This monograph presents a survey of mathematical models useful in solving reliability problems. It includes a detailed discussion of life distributions corresponding to wearout and their use in determining maintenance policies, and covers important topics such as the theory of increasing (decreasing) failure rate distributions, optimum maintenance policies, and the theory of coherent systems. The emphasis throughout the book is on making minimal assumptions--and only those based on plausible physical considerations--so that the resulting mathematical deductions may be safely made about a large variety of commonly occurring reliability situations. The first part of the book is concerned with component reliability, while the second part covers system reliability, including problems that are as important today as they were in the 1960s.
Mathematical reliability refers to a body of ideas, mathematical models, and methods directed toward the solution of problems in predicting, estimating, or optimizing the probability of survival, mean life, or, more generally, life distribution of components and systems. The enduring relevance of the subject of reliability and the continuing demand for a graduate-level book on this topic are the driving forces behind its republication. Unavailable since its original publication in 1965, Mathematical Theory of Reliability now joins a growing list of volumes in SIAM's Classics series. Although contemporary reliability books are now available, few provide as mathematically rigorous a treatment of the required probability background as this one.
Although this book primarily addresses the interests of applied mathematicians, it will be useful to applied statisticians and probabilists as well as scientists and engineers in all disciplines who are interested in applications of probability theory. It is frequently cited and contains original proofs not reproduced elsewhere. The book can be used as a text for a first course in probability as well as an introduction to mathematical applications.
Preface to the Classics Edition; Preface; Chapter 1: Introduction. Historical Background of the Mathematical Theory of Reliability; Definitions of Reliability; Chapter 2: Failure Distributions. Introduction; Typical Failure Laws; The Exponential as the Failure Law of Complex Equipment; Monotone Failure Rates; Preservation of Monotone Failure Rate; Additional Inequalities; General Failure Rates; Chapter 3: Operating Characteristics of Maintenance Policies. Introduction; Renewal Theory; Replacement Based on Age; Comparison of Age and Block Replacement Policies; Random Replacement; Repair of a Single Unit; Chapter 4: Optimum Maintenance Policies. Introduction; Replacement Policies; Inspection Policies; Chapter 5: Stochastic Models for Complex Systems. Introduction; Markov Chains and Semi-Markov Processes; Repairman Problems; Marginal Checking; Optimal Maintenance Policies under Markovian Deterioration; Chapter 6: Redundancy Optimization. Introduction; Optimal Allocation of Redundancy Subject to Constraints; Application to Parallel Redundancy Model; Application to Standby Redundancy Model; Complete Families of Undominated Allocations; Optimal Redundancy Assuming Two Types of Failure; Chapter 7: Qualitative Relationships for Multicomponent Structures. Introduction; Achieving Reliable Relay Circuits; Monotonic Structures; S-shaped Reliability Functions for Monotonic Structures; k-out-of-n Structures; Relationship between Structures Failure Rate and Component Failure Rates; Appendix 1: Total Positivity; Appendix 2: Test for Increasing Failure Rate; Appendix 3: Tables Giving Bounds on Distributions with Monotone Failure Rate; References; Index.
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Mendiola was born in Dubai, where her father used to work. She is the second of three siblings of a Filipina mother and a Lebanese - British father. [dead link] She was three years old when her mother moved and brought her and her elder sister Pamela to the Philippines. Her mother left her father due to his infidelity. Jessy's younger sister Megan was born in Mexico, where her parents reconciled but eventually separated again for unknown reasons. She remains in contact with her father, who works overseas as a marine anthropologist. She studied mass communication at Far Eastern University.


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Air biking is a travelling action from one abode to addition by any aerial accessories such as helicopters, airplanes parachute and all altar that can fly. Most air biking begins and borders at an airport. The action of air biking includes check-in, airport aegis blockage afore entrance, boarding, in flight and assuredly analeptic your baggage and analysis out. There are two types of air travel- Calm and international. Travelling from one abode to addition in the aforementioned country comes beneath calm flights and travelling from one abode to addition abode of a altered country accepted as all-embracing flights.
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Air carriage contains the accomplished acceleration a part of all agency of transportation. Cartage and appurtenances can be calmly and agilely be transported from one abode to addition aural or alfresco the country. It is the fastest because it gives an ceaseless adventure so you don't charge to delay on any point. Once you lath the flight it will assuredly bead you to the end point.
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Japan's first "naked restaurant" opens in Tokyo next month with draconian rules of entry — podgy prospective diners will be weighed and ejected if found to be too fat.
Following the lead of establishments in London and Melbourne, "The Amrita" — Sanskrit for 'immortality' — also has strict age restrictions, with only patrons between 18 and 60 allowed in, after they check in their clothes and put on paper underwear provided by the restaurant.
"If you are more than 15 kilos (33 pounds) above the average weight for your height, we ask you refrain from making a reservation," a list of rules posted on the restaurant's website states, explaining that patrons could be weighed if they do not appear to be within the correct weight range.
Guests found to be "overweight" will be refused entry to the restaurant, which opens on July 29, and will not be entitled to a refund, its website points out. All payments must be made in advance on an online booking page.
1.	What do you think the reason why they ban overwieght?
2.	Do you think that restaurant will have many costumer?
3.	What do you think will be the reaction of the person who's overweight?
4.	Guests found to be "overweight" will be refused entry to the restaurant. If you are on there situation what would you feel then?


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EN FR DE IT
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Mapp announces the results of its Global Provider Report 2019
Gmail is the leading webmailer internationally
National ISPs of particular relevance in Germany, France and Poland
San Diego, October 9, 2019 – Leading cloud-based digital marketing provider Mapp announces the results of its Global Provider Report 2019. The report analyzed the ISPs and webmailers that end users made use of to open emails and newsletters. On an international level, Gmail is clearly ahead – its market share in the USA is more than 50%. The results in Germany, France and Poland show strong differences between the individual markets. Therefore, high delivery rates require a country-specific strategy.
The new Mapp Global Provider Report clearly confirms that there is no getting around the big international players. Gmail (50.1%), Verizon (22.6%) and Microsoft (12.4%) are the clear leaders in the USA – and are the most relevant inboxes on a global level. In the further places are Comcast (2.0%), Apple (1.6%) and AT&T (1.1%). In their leading positions, Gmail and Microsoft are particularly influential in determining the latest inbox trends. Therefore, sector initiatives – such as AMP for email, Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI), or Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) – strongly depend on the extent to which such aspects are supported and promoted by the major ISPs and webmailers.
Home-grown providers in Germany, France and Poland
Looking at the situation in Europe, there are strong differences between the individual markets, some of which deviate significantly from the average. In Germany, France and Poland domestic providers operating primarily on a national level have significant market shares. In Germany, 1&1 Mail & Media leads with GMX and WEB.DE (39.9%), followed by Gmail (15.3%) and T-Online (11.9%). In France, Orange (17.8%) ranks third behind Gmail (26.9%) and Microsoft (25.9%). In Poland, the national provider Wirtualna Polska (26.4%) leads, followed by Gmail (25.4%).
Steve Warren, CEO of Mapp, comments: "The study shows that Gmail leads internationally. At the same time, however, it also reveals that there are significant differences in the services used in some European markets. Our Provider Report underscores the fact that international companies cannot only concentrate on a few providers but should also consider the specific circumstances of each country. Those who neglect this, risk their deliverability – and thus their revenue, to a certain extent."
More than 170 million emails and campaign mails from selected customers around the world were analyzed in August and September of this year for the Mapp Global Provider Report 2019. They had been sent using the personalized cross-channel marketing solution Mapp Engage, which is part of the Mapp Cloud.
About Mapp
Marketers and data specialists should be able to focus on what will make a difference for their business, instead of spending all their time taming the technology behind it. By letting Mapp Cloud decide the best channel, best time, and best frequency to deliver the message, your team can focus on what's important – and exciting. With unified data, AI-generated customer insights, and cross-channel engagement, companies can build a sustainable competitive advantage and long-term customer loyalty.
Mapp has global offices in eight countries and is the parent company to Webtrekk, European leader in marketing analytics and customer intelligence. Mapp's digital marketing platform helps more than 2,500 companies break away from the pack by uncovering missed opportunities, including Xerox, PepsiCo, Qantas, Infinity, and Lloyds Banking Group.
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Home / Call-out culture / The hidden cost of call-out culture is bigotry
The hidden cost of call-out culture is bigotry
How does your body respond to the following statement?
Call-out culture enables bigotry. And healing it within our relationships is one of the first responsibilities we have as radical/progressive/liberal people.
One of the problems with how we talk about call-out culture is that we tend to treat it as an internal dialogue within activist communities about how to deal with conflict and abuse. What is usually missing in these conversations is a sincere inquiry into how call-out culture impacts our relationships with people who are peripheral to our communities.
Underlying this issue is our general tendency to conceive activism as a mental exercise of 'changing people's minds', as opposed to a relational process of growing our radical/progressive/liberal community.
To explore this subject further, I want us to take a bit of time to feel into the first-hand stories of former white supremacists. These are people whose journeys into political movement started very far away from anything close to radical/progressive/liberal, but are now part of our community. I believe that taking in the medicine of their journeys can shed light on how change actually happens and what we can do about it.
And indeed, when you spend a bit of time perusing the confessionals of former white supremacists, something fascinating becomes apparent: just like us, white supremacists burn out from their political activity.
Take, for example, this recent piece that describes the transformational process of ex-Klansmen Shane Johnson.
Next to him in the cell, one of his friends just shrugged about the prospect of prison. "So, you think we're going to join the Aryan Brotherhood when we get in there?" he asked. Johnson thought to himself, "What the fuck am I doing with my fucking life? How are we the supreme race? We're fucking idiots."
He suddenly realized he wanted to escape the Klan. But how? He was 22 years old, had no skills and no job, had $100 to his name, and was covered in white supremacist tattoos, and his criminal record was about to get longer. He'd hardly read any books except the Bible and the Kloran, the KKK's secret handbook. He'd spent nearly every hour of his life dedicated to a vision of white supremacy that he wasn't sure was so superior anymore. Besides Gregoire, he had virtually no friends outside the movement. If he turned his back on his family and crew, they might try to kill him.
Or this personal account by former high-ranking Klansmen Scott Shepherd.
Yet Shepherd's meteoric personal rise had brought problems. He had married and divorced twice; he says both marriages failed because of all the negative publicity he was getting, while his children had become estranged. Furthermore, as a "face" of the KKK, Shepherd had attracted the attention of the FBI, who had visited him at work and questioned him about a string of mail bomb attacks, which had killed a federal judge and civil rights lawyer.
The turning point eventually came when Shepherd visited a restaurant in Nashville in 1990. "I had a few drinks, then I left. I got down the road, looked in my rearview mirror and saw lots of blue lights. I failed a sobriety test and they found a pistol," he says.
Or this confession by Angela King, co-founder of Life after Hate.
She tried to exit the scene, ignoring calls from group members while on house arrest. But they would not let her go quietly — they shared her home address with other extremists, then showed up 30-strong to shoot live ammunition at her house. She also received thinly veiled threats of harm to her younger siblings. "I started answering the phone again," she says.
But her decision to return was about more than fear, King admits. "I was really attached to belonging somewhere." However, being welcomed back came with strings. "I had to re-prove myself by being a better racist, by recruiting more, by being more violent.
The pattern is very clear.
Regardless of ideology, politicized people without commitment and/or access to self-care and community-care almost always face break down. Their nervous systems become fried from constant emotional stimulation. Their closest relationships fail as their bodies lose the capacity to keep up. It doesn't matter if you're a left-wing activist or a white supremacist.
On that note, do you remember the viral video of white supremacist Christopher Cantwell breaking down on camera?
Underneath the rigid exterior of bigotry is fragile hyper-vigilance.
There's a LOT of possibility in understanding this.
The moment of burn-out is when the body is ready for change. It's saying NO to the current conditions and screaming for something to give. Anguish usually ensues, as the mind, still clinging on to dogma and ego, fights against accepting what the body really knows: the movement has failed the body's sense of safety.
These bodies need somewhere safe to go.
In fact, they always did, even before they chose the camaraderie of organized bigotry. When you take in the stories of former white supremacists and how they became involved in their movements, there is a consistent narrative of bullying, abuse, and a desperate lack of belonging.
This begs us to ask some serious questions of ourselves:
How did people who are involved with organized bigotry come to choose communities of bigotry over liberation, to soothe their emptiness?
When we look at ourselves in the mirror can we say that within our community, there is safer space for all bodies, including the bodies of people we read as cis/white/hetero/able/masculine?
In answering these questions for myself, I realized that, as a somatic therapist, I cannot in any good conscience demand someone with deep histories of abuse to participate in a community that will likely be extremely triggering and re-traumatizing to them. This isn't a matter of enabling or coddling abusers. This is a matter of integrity.
Herein lies the key to understanding the larger stakes of call-out culture and the toxicity it creates.
On the surface, the cultural ailments we see around us, such as the surge of white supremacist and men's rights activist groups, look like a surplus of organized bigotry. But as a therapist who works with trauma, what I see is actually a lack of healthier trauma-resilient safer spaces in our culture, including within our very own radical/progressive/liberal communities.
To heal bigotry, it is critical that all bodies, including privileged bodies, are given access and information about spaces that can hold them in a spirit of unconditional positive regard.
If you take a look, in every above-mentioned account from former white supremacists, Shane, Scott, and Angela, there is a turning point in their story, a moment where they are shown unconditional positive regard from someone, whether it was a fellow inmate or intimate partner. What really helped them uproot deep-seated bigotry were embodied relational experiences, not tireless amounts of (mental) education, even if it may have been supportive.
Of course, this brings us to questions around how do we create healing spaces for ourselves when we have been abused, especially by those who were wielding their privilege in doing so? Healing call-out culture must be compatible with this need.
And I believe it is.
To understand how, we need to fully buy-in to the idea that healing bigotry comes from intentionally growing our communities as safer-braver spaces, as opposed to forcefully changing people's minds or hearts. I believe such a relationship-based process necessarily includes authentic confrontation, which comes from a place of wanting to be seen and acknowledged, rather than cruelty and vengeance, just as much as unconditional positive regard.
Are you a therapist, facilitator, organizer or healer called to a deeper exploration of subjects discussed in this post?
I provide coaching and consulting services for individual practitioners, enterprises, and organizations that are committed to intersectional cultural healing. You can find more information here.
Posted on July 17, 2018 August 10, 2018 by Tada Hozumi
Categories: Call-out culture, Embodied activism
Previous post: Is the Trump-era a morbid illness or healing crisis? I think it can be both.
Next post: Boundaries and the body: how our sense of space is shaped by our embodied state


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Ahaheim Resort Transit Service from Anaheim Amtrak Station to Begin on October 1
By Mr. DAPs|2007-09-01T11:43:44-07:00September 1st, 2007|Categories: DAPs Magic News, Disney|0 Comments
Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) will begin service from the Anaheim Amtrak station to The Disneyland® Resort and Anaheim Resort(TM) hotels beginning Oct. 1, 2007. The shuttle service will be provided hourly meeting all southbound and northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains. A schedule will be posted on the ART website www.rideart.org starting early September.
The service is being initiated based upon the requested needs of the Anaheim Resort Hotels as well as past inquiries made by visitors to The Anaheim Resort according to Diana Kotler, Executive Director for ART. "We feel this is a logical expansion of our service within The Anaheim Resort District as guests can go directly from the train to The Disneyland® Resort Esplanade and, then, either visit the Resort's Parks or transfer buses to one of our many participating hotels for check-in."
The cost to visitors for the service is minimal – $3 for adults and children 10 and under are free. Beginning January 8, 2008, children 10 years and under will be charged $1. A ticket vending kiosk will be available at the station to purchase ART passes.
"We are delighted to have this association with Amtrak," continued Kotler. "This adds a much needed dimension to our service of providing guests with comfortable and easily accessible transportation to and within The Anaheim Resort(TM) District.
"The Anaheim Amtrak Station is one of the busiest in the nation," said Brian Hart, Amtrak's Director of Field Marketing-West. "Amtrak is delighted to have such a convenient service for our passengers at the station's front door." The station is adjacent to Angel Stadium parking lot, located at 2150 East Katella Avenue.
The Anaheim Resort Transit transports 3 million guests annually between 52 local hotels and the Disneyland® Resort entertainment complex. A total of 32 buses and trolleys make up the ART fleet. ART was begun in May 2002.
About California Department of Transportation
The California Department of Transportation partners with Amtrak to provide service on three intercity rail corridors in California. Through a $73 million-per-year annual state operating assistance program and the largest capital assistance program in the nation, the State's Division of Rail supports service between the Bay Area and Sacramento on the Capitol Corridor, between San Francisco/Oakland and Bakersfield on the San Joaquins and in Southern California, between San Diego and San Luis Obispo via Los Angeles and Santa Barbara on the Pacific Surfliner. The California Corridors, operated under the partnership banner, Amtrak California, are the busiest in the nation behind the Washington – Boston Northeast corridor and the Empire corridor serving Albany – New York City.
Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail service to more than 500 destinations in 46 states on a 21,000-mile route system. For schedules, fares and information, passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com.
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I need to get a Dot Product node but Converter|Math| options do not provide Dot - can I use Multiply instead ?
Also, is it OK to use the Poser ColorRamp node for Cycles shader, because this node is also missing from the options for Cycles inside Poser Pro 11.
Yes, you can use Color_Math multiply. However, when you connect the multiplied color to a number, the conversion will take the average of the three components. (That's what Poser does when you plug a color into a number.) You will want to multiply that by 3 because you want the sum, not the average.
Yes you can use all the FireFly nodes in SuperFly.
Uhhh - I just looked and in the Cycles/Converter/VectorMath node you'll find the Dot Product directly.
You will have problems trying to use the FireFly ColorRamp because it will not do the sharp transitions that were configured in the linked shader. I made you a SuperFly shader that works though. Here it is.
Put the shadow and highlight colors you want into the Blender node at the top.
Put the light direction as a vector in the User_Defined node at the bottom right.
Adjust the level of the mid tone using the Math_Functions_2 (bias) node's Value_2 parameter.
Note: The colors in the root node are not important. I used those as color pickers to check what I got in the render. Just make sure Diffuse_Value = 0 and Specular_Value = 0.
BB - thanks so much ! That explains a lot. ( I am going to search for the Dot Product sub-particle again, just to satisfy myself) I appreciate all your responses here, and the setup you've devised. Thanks again !
I used Cycles:Converter:CombineRGB node in place of the User-Defined node. Hope this also make sense. Render completes without issue, except I need to adjust lighting and the mid tone level ( using that Math_Functions node ).
Playing with the values in both Math_Functions nodes creates various NPR graphic style renders, which are pretty interesting ! I recommend folk to try out the possibilities for themselves (render using SuperFly).


~I have finally completed my 12 week business program at the University of Victoria. It's been an incredible journey and extremely intense to say the least. With a final exam every week and homework every night, my blog posts have yet again been few and far between.
But now another phase of life is completed. Now for the next step. To make my world what I want it to be.
I'm feeling a bit nervous to go back out into the real world and everyone keeps asking me what I am going to do now that I have a certificate in business.
And since nothing is written in stone, I need to build up the confidence to try something I've never tried before. I can now say I have extra abilities and skills I didn't have before.
I'm done looking for postings on Craigslist and I'm ready to start networking through people who are doing what I want to be doing. I would love to get into a publication where I can learn the ins and outs of the writing industry. I want to know what it's like to work directly with an Editor.
So I've revamped my resumé and I'm working on making my portfolio look perfect. It's never to late to change something and I guess that's exactly what I did. I suppose I just need to dive right into the job search as soon as possible and put myself out there.
I refuse to do something I don't love thoroughly.
I vow to myself I will not stop searching until I find the perfect job. I may not be an extraordinary writer but I am willing to follow my dream as far as I can.
Whoo Graduation!! 😀 Here we go!
So you want to be Travel Blogger? Me too!
SO I've been waiting for the perfect moment to talk about Travel Blogging as I continually warp my blog over and over. I've landed on a new look I really like and I've made changes so my blog is more responsive.
Travel Blogging is one of those professions everyone secretly wants to have. Wandering around the globe with only a backpack hanging off your shoulders, stopping to "work" beach side from a lovely little café in Europe somewhere or just relaxing while you write your next post from a hammock tied to a tree in some humid rain forest in South America.
OK these are my visions of being a Travel Blogger. What are yours?
During these past few months I've gone into great detail on how to be a Journalist and the many ways people make money as freelancers. You can post online to magazines and newspapers, send pitches to print publications or send portfolios to publications who are specifically looking for completed articles.
Well guess what?! Travel Blogging is pretty much the same thing.
Most travel blogs I come across do a hand full of the same things Journalists do, like pitching to an online magazine. The only difference I've found is that those bloggers are pitching to travel publications. It's the only difference I can find.
Another great site I stumbled upon is The Travel Bloggers Academy. It has a course you can take through their website, which is a couple of years old, but still has relevant information.
Aside from posting on your blog about amazing places you've been, Travel Blogging can go as far as you want to take it. If you want to keep travelling, you must find ways to make money.
The next step for me is triple checking that I don't have copyrighted images on my blog. If you want to use Word ads, that's a crucial thing to be sure of. You can't have any ads promoting through your blog if they are not your own or from legitimate free-to-use sites. It may take some time, but go through ALL of your images if you've taken them off the internet and if you don't know about an image then email the website you took it from.
Travel Blogging is a "Dream Job" everyone wants to be in whether they say so or not. What separates you from the people who are keeping it a pipe dream?


What I have learnt during my first year of a PhD – dr.ofwhat?
1) Being passionate about a cause can be exhausting sometimes- I care a great deal about ocean conservation and in particular shark conservation. I have researched a lot and understand the facts and statistics about sharks, however obviously a lot of people don't understand or even care. I knew this, but whilst researching the public's views of sharks for my first study, I kept seeing people who are happy for all the sharks in the world to be killed or who were really negative towards 'Greenies'. At first it was actually really disheartening for me to read, and there were some days where I needed to leave work a little earlier to go home and do something 'happy' to take my mind off of it.
2) It is easy to see why PhD timelines blow out– When I started my PhD I was provided with a scholarship for three years and a 'deadline' of four years (before I pay for my studies). At the start it is easy to be naïve and think that this is a long time when your research is your 'full time' job. However, after spending 9 months exclusively working on my proposal, and reaching hiccups in my study one it is verrrry easy to see why many people do not finish in this time.
3) It is a steep learning curve- I feel like starting my PhD was one of the steepest learning curves I have encountered. I have grown as a researcher, student, and person.
4) I love the flexibility of my work– I feel truly blessed to be doing a job where I am not typically restricted by work hours. I have the ability to work late one day and sleep in the next, or work for seven days straight and then go on an adventure the next week.
5) Spotify premium is worth it!
6) That most people do not know what a PhD is- This was one of the reasons for me starting this blog, to share the PhD world with people and hopefully allow people to understand the world of research, and perhaps even inspire people to start the journey for themselves. I learnt very early on that often when you tell people you have started a PhD they have no idea what that means and sometimes it is easier to just say "I do research for a university" rather than explaining the concept of a PhD.
7) You need people in your corner- This may be peers, friends, family, your supervisor, or hopefully a combination of all of the above. You need people who understand what you are going through and can support you. Also remember that you could be this person for your PhD peers.
Great post! I relate to many of these lessons learnt!


text:
Published on June 27th, 1996 | by Gerry Galipault
The big, wild return of Webb Wilder
It's tough always being 7 seconds ahead of your time. That's Webb Wilder's motto these days.
The Nashville-based roots-rocker has released his first album of original material in five years, "Acres of Suede" (on Watermelon). Granted, he never went away – his last album, "Town & Country," a collection of road-tested cover versions, won the Nashville Music Award for best independent album of the year in 1995 and readers of Music Row magazine named him independent artist of the year.
Still, it has been an uphill battle for recognition since the effusive singer-songwriter had a falling out with Zoo Entertainment and parent company BMG at the height of his success in 1992. Even the critical praise for his postmodern, B-movie videos "Paradise Park" and "Cornfilcks" didn't soften the blow.
"We released (the album) 'Doo Dad' and got lots of airplay with the single 'Tough It Out,' which was like No. 16 on Billboard's album rock chart," Wilder said recently. "We were touring coast to coast, rolling some pretty big dice. … A fair amount of money went into making that album and promoting it, and when it didn't sort of recoup in the first two quarters or something, I think somebody at BMG sort of said, 'Don't put any more money into this.' It was a real shame, because there was a lot of momentum there."
The big-label fumble, among other things, led to turmoil within Wilder's band, and there were debts to pay. Still signed to Zoo affiliate Praxis, Wilder eventually told BMG, " 'Love me or leave me,' and they said okay, and we got out of the contract."
After the smoke cleared, Watermelon reissued Wilder's debut "It Came From Nashville," and its success prompted the Austin, Texas, label to offer him a two-album deal.
"Acres of Suede" follows in the footsteps of the all-cover "Town & Country," saluting Wilder's many influences – from rockabilly to "cowboy grunge."
"I want to do what my favorite artists did, take their influences and go somewhere with them with original songs," said Wilder, who co-wrote many of the tracks with longtime friend Bobby Fields.
"I want people to know I'm there, that the album exists, and I want them to hear it, and then if they don't like it, fine. You just want a shot."
BWF (before we forget): The Webb Wilder album discography – "It Came From Nashville," "Hybrid Vigor," "Doo Dad," "Town & Country," "Acres of Suede."
Tags: Interviews, Webb Wilder
Gerry Galipault Gerry Galipault debuted Pause & Play online in October 1997. Since then, it has become the definitive place for CD-release dates — with a worldwide audience.
Sean Nelson: With a little help from his friends →
The Mother lode from Jeff Lynne →
Greenbaum remains in good spirits →
The elusive Bob Lind re-emerges →


text:
Books for a Body Love Boost
Alessia Cara's New Video is a Body Positive Anthem
Wrap Dress Obsession
Bo Stanley Isn't Here for the Advertising BS
by Kirstyn Scott | August 9, 2016 at 11:37 AM
In short, Bo Stanley is amazing. She's a surfer, model, activist, and former Bachelor contestant. You know that's a great IG bio.
Courtesy of Bo Stanley
She makes overachievers feel like slackers and can warm up a room with her smile at the same time. Talent, girl. That's what we call talent. So, we couldn't help ourselves when given the opportunity to get her take a few things that are constantly plaguing women and society at large. She's a killer role model with the self-love, but she's also not afraid to call it when she sees it, especially when it comes to advertising.
"Some advertisers use 'plus' models once a year to show to consumers that they are up with the times and support size diversity – essentially to have good public relations and to earn new sales. Then, they won't use diversity the rest of the year," said Stanley. Preaching to the choir. We HATE that. Really, how do you expect us to buy into a brand that shows one woman who isn't a size 2 and one who isn't white once a year? Reality is, you shouldn't. So what do we look for instead?
"When I see diversity consistently within all of a company's ads, then I will know that company is promoting diversity for the right reasons – to create change and to honor beauty at any size. I think there are companies (hopefully a growing number) out there whose corporate values really do promote being change agents in the world while also being successful companies. These companies are integral players in the collective movement of corporate social responsibility," said Stanley. Accurate. La mas accurate. We've said it before, you have so much power as a consumer – support the brands that support diversity.
But it's not all bad, especially considering she's a ray of sunshine. People aspire to that attitude, but also her physique. She is an athlete, so we get that. Her take on it?
"I am always flattered, of course, but I also want to encourage women to make themselves their own 'body goals.' By focusing on being the best version of just themselves and no one else. We all look different at our healthy weight, and that is a beautiful thing! I think that using women as influencers who provide a healthy and balanced message and representation can help create more of a wellness model."
There's that word again, wellness. We love it. We've heard it from ladies like Claire Fountain, Jessamyn Stanley, and now Bo. You know why we love it? Because it forces people to break down their own stereotypes. We have a mental shortcut for when someone says that a person is "fit." But there are "fit" people who aren't necessarily well, and wellness is hella important. Even if the industry is trying to sell you something different.
"I think there is a business in looking fit. And, with wellness – true wellness – it's less about appearance than wholeness, health, and wellbeing. And, I believe, when people are of sound body, mind, and soul in this way, they actually become less exploitable to advertisers. They learn to find validation and happiness within themselves," said Stanley. So, what do we do to get there?
"We focus on the markers of real health. We promote healthy eating and physical activity. We talk about risk factors. We teach nutrition. And, we show that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. We represent beauty as the amazing technicolor dream quilt that it is."
See why we love her? It's easy. What isn't easy is trying to figure out how to fix the mess that we're all in. Publications like ours work to mend the brokenness that has been caused by years of stereotyping and shaming, but women like Bo make our jobs easier. "I think education is key. I think in order to start to breakdown the pervasive and systemic ideas and practices that keep women objectified, we need to educate girls AND boys of the dehumanizing effects of such a culture," said Stanley.
We're proud to be standing next to you in solidarity, Bo. Keep educating, and we will too.
Tags: Body Acceptance, Body Activism, Body Confidence, Body Diversity, Body Image, Body Issues, Body Positivity, Body Shaming, Curvy, Wellness
Kirstyn Scott
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text:
Apples to Oranges by Xondra Day
When bad boy, Brandon, moves to eighteen year old Jace's small-town, Jace's life is suddenly turned upside down.
During the last year, Jace has experienced a lot of loss. His dad's untimely death in Afghanistan and his mom's subsequent nervous breakdown have left a lasting impact on him, and meeting Brandon gives him hope for the future. Jace is ready to make big changes in his otherwise mundane life. He's at a pinnacle and can't help but think what it would be like to come out.
Brandon's life has been nothing but chaos from day one. That is until he meets straight-laced Jace. Jace stirs feelings within him that are new and exciting. And after a hot unexpected night together, he's left with questions that desperately need answering.
As their feelings grow for each another, they come to a bridge that must be crossed. Is their love enough to keep them together or will their differences tear them apart?
Be Warned: m/m sex.
Brandon was right about the weather. In less than an hour it was pissing down rain. Mike and a few others, including Brandon, had taken to the van.
By nine, Jace had the flashlight out and was reading a book he'd brought along, hoping it would pass time while the others drank themselves into a stupor. Mike had asked if he wanted to join them, but he declined. This wasn't his idea of fun, especially with…girls all around him. If anything, he'd feel like the odd one out. No thanks.
Jace jumped when he heard a door slam. Then he heard footsteps walking in his direction. When the zipper opened to the tent, he saw that it was Brandon. From the way he flopped on his sleeping bag, Brandon was dead drunk.
"Fuck, it's cold and wet out there," Brandon said. He turned on his side, facing Jace. "You should have joined us in the van."
"I'm okay here. I have my book." Jace held it up and suddenly felt lame.
"One of the girls was asking about you. She was wondering where you were. I think she was interested in getting together with you." Brandon grinned widely. "Like I said, you should have joined us. You might have gotten lucky with her."
Just what Jace wanted. "Thanks, but I'll pass on that."
"Not interested?" Brandon questioned.
"Correct." Jace went back to the pages of his book.
"In her, or do you mean girls, period?" Brandon's face was serious, but his eyes were full of mischief as he connected with Jace through the dim lighting.
Jace's pulse sped up and even though there was a chill in the air, he felt warm, extremely warm. He swallowed hard and his mouth felt like cotton. "What do you mean by that?"
God, he was buzzed. Otherwise, he would never have had the nerve to be this open and bold. Brandon thought about what to say next, choosing his words carefully. His eyes traced Jace's expression, trying to read him. "Maybe you're not into girls." It was a comment and not a question.
"I…" Jace stammered, his eyes looking from Brandon to the book he held. "I can't believe you're asking me this."
"There's nothing wrong with being gay or whatever." Even though his hazy judgement, Brandon wondered how come he did think this way when it came to his own ambiguous sexuality. At this moment, he was erect inside his jeans. That alone told him much more than anything else about how he'd felt.
"I know there isn't anything wrong with it," Jace replied. "What makes you think I'm gay?"
"Well," Brandon lowered his voice. "Call it a vibe. It's hard to explain. I did notice you looking at me in class at school." It was all coming out now.
"I wasn't looking at you," Jace protested. "Besides, how would you notice me looking at you unless you were also looking at me?"
Brandon laughed. Jace was too cute for words. With his hair slightly dishevelled and his eyes looking so intense…he'd never noticed how green they were before now. "So." Brandon inhaled deeply and his heard beat hard inside his chest. "What would you say if I asked if I could kiss you?" And before Jace had a chance to reply, Brandon leaned in and did it.
Jace almost came right then and there when their lips connected for the first time. He didn't pull away, but the sheer surprise of the moment did cause him to flinch a little.
"You taste sweet," Brandon said, his voice husky. "Tell me you liked me kissing you and tell me you want me to do it again." Brandon ran one finger down Jace's forearm as he spoke. "So soft."
Jace did want it to happen again. "It's gum and yes, please."
Brandon smelled vaguely of cigarette smoke and he tasted like beer and cherry lip balm. His tongue slipped inside Jace's mouth for the second time. Jace fell back on his sleeping bag and moaned as Brandon crawled on top of him, one leg pushing both of his slightly apart. Jace felt Brandon grinding against him, his hard-on pressing and throbbing inside his jeans.
"You can touch me if you want," Brandon said. "It's okay."
Jace pressed his hands against Brandon's firm chest and reaching down, he pulled up on the hem of his t-shirt.
Great MM short
Written by undefined on 27th Jun 2012
I found this story to be very enjoyable, with great characters and smoking sex (my favorite part!). Will buy more of this author's books!
Man Oh Man Reviews
Written by Posie on 27th Jun 2012
Reviewed by Posie: Jace has been through many hardships in his young life and when bad boy Brandon moves to his small town, he starts to have feelings for a guy who is his complete opposite. The two become close and a relationship begins, but not without its hardships. I love YA and coming out stories. There was a lot of emotion packed into this moderately short read, but I did enjoy it and wished for more when it was over. At times I disliked Brandon and his jerkish nature, but he was redeemed in the end. Jace was a good guy throughout the book besides one pissy moment that threw me off because it didn't fit his personality. Overall Jace and Brandon had great chemistry and I like that things were clued up for them nicely in the end. A
Beyond Friends by Xondra Day
The Blood Between by Xondra Day
Risky Secrets by Xondra Day
Tyler and Marco by Xondra Day
Kidnapped by Xondra Day


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Prospera raises $7 million to put computer vision and AI to work on the farm
Lora Kolodny @lorakolodny / 7 years
A Tel Aviv-based startup called Propsera has raised $7 million in new venture funding to build out systems that will monitor and help farmers improve the health of their crops, and optimize their operations.
Bessemer Venture Partners led the Series A round.
Prospera CEO and co-founder Daniel Koppel said agriculture professionals have plenty of tech at their disposal today from soil and weather sensors, to aerial images and other data attained by drone and satellite services.
But farmers still don't have the complete picture that they need to optimize production of their crops. For example, all those high-tech tools and services aren't telling farmers when diseases like late blight or tuta absoluta are beginning to take hold of their potatoes or tomatoes.
Prospera's systems, installed in greenhouses or in the field, use a proximal RGB camera and cloud-based software to gather and analyze all the information farmers are missing.
Prospera applies machine learning to report when something important is happening in the field, not every two weeks when a scout walks their fields, he said, but not overwhelming ag professionals with information that isn't noteworthy.
With diseases like those mentioned above, early diagnosis can help farmers forecast yields and make up for expected losses with other growing efforts, or possibly contain the problem and save their crops.
Prospera intends to use some of its Series A capital to work with a design services firm to overhaul its hardware, the CEO said. The Prospera device, which is installed in greenhouses or in the field, already includes: a solar panel, camera, and temperature, humidity and light (radiation) sensors.
It allows farmers a much more precise view of what's happening with their crops than any satellite and drone-based imagery, Koppel claimed. And it works for vertical, i.e. indoor, farms which wouldn't usually be helped by aerial services.
Prospera's crop monitoring system.
"We can see things like how plants are growing, the color of the plants, the density and quality of flowers, berries, where the bees are, or if a disease is showing up on a leaf." Koppel said.
The company's software can also help farmers understand exactly what people did in the field to their plants, and when. The idea is that if they got great results, farmers can direct workers to do the same things, and create the same conditions for their plants again. And if they didn't get great results, they can pinpoint what hasn't worked so well in the past and change tack.
Prospera's technology is already being used by farms, especially in Spain and Mexico. Its clients include: Walmart, Tesco, Sainsburys, and Aldi, the startup said.
Given its new funding, Prospera also intends to expand beyond the European greenhouses where it sees most of its business today into row crops and vineyards, and possibly even nascent markets like legal cannabis in the U.S.
The company is facing serious competition in agtech including from PrecisionHawk and DJI who partnered to create a crop health monitoring drone service, and Arable, whose crop health monitoring device was co-designed by Fred Bould, the creative force behind the Nest, Roku and other popular hardware.


Mentioned in March of 2008, but according to CommanderBond.net, the reprints for The Diamond Smugglers and Thrilling Cities – two of Ian Fleming's non-Bond books (though Thrilling Cities did include the James Bond short story "007 in New York") will be reprinted in 2009.
Just a quick bit of news there. Also, note that Ian Fleming Publications has redesigned their site. Looks like they took my advice here because they moved from www.ianflemingcentre.com to just www.ianfleming.com which actually makes sense.
My favorite reprints to date are the Classic Library editions – I love the Art Deco, vivid colors of the covers. I haven't seen a publishing company do such a nice job with a uniform edition/dust jacket in a long while, although I would have preferred a better font inside. Does anyone have previews of the upcoming covers or know who the artist will be?
My favorite of the Diamond Smugglers is the old Pan with one hand dropping diamonds into the other.
I wish I had more information on this, but I don't. No idea who is doing the covers or when even to expect the reprints. Just 2009. Actually I do know that Fergus Fleming is doing the introduction to The Diamond Smugglers and Jan Morris is doing the introduction to Thrilling Cities.


text:
Q: jquery select() problem in IE(8) jquery's select() is not working in IE, but its working fine in Firefox and Chrome.
What may be the problem with select() in IE, particulary IE8?

A: IDEA 1
Try adding a click trigger to your checkbox:
$(selector_to_checkbox).click(function(){ $(this).change() });

It is possible IE isn't properly triggering the change event.
IDEA 2
Try explicitly blurring the checkbox before calling .select
$(selector_to_checkbox).change(function(){
    $(this).blur();
    $(selector_to_textbox).select();
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Columbia Encyclopedia >
Medicine >
Anatomy and Physiology >
fallopian tube
fallopian tube fəlō´pēən [key], either of a pair of tubes extending from the uterus to the paired ovaries in the human female, also called oviducts, technically known as the uterine tube. At one end the long, slender fallopian tube opens into the uterus; the other end expands into a funnel shape near the ovary. The epithelium that lines the tube is covered with cilia that beat continuously toward the uterus. When an ovum is expelled into the peritoneal cavity from the ovary during ovulation, it is propelled into the wide-mouthed opening of the fallopian tube, through the tube, and into the uterus by the wavelike motion of the cilia. If the ovum is fertilized, an event that normally takes place in the fallopian tube, and the embryo (fertilized ovum) implants in the tube, or another area outside the uterus, an ectopic pregnancy occurs. About 98% of ectopic implantations occur in the tubes, but other sites include the abdomen, ovary, and cervix. Immediate surgical removal of the products of conception is necessary to prevent hemorrhage and other complications resulting from ectopic pregnancy. The fallopian tubes are also the site of the most common surgical procedures used to prevent conception or cause infertility in women. Usually the tubes are tied off in a procedure known as tubal ligation, although they are also sometimes excised or occluded by other methods. See reproductive system; uterus.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Anatomy and Physiology


Ahmedabad: In a major reshuffle, the Gujarat Government today transferred 72 junior and middle level IAS officers and promoted some of them.
Vinod Rao, Collector of Vadodara, has been named Director of National Rural Health Mission, Gandhinagar. He has been replaced by Avantika Singh Aulakh, the current Collector of Bharuch.
Among them, Managing Director of Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb) P Swaroop has been transferred as Collector of Sabarkantha district, a notification from General Administration Department (GAD) said.
Swaroop has been replaced by Roopwant Singh, currently Director of Prohibition and Excise in Ahmedabad.
Hareet Shukla, Director of Civil Supplies and Ex-officio Additional Secretary in Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, has been appointed the new MD of Gujarat Vij Company Ltd in Mehsana.
Others who have been transferred include District Collectors, District Development Officers, Municipal Commissioners and Deputy Municipal Commissioners.


While the land management activities are summarized for the last 50 years, Mongolia mainly focused on research, survey, improvement of legal framework on land management, providing information to public, implementation of land management theory-practice and approaches in field of defining land resources and official purpose of natural resources use from 1954 to 1975, proper use planning for land resources and land associated resources, development of the feasibility study and introduction of the land resources into production from 1975 to 1990, study, assess and protection of land resources.
Current situation of land use is complicated issue in nationwide. The rational land planning is very important for effective land use. For our country, city planning is developed in own ways instead of urban planning. Thus land use studies are important for urban re-planning in accordance with scientific urban planning or standard /construction/ by using detailed land use studies.
The research purpose is to assess the implementation of the Land use Plan of Soums /sub-province/ and Aimags /province/, and to define opportunity to include corresponding land protection issues into land management, land use planning and local development program and to provide citizen participation and to process recommendation.
The basic material required for recommendation is processed by using survey, consolidation and analysis methods. Activities included in the Land Use Plan were introduced in way of organizing the meeting and discussion, and questionnaire is collected by individual and group interviewing methods and analyzed for the recommendation. The survey was conducted among residents, herders, staffs and management staffs using by questionnaire method in order to study current situation and plan implementation of the land use and management. The data collection result was processed by using integration, assessment and analysis methods. The Land Use Plan implementation is evaluated by using comparative method which analyses previous material and studies current situation in accordance with the instruction for monitoring the implementation of the Land use Plan and evaluation of its result.
The General Land Use Plan of Uvs aimag was processed by term of reference instead of approved instruction. For considering the structure and content of the General Land use Plan of Khovd Aimag, it was planned with three stages. But there isn't any planning for every Soum. The planning was processed by main category of the United Land Territory. 78% of Participants answered that the General Land use Plan of Khovd Aimag need to be updated and renewed. For processing of the General Land use Plan of Khovd and Uvs Aimags, the Khovd Aimag plans 5 activities and Uvs Aimag plans 7 activities in average.
Land area, changed by current land use plan, of the General Land Use Plan for the Khovd Aimag is shown integrally with 3 stages. Total territory is divided into 3 areas and 6 ranges by using the zones categories of Mongolian territory, and planned for 2007-2010, 2011-2015 and 2016-2023. For the question that people's voice are weather included or not in the General Land Use Plan for the Aimags, 37,5 percent of the participants answered that people's voice was included but 62,5percent of the participants answered that people's voice wasn't included in the land plan. This shows that lack of citizen participation. For implementation of the General Land Management Plan for the Aimags, 37,5 percent of the Participants answered "enough" and 50 percent of Participants answered "moderate". For considering the reason of non-implementation of the General Land Use Plan for the Aimags, 50.4 percent of Participants answered the planning is done groundless, 19.6 percent of Participants answered residents and herders disagree with each other, and percent of participants answered Governors' skill of Bags are not good.
For the Land Use Plan of the Soums, the planning is common. It is planned for owning, processing and using. But the features of the local areas such as ecological capacity, opportunities to earn income using reserves and land resources are doesn't considered properly in the plan. 6-8 activities are planned in the yearly plan the soum land management of Durvuljin Soum of Zavkhan Aimag, Darvi Soum of Khovd and Bukhmurun Soum of Uvs Aimag and planned activities haven't been changed. Darvi Soum plans 250,5 hectare area, Durvuljin Soum plans 4932,1 hectare area and Bukhmurun Soum plans 9,9 hectare area on 6-8 locations compared to total area and land use situation. Darvi Soum includes 3,2 percent, Durvuljin Soum includes 71,2 percent and Bukhmurun Soum includes 9,7 percent of the territory in the planning compared to total number of the households.
For considering the implementation of yearly plan the soum land management of the above Soums, achievement of yearly plan the soum land management are 18,9-25 percent in three Soums, and for the questionnaire result, 77,8 percent of Participants answered "the land planning implementation is not enough". As seeing above, the ways to improve the implementation is to plan the proposed measures which are could be implemented within a year in yearly plan the soum land management, and to process it in accordance with the General Land use Plan.
Cause of incomplete legal environment on the land management, the land plans of the Soums are made differently and processed by only approaches as well as difficult to implement. The planning principle and approaches are not clear and the land planning activities which don't cover the total area are carried out.
The yearly plan the soum land management of the soum isn't processed covering total territory in category of the United Land Territory. 91,2 percent of planning is unrealistic and inconsistent with the land use. It shows that the land planning should be processed reasonably.
79,3 percent of total Participants answered the General Land Use Plan and annual planning are not implement causing lack of funding. The small amount of fund is annually budgeted for restoration of mining area but the fund is spent to other soums instead of the land impacted adversely by the mining operation. Restoration activities in the degraded areas Soums and local area is very important.
Citizen participation is not enough to the Land Use Plan. Experts of Governor's Office need to appoint the working team for allowing residents to participate in the planning and to build wealth creation capacity and to organize works to introduce the Land Use Plan openly to the public. The survey result showing that 75,8 percent of participants answered they have no information of the Land Use Plan or information is insufficient but their 92,6 percent interest to participate in the planning and to cooperate.
For the residents' participatory attitude to the planning, you can see from above diagram that the residents have great interest in cooperation and participation in field of reduction of land degradation, biodiversity conservation and proper use of the natural resources.
4.Mapping work of yearly plan the sum land management of the soum isn't done. As seeing the yearly plan the soum land management processing and implementation, 6-8 activities included in the planning hasn't been included in planning map and in ARC GIS geographic information system. These are not met with the principle provided in the 4.4 Section of the Instruction.
5. Measures taken for reducing land degradation haven't been included in the Land Use Plan. Although the measures taken for reducing land degradation are included in the Land Use Plan, these aren't implemented. For asking how the mining operation, oil reserve, range, location and natural resource influence to the land use, 28 percent of the Participants answered "strong" and 37,5 percent of the participants answered "moderate". For the question asking the reason of the land degradation impacts, 27.9 of the Participants answered it is caused by climate impact, 2 of the Participants answered it is caused by ungrounded the Land Management Plan, 15.3 of the Participants answered it is caused by disagreement between citizens and herders, 17.1 of the Participants answered it is caused by number livestock, 25.2 of the Participants answered it is caused by no land protection measure. As seeing above, reason related to only the Land Management Plan covers 56.7 percent.
Monitoring mechanism for implementing and processing yearly plan land management of the Soum is not enough. There isn't any difference between implementation and non-implementation of the Land Management Plan. In other words, management of responsibility, promotion and activation are needed.
Some disadvantage sides are observed. For example: when implementation monitoring of the Land Use Plan is executed in accordance with above guideline, the criteria is inappropriate, performance assessment of the land Manager is complicated, some tables are redundant and contents are repeated. Working team, appointed by Order numbered А/62 of February 20, 2013 by Administration of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography, inspected and evaluated the implementation of laws, regulation and procedure under the laws in accordance with criteria /above mentioned instruction had not been approved yet / provided in the Operation Instruction of the Land manager Job of ALAGAC in Jargalant soum, Khovd aimag. This inspection and assessment had 7 indicators and result was rated at 73 percent.
As seeing above, implementation rate of the Land Use Plan has slight progress comparing with 56 percent of implementation rate of the Land use Plan in Khovd Aimag in 2013 and survey result done among residents and specialists in 2016. These facts ensure conditions to assess and inspect the implementation of the Land Use Plan, and to reprocess and renew the instruction.
Should consider negative sides such as yearly plan the soum use plan processing, implementing, discussing, approving procedure and principle are unclear, yearly plan the soum land management plans developed differently, lack of performance assessment ways, planning principle is lost, the citizen participation is not provided, planning is processed rely on specialist and total territory isn't included to the planning.
For improving the citizen participating on implementation of the Land use Plan, 63 percent of percent of the Participants answered "works to increase the citizen participation should be organized" and 23.4 percent of percent of the participants answered "Head of the Bag and residents should cooperate". For the implementation on the Land use Plan, 72.5 percent of the Participants answered "participation of the provincial administration is not enough" and 80 percent of percent of the Participants answered "participation of Head of the Bag is not enough". Works to provide and activate citizen participation and to build wealth creation capacity should be organized.
60.5% percent of the participants answered "pasture has pressure and adverse impact causing mining operation".
This research addresses implementation of the Land use Plan for Darvi, Bukhmurun and Durvuljin soums /sub-provisions/ located in Khovd, Uvs and Zavkhan aimags /provisions/ of Mongolian western region, appro-priate methods for processing documents, inspecting and assessing implementation procedure and offering fur-ther measures taken for serious issues.


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Q: Writing to file, memory used steadily increasing I have an application where I need to write binary to a file constantly. The bits of data are small, about 1K each. The computers this is running on aren't great and are running XP. I've run into the problem that when I turn on the logging the computers just get totally hosed and I watch the Task Manager and just see the memory usage going up and up until it crashes.
A coworker suggested that I just keep the packets in memory until a certain amount of time has passed and then write it all at once instead of writing each one separately - tried that, same issue.
This is the code (loggingBuffer is the List<byte[]> I'm storing the packets in while the interval passes):
if ((DateTime.Now - lastStoreTime).TotalSeconds > 10)
{
    string fileName = @"C:\Storage\file";
    FileMode fm = File.Exists(fileName) ? FileMode.Append : FileMode.Create;
    using (BinaryWriter w = new BinaryWriter(File.Open(fileName, fm), Encoding.ASCII))
    {
        foreach (byte[] packetData in loggingBuffer)
        {
            w.Write(packetData);
        }
    }
    loggingBuffer.Clear();
    lastStoreTime= DateTime.Now;
}

Is there anything different I should be doing to accomplish this?

A: Seems to me that, while you're writing each 10 seconds, you could close the file in between. And cleanup all related file-writing things. Perhaps that would solved your problem.
Secondly, I'd suggest creating the BinaryWriter outside the function where you actually write the data. It'll keep things clearer. In your current code you're checking each time wether to append data or to create a new file and the write to it. If you'll do this outside the function and call it just once perhaps this will save memory too. All untested by me, that is :)


Allow me to introduce you, ladies: your new favourite shirt! In its beautiful pink melange and with the refined rib inserts around the crew neck, the long-sleeved shirt is not only a charming eye-catcher, but also flatters you up close. Elastic sweat wear gets a wonderfully soft feel with a soft finish and pampers your skin all around with the best SCHIESSER quality! Simply mix it with the matching trousers and enjoy it all around!


The ski'n soul SHOP and RENTAL directly at the U-Bahn in Hinterglemm - and thus on the Saalbach floodlit track - is your expert in ski & board service. Latest models from Salomon and Atomic are available here. Skis, boards, boots, goggles, helmets, … nearly everything.
In addition, during your winter holiday in Saalbach you can stow the equipment in our ski depot.
The team in the ski'n soul SHOP are also specialists for boot-fitting. They adapt the boot perfectly to the anatomical characteristics of each foot. You do not want to take off this shoe again - it's an advantage if you fall into the après ski parties after the slopes.
In order to make your holiday planning as easy as possible, a reservation of the ski material or the desired board is recommended online from home. This saves unnecessary stress during winter holidays in Saalbach and leaves time for essential things.
Of course, the team around shop manager Christian will advise you with current technical trends or which shoe suits to which skiing style. But you can save time in order to book online.


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Reviews of the Canon PowerShot SX200 IS from around the web.
Canon's PowerShot SX200 IS is a 12.1 Megapixel compact with a 12x optically stabilised zoom and a 3in screen. Announced in February 2009, it's Canon's first attempt at a pocket super-zoom and directly targets Panasonic's enormously popular travel-zoom series. Like Panasonic's latest Lumix TZ7 / ZS3, the PowerShot SX200 IS packs an impressive 12x optical zoom range into a relatively pocketable form factor, while keeping up with the latest gadgets and features.
The Canon PowerShot SX200 IS ($349) is a compact ultra zoom camera with a 12X wide-angle zoom lens, image stabilization, full manual controls, HD video recording, and a 3-inch LCD display. That sounds an awful lot like Panasonic's ultra-popular Lumix DMC-TZ5 -- easily the best camera in this class in 2008 -- though that camera is soon to be replaced with the even more impressive DMC-ZS3 (also known as the TZ7). Regardless, the SX200 is a pretty nice step-up from the SX110 that came before it.
Up until about 18 months ago, if you wanted a pocket-sized compact camera with a decent zoom range, you had a simple choice; either a Ricoh R-series or a Panasonic Lumix TZ-series. The latter especially proved to be very popular, particularly the excellent TZ5, helping to place Panasonic at the top of the compact camera market and prompting several other manufacturers to try and get in on the "travel camera" action. Canon's first attempt was the PowerShot SX100 IS, followed last Autumn by the SX110 IS, both of which had all the right features and an affordable price tag, but lacked the TZ5's compact shape and robust build quality. Other rivals include the Olympus mju 9000.
Canon did a good job selecting the features to put in this digital camera, giving a very flexible zoom range and a complete set of manual controls while avoiding the least used features such as a viewfinder and hot-shoe. Since the majority of consumers do not use those features, it is very reasonable for Canon to remove them from budget models and keep them in more advanced models such as the Canon Powershot SX20 IS.


DRINKERS IN the Royal Inn on the Park are raising a glass to Hannah Brine, pictured, who has just won an inaugural BBC Unsung Hero Award.
Brine's amateur choir, Victoria Park Singers, rehearses at the pub and patrons love the sounds they make.
The choir comprises 100 non-auditioned people. Brine's special talent is, says the BBC, "her ability to translate potential into polished performances" that have raised more than £8,000 for charity over the last two years.
For BBC Music Day's Unsung Hero, people around the UK were asked to nominate someone they thought had a significant impact in their community. A BBC panel compiled a shortlist, from which the five winners were chosen.


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The Genetics of Autism
Published by Steven Novella under Uncategorized
A new genome-wide analysis of families with autism has found significant gene associations, adding to the growing evidence for strong genetic contribution to autism. While this is still a long way away from explaining autism, it represents a significant advance in a very fruitful area of research.
But to put this into context, we need some background. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is not a single discrete pathophysiological disease. In fact, the term "disease" is probably not appropriate at all, which is why it is termed a "disorder." Like many neurological conditions with primarily cognitive and behavior effects, ASD likely correlates with the organization and function of neurons in the brain – not a pathological disease process.
What this means is that there is likely to be a complex set of many factors that contribute to ASD – not one single cause. ASD is defined by the clinical symptoms that are evident – decreased social and verbal skills with a tendency to display repetitive behaviors or a narrow focus of interest. Brain function itself is highly complex, and these higher-order behaviors may just be the final common pathway of many potential underlying changes.
Anti-Vaxers In Australia
The antivaccination movement is international, and our Australian skeptical brethren have been taking up the fight there (don't be confused by the "c" in "sceptics." I've tried to point this out to them, but they just won't listen.) Dr. Rachael Dunlop of the Australian Skeptics, who does Dr. Rachie Reports for their podcast The Skeptic Zone, has written a summary of recent events.
The amazing part of this story, at least for somewhat jaded skeptics, is the mostly responsible manner in which Australia's Channel 7 has dealt with this issue. It began with a report by Rebecca Maddern on "Sunday Night" which was an overtly scientific and pro-vaccie piece. Instead of token talking-head skeptics juxtaposed against amazing personal stories or kind-hearted (appearing) practitioners, there was token anti-vax cranks juxtaposed against children sick from vaccine-preventable diseases. Australia is apparently bizzaro-world for skeptics (maybe that explains the "c").
GM Corn
Published by Steven Novella under Skepticism
Dr. Paul Christou and colleagues announced in the latest issue of PNAS that they have created a stable genetically modified (GM) version of South African white corn that has enhanced levels of three vitamins:
The transgenic kernels contained 169-fold the normal amount of β-carotene, 6-fold the normal amount of ascorbate, and double the normal amount of folate. Levels of engineered vitamins remained stable at least through to the T3 homozygous generation.
That's precursors to vitamins A and C, and vitamin B9 respectively. This is the first time a GM crop has been enhanced with more than one vitamin. The GM corn needs to go through the testing process, however, including animal testing for safety. It will likely be years before this corn is growing in the fields of sub-Saharan Africa – it's intended target.
Anomaly Hunting
There are numerous ways in which thought processes go astray, leading us to false conclusions, even persistent delusions. Skepticism, as an intellectual endeavor, is the study of these mental pitfalls, for a thorough understanding of them is the best way to avoid them.
Science itself is a set of methods for avoiding or minimizing errors in observation, memory, and analysis. Our instincts cannot be trusted, so we need to keep them in check with objective outcome measures, systematic observation, and rigid control of variables. In fact bias has a way of creeping into any observation and exerting powerful if subtle effects, leading to the need to completely blind scientific experiments. Good scientists have learned not to trust even themselves.
One of the most common and insidious bits of cognitive self-deception is the process of anomaly hunting. A true anomaly is something that cannot be explained by our current model of nature – it doesn't fit into existing theories. Anomalies are therefore very useful to scientific inquiry because they point to new knowledge, the potential to deepen or extend existing theories.
Pinniped Evolution
The joke is getting so overused now it is becoming a cliche in skeptical circles – what happens when a paleontologist fills in a gap in the fossil record? They create two gaps, one on each side. But it is often used because it pithily exposes the intellectual buffoonery of those evolution deniers (aka creationists) who deny common descent. What is a "gap;" how big does it have to be to call into question common decent; or rather how small do the gaps have to shrink before creationists will accept common descent?
Perhaps the biggest outright lie in the creationist camp, still frequently parroted, is that there is a lack of transitional fossils in the fossil record. That is why it is important to showcase to the public the steady stream of beautiful transitional fossils that are being added to our already copious fossil record.
In the most recent issue of Nature, scientist present yet another pesky gap filled in with a transitional fossil, this one an early pinniped – which includes seals, sealions, and walruses.
A Personal Attack By J.B. Handley
It seems I have gotten under the skin of notorious anti-vaccine crank J.B. Handley, the founder of Age of Autism. He recently wrote an entire article dedicated to the character assassination of yours truly. It seems I had the temerity to critique the latest anti-vaccination propaganda initiative called fourteen studies, an attempt to discredit the scientific evidence against a link between vaccines and autism.
Handley's attack is an astounding example of hypocrisy, logical fallacies, and tortured reasoning. He really exposes the intellectual bankruptsy of the anti-vaccine movement, which is only reinforced by the supporting comments left by his avid readers.
He begins:
In general, I think the site (fourteen studies) so resolutely exposes the dirty underwear of the mainstream's weak science on the vaccine-autism debate that most critiques of the site seem to center around the idea that "you have no need to go look at the site, and please pay no attention to the dirty underwear behind the curtain…"
Edgar Mitchell on UFOs Again
Someone should tell CNN that Edgar Mitchell claiming the US government is concealing evidence for contact with extraterrestrial life is not news. I know it makes for eye-catching headlines, and of course that is the point, but really – Mitchell has been going around to UFO groups making the same claims for years.
The only thing that separates Mitchell from your average UFO believer is that he is a former astronaut. This gives his claims a superficial air of authority, but when you actually examine his claims you find that they are not based upon his tenure as an astronaut. It is not as if he met aliens while he was in orbit. He has been a bit coy about how his time at NASA plays into his claims. He leaves open the suggestion that he was privy to inside information about UFOs in NASA, but has nothing concrete to give. (NASA, of course, denies any cover up.)
Occam's Razor and Closed-Mindedness
An SGU listener by the name of Jenny recently sent me the following question:
When we skeptics are faced with an unexplained occurrence, we work up a list of possible explanations based on our knowledge of how the world works and then use Occam's Razor to prune out the most unlikely ones.
We often preemptively wield the razor by leaving off the list supernatural explanations that have been tried and debunked dozens of times. This is a tempting time-saving measure, but it's also a violation of our proclaimed skeptic's creed of being open to ANY explanation that is supported by evidence.
I often wonder how Richard Saunders manages to stick to the creed with such good humor–I don't have the patience, myself.
This misuse of Occam's Razor is, in a way, the reciprocal of the argument from ignorance–the argument from presumed knowledge, let's say. For we skeptics to state categorically that a supernatural explanation CANNOT be true is just as much a logical fallacy as for a credulous person to state that our naturalistic explanations cannot explain the phenomenon in question. It also leaves us open to accusations of arrogance and closed-mindedness, which in this case actually have some basis.
This is a great question. While Jenny is a skeptic who is just trying to understand skeptical philosophy, similar arguments are often used by the proponents of various supernatural explanations, and so a detailed answer is helpful on multiple fronts.
Saving the Earth from an Asteroid
In Death From The Skies, Phil Plait discusses all the ways in which the universe might wipe out life on Earth. Perhaps the most obvious is by asteroid or comet impact. This one comes readily to mind probably because the current majority opinion is that the dinosaurs met their end at the hands of a large asteroid striking the earth near modern-day Mexico. This has also been the plot of two recent movies – Deep Impact and Armageddon, with nice visual effects of the impact.
Most readers are probably aware of the fact that the Earth is threatened by asteroids which cross our orbit. There are none right now on a known collision course with the Earth, but the threat remains. Apophis will come close in 2029 and 2036, but probably won't hit. But eventually a large asteroid's path will intersect the Earth again – it's just a matter of time.
Therefore astronomers have been thinking about ways to protect the earth from such an inevitability. One feature of any scheme to protect the Earth is the tracking of all near-earth objects. We cannot protect ourselves from a threat if we don't know it exists. Also, the more lead time we have, the easier it will be to deflect an incoming rock.
Homeopathy for Cancer Treatment Side Effects
The Cochrane Collaboration, an organization dedicated to evidence-based medicine, has published a review of studies of homeopathic treatments for side effects of radiation therapy and chemotherapy for cancer. The results are unimpressive – consistent with the null-hypothesis that homeopathic remedies have no effect. And yet the review is being distorted to promote a very misleading bottom-line to the press – that homeopathic remedies have a role to play in cancer therapy.
One point has been made clear – the treatments under study are not for cancer itself, but for the side effects of standard cancer therapies: radiation and chemotherapy. However, the results are being presented as if they support the efficacy of homeopathic remedies, when they do not.
Some quick background on homeopathy: This is a pre-scientific philosophy of medicine invented by Samuel Hahnemann around 1792. The principles of homeopathy are akin to sympathetic magical rituals. They include the notion that like cures like, or that a small amount of a substance that causes a symptom can be used to cure it. However, he then combined this principle with his "law of infinitessimals" which states that substances will become more potent as they are diluted, even if they are diluted beyond there point where any active ingredient remains. And finally he came up with the notion of succussion – that homeopathic remedies are given their power by shaking them 10 times in each spacial plane.