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Home > Article from newspaper	> Deaf and stalked
Deaf and stalked
Woman Raped In NE
By Christine Olley
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
He skulked up behind the 34-year-old deaf woman as she left a Northeast Philadelphia Wal-Mart Thursday night, a police source said yesterday.The assailant dragged her into a wooded area near Byberry and Woodhaven roads and forced her to perform oral sex on him, the source added.
According to Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit, the attack took place about 9:30 p.m. when, the woman said, she was approached from behind and forced into an area behind nearby Shalcross Elementary School.
"She was robbed of about 40 dollars," Darby said.
He said the woman's attacker did not brandish any weapon during the attack.
"It was a strong-arm attack," Darby said.
The woman was treated for her injuries at Episcopal Hospital and released.
Police were able to conduct a preliminary investigation with the woman but declined to comment further on the details of the assault.
"It's always important to just be aware of your surroundings, stay in well-lit areas, make sure that you are observable to others on the street," Darby said.
"Unfortunately though, these things happen every day, and you can take all the necessary precautions and these offenders will still see an opportunity and take it," Darby added.
The offender is described as a white man in his 40s, about 6 feet tall, approximately 220 pounds, with a mustache and a beard, dirty-blonde hair, with tattoos on both arms and his neck. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans.
Tipsters can call 215-685- 3251. *
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20070908_Deaf_and_stalked_.html
How awful! I hope she will get some help to cope with it. It won't be easy for her.
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Matt Hamill lost by decision Tampa police find wandering deaf boy


Change is coming: The impact of non-traditional hosters (Telco's, cable companies, distis, VARs) entering the market Moderated by: Jeff Kaplan, Founder and Managing Director, THINKstrategies Panelists: William McCarthy, SVP, Insight Managed and Cloud Services, Insight North America Steve Robinson, Director, SaaS & Application Services, CenturyLink Elliot Noss, President and CEO, Tucows Glen Swanson, SVP, Business Customer Group, Best Buy Jerome Lecat, CEO, Scality Sean Charnock, SVP, Business Development & Alliances, Softlayer Technologies Explore the impact and uncover the opportunities of non-traditional hosters entering the cloud services market. Come listen to some of the biggest names that are driving the change in.
Pat Gelsinger, President and COO of EMC, just gave an interview to Charles Babcock of Information Week. It can be read here. Gelsinger's point of view on public cloud storage not replacing private storage for enterprises is correct, but still biased. He dismisses the fact that enterprises do not need high-end, high-performance SANs for most of their data. Gartner estimates that 80% of the data living today in the world is unstructured and that it grows 50% year-over-year. This astronomical growth is not sustainable with SANs and NASes, and Public Cloud Storage providers like Amazon have paved a way that Enterprise.
For many companies, outsourced messaging services constitute the first company sanctioned adoption of cloud solutions. Hosted messaging services are coming to be regarded as both safe and scalable for corporate environments, and yet much scrutiny and debate still rages around the potential risks and limitations of cloud storage infrastructure. What makes mail service infrastructure so different? According to a study of 200 companies in France, 67% of companies say they now have outsourced mail services. (study was undertaken by Pierre Audoin Consultants).
Human DNA's areal density 2TB. 2.000 Gigabytes. 3 or 4 times the average amount of storage available on a laptop today. Now, wrap your head around the fact that that is roughly the size of our genome once we decode it. Talk about Storage Areal Density. A single cell is approximately 1.55 × 10-5 square inches, which makes the areal density of a cell 13 PB per sq.in. Now that's effective. Nowadays, we're up to 900 GB per sq.in in the macro world 1. We've got some things to learn from Evolution, it seems.
December 12th – During SNIA Storage Developer Conference 2012, Mark Carlson interviewed Philippe Nicolas, Scality's Director of Product Strategy, about CDMI. The SNIA Storage Developer Conference Interview – Philippe Nicolas from The Pulse Network, Inc. on Vimeo.
There has been a large deal of discussions about Cloud Federation in the past year(s), led by a lot of prominent bloggers (amongst which @krishnan who has been pretty relentless, in a good way, about it). I truly believe it's the only way Cloud is going to be able to grow up from teenhood. Only a few weeks ago, some pretty vivid and colorful conversations about Federation, Open Source, Standards and API Cloning happened at Gigaom's Structure in San Francisco between Rackspace's Openstack, Eucalyptus, Citrix' CloudStack, AWS… The usual suspects.
This is a post written by Scality's CEO, Jerome Lecat, originally published on Venturebeat on December 5th, 2012 In the past year, we've seen technology companies offering software-defined networks, software-defined storage, software-defined servers, even software-defined hardware. It's fast becoming a buzzword. But does it have real meaning?
San Francisco – November 9th, 2012 VentureBeat's Christina Farr wrote and excellent article about the Myth called the "Dropbox Effect", which is the assumption that a well-designed and easy to deploy product, once successful with consumers, and hence employees of enterprises, will prompt CIOs to fork out a large pile of money to integrate it officially as part of their internal IT.
San Francisco – November 8th, 2012 In the last few weeks, there has been multiple panels about Object Storage in different trade shows around the world, which is great. However, I disagree quite strongly on the content delivered by the panelists, in that they were limiting Object Storage to a very specific use case. I know for a fact that Object Storage is much more than merely a technology for Active Archive.
San Francisco – October 26th, 2012 As Internet use continues to skyrocket, the volume of files being produced, shared and stored climbs at a tremendous pace. The traditional methods of storing this kind of 'unstructured data' show signs of failing under the strain of this completely unanticipated load. In reaction, system administrators work furiously to plug the fissures appearing in their infrastructure, and CIOs cast about urgently trying to assess and source potential solutions to these tectonic shifts.
New York – October 12, 2012 I have written about this before (here and there), but it seems that there's a massively important point that is being lost in the midst of all the discussions about Open Source Cloud Stacks being the only way to make the Cloud a true, hegemonical success. And that point is that it's not.
San Francisco, CA – Tuesday, September 18th As I have previously talked about on this blog, there has been a significant amount of discussions about the Openness of the Cloud this year. In the League of Clouds, I was saying that it is necessary for the industry to start working on a set of standards used by every cloud Service or Software provider to ensure interoperability, which will in turn limit lock-in, boost adoption and in the end benefit all.
New York, NY – Tuesday, August 28th One of the most respected analyst in the Storage industry, Claus Egge, has unfortunately and very suddenly passed away late July. I didn't know him that well personally, but I had met him at shows and talked to him over the phone a few times. He was a very smart person with an incredibly humbling knowledge about Storage and a kind soul. And from all the testimonies on the internet about his passing, he truly was ready to help you whether professionally or personally, always offering to show off his country and city.
Cloud Computing Expo NY 2012 – Does Enterprise Finally Understand Object Storage?
I spent most of last week at Cloud Computing Expo, attending, presenting but mostly exhibiting with our partner Panzura. I spend a lot of time on shows like this (From InterOp to HostingCon, to Storage Network World) and CCE always struck me as being the one where we needed to educate the attendees the most. I don't know why, but that's the experience I've had in the many CCE I've been to, either as attendee or exhibitor. However, last week was a different, it was the first time that I felt I did less educating and more pitching. And in a.
A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Big Event, organized by Greg Duplessie in Santa Clara. The 2-day event gathers 40-50 executives of the Storage Industry from startups like Scality to big vendors like EMC. There were a lot of interesting sessions, ranging from an analysis of the current VC market, to a discussion about Mergers and Acquisitions to an open discussion on Marketing 101 for startups.
It's not about cloud! We hear about the "cloud" every-where. To the point that at a recent radio interview I was asked: "Please don't talk about Cloud, our auditors are fed up with the topic !" Cloud is everywhere, but is there anything new ? How is the "cloud" different from "internet" ? or "web" ? A few years ago, when someone would store his photos on a website like KodakGallery or Picassa, he would say "I am using this website to store my photos" or "I put my photos on the Internet", now he would say "I store my.
George Crump from Storage Switzerland, back in January, wrote an article about the True Cost of Storage that clearly stated how to really calculate one's Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) when it comes to Storage. Through all our discussions about storage with prospects and customers, we realized that the real, hard cost of storage was not always well calculated, and pretty elusive to the IT managers. It was made even more obvious when comparing to the new types of Storage available to customers, especially Cloud Storage since the models, both economic and technical, were quite different.


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Winning numbers for Friday's Mega Millions $750 jackpot
De Blasio rolls out new NYPD discipline guidelines
Tiger Woods Update: CHEAT SHEET -- The women, the events surrounding the golf great
What love means: a coronavirus lesson in agape
By Mark Dursin
A sign for Social Distancing is seen inside the Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn on Sunday April 5, 2020. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)
The English language has limits on love. Literally, just that one word. So, whether you're gushing about your spouse or your kids or your friends or your grandma or your dog or 80s music or your favorite pasta primavera dish, if you are an English speaker, you are limited to one word: "love." (Woody Allen tried to add "lurve" to the lexicon, but it didn't take.)
The Greeks, on the other hand, have a bunch of words for love. There's eros, which is romantic love; storge, love for family; and philia, love for friends.
Then there's agape, which is the greatest type of love — and the toughest. This is the love you are supposed to have for everyone, the unconditional/Golden Rule/"Love thy neighbor" kind of love.
And that can be tricky. How can I love someone who is homophobic or racist or misogynistic? How can I love a school shooter? According to the tenets of agape, you don't have to like everyone, but you have to love everyone, simply because we're all human.
If you want examples of agape at this point in human history, look around. No, I mean, really: Look around you. If you see scrubs and people on ventilators, you are probably working in the medical field. If you see cash registers and shelves that used to hold toilet paper, you are probably working in a grocery store. Either way, you are practicing agape. You are putting other people's needs ahead of your own. And we all thank you for that.
But if you look around and see the same walls of your house or apartment you've been seeing pretty much exclusively for weeks now because you're self-quarantining, that's agape too. It may seem more like self-preservation than selflessness, and in a way, it is; no one wants to get sick, after all.
But we also don't want anyone else to get sick. Ultimately, that's what these self-quarantining and social distancing measures are all about: to keep safe the most vulnerable among us — the elderly or the immunocompromised. That's an act of agape.
And agape is an act, in fact a series of conscious acts. Eros can be a chemical reaction; that's why some people "fall in love" with folks they don't even really like. Philia can be the result of circumstance and inertia; your Mom got you and your friend into a playgroup when you were three, and you've been besties ever since. But agape is more deliberate. You don't "fall" into it; you have to choose to look out for someone else.
Of course, this is not something that humans, especially in an individualistic society like ours, tend to do very readily, which is why all this widespread self-quarantining is not only unprecedented, but frankly "breathtaking," to quote journalist David Wallace-Wells.
In an April 10 article for New York magazine, Wallace-Wells marvels how so many Americans are "embracing punishing, restrictive quarantine-like isolation for the sake of the country as a whole." Wallace-Wells goes on to say, "This is solidarity I simply didn't believe was possible in this country anymore and under any circumstances, and it has arrived in the space of just weeks, in the midst of national political chaos with tribal partisanship still boiling at a feverish peak."
So true. Think about it: just a few months ago, America was waist-deep in the muck of the impeachment drama — one of the most polarizing, divisive, anti-agape displays in recent memory. And I wasn't immune: Whenever anyone on television or on Facebook said something contrary to what I believed, my blood boiled.
Then right on the heels of that national menagerie of bile and rancor and nastiness came the Coronavirus Era, which requires us to care about one another. And miraculously, we're doing it. We are demonstrating agape, and it seems to be working. When it's all said and done, agape may be what gets us through this. (Granted, we have to show we care about each other by staying apart, but that's a paradox for another time.)
In the end, English speakers may be limited in how we talk about love. But our capacity as humans to show love? Limitless.
Dursin is an English teacher at Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury, Ct.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Are clues about childhood asthma and heightened immune responses found in a baby's gut microbiome?
It is well known that gut microbiota in early life is linked to several immune-related diseases. It has been previously reported that during the first 100 days of life there is a window where microbe-based diagnostics and therapeutics may be useful to prevent the development of asthma in high-risk individuals.
A recent study, led by Prof. Susan Lynch from the Division of Gastroenterology at the Department of Medicine at University of California in San Francisco (California, USA), has found that neonatal gut microbiome dysbiosis may predict later atopy and asthma development in childhood.
By studying stool samples (n=298; aged 1-11 months) through 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) sequencing from a United States birth cohort, neonates (median age 35 days) were divisible into three microbiota composition states (1: the lowest risk group; 2: the medium risk group, and 3: the highest risk group) representing three different risk groups. Neonatal gut microbiotas exhibited significantly different relative risk (RR) of predominantly multisensitized (PM) atopy development at age 2 years and of parental report of doctor-diagnosed asthma at age 4 years. PM atopy at age 2 years was defined using a statistical algorithm that clusters subjects according to their pattern of serum specific-immunoglobulin E responses to a panel of ten food and aeroallergens. The highest risk group (group 3) showed lower relative abundance of certain bacteria (including Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Akkermansia and Faecalibacterium), higher relative abundance of particular fungi (Candida and Rhodotorula) and a distinct faecal metabolome enriched for pro-inflammatory metabolites, when compared to either of the lower-risk groups (groups 1 and 2). Neonatal gut dysbiosis in the highest risk group was consistent with previously described early-life (3 months of age) gut microbiota taxonomic depletions that increase infants' risk of asthma. These data suggest that neonatal gut microbiota dysbiosis is characteristic of PM atopy and asthma development in later childhood.
Ex vivo culture of healthy human adult peripheral dendritic cells and autologously purified naïve CD4+ T cells with sterile faecal water from the highest neonatal risk group increased the proportion of CD4+ cells producing interleukin (IL)-4 and expression of IL-4, and reduced the relative abundance of CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells, indicating that the higher risk group's gut environment promotes adaptive immune dysfunction associated with established atopic asthma. Besides this, a common subset of metabolites differentiated the highest risk group from the lower-risk groups. Specifically, neonates from the highest risk group exhibited faecal enrichment of primary and secondary bile metabolites and were consistently enriched for 12,13-DiHOME, stigma- and sitosterols, 8-hydroxyoctanoate, a-CEHC and g-tocopherol. The 12,13-DiHOME metabolite accounted for the significant reduction of the proportion of CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ cells.
When considering early-life interventions to target the gut microbiome for disease prevention, another study from the same research group emphasized that socioeconomic, environmental and demographic factors should be taken into account. According to a press release, "The researchers hope the findings of these two papers will spur development of tests to detect signs of an unhealthy gut microbiome in infants and to implement early-life interventions to shift microbial ecosystems toward a healthier state".
In conclusion, these findings suggest that neonatal gut microbiota dysbiosis influences susceptibility to childhood allergic asthma through alterations in CD4+ T cell populations.
Fujimura KE, Sitarik AR, Havstad S, et al. Neonatal gut microbiota associates with childhood multisensitized atopy and T cell differentiation. Nat Med. 2016. doi: 10.1038/nm.4176.
Levin AM, Sitarik AR, Havstad SL, et al. Joint effects of pregnancy, sociocultural, and environmental factors on early life gut microbiome structure and diversity. Sci Rep. 2016; 6:31775. doi: 10.1038/srep31775.


Tevelein Family members fled to the Netherlands, America, England and later to Australia. The following is a summary of these movements, identifying the individuals times and destinations.
After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and before the Edict of Toleration in 1787 some quarter of a million French Huguenots fled to countries such as Switzerland, Germany, England, America, the Netherlands, Poland and South Africa, where they could enjoy religious freedom. An equal number were killed in France itself. Between 1618 and 1725. Some 5 000 sailed to the shores of America and in 1688 many emigrated to the Cape of Good Hope. Those who came from the French speaking south of Belgium, an area known as Wallonia, are known as Walloons.
Most of Isaac TEVELEIN's descendents remained in England, the surname dying out as females married into English families. A strong occurrence of the family lives in Australia, some of them the descendents of John TEVELEIN who emigratedd in 1837 and of Amelia GIBBONS' children.
Guines America TEVLIN occurs frequently; search for family members continues.


While the Global Warming fanatics are out in force saying "see" the heat in Europe is caused by humans driving their cars around, they continue to ignore history...The extreme heat in Europe this year is part of a cycle.
The swings from extreme heat to extreme cold are also not unheard of. Another piece of historical evidence they ignore is known as the Hunger Stones.
This is at Decin, in the Czech Republic. Throughout the centuries, there have been these cycles of extreme heat followed by extreme cold. Such events have been recorded when drought has resulted in the low level of water in the Elbe river.
This year's drought in Europe has exposed once again the Hunger Stones that have been used for centuries to commemorate historic droughts which warn of their consequences when you see these stones again. The Hunger Stones are visible in the Elbe River once again. This is a major river which begins in the Czech Republic and flows through Germany. There are more than a dozen Hunger Stones that serve as records of previous droughts establishing that the extreme heat and drought of this year is by no means unique to history.
The various Hunger Stones record droughts that resulted in famine and soaring prices for food. The droughts that have been recorded on the stones date to 1417, 1616, 1707, 1746, 1790, 1800, 1811, 1830, 1842, 1868, 1892, and 1893, which covers a period of 476 years. This produces an average of 39.6 years. Just applying that average would bring you to 2012. However, we have to look closer. Note that two years 1892 and 1893 are back-to-back. This does not reflect two separate droughts, but the peak in intensity. Instead of there being TWO separate droughts, it is the same even just extended. That means there were really 11 events within this 476-year span of history and low and behold this alters the average to 43.27 years. This actually conforms to our Economic Confidence Model frequency of 8.6 years /2 = 4.3.
In fact, additional evidence that is being ignored by the Global Warming crowd who seem intent upon leading society to its doom by ignoring the past entirely. Extensive research has also been done on tree-rings in north-central Europe. This study has discovered that there has been a pattern of "megadroughts" in the 15th through 19th centuries. They classified 1893 as the "Great Drought of 1893" where rainfall decline between 30 to 90% throughout various regions in Europe. They also found that the Irish famine of 1740–1741 was the result of a cooling period they pointed out resulted in unusually low winter and spring temperatures in 1740 that produced in crop failures and a massive subsequent famine. They point out that there were five major "megadrought" that took place in 1540, 1590, 1616, 1718, and 1719. Once again, we see back-to-back events in 1718 and 1719 which in our analysis reflect a build up in intensity rather than two separate events. Reducing this to 4 evens once again gives us an average of 44.75 years which is very close to the Pi frequency. If we plot this serious out, we arrive at 2020.
It appears that instead of a back-to-back event in 2019, this can become the worst period of intensity and produce three years of drought into 2020. The greater the number of volcanos erupting can also produce an increase in intensity for this period. What we must be concerned about is volcanic activity appearing in the West Indies, which includes Soufriere on St. Vincent. It is the stratovolcano type event that can change the weather. These are volcanoes that are known as a composite volcano, which is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and ash. When they erupt, this sends a tremendous amount of material into the atmosphere which reduces sunlight and cools the temperatures.
When we ran the drought data through our models, not only did it correlate with the ECM, it also coordinated with the first historical eruption of the volcano which took place during 1718 and a subsequent eruption 1812. Now, look at the drought records of megadroughts – 1718/1719. When we ran the model, out comes the year 1816 which s known as the Year Without a Summer. The climate turned extremely cold and it was snowing in July in New York City. This resulted in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere. Note that the second eruption was 1812.
When we correlated this entire period, what emerged was a dramatic increase in volcanic activity which also correlated with the decline in the energy output of the sun. Our model warned that volcanic activity would rise beginning here in 2018 correlated with a decline in the energy output of the sun which should have begun in 2015. Note that the Hunger Stones also mark the year 1811. While this is one year prior to the eruption in the West Indies in 1812, there is what has been called the 1808/1809 Mystery Volcanic Eruption which seems to have set in motion a Mini Ice Age during the early 1800s. This was a monumental volcanic eruption in the VEI 6 range which appears to have taken place in late 1808. This event preceded the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora (VEI 7) which produced the Year Without a Summer in 1816.
There was the period climatologists called the Little Ice Age they believed took place starting around 1650. This was the result of primarily the decline in the energy output of the sun reflected in the drastic decline in sunspot activity. What we are looking at here is a drastic correction in market-terminology which took place during the early 1800s. A study of Greenland and Antarctic ice cores in the 1990s revealed evidence that pointed to a massive volcanic eruption that had occurred in early 1809. The problem that everyone face was there were not human records of such an event. This meant that it must have been in a region where humans did not record the event. Additional research revealed from tree-ring data that there was also a major eruption in 1808. Now two independent sources were pointing to a mystery eruption – but where?
The mystery was simply that such a catastrophic eruption of that magnitude should have been noticed by someone. They began to scour the records around the world hoping that someone somewhere recorded the event. Finally, in 2014 a Ph.D. student Alvaro Guevara-Murua and Dr. Caroline Williams of the University of Bristol discovered an account of atmospheric events consistent with such an event by Colombian scientist Francisco José de Caldas who recorded a massive transparent cloud that obstructed the sunlight at Bogotá, Columbia in early 1809. The further investigation revealed that the cloud was first been observed by him on December 11th, 1808. De Caldas reported conditions consistent with a volcanic cloud that altered the weather turning it unusually cold, with even bitter frosts in Columbia.
Further investigations to the south in Peru produced another observation by a physician named Hipólito Unanue of Lima. Combining these two observations led to the conclusion that the window of the eruption was sometime within 14 days of December 4th, 1808. The only area in the tropics to the west of Colombia and Peru with possible volcanoes was also located in the South Western Pacific Ocean between Indonesia and Tonga. At the time, there was hardly any reporting coming from this region lacking European settlements. The Rabaul area has had such major VEI 6+ eruptions but records only date back to the mid-1800s.
However, this one catastrophic VEI6+ eruption is NOT the only volcano that erupted. This is why we have warned that the cyclical period for volcano eruptions turned upo with 2018. In 1808 there were major additional eruptions in Urzelina, the Azores during May (1st to 4th), as well as the Taal Volcano, in the Philippines during March that year. There was also the Chilean Putana volcano which had a major eruption during of 1808-1810 (records are not precise) This period is then followed by the truly massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies. This one is attributed with creating the Year without a Summer because it was the largest eruption in at least 1,300 years that has been recorded. This event was followed by the 1814 eruption of Mayon in the Philippines, which appears to have contributed to the weather changes of cooling creating an accumulative event.
The ice core samples clearly show actually two very large sulfate peaks that occur with volcanos. The first took place during 537AD and the second follows in 541—542AD. Therefore, once again we may be dealing with multiple volcanic eruptions. Both peaks are approximately the same size. It is the first event that has been recorded as the catastrophe. Contemporary historians mention above have provided contemporary accounts of this dramatic decrease in the Sun's brightness during 536 and 537 AD. We have yet another contemporary account of a historian from Constantinople (Hamilton and Brooks, 1899, p. 267), believed to be Zacharius of Mytilene, who describes: '"In the year 14 [536 AD], the Sun began to be darkened by day and the Moon by night… from the 24th of March in this year until the 24th of June in the following year 15." Because the dimming was less severe and shorter in duration, it is generally assumed that the atmosphere was filled with fine volcanic ash or dust from this event. (Rigby et al., 2004; Larsen et al., 2008), There is no question that SO2 emissions from volcanos produce a cooling trend in weather. However, it has also been shown that there is a time lag between 6 and 18 months that will vary depending upon how far up the ash is thrust into the atmosphere. Thus, there can be a delayed effect from when the eruption actually takes place.
Yet there is still another theory that strangely comes into play this October/November. The argument is that we pass through a particularly dense section of the Taurid Meteor path around every 2500 years and this has contributed to legends and climate change. Every year there are as South Taurid Meteor shower which will peak overnight on Oct. 9-10 for the Southern Hemisphere and then in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Taurid Meteor shower peaks Nov. 11-12.
This has provided the foundation for love stories and wishing upon a shooting star. However, there have been intense Meteor storms that led to legends of dragons fighting in the sky breathing fireballs at each other. Chinese historical records from 540AD describe: "Dragons fought in the pond of the K'uho, They went westward … in the places they passed, all trees were broken." Ice core sample also contain extraterrestrial dust from this period as well. It is argued that a larger meteor struck the Earth about this time and this is what is described as dragons fighting in the sky.
The one major known meteor even is that of Tunguska which was a large explosion that occurred in Russia, on the morning of June 30th, 1908. The explosion flattened 770 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) of the forest. The explosion is classified as an impact event, even though no impact crater has been found. The meteor is believed to have exploded above ground and thereby disintegrated at an altitude of 3 to 6 miles before it actually struck the ground. This is the largest impact event on Earth in recorded history, not geological history.
Meteorite impacts are by far perhaps among the most destructive forces in the solar system. It is believed that such events have resulted in mass extinctions. However, there are others who suggest that they may have also delivered the seeds of life soon after Earth was born. The oldest impact crater on Earth is also the largest and it is located in South Africa. It is known as the Vredefort Crater for it was originally 185 miles in diameter which struck some 2.02 billion years ago (pictured here). There is another major impact known as the Chicxulub crater located in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico which is 93 miles in diameter that some argue may have wiped out the dinosaurs with a blast that was equal to the estimated energy of 10 billion Hiroshima A-bombs which took place about 66 million years ago.
Sodom and Gomorrah which are most likely located at the Dead Sea may have been destroyed by debris from a comet, startling new archaeological and astronomical research suggests. The Dead Sea is famous for is extreme salinity (34% salt, or almost 10 times as salty as the ocean), and for having the lowest elevation on Earth, at 1,407 feet (429 meters) below sea level. The argument remains that there was a simultaneous fall of the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, the Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia and the Harrapin Civilisation of the Indus Valley. In total, some 40 cities are thought to have disappeared, in a series of catastrophes. Many astronomers believe that the Earth was bombarded by a particular dense storm of meteorites over a couple of centuries every 2,500 years. The last two occurrences were around 2200-2000BC and 400-600AD. Part of the evidence is that three Middle Eastern regions all contain a calcite material found only in meteorites. They argue that the Biblical account found in Genesis describes how "the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven" which is a description of a meteorite storm.
When all is said and done, we may be as insignificant as a pebble lying at the bottom of the ocean with no understand what lies above our heads.


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NMN Improves Stem Cell Therapy for Injured Aged Mouse Hearts
Combining NMN supplementation with hormone-treated bone-derived stem cell transplantation synergistically increased cardioprotection
(Davizro | iStock)
Published: 1:51 p.m. PST May 21, 2021 | Updated: 12:12 p.m. PST Sep 29, 2021
· Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) preconditioned with the hormone ghrelin improved the protection of aged mouse hearts subjected to injury.
· Injecting NMN with the ghrelin-treated MSCs synergistically improved heart repair after injury.
The transplantation of cells found in the bone marrow called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are important for repairing muscle tissues, is a promising therapy. In particular, MSCs have some protective effects on the heart against injury from ischemia-reperfusion (IR) — when blood stops and then starts flowing into the heart. Optimizing the conditions for MSCs transplantation is key to improving this cell-based therapy, especially in elderly subjects where MSCs seem to be less effective.
In a study published by Sun and Zhang in the European Journal of Pharmacology, MSCs treated with ghrelin, an endogenous growth hormone, transplanted to aged mice subjected to IR injury improved the protective effect of MSCs similar to that seen in young mice. What's more, when the research duo combined injection of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) with the ghrelin-treated MSCs, the cardioprotective effect increased synergistically.
"NMN supplementation and concomitant administration of preconditioned MSCs is a promising strategy that will protect the aged heart well against IR injury," proposed Sun and Zhang.
Comorbidities complicate heart injuries
Protecting the heart from IR injury during comorbidities, including aging, is clinically important. In older age, the severity of IR injury appears to be greater than in youth, and studies have shown that the power of the protective effects of therapeutic interventions is severely reduced.
MSC transplantation is a promising therapeutic approach that leads to major reductions in blood supply obstruction (infarct) size in young animals with IR injury. However, after isolating MSCs from original tissues, it's hard to maintain their capacity for renewal and differentiation, because it's not the same as the environment inside a living person. As a result, they lose a portion of their therapeutic effects due to high rates of cell death and low rates of survival.
NMN supplementation as a complement to cell-based therapies
NMN, a precursor of NAD+, can protect the hearts of healthy young rats against IR damage and reduce the infarct size. This is thought to occur in part by NMN's ability to stimulate the production of mitochondria — our cells' energy generators — and even enhancing the cell's recycling processes (autophagy). Since the function and number of mitochondria are severely reduced in aging, mitochondria-targeted compounds like NMN may improve the aged heart's response to other interventions.
NMN and hormone-treated MSCs synergistically reduced infarct size in aged hearts
Because myocardial IR injury in the presence of comorbidities has multifactorial nature, there is increasing emphasis on the use of combination therapy in this disease. Combination therapy can overcome the reduced response to interventions in the elderly and reinforce cellular defense mechanisms more sustainably and strongly.
For this purpose, Sun and Zhang added NMN with ghrelin-treated MSCs and evaluated their effect on infarct size. Ghrelin, a growth hormone we all make, might be a factor that contributes to the cardioprotective effects of MSCs. Ghrelin may also lead to the greater durability of MSCs effects in the infarcted heart by reducing inflammatory responses and promoting mitochondrial function. So, the research duo treated aged rats (20 to 22 months old) with IR injury with ghrelin- or unconditioned-MSCs at early reperfusion. NMN (500 mg/kg, i.p) was also administered at early reperfusion and repeated 12 hours later.
Although NMN alone had a significant effect on reducing infarct size similar to the ghrelin-treated MSC group, their combined application could significantly and more potently reduce infarct size compared to the IR group. The impact of combination therapy on the reduction of infarct size was significantly greater than those of individual treatments. The combination of ghrelin-treated MSCs plus NMN supplementation was able to synergistically enhance each other's effect and provide strong protection of the aged heart against IR injury.
(Sun and Zhang 2021 | Eur J Pharmacol.) Ghrelin-preconditioned MSCs and NMN reduce infarct size in aged rats' hearts. These images of heart tissue slices are stained with a compound that shows infarct size (blue) following ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in aged mouse hearts, which is quantified in the bottom graphs. The infarct sizes were reduced in aged mice with ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury when treated with nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) or ghrelin-treated MSCs (ghr-MSC). These effects were most pronounced when NMN supplementation and ghrelin-treated MSCs were used together.
After adding NMN to the MSCs treatment regimen, mitochondrial function was re-evaluated by examining the changes in reactive oxygen species production and membrane potential. The results showed that the effect of combination therapy on decreasing mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and increasing mitochondrial membrane potential was greater than the effect of ghrelin-treated MSCs alone.
(Sun and Zhang 2021 | Eur J Pharmacol.) Ghrelin-treated MSCs with NMN supplementation synergistically improved mitochondrial oxidative stress. The mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) levels of mitochondrial oxidative stress were measured with reactive oxygen species (Mito ROS). The levels of oxidative stress were reduced in aged mice with ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury when treated with both nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and ghrelin-treated MSCs (ghr-MSC). These levels were reversed by treatment with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ).
"Ghrelin may serve as a promising candidate to improve the cardioprotective efficacy of MSC-based therapy via autophagy/mitochondrial pathway and that NMN serves as a good booster in combination therapy in aged hearts," concluded the authors.
Finding other survival mechanisms involved in this effect, as well as identifying the contribution of each of them to combination therapy-induced cardioprotection will lead us to find more effective and central therapeutic targets.
Ghrelin
Ischemia
Sun L, Zhang W. Preconditioning of mesenchymal stem cells with ghrelin exerts superior cardioprotection in aged heart through boosting mitochondrial function and autophagy flux. Eur J Pharmacol. 2021 May 2;903:174142. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2021.174142.


Who knew that there were so many hidden 'caches' dotted around Exmoor just waiting to be discovered? Geocaching is the modern day version of the treasure hunt and relies on a smart phone or GPS system to lead trackers to the booty. Whilst finding the cache is the object of the game, the challenge of interpreting the clues and following the trails to get there is just as important. Getting out and about in the open air and discovering more about the local area along the way encourages even the most difficult kids off the sofa and into their wellies before they've realised what they're up to. Not just for children, plenty of adults are keen geocachers too - apparently there's over 2 million worldwide, and some 3,000 trails in and around Exmoor and the Quantocks. Sign up to www.geocaching.com to open your free account and get hunting.


text:
Q: Inside an equilateral triangle $ABC$,an arbitrary point $P$ is taken from which the perpendiculars $PD,PE$ and $PF$ are dropped onto the sides... Inside an equilateral triangle $ABC$,an arbitrary point $P$ is taken from which the perpendiculars $PD,PE$ and $PF$ are dropped onto the sides $BC,CA$ and $AB$,respectively.Show that the ratio $\dfrac{PD+PE+PF}{BD+CE+AF}$ does not depend upon the choice of the point $P$ and find its value.
I have no idea how to proceed. I could not do anything beyond calculating the area of $PDB,PCE,PFA$ but here I get nothing. Please help!

A: For simplicity, let the sides of the triangle be $1$.
$\hspace{3.5cm}$
Looking at the areas of the sub-triangles, we get
$$
\begin{align}
|\,\triangle ABP\,|&=\frac12|\,\overline{FP}\,|\times|\,\overline{AB}\,|=\frac12|\,\overline{FP}\,|\\
|\,\triangle BCP\,|&=\frac12|\,\overline{DP}\,|\times|\,\overline{BC}\,|=\frac12|\,\overline{DP}\,|\tag{1}\\
|\,\triangle CAP\,|&=\frac12|\,\overline{EP}\,|\times|\,\overline{CA}\,|=\frac12|\,\overline{EP}\,|
\end{align}
$$
Summing these, we get
$$
|\,\overline{FP}\,|+|\,\overline{DP}\,|+|\,\overline{EP}\,|=2|\,\triangle ABC\,|=\frac{\sqrt3}{2}\tag{2}
$$

Rename the distances in question as $x$, $y$, and $z$.
$\hspace{2.3cm}$
Considering the vertical distances on sides $x$ and $y$ and then repeating the same for the other side pairs:
$$
\begin{align}
\frac{\sqrt3}{2}x+\frac12h_x&=\frac{\sqrt3}{2}(1-y)+\frac12h_y\\
\frac{\sqrt3}{2}y+\frac12h_y&=\frac{\sqrt3}{2}(1-z)+\frac12h_z\tag{3}\\
\frac{\sqrt3}{2}z+\frac12h_z&=\frac{\sqrt3}{2}(1-x)+\frac12h_x
\end{align}
$$
Adding these and cancelling results in
$$
x+y+z=\frac32\tag{4}
$$
That is
$$
|\,\overline{FA}\,|+|\,\overline{DB}\,|+|\,\overline{EC}\,|=\frac32\tag{5}
$$

Thus, $(2)$ and $(5)$ yield
$$
\frac{|\,\overline{FP}\,|+|\,\overline{DP}\,|+|\,\overline{EP}\,|}{|\,\overline{FA}\,|+|\,\overline{DB}\,|+|\,\overline{EC}\,|}=\frac1{\sqrt3}\tag{6}
$$

A: It is a well-known fact (with proof sketched in the comments below the question) that
$$|PD|+|PE|+|PF| = \text{height of triangle}$$
so that the numerator of the target ratio is independent of $P$. It is perhaps less-well-known that
$$|AF| + |BD| + |CE| = |FB| + |DC| + |EA| = \text{semi-perimeter of triangle} \qquad (\star)$$
which effectively solves the problem.

I was unaware of this second relation, so I set about proving it by (re-)deriving a Ceva-like theorem to characterize, not concurrent lines through a triangle's vertices (aka, "cevians"), but concurrent perpendiculars to a triangle's edges (aka ... um ... "orthians"? because they're orthogonal?); the theorem says this:

Ortha's Theorem. Orthians at points $D$, $E$, $F$ on respective sides $BC$, $CA$, $AB$ of $\triangle ABC$ concur if and only if $$|AF|^2+|BD|^2+|CE|^2 = |FB|^2+|DC|^2+|EA|^2$$

Before proving this theorem, let's see how it shows $(\star)$.
Writing $s := |AB| = |BC| = |CA|$ in our equilateral triangle, we have
$$|FB| = s - |AF| \qquad |DC| = s - |BD| \qquad |EA| = s - |CE|$$
Since we know the orthians at $D$, $E$, $F$ meet at $P$, we can invoke the "only if" aspect of Ortha's Theorem to conclude
$$|AF|^2 + |BD|^2 + |CE|^2 = \left( s - |AF| \right)^2 + \left( s - |BD| \right)^2 + \left( s - |CE| \right)^2$$
whence
$$0 = s \left( 3 s - 2 \left( |AF| + |BD| + |CE| \right)\right)$$
so that (for non-zero $s$)
$$|AF|+|BD|+|CE| = \frac{3}{2}s = \text{semi-perimeter of } \triangle ABC$$

Proof of Ortha's Theorem. Orthians at points $E$ and $F$ definitely concur; call their common point $P$.

(Despite appearances in the image, $B$, $P$, and $E$ are not (necessarily) collinear; likewise $C$, $P$, $F$ ... or $A$, $P$, $D$, for that matter.)
Then ...
$$\begin{align}
PD \perp BC &\iff \quad |PB|^2 - |BD|^2 = |PC|^2 - |DC|^2 &(1) \\[6pt]
&\iff |PF|^2 + |FB|^2 - |BD|^2 = |PE|^2 + |CE|^2 - |DC|^2 \\
&\iff |PA|^2 - |AF|^2 + |FB|^2 - |BD|^2 = |PA|^2 - |EA|^2 + |CE|^2 - |DC|^2 \\[6pt]
&\iff |AF|^2 +|BD|^2 + |CE|^2 = |FB|^2 + |DC|^2 + |EA|^2 &\square
\end{align}$$
(In $(1)$, the "$\Rightarrow$" part is clear, as each side of the equation gives $|PD|^2$. The "$\Leftarrow$" part follows from slightly more effort, which is left to the reader. Note that only the "$\Rightarrow$" part needed to show $(\star)$.)

I suspect this theorem must be known in the literature. (Of course, I invented the name "Ortha" as a back-construction of my invented word "orthian", to mimic the connection between "Ceva" and "cevian".) Come to think of it, the result here is equivalent to equation $(\star\star\star)$ in this answer of mine from a few months ago that generalizes Ceva's theorem to arbitrary lines meeting a triangle. So, I guess my suspicion is that this theorem must be known somewhere else in the literature.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
SACRE BLEU
Fantasy football tips: Benjamin Mendy is just two games away from smashing his Premier League points total
Mendy's season-ending injury last term meant we rarely got to see the Frenchman at his best
Sign up to play Dream Team Weekender now
By Michael Golson
21st August 2018, 6:38 pm
Updated: 21st August 2018, 6:38 pm
Thinking back to Manchester City's brilliant run to the Premier League title last season, we hardly dared to believe Pep Guardiola's side could get any better.
But lo and behold, they've started this campaign off in incredible fashion, making light work of Arsenal and Huddersfield in their first two games.
Of course, there's still a long way to go, but even at this early stage it's hard to look beyond City to defend their crown.
Have you signed up to play Dream Team Weekender?
Pick 7 players – no limit to the number of players you can choose from one club
No transfer budget – any player is available to pick
Only Saturday and Sunday fixtures
Largely, their team is almost identical to the one that won last season's title.
Transfer-wise, Guardiola only really added Riyad Mahrez to his squad, while his summer clear-out was no where near as expansive as the year before; with only Joe Hart and Yaya Toure the notable sales.
But with the early-season form and fitness of Benjamin Mendy and his presence at full-back in City's first two games of the season, the Frenchman almost feels like a new signing (as cliched as that sounds).
Mendy already has three assists to his name this season
At the start of the season, Guardiola insisted his side could improve on their record-breaking campaign and boldly claimed the long-injured left-back could be key to their plans.
"Inserting Mendy into the group and playing in different ways," was his answer, when asked how.
Guardiola expects
Some of us were sceptical.
After all, the left-back had only played in seven Premier League games in the 2017/18 season, before rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee at the end of September.
His injury gremlins haunted his World Cup too, as he only played in one of France's World Cup games.
In fact, if it wasn't for his presence on Twitter, we probably would've forgotten all about him.
Oops 😅 https://t.co/dVBYJNbKPM
— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) August 12, 2018
He was certainly a frustrating player when it came to fantasy football.
Last season, he finished up with a haul of just 36 points, which is probably what you'd expect from a player who spent most of his time on the sidelines.
But after two games of the current campaign, he's already boasting a total of 17 points; thanks to his two assists against Arsenal and the clean-sheet bonus, coupled with his assist against Huddersfield at the weekend.
3 – 🇫🇷 Benjamin Mendy has already delivered 3 assists in the Premier League 🇬🇧, a French defender has not done better in a single season in the competition since Patrice Evra in 2012/13 (5). Back. pic.twitter.com/GHuDDUjQSM
— OptaJean ⭐⭐ (@OptaJean) August 20, 2018
Averaging 8.5 points per a match at the moment (17 points, two games, we did the tough maths so you don't have to), we estimate that the Frenchman will smash his pitiful tally of last season in just a couple of weeks.
City's next game is their away trip to Wolves, followed by an Etihad double-header against Newcastle and then Fulham.
So feasibly, Mendy could surpass his 2017-18 total by the beginning of September.
Not many players can say that, eh?
Benjamin Mendy


This past weekend, British Columbia's 153-member Citizens Assembly for Electoral Reform voted to send the voters a proposal to change BC's electoral system from first-past-the-post single member districts [that's how we elect our state & federal reps. - Ed.] to a Single Transferable Vote system where each district is represented by 2-7 legislators.
This means that in May 2005, when British Columbians go to the polls to elect a new provincial legislature, they'll also get to decide whether to adopt an entirely new way of choosing legislators.
I'm not gonna go all election-geeky on the merits of Single Transferable Vote systems, but if you're curious, you can read more at Wikipedia. STV is used in Australia, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand and the People's Republic of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
2) The proposal was developed by a citizens' panel comprised of randomly-selected ordinary folks, not by the legislature (fox, meet henhouse), and sent directly to the voters. A relatively de-politicized process. Contrast with our "adored" initiative/referendum system here in Washington.


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Liberty Conservative News
Home Politics U.S. Senate Candidate Kris Kobach Defends Firearm Rights Against GOP Establishment
U.S. Senate Candidate Kris Kobach Defends Firearm Rights Against GOP Establishment
Shane Trejo
Republican leadership in Washington D.C. are seemingly set to capitulate on gun control, and U.S. Senate candidate Kris Kobach is calling them out for turning their backs on the Bill of Rights.
Kobach is putting the spotlight on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has vowed that his chamber will pass gun control when the summer recess ends on Sept. 9.
"What we can't do is fail to pass something," McConnell said last month to WHAS radio host Terry Meiners. "The urgency of this is not lost on any of us."
Trending: California Charter School Teacher Files Petition to Kick Teacher Union Out from School
"That statement has the progressive Left licking their chops, hopeful that a cowed Republican majority in the Senate will pass new gun control measures – with universal background checks, red flag laws, restrictions on AR-style rifles, and magazine capacity limits all on the menu," Kobach wrote in a Breitbart op/ed on Thursday.
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"When the Senate debate begins next week, Democrats will inevitably repeat several lies that have gained traction on the Left in recent years," he added.
My statement regarding President Trump's call for bipartisan, bicameral cooperation following the mass murders in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. https://t.co/Rz6moSkwY6 pic.twitter.com/OcAnArpF5t
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) August 5, 2019
Kobach, who has become the bane of McConnell and the Senate Republican Leadership Fund since announcing his run for the U.S. Senate earlier this year, is pushing back against Republican cowardice and how spineless conservatives are enabling the Left's war against our core freedoms.
He dispelled many popular myths about gun control that are regularly pushed by the left, including America's alleged epidemic of mass shootings.
"America has 4.6 percent of the world's population. But America has only 1.49 percent of the murders worldwide, and less than 1.15 percent of the mass public shooters. America ranks 64th out of 97 countries in mass shootings per capita—a long way behind countries where the possession of firearms is uncommon," Kobach wrote, referring to the findings of famed gun researcher John Lott Jr.
Kobach also addressed the fallacy that an increase in background checks would stop mass shootings.
"Although background checks are necessary and do serve a legitimate purpose, as I have written previously, the biggest problem with the whole background check system is that it is routinely circumvented by criminals. Instead of buying the gun himself, the criminal simply has a person with a clean record buy the gun for him," he wrote.
The supposed efficacy of gun free zones, or victim disarmament zones, was also dispelled by Kobach with logic and rationality.
"Most shooters recognize that they will encounter less resistance if their intended victims are unarmed. Or stated differently, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun; and the criminals know it," he wrote.
Kobach also addressed concerns with AR-style rifles and the rise of smart guns, which could pose a major technological infringement on firearms freedom.
"AR-style rifles are difficult to conceal, and semiautomatic pistols can deliver just as many bullets just as quickly. That's why AR-style rifles aren't usually used by most mass shooters, or by other criminals either. The notion that banning this type of firearm would put a dent in mass shootings is nonsense," Kobach wrote.
"The closest thing to a smart gun that exists is a pistol that requires a matching bracelet in the vicinity for the gun to operate. However, that gun is easily defeated by about $15 worth of magnets; and it costs $1,800 – about four times the price of an equivalent pistol," he wrote.
Kobach believes that a mandate of smart guns may make firearms and ammunition unaffordable to the average person, indirect gun control measures that the would fulfill the anti-constitutional mandate of liberal Democrats.
"If ever the fingerprint technology makes it to market, it will undoubtedly be even more expensive. And that's the problem with any law requiring gun dealers to sell only smart guns if the technology becomes viable someday. The average gun buyer won't be able to afford them," he wrote.
Kobach has become public enemy #1 to the Washington D.C. establishment since announcing his run for Senate, and it's clear why they loathe him. If Kobach wins the GOP nomination next year and then becomes elected to the Senate in 2020, he will be one of the few men with the backbone to resist McConnell and the rest of the GOP swamp that is desperate to cave on the 2nd Amendment.
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Since October 2018 Laura Löwe is a doctoral student at the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences (BAGSS). She studied sociology (B.A. and M.A.) at the university of Kassel. During her studies she worked as a student assistant and tutor at the chair for Methods of Empirical Social Research and as a student assistant in the project "Competence orientated assessment of communicative skills of students (KomPrue)" at the International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER) in Kassel.
Her research interests include higher education research, social inequality and quantitative methods of empirical social research.
In her doctoral thesis, she analyses the temporal development of the importance of final grades for the labour market success.


text:
Cannon Street Railway Bridge
Sir John Hawkshaw
Nothing whatsoever to do with artillery, Cannon Street got its name as a shortening of the Middle English 'candelwrichstrete' which means 'street of candle makers,' first mentioned in the 12th century. The street sits within the Ward of Candlewick, one of 25 ancient subdivisions of the City of London.
Cannon Street Bridge, designed by Sir John Hawkshaw and originally opened in 1866, consists of five impressive spans supported by cast iron Doric pillars. It was officially named the Alexandra Bridge in honour of Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who married Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1863.
The original bridge incorporated two footpaths, one of which was a public toll-path and the other used exclusively by railway employees. The footpaths were removed in 1893, when the bridge was widened and strengthened by adding four extra cast-iron cylinders to the upstream side of each pier.
In the last 100 years the bridge has been rebuilt twice. The station was badly damaged during the Second World War and many of the original ornamental features were removed when British Rail undertook extensive renovations to the structure in 1982. However, two brick towers from the original bridge remain on the riverfront. These towers flank the bridge on the north side and conceal large tanks that contain enough water to power Cannon Street station's hydraulic lifts.
Photo: Can Pac Swire
Artist's Vision
Cannon Street Bridge, despite being one of the oldest bridges on the Thames, had never been lit before. Villareal's artwork celebrates the bridge's oft- overlooked utilitarian character and monumental Doric columns, with subtle kinetic colours mirroring the motion of the trains passing above.
Left: the former lighting on Cannon Street Railway Bridge. Right: Leo Villareal's Illuminated River artwork.
Leo Villareal discusses the inspiration behind his artwork for Cannon Street Bridge.
Southwark Bridge
Millennium Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
Golden Jubilee Footbridges
Westminster Bridge
Lambeth Bridge
Vauxhall Bridge
Grosvenor Railway Bridge
Albert Bridge


Poetry Friday--"To Make a Prairie..."
Don't you love the utter simplicity of this poem? Dickinson wrote dozens of poems about bees, but the above one is my favorite.
Here's a fun exercise. Write your own "to make a _____ it takes a _____" poem.
I tried to do justice to Dickinson's form. I hope it works!
Must hide a devil's claw.
If you write one of your own, please share it with us in the comments!
Biblio File is the host for this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up.
The Miss Rumphius Effect blog has a poetry "stretch" on Mondays. I always read the stretch and on occasion I participate. This week's challenge is to create a Zeno. What's a Zeno? It's a new form created by J. Patrick Lewis.
A 10-line verse form with a repeating syllable count of 8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1. The rhyme scheme is abcdefdghd.
There were a number of examples to look at and I said to myself, how hard can this be?
Oh my. I spent at least three hours writing and rewriting and rewriting and starting over and writing. I'd get the syllables right, but find I had the rhymes in the wrong place. I'd get the rhymes right but find that the whole thing made absolutely no sense. By the time it hit midnight, I deleted it all and went to bed feeling totally inadequate, absolutely convinced that I am not a poet and never will be!
I'd encourage you to head over to Miss Rumphius Effect and give a Zeno a try. Good luck!
In my youth, I used to watch Soupy Sales. He was a favorite even though his jokes weren't always for kids. Soupy Sales died on Thursday at the age of 83.
Rather than talk about him, I thought I'd let you watch.
Simple and silly--YES!--but I laughed until tears ran when I watched it yesterday.
He was so much a part of the culture of the mid-60s. It wasn't a simple and silly time, but we needed his type of humor, and I thank him for the memories and the music..."Pachalafaka. Pachalafaka. They sing it all over Turkey."
I was browsing through a book by Alison Hawthorne Deming called Genius Loci (Penguin Books, 2005) and came across a short poem that I found intriguing.
It's the title that hooked me. There is no question mark. Is the wounding what happened next? If so, the reader is free to imagine what came before to bring it about--was it accidental or intentional? Or, should the reader speculate what will happen next? Will He remain earthbound since his wings are damaged, or will they heal allowing him to fly away from Her? So many possibilities! I like being able to construct a whole story from what we are given in these 41 words.
Another poem, "New Shoes, 1939," also invites the reader to speculate. It is evident from the opening lines that there is ambiguity ahead.
Look for Genius Loci--there is more waiting to be discovered!
The Poetry Friday Round-Up is taking place at Big A little a.
At the Bath Central Library in the U.K., a month-long poetry event is taking place. Poet-in-residence, Alan Summers, has begun a challenge to produce a renga of 1,000 verses. You can read about it in this recent article.
Alan Summers looks over some of the verses contributed to the 1,000 Verses Renga project.
Summers is "Haikutec" on Twitter, and according to an 10/19 update, the project is "Already heading towards 600 verses..."
A renga is a poem written through a collaborative effort, in this case, the collaboration comes from poets around the world not just from those in Bath. You too, can take part. All you need do is submit a short 2 or 3 line verse. Follow the directions at Area 17.
If you're interested in learning more about the Japanese form of renga, a good place to start would be Jane Reichhold's AhaPoetry page on renga.
The Anthologist (Simon & Schuster, 2009) is a NOVEL by Nicolson Baker. So where's the Poetry Friday tie-in? The book's main character, Paul Chowder, is a minor poet (in his own words, "I'm a study in failure.") whose life in entangled in Poetry.
I have to say, The Anthologist is one of the strangest books I have ever read--and I like it. Sadly, I don't believe it has broad appeal. I don't think I'll be able to recommend a book about a poet, even if I do it with enthusiasm. People are going to look at me like I have three heads. The audience for it just isn't there, at least not in my library. But, the fact that you're reading this Poetry Friday post, obviously means you have an interest in poetry and poets!
Baker's character has a project his editor is expecting him to complete. It remains undone. Paul must write an introduction to his anthology of poetry. The poems have been chosen, yet he avoids writing the introduction. Instead he spends his time hiding away in his barn and telling the reader bits and pieces about poetry and poets--exactly the thing you'd expect to find in an introduction. He just doesn't write it.
Paul puts off the writing for so long, that frustrated by his inactivity, his girlfriend, Roz, walks out on him. Paul misses her terribly and in between telling the reader about rhyme and meter and imagined meetings with poets, he tries to get Roz to return (often by having stupid accidents that require her assistance).
Will Paul get the damned thing written? Will he get Roz back? You don't expect me to tell, do you?
I also like the little contemporary cultural references Baker throws in to show us that Paul isn't an terminally insufferable poetry snob.
I've got Photoshop for Dummies, and I learned a lot from it. The dummies' day may be passing, though. Too much yellow all over Barnes & Noble.
You've got to love a character who likes dummies books, ZZ Top, Project Runway, and Sara Teasdale. Well, at least I do!
I'd recommend you give The Anthologist a try. You'll either love it or hate it, but I doubt you'll be neutral.
For a Poetry Foundation interview with Nicholson Baker, click here.
In case you were wondering why there is a plum on the cover of The Anthologist, it's because Paul refers to nonrhyming poems as plums!
Please visit my friend Laura Salas for the Poetry Friday Round-Up.
The Miss Rumphius Effect "Monday Poetry Stretch" was a challenge to write an October poem. I took the challenge, and not two minutes after I posted my effort (simply titled "October"), I wanted to go back and rewrite it. I didn't, of course, but what I did do was write another poem. This one I called "October Dusk." It was inspired by the geese that wrested my attention from an episode of Bones (the complete season 4 was released this week).
lack of uplift. Up, out, down.
assumed by another. Up, out, down.
Make sure you check out the inspired/inspiring October poems at The Miss Rumphius Effect. And also check out the Poetry Friday Round-Up at Picture Book of the Day.
Poetry found an audience on the subways and buses of New York through the "Poetry in Motion" program. Short poems are displayed on the placards that you usually see advertising such things as on-line degree programs or newly released films. The poets featured range from William Shakespeare to subway poem competition winners.
A book was produced a few years after the program's start in 1992, Poetry in Motion: 100 Poems from the Subways and Buses (W.W. Norton, 1996), it contains the first one hundred poems that were promoted. Check your local public library for a copy.
Check out this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up at Crossover.


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Electronics Technicians
Company: Navy
Location: Ruidoso
ABOUTThe most secretive of Navy vessels, a submarine requires a select community of specially trained professionals to operate its classified, highly advanced hardware. The Sailors in the Submarine Electronics Computer Field (SECF) work with a submarine's sonar, weapons, communications and navigation systems. The training is rigorous and the career opportunities are equally impressive.RESPONSIBILITIESWithin Submarine Electronics, there are four distinct focus areas that have their own training paths and job descriptions.Fire Control Technician (FT)FTs operate, test and maintain submarine combat control systems. They participate in weapons handling functions and operate and maintain non-tactical computer systems and peripherals. They are responsible for a huge array of weapons, which may include torpedoes, Tomahawk - cruise missiles and even nuclear ballistic missiles capable of reaching anywhere in the world.Sonar Technician, Submarine (STS)STSs specialize in underwater acoustic technologies. They operate a submarine's sonar, oceanographic equipment, and auxiliary sonar to conduct underwater surveillance, collect scientific data and track enemy targets. They also perform maintenance on the highly sensitive, highly classified sonar hardware.Electronics Technician (ET/RF AND ET/NAV)ETs focus on installing, administering and maintaining onboard communications and navigations systems. ET/RFs work with and maintain submarine radio communication equipment, systems and programs (including submarine LAN systems). ET/NAVs specialize in submarine navigation and radio equipment, systems and programs.There are also electronics careers that require advanced nuclear training and involve working with nuclear reactor control, propulsion and power generation on Navy nuclear-powered submarines or aircraft carriers. Learn about opportunities in nuclear operations.WORK ENVIRONMENTAs a Navy Submarine electronics specialist, you may serve at sea or ashore, operating and repairing systems and equipment on Navy submarines at bases, ports of call, or while underway in undisclosed ocean waters. Since deployments are secret and stealthy, your time in a submarine may last for several months, sometimes with little or no time on the surface.TRAINING & ADVANCEMENTUpon completion of initial 7-9 week Recruit Training (known as Boot Camp), those pursuing positions in the Navy submarine electronics field report to Basic Enlisted Submarine School in Groton, Conn., for 4 weeks instruction in basic submarine systems. From there, Sailors attend "A" School in Groton, Conn., to receive formal Navy schooling in their specialty area. There they receive extensive training in electricity, electronics, computers, digital systems, fiber optics and electronics repair."A" School for FTs - This 27- to 33-week course in Groton, Conn., provides a basic knowledge of electronics, mathematics and computer theory to support the operation and basic maintenance of submarine weapons control systems. It includes group instruction and training in practical application and equipment labs. Further training may be received at a "C" School that provides learning in advanced maintenance, TLAM (Tomahawk - Land-Attack Missile) Strike and both computer and computer language skills, including maintenance, operations and security of systems operated and maintained."A" School for STSs - This 18-week course in Groton, Conn., provides a basic knowledge of electrical skills, electronics, computers and sonar fundamentals. It includes group instruction and training in practical application and equipment labs. Further training may be received at a "C" School that provides advanced maintenance instruction on specific equipment as well as Advanced Oceanography and Acoustic Intelligence Analysis."A" School for ETs (ET/RF and ET/NAV) - This nine-week course in Groton, Conn., provides a basic knowledge of electricity, electronics and technical computer skills. This is immediately followed by a 14-28-week course - in either Groton, Conn.; Kings Bay, Ga.; or Bangor, Wash. - that provides further training specific to the communications (ET/RF) or navigations (ET/NAV) specialty, as well as assignment to a fast attack or ballistic missile submarine. The course includes group instruction and training in practical application and equipment labs. Further training may be received at a "C" School that provides advanced maintenance instruction on specific equipment.Navy Nuclear Field (NF) ProgramTo learn more about the additional training involved with becoming a nuclear-trained ET, refer to the Navy Nuclear Field (NF) Program section on the nuclear operations page.Promotion opportunities are regularly available but competitive and based on performance. It's also important to note that specialized training received and work experience gained in the course of service can lead to valuable credentialing and occupational opportunitiesin related fields.To learn more about the specific training path for any of the focus areas within the field of submarine electronics, locate a recruiter.EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIESBeyond offering access to professional credentials and certifications, Navy technical and operational training in the field of submarine electronics can translate to credit hours toward a bachelor's or associate degree through the American Council on Education. You may also continue your education through opportunities like the following:
Navy College Program and Tuition Assistance
Post-9/11 GI BillQUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTSA high school diploma or equivalent is required to become an Enlisted Sailor in the Submarine Electronics field in the Navy. Those seeking a position in this community must be U.S. citizens who can meet eligibility requirements for a security clearance.General qualifications may vary depending upon whether you're currently serving, whether you've served before or whether you've never served before.
Keywords: Navy, Las Cruces , Electronics Technicians, Other , Ruidoso, New Mexico
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TIANJIN, China, Sept. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — AI and related technologies such as robots, drones and autonomous vehicles could provide a net boost to employment in China of around 12% over the next two decades, equating to around 90 million additional jobs.
Launching the analysis at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, PwC estimates that the boost from AI and related technologies to economic growth in China could create millions of new jobs, more than offsetting displacement of existing jobs. But the report argues there is no room for complacency given the projected scale of disruption to the labour market from these technologies.
Relative to the UK estimates, China is projected to see a higher level of job displacement (26% vs 20%) due to the greater scope for further automation in manufacturing and agriculture in China. But this is more than offset by the larger estimated boost to GDP in China from AI and related technologies, which will also feed through into much greater job creation in China (38%) relative to the UK (20%). The table below sets out the results for China in more detail.
"We expect the sectors benefiting most from AI and robotics to be those such as healthcare that combine strong underlying demand growth with a relatively high propensity to see benefits from application of these technologies. However, it is important to recognise that most of the new jobs created will have nothing directly to do with AI or robots, but will simply be the product of a richer society with consequent increased demand for goods and services of all kinds.
"As China becomes more innovative and less imitative, Chinese industrial employment is likely to shift from lower value, labour-intensive production to higher value roles, including those involved in the manufacture of AI-enabled equipment for export as well as to meet rising domestic demand.
The report notes that a job being at "high risk" of being automated does not mean that it will definitely be automated, because of a range of economic, legal and regulatory, and organisational barriers to the adoption of AI and related new technologies. For China, while almost 40% of jobs could be susceptible to automation by 2037, PwC's central estimate is that only around a quarter of existing Chinese jobs will actually be displaced over this period, as compared to 38% job creation.
The full report setting out the detailed results of the analysis for China and explaining the methodology behind these estimates will be available from 18 September 2018 at www.pwc.com/ai-china. Advance copies of the report are available to the media under embargo.
The estimates of job displacement for China are based on the same methodological approach as set out in a February 2018 PwC study based on an analysis of the detailed task composition of over 200,000 jobs across 29 OECD countries, but adjusted to reflect the particular characteristics of the Chinese economy. The earlier study is available here.
In PwC's June 2017 'Sizing the Prize' report, we evaluated thousands of potential use cases for AI across all sectors of the economy and combined these in a global econometric model to value the total potential impact of AI on GDP for the world economy as a whole, as well as for major individual economies including the US, China and the UK. For China, the headline estimate was that GDP could be boosted by up to 26% by 2030 through application of AI and related technologies (by comparison, the global average boost to GDP was estimated at around 14%). In this new report, we make a somewhat more conservative central assumption that Chinese GDP will be boosted by 20% in 2030. This estimate, rolled forward to 2037, provides the basis for the estimate of job creation in the new study.
In 2017, China's leadership launched the Next Generation AI Plan, a detailed road map of how China intends to become the world leader in AI, tackling areas from R&D and industrialisation to education, skills acquisition and the setting of standards. The plan is one of the most comprehensive AI strategies in the world and provides a strong underpinning for the positive assessment of the potential of AI and related technologies for China in this and other recent PwC studies.
In July 2018, PwC published a similar analysis of the potential impact of AI and related technologies on jobs in the UK, showing a broadly neutral estimated net impact over the next 20 years (as compared to the positive net jobs impact now estimated for China). The UK study is available here.


text:
New book examines educating children of Nazi scientists in El Paso schools
After World War II, Nazi scientists came to Fort Bliss in West Texas to aid the U.S. military. Their children attended El Paso schools.
By Angela KochergaMarch 17, 2022 10:55 amArts & Culture, Books, History, Texas Standard Original
The new book by Jonna Perrillo, "Educating the Enemy: teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands examines" a little-known period of history. It was just after World War II and Nazi scientists, at the invitation of the U.S. government, relocated to El Paso with their families. The book compares the privileged educational experience of the German children of Nazi scientists to that of disadvantaged local Mexican-American students.
Perrillo, an education historian and associate professor of English at the University of Texas at El Paso talked to KTEP 's Angela Kocherga about her research and the book. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
Texas Standard: How did you got the idea for this book?
Jonna Perrillo: I saw a picture in a local history book of the children of German scientists at Crockett Elementary in 1946. And it didn't say anything more than that. But I was fascinated. For one thing, I live blocks from Crockett, so it feels like really local history to me. But also even though I had heard about Operation Paperclip, as some people have. It hadn't occurred to me that those scientists had families and that those families were part of the El Paso community.
What was Operation Paperclip?
Operation Paperclip was a military program designed by the War Department that brought several different groups of German scientists to the United States. And the group that I write about and really the most famous group were the V2 scientists, so the men who designed and created the V2 missile for the Third Reich. And they were sent to Fort Bliss. They were the largest group and the most well-known because their leader was Werner von Braun, who became sort of a popular culture icon once they went to develop NASA.
Many of these scientists sought out American military officers who were both wrapping up the war and starting the American occupation of Germany because they saw the writing on the wall. And they understood that they could either go to the United States or they could go to the Soviet Union, or they could stay in war-torn Germany, which was a really difficult place to live. So many of them sought out the military as much as we saw them out because they saw this as their best option.
And so they came with their families. And as you write, they were doing their research, but it was also an experiment of sorts bringing the children over. And they were put in public schools. So tell people about that what you learn from your research.
The families were incredibly important part of this operation, even though it was a little bit difficult sometimes to uncover information about them for a couple of different reasons. First, even though the operation was set up to be a temporary program at first, American military officers and diplomatic figures who were foundational to the operation saw that the scientists wouldn't stay without their families. They weren't going to leave them behind. So that was one very pragmatic factor.
But the other was that they realized pretty quickly that the children were the best face of the operation, and the operation was not without controversy, both in terms of recruiting these Nazi scientists and also at a time when the U.S. was not allowing German Jewish refugees in in any great numbers. So there was a real public relations problem.
There was also an issue of American scientists saying We can do this. We don't necessarily need Nazi scientists to build weapons for us. So there were a lot of factors at play, but they had these children who were, with the exception of six out of the 144 children who came over, too young to have participated in Hitler Youth and really to have experienced much German schooling at all. So in some ways, they were the ideal public face. They were cute, they were charming and they seemed like, as one military officer said, the best way to civilize the families.
So the press and the military itself really leaned on the children to sort of change public opinion about the operation, and it was very successful.
But at the same time, you point out that public schools for local children, especially Mexican American children, were a very different experience and there was a real contrast there.
When I started researching for the book, I thought it was going to be a story about political anxiety and the idea of these children of Nazi scientists showing up in El Paso schools, many of which probably had very personal connections to the war in the war dead. I'm Crockett Elementary, at the same time that was being asked to take in these children had just built the stained glass window to commemorate its own casualties in the war.
But I saw fairly quickly that that wasn't the case that regardless of how some individuals may have felt about the children, the press campaign was incredibly welcoming. And the things that I could find written by educators at the time reflected that they were seen as very well disciplined, very happy, very grateful, very eager to learn children. And that wasn't the way that the Mexican American students who constituted the majority of the El Paso school population were seen at all. In fact, they were seen as antisocial, oftentimes as diffident, because they really wanted to speak Spanish, which was the only language that many the great majority of them came to school understanding, largely because of racial segregation in housing and other parts of the city's economy. And so they were characterized as really un-American in a lot of ways our own American born student population. And so once I saw that, I saw that you really can't understand either of these stories – the stories about the German children or the stories about Mexican American El Pasoans without understanding the other.
How hard was it to piece together this story? You had to find a lot on your own. How did you do that?
It was a challenge because as important as the children were to the operation, that doesn't mean that they were documented or particularly even a subject of interest. There was a lot that was missing. And so I just reached out old school and sent out a bunch of letters.
I did have the original list, thanks to the New Mexico Museum of Space History, of all of the scientists and their children who came over. I had the list, so I had names. And I just found as many as I could online – easier for men than women who have often changed their names – and started sending out letters. And I was so gratified by the response I got. And by the generosity of the people who responded. They provided me with far more than interviews. They provided me with photographs, with old report cards, with old documents related to their status as children and as part of Operation Paperclip and just things that I know don't exist in the archives. And I really couldn't have written this book without that kind of participation.
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