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"Science, the public and the history of science"
What made historians and philosophers of science get all of a flutter on Twitter yesterday?
Rebekah Higgitt
December 21st, 2012
Some Twitter-types may have noticed that the New Statesman editorial by Brian Cox and Robin Ince on science [see below], evidence and policy provoked some discussion and debate between the authors and various people loosely within the fields of History and Philosophy of Science and Science and Technology Studies.
One interesting post on the piece has been written by Jack Stilgoe here in the Guardian. Let me say straight up that, like Stilgoe, there was plenty I agree with in the piece. Particularly the meat of their article, in paragraphs 4 to 7, including the clear acknowledgement that science is work-in-progress and that it cannot be the only thing that policy-makers take into account.
Likewise, most of those engaged in the Twitter discussion would have been in complete agreement that science is an excellent way of producing evidence vital for informed policy and that the scientific evidence on climate change is clear.
So why the fuss? It was an opinion piece that discussed the nature of science and the role of science in society. These are areas that people in HPS and STS have devoted their careers to researching. The view of science that was presented here does not chime with the current consensus within these disciplines, and that naturally provoked a reaction – just as scientists are provoked to react by those who reject or ignore their research.
Both sides of this discussion have more in common than not, and the criticism was made in good faith and with a genuine belief that science, science communication and the use of scientific evidence in government policy, would benefit. We aim to aid, not to jeopardise understanding of scientific evidence, by following the evidence uncovered by our disciplines (and, yes, there are other kinds of evidence than scientific).
Broadly, my objections fall into two categories:
1. The piece suggests that science is separated from the "moral, geopolitical and economic components", even if they rightly acknowledge that it must be part of policy-making
2. Some large and a-historical claims are made regarding changing attitudes to science and technology
On the first, I agree with what Stilgoe has written: "Climate science cannot be separated from climate politics", for scientists are people and they are funded by people. Choices about scientific research and its interpretation are also influenced by geographic, economic, moral and other frameworks. Failing to acknowledge this places an impossible burden on science and its practitioners and inhibits good discussion around different kinds of evidence and opinion.
While there are lots of good phrases about this in the piece, it remains the case that we have scientific evidence on one side of the equation and everything else on the other. It is right to say that scientific evidence "should not be seen or presented … as a body of inviolate knowledge against which policy should be judged", and yet it and "the scientific method" are given a unique place in this discussion. It is the only thing placed as an "adjudicator above opinion", and they explicitly see a border between science and politics, even if it is portrayed as an unclear one.
The second issue arises in the article's framing, especially the big opening: "The story of the past hundred years is one of unparalleled human advances, medically, technologically and intellectually. The foundation for these changes is the scientific method". This was bound to get the historical and philosophical radar twitching, even if it seems peripheral to the focus of the piece.
"[U]nparalleled human advances" is questionable, for almost any other 100-year period can give a similar sense. In the West in recent centuries, science and technology have certainly played a huge part in those changes, but claiming that the kind of technological innovations Ince and Cox are referring to are due to "the scientific method" is something most scholarship in the history and philosophy of science rejects. Firstly, there are many scientific methods and many, when studied in detail, are not particularly methodological. Secondly, new technology tends to lead to new scientific research, rather than vice versa.
This is fairly trivial in the context, however galling to those who carry out research that demonstrates these points. However, more problematic is the fact that the piece goes on to claim that our cushy life and unquestioning consumption of incomprehensible technology is leading us to be less impressed by and accepting of such novelties. Apparently we are devolving:
The technology and advances in knowledge that cosset us have removed, to a large extent, the need to use our ingenuity and to think rationally. Believing complete drivel was once selected against; now it gets you an expert slot on daytime TV.
In fact, historical research suggests that levels of "believing complete drivel", like those of greeting innovations with "excitement and awe" or boredom or suspicion have not changed a great deal. There is no evidence that "humbug and charlatanism are able to creep into our lives with greater ease", and I have yet to find anyone arguing that "we are no longer obliged to continue the scientific exploration of nature" or that "scientific progress is no longer desirable or necessary".
It is untrue and unhelpful to claim that those who question or ignore certain scientific findings are opposed to science in general. Such statements set up unnecessary dualisms and a "you're either with us or against us" feeling. Frankly, if people only accept part of the package, better that than none. We need to avoid situations where people, who for whatever cultural, religious or personal reasons are unconvinced by scientific arguments in one area, find themselves forced into taking sides in a science/anti-science dichotomy.
How are we to proceed? We should simply accept that "It is not logical to challenge the findings of science unless there are specific, evidence-based reasons for doing so". But the trouble is that people do challenge, and being told that they can't isn't likely to stop them. There is no call here to improve communication with those who have doubts about the message. In the end, we are left simply with "Believe us".
Finally, I do think that scientists are better at science than me, and that successful science communicators are better at communicating science (to a large audience, if not to all audiences). I also think that when scientists, rightly, get involved with discussing the nature of science (philosophy) and its role in society (history, social sciences) they might accept that there are other realms of scholarship that have thought about these things long and hard, and have important things to add to the conversation.
"Brian Cox and Robin Ince: Politicians must not elevate mere opinion over science"
Climate science is just one area that has become controversial for primarily non-scientific reasons. Controversies like this risk undermining confidence in the very idea of science.
Brian Cox and Robin Ince
December 18th, 2012
The story of the past hundred years is one of unparalleled human advances, medically, technologically and intellectually. The foundation for these changes is the scientific method. In every room in your house, there are innovations that in 1912 would have been considered on the cusp of magic. The problem with a hundred years of unabated progress, however, is that its continual nature has made us blasé. We expect immediate hot water, 200 channels of television 24 hours a day, and the ability to speak directly to anyone anywhere in the world any time via an orbiting network of spacecraft. Any less is tantamount to penury. Where once the arrival of a television in a street or the availability of international flight would have been greeted with excitement and awe, and the desire to understand how those innovations came into being, it is now expected that every three months you'll be queuing outside the Apple store for a new wafer-thin slab of brushed metal, blithely unaware that watching a movie in the palm of your hand has been made possible only through improbable and hard-won leaps in the understanding of the quantum behaviour of electrons in silicon.
With each new generation, the memory of appallingly high child mortality rates, tuberculosis and vast slums grows fainter and fainter. As the past becomes hazy, we start to believe that there can be no other sort of world. We become nonchalant about vaccines, to the point of seeing them as a lifestyle choice akin to a decision to eat only organically farmed fruit, because we attend fewer and fewer funerals of those who died too young. The technology and advances in knowledge that cosset us have removed, to a large extent, the need to use our ingenuity and to think rationally. Believing complete drivel was once selected against; now it gets you an expert slot on daytime TV.
Against this rather depressing introductory backdrop, however, there are faint glimmers of hope, because science, rational think-ing and evidence-based policy-making are enjoying a revival. Part of the evidence for this statement can be found on the pages of a certain type of newspaper, where the idea that there may be an adjudicator above opinion is treated as an affront to the ideology of the columnist. The adjudicator in question is nature, the universe beyond the Notting Hill basement kitchen, and the wonderful thing about nature is that opinions can be tested against it. The key to science is in this simple statement from the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Richard Feynman, who once remarked: "It does not make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is – if it disagrees with experiment it is wrong."
The assertion is surely uncontroversial, but implementing it can be prohibitively difficult, primarily because it demands that everything be subordinate to evidence. Accepting this is fraught with cultural difficulty, because authority in general rests with grandees, gods, or more usually some inseparable combination of the two. Even in a secular democracy, a fundamental tenet of the system is that politicians are elected to reflect and act upon the opinions of the people, or are at least given temporary authority by the people to act upon their own. Science is a framework with only one absolute: all opinions, theories and "laws" are open to revision in the face of evidence. It should not be seen or presented, therefore, as a body of inviolate knowledge against which policy should be judged; the effect of this would be to replace one priesthood with another. Rather, science is a process, a series of structures that allow us, in as unbiased a way as possible, to test our assertions against Nature.
Let us take the politically controversial issue of climate change as an example. Climate scientists make measurements of observable properties of our planet, such as sea surface temperatures and the area of Arctic sea ice. Over many years, these measurements have formed a large data set. The only grounds for arguing with the data would be specific technical issues with the measurements themselves. One could assert that the satellites measuring sea temperatures were not calibrated correctly, or that there was a methodological error in the measurement of the area of the sea ice. Such criticisms are relatively rare. A more common criticism is of the interpretation of the data using computer models.
All models are, by nature, an approximation to reality. But they are the best we can do, given our current understanding and the power of our computers. The important words here are "the best we can do". There is no other way of predicting the probability of weather in the future. The only legitimate criticisms would be of specific issues with specific models, or of specific inferences drawn from them. It would certainly be wrong to assert that the ensemble of climate models from various research groups around the world encompassed all possible uncertainties about the future, but it is not logical to attack climate science as a whole, because to do so is to attack scientific method.
The loud criticism of climate science is motivated in the main not by technical objections, but by the difficult political choices with which it confronts us. This is important, because there must be a place where science stops and politics begins, and this border is an extremely complex and uncomfortable one. Science can't tell us what to do about our changing climate. It can only inform us that it is changing (this is a statement based on data) and tell us the most probable reasons for this given the current state of our understanding. For a given policy response, it can also tell us how likely that response is to be effective, to the best of our understanding. The choice of policy response itself is not a purely scientific question, however, because it necessarily has moral, geopolitical and economic components.
Climate science is one of a series of areas that, for primarily non-scientific reasons, has become controversial; and these controversies risk undermining confidence in the very idea of science. Others are the use of genetically modified crops, vaccination policy and even (God help us) the teaching of evolution in schools. These socio-political-religious controversies risk damaging public confidence in science, partly because of the tactics employed by their advocates, which, if unchecked, will have grave consequences because we live in a society dominated by science. People who rail against science risk becoming disenfranchised, because many of the most important decisions we face as a society have a scientific component. And the larger and more vocal the disenfranchised minority, the less likely we are to make decisions based on the best available evidence and understanding.
Science is the framework within which we reach conclusions about the natural world. These conclusions are always preliminary, always open to revision, but they are the best we can do. It is not logical to challenge the findings of science unless there are specific, evidence-based reasons for doing so. Elected politicians are free to disregard its findings and recommendations. Indeed, there may be good reasons for doing so. But they must understand in detail what they are disregarding, and be prepared to explain with precision why they chose to do so. It is not acceptable to see science as one among many acceptable "views". Science is the only way we have of exploring nature, and nature exists outside of human structures.
We live in exciting times; our access to knowledge has never been greater, but this also means that humbug and charlatanism are able to creep into our lives with greater ease. We cannot afford to sit back and enjoy the achievements of previous generations, and decide that we are no longer obliged to continue the scientific exploration of nature. Fortunately for us, Michael Faraday was not dazzled by the convenience of gaslight. We must not use our comparative comfort and luxury to elevate opinion above science or, even worse, to argue that scientific progress is no longer desirable or necessary. It would be a gross mistake to assume, for the first time in human history, that there are no great discoveries left to make.
[Robin Ince is a writer and comedian. Brian Cox is a broadcaster and professor of physics at the University of Manchester.]


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At the end of April this year, I was treated to five-day press trip to Peninsula Papagayo in Costa Rica, courtesy of the world's leading luxury destination club Exclusive Resorts. It is an incredible resort in a beautiful location, and the varied activities on offer – zip lining through the forest canopy, jet-skiing around the peninsula's bay, spotting dolphins on a cocktail-crazy cruise – were beyond my expectations. I subsequently wrote an article all about the destination club for Private Air Luxury Homes Magazine… and this has just been published! You can read it by clicking on the image, or this here link.
On a side note, my team of writers at WorldWORDS also penned more than a dozen articles for the latest issue of the magazine, on topics ranging from repurposing historic buildings in London to magical museum exhibitions in Geneva to legendary farm properties in New York State. You can read the majority of these in the WorldWORDS portfolio, and the rest on the Private Air site.

subset: commoncrawl


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New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday at approximately 12 noon. Central Time. They appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listing. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.
New This Week
Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a job posting.


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Working to get two October seminars set up on the East Coast. It's actually short notice, but I think/hope it can work. I really want to do a bar brawl with some of the Boston crew. That will be a blast for everybody. Also trying to set one up near NYC, probably on the Jersey shore.
San Francisco (Oakland, technically) is coming up in two weeks. The venue looks very cool. It will be a chance to see Maija and Mariusz again as well as maybe meet Scott. Talk more with Dale and E. and Earl and Raj and...
Seattle is a go for October 23-24. Should be fun. And Brent can help me with that retarded looking kick.
Also getting something on the Wyoming/Montana border. Date is set, but I don't know the venue or whether it will be open.
October is shaping up to be a big month. Toby is going to be doing another survival weekend, this time in Massachusetts, and that's always fun. It's also a big incentive to go to the East Coast.
Steve Miller is setting up a "Jam Session" September 18-19. I may be dropping in. KJ will be there, and that's always good.
Hope to see some of you here, there and everywhere.


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Verbrugge Environmental Center
Whitworth University's Verbrugge Environmental Center supports the education of mind and heart by equipping students, scientists, teachers and community members to engage in Christian environmental stewardship through field-based research, education and conservation. The VEC provides a unique local context in which patrons can investigate issues related to resource conservation, human ecology, ethno-botany, and ecosystem restoration and can also engage in basic and applied ecological research. The VEC is above all a place where the Whitworth community lives out its commitment to care responsibly for creation through the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of the land entrusted to it.


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How to speak so that people want to listen
59,853,018 views |
Julian Treasure |
TEDGlobal 2013
• June 2013
Have you ever felt like you're talking, but nobody is listening? Here's Julian Treasure to help. In this useful talk, the sound expert demonstrates the how-to's of powerful speaking -- from some handy vocal exercises to tips on how to speak with empathy. A talk that might help the world sound more beautiful.


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Pick Six: Week 3 | by Jay
Pick Six Standings have been updated, with Texas Tech providing some boost to those fortunate enough to have cast their lot with the Red Raiders.
Doubledomer and Haggis Breath jump into the lead.
In the BlogPollers' division of the Pick Six, Pat of BGS and The Nittany Blog take over the top spot, while former leader John of Catholic Packer Fan falls all the way to 8th as BC tumbles.
Three ranked battles of note this week: Iowa (21) at Ohio State (9), Georgia Tech (15) at Virginia Tech (4), and the big one, Tennessee (11) at LSU (3).


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Steve Stenros *Master CREIA Inspector *ICC Residential Combination Inspector *ASHI Certified Inspector *InterNACHI Certified Master Inspector *Infrared Thermographer *FHA/HUD Inspector *203K Consultant
Thank you for visiting the site of First Choice Inspections, one of the premier home inspection companies in southern California serving San Diego county and the southern portions of Riverside and Orange counties. Buyers and sellers of real estate from Coronado, Chula Vista, San Diego, Del Mar, and La Jolla in the south to San Clemente and Riverside in the north, and from the coastal regions of Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside to the inland areas of Temecula, Murrieta, Fallbrook, Escondido, Rancho Bernardo and Scripps Ranch can benefit from the experience and expertise of a highly credentialed inspector.
- MCI/Master CREIA Inspector
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Clients of First Choice Inspections receive a FREE lifetime appliance RecallCheck with every standard home inspection!
Please take a moment to scan the pages of our site so you can see the difference a quality inspection from an experienced, credentialed home inspector can make. You can view a sample home inspection report, information about additional services we provide (Infrared scans, Pool/Spa inspections, Drone inspections, RecallChek), home inspection videos and photos, client testimonials and more. Get the quality service you MUST have when making a large purchase! Give us a call. We look forward to speaking with you soon!
First Choice Inspections on
SAN DIEGO home inspection


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Wall Street Journal prime rate
This Week | Month Ago | Year Ago | |
WSJ Prime Rate | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.25 |
What it means: The initials stand for The Wall Street Journal, which surveys large banks and publishes the consensus prime rate. The Journal surveys the 30 largest banks, and when three-quarters of them (23) change, the Journal changes its rate, effective on the day the Journal publishes the new rate. It's the most widely quoted measure of the prime rate, which is the rate at which banks will lend money to their most-favored customers. The prime rate will move up or down in lock step with changes by the Federal Reserve Board.
How it's used: The prime rate is an important index used by banks to set rates on many consumer loan products, such as credit cards or auto loans. If you see that the prime rate has gone up, your variable credit card rate will soon follow.


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Buyer Resources
Free Wake Forest, NC Buying Guide
In today's ever-changing real estate market, Wake Forest, NC home buyers require many tools and resources to find their family's dream home. When you request your Wake Forest, NC Free Home Buying Guide from Ray Realty Group, you benefit from receiving a comprehensive resource to help you locate the home that best fits your family's needs!
Easy-To-Use Form
Simply fill in the fields so that we may contact you to provide a customized guide tailored to your specific home buying needs.
Protecting Your Privacy
Please note, we hate spam as much as you do. We are diligent about protecting your privacy and will never share or sell your private contact information with a third party. By giving us your phone number and email address, you are giving us permission to contact you via email or phone. You can view our privacy policy for more information.


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Clouds are usually the most common feature of the sky, especially over Britain. A cloud is a visible accumulation of minute droplets of water or ice crystals, or of both, suspended in the air. Clouds may also include other solid particles, such as those present in fumes, smoke or dust. While the typical size of a single minute cloud droplet (20 micrometers) is one hundred times smaller than the typical size of a rain drop, which is two millimeters, the size of the cloud itself might range from a few meters (cumulus humilis) to the order of a few 10s of kilometers (thundercell). However, large-scale convection can form clusters on the scale of 100s-1000 km and are easily recognisable from satellite imagery.
Cloud formation is generally due to vertical motion of the air above the condensation level. This might be the ascent of humid air over an orographic barrier, or forced uplift along a front, or thermal convection. Sometimes other processes, such as turbulence and reduced air pressure may be involved. Thus a cloud is created by condensation or freezing of water vapour, and with its base above the ground. However, clouds may form at or be in contact with the ground surface, too. In fact, such a cloud would be known as fog, ice fog, or mist.
Clouds usually occur within the troposphere, and some cirrus do even form at lower stratosphere levels. However, the true 'upper class' of the clouds are the rare noctilucent (left) or polar stratospheric clouds, forming at even greater altitudes way above 20 km.
Clouds and fog reflect weather patterns and interact with the ground, sun and atmosphere thus playing an important role in what the weather does. In addition to their obvious role as sources of precipitation, clouds also can affect the temperatures of the places below them. Clouds not only block incoming sunlight during the day, which cools the air, but they can also block outgoing radiation from the Earth, which can warm temperatures.
Clouds come in many sizes and an endless variety of shapes, which refelect their origin and history. Their varied forms are desrcibed in standardized ways by the WMO cloud classification scheme. Cloud may be described by its dimensions, shape, structure texture and opaqueness, but they are always white. Its only their own shade or the low sun that gives them dark or reddish colours.
Related features:
Cloud types
Cloud cover forecast
Satellite images
Comma cloud
Banner cloud


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Canada's Next Top Model judge Stacey McKenzie and photographer Arline Malakian
Once again my good friend Tosca Delfino showcased her talents during Toronto's Fashion Week. The show part of Fashion Night Toronto was hosted by Canada's Next Top Model judge Stacey McKenzie at the luxurious Windsor Arms Hotel. The collection featured some of her newest designs in both women's and men's pieces. Styling was done by Rita Fiorucci with accessories by Jewellery Box. Here are some photos:


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The First Look at Spielberg's 'West Side Story' Arrives
The classic musical West Side Story is getting a 21st century update (or at least a 21st century version — the setting and time period will remain) from director Steven Spielberg,. Although the movie doesn't open in theaters for almost a year and a half, the first photo from the film, featuring the new cast, was just unveiled.
Here's exactly who's in the picture. Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler play the leads, Tony and Maria, at the center of the photo:
Pictured left to right are: Jets members Anybodys (Ezra Menas), Mouthpiece (Ben Cook), Action (Sean Harrison Jones); Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist); Baby John (Patrick Higgins); Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler); Maria's brother and Sharks leader Bernardo (David Alvarez); and Sharks members Quique (Julius Anthony Rubio), Chago (Ricardo Zayas), Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), Braulio (Sebastian Serra) and Pipo (Carlos Sánchez Falú).
Spielberg has assembled an impressive team around him to adapt the musical, including Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (and Lincoln screenwriter) Tony Kushner, and choreographer Justin Peck, who was the subject of the fascinating documentary Ballet 422. I also love the casting of Brian d'Arcy James as Officer Krupke and Corey Stoll as Lieutenant Schrank. Based on the picture, the cast, and the creative team, it's clear West Side Story is about as high-end as movie musicals get these days.
West Side Story opens in theaters on December 18, 2020.
Gallery — The Best Movie Taglines of All Time:


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Linear Closed 75C 150C 225C
The Hunter Douglas Linear Closed Ceiling System combines three widths of panels which are distinguishable from other HD systems by their bevelled edges. When installed this ceiling system produces a closed smooth appearance.
General Information
Why Linear Ceilings?
Hunter Douglas's range of Luxalon linear closed ceilings provide the architect with a range of directional room designs. This interior metal ceiling employs smooth clean lines in a range of widths and colours to help create staggered, multi layer designs.
- Closed aluminium ceiling panels with bevelled edges, when installed creates closed smooth appearance
- Combination of 3 widths 75/150/225 mm
- All three widths can be clipped to an integrated universal carrier
- Panels can be supplied in any length up to 6000 mm (as standard)
- Optimum acoustic control by using perforated panels
- Manufactured from special alloy aluminium with up to 92% recycled content
- Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Bronze (Cradle to Cradle Certified™ is a certification mark licensed by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute).
The Linear Closed Ceiling System is suitable for all wide range of building sectors including Corporate, Transport (airports, metro, bus & train stations) Retail, Leisure, Public space, Hospitality, Healthcare, Education and Residential.
Please contact us to discuss your requirements.
Design & Inspiration
Hunter Douglas Closed linear panels put less emphasis on the direction of the panels, an important aspect when a designer is looking to achieve a closed smooth ceiling. Three different widths in a uni design or combined with each other, create subtle patterns that can produce a stunning finish to any ceilings appearance.
Colours & Finishes
The Hunter Douglas range of Metal Ceilings, are available in a range of standard colours that are suitable for most applications. For further information on ceiling types and the special finishes and colour ranges that are available for specific projects please contact our sales office.
Product Details
Material characteristics
This aluminium interior ceiling system combines three widths of panels which are distinguished from other Hunter Douglas systems by their bevelled edges which when installed produces a closed smooth appearance. The panels can be fixed to a universal carrier for all three widths, all the same or mixed. The panels are joined together using a panel splice whilst the carriers use the standard carrier connector. Adaptor panels are locked by the adaptor clip.
More product details
More detailed information can be found in the downloads section below. Here you can find information about: Maximum spans, dimension & weights, material requirement per m2
Acoustic information
The acoustic performance in an office space, school or public building contributes to our well being as poor acoustic comfort can affect health, communication, safety, productivity and learning. Hunter Douglas high performance acoustic ceiling products are the best solution to deliver outstanding acoustic performance, comfort and an aesthetically pleasing environment. With the Luxalon Closed Panel system an absorption value (αw) 0.75 can be obtained, depending on the ceiling and panel configuration.
More information about acoustics
Further acoustic information can be found in the downloads section below.
CAD Drawings
Health and wellbeing
Hunter Douglas contributes to sustainable buildings through aesthetic solutions that enhance comfort and save energy. Promoting health and wellbeing of their occupants is arguably the most important function of buildings. Buildings are not constructed just to be energy efficient. Our shading solutions promote the use of healthy daylight without the hindrances of glare and thermal discomfort. Our acoustic ceilings are a key element in the provision of acoustic comfort.
Sound materials
Environmentally sound materials are the key to a sustainable building. Our strategy is to pick materials that have good environmental properties to start with. Many of our products are made of aluminum with optimised processes to use up to 84% of recycled content. Our wood is FSC certified and we embrace the Cradle to Cradle principle in our product development
Energy savings
Reducing the energy use of the total building stock is key to the prevention of global warming. Most modern office buildings use more energy for cooling than heating. Effectively managing the solar energy that passes through the transparent part of the façade is a key strategy in the prevention of overheating in both old and new buildings. Our high performance shading solutions bring substantial energy savings, while at the same time promoting health and wellbeing.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Keen on Green is an important company-wide initiative to reduce energy consumption, water usage and our overall carbon-footprint. We embrace the ISO 14001 framework to actively manage our Keen on Green objectives. Hunter Douglas and its employees actively support the communities in which we live and work, as well as those on a more global scale. Business is people. We pride ourselves on our worldwide network of experienced, intelligent, passionate and creative people that have consciously chosen Hunter Douglas as their employer.


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Surveyors are sent to divide the rest of the land into seven tribes. The lot of Benjamin.
1 And all the children of Israel assembled together in Silo, and there they set up the tabernacle of the testimony, and the land was subdued before them. 2 But there remained seven tribes of the children of Israel, which as yet had not received their possessions. 3 And Josue said to them: How long are you indolent and slack, and go not in to possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers hath given you? 4 Choose of every tribe three men, that I may send them, and they may go and compass the land, and mark it out according to the number of each multitude: and bring back to me what they have marked out. 5 Divide to yourselves the land into seven parts: let Juda be in his bounds on the south side, and the house of Joseph on the north.
6 The land in the midst between these mark ye out into seven parts; and you shall come hither to me, that I may cast lots for you before the Lord your God. 7 For the Levites have no part among you, but the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. And Gad and Ruben, and the half tribe of Manasses have already received their possessions beyond the Jordan eastward: which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them. 8 And when the men were risen up, to go to mark out the land, Josue commanded them, saying: Go round the land and mark it out, and return to me: that I may cast lots for you before the Lord in Silo. 9 So they went: and surveying it divided it into seven parts, writing them down in a book. And they returned to Josue, to the camp in Silo. 10 And he cast lots before the Lord in Silo, and divided the land to the children of Israel into seven parts.
[6] "The land in the midst between these mark ye out into seven parts": That is to say, the rest of the land, which is not already assigned to Juda or Joseph.
11 And first came up the lot of the children of Benjamin by their families, to possess the land between the children of Juda, and the children of Joseph. 12 And their border northward was from the Jordan: going along by the side of Jericho on the north side, and thence going up westward to the mountains, and reaching to the wilderness of Bethaven, 13 And passing along southward by Luza, the same is Bethel: and it goeth down into Ataroth-addar to the mountain, that is on the south of the nether Beth-horon. 14 And it bendeth thence going round towards the sea, south of the mountain that looketh towards Beth-horon to the southwest: and the outgoings thereof are into Cariathbaal, which is called also Cariathiarim, a city of the children of Juda. This is their coast towards the sea, westward. 15 But on the south side the border goeth out from part of Cariathiarim towards the sea, and cometh to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoa.
16 And it goeth down to that part of the mountain that looketh on the valley of the children of Ennom: and is over against the north quarter in the furthermost part of the valley of Raphaim, and it goeth down into Geennom (that is the valley of Ennom) by the side of the Jebusite to the south: and cometh to the fountain of Rogel, 17 Passing thence to the north, and going out to Ensemes, that is to say, the fountain of the sue: 18 And it passeth along to the hills that are over against the ascent of Adommim: and it goeth down to Abenboen, that is, the stone of Boen the son of Ruben: and it passeth on the north side to the champaign countries; and goeth down into the plain, 19 And it passeth by Bethhagla northward: and the outgoings thereof are towards the north of the most salt sea at the south end of the Jordan: 20 Which is the border of it on the east side. This is the possession of the children of Benjamin by their borders round about, and their families.
21 And their cities were, Jericho and Bethhagla and Vale-Casis, 22 Betharaba and Samaraim and Bethel, 23 And Avim and Aphara and Ophera, 24 The town Emona and Ophni and Gabee: twelve cities, and their villages. 25 Gabam and Rama and Beroth,
26 And Mesphe, and Caphara, and Amosa, 27 And Recem, Jarephel and Tharela, 28 And Sela, Eleph and Jebus, which is Jerusalem, Gabaath and Cariath: fourteen cities, and their villages. This is the possession of the children of Benjamin by their families.


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Ribbon Pump in Eartha
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- Aurora James (Creative Director, Brother Vellies)
Heeled Pump with laces rendered in suede. Heel height is 4 inches.


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Wild Garlic, Allium canadense, is a great plant to add some seasoning to your foraged goods. This plant pops up in early spring but it is hard to distinguish from other Allium. The flowers have six regular parts; basal leaves that are entire, long, and narrow; and a bulb for a root.
The nutritional value of Wild Garlic is unknown but it can be speculated that it may be a good source of vitamin C. History Buffs might be interested to know that besides the American Indians utilizing this plant as a food source, Lewis and Clark chewed on the bulblets to fight off starvation and scurvy. Though this plant is called Wild Garlic the flavor is more reminiscent to onions rather than garlic.
The Cherokee had a variety of medicinal uses for this plant using it for things such as gout, colds, coughs, headaches and more. The Mahuna used Wild Garlic as a protection against venomous creatures, and western medicine used this plant for a variety of ailments.
Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!
Wild Garlic Sources:
Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.
Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.
Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King's American Dispensatory, Vol. 1. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 145-146
Fernald, Merritt Lyndon & Alfred Charles Kinsey. Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1996. Print. pg. 126-130
Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 34-36
Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 35
Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 243
Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 57
Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb's Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 334-335
Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 114-115
United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.


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William Turner, born in 1920, is one of the last of the great living Northern Industrial painters — who belonged to the circle of artists who surrounded and were influenced by L.S. Lowry — Alan Lowndes, Kenneth Gribble, Theodore Major, Harold Riley etc. Lowry followed a personal vision, little influenced by the works of other painters. William Turner, however, in the fifties and sixties was a regular visitor to the exhibitions held at the Crane Kalman Gallery, Manchester, where he absorbed the works of the German Expressionists and the French Fauves particularly Beckmann, Vlaminck, Soutine, Chagall, Rouault, Segonzac. He re-interpreted their colours and techniques and applied them in a very personal way to the industrial landscapes of the N.W. of England.
For over fifty years Turner has painted the industrial landscapes of the North-West, depicting images of towering cotton mills, pre-clean-air-act skies, smoking chimneys and swarming humanity struggling to survive amidst the industrial chaos. But always there is a lyrical quality in his works, an empathy with his subject matter; there is never any stiffness in his compositions — his rows of terraced houses, his cotton mills, his public buildings and his viaducts sway and lean in all directions. In a dark industrial valley, his mills are often painted red, yellow, blue or orange, helping to alleviate the grim reality of what he is depicting.
We also see evidence of his amazing imagination and wide-ranging subject matter — distorted images of individual figures or of groups, individual images of cinemas, theatres, pub interiors, small terraces of houses, grimy northern streets, a milkman with his horse, rag and bone men, a road sweeper, two children playing, then the spectrum widens to vast panoramas of the Stockport Valley with the viaduct in the background or of the huge mills of Manchester, Stockport and Salford.
Turner depends for his scintillating creations on his amazing memory — he can re-create on canvas a street scene, an industrial canal or a view from fifty years ago with such accuracy that the older generation can instantly identify the scenes. This remarkable gift has enabled him to record the times through which he has lived, the fast-disappearing industrial landscape of the 19th and early 20th century and to evoke amongst viewers a feeling of nostalgia for things past. It is essential that such a painter should be given the fullest recognition and that his works be preserved for posterity.
Turner's work is more and more widely collected and is in the collections of Sir Peter Ustinov, Sebastian Coe, Eddie Shah, Freddy Pye, Stockport Art Gallery, Saab Motors, Manchester Education Committee and throughout the world.
April 14, 2016
William Ralph Turner – VIEW WORK – Sold


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For decades, 96-year-old Julius Campbell has helped Milwaukee students cross the street — and he says he still has a few good years left in him.
Campbell is a World War II veteran and a retired Milwaukee Public Schools teacher. He's seen a lot in his time but says that helping students cross the street to Yeshiva Elementary is a rewarding experience.
"I just love education and being around and doing things for people, helping people," he said.
Campbell has served as a crossing guard for 24 years, meaning he's helped an entire generation of Milwaukee students cross the street safely.
"A lot of the kids graduate, come back and I'm getting their kids going now," Campbell said.
He says it took a lifetime of preparation to remain active at his age.
"I never lived a rough or fast life," Campbell said. "(I) never drank, and all those things — run around late at night. So that makes a difference."
Though he's been at it for years— waking up at 4 a.m. on school days to be at 51st and Roosevelt by 6:30 — he's hoping to keep at it for at least a few more.
"I want to make it to 100," Campbell said. "But as long as my health is good, I'll stick with it.


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Thursday 7th November at 7pm will be Coder Night (and every 2 weeks after)
Photo by iLikeSpoons on Flickr
Starting this Thursday we're bringing coding nights back to Tog!
For our first night its going to be a casual affair, with no speakers or projects or prescribed idea of what we're going to do. It will be much like the lock picking and crafting nights, with a meet-up of people interested in programming as a general topic.
If you are knowledgable in a particular framework or language, it'd be great if you could come along and lend a hand if somebody has any questions.
There is no language favouritism, there'll be people attending with Python, Objective-C, Java, Javascript, C#, C++, UnityScript (Unity3D), and many other tools and languages.
I will personally be working on a mobile app for Tog for both iOS (Objective-C) and Android (Java), but you can come along with whatever project you have in mind, or none at all.
We'll be using the first few nights to figure out how people want these nights to be, whether they should be project based, or remain very much a casual affair. So please come along if you have some ideas, or just to chill out with fellow would-be and expert coders.


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Looking for the perfect event space to host your next team event? We have several different packages to choose from. Inquiry to learn more!
Our space is great for private dinners, weddings, rehearsal dinners and bachelor or bachelorette parties. Inquiry now and we'll set up a time to tour the venue.
Come sample some of our famous wines with friends and family! We can accommodate all group sizes. Inquiry to learn more about our wines and tasting opportunities.


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When the Pink Floyd guitar legend returned in 2006 with his first solo album in over 20 years and a year on from Pink Floyd's surprise Live 8 reunion, it was clearly time for a chat...
Passing through an ancient vaulted tunnel, the visitor to Astoria emerges into an impeccably kept garden that slopes gently downward to the Thames. David Gilmour's houseboat studio rides at anchor by the river bank, just beyond a leafy grove of bamboo and willows.
The boat, too, is named Astoria. It's not a large craft; there's barely space for a well-stocked control room, dominated by a huge Neve mixing console, and a small elegant parlour that doubles as a tracking room. A narrow passageway panelled in dark wood connects the two spaces, also giving access to a few tiny side chambers along the way.
The boat was built in 1912 by English showbiz entrepreneur Fred Karno. "He was the guy who discovered Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel," Gilmour explains. "He wanted to have his own private home place, knocking shop, whatever... It was never built to sail. It's strictly a houseboat. If you want to move it, you get a tug and tow it. My idea was to make it as good in here as we can reasonably get it, sound-wise, without fucking with the space too much."
This boat is where Gilmour recorded much of Pink Floyd's final two albums A Monetary Lapse Of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), and it was also the main site of sessions for Gilmour's new solo album, On An Island.
The record is very much a reflection of the place where it was made - serene, unhurried. Gauzy layers of shimmering sound unfold at a stately pace, providing a lavish backdrop for Gilmour's soaring guitar and that ethereally expressive vocal style well-known and loved from Pink Floyd's catalogue of classics.
There are occasional excursions into the blues and other slightly rougher terrains, but mostly this is a record for gazing peacefully at the river "I was just letting it all flow out as naturally as it can," reflects Gilmour. "There are quite a lot of those melancholy major seventh chords and 3/4 waltz tempos. That must be the mood I'm in."
To see where On An Island was made is to understand why Gilmour had to be almost forcibly pried from the studio to take part in Floyd's reunion at Live 8. Nobody thought David Gilmour would ever get on a stage again with Roger Waters after the pair's many quarrels. They did just that, however.
Waters has since made noises about rejoining the band but Gilmour isn't interested. The guitarist seems quite content just being David Gilmour and has nothing left to prove. He's a household name among the classic rock crowd, and for a lot of younger guitar fans he's the only 1970s guitarist that matters. For many he's the missing link between Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen...
"I'm thrilled if that's the case," he laughs. "It's taken me a long time to achieve that. I didn't start figuring in guitar-playing polls for a lot of years. I think one thing about the fingers and brain that I have been given is that the fingers make a distinctive sound. The fingers aren't very fast but I think I am instantly recognisable. I can hear myself and just know that it's me. And other people do too.
"The way I play melodies is connected to things like Hank Marvin and The Shadows - that style of guitar playing where people can recognise a melody with some beef to it."
On An Island is only Gilmour's third solo album. The prior two were recorded during troubled periods in Pink Floyd's career; David Gilmour (1978) was a way of blowing off steam after the difficult recording of Animals, and About Face (1984) was a full-scale effort on Gilmour's part to launch himself as a star in his own right after Waters left Pink Floyd and the band all but fell apart following the release of The Final Cut. On An Island comes from a very different place. Life is good for David Gilmour right now...
What motivates you these days? Your place in rock history is assured, you're very comfortably off. What drives you to make an album?
"That's what I do. I'm a musician. I make music. It's in my blood. The difference is that these days I'm not driven to do it all the time. Honestly, music isn't my first priority anymore. Family is.
"Now, I could see where someone could think that when I person says music isn't his first priority any more, the quality of the music might therefore suffer. But once I get going I do get rather perfectionist. And I think that the work I'm doing now is as good as anything I've ever done. I think On An Island is a really good album. I'm very proud of it."
Was your new album a bigger priority for you than doing Live 8? You declined initially...
"I did, yes. And I declined because I was in the middle of making this album. Also I thought – correctly as it turned out – that it would open a can of worms: Pink Floyd reformation stories. I selfishly didn't want to be inconvenienced by all the things I knew this would throw up. So Bob Geldof tried quite hard to persuade me.
"It's not that I didn't support what he was trying to do. I just thought he'd do just as well without us. But then Bob got Roger involved and he persuaded Roger to call me and ask me."
Was it surprising when Roger called you?
"Yes, very. And after Roger called I thought about it; I really probably would kick myself afterwards if I didn't do Live 8. There were many good reasons for doing it. The proper, and best, reason was what the event hopefully did achieve. And it put some of the bad blood between Roger and myself behind us."
How much rehearsal went into Live 8?
"We did three days of rehearsing together. But I did over two weeks on my own. I made a CD of the set and had it at my home studio. I'd blast it out through speakers, play guitar and sing along to it three or four times a day every day for a good couple of weeks. I wanted to be very 'on it'.
"I knew it would be a nerve-wracking experience and I wanted to be able to do it like falling off a log. I didn't want to be nervous and tense about not being 100 percent certain that I knew exactly what I was doing every second."
When you did the first guitar solo in Money at Live 8, it was pretty much a note-for-note duplication of the solo on the album. Do you feel you owe it to the people to give them a signature solo like that note-for-note? How does that balance against spontaneity?
"Well I think it is a balance. When I go to hear other bands and they launch into a big pop hit of theirs, if the guitar player goes off in a completely different direction I'm pissed off, frankly.
"I'm thinking; that ain't the way it is, that's not how it's supposed to go! And so my tendency is to start off pretty much like the record and then see how I'm feeling. If I move off it and it feels good, inspired and original, then I'll stay off the beaten track.
"But sometimes I realise I'm off the beaten track but it's just dull. Then I'll go back into the safety net of pretty much the original solo because I know that will turn a lot of people on more. So yeah, it is a balance."
But can you always get back to the recorded version, though?
"I can't always. But in the beginning of the end solo of Comfortably Numb, there's that note on the seventh fret of the G string – a big harmonic. I always try to start that solo with that sound and play that first line. It seems daft not to!"
Which of your many Strats is that black one you played at Live 8?
"I've been using that one since about 1970, it's the one on Comfortably Numb. I bought it at Manny's in New York. I've always used it as a testing ground for trying all sorts of things out. It's had a few different necks on; the original had that bullet [truss rod] and a larger headstock. And it has different pickups.
"Years ago, I met up with Seymour Duncan and we picked three really nice sounding pickups he had. We rewound those three and they've stayed on it ever since. But I've always considered that to be my bodge-up guitar that nothing is sacred on. I've had holes drilled in it. It's still a good guitar."
You have many Strats; how do you decide what to use on a track or live date?
"For many years one of the problems of touring was [RF] interference - especially if, like me, you're the sort of bastard who tends to use a huge pedalboard.
"Those effects pedals really tended to pick up interference, as did the dimmers on the lighting rigs. And with Pink Floyd we did have extensive lighting rigs, which buzzed horribly. But when I first heard of and got hold of those EMG pickups, they stopped that dead. They sounded great - a very full and rich tone - but they didn't sound quite as 'Stratty' in some ways.
"There's something in the thinness and particular range a Strat has that makes it a Strat. With EMG pickups you tend to lose that a little bit. But nowadays, of course, everything is much better shielded and the lighting rigs operate from a completely different generator. Things are set up far better. So these days I can go back to using the older Strats live and I've been using my black Strat again, as I did at Live 8."
Roger has been pretty vocal in the press about how positive the experience was for him. He seems to be saying he'd like to do more – to reconvene Pink Floyd on a more regular basis. What are your feelings towards that?
"I have great pride and affection for most of my Pink Floyd career. Musically and artistically it was very satisfying. But it's the past for me. Done it. I don't have any desire to go back there.
"Doing a tour without making a record would just be doing it for the money. And thinking about making a new record with all of us, including Roger, I just don't think that would work. Roger and I have had too long being horrid little despots. I just don't think it would make me a happier human being. Sorry, I'll pass on it."
It's nice the way the title track On An Island kind of floats between an E minor and a G major feel?
"G6. Yeah, it's funny how these things come out. It sounded wrong in G and it sounded wrong in E minor. So I did it in E minor and used the G root note. Originally I just used the G root note, but something made me realise I should slide between the two. It creates its own sound."
Is that triple-meter time signature a good one for soloing? You've used it a lot...
"That's a funny thing too. I write more in 3/4 time and 6/8 time than I do in 4/4. One of the things we were looking for in putting this album together was to try and balance out the 3/4s with a few more 4/4s. I guess I'm just a waltz time sort of guy."
What electric guitar and amp did you use for that On An Island solo?
"That one was the old black Strat I mentioned earlier, through a Hiwatt combo. I've got a very old Fender tweed Twin - a lovely sounding amp - but I couldn't make it work for that track so I went to the Hiwatt instead. I have a Hiwatt combo and a Hiwatt 100-watt head and 4 x 12 cab in this room. It's a bit of a problem. A 100- watt Hiwatt doesn't really like being in a close space like this. So getting the right amp that really likes the room is tricky."
For guitar solos, do you write them out in your head first, or do you just blast away and comp the best bits?
"I try to live with the track before I even touch a guitar that's going to play a solo on it. When I'm working at home it's very easy to just pick up a guitar, not work on a sound very much and just play a little bit.
"At first I find myself loving what I do that way. But ultimately I think it's not too good and want to change some bits. But then I find myself not able to match the sound of the original solo, or sometimes wishing for a better sound. So I try to make it so that when I go for a solo, the sound is really together and well thought out because very often the first take is the best take – except when you try to plan it that way. Then you're still struggling with the same damn solo three days later. So really I have no method.
"You could say that after being a professional musician for 40 years I should know what I'm fucking doing. But I find it best to just hurl myself into it in a different way each time."
Is the Glissando effect in the guitar solo for The Blue a [DigiTech] Whammy pedal?
"Yes. I love it. You've guessed what it is, but I generally don't like to say how that's done. I love driving people crazy. They come and say, How the fuck did you do that? I've been working for months trying to get that. And I say, It's just a pedal! I used it on Marooned from The Division Bell.
"It's the same sort of thing - gives a whole extra dimension. It had a flavour of that old album, Songs Of The Humpback Whale, where they recorded whale noises. It's that floating thing. Both Marooned and The Blue are pieces of music that remind me of the sea..."
This Heaven brings out some of your blues influences, doesn't it?
"That was just another little jam from my front room. Phil Manzanera took it away one day. He'd often do that because he's got a studio in London. He took it there and cut a one bar loop out of what I'd done, sped it up slightly and changed the key.
"My original demo was in E minor; he took it up to F minor. We added drums to that loop and turned it into a track. And obviously the blues is a large influence on here. But all my playing is rooted in the blues."
As a lap and pedal steel player, are you particularly fond of the Weissenborn acoustic lap steel that BJ Cole plays on Then I Close My Eyes?
"Definitely. That's my Weissenborn he's playing. I played it on Smile. But he was over my house one day and I had him play it on Then I Close My Eyes. The Weissenborn's a lovely thing. I always felt pretty good and comfortable on side instruments There are places between the notes where I really like to go and you can go there on slide instruments."
That's become another signature thing for you...
"When I started doing pedal steel and lap steel at shows, the first track I can remember using it on consistently was One Of These Days, where it's tuned to an open E minor chord. And then when we got to The Dark Side Of The Moon and we were doing The Great Gig In The Sky, I invented a different tuning for that because it's hard to know exactly what is the best tuning on slide.
"Open tunings are by definition quite restricting. So I found a tuning which is kind of an open G6. The top four strings are the same as a regular guitar: EBGD. And if you tune the bottom A down to G and the E down to E, you get a 5 string open G chord, but you've got a three-string E minor chord at the top. So you can do quite effective majors and minors. And that's the tuning I tend to use quite a bit, the one I originally laid down for The Great Gig In The Sky.
"By that time I needed to have two steel guitars on stage. The pedal steel was a bit cumbersome. It had more strings than I could actually deal with - eight strings on each neck - so what I ended up making was a six-string slide. I bought two cheap Fender copies called Jensens. They cost nothing in England in the early 1970s. I got a red one and a yellow one and eventually I put Fender pickups in them. That's what I used for a long time: one tuned to the open E minor and one tuned to open G6."
The DVD version of 1994's Pulse is significant because it was the first time you'd done The Dark Side Of The Moon all the way through in many years.
"Lyrically, The Dark Side Of The Moon is really Roger's baby. So sometimes I'd get a slight feeling of minor discomfort doing it without him. But not sufficient to make me think we shouldn't do it. It's part of our oeuvre. I spent a lot of time and sweated blood making that record, and doing it again live was always my ambition."


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Management Tools
Supply Chain Management synchronizes the efforts of all parties—suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, dealers, customers and so on—involved in meeting a customer's needs. The approach often relies on technology to enable seamless exchanges of information, goods and services across organizational boundaries. It forges much closer relationships among all links in the value chain in order to deliver the right products to the right places at the right times for the right costs. The goal is to establish such strong bonds of communication and trust among all parties that they can effectively function as one unit, fully aligned to streamline business processes and achieve total customer satisfaction.
Usage and satisfaction among survey respondents
How Supply Chain Management works:
Companies typically implement Supply Chain Management in four stages:
- Stage One seeks to increase the level of trust among vital links in the supply chain. Managers learn to treat former adversaries as valuable partners. This stage often leads to longer commitments with preferred partners.
- Stage Two increases the exchange of information. It creates more accurate, up-to-date knowledge of demand forecasts, inventory levels, capacity utilization, production schedules, delivery dates and other data that could help supply chain partners improve performance.
- Stage Three expands efforts to manage the supply chain as one overall process rather than dozens of independent functions. It leverages the core competencies of each player, automates information exchange, changes management processes and incentive systems, eliminates unproductive activities, improves forecasting, reduces inventory levels, cuts cycle times and involves customers more deeply in the Supply Chain Management process.
- Stage Four identifies and implements radical ideas to transform the supply chain completely and deliver customer value in unprecedented ways.
Companies use Supply Chain Management to:
Recognizing that value is leaking out of the supply chain, but that only limited improvement can be achieved by any single company, managers turn to Supply Chain Management to help them deliver products and services faster, better and less expensively.
Supply Chain Management capitalizes on many trends that have changed worldwide business practices, including just-in-time (JIT) inventories, electronic data interchange (EDI), outsourcing of noncore activities, supplier consolidation and globalization.
Selected references
Ayers, James B. Handbook of Supply Chain Management. 2d ed. Auerbach, 2006.
Fisher, Marshall, and Ananth Raman. The New Science of Retailing: How Analytics Are Transforming the Supply Chain and Improving Performance. Harvard Business Press, 2010.
Frazelle, Edward. Supply Chain Strategy. McGraw-Hill, 2001.
Harvard Business Review on Supply Chain Management. Harvard Business School Press, 2006.
Hugos, Michael H. Essentials of Supply Chain Management. 3d ed. Wiley, 2011.
Martin, James. Lean Six Sigma for Supply Chain Management. 2d ed. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2014.
Narayanan, V.G., and Ananth Raman. "Aligning Incentives in Supply Chains." Harvard Business Review, November 2004, pp. 94–102, 149.
Slone, Reuben E. "Leading a Supply Chain Turnaround." Harvard Business Review, October 2004, pp. 114–121.
Slone, Reuben E., J. Paul Dittmann, and John T. Mentzer. New Supply Chain Agenda: The 5 Steps That Drive Real Value. Harvard Business Review Press, 2010.
Trent, Robert J. Strategic Supply Management: Creating the Next Source of Competitive Advantage. J. Ross Publishing, 2007.
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German Cancer Research Center
Research Institution
The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) with its more than 3,000 employees is the largest biomedical research institute in Germany. At DKFZ, more than 1,000 scientists investigate how cancer develops, identify cancer risk factors and endeavor to find new strategies to prevent people from getting cancer. They develop novel approaches to make tumor diagnosis more precise and treatment of cancer patients more successful. The staff of the Cancer Information Service (KID) offers information about the widespread disease of cancer for patients, their families, and the general public. Jointly with Heidelberg University Hospital, DKFZ has established the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, where promising approaches from cancer research are translated into the clinic. In the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK), one of six German Centers for Health Research, DKFZ maintains translational centers at seven university partnering sites. Combining excellent university hospitals with high-profile research at a Helmholtz Center is an important contribution to improving the chances of cancer patients. DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers, with ninety percent of its funding coming from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the remaining ten percent from the State of Baden-Württemberg.


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use utf8;
no utf8;
# Convert the internal representation of a Perl scalar to/from UTF-8.
$num_octets = utf8::upgrade($string);
$success = utf8::downgrade($string[, $fail_ok]);
# Change each character of a Perl scalar to/from a series of
# characters that represent the UTF-8 bytes of each original character.
utf8::encode($string); # "\x{100}" becomes "\xc4\x80"
utf8::decode($string); # "\xc4\x80" becomes "\x{100}"
# Convert a code point from the platform native character set to
# Unicode, and vice-versa.
$unicode = utf8::native_to_unicode(ord('A')); # returns 65 on both
# ASCII and EBCDIC
# platforms
$native = utf8::unicode_to_native(65); # returns 65 on ASCII
# platforms; 193 on EBCDIC
$flag = utf8::is_utf8($string); # since Perl 5.8.1
$flag = utf8::valid($string);
The "use utf8" pragma tells the Perl parser to allow UTF-8 in the program text in the current lexical scope (allow UTF-EBCDIC on EBCDIC based platforms). The "no utf8" pragma tells Perl to switch back to treating the source text as literal bytes in the current lexical scope.Do not use this pragma for anything else than telling Perl that your script is written in UTF-8. The utility functions described below are directly usable without "use utf8;".
Because it is not possible to reliably tell UTF-8 from native 8 bit encodings, you need either a Byte Order Mark at the beginning of your source code, or "use utf8;", to instruct perl.
When UTF-8 becomes the standard source format, this pragma will effectively become a no-op. For convenience in what follows the term UTF-X is used to refer to UTF-8 on ASCII and ISO Latin based platforms and UTF-EBCDIC on EBCDIC based platforms.
See also the effects of the "-C" switch and its cousin, the "PERL_UNICODE" environment variable, in perlrun.
Enabling the "utf8" pragma has the following effect:
Bytes in the source text that have their high-bit set will be treated
as being part of a literal UTF-X sequence. This includes most
literals such as identifier names, string constants, and constant
regular expression patterns.
On EBCDIC platforms characters in the Latin 1 character set are treated as being part of a literal UTF-EBCDIC character.
Note that if you have bytes with the eighth bit on in your script (for example embedded Latin-1 in your string literals), "use utf8" will be unhappy since the bytes are most probably not well-formed UTF-X. If you want to have such bytes under "use utf8", you can disable this pragma until the end the block (or file, if at top level) by "no utf8;".
Utility functions
The following functions are defined in the "utf8::" package by the Perl core. You do not need to say "use utf8" to use these and in fact you should not say that unless you really want to have UTF-8 source code.-
"$num_octets = utf8::upgrade($string)"
Converts in-place the internal representation of the string from an octet sequence in the native encoding (Latin-1 or EBCDIC) to UTF-X. The logical character sequence itself is unchanged. If $string is already stored as UTF-X, then this is a no-op. Returns the number of octets necessary to represent the string as UTF-X. Can be used to make sure that the UTF-8 flag is on, so that "\w" or "lc()" work as Unicode on strings containing characters in the range 0x80-0xFF (on ASCII and derivatives).
Note that this function does not handle arbitrary encodings. Therefore Encode is recommended for the general purposes; see also Encode.
"$success = utf8::downgrade($string[, $fail_ok])"
Converts in-place the internal representation of the string from UTF-X to the equivalent octet sequence in the native encoding (Latin-1 or EBCDIC). The logical character sequence itself is unchanged. If $string is already stored as native 8 bit, then this is a no-op. Can be used to make sure that the UTF-8 flag is off, e.g. when you want to make sure that the substr() or length() function works with the usually faster byte algorithm.
Fails if the original UTF-X sequence cannot be represented in the native 8 bit encoding. On failure dies or, if the value of $fail_ok is true, returns false.
Returns true on success.
Note that this function does not handle arbitrary encodings. Therefore Encode is recommended for the general purposes; see also Encode.
Converts in-place the character sequence to the corresponding octet sequence in UTF-X. That is, every (possibly wide) character gets replaced with a sequence of one or more characters that represent the individual UTF-X bytes of the character. The UTF8 flag is turned off. Returns nothing.
my $a = "\x{100}"; # $a contains one character, with ord 0x100 utf8::encode($a); # $a contains two characters, with ords (on # ASCII platforms) 0xc4 and 0x80
Note that this function does not handle arbitrary encodings. Therefore Encode is recommended for the general purposes; see also Encode.
"$success = utf8::decode($string)"
Attempts to convert in-place the octet sequence encoded as UTF-X to the corresponding character sequence. That is, it replaces each sequence of characters in the string whose ords represent a valid UTF-X byte sequence, with the corresponding single character. The UTF-8 flag is turned on only if the source string contains multiple-byte UTF-X characters. If $string is invalid as UTF-X, returns false; otherwise returns true.
my $a = "\xc4\x80"; # $a contains two characters, with ords # 0xc4 and 0x80 utf8::decode($a); # On ASCII platforms, $a contains one char, # with ord 0x100. On EBCDIC platforms, $a # is unchanged and the function returns FALSE.
("\xc4\x80" is not a valid sequence of bytes in any UTF-8-encoded character(s) in the EBCDIC code pages that Perl supports, which is why the above example returns failure on them. What does decode into "\x{100}" depends on the platform. It is "\x8C\x41" in IBM-1047.)
Note that this function does not handle arbitrary encodings. Therefore Encode is recommended for the general purposes; see also Encode.
"$unicode = utf8::native_to_unicode($code_point)"
(Since Perl v5.8.0) This takes an unsigned integer (which represents the ordinal number of a character (or a code point) on the platform the program is being run on) and returns its Unicode equivalent value. Since ASCII platforms natively use the Unicode code points, this function returns its input on them. On EBCDIC platforms it converts from EBCDIC to Unicode.
A meaningless value will currently be returned if the input is not an unsigned integer.
Since Perl v5.22.0, calls to this function are optimized out on ASCII platforms, so there is no performance hit in using it there.
"$native = utf8::unicode_to_native($code_point)"
(Since Perl v5.8.0) This is the inverse of "utf8::native_to_unicode()", converting the other direction. Again, on ASCII platforms, this returns its input, but on EBCDIC platforms it will find the native platform code point, given any Unicode one.
A meaningless value will currently be returned if the input is not an unsigned integer.
Since Perl v5.22.0, calls to this function are optimized out on ASCII platforms, so there is no performance hit in using it there.
"$flag = utf8::is_utf8($string)"
(Since Perl 5.8.1) Test whether $string is marked internally as encoded in UTF-8. Functionally the same as Encode::is_utf8().
"$flag = utf8::valid($string)"
[INTERNAL] Test whether $string is in a consistent state regarding UTF-8. Will return true if it is well-formed UTF-8 and has the UTF-8 flag on or if $string is held as bytes (both these states are 'consistent'). Main reason for this routine is to allow Perl's test suite to check that operations have left strings in a consistent state. You most probably want to use utf8::is_utf8() instead.
"utf8::encode" is like "utf8::upgrade", but the UTF8 flag is cleared. See perlunicode for more on the UTF8 flag and the C API functions "sv_utf8_upgrade", "sv_utf8_downgrade", "sv_utf8_encode", and "sv_utf8_decode", which are wrapped by the Perl functions "utf8::upgrade", "utf8::downgrade", "utf8::encode" and "utf8::decode". Also, the functions utf8::is_utf8, utf8::valid, utf8::encode, utf8::decode, utf8::upgrade, and utf8::downgrade are actually internal, and thus always available, without a "require utf8" statement.
One can have Unicode in identifier names, but not in package/class or subroutine names. While some limited functionality towards this does exist as of Perl 5.8.0, that is more accidental than designed; use of Unicode for the said purposes is unsupported.One reason of this unfinishedness is its (currently) inherent unportability: since both package names and subroutine names may need to be mapped to file and directory names, the Unicode capability of the filesystem becomes important--- and there unfortunately aren't portable answers.


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Join Bill McAllister and 106.7 Detroit's Wheels at Greektown Casino on Thursday June 13th from 7pm until 9pm for Music Trivia Thursday Nights!
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Over at the Hardball Times, our old friend Dave Studeman looks at the most critical at-bat of all time.
Used to be that no baseball season felt complete until Roger Angell's piece appeared in the New Yorker. Mr. Angell just turned 90 but he's still writing. However, I don't know if we'll get the usual piece, as Angell was blogging for the New Yorker during the post-season. My favorite bit came his final post–because he dug up a quote from one of his old pieces that I've been looking for, unsuccessfully, for years now:
Players have little awareness of fan angst, but I've not forgotten an amazing late-summer conversation I had with the iconic, forty-year-old Willie McCovey at Candlestick Park, in 1978, at a time when his contending Giants had just dropped five out of six games and were beginning a customary September slide toward oblivion.
"The fans sitting up there are helpless," he said. "They can't pick up a bat and come down and do something. Their only involvement is in how well you do. If you strike out or mess up out there, they feel they've done something wrong. You're all they've got. The professional athlete knows there's always another game or another year coming up. If he loses he swallows that bitter pill and comes back. It's much harder for the fans."


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The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, and his iconic image portrays a dual portrait sculpture (faces only) that adjoin back to back. One portrait bust depicts a melancholic Janus, and the other depicts a Janus with a buoyant countenance. The first visage signifies Janus' sorrow at seeing the previous year pass by, and the second personifies Janus' elation at welcoming the New Year. The Romans associated change, transition, and new beginnings with Janus, and they celebrated the New Near by exchanging gifts and good wishes. So important was Janus, the Romans placed his portrait above their front entrances.
In early January and just a few days after January 1, 2007, our Sunday School facilitator commenced the morning discussion by posing the following question: "Where do you encounter God?" The answers were varied: "in the scripture," "in prayer," "in church," "in the laundry room" (was one housewife's only private time for introspection), and "in friends" were some of the responses. Since our group is primarily comprised of professionals and fearing that my comment was too common, I reluctantly responded: "In my Garden." In the past 67 years I have been encountering God in the altruistic and selfless actions and deeds performed by millions of people of different faiths across the globe, by attending to the birth of our two sons, by seeing miraculous medical healing, and by the manner in which people across the world respond to collective man-made tragedies and to natural disasters. However, it is primarily in my garden that I see the most tangible emanation of God's greatness and mystery.
Some forty-two years ago I began an annual New Year's Day ritual. After doing the traditional Southern New Year's Daything (eating pork, black eye peas for good luck, cornbread, turnip greens, bean soup, and pecan pie), and after watching a football game, I head to our backyard garden plot. Rain, snow or sunshine, I always dig up a small segment, usually a 4×4 area. Even though I have a garden tiller, I prefer to use a shovel; a tiller is too noisy and disturbs the placidity of this special day. The shovel, on the other hand, allows me to turn over the soil in large clumps that crumble and don't kill the earthworms and allows for better aeration. The slow and rhythmic process also affords me the leisure to think about my New Year's resolutions and to plan my annual spring garden.
In recent years numerous newspaper and magazine articles have expounded on the positive therapeutic effects (both physical and mental) that gardening bestows. And numerous observers have pointed out that gardeners are by nature optimistic individuals. I agree with both notions.
My gardening activities start in late Fall. First, I spread grass clippings, leaves, ash from the fireplace, mulched materials and composted ingredients in the garden area and allow them to soak in the early winter rains. In January I turn over the soil; in late February I plant my English peas, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, onions, and garlic; in late March I plant my potatoes, radishes and carrots; and in April I plant my tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini and crook neck yellow squash, green beans, eggplants, and corn. Each year the crops are rotated and planted in hills, rows, or beds. And each year some new variety of seeds and seedlings are planted, occasionally with outstanding results.
Since I consider my garden to be a creative outlet and an extension of my personality, I am particular about its aesthetic appeal. I therefore try to coordinate the texture, design, color and space. The cucumber vines make a wonderful green arbor along the fence, while the broccoli and cauliflower plants create an alternating schema of variegated green and white textures. The garlic, planted around the perimeter of the garden to ward off insects, creates a miniature bamboo-like cordon of protective natural pesticide. Because of the enormous elephant-ear like dominance of their leaves, the squash plants are planted in the center of the garden to help create a central focal point that helps accentuate smaller radiating rows of spinach, onions, and beans.
When the vegetables are ready to be harvested, the child in me emerges as I insist that my wife take photographs of me holding some unusually large squash or head of broccoli. One zucchini squash measuring twenty-two inches in length and seven inches in diameter fed the neighbors, a young couple and their three young boys, for three days. The vegetables provide delicious fresh produce that is consumed by the family, shared with numerous neighbors and friends, and put away in the freezer for the fall and winter seasons.
One of my most treasured possessions is a metal sign that was given to me by my wife and two sons as a Father's Day gift. On the emblem is the figure of a farmer in a supine position; he is surrounded by vegetable plants, garden tools, a large pumpkin, a rabbit, and a scarecrow. I proudly display this cherished memento on a metal post adjacent to an antique, Texas, cast iron, ranch bell, and visitors are admonished to read the inscription: "Dad's Garden."
My refusal to use chemicals has helped me discover another significant mystery of God's creation. Lady bugs, praying mantises, lizards and frogs have helped keep the garden free of destructive pests and insects. For several years lizards and horned toad frogs dwelled in the crevices of the stone wall and emerged every spring to feed on insects in my garden. Unfortunately, they disappeared for a while when my next door neighbor adopted a stray kitten. And this year a foot-long garden snake bedded itself in the cucumber patch, and at season's end I saw it slither away as the withering canopy of protective leaves dissipated.
As I pondered all the aforementioned and as I mulled on the notion that it is in nature in general and in my garden in particular that I encounter God's majesty, I could not help but think of other folks in other climes who till the land not for leisure, as I do, but for providing meager sustenance, shelter, and clothing for their families. And I especially think of Pakistani tenant farmers who are exploited by greedy feudal landowners, the Columbian indigenous native farmers whose lives are disrupted by drug traffickers and corrupt politicians, and especially the Palestinian farmers whose lands are confiscated by land-grabbing settlers aided and abetted by the policies of a heinous and brutal Israeli occupation. Denied access to their fields, the Palestinian farmers are incapable of planting or harvesting their crops; worse yet, the thousands of uprooted olive and fruit trees signify not only a heinous crime against humanity, but also an act of rabid malevolence against nature that is fully funded by US taxpayers. Observing Israeli settlers violate his fields with tractors, a Palestinian farmer, denied access to his own land, lamented this violation by stating that this dastardly act was much like seeing "someone violate my wife."
I interpret my annual ritual of digging the earth as an affirming act, for the planting of a seed is an act of faith and hope.
Those who have suffered natural disasters and those who continue to suffer the daily man-made disasters brought on by wars and drones will no doubt wish the morose 2012 portrait of Janus away. And my wish for 2013 is to see Janus bestow a beaming countenance on the citizens of this world, one that will hopefully herald peace, harmony, good will, and hope.
Raouf J. Halaby is a Professor of English and Art. He is a peace activist who loves to write, sculpt, travel, garden, fish and take photographs. email@example.com


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Georgia Veiga has been a proud member of AFSCME New Jersey Local 3440 for the last 17 years. She regularly seeks out opportunities to support companies that employ union workers.
She was happy to do just that when she switched to AT&T for her family's smartphone service after receiving an email about the Union Plus AT&T Discount Program. She learned that Union Plus offers an AT&T switch rebate and smartphone upgrade rebate to Union Plus Credit Cardholders1. The email came at the right time for Veiga, who was an unhappy customer of another cell phone carrier.
"AT&T's service is better, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to switch," Veiga says.
In addition, AT&T employs more than 94,000 union members as the only nationwide unionized wireless carrier.
"They're a family. They seem happy," Veiga says of the customer service she's experienced with AT&T.
Because Veiga switched carriers and upgraded to a new smartphone, she qualified for $250 in rebates2.
The rebate money quickly came in handy when Veiga added her tween daughter as one of the four lines on her AT&T phone plan and the family's data usage increased dramatically.
"It has been glued to her head," Veiga says of her daughter's phone.
According to Veiga, the AT&T Smartphone Upgrade Rebate application process was easy. Union members and retirees also save 15 percent on the monthly service charge of qualified wireless plans3 and get 20 percent off eligible accessories4, among other AT&T benefits.
"I appreciate all the benefits made available through the union," she says. "It's a wonderful program."
To learn more about the Union Plus AT&T Discount Program, visit unionplus.org/att.
1Credit approval required. Terms and conditions apply. The Union Plus Credit Cards are issued by Capital One, N.A. pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated. Mastercard is a registered trademark, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated.
Qualifying monthly data plan required. Rebate offers are available only to union member Union Plus cardholders. Rebates are limited-time offers and are only available while funds last, so checks are sent out on a first-come, first-served basis. Union Privilege is the sole sponsor and administrator of these rebates. AT&T is not a sponsor of the Union Plus rebates and is not affiliated with the administration and operation of the rebates in any way. For details, visit UnionPlus.org/ATTRebate.
2You must be using the 15% AT&T Wireless Discount through Union Plus. You must use your Union Plus Credit Card when purchasing your new smartphone and data plan features. Your rebate will cover the costs of your qualifying smartphone upgrade and one month of the qualifying data plan services up to $100. You must be a Union Plus Credit Cardholder in good-standing. You can only receive one AT&T smartphone and change of service rebate per union member per lifetime. Rebates are for union members only. You may need to submit further proof of your union membership upon request by Union Plus. Rebates are only available while funds last, so checks will be sent on a first-come, first-served basis.
3AT&T SIGNATURE PROGRAM DISCOUNTS: Available to qualified employees, students & other authorized individuals associated with eligible companies, universities & other sponsoring organizations with a qualifying service agreement (Business Agreement). Must validate eligible online or provide valid employee badge/paystub, student ID, or other approved proof of eligibility in authorized retail store & subscribe to service under an individual responsibility account for which the qualifying individual is personally liable. Discount subject to Business Agreement & may be interrupted, changed, or discontinued without notice. Additional restrictions apply. Credits/Discounts: Start w/in 2 bill cycles after service activation & eligibility confirmed. Applied after application of any available credit. May not be combined with other service discounts. Service discount: Req's AT&T Unlimited Elite plan. $10 discount applied after the application of any available Autopay, paperless bill, only on phone lines 1 – 5. Any additional phone lines added over 5 and up to max of 10 reduces all phone line (including lines 1-5) discounts to $5/mo. per phone line. May not be stackable w/other offers or credits. Exclusions: Military, Veterans, First Responders, Massachusetts Public Sector Employees, AT&T employees, FirstNet Customers, EMO, IMO and FirstNet customers. May not be combinable with other select offers or promotions.
420% ON SELECT ACCESSORIES: AT&T will apply the Accessory Discount to the prices of select Accessories available through AT&T, which may be modified by AT&T from time to time. The term "Accessory" or "Accessories" means supplementary parts for Equipment (e.g. batteries, cases, earbuds). The Accessory Discount will not apply to Accessories purchased for use with datacentric Equipment such as modems, replacement SIM cards and car kits or to Apple-branded Accessories, and the Accessory Discount may not be combined with any other promotional pricing or offer.


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I am asking this in relation to a comment by @Wladimir Palant on my answer to another thread. In his comment, Wladimir compared Mongolia to the Warsaw Pact countries in being heavily influenced by the USSR.
My question is, what form did such influence take? Can people give clear examples where the USSR intervened in Mongolian affairs?
There are three items I have uncovered so far. Firstly the Red Russians inspired and aided the communist revolution in Mongolia after the White Russians had already intervened there. Secondly during WWII, the USSR sent troops to Mongolia to hold the Japanese and later invaded north China from Mongolia. Thirdly, the USSR held about about 50,000 troops in Mongolia until recent times.
Can anyone expand on this list and to what extent was the USSR's influence welcomed, sought out, or opposed, by the Mongolian people.


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Forget sipping cocktails on the beach. How about spending your vacation at a weight loss retreat, sweating off your excess pounds? If that sounds dreadful, you might want to reconsider: these days, weight-loss spas and resorts aren't the torturous "fat farms" of yesteryear, touting celery-only diets and grueling workouts. Many weight loss centers rival five-star hotels in amenities, and their holistic approaches to weight loss target guests' emotional well-being as much as their physical health.
Weight loss is also made easier with social support. Research shows that a major key to sticking with any weight-loss goal is soliciting outside help, either through a coach, a friend or even fellow dieters. "People enjoy the mutual support they receive from working in a group setting here," says Dr. Ronald Sha, interim executive director at the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C.
(MORE: The Secrets to Weight Loss: Keep a Food Journal, Don't Skip Meals, Eat In)
The Duke center and most other weight loss spas offer weekend and extended stays for groups and individuals — but it'll cost you. Visits can range anywhere from $550 a night to upwards of $8,000 for longer reservations.
Are the programs worth the price tag? It depends. "To really create sustained weight loss and behavioral change, it's going to take a long time," says Dr. Timothy Church, director of preventive medicine at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who is unaffiliated with any weight-loss programs. "People who are looking for an immediate solution are going to be let down. But if you're going in to kickstart your health and learn skills to continue when you leave, then this can really resonate."
So, as long as you're not looking for a quick fix, a weekend weight-loss getaway could help put you on the right track. Can't foot the bill? Some of the leading spas in the U.S. shared their secrets with us free of charge.