text:
The Republicans' Cynical Tax Game: Undercut the IRS, Blame the IRS, Repeat
Neil H. Buchanan
Posted in: Politics
Last week saw a renewal of the annual mid-April frenzy of shallow reporting about the U.S. tax system. Pummeled with nothing but misinformation and political posturing, Americans were once again left with little more than the sick sense that something is wrong, and the fear that no one will fix it. In addition, they were again encouraged to believe a dangerous falsehood: the IRS is to blame.
The Internal Revenue Service is a law enforcement agency. Its employees do not write the laws that they enforce, and they cannot control how much money they are given to carry out their duties. Both of those things are true of other law enforcement agencies, but with one crucial difference: the IRS has no political allies. Whereas politicians of both parties eagerly seek the favor of police unions, commissioners, and so on, no politician wants to be seen as "on the IRS's side."
The result of this is that the IRS is a political orphan, unable to effectively petition Congress to clarify and simplify the tax laws, or to convince that same Congress to improve the IRS's ability to respond to the many new responsibilities that Congress dumps on the agency every year.
To a depressingly large extent, this is a bipartisan failure. Two years ago, when the news broke of an inspector general's report that documented mishandling of applications from would-be "social welfare organizations," there were immediate claims that the IRS's errors had been politically motivated. Even though there was no evidence to support such claims (and there still is none), the Obama Administration quickly (and very publicly) dumped the acting IRS Commissioner, to distance itself from the IRS.
Democrats in general, however, have generally at least been supportive of the IRS as an agency that must enforce the law—a law that, as former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously stated, is "the price we pay for civilized society." Unfortunately, Republicans—who otherwise pride themselves on being the "law and order" party—have moved in the other direction.
Indeed, the Republicans have become so opposed to the very idea of taxation that they have clearly decided to undermine the enforcement of the tax laws when they cannot change the laws themselves. That cynical political strategy has caused a once-honorable political party to undermine the public's respect for the law of the land, and then to use that disrespect to sow the seeds for further erosion of public trust in years to come.
The Plight of the IRS: More Responsibilities, Fewer Resources, and Rising Public Anger
There are few people who are willing to stand up for the IRS, even though many commentators on the left (and some on the right) understand that even the most lean government will need a competent and adequately funded tax collection agency. (A few people might be tempted by Senator Ted Cruz's call to eliminate the IRS, but even his strange view of an ideal government would need to hire people to collect taxes.)
Therefore, it was refreshing on the Sunday before April 15 to see the political comedian John Oliver devote that week's installment of his "Last Week Tonight" HBO show to a thorough-going, positively heartfelt defense of the IRS. Even Oliver, however, could not contain the snark, building his show around an analogy in which he described the IRS as serving the same role in the economy as the anus serves in the human body. We might not like to think about it, or look at it, but things are much worse when it stops working well. Try to imagine the public's response to that kind of "defense" for any other law enforcement agency!
Even so, Oliver made some very important points. He noted that the otherwise-gridlocked Congress manages to enact an average of more than one change to the tax law every day. Even the most senior tax-savvy members of Congress have been notably oblivious to the effect that these changes have on the IRS's workload. Thousands of experienced IRS employees have left the agency, and Congress has all but eliminated the budget to train new employees.
Bryan Camp, a tax law professor at Texas Tech University, recently described the budget cuts that Congress has enacted as a "buy five years, get one free discount," because the budget cuts for the 2011-15 period have added up to almost one year's lost annual appropriation for the agency. Meanwhile, the level of hostility that we saw even prior to the Republicans' mid-term victory in 2010 resulted in the agency using antiquated computers and software, which now cannot be replaced in a punish-the-IRS environment.
The result, unsurprisingly, is that the IRS is not doing its job as well as it should or could. Republicans in Congress in the 1990s added a provision to the law requiring that the IRS's Office of the Taxpayer Advocate (OTA) provide frequent public reports about how the IRS is performing its many required tasks. The OTA, which (against all odds) continues to do its job very, very well, dutifully documents the many ways in which the IRS's performance is declining.
For example, it turns out that the percentage of phone calls to call centers that the IRS's personnel were able to answer has dropped by more than half over the last few years, leaving taxpayers seething. This year was especially difficult, because for the first time the IRS was responsible for verifying whether people were covered by adequate health insurance, collecting a penalty (which the Supreme Court in 2012 sensibly determined was a tax, for constitutional purposes) from those who do not.
Of course, it is that last aspect of the story that heightens the partisanship. Republicans would hate the Affordable Care Act even if it were fully administered by any other federal agency, but having the "personal mandate" run through the IRS raises anti-tax fervor among conservatives to new heights.
The political game over the past few decades, then, has been crafted into a perfectly self-reinforcing cycle: The Republicans bring their anti-spending, anti-taxing, and anti-government fervor with them to the negotiating table, demanding that the IRS be crippled further as it tries to enforce the law. The Democrats put up a weak defense. The IRS's budget is cut. The public's experience with the IRS consequently gets worse. The IRS's own internal watchdog is required to publicize the IRS's failings. And the process starts all over again.
The Underlying Story: Why Do So Americans Buy Into the Anti-Tax Rhetoric?
Once one is operating in such a vicious cycle, the continuing degradation of the debate takes on a life of its own. At any given moment, a politician might even honestly claim that he has no choice but to honor his constituents' demands that the IRS be punished. I do not think that such a claim is ultimately defensible, but I could at least concede that the claim is colorable.
There is, however, a deeper set of attitudes that feeds the public's anti-IRS fervor, because the IRS is the face of the tax system, which means that "IRS Equals Taxes" in the public's mind. Even though Republicans should in principle be able to fight for reduced taxes while also respecting the IRS and giving it the resources it needs to serve the American people, Republicans have chosen instead to use the IRS as the whipping boy in a morality tale, where the larger goal is to reduce taxes no matter what.
But why is there an audience for this political snake oil? After all, even though people do not like paying taxes, the public by and large understands that one cannot get something for nothing. We complain about cable bills, about gas prices when they rise, about food costs, and so on. Yet there are rarely moments when the public asks politicians to affirmatively damage the companies and agencies to which people must pay even large sums of money. Moreover, other countries do not see nearly the same amount of anti-tax sentiment as we see in the United States—even though so many of those countries have much, much higher taxes than we do, as I explain below.
The surprising fact is that the high level of anger about taxes in the United States is inversely correlated with essentially all of the reasons that people sometimes offer for being against taxation: the U.S. collects about the same amount in taxes as it has in the past (that is, our tax rate has not risen since the 1940s), we are a low-tax country by international standards, and we do not actually use the tax system to engage in more than token redistribution from the rich to the poor.
The most meaningful way to measure tax revenues is as a percentage of the overall economy, or Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Federal tax revenues this year are projected to be 17.7 percent of GDP, according to data from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). That number was 14.6 percent in both 2009 and 2010, during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Over the post-World War II period, we have generally bounced up and down in the 16-18 percent range every year, with a slight surge in the late 1990s due to the dot-com bubble. (State and local taxes have also been stable over time.)
Ah, but the OMB also forecasts that federal taxes will rise somewhat above the 20 percent level in the next decade, does it not? Although those forecasts might turn out to be unreliable, we do need to ask whether a sustained increase in overall U.S. taxes would be problematic, a question that we can answer by comparing the U.S. to other countries.
But first, it is worth noting that we are trying here to understand why the U.S. tax system has become increasingly unpopular over the last half century or so. During that time period, "We're paying more taxes" was simply not a fact-based explanation for the changes in public attitudes, while "We might end up paying more taxes in the 2020's" was obviously not the political rallying cry.
What about those other countries? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) includes the 34 most economically advanced countries in the world. Counting all taxes collected at all levels of government, the other 33 members of the OECD in 2013 took in 33.8 percent of their GDP's in taxes. The U.S. collected 25.1 percent, higher only than Korea, Chile, and Mexico.
If low taxes were a sure path to economic prosperity, this list would look quite different. Canada collected 30.6 percent in 2013, even while it passed the United States as the country with the world's wealthiest middle class. Moreover, 2013 was hardly an aberration. The U.S. has been famous for years for its low taxes as compared to other countries.
But maybe the Republicans are relying on some kind of deep-seated fear of a grabby government to motivate people's sense that the United States is engaged in too much Robin Hood-ism. That explanation, too, fails to hold up to scrutiny. Indeed, taking into account taxes at all levels of government, the share of taxes paid at various income levels is roughly equal to the shares of income that people receive.
For example, according to estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the top one percent of U.S. taxpayers in 2015 will earn 22.2 percent of all income, and they will pay 23.8 percent of all taxes. The next 4 percent of taxpayers will receive 14.4 percent of all income and pay 15.2 percent of taxes. This is hardly the picture of a Swedish-style redistributive state. It is true that the top one percent pay a large fraction of taxes, but that is because they earn such a large fraction of income.
Moreover, the U.S. has also been collecting less money from corporate taxes, much less than the rest of the OECD collects from corporate sources. Notwithstanding misleading claims about statutory U.S. corporate tax rates, this country is not pulling money from the corporate sector for the benefit of poor people.
Finally, the American public actually appears to want to increase the progressivity of the U.S. tax system. A recent Pew Research Center poll shows that a clear majority of people think that corporations and "some wealthy people" do not pay their fair share of taxes, while a clear minority says that the poor pay too little.
In other words, the underlying facts do not support the idea that Americans have a well-founded set of reasons to hate the U.S. tax system. What they have is one political party, the Republicans, that has been endlessly demonizing taxes and the IRS for decades on end, while the other major party dithers and fails to stand up for the rule of law or even simple logic. Meanwhile, income inequality rises, and the middle class falls further behind. But at least nearly everyone can feel good about hating the IRS!
Posted in: Politics, Tax and Economics
Tags: Economics, Politics
Neil H. Buchanan, an economist and legal scholar, holds the James J. Freeland Eminent Scholar Chair in Taxation at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law. His research addresses economic and philosophical aspects of justice between generations, and he is particularly interested in policies that affect budget deficits, the national debt, health care costs, and Social Security.
More Commentary by Neil H. Buchanan
Constitutional Democracy, Trust, and Self-Restraint: The Destructive Consequences of Republicans' Opportunism
Elected Dictators? The Limits of What Government Officials Can Do With Their Power
Liberals Reject Too-Convenient Theories; Why Don't Conservatives?
If These Ideas Are Too "Far Left," Why Are They So Popular? (Part Two)
If These Ideas Are Too "Far Left," Why Are They So Popular?
The Purest False Equivalence of All: By Attacking Democrats on Substance, NeverTrumpers Destroy the Process
Publications by Neil H. Buchanan
The Debt Ceiling Disasters: How the Republicans Created an Unnecessary Constitutional Crisis and How the Democrats Can Fight Back
by Neil H. Buchanan


I offered my readers the opportunity to have their favorite poems featured here. Their poem of choice could either be written by them or one of their favorite authors in the public domain. Here are the poems.
fading away into colorful fantasy.
Why hasn't he noticed that sky before?
Did birds always sing this good?
reminding the people the prison they already live in.
Oh, knight in rusting armor.
but we and control are an impossibility.
Tools of control in this system….but time is of an essence!
fading away into the colorful fantasy.
…she has to be taught to be a Queen!
Don't you see me? I'm standing right here.
Your lack of acknowledgment causes my eyes to tear.
I say hi, I wave, I scream, I cry.
Thinking you will at least give me your eye.
Not giving me the time of day.
I'm still here, I'm still me.
you can make me believe the world is maybe royal.
you may convince me I'm the last in the monarchy of lions.
you can turn into ashes my crystal crown, let my hair flow down.
I can even let you call me a Queen, I can accept your endearment.
don't say a word, don't send me orchid petals in envelopes.
the spell of my own world, for I can only be a lady, but never royal.
I have succumbed to all of my fears.
forever mourning my broken wings.
no matter how much I beg or plea.
to protect me with their silver shroud.
fantastic world, the places I knew.
the only heaven I knew was real.
Hands from years of honest labor.
Leave her side, her home, one by one.
In a confusing and chaotic city.
The woman I always wanted to be.
Land in a pre- independent India.
In these famous dense woods.
Inhibited wilds- Animals, Beasts, plants.
In a society unconventional, matriarchal.
Of a fearless wandering Sambhar.
Two little fairies, his daughters.
Politically there, in New Delhi.
Study, lit with damp flicker of a lantern.
While the first family lived in Hazaribagh House.
Lantern never forgot to light.
With pride and perk, the Hazaribagh House.
To some big town of luxury.
A black buck once slept at the door.
Independence came, died his wife.
Beside the lantern of Hazaribagh House.
A broken red villa, an empty yellow shelter.
Is it among these, the Hazaribagh House?
You are currently browsing the archives for the National Poetry Month category.


text:
James L. Brooks (n. el 9 de mayo de 1940 en Nueva Jersey, Estados Unidos) es un productor, guionista y director de cine estadounidense, principalmente reconocido por su trabajo en la serie animada Los Simpson.
Comenzó a trabajar en televisión, junto al productor de documentales David L. Wolper, como aprendiz en el noticiero de la CBS. En 1969 realizó la serie televisiva Room 222. Asociado con el escritor Allan Burns, produjo, entre 1970 y 1977, el exitoso Mary Tyler Moore Show, un programa que ganó numerosos premios. En TV, fue responsable de comedias como Cheers y Taxi. También fue el productor y guionista de Tres no hacen pareja (Starting over, 1979) y trabajó ocasionalmente de actor en films como Albert Brooks's Real Life (1979).
En 1983 dirigió un éxito al gusto de la Academia de Hollywood y se llevó varios premios con La fuerza del cariño (Terms of Endearment). En 1987 dirigió Al filo de la noticia (Broadcast News), después de lo cual se dedicó a producir comedias como Big (Penny Marshall, 1988), Say Anything (Un gran amor) (1989), y Jerry Maguire (1996), las dos últimas de Cameron Crowe.
El conocido compositor de bandas sonoras Hans Zimmer ha hecho la música para sus películas desde 1994.
Lugar de nacimiento: North Bergen, New Jersey, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the CBS News broadcasts. He moved to Los Angeles in 1965 to work on David L. Wolper's documentaries. After being laid off he met producer Allan Burns who secured him a job as a writer on the series My Mother the Car. Brooks wrote for several shows before being hired as a story editor on My Friend Tony and later creating the series Room 222. Grant Tinker hired Brooks and Burns at MTM Productions to create The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. The show, one of the first to feature an independent working woman as its lead character, was critically acclaimed and won Brooks several Primetime Emmy Awards. Brooks and Burns then created two successful spin-offs from Mary Tyler Moore in the shape of Rhoda (a comedy) and Lou Grant (a drama). Brooks left MTM Productions in 1978 to co-create the sitcom Taxi which, despite winning multiple Emmys, suffered from low ratings and was canceled twice. He moved into feature film work when he wrote and co-produced the 1979 film Starting Over. His next project was the critically acclaimed film Terms of Endearment, which he produced, directed and wrote, winning an Academy Award for all three positions. Basing his next film, Broadcast News, on his journalistic experiences the film earned him a further two Academy Award nominations. Although his 1994 work I'll Do Anything was hampered by negative press attention due to the cutting of all of its recorded musical numbers, As Good as It Gets (co-written with Mark Andrus) earned further praise. It was seven years until his next film, which came in the shape of 2004's Spanglish. His sixth film, How Do You Know, was released in 2010. Brooks also produced and mentored Cameron Crowe on Say Anything... (1989) and Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson on Bottle Rocket (1996). Although he did not intend to do so, Brooks returned to television in 1987 as the producer of The Tracey Ullman Show. He hired cartoonist Matt Groening to create a series of shorts for the show, which eventually led to The Simpsons in 1989. The Simpsons won numerous awards and is still running after 20 years. Brooks also co-produced and co-wrote the 2007 film adaptation of the show, The Simpsons Movie. In total, Brooks has received 47 Emmy nominations, winning 20 of them. Description above from the Wikipedia article James L. Brooks, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Mejor… imposible
La fuerza del cariño
dirigió
escribió

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If you are a Camp Fire survivor receiving CalFresh disaster assistance to help purchase food, you might receive your February benefits early.
OROVILLE, Calif. - Camp Fire survivors who receive CalFresh EBT cards to help pay for food need to budget carefully, said Butte County Public Information Officer Casey Hatcher on Saturday. She said the February benefits are coming in early, and may already be loaded on the EBT cards.
The February benefits are all being distributed in January, and there will be no further CalFresh payments until March. The benefits are being provided early due to the government shutdown.
February benefits may have shown up on your EBT card already, or it could happen by Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019.
Hatcher says people need to be careful to stretch the CalFresh benefits all the way through February so they do not come up short at the end of next month.
If you have received a text or phone call asking for your personal information, contact Butte County right away.
Butte County and the state will never text or call you requesting your personal information such as your EBT card number and your personal identification number (PIN).
Never give out your personal information to anyone, or you could have your benefits stolen and they cannot be replaced. Keep your EBT card number and PIN a secret. Never give out your social security number over the phone, authorities warn.
There have been reports of the public receiving calls from what appears to be the SNAP toll free information hotline number: 1-800-221-5689.
If you suspect that you are receiving illegitimate calls from 1-800-221-5689, you may file a complaint with the FCC.
If you have already fallen victim to this or a similar scam, please CLICK ON THIS LINK for more information about identity theft.


Most parents would do almost anything for their children. I know I would. But to what extent would you go?
Anne and Eric Isom, decided they wanted to say goodbye to their American life and move to China for the sake of their children.
There's just one thing. Anne and Eric are not Chinese. Find out why and how they made the move to China a reality.
What if you and your spouse spent years saving and planning for "THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME" which involved travelling with the kids throughout Europe for a year and during that year long trip, THE STOCK MARKET CRASHED and you LOST almost ALL YOUR MONEY?
Find out how the Millers (a family of 6 used this terrifying experience as a Catalyst to create an extraordinary lifestyle of fullt time family travel.
Have you ever dreamed of leaving it all behind to live in Mexico or Costa Rica?
Think you have to be rich or save a bunch of money to support that new life? Think you need to spend years planning it?
The WhiteHeads are an ex military family of 7 who decided to take action on their dream of travel. Kids and all. Find out how they did it and why.
Meet Lainie, a beautiful single mom and her son Miro who set out on a mission to slow travel around the globe letting inspiration be their compass.
They started their travels in 2009 when Miro was just 10 years old and they intend to keep on travelling for a total of 8 years.
Lainie, was nice enough to take time away from her busy travel schedule to answer a few probing questions I had for her like how she pays for travels and how she educates Miro while on the road.
Meet five amazing couples and families who travel full time (in this ongoing series).
Not only are they making their dream of extended and long term travel a reality. they are doing it despite having kids, despite not being rich and despite all their obstacles and challenges. The first instalment of an ongoing series.


1 Cor 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14 Do everything in love. 15 You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the Lord's people. I urge you, brothers and sisters, 16 to submit to such people and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it. 17 I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. 18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.
Greek word for "act like men" meaning, "to make a man of or make brave...to show one's self a man, be brave"
There is a "Spirit of Faith," which is an attitude or atmosphereof faith in God that becomes a lifestyle. We all know how the power of habitscan affect our lives and good and bad ways. The Spirit of Faith is the habit oftrusting God, speaking according to promises of God, and possessing a livinghope. Come out this morning and learn how to have the victorious spirit offaith through Jesus Christ!
Hebrews 11:6 Butwithout faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God mustbelieve that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Romans 1:16, ForI am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God tosalvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for theGreek. 17] For in it therighteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written,"The just shall live by faith."
1 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but fora moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things whichare not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things whichare not seen are eternal.


text:
By Lorena Anderson, UC Merced
The scope of the tree deaths is evident when viewed as part of the larger forest.
The most extreme drought event in hundreds of years caused a catastrophic die-off of the Sierra Nevada's mature trees in 2015-2016.
A study published today in Nature Geoscience details how UC Merced Professor Roger Bales and his colleague Professor Michael Goulden from UC Irvine tracked the progress of the devastation caused by years of dry conditions combined with abnormally warm temperatures.
The researchers warn that matters are expected to get worse as global mean temperatures increase.
"Parts of the Sierra Nevada reached a 'tipping point' in 2015, where annual precipitation plus stored subsurface water were not enough to meet the water demand of the forest," Bales said.
The trees in California's mixed-conifer mountain forests have roots that can draw water from as deep as 5 to 15 meters down, which has historically protected the trees against even the worst multi-year droughts.
But the severity of California's 2012-2015 dry-spell "exceeded this safety margin," the researchers said. When forest stands exhausted the subsurface moisture, they became vulnerable to attack by pests, leading to widespread tree death.
From 2012 to 2015, the entire state experienced a crippling drought, but it was especially severe in the southern Sierra Nevada. The four-year period was the driest in the past century, combined with below-average precipitation and above-average warmth extending year after year.
"This forest die-off can be viewed as a 'perfect storm' — the intersection of four years of low precipitation, hotter temperatures than in past droughts, and a heavily overstocked forest from centuries of fire suppression," Bales said.
Trees faced an epic drought from 2012 through 2015, which scientists say will happen more frequently as the climate warms.
The research was supported by National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Observations by the U.S. Forest Service Aerial Detection Survey showed that many tree stands suffered complete loss of mature conifers. Pines were especially hard hit by an infestation of bark beetles.
Sierra Nevada Research Institute Director Bales, Distinguished Professor of Engineering with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the School of Engineering, and Earth System Science Professor Goulden examined tree communities at a variety of elevations and latitudes in the sprawling mountain range using field and remote-sensing observations.
A post-drought survey found that tree mortality was greatest near 3,800 feet of elevation, with nearly 80 percent loss in 2016.
The study outlines a key factor in the die-off: A period of unusually dense vegetation coinciding with a prolonged drought and warmer-than-usual temperatures. The heat and proximity of trees and plants to one another caused accelerated evapotranspiration — moisture evaporating from leaves and rising up in the sky as water vapor. This caused the trees to draw even more water from the ground.
"We expect climate change to further amplify evapotranspiration and ground moisture overdraft (when more water is taken out of the soil than is replaced by precipitation) during drought," Goulden said. "This effect could result in a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in tree death for each additional degree of warming."
With their improved understanding of the contributions of factors such as elevation, vegetation density, heat, precipitation and soil water amounts, the researchers said they now have a framework to diagnose and predict forest die-offs brought on by drought.
"Using readily available data, we can now predict where in mountain forests multi-year droughts are likely to have the greatest impact, and the threshold at which those impacts are expected to occur," Bales said.
Lorena Anderson


text:
using MediatR;

namespace Syrup.Core.Local.Commands
{
    public class MakeUpdateRequest : IRequest<MakeUpdateResponse>
    {

        public MakeUpdateRequest()
        {

        }
    }

    public class MakeUpdateResponse
    {
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
AusDancersOverseas
Evidence-based dance medicine & nutrition
Female Dancers' Health
Fuel for Performance
'I've spent my entire life in the ballet world, and I don't think I've ever spoken to a single female dancer that hasn't either experienced disordered eating or an actual eating disorder. So often, it is the reason their careers end, whether the disorder itself is what causes them to stop dancing or, like me, are injured as a result of years of poor nutrition. It's so normalized in the dance community I didn't even think I had an eating disorder because my behaviour was exactly what I was surrounded by for the majority of my life. Even when it wasn't the full-blown anorexia it developed into later, I was by no means taking care of my body. Barely eating during the day, being praised for not getting my period because it meant my body fat levels were low, but still being told to lose weight to "compensate for my height" all while hardly 18, while my body is trying to go through puberty. When you tell a young girl that her only worth is in her body, and that if it ever were to change, she'd essentially be worthless in the eyes of those at the front of the room, you're not only lying to her, but you're setting her up for immense distress the moment she begins to grow into a woman. Being told repeatedly that my body was my only asset, that if I didn't have this naturally long and lean physique, I'd have nothing. That's something that I took in and held up as the truth for years. Never questioning this statement, never thinking to assign my worth to my intelligence, or compassion, or drive, just my body in all its superficiality.
As I got older, I began witnessing my peers grow into women, and saw them be ignored, or shamed, or sexualized daily in class and rehearsals. I was so afraid of having it happen to me. I didn't hit puberty until I was 18, and so I figured that I would just always look like a ten-year old. To go from being a dancer in a prepubescent body to a dancer with a woman's frame in short period of time, and so late, isn't just uncomfortable physically, but mentally. I was terrified of my changing body and hated that now I was also one of those dancers being sexualized and shamed for how I looked. I fought against my natural self with ounce of me. My eating disorder began as an attempt to revert back to my child body, to protect myself. And it eventually resulted in me having to quit ballet.
When I finally received help, it was only after I had pushed my body to the point of injury due to years of poor nutrition and overuse. At that point, I was in total denial of my disorder, and attributed my behaviour to "staying in shape" while I was off from ballet. I was sat down by my therapist who looked me straight in the eyes and told that if I continued with what I was doing to myself, I would die. It took those words to snap me out of this state, where the goal was thinness at any cost, where my safety and my value to society was held in shrinking myself.
While I am no longer in that same lethal headspace, my self-worth is still very much entrenched in my physical being. But it's no longer the same fight that it was at the beginning. I'm learning to forgive myself for putting my body through years of starvation and overuse, ultimately sabotaging my own career by placing weight at the forefront of my goals. I'm learning where these patterns come from, I'm tracing them all the way back to its roots. And in that there is awareness, and in awareness there is power.
The recent New York Times article, which looked promising, was rather disappointing in terms of how resigned it seemed to the toxicity of ballet's culture. I admire the dancers in the interview for being so open about their own struggles, however the way the article is constructed leaves me feeling like the we've already accepted that this is just "how it is". How can we move towards creating a healthier work environment when we're resigned to this standard, where a weight gain of 6lbs during a break due to a global pandemic causes a woman to think she no longer looks anything like a ballerina? How can the dance world strive for body acceptance when the costumes matter more to the company than the dancers wearing them? I was raised in this world.
I understand the need to be in shape, and I understand desire for the aesthetic. What I don't understand is the need to create an environment in schools and companies that leaves dancers riddled with eating disorders, among other mental health problems. This culture of thinness as the absolute goal, whether it's promoted openly in the studio or not, must change. At some of my lowest weights, when I was clearly very unhealthy, at no point was there ever any concern shown for my health. If anything, I was praised for how I looked. How is rewarding starvation contributing to anyone's artistic development? Why is the desired physical aesthetic, for the most part, that of a prepubescent child? It is not necessary; it is not sustainable, and it is entirely unethical. I'm meant to look like a woman, not ten-year old. I refuse to accept that the only way to have dancers look good on stage is through a rhetoric of idolizing extreme thinness above all else. Art does not require suffering, smallness does not hold the key to being powerful and gorgeous in one's discipline.'
Emily is a former ballerina from Vancouver, BC. She trained at Goh Ballet Academy, and spent a year as a Dutch National Trainee – now European School of Ballet. She is starting her degree in Literary Studies at the University of Amsterdam in the fall, and hopes to pursue a career in education around mental health in dance.
Photo credit: Danielle Campani
© 2021, AusDancersOverseas


President George W. Bush wanted to overthrow Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator, and the American intelligence services worked overtime to come up with reasons for doing it. We were told that Saddam had been trying to buy 'yellowcake' uranium in Niger (false, based on forged documents). The US could not afford to wait for final proof of Saddam's intentions "in the form of a mushroom cloud", said President Bush.
In the end the United States got its war – and found no evidence whatever of an active Iraqi programme to build weapons of mass destruction. But no lessons have been learned. Ms Haley at the UN was laying a foundation of lies for a comparable Trump adventure in the Middle East. Same Story Different Day.
The Saudis didn't like seeing their man overthrown, so they created a nine-country coalition of Sunni Arab states and started bombing Yemen in 2015. According to the UN, at least 8,670 people have been killed and 49,960 injured since the coalition intervened in Yemen's war. But on 25 March one of the highly inaccurate Houthi missiles killed one person in a suburb of Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
Jane's Information Group Ltd, established in 1898, is the world's leading independent provider of intelligence and analysis on defense matters. Here is what Jeremy Binnie, Middle East/Africa Editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, said about Yemen's rockets in 2017 in Jane's Intelligence Review.


Version July 1995, as published in van Zanten, Wim and Marjolijn van Roon (eds), Oideion; The performing arts world-wide 2, pp 313-19 Leiden: Research School CNWS.
The legacy of Dr. Arnold Bake, as far as his academic work and his personal documents are concerned, has been kept - since the death of Mrs. C.M. Bake - by Dr. P. Voor-hoeve. Not only was he related to the Bakes, through his wife, but he was also a fellowstudent of Bake's in Leiden during the early nineteen twenties. Both studied Arabic and Sanskrit with the intention of joining the linguistic branch of the civil service in the former Netherlands East Indies. Contrary to Bake, who chose a different specialization and finished his studies in Utrecht, Dr. Voorhoeve went to Java, after obtaining his doctorate, where he was to be the successor of P. Gediking (librarian of the Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap). In the fifties Dr. Voorhoeve was appointed to a position with the KITLV (Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal- en Volkenkunde) in The Hague, before the institute moved to Leiden.
The contents of the Bake archives have, as far as possible, been catalogued by Dr. Voorhoeve. Over the years, he has corresponded with numerous people about these archives, for instance with Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and Amy Ruth Catlin (Bake Restudy Project, 1984); Dr. E. ten Nijenhuis (Sang-gitadarpana); Francis Shepherd and Ineke Florijn (supplementary bibliography); and Carol Tingey (about Bake's Nepalese fieldwork).
Dr. Voorhoeve was kind enough to allow us to reproduce a short index of the annotated catalogue he has made of the archives.
Summary of the contents of the Arnold Bake Archives.
Documentation relating to the Sanggitadarpana edition.
Lectures and radio talks (9 boxes; index by Nazir Jairazbhoy).
Photographs: 2 series of 14 photo albums each containing 160 photos (plus descriptions), one series from Bake's bequest and the other from the SOAS (School for Oriental and African Studies, London), filed by geographical area.
Photographs from Bake's letters to his relatives (duplicate series in London, with excerpts from the letters in English and copies of these in the Bake archives).
Photographs: 6 Photo albums with photos from Nepal, filed and numbered by Carol Tingey. Documents, articles and lectures on Nepal. Correspondence with and publications by Carol Tingey. The Nepalese fieldwork of Dr. Arnold A. Bake: A preliminary catalogue of the visual material (photographs, trans-parencies and cinefilms) by Carol Tingey, 1988.
6 Videotapes, Bake Restudy Project, by Nazir Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin.
2 taperecordings of lectures accompanied with singing.
Letters from A.A. Bake and C. Bake-Timmers to their relatives in the Netherlands (1925-1942 and 1945-1962). 27 portfolios and index. Correspondence with Prof. J. Ph. Vogel (property of the Kern-Institute in Leiden).
Personal notebooks (1952-1954 and 1957-1962). Diaries of C.M. Bake-Timmers.
Manuscript, Masks and Faces, (unpublished work) plus photos from Nepal.
Negatives: (glass) plates and (lantern) slides. Slides from Nepal 1939 and negatives with a description by Jean Jenkins. Negatives and photos from India, Java and Bali.
Programs and reviews. Documents SOAS.
Documentation for (auto)biography, by Bake and by Mrs. Bake.
Report of a tour through the U.S.A.
Correspondence with and publications by Mrs. Frances Shepherd and Mrs. Ineke Florijn.
Publications by A. A. Bake. In Memoriams. Bibliography (by J. Brough and by Ineke Florijn).
Correspondence concerning the legacy of A. A. Bake. Annotated index to the Bake archives. Accounts book Bake archives.
Recently the Bake archives have been transferred to the Kern Institute in Leiden.
Long before he went to Paris (1931) - together with the dancer Indradev - to study Indian music and dance, Van Hoboken was deeply interested in Oriental philosophy and music. After leaving Paris in 1935, they both went to India to study some of the main styles of music and dancing on location. Back in the Netherlands (193-9), Van Hoboken was employed by the transcription department of the Wereldomroep (World Service), where he arranged music and prepared programs, for instance about Rabindranath Tagore and Gandhi. He continued to give public performances, with which he had started already in Paris, in India and later in the Netherlands. For this purpose he also adapted Sanskrit texts for performance on the Dutch stage.
Van Hoboken visited India and Ceylon once more in 1967, taking material back home with him.
In the later years of his life his collection of books, old records and manuscripts has been gradually incorporated into the collection of Felix van Lamsweerde, who was kind enough to supply us with the details on the Van Hoboken collection that are reproduced below.
Following the advice of Jaap Kunst, Felix van Lamsweerde studied cultural anthropology as an introduction to ethnomusicology. He became a research assistant at the KIT (Royal Tropi-cal Institute) in 1956. In 1962 he did a specialized postdoctoral course in Indian music under Arnold Bake and Nazir Jairazbhoy at the School of Oriental and African Music in London, which was followed by two years of research in India. He studied the sitar with Vilyat Khan and Imrat Khan, made recordings of classical, folk and tribal music and collected musical instruments for the collection at the KIT, where he was appointed curator of the department of ethnomusicology in 1965.
About 400 phonographic records (historic 78rpm records, partly from the thirties); 300 LP records and 500 tapes (of which about half are original recordings).
1500 slides and about 400 (black and white) photo negatives.
Books: about 800 titles (60 percent on music and dance in India and the remainder on India subjects in general).
Manuscripts, transcriptions, personal notebooks and documentation on performances and (radio)programs.
Jaap Kunst expressed the desire to bequeathe his entire personal collection to the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (KIT or Royal Tropical Institute) in Amsterdam as early as 1957. In 1963, due to unforeseen circumstances, this collection became the property of the University of Amsterdam. This part consisted of books and documents, films, photos and photo negatives, phonographic records and tapes and the correspondence. The collection of instruments and wax cylinders, with recordings made by Kunst in the former Dutch East Indies is still housed in the KIT.
Books and professional journals (about 2500, according to sources from 1961 and 1966).
Photo archives: photos, (glass) slides, photo negatives (according to the same sources, about 3000 in total).
Films: since 1992 seven cinefilms have been kept in the archives of the Stichting Film en Wetenschap (three of them on Terschelling, two on Flores, one has Athjeh/Nias as subject, and one was made during festivities in Djokjakarta in 1931).
Phonographic records (about 800 - historic - 78rpm and LP records are catalogued), tapes and wax cylinders. These latter are the property of the Royal Tropical Institute and have been catalogued by Felix van Lamsweerde.
Correspondence 1919-1960. See Van Proosdij/van Roon, Jaap Kunst correspondence 1920-1940; An annotated index, Amsterdam 1992 (describing 1250 correspondents / 8400 letters). The cataloguing of the second part of the correspondence is in progress.
After completing his studies in philosophy and theology, Rozing was ordained priest in 1941 (by the Roman Catholic order Societas Verbi Domini). He took up a course in music theory at the conservatory of Tilburg after the Second World War. Later he assisted Jaap Kunst with the collection of the manuscripts and publications of Erich Moritz von Hornbostel to prepare an 'Opera Omnia' for publication. This work resulted in seven sets (typed out), each of which contains the assembled works of Von Hornbostel in three parts. (In the 1970s an official edition with an English translation was started as Hornbostel Opera Omnia, but this was discontinued after the publication of only one part in 1975). In 1946 he went to Ndora (Ngada) in Flores as a missionary, where he worked first in Nangaroro and from 1969 in Wudu (until 1984). During his stay there, he tried to incorporate traditional Florenese music into the Catholic religious service. He also collected flutes and jew's harps, and made photographs and sound recordings.
The collection of Father Rozing has recently been donated to the Tropenmuseum, Koinklijk Instituut voor de Tropen in Amsterdam. Paula Bos is cataloguing this collection. The musical instruments will be compared to the instruments collected by Jaap Kunst, and those acquired by Paula Bos for the Tropenmuseum in 1994.
Manuscripts: 6 published and about 10 unpublished papers.
Sound recordings: about 300 musical examples, recorded for the most part in Flores.
Musical instruments: 61 flutes from Flores, 4 from Timor and 4 from Java; 4 jew's harps from Flores, 2 from Timor and 2 from Java.
Photographs of musical instruments, musicians and dancers.
After being trained at the Conservatory of Amsterdam (piano), Will Scheepers was employed by the publication and information department at the KIT (Royal Tropical Institute). She also became Jaap Kunst's co-worker, accompanying him on his lectures as a pianist, and together with him she attended several congresses on traditional music. In the 1950s she became secretary of the Dutch branch of the International Folk Music Council (IFMC). She wrote some popular articles on non-Western music, but of more importance is her collection of original Dutch (and other European) folk songs which she recorded and transcribed.
Sound recordings: 70 records (78 rpm); 30 original tapes with Dutch folk songs; 30 tapes with folk songs copied from recordings by others.
Manuscripts: about 20 articles by Scheepers.
Documentation on European folk music and folk dance (newspapers, journals etc.).
Born in the former Netherlands East Indies, Willem van Warmelo started music lessons as soon as his family returned to the Netherlands. He was instructed by notable teachers and performed as a pianist and conductor. Van Warmelo was among the first to introduce the harpsichord and recorder and he became very interested in folk music, especially Andalusian folk-songs. In 1939 he was invited to come to South Africa, where he did research on vocal music. Among the "Kaapse Maleiers" (a group of about 100,000 people) he found a lively singing tradition. From 1956 on he recorded their songs. Van Warmelo was also a music teacher at the Battswood Training College, a school for coloured students. Due to the fact that the strict "apartheid" laws were colliding with his close contacts with the coloured population, he left South Africa in 1962. The publication of a book on the subject of the "Kaapse Maleiers" (Cape Muslims) was delayed by illness and remained unfinished. In BOA Perspectief (1982, 2, 1-3) part of his material was made into an article ('Oude Nederlandse liederen bij de Kaapse Maleiers').
Willem van Warmelo donated all of his research material and manuscripts to the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam.
10 boxes of books (about Dutch folk songs, South Africa, and ethnomusicology in general).
Manuscripts, articles, notebooks, diaries, musical transcriptions, lectures and texts of radio programmes.
Several dozen records (78rpm), tapes and registrations of radio programmes ("Kaapse Maleiers").
Photos and slides, partly without index.
2 Filing boxes (with index); files on tunes, references and quotations in alphabetical order.


text:
Q: Is it (not) possible to use a customized WPF control just like its base class (StackPanel in this case) in XAML? I'd like to create a custom control based on StackPanel since I need to add some code to the derived class.
I created the custom control in Visual Studio.
When I want to use the custom control in an XAML I get various errors.
I'm new to WPF.
Is it (not) possible to use a customized WPF control just like its base class in XAML (StackPanel in this case) ?
c# code is
namespace MyNameSpace
{
    public class AbstractForm : StackPanel
    {
        static AbstractForm()
        {
            DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(AbstractForm), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(AbstractForm)));
        }
        protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size constraint)
        {
            return base.MeasureOverride(constraint);
        }
        protected override Size ArrangeOverride(Size arrangeBounds)
        {
            return base.ArrangeOverride(arrangeBounds);
        }
        // more code
    }
}

Generic.xaml content is (most parts generated when creating the custom control):
<ResourceDictionary
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MyNameSpace">

    <Style TargetType="{x:Type local:AbstractForm}"
        BasedOn = "{StaticResource {x:Type StackPanel}}">
        <Setter Property="Template">
            <Setter.Value>
                <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type local:AbstractForm}">
                    <Border Background="{TemplateBinding Background}"
                            BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}"
                            BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}">
                    </Border>
                </ControlTemplate>
            </Setter.Value>
        </Setter>
    </Style>
</ResourceDictionary>

I then try to use "AbstractForm" like a StackPanel in MainWindow.xaml:
<Window x:Name="MyApp" x:Class="MyNameSpace.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
        xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
        xmlns:control="clr-namespace:MyNameSpace"
        mc:Ignorable="d"
        Title="MyApp" BorderBrush="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.ActiveCaptionTextBrushKey}}">
    <StackPanel x:Name="MyAppUI" Orientation = "vertical" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,0,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top">
        <control:AbstractForm x:Name="HeaderArea" Orientation = "horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,0,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top">
            <Image x:Name="appImage" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Source = "AppImage.gif"/>
            <StackPanel Orientation = "vertical" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,0,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top">
                <!-- more content -->
            </StackPanel>
        </control:AbstractForm>
        <!-- more content -->
    </StackPanel>
</Window>

When running my application I see the following errors
(trying to re-translate from german):

*

*The 'Orientation' property was not found in 'AbstractForm'

*Element 'Orientation' not recognized or not accessable

*Property "Orientation" not contained in XML-Namespace "clr-namespace:MyNameSpace". Row ... column ...

*No content can be added to object of type "AbstractForm" (i.e. the <Image and another <StackPanel)

A: A StackPanel is not derived from Control and has therefore no Template property. Hence the ResourceDictionary does not compile.
Remove the Setter from the default Style, then rebuild your project.
<ResourceDictionary
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MyNameSpace">

    <Style TargetType="{x:Type local:AbstractForm}"
           BasedOn="{StaticResource {x:Type StackPanel}}">
    </Style>
</ResourceDictionary>

It is also questionable if you need a default Style for your AbstractForm class at all.
If not, just delete the entire Generic.xaml file and the static constructor that overrides the default value of the DefaultStyleKey property. In other words, simply create a class derived from StackPanel.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
For 2015, it's all about striking while the iron is hot
In our annual "Future Outlook" commentary last year, we borrowed a line from Led Zeppelin: "Good times, bad times, you know we had our share." The slightly modified lyric described the ambivalence of the hotel industry: still undecided on which way to go. That was then, this is now.
And this year, to illustrate the industry, we are pulling from another British band, The Rolling Stones, which came out with this lyric in 1981: "If you start me up I'll never stop."
Well, for the hotel industry, the engine is purring now, and 2015 is shaping up to be gangbusters—if all goes as planned. Even analysts—most conservative by nature—have taken to revising their initial 2015 predictions up, in light of 2014's strong close. "Lodging demand really picked up in the third quarter of [2014] and continues to grow in the fourth quarter, a trend that seems highly likely to continue into 2015," said PwC managing director Warren Marr, during IHMRS in New York. "And there's still room for demand growth in 2015. We see the industry having the strongest pricing power it has had since probably 2007."
PwC is revising its 2015 RevPAR growth forecast to 7.4 percent. STR is equally bullish, pushing its RevPAR forecast up in light of strong growth particularly in the top 25 MSAs. Which is maybe why the transactions market has been so frothy of late—and should continue to be in 2015. With new supply growth still stunted, acquisitions continue to be the choicest mode for expansion. "The last year where we saw an oversupply was 2009. Supply growth reached 3.3 percent. This year, we're still 40 percent below that rate," Jamie Lane, PKF senior economist, said earlier this year.
Transactions in the U.S. and globally continue to rise, and favorable conditions could accelerate hotel lending in 2015—though new-build financing is slimmer. "Debt has gotten better in terms of availability, Michael Cahill, founder and CEO of HREC, told Hotel Management earlier this year. "One of the reasons why hotel transaction volume may increase 30 to 40 percent in 2014 is the abundance of capital," he said.
JLL predicted that global hotel transactions would increase to $50 billion in 2014, marking a five-year high. Of course, the eye-catcher in 2014 was the sale of the Waldorf Astoria in New York for a record-breaking $1.95 billion to China's Anbang Insurance Group. Expect more from China in 2015, and more from its insurance companies, which could seek more large-scale acquisitions now that the Chinese government has become less intransigent in regard to how those companies' balance sheets are structured.
And as Michael Yu, VP of investments at Marcus & Millichap, told Hotel Management, "The increased interest in the hotel sector and limited quality assets for sale is pushing buyers into secondary markets and driving price increases. For those types of assets, the top buyers are private equity or larger players. You're also seeing crossover, first-time hotel buyers that are paying a higher price."
And there are few better times to operate a hotel than right now. There's record demand from customers, and also record demand from buyers. "There's a tremendous amount of demand for the institutional-grade product and there's not a lot of that type on the market right now," Lee Hunter, COO of Hunter Hotel Advisors, told Hotel Management. "We're telling our clients right now, if they own, they should consider catering to that demand."
And the response has been, "I know I should sell, I know now is the time, but I can't bring myself to do it. I know how much money I'm making and I don't want to lose making that money," Hunter added. He's right. Room revenue as of June year to date was $64 billion, an increase of 8.4 percent compared to the same period for the prior year, according to STR.
There's more good news from STR. In an October report, it showed that occupancy in the U.S. increased 3.8 percent to 70.3 percent for Q3 2014. The report also showed that average daily rate rose 5.2 percent to $117.91, while revenue per available room was up 9.2 percent to $82.93. Demand also increased 4.8 percent during the third quarter.
Want to get more granular? Consider San Francisco. As of this summer, the city's hotel room prices were up almost 40 percent in the past five years. Average rates in the city have reached $200 per night, up from $123 five years ago, with four years of double-digit growth in cost per room contributing to this.
At the brand level, things are also good. Take Hyatt, which had a heady Q4, leading its CEO, Mark Hoplamazian, to say, "Looking ahead, we expect healthy occupancy levels in the U.S. to support increasing strength in room prices." Exactly why 2015 should be the year to strike—particularly as the shadow of home-sharing sites like Airbnb grows. Noted PKF's Lane, "Cities with high hotel occupancies tend to see the greatest growth in Airbnb, so it seems it's where the excess demand is going."
And if you don't play your cards right, it's also where the coveted millennial set could migrate to. And if millennials aren't already on your radar, best to rethink that for 2015. MMGY Global Vice Chairman Peter Yesawich continues to note the increasing influence of the millennial generation. "Not only are there more millennials than baby boomers in the U.S. today, but research indicates that millennials intend to take more trips requiring a hotel stay than any of the other demographic groups," he said.
It all points to an exciting 2015. So here's to starting it up and hoping it never stops. And, just maybe, you'll get some well-deserved "Satisfaction!"


With the exclusive Cooking inTuscia tour you'll spend a relaxing day at a bio farm and you'll learn all the secrets of the delicious regional cuisine directly from a local chef!
On top of a hillock in the green hills of the Tiber Valley stands an old farmhouse topped with a small tower that looks at 360 ° from Mount Soratte to Mount Cimino, from Alviano Lake to Castiglione in Teverina. The farm covers 17 hectares of unspoiled nature, olive groves, green meadows and woods. The ethical, rather than biological, management avoids any use of synthetic chemicals. It is here that you'll learn all the secrets of the genuine cuisine of Tuscia. You'll begin your day by visiting the farm and collecting the orchard's products, later, under the guidance of a professional chef you'll learn to transform them into delicious traditional dishes. After being delighted with a lunch cooked by yourself, you'll enjoy a relaxing afternoon at the lovely bio swimming pool overlooking the Tiber Valley, where, between a bath and another one you can take sun or read a book!


text:
Q: Why is `noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement` automatically added to the activity created through the wizard My activity created through a wizard hash the following code:
@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
    // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
    // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
    int id = item.getItemId();

    //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
    if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
        return true;
    }

What is this piece of code here?
//noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
    return true;
}

A: Without //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement, the editor warns you because this could be simplified to:
return id == R.id.action_settings;

But that's probably not what you want here, you will need to put something in the if later (e.g. launch a Settings activity).


Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif. is atop the new USAC Western Sprint Car Series standings as the series prepares for an April 18 outing at All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif. He leads 2008 USAC Rocky Mountain Sprint Car Champ JoJo Helberg by six points.
Helberg, of Rohnert Park, Calif., led all but the first lap of Saturday night's 50-lap feature at Madera (Calif.) Speedway to beat Swanson, Brian McClish, Tanner Swanson and Eric Humphries to the checkered flag. Tony Hunt was the fastest qualifier at the opening event in the 2009 series.
Hunt won one of last year's three USAC Sprint races at Roseville. The other winners there were Tanner Swanson and Shane Hmiel, who finished sixth in Saturday's Madera opener.
Point leader Kody Swanson did not compete at Roseville last year, but Helberg posted a second behind Ryan Kaplan there in 2007.


Animal health officials share what dog owners should know about the virus and what to do if their pets come down with it.
A highly contagious strain of canine influenza has sickened thousands of dogs across the United States and continues to spread, according to information recently released by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
The AVMA reports that the outbreak started in Chicago during April 2015, and is due to the H3N2 strain of dog flu.
"Like most disease, canine influenza will hit hardest on the oldest animals, the youngest, and those that are being challenged by other contagious diseases," Jim Evermann, a professor of infectious diseases at the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, said in a press release issued by Washington State University.
Washington is just one of more than 25 states grappling with the problem now. Some experts even think that the virus has traveled to more than 40 states.
"For that reason," Evermann added, "we are advising all dog owners to check and make sure their animals are up to date on their core vaccines that include canine distemper, canine parvovirus, and canine adenovirus. The healthiest animals will suffer the least with this disease."
The AVMA reports that fewer than 10 percent of dogs die from canine influenza, but it can lead to fatal cases of pneumonia. Most dogs recover in two to three weeks, but given that lengthy period of time, it is understandable how the illness can take its toll on elderly, young and other vulnerable dogs.
Video: When Did Dogs Become Man's Best Friend?
H3N2 is one of two viruses that cause flu in dogs. Another strain, H3N8, was first documented in the United States in 2004. H3N8 is closely related to a virus that affects horses, so it is thought that H3N8 mutated to produce the canine strain.
H3N2, on the other hand, is thought to have emerged in Asia, given that many cases have been reported in Korea, China and Thailand. Animal health experts believe that an avian influenza virus in these countries directly transferred to dogs. They suspect that could have happened in markets where live birds are sold.
The AVMA notes that dogs sickened with either strain of the virus fall into one of two types of case: mild or severe. Symptoms of the former include a cough that can persist for days. It may be accompanied by reduced appetite, fever and reduced energy. Sneezing and eye and/or nose discharge may result. If the owner observes thick nasal discharge, that is likely due to a secondary bacterial infection that can affect the weakened flu victims.
The severe form of the illness can lead to high fever - 104 degrees F. or more. Respiratory effort, meanwhile, becomes challenged, and secondary bacterial infection could drive the onset of pneumonia.
The concern now is that H3N8 vaccines - the first of several antidotes was approved in 2009 - might not offer full protection against H3N2.
Facilities that house multiple dogs are particularly concerned about the current epidemic.
As Texas veterinarian Luann Ervin told Tech Times: "It starts and it will move through an area like wildfire. It gets into the kennels, rescues and shelters."
Many sites, as a result, are stepping up disinfection procedures and are watching out for symptoms.
Human health experts are also closely monitoring such viruses. While there is no evidence to date that they can spread to people, a prior mutation of H3N8 could open up that future possibility.
If your dog shows signs of the illness, don't delay in taking your pet to a veterinarian, experts advise. The vet will work to increase fluids to combat dehydration, maximizing your dog's natural immunity. An antimicrobial might also be prescribed to knock out any secondary bacterial infection.
DNA analysis, as well as historical information, is helping to reveal the world's most ancient dog breeds. A new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, puts the spotlight on East Asia as being a primary origination point for dog domestication. The earliest known dog-like fossils come from Europe, but it is likely that these dogs did not produce large populations that led to distinctive breeds. Genetic research on existing dogs reveal that certain breeds stand apart from others. "Our results show that these breeds represent lineages older than modern European breeds, and in this sense can be considered as ancient," senior author Wiesław Bogdanowicz of the Polish Academy of Science's Museum and Institute of Zoology, told Discovery News. Afghan hounds fall into the ancient group. In fact, they were called "ancient" long before the advent of genomics. In 1925, an article published in "The Dog Fancier" had the declarative title: "The Afghan Hound Is an Ancient Breed." Canine experts at the time even thought that the dogs "entered the ark with Noah" and were the world's first ever dogs. According to the historical record, Afghan hounds date back to the pre-Christian era of northeastern Afghanistan. The original name for the breed, famous for its silken coat and fashion model thin build, was "Tazi."
Basenjis look remarkably like dogs featured in ancient Egyptian art. Drawings found in the tombs of the 2700 B.C. Great Pyramid of Khufu show such dogs seated near the feet of their owners, or under chairs. The cat-loving Egyptians might have taken to the dogs because, like felines, these canines tend to be relatively quiet and wash themselves regularly with their tongues. Most researchers, including Bogdanowicz and his team, still believe that domesticated dogs largely arose in Asia and migrated to other regions. "It is very likely that migrating populations of early farmers were followed by dogs," he said, explaining that these dogs were not feral, but were originally free-breeding. Basenjis possess a very distinctive suite of characteristics, which must have been maintained by human breeders. While the official breed only dates back 60 years, these dogs clearly have been in existence for centuries.
Nearly all DNA studies of dogs find that Arctic breeds, such as the Alaskan malamute, stand apart from modern breeds. An extensive genomic investigation conducted by senior author Robert Wayne from the University of California at Los Angeles and colleagues found that Alaskan malamutes, as well as American Eskimo dogs and Siberian huskies, "are highly divergent from other dog breeds." This means that they have evolved on a slightly different path than other, more modern dogs. Wayne and his team added that "historical information suggests that most have ancient origins, greater than 500 years ago."
"Saluki" is thought to derive from two early Sumerian words meaning "plunge-earth." What that means exactly, in reference to the dogs, remains a mystery, but it is known that Salukis were historically bred in the Fertile Crescent where agriculture is widely believed to have originated. Like Afghan hounds, Salukis tend to have long legs and a thin build. They are known as sight hounds, meaning that they hunt primarily by sight as opposed to by smell or other senses. Today, they are bred with coats in a veritable rainbow of colors ranging from red to tricolor (white, black and tan).
The Greenland sled dog, also sometimes referred to as a sledge dog, is yet another early East Asian breed. The recent DNA analysis conducted by Bogdanowicz and his colleagues "revealed post-divergence gene flow from grey wolves to Greenland sledge dogs," they wrote. This determination reminds that free-breeding dogs can still interbreed with wild canines, such as grey wolves, coyotes and golden jackals. The resulting offspring can be fertile, and conservationists are concerned that we may one day lose the uniqueness of wild canine species due to hybridization.
Wayne and his team found that only two East Asian breeds, the chow chow and Akita, "had higher (genomic) sharing with Chinese wolves" than other breeds. Researchers can therefore see past wolf contributions to the modern dog genome. Other wolf populations noted in the dog DNA studies include those from North America, the Middle East and Europe.
The Samoyed, as a distinctive breed, originated in Siberia, where nomadic reindeer herders bred them as sled dogs and to help with herding. Their historical past is much deeper, however, as these primitive dogs descend from an even earlier, founding population of Russian dogs. According to an American Kennel Club fact sheet, "Of all modern breeds, the Samoyed is most nearly akin to the primitive dog. No admixture of wolf or fox runs in the Samoyed strain."
The genetic analysis of Wayne and his team defined three basic groups of "highly divergent, ancient breeds." They are: *Asian group: dingo, New Guinea singing dog, chow chow, Akita and Chinese Shar Pei *Middle Eastern group: Afghan hound and Saluki *Northern group: Alaskan malamute and Siberian husky All of these dogs were found to be genetically "distinct from modern domestic dogs."
Bogdanowicz and colleagues' study suggests that the Shiba Inu belongs on the ancient dog list. The DNA of this dog shows that it is related to yet another East Asian breed, the Chinese Shar Pei. The American Kennel Club, though, reports that "Shibas are considered the oldest and smallest of Japan's dogs." The AKC only officially recognized this breed in 1992, demonstrating that the actual origin of a breed can happen hundreds of years prior to such designations.
The word "spitz" refers to several different breeds that loosely share common ancestry and traits. They are believed to descend from very ancient dog populations. Bogdanowicz told Discovery News that he and his team "found that spitz-type breeds of European origin -- Keeshond, Elkhound, Finnish Spitz, German spitz and Schipperke -- are genetically distinct from other European dog breeds, suggesting that they may have a distinct origin and possibly may be related to spitz-type breeds from East Asia and the Arctic." A closer look at the friendly dog shown in this photo reveals many wolf-like characteristics, such as a dense and waterproof insulating coat. Dog breeders even categorize spitzes in a unique group that stands apart from the other umbrella terms that they often use to describe dogs: ancient, toy, spaniels, scent hounds, working dogs, mastiff-like breeds, small terriers, retrievers, herding and sight hounds. The spitzes are in a league of their own.
What Do Dogs Tell Each Other by Wagging?


Caramel Chocolate Popcorn: turtle popcorn, is a recipe born of my favorite treats. This first treat is the base of this recipe. My grandma's precious caramel popcorn. This is a golden treat. Seriously, this recipe is out of this world amazing! Every Christmas my grandma would pass out her yummy caramel popcorn balls. I, as well as our entire family, looked forward to them. The caramel is soft and delicately coats the crisp popcorn. So rich and delicious. My second favorite treat is not two turtle doves but close. It is turtles! Cheesy, I know, but it is almost Christmas so we have to have some Christmas humor. Anyway, pecans are covered with caramel and chocolate for the perfect balance of salty and sweet turtles.
This Turtle Caramel Chocolate Popcorn is made with homemade caramel sauce. Melt butter and mix it with brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk and karo syrup. This is a key part of making the caramel sauce the perfect consistency. So listen close. Use a candy thermometer. Buy one on Amazon or at the store if you don't have one. They aren't very expensive and they are so worth it! This caramel mixture needs to lightly boil until it reaches 240 degrees F. When the caramel reaches this temperature it is called soft ball stage. Which means you can drop a piece of caramel sauce in cold water and it will make a ball. However when you bring the caramel out of the water it will lose the ball shape. For ease and peace of mind just get the thermometer. However, if you don't want to buy a thermometer, then do the cold water test. It will take 8-10 minutes to reach this consistency. Once it is at soft ball stage your done! Pour the caramel over the popcorn tossed with pecans. Then drizzle your popcorn with lots of melted chocolate. Let this popcorn set for 1-2 hours until the chocolate has hardened. Store this delicious treat in an airtight container for up to a week. Hope you love this family treasured recipe! Eat it as a snack or give it as a gift. I have to admit I have made and ate a whole batch before forcing me to make another batch to give as gifts. It is that yummy, what can I say! For more gourmet popcorn recipes check out my chocolate orange, hot chocolate, or classic white chocolate flavors.
Place popped popcorn in large bowl. Toss popcorn with pecans. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and karo syrup. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until mixture reaches 240 degrees F or is at softball stage. Fold caramel mixture with popcorn. Spread coated popcorn on covered cookie sheet. Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second increments. Drizzle chocolate over popcorn. Let popcorn sit for 1-2 hours until set. Enjoy!!


Archangel Guidance is still on high priority this week, but with the Earthy Full Moon near the end of the week, our animal guides are coming in to help us really ground these lessons and move forward. So we have our Druid animals with the forecast and then some specific angels coming in to direct you how to apply this wisdom to your life. The Archangels are still very nearby and chances are you are hearing their whispers, wanting to get quiet time or hearing a bit of ringing in your ears.
On to the spirit animals that came up this week. Interestingly all 3 are B animals. It seems they are helping to usher in March, and transition from balance and service into inspiration and expression. The Bee, the Bull and the Blackbird are coming in with their messages for what to expect this week and how to navigate the energy as the energy this week will shift and change quite a bit from Sunday – Saturday!
Much of this is still in keeping with the theme of purpose and potential. Bee sure you are getting out of your little oasis into the hive this week, that you are celebrating Unity and the joy that comes with cooperation and allowing yourself to be uplifted and supported while you do the same for others. The spirit of celebration is called for this week, do this in a social way if possible to soak in the energy of the community. If you have been feeling called to organize a group, do this! It supports your potential and growth. As we take note that the Bull has also come to teach he reminds us that as we take action on things that break us out of our comfort zone, rewards await. Good fortune is for those who direct their personal power towards what they feel called to do, their purpose. he also reminds us that true fortune is first felt in the heart and solar plexus before expressing into physical form. If you feel like you have been working towards this FOREVER call upon the bull and the bee this week to bring your strength, encouragement and endurance.
As I mentioned the week has a fairly sizeable energy shift as we move closer to the Full Moon (Thursday – Saturday especially) and our intuition comes into focus, you'll see this in the Angels message this week as well. Allow your focus to shift the balance from the practical action steps to a deep inward journey as the weekend approaches and you tune in to the next steps on your path being revealed. All of this is a forward movement to your potential and highlights again the balance of action and contemplation. Of masculine and feminine flowing together.
Heal your heart this week. Forgive. Release the need to be right and allow great amounts of compassion into your system. This applies strongly to relationships or manifesting an ideal one but this week Chamuel focuses on falling in love with your life. Allowing your heart to open further to call in the things you desire, whether it is a relationship a life change or a job. It is for you as you work with Chamuel to open and expand your heartspace.
Not sure shocked that Uriel came in this week, as he hangs about near the Full Moon, encouraging you to embrace and accept your intuitive gifts more deeply and take action on the information that comes through. This week, especially Thursday on will have your crown chakra buzzing and your claircognizance turned on to HIGH. Ask Uriel for clarification of anything that comes through, but mainly just be sure to take time to listen and act accordingly. True intuitive guidance feels like love and support, so if you're feeling fear-based messages that is your ego coming in. Remember that.
Uriel is making himself known this week. There are so many that he is ready to support at this time with intuitive trusting and you are in the exact right place at the right time for this one. You know what you have been hearing from your intuition yet the actions are not fully aligned. What is stopping you from moving on that thing? Ask yourself that near the start of the week and then tune in to get the action steps, you know what I'm talking about. Take action on it, as inspiration and grace don't hang around long if you're not listening. If you feel something blocking the way of your action, get it dealt with at the start of the week. We all have resistance but the key is to make our passion, drive and purpose bigger than the fear of taking action.


It is incredibly easy and simple: you are eating bananas early in the morning and consume water at room temperature. You can eat anything during the day.
Previously Watanabe tried to lose the unwanted weight but it did not show any results, all his experience with diet routines he put in his book, including the scientific knowledge of his loved one Sumiko which is a pharmaceutist who performed a research study in the field of preventive medicine.
Both of them created a method known as The Early Morning Banana Diet which became very popular among people who are not a fan of going to the gym. The common recommendation for obese people is exercising so that they burn more calories, but thanks to the method of Watanabe they could put an end to this excruciating torture and start eating a fresh banana and drinking a glass of water in the morning. Yet, there is one vital fact; you should not eat anything until your lunch.
Bananas are loaded with resistant starch which actively supports the weight loss process. However, not every starch offers the same effect, and because of that it is divided into digestible and resistant starch.
Resistant starch does not dissolve in the small intestine, but goes directly in the large intestine where the fermentation process begins. Bacteria convert resistant starch into short-chain fats that feed cells and add to a much healthier gastrointestinal tract.
How many bananas we should eat for breakfast?
There isn't any strict rule that you should obey, just eat enough bananas that will keep you full. According to Japanese the rule would be 80:20 as they believe that the stomach should not be overloaded with food. Their saying is that "Eight parts of a full stomach go for the person, and 2 parts go for the doctor". They eat just 80% of what they are served and leave the remaining 20% of their food.
Drinking water early in the morning is of great essence to your health as it stimulates the work of your metabolism. Wait for an hour, and then eat a banana. However, if you are still hungry after 20 minutes, eat another banana. Note that you should always eat raw bananas.
Watanabe maintains in his book that the consumption of milk and alcohol is forbidden in this diet plan regimen, and your last consumed meal should be at 8pm. Do not stay too long at night, as going to bed late is linked to obesity which has already been confirmed by many researchers.
There are not rigorous rules of what to eat during lunch and dinner time, you can eat anything, and if you have food cravings between your meals, eat some fruit.
Why this banana diet is so unique?
First of all, it is super-healthy.
Bananas are high in fiber and potassium, and great boost energy.
Regular intake of breakfast enhances metabolism and makes you stay away from any cravings during the day.
Banana diet can help you to eliminate cellulite.
Moreover, bananas are cheap and easily available.
If you avoid coffee consumption in the morning you will very quickly manage your blood glucose and hunger.
Drinking a glass of water at room temperature speeds up metabolism.
Try to finish your meals at 8pm and minimize the late night cravings thereby efficiently managing your weight.


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Peter Crouch on Michael McIntyre's Big Show: wife Abbey Clancy and Holly Willoughby sketch explained
Jeremy Renner accident: Marvel star reveals he broke '30 bones' in snow plough accident
I'm A Celebrity: who has done the most Bushtucker Trials? Matt Hancock tipped to break record
Bookies have predicted former Health Secretary Matt Hancock could break the record for the most Bushtucker Trials ever completed in the history of I'm A Celebrity.
By Imogen Howse
Matt Hancock has faced a fair deal of backlash after joining this year's cast of I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
His controversial decision led to him having the whip removed, with several of his colleagues criticising his appearance on the reality programme. Andy Drummond, deputy chairman (political) of West Suffolk Conservative Association, said: "I'm looking forward to him eating a kangaroo's penis. Quote me. You can quote me on that."
But it wasn't just those in the political sphere who did not take well to the news of Hancock appearing on I'm A Celeb while Parliament is sitting. It also sparked mass outrage amongst the public, something which has led to the West Suffolk MP being chosen for every Bushtucker Trial since his entry to the jungle.
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It isn't entirely surprising. In fact, before he even arrived in Australia, bookies predicted Hancock would make history as the campmate nominated for the most trials. Ladbrokes has him tipped 1/2 to break records, with a spokesperson commenting: "Matt Hancock has had his fair share of snaky moments in Westminster over the years, and it looks like the British public could be about to give him the ultimate payback Down Under.'"
This is often what happens on I'm A Celeb. The more 'fun to watch' characters - who can be the most unpopular ones, or the favourites, or simply the ones most scared of the challenges - are picked time and time again by the public. Some of the notorious Bushtucker Trial frequenters over the years include Lady C Campbell, Gillian McKeith and Katie Price.
But how many trials would Hancock have to participate in to break the record, and who has taken on the most challenges over the I'm A Celeb years? Here are the stars who completed the most Bushtucker Trials.
Matt Hancock is tipped to break the record for taking part in the most Bushtucker Trials on I'm A Celebrity. Credit: ITV
Adam Thomas - 12
The contestant who currently holds the record for the most Bushtucker Trials completed on I'm A Celeb is Adam Thomas. The actor, who is best known for playing Adam Barton on Emmerdale, did 12 trials - which resulted in him proclaiming himself Mr Bushtucker Trial. He appeared on Season 16 of the show and came third.
Adam Thomas on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: ITV / REX / Shutterstock
Scarlett Moffatt - 10
Gogglebox star and TV personality Scarlett Moffatt appeared on the same season as Adam, and comes in just behind him having taken part in 10 critter-infested challenges. Her appearances helped her win the hearts of the public, and she was ultimately crowned Queen of the Jungle that year.
Scarlett Moffatt on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: Nigel Wright / ITV / REX / Shutterstock
Janice Dickinson - 10
Janice Dickinson, who was the runner up in Season 7, also completed 10 Bushtucker Trials. The American model became known for her catchphrase 'oh man' during the series, and took part in a variety of trials - including one of the notorious eating challenges and one where she was strapped to a spinning star.
Janice Dickinson on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: ITV / Shutterstock
Joel Dommett - 10
Another Season 16 campmate who took part in 10 trials is comedian Joel Dommett, who finished second - behind Scarlett and ahead of Adam. One of these involved him facing one of his "greatest fears" - heights.
Joel Dommett on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: ITV / REX / Shutterstock
Jacqueline Jossa - 10
Season 19 Queen of the Jungle Jacqueline Jossa also racked up 10 trials during her time in Australia. She appeared alongside castmates like Caitlyn Jenner, Kate Garraway and Ian Wright.
Jacqueline Jossa on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: ITV / REX / Shutterstock
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Georgia Toffolo - 8
I'm A Celeb winners seem to be common on this list, as Georgia Toffolo comes in next with eight Bushtucker Trials. The former Made In Chelsea star recently made headlines by slamming Hancock's decision to enter the jungle, calling it "disgraceful".
She said: "What Matt is doing is I think really showing to the country that the man who was meant to be in control of our health going through the pandemic, not only did he cheat on his wife and get caught, he's now leaving his constituents to go to Australia to earn loads of money on a show and flaunting it in front of people that lost so many loved ones and went through the most horrific pain."
Georgia Toffolo on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: James Gourley/ ITV / REX/Shutterstock
Lady C Campbell - 8
Lady C is to this day one of the most notorious campmates to appear on I'm A Celeb, and that means she got voted to do a fair few trials (eight). She was a marmite character, with some loving and others hating her, but she definitely helped rack up some good viewing figures.
Lady C on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: ITV / REX / Shutterstock
Jorgie Porter - 8
Jorgie Porter also completed eight trials during her time in the jungle. The actress appeared alongside Lady C, and on one occasion the pair took part in an eating challenge together.
Jorgie Porter on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: ITV / REX / Shutterstock
Roman Kemp - 8
Roman Kemp came third in Season 19 - the same season that Jacquelina Jossa participated in. The radio presenter quickly won over his campmates with a hilarious Ant & Dec impression.
Roman Kemp on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: James Gourley / ITV / REX / Shutterstock
Kate Garraway - 8
Also in the same season as Roman and Jacqueline was Kate Garraway, another campmate who faced creepy crawlies eight times. She too has spoken out about Hancock's appearance on the show, describing her "visceral gut reaction". It comes after her husband Derek has fought a lengthy battle with Covid-19, a traumatic experience documented in Kate Garraway: Caring For Derek.
Kate Garraway on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: ITV / REX / Shutterstock
Bonus: Katie Price
Katie Price made history by becoming the first celebrity to ever enter the jungle twice. One of her stints alone would not have got her on this list, but two trips to Australia means in total, she racked up 10 Bushtucker Trials - four during her first appearance, when she was known as Jordan, and six during her latter one.
Katie Price on ITV's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Credit: ITV / REX / Shutterstock
How many trials does Matt Hancock have to do?
Hancock has already taken part in five challenges, so he needs just three more to make the list. But if he wants to come out on top and break the record like the bookies have predicted, he needs to take part in seven more Bushtucker Trials.
Matt HancockKate GarrawayAustraliaScarlett Moffatt
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Raleigh-The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a $45 million contract to build a 6.6-mile section of the Troy Bypass (N.C. 24/27) from Dairy Road to east of Little River in Montgomery County. The contract was awarded to J.T. Russell and Sons Inc. of Albermarle.The purpose of the project is to reduce traffic volume and improve safety on N.C. 24/27 in the Town of Troy by removing vehicles and trucks that are only passing through the area.Construction can begin as early as December 29 and should be completed by Aug. 1, 2018.Engineers with the NCDOT say the project uses a "superstreet plan" which keeps through traffic moving instead of being slowed by traffic signals at intersections. By minimizing the number of signals, the plan improves mobility and reduces the number of accidents.The superstreet design does not restrict any movement for vehicles who are on the Bypass and are going to Troy. The only difference from a standard design is that motorists who want to access the Bypass from the intersecting side streets will need to turn right initially.As currently designed, four traffic signals will be part of the Bypass project: At the western most intersection with N.C. 24/27 Business for eastbound traffic making a left turn from the Bypass onto N.C. 24/27 Business towards Troy; Two will be located at the eastern most intersection with N.C. 24/27 Business. One will be for eastern vehicles on the Bypass making a left turn onto N.C. 24/27 Business towards Troy, while the other is for the Bypass U-turn movement for an intersection located approximately 800 feet west of the connector road to N.C. 24/27 Business; At the connector road with N.C. 24/27 Business and Page Street.This is one of seven road and bridge contracts worth $139.8 million recently awarded by NCDOT for projects across North Carolina. The contracts were awarded to the lowest bidders, as required by state law. The low bids received on the projects were about $7.9 million below NCDOT estimates.


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"Support the Fight: A Review of Something on our Minds"
When "We Write for the Fight," an online self-help group connecting people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), put out a call for writers to contribute to an anthology project whose proceeds would benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, many responded. The project produced Something on our Minds, which is edited by Tracy A. Todd and Sean J. Mahoney. The anthology is divided into three sections: poetry, personal reflection, and short stories. Each piece presents a unique response to life with MS and a wide range of emotions from anger to fear to gratitude to joy. The complexity of emotions coupled with the many different ways MS can affect peoples' lives gives readers a glimpse of day-to-day life as the writers' bodies and spirits evolve with this disease.
"Long-Ago Lover"
Susan M. Silver
December-decorated evening,
Streets that revel in the gaudy.
Beyond, a sacred orchid-sunset
Slips into the horizon's envelope,
And a tale of winternight begins...
"Snowy Memory"
Nancy Scott
I don't know precisely what year it was. My memory does not recall chronology. I would never have written anything resembling memoir had I needed a timeline.
It was probably around 1990. I had a second chance to hear Hayden Carruth in person. He was the first poet with books (plural) published that I'd ever heard read poetry. Something about that New England-accented voice began a turn in me. I wanted to do what he did. I wanted people to sit through my holding them hostage with words. I wanted the magic to rub off on me.
"Water Waste"
Andrew Jarvis
A rotten octopus no longer electric,
a mess of kelp strangling driftwood,
and shells, there must always be shells.
Sea cucumbers, seaweed, and snails,
a trilogy of neon green and woven brown
displayed as if offered to
some sea god...
"One Wallet Too Many"
Todd Hanks
The indoor public pool was busy on Saturday. The wall of glass by the check-in counter was steamed like a terrarium. Little boys did cannonballs from the sides, and a group of girls knocked a red ball back and forth. Old men exercised, walking laps in the waves.
Mouse Thompson signed in under a false name, carrying a bundle wrapped in a towel, and walked into the men's changing room. He knew there would be no locks on the lockers; he'd been in there before. Mouse began to search methodically through the metal boxes one by one, listening for the sound of a door opening. By the time he had gone through every locker, he had stashed three wallets in his jacket pocket.
"The Bear"
Roger Batchelor
Winter slept without him for four months.
Warm outside.
He woke and moved into life again.
Forest without green greeted him, nothing moved.
The trees did not speak, the birds did not leave, silence...
"Splat"
Randy Peters
The sun blazed in a bright blue cloudless sky. Birds sang, the air carried the smell of hay drying in back fields coupled with manure from the barn. Cows, impatient to get back in the pasture, mooed in the barnyard, and in the distance, Pepere circled a meadow on one of his old tractors. Sounds from its ancient skipping engine echoed off distant trees crowding in on the open edges. It was a great day to be five.
"The Statement"
Atty Rose
"For the third time, we had the keys. Emaleen, gave, us, the, keys."
I rubbed my forehead. It felt fit to split. How long could these guys keep this up?
"That?"
The big horse-faced Detective, Hegil Mesh, pointed to the shriveled gourd thing on the table. His head was so sunburned it look like a shiny apple.
"Smells like rat shit and cloves."
"Medicated Youth" and "Lingua Epilepticus"
John Davis Jr.
Regular, but not normal:
Morning and night Phenobarbital
doses supplied by Pete's Pharmacy, kept
in a half-hexagonal amber bottle, black-capped,
imprisoning thicker maroon-tinted liquid...
"Your Hands" and "Smile"
Dawnell Harrison
My mind is starless and
As blank as a white wall.
The moon feigns white
Brightness and love.
I cannot trust it...