text:
Never Give Up, You won't want to lose the energy of a lifetime in a second. Keep walking as you are almost there.
As the summer season in Punjab begins, adventure-seekers from across the country swarm the spectacular valleys in Swat and Upper Dir. My plan of escape was to Katora lake located in Upper Dir in mid of August. I had never visited Pashtun north areas in my life the selection added excitement as well as raised plenty of questions. Afterall I was excited that I was going to explore the unique culture, people and espacially their food which I have heared about alot.
From Lahore, you have two options to reach the starting point of the trek (Jandari), take Daewoo Pakistan to reach Batkhela and then take a jeep to Jandrai. The other option is to take Sanan Daewoo to reach Dir and take a jeep to Jandrai. The second option is highly NOT recommended because of certain reason which can not be explained here.
Date | Description | Mode of Travel / Stay / Dinner | Distances |
9th & 10th August |
Lahore to Kumrat Valley Departure from Lahore at 7: 00 pm via Sanan Daewoo |
Jeep / Camp / Tinned meals |
Dir to Darwaza: 79KM (4.5 hours) Darwaza to Jandrai: 06 KM (45mints) |
Day: 3 - 11th August |
Jandari to Jahaz Banda Departure for Jandari via Jeep at 8:00 am |
Trekking / Resthouse / B.B.Q | Jandrai to Jahaz Banda: 7.6KM (5-6 hours) |
Day: 4 - 12 August | Trekking to Katora Lake from Jahaz Banda Refreshment meals at Katora Lake Trek back to Jandrai and reach Thall Village via Jeep |
Trekking / Resthouse | Hotel / Hotel meals | Jahaz Banda to Katora Lake: 4.7KM (3 - 3.5 hours) |
Day 5: 13th August | Departure from Thall village for Lahore at 11:00 am Arrival in Lahore at 4:00 am next day (14th August) |
Daewoo Bus + Jeep + Private Transport / Dinner in Mardan | - |
The trek requires hiking for two days to reach the Lake. The first day, 6-7 hours of long hike leads you to the meadow called Jahaz Banda. The lush green meadow offers you huts and a rest house for an overnight stay, alternatively, you can pitch a tent as well. The second day, 3-4 hours hike is required to reach Katora Lake. What we did well actually, we added an extra day into our plan for compensating any unplanned (uncertain) events.
Here is the elevation profile of the trek starting from Jandrai to Katora Lake (Thanks to Google Earth).
Total Hike (Round Trip) | 24.7KM | Grade | Demanding |
Total Time | 20 - 22 hours | Start Elevation | 7,016 ft |
No (#) of Days | 2 Days | End Elevation | 11,716 ft |
At Jandrai, Raja Taj Muhammad who is the primary contact for all tourists and trekkers visiting the area provides guidance & help to the tourists. If you are planning to visit Kumrat valley, he is the first person you should talk to. Raja Taj is an interesting person who does not let you get bored or unoccupied through his continuous chat and hospitality. He has got this local museum built at Jandrai showcasing stuff belonging to his forefathers ranging from guns to stuffed hunted species and clothing. This is quite a site to visit in one of the remote areas of Kumrat valley. Raja has set up a few guest rooms at both museum and his home, to provide basic accommodation to the trekkers. which is indeed a treat to find for trekkers. He has also got a hut built at Jahaz Banda meadows where there are a couple of rooms set up. These guest rooms are not luxurious, but given the circumstances and remoteness of the area, they become a luxury for trekkers. Raja can arrange porters and other trekking requirements as requested. He can be reached at numbers 0346-3133466 & 0321-9176378.
The trek started from Jandrai village after spending a night in the beautiful Kumrat valley where we camped on the bank of the *Panjkora* River. I along with my friends (Adnan, Afzaal, Hussnain, Noraiz, Uzair) was excited to meet local people and camping in the remote valley of Kumrat. We took three porters along our side and left from Jandrai around 11:30 am. The start of the trek was rocky and steep; inexperience of such trek added more difficulty for us. During initial 40-50 minutes, we understood this will not going to be easy; it will require our lot of courage (With the certain events happened during the trek, our patience was tested). The trek passes through the village and moves along the stream gradually before crossing a bridge and entering into the dense pine forest and ascends steeply. This ascent continues until it opens up into the lush green meadows of Jahaz Banda.
We reached Jahaz Banda meadows before it was too dark covering the distance in roughly 6.5 hours. The sight of the meadows was a spectacular one, a lush green meadow surrounded by high peaks and sky covered with dark clouds with sprinkling rain; welcome to the Jahaz Banda Meadows. All the hardship of the trek, passing through the steep & dense forest, crossing stony patches and the continuous search for cold sweet water spring ends when you reach there. The rest house is still 20 min far from the meadow; Imagine the trekking on the flat green meadow, overlooking a rest house and a stream of fresh water flowing just a side of the meadow Alhamdulliah, It is hard for me to sum up my experience into words. It was just "beautiful".
We reached at the resthouse at 730PM and rain started to pour, everyone rushed to find a shelter. For the dinner, we arranged & prepared BBQ ourselves. It was beyond expectations to cook such a meal at a place so remote.
A bright and clear day welcomed us when we were going to attempt Katora Lake trek. Being relatively shorter than the Jahaz Banda trek, it was no less difficult. We suppose to trek to the lake and return to the Jandri village today. We were climbing huge stones walking on stony meadows. The majority of the path was along the side of the mountain; badly affected by floods and stones broke down over it. During the trek, you can see a couple of green & blue ponds of water which were not less attractive than Naltar Lakes in Gilgit Baltistan. Sitting on a stone and enjoying the wind touching the water and making a peaceful sound was an experience not to forget about.
Before Katora Lake, Jahaz Dand Lake deceives the trekkers as if they have reached the Katora Lake. This neither small nor a less beautiful lake is surrounded by mountains from the both sides. We sat and saw the lake from the mountain which gave a bird's eye view of the lake. We cannot sit here for long, one of the porters said, we still have a distance to cover. Far away, the spillover from Katora Lake was forming a waterfall, giving us a heading towards it.
Just before the lake, you need to climb a steep hill, we helped each other in climbing the hill and we saw the lake uncovered itself from its vail. This is it!! One of the porters said, "This is the destination you were trekking for, welcome to Katora Lake". The lake was big and snow covered mountains were covering it from all sides. At the lake there is no way to camp, so whoever comes to visit, must trek back to Jahaz Banda or Jandrai. The spillover of the lake is mysterious, it is not something, which is naturally formed, and by my observation, the water made its way out of the lake by finding the most suitable direction. Excited and amazed, we sat there for a couple of hours saving memories; some were saved in mind and some were photographed for sharing with everyone who is interested.
Porters played a huge role in the success of our trek; they were friendly, communicative and always motivating. "We are almost there", they used to say when we start getting tired. They didn't rush nor they put all of us in hurry. Steady as we go, we reached our destination. It was never possible without their support to accomplish the goal.
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text:
Currently, the Period
type doesn't support custom patterns, but two predefined patterns
which are exposed in PeriodPattern
)This pattern performs no normalization of the period - it simply writes out the value of each component of the period (as determined by its units). The format aims to be at least reminiscent of ISO-8601, and in many cases it will be compatible with ISO-8601, but it shouldn't be used in places where ISO compliance is required.
The format is:
P (date components) T (time components)
Where each non-zero component within the period is specified as its value followed by a unit specifier from this list:
(months in the date portion)W
(minutes in the date portion)S
(ticks)The T
is omitted if there are no time components.
This format differs from ISO-8601 in the following ways:
is invalid in this pattern, for examples
and t
units aren't part of ISOPeriodPattern.NormalizedIsoPattern
)This pattern normalizes the week, day and time parts of the period before formatting (even if the period only contains weeks, currently), assuming that a week is always 7 days and a day is always 24 hours. The result of the normalization removes weeks entirely, so a period of 2 weeks becomes 14 days. The month and year components are left alone, as they may vary in duration. The result of the normalization is then serialized in a way which is mostly compatible with ISO-8601.
The general format is as for the roundtrip pattern, but without the s
and t
units; weeks are currently never formatted
due to normalization.
Only non-zero components are formatted. The exception to this is the zero period, which is formatted as "P0D".
Any fractional seconds are formatted using a period as a decimal separator, with a leading 0 if necessary. So
for example, a 500 millisecond period is formatted as PT0.5S
While this pattern is more ISO-like than the roundtrip pattern, it can still produce a text representation which is not valid in ISO, as it values may be negative. Any valid ISO representation can be parsed correctly, however.
At the time of this writing, there are no methods performing parsing within Period
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method is
supported, which always uses the roundtrip pattern described above. If patterns based on text representations are ever supported, these
methods will be implemented on Period
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Leading electric car makers must come clean to their consumers about the steps they are taking to keep child labour out of their supply chains, and be open about any abuses that they do find, Amnesty International said today, ahead of the Paris Motor Show where new models of electric cars will be displayed.
Leading electric car makers General Motors (GM), Renault-Nissan and Tesla have failed to disclose the steps they are taking to ensure that cobalt mined by child labourers as young as seven in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is not used in their batteries.
Electric cars may not be as 'clean' as you would think. Customers need to be aware that their green cars could be linked to the misery of child labourers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mark Dummett, Business and Human Rights Researcher at Amnesty International
"Electric cars may not be as 'clean' as you would think. Customers need to be aware that their green cars could be linked to the misery of child labourers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Would customers at the Paris Motor Show buy a car if they thought it had cost someone their childhood?" said Mark Dummett, Business and Human Rights Researcher at Amnesty International.
"Amnesty International's research shows that there is a significant risk of cobalt mined by children ending up in the batteries of electric cars. These vehicles are presented as the ethical choice for environmentally and socially conscious drivers, so the companies that manufacture them must come clean and prove they have acted diligently in getting their supplies."
More than half of the world's cobalt, which is a key component in the lithium-ion batteries which power electric vehicles, comes from the DRC, 20% of which is mined by hand. Research by Amnesty International for its report, This Is What We Die For, released in January 2016, found that adults and children as young as seven work in appalling conditions in artisanal mining areas. Researchers found these miners are at risk of fatal accidents and serious lung disease and earn as little as one dollar a day.
Electric car supply chain under scrutiny
New research, released on the eve of the Paris Motor Show 2016 by Amnesty International, has identified five car companies at risk. According to news sources and/or company press releases, South Korean battery manufacturer LG Chem provides batteries for:
- GM's Chevrolet Volt,
- Renault-Nissan's Twizy and ZOE,
- Upgrades to Tesla's Roadster model.
Samsung SDI, also from South Korea, supplies BMW (i3 EV and i8 PHEV) and Fiat-Chrysler (500E EV), the two car manufacturers acknowledged in letters to Amnesty.
In its January 2016 report, Amnesty International revealed that there was a risk that other auto companies, including Daimler, VW and the Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD, were using cobalt that had come from mines in the DRC where children and adults work in unsafe conditions.
Amnesty International used investor documents to show how cobalt mined in the DRC is bought by a Chinese company, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt (Huayou Cobalt), which supplies battery component manufacturers in China and South Korea. In turn, these component manufacturers sell to battery makers including LG Chem and Samsung SDI, that supply many of the world's largest car companies.
Daimler has stated that it does not source directly from the DRC nor from suppliers in the DRC. Similarly, VW has denied links to Huayou Cobalt. Both advise that they are doing more to detect human rights risks in their cobalt supply chains, but without providing evidence. For example neither explain how they verify information provided to them by their suppliers. Critically neither disclosed the identity of smelters nor any assessment of the adequacy of their practices. BYD did not reply to Amnesty International's request for information.
BMW, Fiat Chrysler most open on human rights policies but still fall short of international standards
General Motors (GM) and Tesla did not reply to a request from Amnesty International to provide evidence of how they identify and address human rights abuses in their cobalt supply chains, particularly in relation to child labour. Renault said it would respond to Amnesty "at the earliest possible time," but provided no other information.
By contrast, BMW and Fiat-Chrysler both sent detailed responses, though they failed to provide sufficient proof that they were meeting international standards applicable to mineral supply chains:
- BMW said it had been investigating its cobalt supply chain since 2013 and was working with its suppliers to identify its smelters, the names of which it declined to disclose. BMW added that Huayou Cobalt was not a supplier and that it had received assurances from its battery manufacturer, Samsung SDI, that Huayou Cobalt was not part of its supply chain. However, BMW does not provide evidence of any independent steps it has taken to verify Samsung's assertion.
- Fiat Chrysler, another customer of Samsung SDI, also said that Huayou Cobalt was not part of its supply chain. Similarly, it appears to accept Samsung's assertion at face value. Fiat Chrysler admitted that it currently does not "have a program specifically focused on the identification of the cobalt smelters and refiners." This means that Fiat Chrysler does not have a system in place to trace its cobalt supplies back to the "choke point" in the chain and so is unable to assess if cobalt mined by children in the DRC is entering its supply chain.
More details about company responses, including their full replies, available here
Electric car sector lacks transparency
Under international guidelines set out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), companies which use cobalt mined in high-risk areas should identify their smelters or refiners, as well as disclose their own assessment of the adequacy of the smelter's due diligence practices in identifying and addressing human rights risks and abuses.
None of the companies mentioned above could demonstrate that they have met this standard for cobalt.
"Without legislation that makes human rights due diligence mandatory, companies will continue to skirt the issue and benefit from child labour and other abuses."
Mark Dummett, Business and Human Rights Researcher at Amnesty International
Amnesty International is calling on all multinational companies that use lithium-ion batteries to prove that they are implementing their policies and to be transparent about the results of their investigations. It is integral that they disclose sufficient information that relates to any human rights abuses or risks of abuse they find.
Voluntary action by companies is not enough. Amnesty International is also calling for governments to pass laws that require companies to check and publicly disclose information about where they source minerals and their suppliers. Today there is no regulation of the global cobalt market. Cobalt does not fall under existing "conflict minerals" rules in the USA, which cover gold, coltan/tantalum, tin and tungsten mined in DRC.
In France, the National Assembly has passed a bill that would place an obligation on large French companies, such as Renault, to prevent human rights abuses in its supply chain. It will be heard by the Senate in October.
"This bill is a great example of the state ensuring that companies take human rights seriously and meet their responsibilities. If passed, companies could be sanctioned for failing to act vigilantly," said Mark Dummett.
"Without legislation that makes human rights due diligence mandatory, companies will continue to skirt the issue and benefit from child labour and other abuses."
More information about Amnesty International and AfreWatch's January 2016 report, This is what we die for: Human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt is available here.


text:
Kristen Stewart, pregnant with Rob's lovechild? Or just bloated?
Dear LTT-ers, Robstenites, Nonstenites, and general gossip hounds,
Recently a most outrageous "news" story began circulating around the interwebs. Rag mags, gossip sites and weirdos alike have been reporting that Kristen Stewart is pregnant! Yes, the 19 year old, barely legal, girl from Zathura, the chosen one of Stephenie Meyer, aka Bella is allegedly PREGNANT. Now I'm not one to believe most stuff from the Rag mags until the star themselves confirm it. But what's the fun in waiting? So I've gathered together a panel of obsessed freaks experts on the subject of all things Twilight, Kristen and pregnancy. We're going to treat this like our very own cable news show so sit back and relax as we bring you all the facts, reactions and advice on:
HARDBALL with Themoonisdown
Hello and welcome to our very first addition of Hardball, today is Friday, July 10th, 2009 and here's what we know on the Kristen Stewart might be pregnant news front…
The Aussie tab's insider says, "When [Stewart] worked out she was late, she obviously started to thinking that she could be pregnant. And because of the timing, she thinks Rob could be the father."
The gossip mag also reports she had a friend buy a home pregnancy test for her and that she is "very nervous about the whole situation."
As evidence, the mag ran a shot of Stewart with a small round belly on the set of her upcoming film, "The Runaways."
Naturally reps for Stewart and Pattinson have not confirmed whether there is any truth to the New Weekly's report.
As it stands this is what we know: Kristen Stewart is supposedly "late" in getting her monthly visitor. And of course thinks that a one Mr. Robert Pattinson is the father, nevermind her ex-boyfriend who from all accounts she was still with 2-3 months ago. Kristen Stewart has an unknown "friend" buy her a pregnancy test. And finally as physical evidence we have a photo of Kristen from the set of the Runaways with what reporters are calling a "small round belly."
I turn now to my panel of highly esteemed journalists, Robsten followers, snarky commenters and legal experts for their reactions… Let's play Hardball!
First up from the always on top of it Rob Pattinson site "Robsessed" we have the lovely Gozde. What is your opinion of the news that Kristen might be pregnant with Rob's love child?
Gozde: Rob can impregnate with a stare, true story, but for this time I say 'What a Load of Crap'
Moon: As proof Gozde has brought along this lovely picture at right to help prove her point. Can we get that on the screen now? (look to your left) *sees rob* Uh… yea I'm gonna have to say you might be right… I feel my ovaries spontaneously ovulating… NEXT expert! Quickly!!
Kristin: *interupting* "I would also like to mention that after seeing pictures of Rob and Ruby (his pint sized costar for Remember Me) together, my uterus spontaneously impregnated itself, so if there is a babymama, It's me, spelled with an IN. Just in case you were all wondering…"
Moon: Well, I guess we've proven your point Gozde, maybe a Kristen IS pregnant from his stares, it just might be OUR KristIN, instead. Why don't we toss this to the super wonderful TwiCrackAddict for her take. What do you think TwiCrack, pregnant or not?
TwiCrackAddict: "Hullo? If having a lil' pooch is evidence of being knocked up, then people must think that my ever-present Food-Induced-Belly-Bump is an indication that I'm pregnant with sextuplets these days. Sorry, I'm just puffy and eat too much ice cream"
Follow the cut to see what else the panel has to say, and IS SHE PREGNANT?? Come back after this commercial break
Moon: Preach sister, wanna go get double dip cones TwiCrack?
TwiCrackAddict: Yes and also as one of my readers commented when I reported the story: "Maybe she had a big lunch and just wants to Al Bundy it!"
Moon: Don't we all? In fact, I'm doing that right now. Let it all hang out, that's what I say. Thanks girl. Now let's move along to one of our resident Robstenites and creator of the hilariously funny Twi-Theater over on the forum for her thoughts… Calli, what did you think about the possible Robsten baby?
Calli: Well, my first thought: bitch! I'd give anything to have prego rumours about me and The Sparkly One. Seriously. like… I'd go all Nikki Reed on his ass and get me some compromising pictures and then head on over to a props department and get me some fake baby bumps to help me along that story…
And then second, I wanted to call up Stephanie Meyer's reps to make sure she hadn't jumped into the Grand Canyon… what more can these two do to ruin the chaste image of Bella and Edward she worked so long to dream up. First the weed smoking by kstew & the alcoholism of Rpattz … then the charlie hotel sleepover… then that damned book cover… and finally… a baby?!?! without a wedding!?!? Steph's going to die at a very young age. I don't think her nerves can take much more…
Moon: Very good point Calli! UC, get Meyers' reps on the phone we need to make sure she's still alive and ticking… or at least make sure her typing fingers are in working order! She still needs to finish Midnight Sun before she even thinks about getting anywhere near the ledge of the Grand Canyon! Ok, let's turn to another leading expert in all things Twi… the master of it all: NewMoonMovie.org… So NMM do you think Kristen is knocked up?
NewMoonMovie.org: "She's been seen still smoking. A lot."
Moon: Very good point NMM but what if she is indeed WITH CHILD?
NewMoonMovie.org: "I don't know about you, but if I was pregnant with Robert Pattison's baby, I'd turn into the fricking town crier: 'Hear ye, hear ye! I AM THE CHOSEN ONE!'"
Moon: I would hire a sky writer to share the news! Let's focus now on what's been said about her physique… the mag says Kristen has a "small round belly…" Let's go to our leather pants expert and commenter LaPushBaby, what can you tell us?
LaPushBaby: This is the belly of a person who is being forced to wear painted-on leather pants for filming all day. Can you imagine how uncomfortable they must be? I would unbutton them the first chance I got, too. Seriously, this is the bloated belly of a girl who is having her monthly visit from Aunt Flo, or shared a Bloomin' Onion and a pitcher of Foster's at Outback last night. Water retention, we've all been there…
BrookeLockart: It's called a F.U.P.A. (Fat Upper P*ssy Area). Come on, you know what I'm talking about…her metabolism is finally slowing down and late night munchies will eventually take its toll. Plus I think she's totally on the BC and she's busting out a bit (see New Moon busty boobies for reference).
Moon: FUPA!! The scourge of getting older, thank you for reminding us Brooke. What do you think commenter Proselyte3? The belly? The Leather pants? What gives? Is this just another case of the media and it's double standards for female bodies?
Proselyte3: "Damn! If having a tiny bit of belly hang over a pair of tight ass leather pants makes KStew pregs, then most of the female race must be carrying Rob's spawn."
Moon: Crap… am I pregnant? And all along I thought mexican good bloat doesn't equal a baby! Help me Lauren from Lauren's Bite!
Lauren: "Beer = Babies…"
Moon: *expletive beeeeeeeeep* Well, we've spent all this time debating whether Kristen and Rob bumped uglies long enough to get pregnant but I can't help but wonder about the others effected by this scenario… What about Oregano? Her Family? Rob?
Calli: "Poor Oregano. No one ever thought his sperm could knock KStew up … even when the boy was stalking her every move. Now Rob – sweet, sexy, viril Rob who is on the completely opposite coast…. He can do it just by rubbing his nose up against her forehead in an almost kiss. Someone better check to see if Oregano and SMeyer aren't laying in that same ditch in the Grand Canyon."
Moon: Oh God!! UC, call the Arizona Parks Dept! Check the bottom of the Grand Canyon for a suburban housewife turned writer and the little guy who played Jack's son!
UC: " Ok, ok… looks like they found someone down there… guess I'm looking forward to giving the baby a stuffed werewolf at her shower!"
Moon: Noooooo!!! But what proof do we have? Show us the proof! No proof, no truth, right?
Calli: She's eating!! She's pregnant! Look at this picture from the Runaways set (to the right)
Moon: Control room, can you show us the eating picture?
She's eating a cookie… is that proof?
Calli: And now she's vomitting. That means MORNING SICKNESS! Double Pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moon: This just in, according to Kristin we have Rob's reaction to the rumors… can we go to the Rob reaction feed live from the set of Remember Me? (see right)
Moon: Ok, Calli and Kristin, I'm not sure we can call these proof… but what can Kristen do to help stop these rumors?
Calli: If I were Kristen and wanted to squash prego rumours…. I'd be walking around with a bottle of tequila in one hand and FOUR lit cigarettes in my mouth while rolling a non-therapeutic joint with my free hand. I wouldn't have a bottle of water and a cellphone in my hands. But that's just me.
Moon: TRUTH! Thanks Calli, this is why I walk around with a tequila bottle in my hand at all times. Lastly, let's go to our resident in house legal expert and creator of the HHH Bar Association, Janetrigs, Esq. What say you Janetrigs? If this news is true what legal rights do Rob and Kristen have?
Janetrigs, Esq: If it's true the custody battle should be nonexistent, as Rob has repeatedly expressed his distaste for children. However Kristen Stewart's lawyers will likely seek hefty child support payments, which may have RPattz cutting his cigarette, Heineken, and Dunkin Donuts coffee budget in half.
Moon: Wow, Janet when you put it that way, that is a high cost to pay for dear Rob for 2 minutes of mediocre at best, pleasure. Let's hope for both their sakes this news is false and that they will live to shag another day. Any final thoughts from the peanut gallery?
East Friend: "Debbie Gibson is pregnant with my two-headed love child."
Moon: And with that we close our very first edition of Hardball with Themoonisdown. I want to thank all my esteemed panelists: Gozde from Robsessed, forum Moderator and intersection partner Kristin, TwicrackAddict from Confessions of a TwiCrackAddict, creator of Twi-Theater and forum Moderator Calli, NewMoonMovie.org, commenter and Vitamin R enthusiast LaPushBaby, Brooke Lockart commenter and FanFic prude, commenter and Micheal W Smith fanclub president Proselyte3, Lauren from Lauren's Bite, member and creator of the HHH Bar Association Janetrigs and finally Quad Member and keeper of the Landshark East Friend. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! A thousand times Thank you to all who participated and until next time…
Sex can wait, masterbate!
Source: LA Times blog
See what UC has cooked up over at Letters to Rob
Wanna talk more about Kristen ALLEGEDLY being preggers or want to participate in the daily chat and answer the question of the day? Head over to the forum!
*and NO we don't think she's pregnant!*
Tags: , Al Bundy, alcoholic, Baby, baby mama, Bella, bloat, bloggers, Bloomin' Onion, bump, cable news, child, cigarette, costar, custody battle, Debbie Gibson, dunkin donuts, eat, Edward, fake, fat, food, Fosters, friends, FUPA, gossip, Grand Canyon, Hardball with Chris Matthews, heineken, kid, Kristen Stewart, leather pants, love child, mexican, Michael Arangano, New Moon, news, Nikki Reed, Nonsten, Oregano, Outback Steakhouse, pals, preggers, pregnant, puffy, Remember Me, Rob, Robert Pattinson, Robsten, Ruby, Rumors, Runaways, smoke, sparkle, Speculation, Stephenie Meyer, tequila, water retention


text:
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Celebrating the release of hilarious and terrifying new movie "Ghost Stories", co-creators and childhood friends Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson talk to Stu about the myriad connections between comedy and horror...
Best known as the invisible fourth member of British comedy legends The League of Gentlemen, Jeremy Dyson is expert at making the familiar unfamiliar. We talk here about the elegantly simple process that he and Andy used to develop "Ghost Stories" from page to West End stage to screen, and discover a jaw-dropping fact about the forthcoming League live tour!
See Stu's on tour: www.comedianscomedian.com/tour
Support the podcast: www.comedianscomedian.com/donate
Ghost Stories is out this week at UK cinemas!
Filed Under: Andy Nyman, Audiences, BBC, Character, College, Dark Humour, Directing, Edinburgh, Fame, Fringe, Funland, Inspiration, Interview, League of Gentlemen, Magician, Mainstream, Radio 4, Reviews, Sketch, Storytelling, Structure, student comedy, Success, Surreal, The Wrong Mans, TV
Comments: No Comments


text:
With its low air pressure, Hurricane Michael unofficially sits as the third-strongest landfalling hurricane to strike the United States.
Having such a tremendously low air pressure typically causes storms to have strong winds, and Michael was no exception.
Hurricane Hunters from the Air Force and NOAA estimated Michael's lowest pressure was 919 MB at landfall. The only two hurricanes with a lower pressure at landfall to hit the United States were the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Camille of 1969.
Also based on estimates, Michael had top winds of 155 MPH, which is just below Category 5 status.
Based on top winds speeds, Michael was tied for the sixth-strongest landfalling hurricane in US history, tied with Hurricane Maria in 2017 and "Guam" in 1900.
In terms of air pressure, Michael was 1 MB stronger than Katrina in 2005 and Maria in 2017 at landfall, and 3 MBs stronger than Andrew of 1992. Michael's top winds at landfall were well ahead of Katrina's top winds at landfall of 130 MPH, on par with Maria's top winds at landfall of 155 MPH, but below Andrew's top winds of 165 MPH.
But in the immediate aftermath of Andrew, it was declared a Category 4 hurricane at landfall. It was not until years later when the National Hurricane Center concluded that winds in Andrew were greater than 157 MPH, marking the only Category 5 hurricane to strike the US since Camille in 1969.
Like Andrew, Michael continued to strengthen all the way until landfall. In just three days, the storm went from a tropical storm to a high-end Category 4 hurricane.
Other reasons Micheal will be notable:
- Michael was just the sixth hurricane of at least Category 4 strength to hit Florida since 1950.
- Michael is the strongest hurricane to hit the US in October.
- Michael is the strongest hurricane based on air pressure to strike the US since Camille in 1969.
- Michael's top winds were the strongest to hit the contiguous United States since Andrew.


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Rebooting Bits From Bill
As many of you know I've battled with health issues in recent years. The struggle had an impact on my work including the time I was able to devote to this blog. I'm hoping to reboot sharing what my brain finds valuable and will write about topics I hope you'll find worthy.
"... the first tech toy... I use every day...."
I will be sharing tips about my new best friend Alexa. The popular Amazon assistant is being included in a variety of devices and is in a category all it's own. I've talked to many people who haven't explored Alexa enough to realize how powerful these devices are. Alexa is the first tech toy I've purchased since 1999 that I use every day and it has truly enhanced my productivity. (In 1999 I discovered TiVo)
"... a lot of loT devices to be Alexa compatible."
Naturally, as a Blue Hat hacker, I will still be paying attention to tricks used to steal passwords and personal info. I'm surprised at the attention given to Wikileaks for disclosing details of tools we've been talking about for years. I'll share my research into security flaws in Windows Universal and devices using the "Internet of Things"(IoT). Don't be surprised if I promote loT devices to be Alexa compatible.
"Central Nervous System Lyme Disease"
I will share my experiences with technology advancesin medicine. In 1980, I wrote a paper predicting how computers would be used in the future of health care. I may share more personal details of my own experience.
Dead Tick
I'm in the process of being a survivor of chronic Central Nervous System Lyme Disease. Only 10-15% of those infected by a Lyme infected tick are of the CNS type. Mine was finally confirmed following a spinal tap ordered by my hero, Dr. David Rockwell. The time it takes me to write isn't what it used to be but it's healthy for me and I'll save the best bits for you.


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In Part One of this treatise, we examined the fundamental relationship between Bitcoin and privacy by going back to the beginning with the whitepaper. In spite of some excellent privacy preserving options that have been available to users since those early days, we seem to have taken a few wrong turns. But to fix it, in order to make Bitcoin's privacy "great again," we must be able to distinguish between real privacy and red herrings that can only lead us further off the path.
Fiat Gateways Lead to Privacy Graveyards
Bitcoin is an effective system to transfer and store wealth, but that wealth has first to "enter" the system somehow, very often coming from fiat money. (Of course, you can also earn satoshis directly in exchange for goods and services you provide, instead of buying them with fiat.)
Fiat-enabled bitcoin on-ramps (often known as "cryptocurrency exchanges"), acting as liquidity bridges, created huge privacy problems in Bitcoin. In order to manage fiat, exchanges will have to use traditional bank accounts. In order to get those, they have to meekly accept all the rules, conditions and limitations banks require. Traditional fiat banks, in turn, will pass over the extremely complex and heavy "compliance" burden they received from governments and regulatory agencies, including that concentration of economic illiteracy called "KYC/AML regulation."
So, fiat-to-bitcoin bridges will almost always end up demanding a scary amount of personal information from their user, linking that information to a few deposit and withdrawal addresses (often incentivizing continuous reuse) and then even hiring "chain-analysis" companies in order to follow, trace, tail and stalk all the previous and following economic activity on-chain.
Why Chain Analysis?
The first and most important reason for doing so is because these on-ramps are scared to lose the privilege of having a fiat bank account. Bitcoin was, is and will always be considered a "borderline" reality by governments and government-sanctioned legal cartels like modern fiat banks. Thus, it's realistic to assume they would close down operative accounts to any exchange which couldn't guarantee the same level of financial surveillance that fiat banks routinely enact.
For this reason, fiat-enabled gateways not only keep promoting wrong and dangerous uses of the Bitcoin protocol, discouraging security best practices and hiring "chain-analysis" spy companies: They often even go to great lengths to publicly praise "KYC/AML" nonsense regulations and to push the narrative that "Bitcoin is completely traceable," marketing some probabilistic assumptions as "legal proofs" and ignoring even the existence of the fundamental privacy features of the protocol.
For a while now, these businesses have been freezing or confiscating users' accounts because of what theoretical "chain-analysis" heuristics (dishonestly promoted as "facts") suggest these users may have been doing way before or way after their interaction with the exchange, basically trying to break fungibility in Bitcoin.
We often see this happening for activities that aren't even explicitly considered illegal in the specific jurisdiction under which they happened: online gaming, adult services, political campaigns, etc. Anything considered even remotely controversial has been depicted as forbidden, and any statistical guess about "on-chain" activity, based on common patterns and typical tools, has been depicted as "proven."
Of course, there's nothing really proven in "chain-analysis" heuristics, so the spy companies arbitrarily decide how many "on-chain hops" to look for, arbitrarily assuming who is doing what. Even assuming that such heuristics are correct (they have never been 100 percent reliable, and they are less and less so each day, while Bitcoin developers build better tools and Bitcoin users start employing best practices), this behavior is unacceptable. It is the digital equivalent of your physical bank sending private investigators to follow your every move for days after you withdraw cash at the ATM, and then freezing or confiscating your bank account entirely if that PI comes back with a report that says that "you may have," with some probability, engaged in controversial actions with that cash.
More recently, this shady behavior has extended beyond some generically controversial activities engaged by "somebody somehow connected with customers" to encompass even the very act of trying to use Bitcoin's security and privacy best practices!
Closing the Blinds
In January 2020, a company that operates a regulated exchange froze a customer's account once they discovered possible hints that somebody, possibly the customer himself (but after some "hops" following the withdrawal transaction, that is, not even directly), was using a wallet enabling privacy best practices. Again, imagine your physical bank sending a private investigator to follow your steps for days after you withdraw some cash at the ATM, and then freezing or confiscating your bank account if that PI reports that says that "you may have," with some probability, closed your shutters at home, or pulled your shower curtains while naked, or put a lock on your personal journal, or used HTTPS within your web browser!
Furthermore, the specific message to the customer was tragically hilarious: It said that the business "can't condone activities such as peer-to-peer (sic!) mixing or gambling." All this while talking about Bitcoin, which is literally a peer-to-peer protocol whose transactions can natively work as mixers, and coming from a business that operates in cryptocurrency trading, which some consider not that different from gambling!
Don't Fall for Red Herrings
There have been many reactions from Bitcoin users and analysts to these dodgy examples of behavior, many of which are based on logical fallacies or straight-on distortion of the facts. A classical example is the absurd notion that "Bitcoin users should not use privacy best practices, because that's dangerous."
Red Herring #1: "Being Private Will Get You Into Trouble"
The pseudo-argument goes something like this: Since some overzealous business may use unreliable heuristics to accuse you of adopting privacy and security best practices that they have arbitrarily defined as "unacceptable," possibly freezing or even confiscating your account, or flagging it as "suspicious," you should just stop using those security best practices and move to insecure alternatives instead. In other words, to use our physical bank example, since your bank might flag your account if the PI they sent after you comes back with a report that says that you may have, with some probability, used some privacy best practices a few days after a cash withdrawal, you should just stop closing your shutters while home, or pulling the shower curtains while naked, or putting a lock on your personal journal, or using HTTPS within your web browser.
This is nonsense, of course. If anything, it's not using privacy and security best practices that would turn out to be extremely dangerous — not just for your financial safety but also for your physical safety. Reminder: Bitcoin's privacy is all-or-nothing! Once a business is able to attach your physical identities, not just to an on-chain address but also to all the future and past history connected with it, all it takes is a little leak (by the business itself, by its spy-contractors or by one of the countless government agencies which will receive and pass along that information) to direct very dangerous enemies to your doorstep.
Incidentally, the pseudo-argument is flawed more fundamentally as well: Even if you were so reckless as to decide to trust this third party with a complete account of your future and past transactions, in spite of the risk to your physical security (and that of your loved ones), you may achieve the very same result just by sending it the cryptographic proofs of all the inputs you ever signed (either on-chain or on upper layers), allowing the meddling gateway to read through each of your CoinJoin or Lightning Network routing — all without giving up generic privacy best practices. You are still risking a leak, but at least you are not giving every random guy with an internet connection an easy way to deanonymize and stalk you (and others you interact with).
Red Herring #2: "If You're Just Using Bitcoin to Invest, You Don't Need to Worry About Privacy"
Usually this red herring comes with some distorted vision of Bitcoin's utility. "If users just want to invest in bitcoin as an uncorrelated financial asset with some disinflationary features," they say, "then they don't need privacy at all." This pseudo-argument is severely flawed.
Here's the bad news: Gold was, for many many centuries up until 1933, a typically "uncorrelated financial asset with some disinflationary features" that people in the United States and elsewhere could invest in. But then came Executive Order 6102. Gold was confiscated all across the nation, and all the investors who didn't protect their privacy (which was especially hard with "paper gold," kept in custody by trusted third parties eager to comply with the order, but also pretty hard with actual physical gold, difficult to hide in large amounts or to smuggle across a border) had to give it to the government.
A good general heuristic is this: If you are a privileged "first-world" investor, with a good KYC identity, and you are looking for some kind of investment that is politically uncontroversial now and likely to remain that way, then you will soon be able to access that type financial product from you favorite fiat bank. If that describes you, don't even concern yourself with complex stuff like private keys, blockchain fees, addresses: leave the real protocol to real users. Just call your good old bank over the phone and ask to buy some "bitcoin-flavored risk": certificates, futures, ETNs, ETFs, CFDs, etc.
If, on the other hand, you are not as privileged (like the majority of the world population today, which doesn't have a KYC-friendly identity), or if you think that the financial asset you seek is a bit controversial today already or likely to become so in the future, then you will eventually need some very strong privacy techniques to acquire it and to safely store it, since "legally compliant" exchanges, brokers and marketplaces will do everything they can to keep you out of it or take it from you.
Red Herring #3: "Just Use a Magical 'Privacy Coin!'"
A second typical reaction, even more absurd, is to suggest "privacy altcoins" as a "solution" to this problem. A regulated exchange will flag your account if you use best practices such as CoinJoin, or Lightning Network, or address-reuse-avoidance. Then, instead of bitcoin, just use some illiquid bitcoin-clone whose design has been altered in such a way that it's said to offer "more fungibility," right?
The superficial problem with this approach is that such "magic privacy coins" don't actually exist in the real world. On one hand, that's because most of the changes marketed as "privacy improvements" are either entirely fake or greatly exaggerated. They also tend to come with serious trade-offs which make these clones otherwise unusable at scale over the long run (usually including a completely centralized development process, trivial to compromise).
On the other hand, even if such a coin were to exist, from a technological point of view, it couldn't work in practice from an economical point of view. Remember: Privacy loves company. A huge chunk of the bitcoin economy and its users would have to move to the very same bitcoin-clone as you. Otherwise, your transactions will have a lower liquidity and a smaller anonymity set, regardless of how perfect and sci-fi-worthy the privacy tech you are using is.
More on These Magical Privacy Coins and Why They Are Useless
The Bitcoin + Privacy-Coin Combo Fallacy
There are variants of this red herring which are based on some kind of "bimetallic standard" idea: Those proponents will suggest that you use bitcoin as your fundamental store of value (which centralized illiquid clones can't be for obvious economic reasons), and then add a particular "privacy altcoin" for privacy in transactions.
Of course that can't work in most real-world scenarios. Assuming that the payer and the payee both use bitcoin as a long-term store of value, the payee would have to move satoshis from his personal storage solution to some kind of market (regulated or not, it doesn't really matter here) with the same privacy issues as any other bitcoin transaction; then exchange those satoshis for altcoins on some low-liquidity shared order book with very low privacy; and then move the altcoins over their native system with a low anonymity set to an address provided by the payee. Then the payee would have to repeat the same steps in reverse.
The privacy guarantees of the whole process would be, overall, way lower than a normal bitcoin transaction performed following the best practices. Of course, these guarantees can be increased if either the payee or the payer "batch" many transactions in one big altcoin reserve, exchanging satoshis only once, way before or way after the single individual transactions. But this would require the altcoin to be a reliable store of value for long periods of time — which illiquid and centralized bitcoin-clones (often crippled by unbalanced trade-off choices between privacy features and other very delicate aspects) can't be.
The deeper problem with this approach is that, even if feasible, it would become completely useless pretty quickly. The very same reasons that convinced some regulated exchanges to actively discourage or even prevent their customers from adopting privacy best practices on Bitcoin, would readily convince the very same exchanges to just delist any "privacy-focused" bitcoin-clone. The "smaller" the altcoin, the weaker the incentive to list it. The "bigger" the altcoin, the stronger the regulatory pressure to delist it. It's as simple as that.
The "Mandatory" Privacy vs "Opt-In" Privacy Fallacy
Some weak attempts at steel-manning this approach focus on the distinction between mandatory privacy and opt-in privacy. "With Bitcoin," the altcoin proponents say, "you are not forced to use the fungibility features at the protocol level, so it's easy for the exchange to ask you not to use them. But with my altcoin, you have no choice, so the regulated exchange will also have no choice but to allow you to use them."
Again, this is nonsense; it's not true that a privacy feature can ever be "mandatory at the protocol level."
As the history of Bitcoin teaches us, it's mostly about tools: Even when the base protocol includes strong fungibility capabilities, if the most widespread tools don't leverage them, then people will simply not use them. They'll just resort to using whatever is easy and available, even if that mean adopting bad practices instead.
It doesn't matter which protocol you use: If the tools are inadequate, so is your privacy. Just as you can have a bitcoin wallet that is incompatible with CoinJoin and that forces address reuse, you can also have a monero wallet that leaks confidential information about amounts and always constructs "ring-signatures" between every single user and himself. If such a wallet is widespread, spy companies can assume such behavior as common and build de-anonymization heuristics.
Of course, altcoin proponents may just build and market tools that actually use the privacy features already present in their clone at the protocol level. But then again they would need just as much time, money and effort that is required for building and marketing tools that actually use the privacy features already present in Bitcoin at the protocol level.
What Really Matters: Incentives
A more useful distinction to examine is the one between privacy features that are economically convenient to use and privacy features that are costly to use. The perfect (bad) example would be that of "shielded transactions" in the altcoin Zcash: Since they take way more space inside blocks, and way more computation time to be verified and signed (making this last action almost impossible on a light client), economic incentives push the already-few users of the coin to "unshielded" transactions, which are just an outdated version of the traditional bitcoin ones.
As a direct effect, many users will think they have "more privacy" when this process, in fact, makes tracking and deanonymizing far easier. An indirect effect will be that the very few users who do decide to pay the extra cost for "shielded" transactions will find themselves within an even smaller anonymity set, ending up exposed instead of protected.
An opposite example would be the Lightning Network on Bitcoin: Since block space is expensive, users often have strong economic incentives to switch to payment channels to save fees, reducing the "timechain footprint" to just opening and closing channels.
Same Old Story
Ultimately, it's not surprising at all that some of the most vocal proponents of the "CoinJoin is risky because your account will get flagged" narrative turn out to be also promoters of new, illiquid "privacy" altcoins, which they hope to push to profit from "pump-and-dump" schemes. Same old story: "Bitcoin's fees are too high: buy my low-fee altcoin!" or "Bitcoin signatures aren't quantum-proof: buy my quantum-ready altcoin!" or "Bitcoin's smart contracts aren't flexible enough: buy my Turing-complete altcoin!" or "Bitcoin is not fungible enough: buy my privacy altcoin!"
Solutions Are Coming
Are there real solutions and ways to mitigate the threat that regulated exchanges pose to the privacy and the security for Bitcoin users, beyond the red herrings? Yes: many.
The ultimate solution, albeit very slow, will eventually come from the evolution of the market. While more and more resources will leave the fiat world to enter Bitcoin over the years, more and more parts of the bitcoin economy will move from fiat gateways to satoshi-denominated trades among users. Gateways will still be important, but gradually less so, making their bargaining power lower and lower over time. Fiercer competition will also help: People will be happy to leave meddling PI-hiring banks who force them to keep shower curtains open if they have alternatives.
More Tools
Another mitigation will come from the evolution of Bitcoin tools. While more and more modern wallets will make it harder to reuse addresses or merge inputs, and easier to coordinate CoinJoin rounds, regulated exchanges will have a harder time forcing their customers to use only old, outdated or inferior wallets instead.
Lightning Network
Yet another mitigation will come from the adoption of the Lightning Network. Since block space in the base layer will become more expensive, users will be strongly incentivized to route transactions over payment channels instead. It will be harder for regulated exchanges to arbitrarily ban customers due to a probabilistic link between the satoshis they deposited or withdrew on the Lightning Network, especially when the latter will be ubiquitous, thanks to economic incentives.
Protocol Upgrades
Additional improvements may possibly come from the next protocol upgrades in Bitcoin, especially the one called "cross-input Schnorr signature aggregation." This upgrade will make coordinating with several different parties within CoinJoin rounds extremely convenient, from an economical perspective.
Decentralized Exchanges
Another hope comes from the idea of decentralized exchanges (DEXes). So far, they suffer from liquidity limitations and their security remains tricky: While the Bitcoin "leg" of any trade can be easily trust-minimized, the fiat leg remains ultimately trust-based, making complex and expensive escrow mechanisms necessary. (In turn, escrow mechanisms tend to prove very difficult to decentralize effectively.)
Your privacy is in your hands — just keep calm and be diligent. Don't submit to dangerous privacy violations. Don't reuse addresses. Use CoinJoin. Close your shutters when you're at home. Pull the shower curtains when you're naked. Put a lock on your personal journal. Use HTTPS when surfing the web.
In the end, Bitcoin fixes this.
This is an op ed contribution by Giacomo Zucco. Views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Bitcoin Magazine or BTC Inc.
The post A Treatise on Bitcoin and Privacy Part 2: Don't Be Misled by Red Herrings appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.


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The fact that the softbox is such a common tool doesn't mean you can't be creative with it. To prove this we asked Andrea Belluso to do four different fashion setups using nothing but softboxes.
We all know the softbox. When it comes to Light Shaping Tools, it might very well be the most popular and most widely used. But the fact that we see it and use it so often can sometimes make us forget what a versatile and creative tool the softbox actually is.
First of all, there are many different sizes and shapes of softboxes to choose from. Secondly, you can position and direct the softbox in many different ways, which will create very different lighting effects. Put it to the side of your model. Put it above. Direct it straight at your model or feather it and use the fall off. Almost anything is possible with a softbox.
To prove this we asked light shaping guru Andrea Belluso to do four different fashion setups using only softboxes in an out of the box kind of way.
Never one to back down from a challenge, Andrea came up with four unique solutions. He tethered up with his Phase One XF and TetherPro USB 3.0 SuperSpeed and set to work. He used the softbox as side light, he used the softbox as top light, he used it to create a hard light, and he used it as back light to create an even softer light.
How did he do it? Keep reading and we'll go through each setup one at a time.
The softbox as side light
Using two differently sized strip softboxes – the Softbox RFi 1×6' and the OCF Softbox 1×3' to be exact – placed on each side of the model, I created a very moody and dramatic fashion light. The larger one, on the left side, will give a softer light, and the smaller one, on the right side, I want to be more focused light. This generates an almost silhouette effect, leaving the greater part of the picture under exposed on purpose.
I am getting correct exposure on the left side using the Softbox RFi 1×6' with an RFi Stripmask 7cm 1×6′. The stripmask narrows down the light spread, making it even tighter. With this as main light I capture the correct skin color of the model and revealing the structure and details of the outfit. But only on a very specific part of the image.
On the right side I put an OCF Softbox 1×3' with a blue OCF Gel, giving a touch of color to go with the theme of all four images. To balance the background lighting I used the B2 Off-Camera Flash fitted only with a blue OCF gel. With the Pro Tethering Kit I could see the result on my laptop straight away as well as avoiding transferring the images from the camera to the computer later, which made it easier to ensure that the images kept to the color concept I wanted for this series.
Gear list
1 x D1 Monolight
1 x Softbox RFi 1×6' + RFi Stripmask 7cm 1×6′
1 x B1 Off-Camera Flash
1 x OCF Softbox 1×3'
1 x B2 Off-Camera Flash
2 x OCF Gels (blue)
The softbox as hard light
We always think of the softbox as a soft light source, and we forget that a light's hardness or softness depends on the size of the light source. So placing the Softbox RFi 2×3' far away from the model turned it into a very hard light.
By removing the inner and outer diffusers I also made the light less diffused. A diffused light is not necessarily a soft light, it is the size of the light source (in this case determined by the distance between the softbox and the model, creating relative size) that determines the hardness of the light.
In order to understand the difference between soft light and diffused light I normally say to think of the two opposites. Hard is the opposite of soft and focused is the opposite of diffused.
To fit the color theme of the series I lit the background with the B1 Off-Camera Flash with the Rose Pink OCF Gel. As you can see from the image, the shadows get sharper than if I had shot with the softbox close to my subject. You also see the contrast in the details of the models jewelry and clothes.
Gear list
1 x D1 Monolight
1 x Softbox RFi 2×3'
1 x B1 Off-Camera Flash
1 x OCF Gels (Rose Pink)
The softbox as top light
A top light always creates a lot of drama in fashion shots, and it also gives a very interesting play with shadows on the garments. That is because everything facing the light coming from the top is lit, while every part of cloth facing the floor is in darkness. All the shapes of the cloth stand out and everything in the picture becomes very intriguing.
Placing a Softbox RFi 3×4' with a Softgrid 50 3×4′ above the model as the only light source created just this. Although there obviously are shadows on the floor, the edges of the shadows are very diffused and soft, just like the shadows on the model's face. The Softgrid added contrast on the picture and restricted the light spread, as all grids do.
Once again I lit the background using the B1 to get the image to fit in with the color theme. This time equipped with the Light Lavender OCF Gel.
Gear list
1 x D1 Monolight
1 x Softbox RFi 3×4' + Softgrid 50 3×4′
1 x B1 Off-Camera Flash
1 x OCF Gels (Light Lavender)
The softbox as back light
This is actually not one of my inventions, I have my mentor and first master Bardo Fabiani to thank for it. I have simply made a couple of small adjustments to it to make it more personal and to make it fit in this small series of images.
The principle is to make a softbox even softer than it already is, by placing it behind the model instead of in front of her. Then I am letting all the light from the largest available softbox, the Softbox RFi 4×6', bounce around a cage of white polystyrene boards, reaching the model as a reflected and very large light.
The only direct light on the model is the B1 with a scarlet gel, which is not the main light, which I use to add a touch of color on the model's hair, so that the picture fits right in with our color theme.
The Softbox RFi 4×6' also acts as the background of the image, creating an even softer effect by burning out the edges of the model's body, hair and clothes, blending them almost in the background itself. I added a diffusing panel in front of the softbox to spread the light even more and to eliminate the bottom edge of the softbox itself in the picture.
Gear list
1 x D1 Monolight
1 x Softbox RFi 4×6'
1 x B1 Off-Camera Flash
1 x OCF Gels (Scarlet)
All of the four pictures in this series where taken with softboxes as the main light. The background lights in most of the images where created with direct light by B1 Off-Camera flashes with OCF gels.
This was the tenth episode in our ongoing video series The Light Shaper in which Andrea Belluso shares tips and tricks on how to shape light. Have you watched them all? If not, head over to our website and pick the next one to watch!
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Check out Andrea's portfolio at www.belluso.com


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Carolina Party Artists
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Posted in South Carolina Face Painting |


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University of Arizona Press, 2013
Herrera takes on Sudanese injustice in this latest collection of monologues, transcripts, and prose poems, telling the story of three children—two brothers and their sister—as they try to escape a village ravaged by Janjaweed paramilitary. Hiding out in a cave, the children begin to create "mud paintings," a form which Herrera absorbs into the language and brush strokes of his poems. "They whipped their horses down the mountain as if they had erupted from the heart of Africa," says Ibrahim, the eldest of the three children and the resounding voice of protest and atrocity in Senegal Taxi. In the forty cave-painting poems that are peppered throughout the book, Ibrahim gives voice to the village ant, a television knocked in the dirt, the Janjaweed ringleader, and even an AK-47. In this way Herrera, through the voice of a young boy, is able to inhabit, undermine, and ultimately strike back against the apathy that allows genocide to occur. "One of the Janjaweed he calls himself Mr. America," he writes. "He coughed on me. Stop! I am Mr. America! He was not Mr. America. He was Janjaweed. My father taught me." The creation of art—both mud paintings and poetry—likewise creates a lasting record of familial love and the struggle to survive, neither of which can be erased or displaced by the voice of the Kalashnikov AK-47, which ultimately breaks down and admits its shame and compassion: "I heard their whispers and furies I / Could not stop listening and peering into them / As my master slept."
This review was published in American Poet, Volume 44, Spring 2013.


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Tesuque Area > Newly-Priced
The picturesque, incorporated village of Tesuque enjoys a rural feel (there are still horse properties here) and is only five minutes north of Santa Fe, just beyond Bishop's Lodge. Known for its valley of lush vegetation and the Tesuque River, as well as hilltop sites with views and traditional Northern New Mexico pinon and juniper, Tesuque attracts artists, professionals, retirees, second home owners, and celebrities looking to hide out. There is a small commercial community consisting of the landmark Tesuque Market, the restaurant El Nido and Shidoni Foundry.
Almost all the communities located in this area have a view of the entire Rio Grande Valley all the way to the Colorado border on a good day. Small villages are interspersed with newer subdivisions perched on the hills. The secret home of many a celebrity, this area is made up of adobe fixer-uppers and architectural gems. The area includes Los Caminitos, Vista Redonda, Chupadero, Rio En Medio, Pacheco Canyon and Pueblo Encantado.
Newly-Priced Homes for Sale in the Tesuque Area
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Wow! I Didnt think the fishing could get better than my last report,but I was wrong. Lake Sharpe and Francis Case are both on fire. You can catch a bunch of walleyes nearly anywhere from the white River area south of Chamberlain to Pierre SD. On Lake Francis Case the bite has switched to crawlers, Sharpe is still nearly all minnows. Also saw a nice limit of fish come from the Cheyenne River on Lake Oahe Pitching jig and minnow to shore did the Trick up there. I you Have Been thinking about a fishing trip but havent chose your dates give us a call. we will do our best to give you a trip of a lifetime. Give us a call at 6053661875. Thanks again.
See you on the river
Capt Dave Dahl


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1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine." 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' 22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, "'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.' 29 "Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, "'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool."' 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved


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This content of this page has been updated and migrated to the new Moodle Developer Resources. The information contained on the page should no longer be seen up-to-date. Why not view this page on the new site and help us to migrate more content to the new site! |
Please note: This page contains information for developers. You may prefer to read the information about filters for teachers and administrators.
Moodle 2.0
Filters are a way to automatically transform content before it is output. For example
- render embedded equations to images (the TeX filter)
- Links to media files can be automatically converted to an embedded applet for playing the media.
- Mentions of glossary terms can be automatically converted to links.
The possibilities are endless. There are a number of standard filters included with Moodle, or you can create your own. Filters are one of the easiest types of plugin to create. This page explains how.
Creating a basic filter
During this tutorial, we will build a simple example filter. We will make one that adds the word 'hello' before every occurrence of the word 'world'.
1. Since our filter is not part of a module, we should put it inside the 'filter' folder. Therefore, we create a directory called 'filter/helloworld'.
2. Inside that folder, we create a file called 'filter.php'.
3. Inside that PHP file, we define a class called filter_helloworld, that extends the moodle_text_filter class. (Note that the file doesn't end by closing the php section with the '?>' tag. This is standard for Moodle and is used to avoid problems with trailing whitespace.)
class filter_helloworld extends moodle_text_filter {
// ...
4. Inside that class, we have to define one method, called 'filter'. This takes the HTML to be filtered as an argument. The method should then transform that, and return the processed text. Replace the '// ...' above with
class filter_helloworld extends moodle_text_filter {
public function filter($text, array $options = array()) {
return str_replace('world', 'hello world!', $text);
5. version.php The version.php file keeps track of the version of your module, and other attributes, and is required for newer moodle versions. For a full list of the attributes please see version.php. Place the version.php in your 'filter/helloworld' directory.
defined('MOODLE_INTERNAL') || die();
$plugin->version = 2016052300; // The current plugin version (Date: YYYYMMDDXX)
$plugin->requires = 2016051900; // Requires this Moodle version
$plugin->component = 'filter_helloworld'; // Full name of the plugin (used for diagnostics)
That is basically all there is to it!
Giving your filter a name
To try the new filter, you first have to log in as Administrator and enable it by going to the page Administration ► Plugins ► Filters ► Manage filters.
When you do, you will find that your plugin does not have a name. We missed a step:
6. Inside the 'filter/helloworld' folder, create a folder called 'lang', and in there, create a folder called 'en'.
7. Inside there, create a file called 'filter_helloworld.php'. That is, you have just created the file 'filter/helloworld/lang/en/filter_helloworld.php'.
8. In that file, put
$string['filtername'] = 'Hello world!';
See String API for details.
Trying out your filter
We had just got to the filters administration screen. If you reload that page now, it should now show your filter with its proper name. Turn your filter on now.
Filters are applied to all text that is printed with the output functions format_text(), and, if you have turned on that option, format_string(). So, to see your filter in action, add some content containing the word 'world' somewhere, for example, create a test course, and use the word in the course description. When you look at that course in the course listing, you should see that your filter has transformed it.
Adding a global settings screen
Some filters can benefit from some settings to let the administrator control how they work. Suppose we want to greet something other than 'world'. To add global settings to the filter you need to:
9. Create a file called 'filtersettings.php' inside the 'filter/helloworld' folder. Use standard 'settings.php' file in Moodle 2.6 and later.
10. In the 'filtersettings.php' file, put something like:
$settings->add(new admin_setting_configtext('filter_helloworld/word',
get_string('word', 'filter_helloworld'),
get_string('word_desc', 'filter_helloworld'), 'world', PARAM_NOTAGS));
11. In the language file 'filter/helloworld/lang/en/filter_helloworld.php' add the necessary strings:
$string['word'] = 'The thing to greet';
$string['word_desc'] = 'The hello world filter will add the word \'hello\' in front of every occurrence of this word in any content.';
12. Change the filter to use the new setting:
class filter_helloworld extends moodle_text_filter {
public function filter($text, array $options = array()) {
$word = get_config('filter_helloworld', 'word');
return str_replace($word, "hello $word!", $text);
In standard Moodle, the censor, mediaplugin and tex filters all provide good examples of of how filters use global configuration like this.
A note about performance
One important thing to remember when creating a filter is that the filter will be called to transform every bit of text output using format_text(), and possibly also format_string(). That means that you have to be careful, or you could cause big performance problems. If you have to get data out of the database, try to cache it so that you only do a fixed number of database queries per page load. The Glossary filter is an example of this. (I am not sure how good an example ;-))
If your filter uses a special syntax or it is based on an appearance of a substring in the text, it is recommend to perform a quick and cheap strpos() search first prior to executing the full regex-based search and replace.
* Example of a filter that uses  links in some way.
public function filter($text, array $options = array()) {
if (!is_string($text) or empty($text)) {
// Non-string data can not be filtered anyway.
return $text;
if (stripos($text, '') === false) {
// Performance shortcut - if there is no  tag, nothing can match.
return $text;
// Here we can perform some more complex operations with the
// links in the text.
Local configuration
In addition, in Moodle 2.0, filters can also have different configuration in each context. For example, the glossary filter could be changed so that in Forum A, you can choose to only link words from a particular glossary, say Glossary A, while in Forum B you choose to link words from Glossary B.
To do that sort of thing, you need to add a file called filterlocalsettings.php. In it, you must define a Moodle form that is a subclass of filter_local_settings_form. In addition to the standard formslib methods, you also need to define a save_changes method. There is not a good example of this in the standard Moodle install yet. To continue our example:
13. Create a file called 'filterlocalsettings.php' inside the 'filter/helloworld' folder.
14. In the 'filterlocalsettings.php' file, put:
class helloworld_filter_local_settings_form extends filter_local_settings_form {
protected function definition_inner($mform) {
$mform->addElement('text', 'word', get_string('word', 'filter_helloworld'), array('size' => 20));
$mform->setType('word', PARAM_NOTAGS);
15. Extend the filter to use the new setting, if it is present. The filter must be able to work if the setting is not set, for example by falling back to the global or default setting in this case
class filter_helloworld extends moodle_text_filter {
public function filter($text, array $options = array()) {
global $CFG;
if (isset($this->localconfig['word'])) {
$word = $this->localconfig['word'];
} else {
$word = $CFG->filter_helloworld/word;
return str_replace($word, "hello $word!", $text);
Two types of filter
In the past, Moodle supported two different types of filter:
- Stand-alone filters like the one we created above. These live in a folder inside the 'filter' folder. For example, in 'filter/myfilter'. 'filter/tex' is an example of a core filter of this type.
- Filters that were part of an activity module. In this case, the filter code lives inside the 'mod/mymod' folder. 'mod/glossary' used to be an example of a core module with a filter.
The second option no longer exists in Moodle 2.5 and later. All filters live in the filter folder. Of course, a filter may depend on an associated other plugin, like mod_glossary. If so, you should declare that in the version.php file.
Dynamic content
To subscribe to the event:
// Listen for events triggered when new text is added to a page that needs // processing by a filter. Y.on(M.core.event.FILTER_CONTENT_UPDATED, this.contentUpdated, this);
To handle the event:
/** * Handle content updated events - typeset the new content. * @method contentUpdated * @param Y.Event - Custom event with "nodes" indicating the root of the updated nodes. */ contentUpdated: function(event) { var self = this; Y.use('mathjax', function() { self._setLocale(); event.nodes.each(function (node) { node.all('.filter_mathjaxloader_equation').each(function(node) { MathJax.Hub.Queue(["Typeset", MathJax.Hub, node.getDOMNode()]); }); }); }); }
See: filter/mathjaxloader/yui/src/loader/js/loader.js
See also
- Filters schema - a page containing some ideas and thoughts about modifications to the filters system
- en:Filters user documentation about filters.
- - List of filters in the Plugins database.
- - A simple modal filter template using AMD rather than YUI.


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The hellmouth in Sunnydale may have been destroyed, but there's still one in Cleveland! And don't forget all of the other monsters and Big Bads that the Scoobies and their army of slayers are continuing to fight in the "Buffy" comics (see Season 8 and Season 9).
But first, before we explore "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" online, we need to go back — "back, to the beginning," as the First-as-the-Master once put it to a deranged Spike.
We'll start with a question Xander asked our heroine — well, the main heroine since there are so many heroes and heroines on the show — "What's a slayer?"
As the central prophecy that underlies the show states:
"Into every generation she is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer."
And at the start of "Buffy" Season 1 (which takes place after the original film), she is Buffy Summers — and she has just moved from Los Angeles to Sunnydale, California, to start her sophomore year of high school. Anything else we state will be giving away the rest of the story, which continues today.
Needless to say, Buffy and her friends navigate the challenges of high school, college, and adult life while fighting the "forces of darkness" at the same time. In fact, the genius of the show was not the superhero-fight-the-bad-guy-of-the-episode cliche — actually, it was the quality of the writing and the growth of the well-developed characters from naive teenagers into full-fledged people (and all the drama that it entails). The battles against evil were actually the sub-plots of the show — the struggles against the "vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness" were actually metaphors for the issues with which the characters (and the viewers!) were dealing in their daily lives. In just one example, Buffy fought a teenager in her high school who drank a potion, turned into a demon, and abused his girlfriend. The episode was not actually about Buffy defeating a demon — it was a commentary on the issue of domestic abuse.
For the seven series of the television program (and beyond!), "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" addressed different meta-themes each year. For example:
- Season 1 — Moving to a new school, making new friends, and finding one's place
- Season 2 — The soul-crushing first love (and then break-up) of high school
- Season 3 — What it means to become an adult, the dark, road-less-traveled when a person does not mature responsibly, and how people should react to authority
- Season 4 — Myth versus science, the nature of the military, and the transition into college
- Season 5 — Home and family, and all of the love, drama, and sacrifices that it entails
- Season 6 — The despair and depression that can sink people in their early twenties
- Season 7 — Facing up to and fulfilling one's destiny, and how one person can change the world forever
- Season 8 (comic book) — Taking charge of one's destiny, becoming mature, and leading others who are younger than you
- Season 9 (comic book) — Dealing with worldly issues like finances and friends going on separate paths as one gets older
And these are just a few of the season arcs. There are countless others over a series of episodes or within individual ones. Still, the premise always rests upon a single, original idea: Take the dumb, blond girl in any horror film who is always chased and then killed by Jason Voorrhees, Freddie Krueger, or any other one of the host of insane or otherworldly murderers. Now, what if she fought back — and won? That was the genesis of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" so many years ago. And it is a theme that still resonates today. After all, the program has inspired a fan base — including the publisher of this website! — that is still as rabid and passionate as ever.
For that reason alone, among many others, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has developed a cult following that persists even years after the show ended its seven-year run. Here at BTVS Online, it is our intention to celebrate the show, offer insightful commentary on its themes in our "Buffy" blog, and to provide visitors with the resources to purchase "Buffy" DVDs and "Buffy" merchandise easily. We love "Buffy," "Angel," and the related shows — and if you are viewing this website, we're sure that you do as well.


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8 Questions for Aaron Becker, global learner, life lover, the teacher you wish you had
Permanent link
Aaron Becker digs the music, savors the wine, and makes new friends wherever he goes, whether it's the Chabad house in Florence or the bathhouse in Konya. His resume crisscrosses the planet: ten languages studied, a 2007 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, two Fulbright scholarships (Turkey and Morocco), educational programs in Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Russia, Egypt, and around the world we go. Growing up, Aaron's commute to class was never far – Solomon Schechter, Niles North, Glenbrook South, University of Illinois. But he has since traveled the distance and continued to learn.
The classroom where Aaron teaches history and global studies at Evanston Township High School looks different from the rest. For one thing, there are no desks. Kick off your shoes, grab some tea, pull up a pillow and get ready to learn. Mr. Becker is the kind of teacher who simultaneously brings out your best and blows your mind.
So if you're at home on the road with a thirst for knowledge, tea, truth, or Madeira, Aaron Becker is a Jew You Should Know.
1. What is your favorite blog or website?
Mostly I enjoy blogs created by cool people doing good things in places I'd like to visit. A couple examples are Burkina by Matt, which is based on this guy's Peace Corps experience in Burkina Faso, and also photographer Alison Wright's National Geographic-esque blog. When I want to better understand the uglier side of world events, I visit the International Crisis Group website.
2. If time and money were limitless, where would you travel?
You mean to tell me that money and time aren't limitless? Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet – one month each. Cape Town for six months. Maybe a year wandering through Southeast Asia.
3. If a movie was made about your life, who would play you?
It's been done. Being John Malkovich was a total rip-off of the film based on the biographical novel Being Aaron Becker. Also, I should tell you that John Ritter played me in Three's Company.
4. If you could have a meal with any two people, living or dead, famous or not, who would they be? Where would you eat or what would you serve?
I would have a picnic and hear a concert in Millennium Park with Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King. I would bring a few bottles of Madeira, and make a huge salad, a hearty stew and pecan pie for dessert. My two guests should be disguised somehow, so as not to attract too much attention. Depending on their omniscience, I'd try to bring them up to speed on world events – I'd give Dr. King a report on the Chicago Public School system and I'd give Jefferson an iPhone to fiddle around with. It's funny – I'm more interested in their responses to the changes that have transpired since they've left this world than any of their stories or wisdom.
5. What's your idea of the perfect day?
Coffee on my hotel balcony overlooking the water, a short walk to language class, a stroll through the colorful crowded market and lunch in the local botanical garden. An afternoon field trip with a new friend from my adopted neighborhood – maybe to a castle or a concert or a place special only to my new friend. Late afternoon nap. Meet friends for drinks and appetizers. Then back to one of their houses to cook dinner together as we talk and listen to music. Watch the waves come in beneath the moon from the roof of my hotel.
Meeting a friendly stranger who challenges my preconceptions.
Seeing a student channel the divine.
6. What do you love about what you do?
My students are goddamn brilliant. I have a more up-to date iPod than most of my friends. I work with smart, cool people. I feel appreciated by everyone around me.
7. What job would you have had if not the one you have now?
Foreign service, flipping houses, confidence man, cheese counter employee.
8. What's your favorite Jewish thing to do in Chicago? In other words, how do you Jew?
Random walk-ins at synagogues in my shtetly neighborhood (otherwise known as Rogers Park), and Shabbat dinners with old friends. A big shout-out to the heimish crowd at Kehilat Shalom – I used to read Torah there from time to time and I miss them.


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Nature Genetics, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/ng.888
Carole Ober et al.
"Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of asthma in ethnically diverse North American populations".
A new national collaboration of asthma genetics researchers has revealed a novel gene associated with the disease in African-Americans, according to a new scientific report.
By pooling data from nine independent research groups looking for genes associated with asthma, the newly-created EVE Consortium identified a novel gene association specific to populations of African descent. In addition, the new study confirmed the significance of four gene associations recently reported by a European asthma genetics study.
The findings, published in Nature Genetics, are a promising first step for a new national scientific effort to hunt for the genetic roots of asthma.
"We now have a really good handle on at least five genes that anyone would be comfortable saying are asthma risk loci," said Carole Ober, PhD, co-chair of the EVE Consortium, senior author of the study, and Blum-Riese Professor of human genetics and obstetrics/gynecology at the University of Chicago. "I think it's an exciting time in asthma genetics."
"Asthma rates have been on the rise in recent years, with the greatest rise among African Americans," said Susan B. Shurin, M.D., acting director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, which co-funded the study. "Understanding these genetic links is an important first step towards our goal of relieving the increased burden of asthma in this population."
Genome-wide association studies, or GWAS, are a popular method used by geneticists to find genetic variants associated with elevated risk for a particular disease. Genetic data from a group of patients with the target disease are compared to data from a control group without the disease, and researchers look for variants that appear significantly more often in the disease group.
But the ability, or power, of GWAS to find disease-associated variants is dependent on the number of participants enrolled in a study. To find variants involved in complex diseases, thousands of participants may be necessary — a logistical and financial demand often beyond the capacity of an individual research team.
"It has become clear to geneticists studying nearly every common disease that GWAS are often under-powered, and unless you pull together many researchers doing the same thing you're just not going to have the power to find genes," said Dan Nicolae, PhD, associate professor of medicine, statistics, and human genetics at University of Chicago, co-chair of the consortium and another senior author of the study. "That was the motivation for nine groups of investigators coming together to form EVE."
Spurred by support from the NHLBI and the National Institutes of Health, research groups from the nine institutions discussed pooling their GWAS data to create a larger, shared dataset. But it wasn't until they received a $5.6 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that the EVE Consortium could officially form and hire the necessary personnel to execute the collaboration.
"It would never have been possible without the grant, this was a huge amount of work," said Nicolae, "The key was the ARRA funding that allowed us to move it faster."
In addition to increased power to find variants associated with asthma risk, the EVE dataset comprised a more ethnically diverse population than similar efforts in other countries by including European Americans, African Americans/African Caribbeans, and Latinos.
"We believe that this heterogeneity is important," Ober said. "There are differences in asthma prevalence in these three groups, so it's important to understand whether these are caused by environmental exposures or by differences in genetic risk factors."
The diverse sample enabled the researchers to discover a novel genetic association with asthma observed exclusively in African-Americans and African-Caribbeans. The polymorphism, located in a gene called PYHIN1, was not present in European-Americans and may be the first asthma susceptibility gene variant specific to populations of African descent.
Four more gene variants were found significant for asthma risk by the meta-analysis: the 17q21 locus, and IL1RL1, TSLP, and IL33 genes. All four of these sites were concurrently identified in a separate dataset by the GABRIEL Study of more than 40,000 European asthma cases published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine. Confirming these associations in the more diverse EVE population offers additional evidence that the gene variants are significant across ethnicities, the researchers reported.
"We were able to show that almost all of the genes other than PYHIN1 are trans-ethnic and important in all of the groups," Ober said.
The Nature Genetics study is only the first fruit of the EVE Consortium mission to understand the genetics of asthma. A deeper meta-analysis looking at a longer list of gene variants is currently underway, and individual groups within the consortium are using the pooled dataset to answer additional questions. Topics of interest include gene-environment interactions, genetic associations with asthma-associated phenotypes such as allergies and lung function, and the role of tissue-specific gene expression.
"What you see here in this paper is only the beginning," Nicolae said. "The foundation was to make people work together, share the data, and share research ideas, and that will generate a lot of research down the road."