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Hair Barrette Cutter set # 1, Digital STL File For 3D Printing, Polymer Clay Shape Cutter, Hair Clips, 4 different designs
ATTENTION: This is a digital file download and no physical items will be sent. You will be able to download the files immediately after the payment is received.
* 70,0 mm (2.75 in) / 10,6 mm (0.41 in)
* 70,0 mm (2.75 in) / 15,1 mm (0.59 in)
* 70,0 mm (2.75 in) / 21,7 mm (0.85 in)
* 70,0 mm (2.75 in) / 25,8 mm (1.01 in)
More detailed sizes can be seen in the photo.
I guarantee high quality of all presented 3D models. All my digital designs are printed and tested and they are 100% functional.
If you have any questions, please contact me, I will definitely answer. But I'm not responsible for your print quality. And I DO NOT provide technical support for your 3D printer.
3D Printing Settings
Settings depends on the slicer and the 3d printer you use. I'm using Cura with settings like this:
* Layer height: 0.2 mm
* Nozzle diameter: 0.3 mm
* Print speed: 30 - 50 mm/s. Use lower speeds for smaller cutters.
You can download Cura for free here: https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura
Product Summary
- Each cutter is custom designed for 3D printed (I recommend high quality PLA plastic)
- Great for cutting cookie dough, polymer clay earrings, fondants, cheese, children play-doh and more
- Custom designed tapered edges provide a sharp clean cut
- Sturdy cutting walls provide additional durability and helps maintain overall cutting shape
- Product size is determined by the longest dimension of the cutter
- Cutter height 11 mm (0.43 Inch)
- 0.4 mm cutting edge
- Comfortable pressing surface (thicker base)
- Sturdy cutting walls
Embossing Design
- Some cutters have an embossing design (indicated in the product title)
- Embossing edge is 2mm below the cutting edge
- For embossing design to properly show on the surface of polymer clay or dough, the rolled out slab needs to be thicker than 2mm
Cutter Size Guide
- Each cutter's size is determined by "longest dimension" of the cutter
- The "longest dimension" is roughly the length of the diameter of the smallest circle that will fully enclose the cutter
- The calculation for the size of the cutter is for the cutting edge only and does not include the thicker base
Commercial Licenses:
YOU CAN use this product to produce no more than 100 items of your goods.
Resell this digital file in any format.
Share, distribute or sell this file or any part of this file in any way.
Copyright non-transferable with sale.
Due to the nature of this product, all sales are final - no refunds.
You are purchasing DIGITAL FILE. No physical items will be mailed to you.


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Use of JCP site is subject to the
JCP Terms of Use and the
Oracle Privacy Policy
JSRs: Java Specification Requests
JSR 207: Process Definition for JavaTM
Reason: Withdrawn at the request of the Specification Lead. JCP version in use: 2.7 Java Specification Participation Agreement version in use: 2.0 Description: Definition of an annotated Java syntax and APIs for programming business processes in Java. Please direct comments on this JSR to the Spec Lead(s) Team
This JSR has been Withdrawn
Identification |
Request |
Section 1. Identification Submitting Member: BEA Systems Name of Contact Person: Rich Rollman, Pal Takacsi-Nagy, Michael Blow E-Mail Address: rrollman Telephone Number: +1 425 657 0382 Fax Number: +1 425 657 0382 Specification Lead: Rich Rollman E-Mail Address: rrollman Telephone Number: +1 425 657 0382 Fax Number: +1 425 657 0382 Initial Expert Group Membership: BEA Systems Supporting this JSR:
Cisco Systems Section 2: Request 2.1 Please describe the proposed Specification:The specification will define metadata, interfaces, and a runtime model that enable business processes to be easily and rapidly implemented using the Java language and deployed in J2EETM containers. Process Definition for Java will provide a functional foundation upon which J2EE programmers can implement business processes. This foundation will support tasks commonly encountered when programming business processes, for example parallel execution and asynchronous messaging, while leveraging the programming constructs of Java. As such, the foundation can also be used to build Java implementations of business process initiatives such as BPEL4WS, WSCI, and W3C Choreography. Process Definition for Java will build on Java Language Metadata technology (JSR-175) to provide an easy to use syntax for describing a business process at the source code level for the J2EE platform. Metadata will bind data and tasks within the process definition to variables, classes, and tasks in the source code. The metadata will be amenable to manipulation by tools. The specification is intended to provide a set of programming interfaces for advanced business process programming and access to data manipulated directly by the business process. The specification will be based on the J2EE 1.4 platform in order to avoid reinventing existing XML and web services standards required in business processes. 2.2 What is the target Java platform? (i.e., desktop, server, personal, embedded, card, etc.)J2EE 1.4 2.3 What need of the Java community will be addressed by the proposed specification?Although Java developers can author business processes using existing J2EE APIs, the process is slow, tedious and yields code that is hard to revise and maintain over time. A new standard is required to enable Java developers to rapidly and easily build and deploy complex business processes. Java needs to maintain its lead as the most competitive platform for corporate application development. As business process-style programming becomes more commonplace, it is very important to the Java community that Java applications programmers have a common model for writing and running business processes under J2EE. The goal of the specification is to provide a mechanism built on top of the existing J2EE APIs, including the core J2EE web services APIs and the Java Language Metadata technology (JSR-175), that supports the requirements of business process programming in an easy to use, simple syntax. The JSR aims to address the common needs of business process programming: asynchronous and synchronous messaging using XML and web services, message routing with correlation, parallel execution of tasks, exception processing, and compensation. 2.4 Why isn't this need met by existing specifications?J2EE provides APIs that can be used to develop business processes. But due to lack of specific support for asynchronous conversations, request/response sequences, and message correlation, workflows written using the current J2EE APIs are tedious and time consuming to develop, difficult to modify and maintain, and hard to deploy. 2.5 Please give a short description of the underlying technology or technologies:Java Language Metadata (JSR 175) provides a standard model for annotating Java code, of which Process Definition for Java will be one application. Javadoc is a standard syntax for structured comments introduced in the first version of the Java Language Specification. J2EE provides existing technologies for messaging, state management, and communication; the Process Definition for Java specification will rely on these technologies. 2.6 Is there a proposed package name for the API Specification? (i.e., javapi.something, org.something, etc.)
2.7 Does the proposed specification have any dependencies on specific operating systems, CPUs, or I/O devices that you know of?No. 2.8 Are there any security issues that cannot be addressed by the current security model?No. 2.9 Are there any internationalization or localization issues?No. 2.10 Are there any existing specifications that might be rendered obsolete, deprecated, or in need of revision as a result of this work?No. 2.11 Please describe the anticipated schedule for the development of this specification.March 31, 2003: Expert Group Formed The schedule above is dependent upon the timely completion of JSR-175. 2.12 Please describe the anticipated working model for the Expert Group working on developing this specification.Once this JSR is approved, invitations to participate in the Expert Group will be sent to known parties in the business process industry in addition to the standard notification sent to Java Community members. A baseline specification will be created by a process of analyzing and comparing existing proprietary APIs, and this will be developed iteratively by the Expert Group using email and telephone conferencing as the primary mechanisms. Occasional face-to-face meetings will also be held, roughly quarterly after the initial face-to-face. 2.13 Please describe how the RI and TCK will de delivered, i.e. as part of a profile or platform edition, or stand-alone, or both. Include version information for the profile or platform in your answer.BEA will deliver a standalone reference implementation (RI) and Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) for Java Process Definition. 2.14 Please state the rationale if previous versions are available stand-alone and you are now proposing in 2.13 to only deliver RI and TCK as part of a profile or platform edition (See sections 1.1.5 and 1.1.6 of the JCP 2 document).N/A 2.15 Please provide a description of the business terms for the Specification, RI and TCK that will apply when this JSR is final.BEA will license the specification, RI and TCK to all interested parties on a royalty free basis. Section 3: Contributions 3.1 Please list any existing documents, specifications, or implementations that describe the technology. Please include links to the documents if they are publicly available.
3.2 Explanation of how these items might be used as a starting point for the work.The purpose of this specification is to leverage the first standard above, Java Language Metadata (JSR 175), to provide a standard that simplifies development of the commonly required functionality for implementing business processes. Process Definition for Java will utilize the metadata syntax of JSR 175. Since JSR 175 is scheduled for completion with J2SE 1.5, Process Definition for Java may use a pre-processor on the JSR-175 syntax for J2EE 1.4 implementations. In investigating deployment models for Process Definition for Java, the expert group will determine the extent to which this specification should refer and relate to JSR-088. The existing XML Schema standard is referenced because it will describe the structure of messages passed between participants in a business process. Existing implementations such as item 5 above achieve several goals of this JSR and will provide a starting point for the specification. Items 6-10 above reference cross-platform business process initiatives. This specification anticipates that these initiatives would be implemented on the Java platform using Process Definition for Java. Sun's Java Business Integration JSR will define SPIs that provide a business integration environment. An implementation of Process Definition for Java could use the JBI SPIs. |

subset: commoncrawl


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Halldor Kiljan Laxness
(Halldor Gudjonsson)
novelist, poet, playwright
Born: 4/23/1902
Birthplace: Rekjavik, Iceland
Awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1955, Laxness was a major figure in 20th-century Icelandic literature, drawing inspiration from his country's sagas and folklore. Influenced in turn by Christianity, socialism, and communism, his work often sparked controversy. He is most well known for his multi-volume novels depicting life in an Icelandic fishing village: Salka Valka (1932; trans. 1936), Independent People (1934–35; trans. 1945–46), and World Light (1937–40; trans 1969).
Died: 2/8/1998 See also:


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Scholastic's Character Scrapbook provides a nice template that elementary school students can use to write about and reflect on the characters in their favorite stories. The template is quite simple to use. Students enter the name of a story and the name of their favorite character on the first page. On the next pages students list ten attributes of the character. The Character Scrapbook also allows students to create pictures of their favorite characters.
As you can see in the image above, Scholastic's Character Scrapbook doesn't limit students to human characters. Students can write about and create images of animal characters too.
Applications for Education
Scholastic's Character Scrapbook could be a great tool for getting students to think about their favorite stories. The Character Scrapbook has an easy print option so that you can print and display all of your students' works in your classroom.


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Many Texas colleges and universities promote walking and cycling. Why? Active transportation solves parking problems; allows students to make smart economic choices; addresses sustainability and air quality concerns; and encourages active, safe, and healthy lifestyles for students, faculty, staff, and visitors.
BikeTexas had a successful pilot year in 2012: CATS instructors trained 3,133 students at seven Texas colleges and universities in safe riding and walking for transportation. In 2013-2014, CATS expanded to more schools.
Interested in bringing BikeTexas CATS to your campus? Contact [email protected].
Initially funded by the Texas Department of Transportation, BikeTexas CATS provided cycling and walking education to university students across Texas to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities among our college students. Texas has the fourth highest number of annual bicyclist fatalities and the highest number of total traffic fatalities in the U.S. (These data are from 2011) We don't want our college students to be the next statistic: young adults leaving home for the first time need to be equipped with the knowledge to make them better road users, whether in a car, on a bike, or on foot. BikeTexas CATS worked to fill that gap.
2013-2014 CATS Team
At BikeTexas: Executive Director Robin Stallings, Program Manager Brenda Chuleewah, and Staff Members Emma Cravey, Ann Harkness, Leslie Luciano, Fernando Martinez, Allene Mayfield, Durwood Mayfield, Jack Sanford, and Susan Wilcox.
At Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT): Program Manager Lydia Bryan-Valdez, Traffic Safety Director Terry Pence, and Programs Director Jim Hollis.
2012 CATS Team
Thank you to everyone who provided input, reviewed, or otherwise collaborated during the 2012 CATS pilot year. We appreciate your insights, talents, and contributions!
BikeTexas Staff — Executive Director Robin Stallings, Program Manager & Curriculum Developer Donna Hoffman, Communications Assistant/Student Coordinator Juliana Furioso, Photographer Ann Harkness, Jack Sanford, Emma Cravey, Mark Stine, Brenda Chuleewah, Fernando Martinez, Leslie Luciano, Susan Wilcox
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Safety Division Staff — Program Manager Lydia Bryan-Valdez, Traffic Safety Director Terry Pence, Programs Director Jim Hollis
League Cycling Instructors — Regina Garcia, Jerrel Wallace, Brian Hatt, Julie Doheny, Cliff Molloy, Justin Moore
SafeCyclist Faculty —
Teresita Ramirez, UT Austin;
Susan Hart, Assistant Professor, UT Brownsville;
Charles Hart, Adjunct Lecturer, UT Brownsville;
Susan Wagner, Texas A&M College Station;
Dr. Joel Bloom, Associate Professor, Health Education, University of Houston
University Faculty/Staff & Consultants —
Charles Riou, TxDOT Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator;
Joan Hudson, Associate Research Engineer, Texas Transportation Insitute of Texas A&M;
Ron Steedly, Alternative Transportation Manager, Texas A&M College Station;
Blanca Juarez, Alternative Transportation Manager, and Samuel Cortez, Bicycle Coordinator; UT Austin Parking & Transportation Services;
Officer Roberto Gonzalez, UT Austin Police Department;
Dean of Students Dr. Mari Fuentes-Martin, Dean of Students, and Melissa de la Rosa, Orientation, UT Brownsville;
Marianella Franklin, Director of Sustainability Programs, UT Pan AM;
Attorney Mark Peña, Ciclistas Urbanos;
Howard Patterson, Director, Herrington Patriot Center and Bob Hepler, Head Coach, UT Tyler;
George 'Butch' Willingham, BikeTexas Board of Directors;
Dr. Rozena McCabe, Kinesiology, and LaGina Harris, First Year Experience Coordinator, Huston-Tillotson University;
Nicole Holt, Executive Director, and Alex Tapias, Strategy Specialist, Texans Standing Tall;
Cynthia Schiebel, LPC, LCDC, AAC, ADC3, CPS, Sober Austin;
Alyssa Simms, Capitol Metro
Students —
Texas A&M — Tucker Cullum, Liz Carrera, Edward Matthews;
UT Austin — Kate Bedford, Chandler Gandy, Beth Rosenbarger;
UT Brownsville — Edgar Covarrubias;
UT Pan Am — Alex Spishakoff;
UT Tyler — Chauncey Deller;
Huston-Tillotson University — Angela Gallimore, Peer Learning Counselor
CATS Stars – Photography & Video Talent
CATS Presentation Photos — April Aliermo, Adam Butler, Fidel Campbell, Laureen Connelly, Alfredo Fierro, Juliana Furioso, Jettie Koen, Daniel Lee, Melody Liao, Megan McDonald, Patrick Beyer, Liam Robarth-Laye, Jack Sanford, Kaya Sumer
Safety Bling!
The Rhymanese Twins — Jon Steinmeier & Noah Tabakin.
TxDOT Travel Division video team — Benard Stafford, John Clawson, Michael Amador, Chris Lewis, Debbie Snyder.
Crew — Donna Hoffman, Juliana Furioso, Purly Gates, Ron Beal, Alan Koda, Ed Fuentes, BikeTexas staff.
Actors— Lee Arnold, Daniella Baird, Patrick Beyer, Jason Butler, Fidel Campbell, Shannon Crane, Andre Denais, Jennifer Denais, Jessica Duffy, Karen Gause, Landon Gillett, Bethany Hamilton, Derek Hansen, Laura Higgins, Sandy Hines, David Hudson, Heather Kouros, Paul Kim, Anna Kong, Maeve Kent, Pamela Larson, Rachel Laye, Tyler Mainz, Edward Matthews, Brandon McKinney, Marah Nomack, Andre Pelaez, P. Monroe Patterson, Tim Pipe, Hilda Ramos, John Randall, Mark Rausch, Jesse S., Cameron Schultz,Tyler Shaffer, Imani Shanklin, Gilbert Slade, Mark Sullivan, Sarah Swinney, Maegen Valdez, Daryl Wade, Jermaine Walker, David Westenbarger, James Woodring, Christine Yager
Thanks also goes to…
Farideh Dassi, Engineer;
Mark Peña, Irma & Ramon Hermida, Edinburg Ciclistas Urbanos;
Alfonso Vallejo, Transportation Planner, City of Brownsville;
City of College Station Parks & Recreation;
City of Austin Parks & Recreation;
Jeremy Phillips, Austin Bike Zoo;
Brownsville City Commissioner Rose Gowen, MD and Jeffrey Gowen;
Dr. Murad Abusalim and Erick Darbo-Diaz, University of Texas at Brownsville, School of Architecture;
Brooks Goldsmith and the Hump Day Nooner Ride;
Jim Walker, UT Austin Office of Sustainability


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I'm running a day late on my end here, but I'll be sharing a booth in the upcoming New York Comic Con with fellow illustrator and very good friend Scott Altmann and he asked me the other day about doing an artist on artist interview for our blogs. You can find my answers to Scott's questions over on Scott's blog
And before I begin with my questions to Scott, I'll give a little intro just in case you may not be familiar with his name. In addition to numerous appearances in fantasy art anthologies such as Spectrum and Society of Illustrators, Scott has firmly established himself in the young adult book cover field working for heavies like Harper Collins, Random House, and Penguin to name just a few. He's painted Magic cards, done freelance concept art, is a founding member of Gorilla Artfare, shown in galleries across the US and in Europe, and was this years Chesley Award Winner for Best Paperback Cover Illustration.
You can find his work, contact info, and all that sort of thing at his website and blog:
Bad Dreams Good Nightmares
And now the interview:
I'll start things easy. Since isolated color is meaningless without context, what's your favorite color scheme?
I don't think I have a favorite, as much as I go through phases. I am definitely coming off a "brown phase" where I was really preoccupied with cool tones over warm, earth tones. For instance, a cool gray over a raw umber tone. Lately, I have been really into grays, pinks, and cerulean blues.
As an illustrator who's very prolific in the YA field, what were your favorite books when you were 12 and did the cover art have any influence over you?
I have to admit at 12, I put down the books a bit and I got really into Conan comics and Heavy Metal (the magazine - not the music). For some reason I never really got into superheroes, and my dad kind of realized that and he would bring me home these comics all the time. There was one book I constantly looked at from when I was even younger. I mention it , just because I kept revisiting it over and over and I still have it. It's called "Chinese Fairy Tales" and I believe it is out of print now: http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Fairy-Tales-Marie-Ponsot/dp/B000RC0CK4
It has really beautiful illustrations on the interior as well by Serge Rizzato. I'll have to show you when I see you. I can't even remember the stories in the book, but some of the imagery really made an impression on me.
I also used to read a good deal of my dad's National Geographic mags, and they always had at least a few illustrations that were really cool to see.
Which painting of yours presented the greatest challenge to you while you were working on it? With the lessons that it taught you, is there anything that you would have done differently in retrospect?
Hmmm....that's hard to say. The recent Microvisions piece was tough because of the size
I was experimenting with a lot of palette knife work, which was really hard to do on the small 5" x 7" surface. I probably should have put away the palette knives, opted for less textural effects, and stuck with synthetics or sables.
The other painting that comes to mind, was a digital illustration I did for Random House and that was Chris Grabenstein's "The Hanging Hill".
The story was so great- Chris is such a skilled writer and this was my first job for Random House, so a lot of the challenges of this painting I put on myself were self-imposed pressures. Then when the art direction was to have a scary house, and NO FIGURES I panicked a bit. I had never done an illustration that the focus was on something that was something other than a human figure. How was I to make a house interesting enough for a cover?
I think I learned that I was placing too much emphasis on subject matter, and I should have focused more on compositional effects, picture dynamism, and narrative I figured that out in the long run, but I could have spared myself all the stress and anxiety!
As your professional career has been unfolding, what are your reactions to the direction that you're moving in? Do you feel it would have surprised you as a younger artist, or has it all followed your early plans and goals?
I think I am eternally dissatisfied with my work and career, but not really in a negative way. That makes no sense when I say it out loud, but it has more to do with just always looking forward and looking to evolve. I have definitely moved into a market geared towards younger audiences, and it will probably keep going in that direction. Of course I get the urge to do more mature illustration once in awhile, but I feel this market plays to my strengths as an illustrator.
I'm honestly surprised by it all when I stop and think about it. I can't believe I get paid to do this as a living sometimes. My early goals and plans were either non-existent or vague , but now that I have goals and a decent momentum I'm excited and just want to keep pushing forward.
With your schedule full balancing illustration commissions and family life, do you ever find the time for personal painting these days? If so, what is it that matters to you most in doing them?
It's hard -I cannot lie. My days are packed from morning to night with various family/house/ illustration obligations so finding that time is a real struggle for me. . I've only gotten to sneak in a small painting here and there for myself.
There is a positive side though. Now that my illustration career has started to take shape, I feel I can now more clearly separate my job from my personal work. There's no more pressure for me to have gallery owners like it, or have it accepted by art buyers. Now it's really just for my own expression and experimentation . Just need more time to do it!
In terms of concept vs. technique, which is more likely to excite you in the work of another artist?
I think it's the synthesis of the two that really excites me. When an artist combines these elements in harmony it can really be powerful.
What sort of things do you feel you absorb most from other artists that ends up later in your own work?
It's definitely technical things I admire . Whether it is edgework, atmospheric perspective, or shape arrangement - I try to learn from people who are doing things better than I am. As far as narrative and concepts, that is more personal for me.
What is the one aspect to picture making which you find the most exciting to you right now?
I'm definitely feeling a renewed interest in composition , but not only arrangement of shapes but also arranging values. I think once you get a solid grasp of the basics, it opens it up to unlimited possibilities. Yes - a light figure against a dark background is very effective, but a light figure against a light background can be even more powerful if skillfully done.
Be sure to come visit us at the NYCC, we'll be at booth number 528 with originals, prints, books, DVDs, and awkward conversation ;)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Personal works
Just felt like posting a few of the pieces I've been working on for my next show at Artists House in November. Stepping away from the rigid series approach that I've taken for the past few and just sort of free associating instead. It's interesting to see as the group is coming together. Anyhow, here's a sampling
"I still think about then but I never think about her", 16x20, oil on panel
"Would I see you next to me?", 20x20, oil on panel
"View from the Carabela De Colón", 5x5, oil on panel
"We never talk anymore", 30x40, oil on panel
"I still think about then but I never think about her", 16x20, oil on panel
"Would I see you next to me?", 20x20, oil on panel
"View from the Carabela De Colón", 5x5, oil on panel
"We never talk anymore", 30x40, oil on panel
Friday, September 10, 2010
Chimeric Mass
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Zombie Girl
I've been really in the mood to paint some horror lately. If fact, I did a little write-up for Tor.com that comes out some time next week where I mention briefly about how rarely you see an attempt at sexy zombies, so I thought I'd take a new swing at it. Kind of disturbing actually...
11x17, oil on illustration board
11x17, oil on illustration board
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President Biden's speech last night focused on what he called the extremism of MAGA Republicans. He said they're behind growing popular support for political violence. And he also identified white supremacists as a divisive force. NPR's Odette Yousef covers domestic extremism and has been looking at the broader context for this dangerous moment in American history. Hey, Odette.
ODETTE YOUSEF, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: What kind of reaction did you see on the far right to Biden's speech last night?
YOUSEF: Well, perhaps not surprisingly, there was a lot of grievance expressed on far-right social media forums. You know, the SITE Intelligence Group was monitoring these platforms and found people claiming that Biden was justifying violence against Trump supporters, you know, even though Biden spoke quite clearly, Ari, about the need for all Americans to reject political violence. Some even were using the speech to renew their longstanding calls for civil war. But honestly, Ari, you know, when Biden was talking about extremism last night, these were not the people he had in mind.
SHAPIRO: Well, he singled out MAGA Republicans specifically. What more did he say about that group?
YOUSEF: Well, he said they, quote, "represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic." You know, Ari, when we traditionally have talked about extremists, we've been talking about people who are willing to use violence and physical intimidation to achieve their political or ideological goals. And we've already seen this. You know, we saw it on January 6 at the Capitol. We've been seeing it locally throughout the pandemic with street clashes between ideological opponents, with physical threats and harassment against election officials, teachers and librarians. And so we're in an environment now where this is affecting everyday people. I think what's been tricky, though, is articulating exactly how this connects to an erosion of democracy. I spoke with Eric Ward about this. He's with the Western States Center, and he's been tracking extremism for decades.
ERIC WARD: These extremists talk a lot about freedom, but what they spend most of their time doing in terms of policy is undermining everyone else's freedom. And when they can't get their way, they threaten violence. That's extremism.
SHAPIRO: Did he explain what he means by undermining everyone else's freedom?
YOUSEF: Yeah. I mean, he's talking about things, Ari, that frankly weren't really mentioned in last night's speech but which are causing real concern about the erosion of democracy in this country. And, you know, right now this is less about specific extremist groups than it is about mainstream political actions - so, for example, you know, new restrictions to voting access in many states. Here's professor Anthea Butler from UPenn.
ANTHEA BUTLER: There's so many things that have happened on the state level - purging of the voting rolls like in Georgia or, you know, making sure that people don't get, you know, absentee ballots like in Texas. And it's very clear that, between those kinds of things and gerrymandering - that there is a serious problem on the state level about voting.
YOUSEF: And beyond voting, you know, we're also seeing state-level restrictions on abortion access, on gender-affirming care for trans people. You know, these are the freedoms that Eric Ward was referring to that are being stripped away. So last night, you know, Biden didn't really talk about how race and gender are playing into this moment. And he also failed to use the word immigrant even once in his speech, which was really surprising, especially to some immigrant advocates who view the recent surge in hate crimes as an outcome of anti-democratic political speech and as an indicator of growing extremism.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Odette Yousef, thanks a lot.
YOUSEF: Sure thing. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Chock-full of features. This cutaway view of our TripleSafe® Sump Pump System shows the primary pump, secondary pump and battery backup pump. All three pumps fit in an oversize sump liner with an airtight lid.
When you have a perimeter drainage system installed in your home, your sump pump is your main line of defense against a basement flood. If you can't count on your sump system to be powerful or reliable enough, then you can't count on a dry basement. And what good is the space if it gets wet?
At Halco, we install only the best sump pump systems available anywhere in the New York area. We have an answer to clogging sump pumps, power failures, torrential rainfall, and much more!
We service Rochester, Ithaca, Syracuse and nearby. We can help you dry your basement! For a free sump pump system quote, call or e-mail us today!
Our sump pump systems include the following features:
We also offer our IceGuard® anti-freeze device as an additional feature you can add on to your sump pump system:
Our most reliable sump pump system, the TripleSafe™ Sump Pump System, provides three levels of protection for your basement and your peace of mind.
For normal functioning, the TripleSafe™ has a powerful, cast-iron Zoeller® ⅓ horsepower sump pump set at the lowest level. For heavy volumes of water or in case of primary pump failure, a second, more powerful Zoeller® ½ hp pump set a bit higher in the liner will take over.
In case of a power outage, our UltraSump® battery backup sump pump, set at the highest level, will pump 11,500 gallons or more on a fully charged battery!
An UltraSump® battery-powered pump to the SuperSump® system is added so the drainage system can operate when the power goes out. The battery backup system will recharge automatically.
For an effective and more economical solution, consider our SuperSump® Premier Pump System. It is engineered to help keep the basement dry and healthy for extended periods of time, even in times of heavy water intrusion.
The SuperSump® includes a powerful Zoeller® ⅓ horsepower cast-iron sump pump, capable of pumping 2,220 gallons of water per hour at an 8-foot head out of your basement.
The SuperSump® can be installed with an optional UltraSump® Battery Backup Sump Pump, which can pump out 11,500 gallons or more on a single charge!
The SmartSump™ system is designed specifically for keeping crawl spaces dry and clean.
If you're looking for a crawl space sump pump solution, the SmartSump™ Crawl Space Sump Pump System is the ideal option. The SmartSump™ is specifically designed for crawl spaces and can provide all the protection you need from leaks and floods.
The SmartSump™ comes equipped with a cast-iron Zoeller® primary pump with the option of adding an UltraSump® Battery Backup Sump Pump. This sump pump is designed to fit with the CleanSpace® liner and has a sump alarm to ensure you always are aware of any water in your crawl space.
Halco services Webster, Lansing, Fairport, Auburn, Cortland, Canandaigua, Pittsford and many nearby areas in New York.
our service area


text:
New drugs should be compared with existing treatments before approval, say experts
- Date:
- September 6, 2011
- Source:
- BMJ-British Medical Journal
- Summary:
- Manufacturers should have to show how their drugs compare to existing treatments before approval to help ensure that the most beneficial and safest therapies reach patients and that limited healthcare resources are invested wisely, argue experts in a new article.
- Share:
Manufacturers should have to show how their drugs compare to existing treatments before approval to help ensure that the most beneficial and safest therapies reach patients and that limited healthcare resources are invested wisely, argue experts in an article in the British Medical Journal online.
Currently, manufacturers have to compare the risks and benefits of a new drug against a placebo. Direct (head to head) comparisons with existing therapies are only required when use of a placebo is deemed unethical.
This, argue researchers at the London School of Economics and European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, does not allow patients, clinicians, and other healthcare decision makers to determine whether a new drug is superior, equivalent, or inferior to its existing alternatives.
This can result in "the widespread use of potentially less efficacious and unsafe drugs," they warn. A number of studies have also questioned the true added value offered by new (and often more expensive) drugs compared with existing treatments.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has long encouraged that, when possible, pre-market studies should be undertaken to establish comparative efficacy and risk, but has yet to set comparative assessments as the default evidentiary standard for market approval, write the authors. Rather, requirements for comparative studies are made on a case by case basis.
While estimates suggest that comparative efficacy data are available for 50-70% of new molecular entities at the time of approval, the authors argue that this varies across therapeutic areas and that only a fraction of evidence is often accessible at the time of market authorisation.
A further challenge is that no particular type of study is ideal for assessing comparative efficacy, they add.
Despite these limitations, they believe that "comparative efficacy evidence should have a formal role in drug licensing decisions."
They call for open dialogue between regulators, manufacturers and government agencies "to achieve better congruence between licensing and reimbursement requirements" and better public access to comparative data on the effectiveness and safety of new drugs.
"Numerous promising medicines have been developed and many more are on the way to initial clinical trials," say the authors. "With this success comes an equally important additional need -- to develop a systematic approach to evaluate the risks and benefits of these new therapies in the context of existing alternatives. An important initial step is to support a formal role for comparative efficacy evidence in drug licensing," they conclude.
Story Source:
Materials provided by BMJ-British Medical Journal. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- C. Sorenson, H. Naci, J. Cylus, E. Mossialos. Evidence of comparative efficacy should have a formal role in European drug approvals. BMJ, 2011; 343 (sep06 1): d4849 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d4849
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text: Ralphie May and Dave Dameshek Share Share on Facebook Tweet Tweet on Twitter Pin it Pin on Pinterest Tumblr Share on Tumblr Email Share via Email SUBSCRIBE AND DOWNLOAD Show Summary At the top of the show, Adam welcomes Dave Dameshek back to the studio, and talks about a potential change in the NFL goal posts. They also chat about guys with bad mustaches, a rat encounter that Adam had, and some disgusting bug stories. Dameshek then brings up the contenders for Best Pie of 2012, and the guys discuss the latest in both NFL and college football games. Before heading out, Shek announces the Creep of the Week. Ralphie May enters the studio next, and talks candidly about some of the mental health issues and addiction struggles that he's encountered on the road. The guys then talk a bit about motivational speakers, and Alison starts up the news focusing on a story that involves a camel running loose in Glendale. As the show wraps up, Adam discusses some of Natalia's more outlandish Christmas wishes, and Ralphie plays a controversial Thanksgiving message from his son. Links For more on today's guest, visit http://RalphieMay.com, and follow him on Twitter @Ralphie_May You should also visit http://NFL.com/Shek, and follow Dave on Twitter @Dameshek Videos Matt Schaub Kicked in the Balls [youtube url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq0KR4dbu1E" autohide="1" showinfo="0"] Camel Loose in Glendale Show Credits Producer: Mike Lynch Producer: Mike Dawson Audio/Voice Over/Post-Production: Mike Dawson Newsgirl: Alison Rosen Sound Effects: Bryan Bishop Associate Producer: Gary Smith Technical Director: Chris Laxamana Show Summary: Matt Fondiler Image Gallery


text:
History of al-Shabab recruiting in Minn.
Published 8:58 am Wednesday, September 25, 2013
MINNEAPOLIS — The deadly terror attack on a Nairobi mall has stirred concern about Westerners' involvement in the militant group that claimed responsibility. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday that "initial reports had suggested that a British woman and two or three American citizens may have been involved in the attack," but that there hadn't been confirmation.
In Minnesota, where at least 22 young men have traveled to Somalia since 2007 to join al-Shabab, the FBI said this week its investigation of the terror group's recruiting is active and remains a priority.
Kyle Loven, a Minneapolis FBI spokesman, said he couldn't confirm any American involvement in the attack.
Here's a look at some of the issues and background fueling the concern:
Why Minnesota
Minnesota, mainly in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, is home to the largest Somali community in the United States, including people who fled the long civil war in their east African country and children born in the United States. Many are now American citizens.
Al-Shabab's initial recruitment efforts began in 2007 when small groups began discussing returning home to fight Ethiopian troops who entered Somalia to prop up a weak U.N.-backed government and were seen by many Somalis as foreign invaders. The recruiters aimed their appeal at the young men's patriotic and religious ideals.
Even after Ethiopians were expelled from Somalia, al-Shabab continued to target young men frustrated with life in the West, luring them with propaganda videos that glorify jihad and martyrdom. A high-quality video that began circulating last month featured what it said were three Minneapolis men who were killed in Somalia.
According to Valentina Soria, a security analyst with London-based IHS Jane's, al-Shabab has increasingly focused in the past three years on the recruitment of western nationals and members of the Somali diaspora in the U.S. and Europe to offset its declining domestic support.
The travelers' fates
The FBI won't give current figures, but court filings and testimony from prosecutions show at least six men from Minnesota have died in Somalia since 2009.
They include Shirwa Mohamed Ahmed, who was 26 when he drove an explosives-laden truck into an office in 2009. The FBI has said he's believed to be the first U.S. citizen to carry out a suicide bombing. While it's unconfirmed how most of them met their ends, at least one other was a suicide bomber and at least two died in clashes with pro-government forces.
At least 18 men and three women have been charged in the Minnesota investigation. Some were travelers while others were accused of aiding the effort mainly by raising money. Seven men pleaded guilty to various charges while one man was convicted on terrorism-related charges last year. Two women were convicted in 2011 of being fundraisers for al-Shabab. A third woman pleaded guilty last month to lying to a grand jury. The other defendants remain at large or are dead or presumed dead.
Why it matters in the west
Authorities have said in the past they are concerned that Americans who travel to Somalia might someday carry out attacks elsewhere, including in the U.S.
"Americans should be concerned about this because these are American citizens who are traveling to Africa ostensibly to engage in fighting and terrorist activities on behalf of foreign groups. … Just as we wouldn't want foreign fighters in the United States, we should be doing everything in our power to prevent Americans from engaging in these kinds of activities overseas," Loven said.
The president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said in a speech Monday in Ohio the reports that some of the attackers may have been Somalis who lived in the United States illustrate that al-Shabab presents a threat not just to the region or Africa but to the world at large.


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AA Big Book Chapter 3
Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
We learned that we had to fully concede to our in- nermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.
We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such inter- vals—usually brief—were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incompre- hensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progres- sive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.
We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of
our kind like other men. We have tried every imagina- ble remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn't done so yet. Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right- about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people! Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drink- ing beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drink- ing only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums—we could increase the list ad infinitum. We do not like to pronounce any individual as alco- holic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it |
more than once. It will not take long for you to de- cide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowl- edge of your condition. Though there is no way of proving it, we believe that early in our drinking careers most of us could have stopped drinking. But the difficulty is that few alcoholics have enough desire to stop while there is yet time. We have heard of a few instances where people, who showed definite signs of alcoholism, were able to stop for a long period because of an overpow- ering desire to do so. Here is one. A man of thirty was doing a great deal of spree drinking. He was very nervous in the morning after these bouts and quieted himself with more liquor. He was ambitious to succeed in business, but saw that he would get nowhere if he drank at all. Once he started, he had no control whatever. He made up his mind that until he had been successful in business and had retired, he would not touch another drop. An excep- tional man, he remained bone dry for twenty-five years and retired at the age of fifty-five, after a suc- cessful and happy business career. Then he fell vic- tim to a belief which practically every alcoholic has —that his long period of sobriety and self-discipline had qualified him to drink as other men. Out came his carpet slippers and a bottle. In two months he was in a hospital, puzzled and humiliated. He tried to regulate his drinking for a while, making several trips to the hospital meantime. Then, gathering all his forces, he attempted to stop altogether and found he could not. Every means of solving his problem which |
money could buy was at his disposal. Every attempt failed. Though a robust man at retirement, he went to pieces quickly and was dead within four years. This case contains a powerful lesson. Most of us have believed that if we remained sober for a long stretch, we could thereafter drink normally. But here is a man who at fifty-five years found he was just where he had left off at thirty. We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: "Once an alcoholic, al- ways an alcoholic.'' Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. Young people may be encouraged by this man's ex- perience to think that they can stop, as he did, on their own will power. We doubt if many of them can do it, because none will really want to stop, and hardly one of them, because of the peculiar mental twist al- ready acquired, will find he can win out. Several of our crowd, men of thirty or less, had been drinking only a few years, but they found themselves as help- less as those who had been drinking twenty years. To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. Certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, are astonished at their inability to stop. We, who are familiar with the symptoms, see large numbers of potential alcoholics among young |
people everywhere. But try and get them to see it!* As we look back, we feel we had gone on drinking many years beyond the point where we could quit on our will power. If anyone questions whether he has entered this dangerous area, let him try leaving liquor alone for one year. If he is a real alcoholic and very far advanced, there is scant chance of success. In the early days of our drinking we occasionally remained sober for a year or more, becoming serious drinkers again later. Though you may be able to stop for a con- siderable period, you may yet be a potential alcoholic. We think few, to whom this book will appeal, can stay dry anything like a year. Some will be drunk the day after making their resolutions; most of them within a few weeks. question is how to stop altogether. We are assuming, of course, that the reader desires to stop. Whether such a person can quit upon a nonspiritual basis de- pends upon the extent to which he has already lost the power to choose whether he will drink or not. Many of us felt that we had plenty of character. There was a tremendous urge to cease forever. Yet we found it impossible. This is the baffling feature of alcoholism as we know it—this utter inability to leave it alone, no matter how great the necessity or the wish. How then shall we help our readers determine, to their own satisfaction, whether they are one of us? The experiment of quitting for a period of time will be helpful, but we think we can render an even greater service to alcoholic sufferers and perhaps to the medi- * True when this book was first published. But a 2003 U.S./Canada membership sur- vey showed about one-fifth of A.A.'s were thirty and under. |
cal fraternity. So we shall describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for ob- viously this is the crux of the problem. What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats time after time the desperate experiment of the first drink? Friends who have reasoned with him after a spree which has brought him to the point of divorce or bankruptcy are mystified when he walks directly into a saloon. Why does he? Of what is he thinking? Our first example is a friend we shall call Jim. This man has a charming wife and family. He inherited a lucrative automobile agency. He had a commendable World War record. He is a good salesman. Every- body likes him. He is an intelligent man, normal so far as we can see, except for a nervous disposition. He did no drinking until he was thirty-five. In a few years he became so violent when intoxicated that he had to be committed. On leaving the asylum he came into con- tact with us. We told him what we knew of alcoholism and the answer we had found. He made a beginning. His family was re-assembled, and he began to work as a salesman for the business he had lost through drink- ing. All went well for a time, but he failed to enlarge his spiritual life. To his consternation, he found him- self drunk half a dozen times in rapid succession. On each of these occasions we worked with him, review- ing carefully what had happened. He agreed he was a real alcoholic and in a serious condition. He knew he faced another trip to the asylum if he kept on. Moreover, he would lose his family for whom he had a deep affection. |
Yet he got drunk again. We asked him to tell us exactly how it happened. This is his story: "I came to work on Tuesday morning. I remember I felt irritated that I had to be a salesman for a concern I once owned. I had a few words with the boss, but nothing serious. Then I decided to drive into the country and see one of my prospects for a car. On the way I felt hungry so I stopped at a roadside place where they have a bar. I had no intention of drinking. I just thought I would get a sandwich. I also had the notion that I might find a customer for a car at this place, which was familiar for I had been going to it for years. I had eaten there many times during the months I was sober. I sat down at a table and ordered a sandwich and a glass of milk. Still no thought of drinking. I ordered another sandwich and decided to have another glass of milk. "Suddenly the thought crossed my mind that if I were to put an ounce of whiskey in my milk it couldn't hurt me on a full stomach. I ordered a whiskey and poured it into the milk. I vaguely sensed I was not being any too smart, but felt reassured as I was taking the whiskey on a full stomach. The experiment went so well that I ordered another whiskey and poured it into more milk. That didn't seem to bother me so I tried another.'' Thus started one more journey to the asylum for Jim. Here was the threat of commitment, the loss of family and position, to say nothing of that intense mental and physical suffering which drinking always caused him. He had much knowledge about himself as an alcoholic. Yet all reasons for not drinking were |
easily pushed aside in favor of the foolish idea that he could take whiskey if only he mixed it with milk! Whatever the precise definition of the word may be, we call this plain insanity. How can such a lack of proportion, of the ability to think straight, be called anything else? You may think this an extreme case. To us it is not far-fetched, for this kind of thinking has been charac- teristic of every single one of us. We have sometimes reflected more than Jim did upon the consequences. But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out. Next day we would ask our- selves, in all earnestness and sincerity, how it could have happened. In some circumstances we have gone out deliber- ately to get drunk, feeling ourselves justified by nervousness, anger, worry, depression, jealousy or the like. But even in this type of beginning we are obliged to admit that our justification for a spree was insanely insufficient in the light of what always happened. We now see that when we began to drink deliberately, instead of casually, there was little serious or effective thought during the period of premeditation of what the terrific consequences might be. Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to the first drink as that of an individual with a passion, say, for jay-walking. He gets a thrill out of skipping in front of fast-moving vehicles. He enjoys himself for a few years in spite of friendly warn- ings. Up to this point you would label him as a foolish |
chap having queer ideas of fun. Luck then deserts him and he is slightly injured several times in succes- sion. You would expect him, if he were normal, to cut it out. Presently he is hit again and this time has a fractured skull. Within a week after leaving the hos- pital a fast-moving trolley car breaks his arm. He tells you he has decided to stop jay-walking for good, but in a few weeks he breaks both legs. On through the years this conduct continues, accom- panied by his continual promises to be careful or to keep off the streets altogether. Finally, he can no longer work, his wife gets a divorce and he is held up to ridicule. He tries every known means to get the jay- walking idea out of his head. He shuts himself up in an asylum, hoping to mend his ways. But the day he comes out he races in front of a fire engine, which breaks his back. Such a man would be crazy, wouldn't he? You may think our illustration is too ridiculous. But is it? We, who have been through the wringer, have to admit if we substituted alcoholism for jay-walking, the illustration would fit us exactly. However intelli- gent we may have been in other respects, where alco- hol has been involved, we have been strangely insane. It's strong language—but isn't it true? Some of you are thinking: "Yes, what you tell us is true, but it doesn't fully apply. We admit we have some of these symptoms, but we have not gone to the extremes you fellows did, nor are we likely to, for we understand ourselves so well after what you have told us that such things cannot happen again. We have not lost everything in life through drinking and we |
certainly do not intend to. Thanks for the informa- tion.'' That may be true of certain nonalcoholic people who, though drinking foolishly and heavily at the present time, are able to stop or moderate, because their brains and bodies have not been damaged as ours were. But the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been re- vealed to us out of bitter experience. Let us take another illustration. Fred is partner in a well known accounting firm. His income is good, he has a fine home, is happily married and the father of promising children of col- lege age. He has so attractive a personality that he makes friends with everyone. If ever there was a successful business man, it is Fred. To all appearance he is a stable, well balanced individual. Yet, he is alcoholic. We first saw Fred about a year ago in a hospital where he had gone to recover from a bad case of jitters. It was his first experience of this kind, and he was much ashamed of it. Far from admitting he was an alcoholic, he told himself he came to the hospital to rest his nerves. The doctor intimated strongly that he might be worse than he realized. For a few days he was depressed about his condition. He made up his mind to quit drinking altogether. It never occurred to him that perhaps he could not do so, in spite of his character and standing. Fred would not believe himself an alcoholic, much less accept a spiritual remedy for his problem. We told him what |
we knew about alcoholism. He was interested and conceded that he had some of the symptoms, but he was a long way from admitting that he could do nothing about it himself. He was positive that this humiliating experience, plus the knowledge he had ac- quired, would keep him sober the rest of his life. Self- knowledge would fix it. We heard no more of Fred for a while. One day we were told that he was back in the hospital. This time he was quite shaky. He soon indicated he was anxious to see us. The story he told is most instructive, for here was a chap absolutely convinced he had to stop drinking, who had no excuse for drinking, who exhib- ited splendid judgment and determination in all his other concerns, yet was flat on his back nevertheless. Let him tell you about it: "I was much impressed with what you fellows said about alcoholism, and I frankly did not believe it would be possible for me to drink again. I rather appreciated your ideas about the subtle insanity which precedes the first drink, but I was confident it could not happen to me after what I had learned. I reasoned I was not so far advanced as most of you fellows, that I had been usually successful in licking my other personal problems, and that I would therefore be successful where you men failed. I felt I had every right to be self-confident, that it would be only a matter of exercising my will power and keeping on guard. "In this frame of mind, I went about my business and for a time all was well. I had no trouble refusing drinks, and began to wonder if I had not been making too hard work of a simple matter. One day I went to Washington to present some accounting evidence to |
a government bureau. I had been out of town before during this particular dry spell, so there was nothing new about that. Physically, I felt fine. Neither did I have any pressing problems or worries. My business came off well, I was pleased and knew my partners would be too. It was the end of a perfect day, not a cloud on the horizon. "I went to my hotel and leisurely dressed for dinner. As I crossed the threshold of the dining room, the thought came to mind that it would be nice to have a couple of cocktails with dinner. That was all. Nothing more. I ordered a cocktail and my meal. Then I or- dered another cocktail. After dinner I decided to take a walk. When I returned to the hotel it struck me a highball would be fine before going to bed, so I stepped into the bar and had one. I remember having several more that night and plenty next morning. I have a shadowy recollection of being in an airplane bound for New York, and of finding a friendly taxicab driver at the landing field instead of my wife. The driver escorted me about for several days. I know little of where I went or what I said and did. Then came the hospital with unbearable mental and physical suffering. "As soon as I regained my ability to think, I went carefully over that evening in Washington. Not only had I been off guard, I had made no fight whatever against the first drink. This time I had not thought of the consequences at all. I had commenced to drink as carelessly as though the cocktails were ginger ale. I now remembered what my alcoholic friends had told me, how they prophesied that if I had an alcoholic mind, the time and place would come—I would drink |
again. They had said that though I did raise a defense, it would one day give way before some trivial reason for having a drink. Well, just that did happen and more, for what I had learned of alcoholism did not occur to me at all. I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots. I had never been able to understand people who said that a problem had them hopelessly defeated. I knew then. It was a crushing blow. "Two of the members of Alcoholics Anonymous came to see me. They grinned, which I didn't like so much, and then asked me if I thought myself alcoholic and if I were really licked this time. I had to concede both propositions. They piled on me heaps of evi- dence to the effect that an alcoholic mentality, such as I had exhibited in Washington, was a hopeless condi- tion. They cited cases out of their own experience by the dozen. This process snuffed out the last flicker of conviction that I could do the job myself. "Then they outlined the spiritual answer and pro- gram of action which a hundred of them had followed successfully. Though I had been only a nominal churchman, their proposals were not, intellectually, hard to swallow. But the program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic. It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window. That was not easy. But the moment I made up my mind to go through with the process, I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was re- lieved, as in fact it proved to be. "Quite as important was the discovery that spiritual principles would solve all my problems. I have since |
been brought into a way of living infinitely more satis- fying and, I hope, more useful than the life I lived before. My old manner of life was by no means a bad one, but I would not exchange its best moments for the worst I have now. I would not go back to it even if I could.'' Fred's story speaks for itself. We hope it strikes home to thousands like him. He had felt only the first nip of the wringer. Most alcoholics have to be pretty badly mangled before they really commence to solve their problems. Many doctors and psychiatrists agree with our con- clusions. One of these men, staff member of a world- renowned hospital, recently made this statement to some of us: "What you say about the general hopeless- ness of the average alcoholic's plight is, in my opinion, correct. As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help. Had you of- fered yourselves as patients at this hospital, I would not have taken you, if I had been able to avoid it. People like you are too heartbreaking. Though not a religious person, I have profound respect for the spiritual approach in such cases as yours. For most cases, there is virtually no other solution.'' Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Ex- cept in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power. |


text:
The Spread Package
Calling Sequence
Creating a Spreadsheet
The Spreadsheet Selection
Evaluating Cells
Manipulating Cell Data
Block Operations with Matrix Data
Other Queries
CopySelection( ssid1, ssid2 )
GetCellFormula(ssid, ref)
GetCellFormula(ssid, row, col)
GetCellValue(ssid, ref)
GetCellValue(ssid, row, col)
InsertMatrixIntoSelection(ssid, M)
IsStale(ssid, ref)
IsStale(ssid, row, col)
SetCellFormula(ssid, ref, val)
SetCellFormula(ssid, row, col, val)
SetMatrix(ssid, M)
SetMatrix(ssid, M, startrow, startcol)
SetSelection(ssid, startrow, startcol, endrow, endcol)
spreadsheet identifier
cell reference (string or symbol)
numeric row index
numeric column index
Important: The Spread package has been deprecated. Deprecated functionality may not be supported in future Maple releases.
The Spread package is a small package of commands that provides programmatic access to spreadsheet data. This package is available and effective only in versions of Maple that employ a graphical user interface (GUI), because spreadsheets exist only in these interface versions. In particular, this package is ineffective in command-line interfaces to Maple (maple under UNIX, cmaple under Windows, and Command-line Maple under Macintosh).
For an explanation of basic spreadsheet concepts, and an explanation of the interactive manipulation of spreadsheets, see the help page Overview of Spreadsheets. The help page Reference Cells contains an explanation of the syntax and use of cell references which is likely to be useful in connection with this package.
Each command in the Spread package can be accessed by using either the long form or the short form of the command name in the command calling sequence.
As the underlying implementation of the Spread package is a module, it is also possible to use the form Spread:-command to access a command from the package. For more information, see Module Members.
All commands in the package take a spreadsheet identifier (either a string or symbol) as the first argument. This is required for all commands except CreateSpreadsheet. The spreadsheet identifier is the name of the spreadsheet; you must use it to specify the spreadsheet to which an operation is to be applied. To determine the name of a spreadsheet that was created with GUI controls (rather than programmatically with this package), look at the Spreadsheet Name field at the top of the Spreadsheet Properties dialog box. To access this dialog box, right-click the spreadsheet and select the Properties menu item. (In the Standard worksheet interface, the names have the form Spreadsheet(<number>), for example, Spreadsheet(1). In the Classic worksheet interface, the names have the form SpreadSheet###, in which ### is replaced by a numeric string, for example, SpreadSheet001.)
The CreateSpreadsheet command creates a spreadsheet. It can be called with no arguments, in which case a system-generated name for the spreadsheet is supplied. Otherwise, the argument ssid must be of type string or name, and it will be used as the name of the spreadsheet. A spreadsheet is created in the worksheet as a side effect of calling this procedure. The spreadsheet can be edited interactively in the GUI, as with any other spreadsheet.
To apply an operation to a spreadsheet, it must actually exist in the GUI, having been created either interactively or by a call to CreateSpreadsheet. Attempting to apply any operation (other than creation) to a nonexistent spreadsheet is an error. Attempting to create a spreadsheet using an identifier that already belongs to a spreadsheet is also an error.
A spreadsheet always has a current selection. This is a rectangular block of cells that is deemed to be currently active, and to which some cell-oriented operations are applied by default. The current selection is usually highlighted in the GUI, and may be selected with the mouse.
The current spreadsheet selection for a particular spreadsheet can be retrieved by using the GetSelection command. It requires a single argument ssid, the spreadsheet identifier of the spreadsheet in question. The selection is returned as an expression sequence of four positive integers: nw_x, nw_y, se_x, and se_y. The pair [nw[x], nw[y]] specifies the numeric coordinates of the upper-left (north-west) cell in the selection, while [se[x], se[y]] specifies the numeric coordinates of the lower-right (south-east) cell in the selection. The current spreadsheet selection is always a rectangular box of cells. The expression sequence returned from this procedure can be supplied directly in a call to the SetSelection command.
You can also modify the spreadsheet selection for a specified spreadsheet by using the SetSelection command. Its first argument must be a valid spreadsheet identifier. It also requires four positive integer arguments describing the selection box in the form nw_x, nw_y, se_x, and se_y. This is the same form as is returned by the GetSelection command. The SetSelection command returns the current selection (before modifying it) so that you can restore it later if you want.
For example, to copy the selection from a spreadsheet foo to a spreadsheet bar, you can issue the call SetSelection(bar, GetSelection(foo)). However, you can also use the CopySelection(foo, bar) command, which is more convenient, as an alternative to the SetSelection(bar, GetSelection(foo) command.
To cause all of the stale cells in the current spreadsheet selection to be evaluated, use the EvaluateCurrentSelection command. It takes a single name or string as an argument: a valid spreadsheet identifier. All cells in the current spreadsheet selection for the specified spreadsheet are parsed and evaluated as a side effect. The value NULL is returned.
You can cause the entire spreadsheet to be evaluated by calling the procedure EvaluateSpreadsheet. All stale cells in the spreadsheet associated with the identifier used as the sole argument to this procedure are evaluated as a side effect of the call. The value NULL is returned.
Each cell has associated with it two Maple expressions that are called the formula and the value of the cell. The formula for a cell is the expression (often involving cell references) that is used to produce a value in the cell; the value is the result of parsing and evaluating the formula.
Note that the formulae in spreadsheet cells are represented as strings (that is, as text) and not as Maple expressions. To produce a Maple object from a cell's formula, it must first be parsed (this happens automatically in the spreadsheet, but Maple code that manipulates cell formulae must perform this step explicitly).
The formula and the value associated with a spreadsheet cell can be retrieved by using the GetCellFormula and GetCellValue commands, respectively. Each command requires a valid spreadsheet identifier as its first argument. The remaining arguments specify the particular cell to query. A cell location can be specified either by an alphanumeric cell reference, such as "B3", or by numeric coordinates, such as [2, 2]. The Maple string or expression for the formula or value is returned.
You can determine whether the current value of a particular cell is out of date with respect to its formula by using the IsStale command. It has the same calling sequence as the GetCellFormula and GetCellValue commands.
The value expression associated with a cell cannot be set externally, because it is derived from the formula associated with that cell. You can set or modify the formula for a cell by using the SetCellFormula command. The first argument to this command must be a valid spreadsheet identifier. The last argument is the formula that is to be stored for the specified cell. The cell is specified by using either the second, or the second and third arguments. To set a cell's formula to value NULL, you must use SetCellFormula(ssid, row, col, 'NULL') or SetCellFormula(ssid, ref, 'NULL').
Sometimes it is convenient to extract spreadsheet data into a Matrix, or to insert data stored in a Matrix into a particular region of a spreadsheet. Several procedures for doing this are provided.
You can extract the formulae from the cells in the current selection by using the GetFormulaeMatrix command. A Matrix that contains the formulae expressions is returned. The values in the cells can be retrieved by using, instead, the GetValuesMatrix command. Neither of these commands ensures that the cells being queried are not stale. To ensure that no extracted cell values are stale, use EvaluateSpreadsheet before calling GetValuesMatrix.
A Matrix containing cell formulae can be inserted into a spreadsheet by using the InsertMatrixIntoSelection and SetMatrix commands. The command InsertMatrixIntoSelection inserts the entries of the Matrix into the current selection (which should be more than 1 cell), clipping the Matrix if necessary to fit into the selection.
The command SetMatrix(ssid,M) inserts the entries of the Matrix M such a way that M1,1 is inserted as the formula in the A1 (that is, at the (1, 1)) location; M1,2 is inserted into the cell B1; M2,1 is inserted into the A2 cell; and so on. The starting row and column can be specified by the optional integer arguments startrow and startcol. (Both, either, or neither of these can be specified.)
The GetMaxRows and GetMaxCols commands return (as positive integers) the maximum number of rows and columns, respectively, that can be addressed in a spreadsheet. Each procedure takes a spreadsheet identifier as its sole argument.
See Also
Change Cell Properties
Overview of Spreadsheets
Programmatic Spreadsheet Access
Reference Cells
Download Help Document


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For decades, marine scientists have been warning of the demise of coral reefs in a warming world. But now, those warning calls have reached a full-scale alarm, leaving researchers at a loss for exactly how best to save the reefs.
A study published Thursday in Science by some of the world's top coral experts amounts to a last rites for the ecosystems often referred to as "the tropical rainforests of the sea." Scientists surveyed 100 reefs around the world and found that extreme bleaching events that once occurred every 25 or 30 years now happen about every five or six years.
Bleaching happens when corals become overheated and expel the symbiotic algae that feed them. Without the algae to photosynthesize their food for them, corals stop growing and become more susceptible to disease. If water temperatures remain too high for too long, the corals can die.
With the time transpiring between bleaching events shortened by a factor of five, there isn't adequate time for the ecosystems to recover. Even the fastest-growing corals that survive a major bleaching event need about 10 years to regain their health. These damaging events are now occurring more quickly virtually eliminates any serious chance of large-scale recovery on a global scale. Huge portions of the world's reefs face almost certain death — and that loss will reverberate beyond earth's oceans.
"These impacts are stacking up at a pace and at a severity that I never had anticipated, even as an expert," says Kim Cobb, a climate scientist and coral researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "It's really the rapidity of it that is so sobering and shocking — and for me personally, life-altering."
Cobb, who is not affiliated with the new study, had first-hand experience with the latest and most severe instance of global coral bleaching: a three-year event that hit almost every major reef system in the world and eventually decimated portions of the Great Barrier Reef. In 2016, around the height of the bleaching, she made a series of dives off remote Kiritimati Island, due south of Hawaii. There, Cobb watched in horror as roughly 80 percent of one of the most pristine coral ecosystems in the world died in a matter of months.
"Before the 1980s, mass bleaching of corals was unheard of," Terry Hughes, a coral scientist at Australia's James Cook University and lead author of the new study, said in a statement.
Hughes personally surveyed thousands of miles of the Great Barrier Reef during the 2015 and 2016 bleaching. "It broke my heart," he told the Guardian last year.
The new study finds that 94 percent of surveyed coral reefs have experienced a severe bleaching event since the 1980s. Only six sites surveyed were unaffected. They are scattered around the world, meaning no ocean basin on Earth has been entirely spared.
The implications of these data in a warming world, taken together with other ongoing marine stressors like overfishing and pollution, are damning.
"It is clear already that we're going to lose most of the world's coral reefs," says study coauthor Mark Eakin, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch program. He adds that by 2050, ocean temperatures will be warm enough to cause annual bleaching of 90 percent of the world's reefs.
For conservation biologists like Josh Drew, whose work focuses on coral reefs near Fiji, that loss of recovery time amounts to a "death warrant for coral reefs as we know them."
"I'm not saying we're not going to have reefs at all, but those reefs that survive are going to be fundamentally different," says Drew, who is not affiliated with the new study. "We are selecting for corals that are effectively weedy, for things that can grow back in two to three years, for things that are accustomed to having hot water."
Reefs are incalculably important not only as a harbor for life — they shelter about one-quarter of all marine species in just a half-percent of the ocean's surface area — but also for human nutrition and many nation's economies. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide depend on reef species as a primary protein source, and tourists bring tens of billions of dollars to coastal regions and island chains each year to get a peek at the underwater ecosystems.
Researchers are struggling to think about what the loss of such an integral part of the Earth might mean in the decades ahead. And scientists, like NOAA's Eakin, have changed their outlooks on the scale of action that's necessary to save the world's coral reefs.
"We need to be looking at much more radical actions to preserve those reefs that we still can preserve," he says.
In the best case, some researchers point to extreme measures like genetically modifying super corals to withstand increased temperatures, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or even geoengineering as the only remaining options for saving corals at a large scale. Another approach involves identifying the few dozen reefs around the world most likely to survive and instituting crash-conservation methods to transform each one into a kind of seed bank for future generations after climate change has stabilized.
As you might expect, each of these ideas is highly controversial. But increasingly, coral researchers are willing to support a kind of "all-of-the-above" strategy, to avoid the worst case — losing corals entirely.
"It's scary to think of what the oceans might look like once we degrade reefs as much as they're likely to degrade in the next 50 years," says Georgia Tech's Cobb. "It will be so profoundly reshaped that it's kind of a scientific no-man's land."
If there's one consensus among the coral community, it's that this is unequivocally the last call for saving the reefs. It's truly an all-hands-on-deck moment.
"I don't have the hubris — and none of us have the data — to say what strategy will work and what won't," Cobb says. "What is categorically unacceptable for me is to not try."


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Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, one of Romania's leading social scientists and founder of the Romanian Academic Society has moved to teach at the Hertie School of Governance (HSoG) in Berlin where she invites me to give a presentation on Turkey's potential for accession to the EU. Social and economic developments, the recent (legal) revolution of women's rights, the German debate about Turkey and the role of the military were some of many areas I tried to cover.
This will be followed by another public presentation next week in Berlin on the issue of women in Turkey (in German). For more information on this event go here.
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi – Brandenburg Gate


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GRP One Piece Tank - 3400 Litres - 2600 x 1680 x 1040mm
Length - mm | 2600 |
Width - mm | 1680 |
Height - mm | 1040 |
Capacity - Litres | 3400 |
Capacity - Gallons | 750 |
Suitable for Drinking Water (Potable) | Yes |
WRAS Approved | Yes |
Construction Material | Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GRP) |
Width Internal - mm | 1520 |
Height Internal - mm | 915 |
Length Internal - mm | 2440 |
This GRP one-piece tank is manufactured using the highest quality materials and has been manufactured to comply with the requirements of BS EN 13280 (formerly BS 7491 Parts 1, 2 and 3) and is designed to meet all current United Kingdom water regulations where required. The tank is provided in a standard grey colour (BS 00 A 05) but other colours are available upon request.
The tank comes ready to use, can be easily handled and requires no specialist site installation work. The internal gel coat finish on both the tank and lid ensures that harmful bacteria has no place to grow while the resin and gel coats are pigmented throughout to prevent the ingress of light.
The tank lid is secured by bolts and can be removed to allow access to the inside of the tank. The lid provides structural rigidity and it is highly recommended that it not be removed while the tank is full. This tank includes a 600mm x 600mm square manway access on the lid which can be removed when the tank is full, allowing access for inspection or maintenance.
Tank Features
- Manufactured from structural GRP laminate with a high glass content, quality polyester resin and no fillers
- Available as standard or with factory insulation (25mm or 50mm)
- Suitable for internal or external applications – unaffected by sunlight
- All exposed external reinforcements to current European standards
- Smooth internal gel coated surfaces offer excellent resistance to Algae growth
- Weather resistant external finish
- Supplied as standard with a screened vent
- Supplied with a 600mm x 600mm square manway access with cover
Each tank is manufactured in the UK and is factory tested for a minimum of 24 hours to a certified QA procedure. A copy of the test certificate can be supplied if required.
The side and roof panels are manufactured with an integral Polyurethane foam core which is sandwiched in the centre of the plate laminate and the completed laminate and this will provide a minimum thermal conductance of 0.85 or 0.43 w/m2C. The foam used in the insulation is free from both CFC and HCFC and has an ozone depletion factor of 0.
As standard, this tank is designed for the storage of water, foodstuffs or effluent. If you wish to store a chemical solution in this tank, please send us the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) sheet for the chemical you intend to store, and we can advise if this tank would be suitable or we can provide a quotation for a tank that would be suitable.
Tank Weight Specification
Non Insulated Tank Weight: 152 kg
25mm Insulated Tank Weight: 159 kg
50mm Insulated Tank Weight: 176 kg
Important Delivery Information
The price of this tank includes the shipping to a delivery address in England or Wales only. Please contact us for shipping costs to all other locations including Scotland, Northern Ireland and off-shore islands.
It is the customer's responsibility to safely unload the tank from the delivery vehicle. Unless agreed prior to delivery, the standard delivery vehicles do not have the facilities to unload your tank.
Please Note: If you add a non-WRAS approved Ball Cock and Float to your order, this will arrive in a separate delivery to the tank and within 2-3 working days.


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I have so many things I'd like to post and hope to get back in the swing of it here soon. But, for today, I'm just going to unload a little.
Do you pick a word for the year? I know a lot of people that do and I love hearing their words and watching them develop over the year. Words like: intentional, secure, trusting, and hope have stood out to me. All good words and all great things to improve in a year.
But I've never done the word thing - maybe it's because I don't stick to too many things I start out on and knowing me, I'd probably lose sight of my word within the first couple of months, if not weeks or maybe it's something else.
But this year I wanted to have a word.
Something to improve on daily. Something that I'm really not very good at. Something that would hopefully change my life.
I thought and thought and prayed about what my word could be. I think I started thinking in December.
But, I never could settle on a word. Maybe because I'm just so great at everything that there's little room for improvement? kidding.
January came and still no word.
I gave up on having a word for the year and quit thinking about it.
And wouldn't you know, when I quit on having a word, one plopped right down in the middle of my life and kind of screamed at me!
Before I tell you me word, I'm going to fess up to something.
I'm a pessimist.
I lack a certain optimism when it comes to my own life. For others though, I'm really optimistic and think the best things will happen for them.
But me, not so much. It's not that I don't think good things will happen in my life because they do. Every single day.
It's more about when I'm faced with change or opportunity that I tend to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I've always said it's being realistic but you know, that's not really it at all because more often than not, the good happens and the worst never comes close!
I've always looked at my pessimism as a way to protect me from being dissappointed when my dreams don't come true. But you know what I'm realizing? My pessimism has caused me not to dream.
I mean, I have wishes and goals. Small things that I'd like to accomplish. Things that I leave up to myself to make happen. Things that I feel if I work hard enough, I can accomplish all on my own.
How selfish, prideful and sad does that sound?
Instead of dreaming big dreams that I can't do on my own, like I ever did anything on my own anyway, but you know what I mean, I settled with little wishes that don't even really matter.
Instead of opening my heart and mind to a world of possibilities that only God can accomplish, I've been content struggling on my own just to make baby steps.
My pessimism has been a crutch and I want to live a more hopeful, optimistic life. A life full of big dreams.
So that, my folks, is my word for the year: DREAM.
Que, "I had a dream once..." (yet another Tangled reference on the blog.)
Anyway, this year I'm opening myself up to dreaming big dreams. Dreams that I can't do on my own. Dreams that only God can make happen. Dreams that I don't even know I have yet, but dreams that I pray God will place on my heart and then use me to his glory to make happen.
It may not sound like much to a lot of you and that's fine. My word is for me and trust me when I say, this is a major step for me.
As a reward for sticking with me on this mega long post, and to encourage and remind you to dream too, I'm doing a little giveaway!
Two people with win one of my new prints in my shop:
To enter, leave me a comment telling me what your dream is or if you have a "word" for the year. Make sure you include a way to contact you if you win.
**Update - giveaway closed. Last counting comment Sandy W.**
Oh, and while I'm talking shop-talk, I have some new cards in ready for Valentine's day.
Here's a code for 20% off your entire purchase from now until Friday night: DREAMYLOVE.
Okay, that's it. Happy Wednesday and good luck!