the wrong person will give you answers to your discovery questions so they bring value.
DON'T act like a salesperson in a You Tube Video?
We are not out there acting out a part in a movie or role-playing silly sales tactics. Be yourself and take that genuine enthusiasm and interest in helping customers improve their business. Honesty, Reliability and Integrity will set the stage for a professional business relationship.
In every step of the sales process it is always important at the end of the conversation to finish with a call to action or acknowledgement to moving to the next milestone. Customers expect it so make the effort to move the deal forward and if that doesn't occur then it's a good sign the customer will spend their valuable time with a competitor.
Too many times salespeople show up and throw up at a presentation. It is important to practice your presentation and seek honest feedback from your peers so that you can deliver a clean, concise presentation to your customers. Remember its Features and Benefits tied back to the customer needs that are the message elements that need to be delivered.
Thanks for sharing this information as I find it to not only be a refresher but may help explain why some of the deals our team has been working on were lost to the competition. Our SCR is around the 20% mark and we are working hard to improve that.


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AB/BC SK MB
Behind the Mission
Our VIPs
STARS Horizons
Helicopter Air Ambulance
STARS Emergency Link Centre
STARS VIGILANT Services
STARS Store
Same mission. New fleet.
Leadership & Governance Leadership Team Board of Directors Board Committees Report to the Community
Andrea Robertson
Andrea Robertson believes in a very important motto: the more informed you are, the more you realize how little you know.
She's had a life-long commitment to learning ever since she was a young nurse, and that drive carried her through many academic achievements, from a Bachelor's in Nursing, to a Master's in Health-Care Administration, to an executive fellowship from Wharton University and Ivey School of Business, to an executive leadership program at Harvard.
Her drive is a selfless one. These accolades, as well as her many past leadership roles at Alberta Health Services, Foothills Medical Centre and Alberta Children's Hospital, were all intended to be in service to her community. For Andrea, there is no greater service than helping someone survive a critical illness or injury. Which is why, as president and CEO of STARS, she is right where she belongs. In this role she is responsible for the overall direction of our operations and works to build upon our external relationships with donors, governments and key partners. Strengthening these relationships is vital to our ability to provide the best-possible service our communities.
Andrea's commitment to continuing education and dedication to providing the best care possible has also leaded her to be an invaluable mentor to many entering the health care field. Formally, she is part of a mentorship program through the University of Calgary. Informally, she works with as many as five young, energetic leaders at any given time. For the students, the reward is Andrea's wealth of experience and unyielding empathy for others. For Andrea, mentorship is just another opportunity to learn more about the world, through the eyes of her students. It's through these relationships that Andrea sees education come to life.
Andrea's leadership and contributions to business and her community have been widely recognized, both as a member of the board of directors of Bow Valley College, Calgary Airport Authority and Canadian Pacific Railway, and as one of WXN's Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in 2015.
Dr. JN Armstrong
Dr. JN Armstrong has had a long and storied career full of monumental moments.
These moments range from receiving his medical degree from the University of Calgary in 1981, to specializing in, and working in the field of anesthesia for nearly four decades, to achieving multiple aviation licenses including private, commercial, and airline transport.
Among those pivotal moments was a STARS Christmas party in 1990, where JN met Dr. Greg Powell, the founder of STARS, and Greg Curtis, one of the earliest STARS pilots, who convinced him to come on board as a pilot for our organization. In between his time in a blue STARS jumpsuit, JN also worked within the medical community in Calgary, taking on roles such as Clinical and Academic Department Head in Anesthesia for the Calgary Health Region and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary.
The immense breadth of skills and experiences JN gained throughout his career is what made him the perfect fit to take on the role of Chief Medical Officer with STARS in 2013, and Chief Aviation Officer in 2018. As the CMO/CAO, he is responsible for aviation and the medical care delivered by the organization for the transport of the critically ill and injured across six bases and three provinces.
Outside of medicine and aviation, JN spreads his time between running, cycling, reading, and spending time with his four children. He also has a strong interest in aviation and currently holds active Airline Transport Licenses for both Fixed Wing and Helicopters.
Mike Lamacchia
Chief Operating Officer, Provincial Operations
There is nothing more important to Mike than spending quality time with family.
In fact, his career has been driven by a desire to give families as much time together as possible. It has guided him through 20 years of service with STARS, flying over 500 missions as a flight paramedic and making a difference in the lives of his patients and their loved ones.
Mike has worked in Emergency Medical Services for nearly 30 years, graduating from paramedic school in 1990, and honing his skills as paramedic in Cochrane and Calgary before finding his way to STARS.
But Mike wasn't satisfied with saving lives one patient at a time. His passion for life-saving care led him to manage and launch North America's first mobile human patient simulation program, which takes STARS' world-class skills training to EMS professionals all over Western Canada. Because of his many accomplishments, Mike had the privilege of joining the Health Canada team at the G8 summit in 2002. In his current role, Mike is responsible for the operation of our bases across the provinces we operate in, as well as the STARS Emergency Link Centre.
When Mike and his family are not participating in initiatives that support their local community, church, and schools, they enjoy watching live sports and going on adventures in Europe. Mike is also an avid skier, and describes his perfect day as starting on the slopes and ending with a good meal and a glass of red wine.
Jeff Quick
One may think that being a designated CPA that Jeff Quick is primarily a numbers person, but it is his passion for helping people, and his alignment to the organization's mission that brought him to STARS in 2009.
Moving from the for-profit world to a not-for-profit, Jeff brings big business insights to the business of providing hope to critically ill and injured patients. Though his primary focus is on financial and risk management, Jeff is also tasked with the leadership of STARS' information technology and human resources groups.
After receiving a BA in Administrative and Commercial Studies from the University of Western Ontario, Jeff began his professional career with Price Waterhouse, where he worked for three years in the audit assurance group and seven years in the financial services group. This was the beginning of many professional achievements.
Such achievements include joining AIRMILES, Canada's premier loyalty program, where he was senior director of strategic planning and business development. In that role, he was responsible for developing new business opportunities – one of his passions. AIRMILES was acquired by Texas-based Alliance Data Systems and Jeff took on a senior leadership role. He soon made the move from VP to general manager, where he directed the consumer database marketing services group and managed a 100 million plus consumer database for the US retailers Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Abercrombie and Fitch and others.
Jeff believes that it is crucial to give back. Outside of STARS, he devotes his time serving as a community representative on the Bow Valley College audit and risk management counsel. Always looking for more ways to contribute and have fun, he passes on the athletic knowledge and skills he gained from his glory days of university volleyball by coaching Alberta club-level girls. Under Jeff's guidance and mentorship, his ACE U16 volleyball team finished 8th in the province in 2017/18.
Dave Harding
Chief Aviation Officer
Before Dave Harding joined STARS to care for the critically ill and injured in his community, he enjoyed a long career serving his country in the Canadian Forces.
Dave has more than 30 years' experience in aviation and over 6,500 flight hours, as a helicopter and airplane pilot, both as a civilian and with the Canadian Forces. His love of aviation began early in life while growing up mostly in Newfoundland and Labrador. He was just 16 years old when he earned his first pilot's license for a glider. He earned his private pilot's license the following year.
As a child Dave was enthralled by the work of the crews flying search and rescue helicopters, which led to him joining the military where he eventually flew those same helicopters on his first tour. After many years in various flying and supervisory positions, it was this initial inspiration that led to him joining STARS in order to continue to serve the public as part of a mission dedicated to saving lives.
Dave joined STARS in 2011 as one of the first pilots hired at our Manitoba base. He quickly excelled at several different roles, including a captain pilot, aviation base manager and base director. His contribution as aviation lead on STARS' fleet renewal project has been invaluable. Dave has flown nearly 800 missions to date and will continue to fly STARS helicopters during his leadership tenure.
Not surprisingly, his number one hobby is aviation. But when Dave is not flying, or reading about flying, or making decisions about flying, he is spending as much time as possible on the ground with his family in Winnipeg, MB.
Terri Strunk
VP, Foundation and External Relations
Terri Strunk is a Saskatchewanian, born and raised. Her strong rural roots influenced her concern when emergency medical services began to decline in the rural parts of the province, where the distance to a tertiary care hospital was measured in hours.
Recognizing the important role STARS could play in assisting those living in these areas, she and her colleagues in government helped bring the organization to Saskatchewan in 2011.
In her prior role as senior advisor and Chief of Operations to former Premier of Saskatchewan Brad Wall, Terri oversaw management of the Executive Council and Ministerial Offices for the Government of Saskatchewan and provided strategic issue management and communications counsel.
Terri began her career in the media in 1985 working with several major networks and stations over the course of a decade. She established her own communications firm in 2014, capitalizing on years of expertise in developing high-level, multi-faceted strategic public relations campaigns, as well as government relations and crisis communications.
Lauded as one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women's Executive Network twice, Terri is a highly skilled public affairs strategist that cares deeply about the community. She feels blessed to have the opportunity to contribute to STARS, having championed the organization as a long-time supporter.
When she is not brainstorming with the STARS Foundation team across the prairies, Terri and her husband enjoy fishing, ice-fishing and snowmobiling on Lac La Ronge in northern Saskatchewan. She also loves spending time with her children and five granddaughters. An avid football enthusiast, Terri serves as a volunteer Director on the Board of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. She also is a fundraising volunteer with Empty Arms, an organization that helps families deal with pre and peri-natal infant loss.
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These verses pretty much sum up our view and philosophy. Making the most with what we got is really about recognizing the blessings that we have and utilizing them to the fullest.
We share with our children often, if we can't hold precious to the blessings God has already given us, why would He entrust us with more? We hope that we show our children that we are grateful no mater where we are and with how much we have, for God is with us no matter what!
We look forward to sharing our life with you and learning about your life as well. Please feel free to let us in on your struggles or ways you have learned to make the most with what you have.


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Q: Populate time dropdown in 15 min intervals from now until time X I have 3 variables of type string that are always changing. Let's say they are currently:
$openTime = "10:00 am";
$closeTime = "1:00 pm";
$currentTime = "10:04 am";

How can I dynamically generate a dropdown that looks like:
<select>
    <option value="10:30 am">10:30 am</option>
    <option value="10:45 am">10:45 am</option>
    ...
    <option value="1:00 pm">1:00 pm</option>
</select>

without JS?
Note that the first option isn't 10:15 am because currentTime + 15 minutes = 10:19 am which is past 10:15 am.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Herodotos Giorgallas (born 14 December 1977) is a gymnast from Cyprus who took gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Herodotos shared the gold with Steve Frew of Scotland. He won the bronze medal in  the Gymnastics for Men's Rings at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

External links
giorgallas.com

1977 births
Living people
Cypriot male artistic gymnasts
Greek Cypriot people
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Cyprus
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Cyprus
Gymnasts at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Gymnasts at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Gymnasts at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
Gymnasts at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games medallists in gymnastics

Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Cyprus
Competitors at the 2005 Mediterranean Games
Mediterranean Games medalists in gymnastics
Universiade medalists in gymnastics
Universiade medalists for Cyprus
Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia