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WordPress is a blog publishing system written in PHP and backed by a MySQL database. WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. What a mouthful. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.
Caching WordPress with Batcache and Memcache
Using memcache for me personally and the client sites I work on, has improved performance by over 1000%, in some cases even higher than that. It is a truly revolutionary way to optimize the performance of MySQL queries, remote requests such as to twitter or other apis, and this article is step 1. Plan is to go all the way to step 10 in future articles, it it grossly underused and misused in the WP world.
Stopping WordPress Exploits and Spam
Secure WP Super Cache, Anti-exploits, Mitigation techniques. A bunch of current ways to stop wordpress exploits and spam.
Separate favicons for the Frontend and Backend
Here's a nifty little idea I had that has some merit and is super easy. Separate favicons for separate areas of a site. Basically, I can't live without Firefox or Chrome and the way they use multiple tabs, having about 20-50 open at any one time.. But that makes it more difficult to find the right tab!
Advanced WordPress wp-config.php Tweaks
The bottom line for this article is that I want to make WordPress as fast, secure, and easy to install, run, and manage because I am using it more and more for client production sites, I will work for days in order to solve an issue so that I never have to spend time on that issue again. Time is money in this industry and that is ultimately (time) what there is to gain by tweaking WordPress.
Note: I spent no time on readability, this is primarily a read the code and figure it out article.. This is for advanced users looking for a reference or discussion and for those of you looking to advance. Feedback would be great if you make it that far..
Basic WordPress Theme Guide
This is a brief explanation of what is needed for an awesome theme, well awesome from my perspective. This is good stuff, memorize it.
AskApache Debug Viewer Plugin for WordPress
The story behind this plugin is sorta wack, but in a good way :). While doing tons of security research on permissions, authorization, access, etc.. for the Password Protection plugin (still being worked on), I needed to have unheard of debugging capabilities while working on the plugin on the various websites, webhosts, and test servers that I use to test in different environments. So I hacked together a bunch of php code that helped me debug, actually I pretty much went overkill and tried to get as much debugging info as programmatically possible, and it ended up being so much code that I took it out of my Password Protection code and made it its own plugin.
Adding a Trailing "/" to WordPress Permalinks
Problem: WordPress shows pages, categories, author pages, etc. without an ending '/'.
/about instead of /about/.
/category/htaccess instead of /category/htaccess/.
Solution: Either hook into the
user_trailingslashit filter, or use some htaccess
Show or Hide WordPress Admin Bar Plugin
The Admin Bar in WordPress is always shown when in the backend administration area no matter what.
You are given the option to show/hide the admin bar when viewing the site, but there is no option to show/hide the admin bar when using the backend... So I created a plugin to provide that option on profile pages.
Why hide the admin bar in backend?
Normally I like the admin-bar and usually have it enabled, but it's nice to be able to switch it on/off from the "Edit Profile" page. The biggest reason for not loading/showing the admin_bar in the backend is SPEED. Here are 2 instances where I hide it-
· Sites with many authors/admins
· Moderating Comments on a Mobile Phone
Add CSS Class to body when Sidebar is Present
Here's the problem I was having while working on a custom theme for a client. Certain pages, posts, tag pages, archive pages, and custom pages either had the sidebar, or did not have the sidebar. The main content div
#ContentW had a 72% width when the sidebar was present, otherwise it was 96%. The problem was that I dislike having to do things manually when they can be automated through code. What I was having to do was manually add/remove page-specific classes to the css file to reflect whether the sidebar was present on that page or not.
AskApache Password Protection 4.7 Update in 2 Weeks
I am now about 1 week away from publishing the much-anticipated 4.7 update to the AskApache Password Protection WordPress plugin. It's an upgrade I've been working on for almost 2 years (off and on)! I have been using the new version for quite some time now, and have made a lot of improvements to it, and finally I decided enough users have suffered with the old version. I am very excited for this release, it fixes all known bugs in the older versions, and brings some heavy-duty improvements to all facets of this plugin.. not to mention way better security modules (Lots more COOKIE use) based on code I use with clients.
Advanced WordPress 404.php
For the AskApache Google 404 WordPress Plugin update I added a new 404.php that is more advanced than anything previously seen for a 404.php
Vetted – Top 3 WordPress Speed Plugins
There are so many WordPress plugins out there now that I wanted to post my favorite 3 plugins for speeding up a WP-Powered blog. These are the 3 plugins that I install for pretty much all of my WP-Powered sites, which I run about 300 now. They work together to provide a very optimized blog for speed.
DB-Cache Reloaded does something entirely different, it saves the mysql queries that are made to the WP-database, as well as the mysql results to static files, and then through php serves those cached-files instead of re-querying the mysql database. Most mysql databases are stored on separate servers, and although many are on the same local network there is a limit to how many queries, and how many connections can take place.
So DB-Cache Reloaded basically makes WP-Super Cache work alot faster when generating the cache files, and DB-Cache Reloaded helps in a number of areas un-related to WP-Super Cache, like in the admin panel. And DB-Cache without WP-Super-Cache is a joke because it still uses the application-level and php for everything. Gotta use both (or just WPSC).
An AskApache Plugin Upgrade to Rule them All
So my blog as been rather quiet for almost a year now, and very few updates if any have been released for my Password Protection PLugin, my Google 404 Plugin, and definately not for my AskApache CrazyCache plugin, which I will be releasing last... So for all of you who've helped me out by sending me suggestions and notifying me of errors and sticking with it... Just wanted to say sorry about that, and thanks for all the great ideas.. Well, I've been sticking with it as well believe it our not. I manage to get free days once in a while, and then its time to jam.
Password Protection Plugin Status
Enumerating Permissions can be Annoying
Don't ask me how because I won't tell you, but on one of the hosts I was testing on that did not allow direct access I was able to get the Apache server running as dhapache to erroneously write a file into my users blog directory. This is a big security no-no and I now have my .htaccess file written into the blog directory where it should go, but instead of my php script's user having write access to the file so I can modify it, its owned by dhapache! Because the file is owned by dhapache I shouldn't even be allowed to know it exists, but there it is. So the next step was to try and take ownership of the .htaccess file so that I could modify it. I tried and tried but was unsuccessful, I couldn't modify it so that was another dead end. Actually it took me awhile to figure out how to remove the file from my directory. Being that it was owned by dhapache I couldn't delete or modify it using my php process or even through ftp/ssh! Sysadmins regularly run find commands that search the servers for any files owned by dhapache that should not be there as this is a big red flag that someone has found a way to manipulate dhapache which could potentially lead to modifying dhapache-owned server config files, which sometimes is all it takes to hack your website and server.. Luckily I was able to delete it by basically running the hack again to overwrite the file.
.htaccess Plugin Blocks Spam, Hackers, and Password Protects Blog
Well what can I say, other than this is sooo DOPE! Here is a list of the modules this plugin (version 4.7 unreleased) will automatically detect. I compiled the list myself using every module included with any default Apache installation for ALL the versions listed below, 1.3 to 2.2+
Want to know something else I'm including in this plugin? For each and every module that is detected, this plugin can then detect ALL of the modules .htaccess Directives! For instance,
RewriteRule, AccessFileName, AddHandler, etc.. are each a directive belonging to a module that is allowed to be used from within .htaccess files.
Talk about sick.. these tricks have the diamond disease!
New Version of Password Protection Plugin
4.6 just released.... Check It Out.
Fast and Easy Custom WordPress New User Registration
Registering on a WP blog requires entering a username and email then checking your email for an auto password.
Too much work to put your users through?
This uses just email and password and does it all.
Crazy Cache WordPress Plugin Released
A WordPress plugin that caches your entire blog for WP-Cache, I love this plugin and finally released it to the public!
AskApache Password Protection, For WordPress
AskApache Password Protect adds some serious password protection to your WordPress Blog. Not only does it protect your wp-admin directory, but also your wp-includes, wp-content, plugins, etc. plugins as well. Imagine a HUGE brick wall protecting your frail .php scripts from the endless attacks of automated web robots and password-guessing exploit-serving scripts.
Removing Category Base from WordPress URLs
How To remove the /category/ from WordPress category urls.
We're using WP as a CMS with pages and posts. Done a bit of customization, so it looks sweet. Problem - i have some child categories that throw 404 when the category redirect is in place. How did you remove the category base from the url structure in wordpress?
Update: AskApache Password Protect Plugin
WordPress plugin gives you control over HTTP Basic Authentication for your WordPress blog which among other things, stops most automated hacking attempts and exploits being attempted, cutting down on the number of requests, connections, and mysql queries for all WordPress blogs on the Internet.
Search Engine Verify Plugin Updated
This plugin has been updated for WordPress 2.5 and includes more options to get your site indexed by Google and Yahoo.
Firefox Adsense WordPress Plugin
If your WordPress blog uses AdSense, and you love Firefox you will love this plugin. When a user downloads and installs Firefox through your referral, we'll credit your account with up to $1.00 (more details).
WordPress Plugin for Apache .htaccess Security
- gzip's previous .htaccess file and sends it as an attachment to the logged in users email account along with password user setup.
- Now also works for sites running on SSL (PHP version >4.3.0)
- Rewrote the security module code in the form of snort, nessus, and mod_security rules and signatures
- Added a *real* check to see if mod_rewrite is installed
- Added Modules that remove directoryindexes
- Much more on the way..
Boost SEO, Drive Traffic with the 404 Error Page Plugin
The best (so far) AskApache Plugin is now even bestester! Turns every
404 Not Found error on your blog into a search engine optimized, traffic driving event!
WordPress What Is This Plugin
It shows a semi-transparent box on the document you are viewing that tells you if its a page, single, feed, category, etc..
Prevent WP-Cache from Caching index
Disable caching on WordPress index pages when using WP-Cache with this neat mod to the famously speedy cache plugin.
Tips on Writing WordPress Plugins
Thought I'd give you all the tips and tricks that I've learned and use when developing WordPress plugins.. which can be quite fun!
Updated: AskApache Search Engine Verify
I just updated the AskApache Search Engine Verify Plugin for WordPress. Short and Sweet, it won't slow down your blog at all, except for the additional crawling of your site by Slurp and Googlebot.
Updated: WordPress RewriteRules Viewer Plugin
Updated to now also show the type of permalink configured for your blog. Including what type of internal permalinking, pathinfo, mod_rewrite, etc.. Also shows contents of blogs current .htaccess file and provides a link to directly edit.
The REAL Way to Optimize AdSense
Optimizing the position, color, and size of AdSense Ads is confusing. The REAL way to optimize AdSense for clicks and revenue is using variations and measuring the results.
WordPress RewriteRules Viewer
Often I am programming a plugin, or modifying my .htaccess rules, or editing a WordPress template file and I get stuck when it comes to how WordPress rewrites url's internally. This simple plugin displays all the internal WordPress rewrites.
AskApache Search Engine Verify
You may not think much about verifying your website with these search engines, but I am of the opinion it is extremely good for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In fact, I read the other day on Google that if you buy a domain with a checkered past that has been punished by the search engines and you want it to be reincluded in the index this is what they recommended. Verify your sites.
SEO in WordPressSearch Engine Optimization for WordPress
Delete extra wordpress files Post-Install
Files that can be deleted after installing wordpress
- license.txt
- Readme.html
- the import*.php files
Plugins and themes for WordPress | Urban Giraffe - WordPress Plugins | All Things Seen and Unseen


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Definition of muff
: a warm tubular covering for the hands
Origin and Etymology of muff
Dutch mof, from Middle French moufle mitten, from Medieval Latin muffula
First Known Use: 1599See Words from the same year
Definition of muff
transitive verb
1 : to handle awkwardly
2 : to fail to hold (a ball) when attempting a catch
intransitive verb
1 : to act or do something stupidly or clumsily
2 : to muff a ball — compare fumble
Examples of muff in a Sentence
He muffed his chance for a promotion.
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Origin and Etymology of muff
probably from 1muff
First Known Use: 1846See Words from the same year
Definition of muff
1 : a bungling performance
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First Known Use of muff
MUFF Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of muff for English Language Learners
: to make a mistake in doing or handling (something)
MUFF Defined for Kids
Definition of muff for Students
: a soft thick cover into which both hands can be placed to protect them from cold
Definition of muff for Students
: to make a mistake in doing or handling He muffed an easy catch.
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See words that rhyme with muff Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for muff Spanish Central: Translation of muff Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about muff
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PEM is my second major program to write. PEM stands for Portable Extension manager. It's purpose is to be able to handle file associations without writing any data to the system's registry, making it possible to defaultly open files with programs on a flash drive.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
PEM: Portable Extension Manager
PEM is my second major program to write. PEM stands for Portable Extension manager. It's purpose is to be able to handle file associations without writing any data to the system's registry, making it possible to defaultly open files with programs on a flash drive.
36 comments:
No comments yet for such a wonderful utility?!!ReplyDelete
LEt me be the first around here to say #THANK YOU for this.
It is exaclty what I am needing and I have just spent about three hours trawling shareware/freeware sites looking for s omething to helo me set up my own file associations in vista or windows 7 and nothing is right.
Why they changed the old folder options/view filetypes and set associations dialogue is beyond me. It worked fine!
Thanks again.
You're very welcome, HitMeWithIt! I'm glad that someone finally commented on whether they liked it or not. :)ReplyDelete
I'm glad it works on Windows 7. I haven't even tested it on Vista, to be honest.
Thanks for taking the time to write a comment!
- AnonymousJuly 16, 2009 at 8:52 AM
Exactly what I was looking for... thank you!!ReplyDelete
Just a (very small) hitch: using the button to browse for the path\program, the counterslash is missing and has to be added by hand (at least that is the case for me ;-)).
Thanks again! Willi
Ooh! Good catch, Willi! I can remember that being a problem in the past, but I thought I had fixed it. I fixed it really quick, and updated the downloads & links.ReplyDelete
Thanks so much for telling me about that! Srsly! I'm glad to have people telling me what to improve or where bugs are. :)
Thanks for a great little app. Belongs on all USB drives with portable programs.ReplyDelete
The only criticism I might have is that the relative path format isn't fully relative. It could be a lot more useful if it allowed "..\folder\folder\app.exe" etc..
Just a minor thing. I really like your program.
Muy bueno, se parece al programa frances C.A.F.E., pero PEM me agrada más porque se añade al menú contextual.ReplyDelete
Buen aporte GRACIAS
- Cody L.August 27, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Thanks for such an awesome program!!ReplyDelete
I had been using a batch file to write everything, but half of them would fail depending on which computer I would run the file on...
So this will save me tons of trouble and time!! Thanks sooooo much!!
Oops! Your DL links aren't working! I'd like to be able to try this program, please...ReplyDelete
Sorry! I'll get it working ASAP!ReplyDelete
Which is today or tomorrow.
- AnonymousSeptember 21, 2009 at 5:17 PM
I have several problems downloading PEM. The links not found. Where I can download it?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 21, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Me too, I have problems only a have the image named "PemDropper.gif".ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 23, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Where can you download ????? All links to hotlinkfile invalid .........ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 24, 2009 at 8:43 AM
I found 0.925 download but it is dated 6/24/09.ReplyDelete
Author says last update was 7/19/09
Fastest link I found for this great tool (October 2009)
- AnonymousSeptember 30, 2009 at 10:13 PM
Chris's link saysReplyDelete
"The download link has been manipulated and is therefore not valid."
I have never seen that message before.
Attention, Anonymous...s and Chris! I switched over to FileAve.com, which does NOT randomly delete your account and files without telling you, so the links SHOULD BE WORKING!ReplyDelete
I apologize for the links being down for so long, and for lying about fixing them. I promise to never lie again. Unless that's a lie.
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text:
The holidays are here and you're probably out and about more than ever. While there are certainly free Wi-Fi connection spots available at certain airports, cafes and hotels, it's hard to beat the convenience of your own portable Internet connection.
Armed with a cellular data plan and air card, you can hop online wherever there's a cellular connection. It's less expensive than ever. You may even decide to ax your home broadband subscription!
Cellular broadband is more limited than all-you-can-eat home broadband plans. You'll pay for the amount of data you transfer. Cellular plans top out at 5 gigabytes of data transfer per month. Opt for the 5GB if the cellular service will be your primary connection.
TECH TIPS: Ask Kim
A lesser plan might be OK if it's not primary, but be careful — overages can be costly.
With a 5GB plan, you can send about 1.7 million text-only e-mail messages. Or, download 1,600 songs. Or, view about 17,000 Web pages. Your provider should give you tools to monitor your data usage. There's usually an option to display your remaining data left for the current billing period.
If you're not a heavy Internet user, this could certainly work. Heavy downloaders will overwhelm a cellular connection. For instance, streaming Netflix movies probably won't work.
Also, cellular connections are slower than broadband. Expect speeds between 400 kilobits per second and 700Kbps without 3G coverage. With 3G coverage, expect speeds between 600Kbps and 1.4 megabits per second.
In comparison, dialup connections top out at 56Kbps. Basic broadband usually offers a speed of 1.5Mbps. Some laptop cards connect via a PC Card or ExpressCard slot. Others connect via USB. Check system requirements before buying. Not all cards support Mac OS X.
Her"s a look at the various carrier offerings.
AT&T: AT&T laptop cards start around $20. That's after rebates with a two-year contract. For $35 monthly, you'll get 200 megabytes of data. You'll pay $60 for 5GB of data. There's also a 10MB plan that runs $20 monthly. In addition, you can access AT&T's hot spots nationwide for free. That includes those at airports, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and other locations.
T-Mobile: The laptop card is free after rebates, with a two-year contract. You'll spend $30 monthly for 200MB of data, or get 5GB for $50. Free access to T-Mobile's hot spots is unlimited. Hot spots are nationwide at restaurants, hotels, stores and FedEx Kinkos.
Sprint: laptop card is free after rebates, with a two-year contract. Sprint offers a 5GB plan for $60 monthly. No free Sprint hot spots are available.
Verizon: The card is free with rebates and a two-year contract. For $40 monthly, you'll get 250MB of data. At $60, you'll get 5GB. Or, select a prepaid plan. They start at $15 for one day with 75MB of usage. No free hot spots are available.
Share your connection
You can also share your cellular connection at home or on the go. But remember this — you pay for the data use.
Sprint and Verizon offer MiFi. This is basically a portable hot spot. Up to five gadgets can connect to it via Wi-Fi.
After rebates, you'll pay $80 on Verizon and $100 on Sprint. A two-year contract is required. Monthly service charges are the same as with laptop cards.
If you use a different provider, you can still share your connection. You'll just need to buy a 3G mobile router. These accept your cellular laptop card. Shop carefully. Most accept USB cards. Others accept PC cards.
For example, D-Link's DIR-450 or DIR-451 both run $200. They accept PC cards. You'll need to select the model based on your carrier. There's also Netgear's MBR624GU ($100), which accepts USB cards.
Kim Komando hosts the nation's largest talk radio show about computers and the Internet. To get the podcast or find the station nearest you, visit: www.komando.com/listen. To subscribe to Kim's free e-mail newsletters, sign up at: www.komando.com/newsletters. Contact her at email@example.com.
Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.


text:
The Word-Space Model
- Horace Hamilton
- 2 years ago
- Views:
1 The Word-Space Model Using distributional analysis to represent syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between words in high-dimensional vector spaces Magnus Sahlgren A Dissertation submitted to Stockholm University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2006 Stockholm University National Graduate School Swedish Institute Department of Linguistics of Language Technology of Computer Science Computational Linguistics Gothenburg University Userware Laboratory Stockholm, Sweden Gothenburg, Sweden Kista, Sweden ISBN ISSN ISRN SICS-D 44 SE SICS Dissertation Series 44
2 Doctoral Dissertation Department of Linguistics Stockholm University c Magnus Sahlgren, ISBN Nr This thesis was typeset by the author using L A TEX Printed by Universitetsservice US-AB, Sweden, 2006.
3 Bart: Marge: Look at me, I m a grad student! I m thirty years old and I made $600 last year! Bart, don t make fun of grad students! They just made a terrible life choice. (The Simpsons, Episode Home Away from Homer )
5 Abstract The word-space model is a computational model of word meaning that utilizes the distributional patterns of words collected over large text data to represent semantic similarity between words in terms of spatial proximity. The model has been used for over a decade, and has demonstrated its mettle in numerous experiments and applications. It is now on the verge of moving from research environments to practical deployment in commercial systems. Although extensively used and intensively investigated, our theoretical understanding of the word-space model remains unclear. The question this dissertation attempts to answer is what kind of semantic information does the word-space model acquire and represent? The answer is derived through an identification and discussion of the three main theoretical cornerstones of the word-space model: the geometric metaphor of meaning, the distributional methodology, and the structuralist meaning theory. It is argued that the word-space model acquires and represents two different types of relations between words syntagmatic or paradigmatic relations depending on how the distributional patterns of words are used to accumulate word spaces. The difference between syntagmatic and paradigmatic word spaces is empirically demonstrated in a number of experiments, including comparisons with thesaurus entries, association norms, a synonym test, a list of antonym pairs, and a record of part-of-speech assignments. iii
6 Sammanfattning Ordrumsmodellen använder ords distributionsmönster över stora textmängder för att representera betydelselikhet som närhet i ett mångdimensionellt rum. Modellen har funnits i över ett årtionde, och har bevisat sin användbarhet i en mängd experiment och tillämpningar. Trots att ordrumsmodellen varit föremål för omfattande forskning och användning är dess teoretiska grundvalar i stort sett outforskade. Denna avhandling syftar till att besvara frågan vilken typ av betydelserelationer representeras i ordrumsmodellen? Svaret härleds genom att identifiera och diskutera ordrumsmodellens tre teoretiska grundpelare: den geometriska betydelsemetaforen, den distributionella metoden, och den strukturalistiska betydelseteorin. Avhandlingen visar att ordrumsmodellen representerar två olika betydelserelationer mellan ord syntagmatiska eller paradigmatiska relationer beroende på hur ordens distributionsmönster beräknas. Skillnaden mellan syntagmatiska och paradigmatiska ordrum demonstreras empiriskt i ett antal olika experiment, inklusive jämförelser med tesaurusar, associationsnormer, synonymtest, en lista med antonympar, samt ordklasstillhörighet. iv
7 Acknowledgments What about me? You didn t thank me! You didn t do anything... But I like being thanked! (Homer and Lisa Simpson in Realty Bites ) Ideas are like bacteria: some are good, some are bad, all tend to thrive in stimulating environments, and while some pass by without leaving so much as a trace, some are highly contagious and extremely difficult to get out of your system. Some actually changes your whole life. The ideas presented in this dissertation have a lot in common with such bacteria: they have been carefully nourished in the widely stimulating research environments SICS (Swedish Institute of Computer Science), GSLT (Graduate School of Language Technology), and SU (Stockholm University) to which I am proud, and thankful, for having been part of; they have been highly contagious, and have spread to me through a large number of people, whom I have tried to list below; they have also proven impossible to get rid of. So persistent have they been that they ended up as a doctoral dissertation if this text will work as a cure or not remains to be seen. People infected with word-space bacteria are: First and foremost, Jussi Karlgren: supervisor extraordinaire, collaborator royale, and good friend. Thank you so much for these inspiring, rewarding, and most importantly fun years! Secondly, Pentti Kanerva: inventor of Random Indexing and mentor. Thank you for all your tireless help and support throughout these years! Thirdly, Anders Holst: hacker supreme and genius. Thank you for your patience in answering even the stupidest questions, and for introducing me to the magics of Guile! Additionally, Gunnar Eriksson has read this text carefully and provided numerous invaluable comments; Magnus Boman, Martin Volk and Arne Jönsson have read and commented on parts of the text; Hinrich Schütze, Susan Dumais, Thomas Landauer and David Waltz have generously answered any questions I have had. v
8 I salute Fredrik Olsson for being a good colleague, a good training buddy, and more than anything for being a good friend; Rickard Cöster for exciting collaborations, inspiring discussions, and most of all for all the fun; Ola Knutsson for invigorating philosophical excursions and for all the laughs; David Swanberg, who I started this word-space odyssey with, and who have remained a good friend. My sincere thanks go to Björn Gambäck (L A TEXguru), Preben Hansen, Kristofer Franzen, Martin Svensson, and the rest of the lab at SICS; to Vicki Carleson for always hunting down the articles and books I fail to find on my own; to Mikael Nehlsen for sysadmin at SICS; to Robert Andersson for sysadmin at GSLT; to Marianne Rosenqvist for always keeping track of my coffee jug; to Joakim Nivre, Jens Allwood, and everyone at GSLT; to Martin, Magnus, Jonas, and Johnny (formerly) at KTH; and to the computational linguistics group at SU. Lastly, but most importantly, I am utterly grateful and proud for the unwavering love and support of my family: Johanna, Ingalill and Leif. I dedicate this work to you. vi
9 Contents Abstract Sammanfattning Acknowledgments iii iv v 1 Introduction Modeling meaning Difficult problems call for a different strategy Simplifying assumptions Research questions Dissertation road map I Background 15 2 The word-space model The geometric metaphor of meaning A caveat about dimensions The distributional hypothesis of meaning A caveat about semantic similarity Word-space algorithms From statistics to geometry: context vectors Probabilistic approaches A brief history of context vectors The co-occurrence matrix Similarity in mathematical terms Implementing word spaces The problem of very high dimensionality The problem of data sparseness
10 2 CONTENTS 4.3 Dimensionality reduction Latent Semantic Analysis Hyperspace Analogue to Language Random Indexing II Setting the scene 47 5 Evaluating word spaces Reliability Bilingual lexicon acquisition Query expansion Text categorization Compacting 15 years of research Rethinking evaluation: validity Rethinking the distributional hypothesis The origin of differences: Saussure Syntagma and paradigm A Saussurian refinement Syntagmatic and paradigmatic uses of context Syntagmatic uses of context The context region Paradigmatic uses of context The context window What is the difference? And what about linguistics? III Foreground 73 8 Experiment setup Data Preprocessing Frequency thresholding Transformation of frequency counts Weighting of context windows Word-space implementation Software Tests Evaluation metrics
11 CONTENTS 3 9 The overlap between word spaces Computing the overlap Computing the density Conclusion Thesaurus comparison The Moby thesaurus Syntagmatic uses of context Paradigmatic uses of context Comparison Association test The USF association norms Syntagmatic uses of context Paradigmatic uses of context Comparison Synonym test Syntagmatic uses of context Paradigmatic uses of context Symmetric windows Asymmetric windows Comparison Antonym test The Deese antonyms Syntagmatic uses of context Paradigmatic uses of context Comparison Part-of-speech test Syntagmatic uses of context Paradigmatic uses of context Comparison Analysis The context region Frequency transformations The context window Window weights Comparison of contexts Related research
12 4 CONTENTS 15.7 The semantic continuum IV Curtain call Conclusion Flashbacks Summary of the results Answering the questions Contributions The word-space model revisited Beyond the linguistic frontier Bibliography 137
13 List of Figures 2.1 (1) A 1-dimensional word space, and (2) a 2-dimensional word space Imaginary data A 2-dimensional space with vectors v 1 = (1, 2) and v 2 = (3, 2) The same distance to the center for a number of Minkowski metrics with different N The Saussurian sign Example text Different weighting schemes of the context windows Word-space neighborhood produced with [S : +, tfidf]. The circle indicates what the neighborhood would have looked like if a range around the word knife had been used instead of a constant number of neighbors (in this case, 6) to define the neighborhood. Noni and Nimuk are names occurring in the context of knifes Overlap between the neighborhoods of knife for [S : +, tfidf] (space A) and [P : 2 + 2, const] (space B) Average cosine value between nearest neighbors Correlation between thesaurus entries and paradigmatic word spaces Correlation between association norms and paradigmatic word spaces Fictive word space Percent correct answers on the TOEFL as a function of upper frequency thresholding for paradigmatic word spaces using the TASA (left graph) and the BNC (right graph) Percent correct answers on the TOEFL for paradigmatic word spaces using the TASA and the BNC Percent correct answers on the TOEFL using only the left context for paradigmatic word spaces using the TASA and the BNC
14 6 LIST OF FIGURES 12.5 Percent correct answers on the TOEFL using only the right context for paradigmatic word spaces using the TASA and the BNC Percentage of correct antonyms for paradigmatic word spaces Percentage of words with the same part of speech for paradigmatic word spaces
15 List of Tables 3.1 Lists of the co-occurrents Lists of co-occurrence counts Feature vectors based on three contrastive pairs for the words mouse and rat Manually defined context vector for the word astronomer Directional words-by-words co-occurrence matrix Words-by-documents co-occurrence matrix Words-by-words co-occurrence matrix Details of the data sets used in these experiments Percentage of nearest neighbors that occur in both syntagmatic and paradigmatic word spaces Thesaurus entry for demon Correlation between thesaurus entries and syntagmatic word spaces Association norm for demon Correlation between association norms and syntagmatic word spaces TOEFL synonym test for spot Percentage of correct answers to 80 items in the TOEFL synonym test for syntagmatic word spaces The 39 Deese antonym pairs Percentage of correct antonyms for syntagmatic word spaces Percentage of words with the same part of speech for syntagmatic word spaces The best context regions for syntagmatic uses of context The best frequency transformations for syntagmatic uses of context The best window sizes for paradigmatic uses of context
16 8 LIST OF TABLES 15.4 The best context regions for paradigmatic uses of context The best-performing uses of context The tests used in this dissertation, the semantic relation they primarily measure, and the best-performing context
17 Chapter 1 Introduction Play along! I ll explain later. (Moe Szyslak in Cape Feare ) 1.1 Modeling meaning Meaning is something of a holy grail in the study of language. Some believe that if meaning is unveiled, it will bring light into the darkest realms of linguistic mystery. Others doubt its mere existence. Semanticists of many disciplines roam the great plains of linguistics, chasing that elusive, but oh-so-rewarding, thing called meaning. Skeptics, also of many disciplines, stand by and watch their quest with agnostic, and sometimes even mocking, prejudice. Whatever the ontological status of meaning may be, contemporary linguistics need the concept as explanatory premise for certain aspects of the linguistic behavior of language users. To take a few obvious examples, it would be onerous to try to explain vocabulary acquisition, translation, or language understanding without invoking the concept of meaning. Granted, it might prove possible to accomplish this without relying on meaning, but the burden of proof lies with the Opposition. Thus far, the exorcism of meaning from linguistics has not been successful, and no convincing alternative has been presented. My prime concern here is not fitting meaning into the framework of linguistics. My interest here is rather the possibility of building a computational model of meaning. Such a computational model of meaning is worth striving for because our computational models of linguistic behavior will be incomplete without an account of meaning. If we need meaning to fully explain linguistic behavior, then surely we 9
18 10 Chapter 1. Introduction need meaning to fully model linguistic behavior. A large part of language technology 1 today is concerned with tasks and applications whose execution typically is assumed to require (knowledge about, or proficiency in using) meaning. Examples include lexicon acquisition, word-sense disambiguation, information access, machine translation, dialogue systems, etc. Even so, remarkably few computational models of meaning have been developed and utilized for practical application in language technology. The model presented in this dissertation is one of the few viable alternatives. Note that we seek a computational and not psychological model of meaning. This means that, while it should be empirically sound and consistent with human behavior (it is, after all, a model), it does not have to constitute a neurophysiologically or psychologically truthful model of human information processing. Having said that, human (semantic) proficiency exhibits such impressive characteristics that it would be ignorant not to use it as inspiration for implementation: it is efficient, flexible, robust, and continual. On top of all that, it is also seemingly effortless. 1.2 Difficult problems call for a different strategy I have thus far successfully avoided the question about the meaning of meaning, and for a good reason: it is this question that conjures the grail-like quality of the concept of meaning. As foundational as the study of meaning seems for the study of language, as elusive is the definition of the concept. In one sense, everyone knows what meaning is it is that which distinguishes words from being senseless condensates of sounds or letters, and part of that which we understand and know when we say that we understand and know a language but in another sense, no one seems to be able to pin down exactly what this meaning is. Some 2000 years of philosophical controversy should warn us to steer well clear of such pursuits. I will neither attempt to define the meaning of meaning, nor review the taxonomy of semantic theories. I will simply note that defining meaning seems like a more or less impossible (and therefore perhaps not very meaningful) task, and that there are many theories about meaning available for the aspiring semanticist. However, despite the abundance of meaning theories, remarkably few have proven their mettle in actual implementation. For those that have, there is usually a fair amount of fitting circles into squares going on; the theoretical prescriptions often do not fit observable linguistic data, which tend to be variable, inconsistent and vague. Semantics has been, and still is, a surprisingly impractical occupation. 1 There is an abundance of terms referring to the computational study of language, including computational linguistics, language engineering, natural language processing, etc. I arbitrarily choose to use the term language technology.
19 1.2. Difficult problems call for a different strategy 11 In keeping with this theoretical lopsidedness, there is a long and withstanding tradition in the philosophy of language and in semantics to view the incomplete, noisy and imprecise form of natural language as an obstacle that obscures rather than elucidates meaning. It is very common in this tradition to claim that we therefore need a more exact form of representation that obliterates the ambiguity and incompleteness of natural language. Historically, logic has often been cast in this role, with the idea that it provides a more stringent and precise formalism that makes explicit the semantic information hidden in the imprecise form of natural language. Advocates of this paradigm claim that we should not model natural language use, since it is noisy and imprecise; instead, we should model language in the abstract. In stark contrast to such a prescriptive perspective, proponents of descriptive approaches to linguistics argue that ambiguity, vagueness and incompleteness are essential properties of natural language that should be nourished and utilized; these properties are not signs of communicative malfunction and linguistic deterioration, but of communicative prosperity and of linguistic richness. Descriptivists argue that it would be presumptuous to believe that the single most complex communication system developed in nature could be more adequately represented by some human-made formalism. Language has the form it has because it is the most viable form. In the words of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1953): It is clear that every sentence in our language is in order as it is. That is to say, we are not striving after an ideal, as if our ordinary vague sentences had not yet got a quite unexceptional sense, and a perfect language awaited construction by us. ( 98) The computational model of meaning discussed in this dissertation the wordspace model is based entirely on language data, which means that it embodies a thoroughly descriptive approach. It does not rely on a priori assumptions about language (or at least it does so to a bare minimum see further Section 1.3). By grounding the representations in actual usage data, it only represents what is really there in the current universe of discourse. When meanings change, disappear or appear in the data at hand, the model changes accordingly; if we use an entirely different set of data, we will end up with an entirely different model of meaning. The word-space model acquires meanings by virtue of (or perhaps despite) being based entirely on noisy, vague, ambiguous and possibly incomplete language data. It is the overall goal of this dissertation to investigate this alternative computational path to semantics, and to examine how far in our quest for meaning such a thoroughly descriptive approach may take us.
20 12 Chapter 1. Introduction 1.3 Simplifying assumptions It is inevitable when dealing with language in computers to make a few simplifying assumptions about the nature of the data at hand. For example, we normally will not have access to the wealth of extralinguistic information available to, and utilized by, every human. It is perhaps superfluous to point out that computers have a very limited set of senses, and even if we arguably can make the computer see, hear and touch, we still only have a very rudimentary knowledge how to interpret the vision, sound and tactile signal. Written text, on the other hand, is often readily available in machine-readable format (modulo issues related to encoding standards), and we have a comparably good understanding how to interpret such data. In the remainder of this dissertation, when I speak of language I speak of written language, unless otherwise stated. This focus on written language admittedly undermines the behavioral consistency of the word-space model. However, it is perfectly feasible to assume that any sufficiently literate person can learn the meaning of a new word through reading only, as Miller & Charles (1991) observe. It is very common, at least in certain demographics (i.e. middle-class in literate areas), that people can read and write but not speak and understand foreign languages. It also seems perfectly feasible to assume that the general word-space methodology presented here can be applied to data sources other than text. Having said that, it is important to point out that I do rely on assumptions that are text specific. For example, I use the term word to refer to white-space delimited sequences of letters that have been morphologically normalized to base forms (a process called lemmatization). Thus, when I speak of words I speak of lemmatized types rather than of inflected tokens. This notion of a word does not translate unproblematically to, e.g., speech data. Furthermore, I assume that these lemmatized types are atomic semantic units of language. I am well aware that this might upset both linguists, who tend to see morphemes as atomic semantic units; and psychologists, who tend to argue that humans store not only morphemes and words in semantic memory, but also multiword terms, idioms, and phrases. I will bluntly neglect these considerations in this dissertation, and merely focus on words and their meanings. It should be noted that the methodology presented in the following text can directly and unproblematically be applied also to morphemes and multi-word terms. The granularity of the semantic units is just a matter of preprocessing. Lastly, I should point out that the methodology presented in this dissertation requires consistency and regularity of word order. Languages that utilize free word order would arguably not be applicable to the kind of distributional analysis professed in this dissertation.
21 1.4. Research questions Research questions The word-space model is slowly but steadily becoming part of the basic arsenal of language technology. From being regarded almost as a scientific curiosity not more than a decade ago, it is now on the verge of moving from research laboratories to practical application; it is habitually used in information-access applications, and has begun to see employment in commercial products. Despite its apparent viability, it remains unclear in what sense the word-space model is a model of meaning. Does it constitute a complete model of the full spectrum of meaning, or does it only convey specific aspects of meaning? If so: which aspects of meaning does it represent? Is it at all possible to extract semantic knowledge by merely looking at usage data? Surely, the practical applicability of the word-space model implies an affirmative answer to the last question, but there are neither theoretical motivations nor empirical results to indicate what type of semantic information the word-space model captures. Filling this void is the central goal of this dissertation. 1.5 Dissertation road map During the following 122 pages, I will explain what the word-space model is, how it is produced, and what kind of semantic information it contains. The what is the subject of Chapter 2, the how is the subject of Chapters 3 and 4, and the what kind is addressed through Chapters 5 to 15. Finally, Chapter 16 summarizes and concludes the dissertation. The text is divided into four different parts. Part I presents the theoretical background, Part II contains the theoretical foreground, and constitutes my main contribution. Part III presents the experiments, and Part IV concludes the text. Those who are already familiar with the word-space model and its implementations may safely skip Part I (Chapters 2 to 4). Those who are only interested in the theoretical contribution of this thesis can skim through Chapters 8 to 14, while those who are primarily interested in the empirical results instead should focus on these chapters. However, I want to make clear that the main contribution of this dissertation is theoretical, and that the experimental results presented in Part III should be viewed less as evidence than as indications. My advice is to read the whole thing.
23 Part I Background 15
25 Chapter 2 The word-space model That s quite a nice model, sir. Model? (Waylon Smithers and Mr. Burns in $pringfield ) I refer to the computational model of meaning discussed in this dissertation as the word-space model. This term is due to Hinrich Schütze (1993), who defines the model as follows: Vector similarity is the only information present in Word Space: semantically related words are close, unrelated words are distant. (p.896) There are many different ways to produce such a computational model of semantic similarity (I will discuss three different implementations in Chapter 4). However, even if there are many different ways of arriving at a word space, the underlying theories and assumptions are the same. This fact is often obscured by the plentitude of appellations and acronyms that are used for different versions and different implementations of the underlying word-space model. The propensity for term-coining in this area of research is not only a major source of confusion, but a symptom of the theoretical poverty that permeates it. The single most important reason why researchers do not agree upon the terminology is because they fail to appreciate the fact that it is the same underlying ideas behind all their implementations. It is one of the central goals of this dissertation to excavate the underlying semantic theory behind the word-space model, and to thereby untangle this terminological mess. I start in this chapter by reviewing the basic assumptions behind the word-space model: the theory of representation, and the theory of acquisition. 17
26 18 Chapter 2. The word-space model 2.1 The geometric metaphor of meaning The word-space model is, as the name suggests, a spatial representation of word meaning. Its core idea is that semantic similarity can be represented as proximity in n-dimensional space, where n can be any integer ranging from 1 to some very large number we will consider word spaces of up to several millions of dimensions later on in this dissertation. Of course, such high-dimensional spaces are impossible to visualize, but we can get an idea of what a spatial representation of semantic similarity might look like if we consider a 1-dimensional and a 2-dimensional word space, such as those represented in Figure 2.1. guitar lute oud sitar (1) lute guitar oud sitar (2) Figure 2.1: (1) A 1-dimensional word space, and (2) a 2-dimensional word space. In these geometric representations, spatial proximity between words indicates how similar their meanings are. As an example, both word spaces in Figure 2.1 depicts oud as being closer to lute than to guitar, which should be interpreted as a representation of the meaning similarities between these words: the meaning (of) oud is more similar to the meaning (of) lute than to the meaning (of) guitar. The use of spatial proximity as a representation of semantic similarity is neither accidental nor arbitrary. On the contrary, it seems like a very intuitive and natural way for us to conceptualize similarities, and the reason for this is obvious: we are, after all, embodied beings, who use our unmediated spatio-temporal knowledge of the world to conceptualize and make sense of abstract concepts. This has been pointed out by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in a number of influential works (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, 1999), where they argue that metaphors are the raw
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text:
I'm doing research for a future column (inspired mostly by tipping threads here on CH). I'm interested in your personal experience, either as a diner, or as a server.
What percentage do you usually tip (diners)?
What percentage tip do you usually receive (servers)?
Are there really diners (in North America) who NEVER tip?
Do you tip the same percentage, regardless of quality of service?
Diners, have you personally experienced poor service when you are part of a group where a stated percentage will be added to the bill for groups of X or more?
Servers, are visitors from other countries consistently bad tippers?
I'm trying to separate fact from urban myth. Please keep your answers short and to the point, AND CIVIL. CH has been a great resource for me in the past, but if this thread goes south (as tipping threads are wont to do), the thread will be locked in a heartbeat, and I won't get my info. Thanks in advance for your help.


text:
Heal Your Heart | Tony Gaskins MP3
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Leave That Toxic Relationship | Tony Gaskins MP3
Tony A Gaskins Jr - Relationship Discussion 2016 MP3
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Tony Gaskins - Finding Mr. Right MP3
Relationship Guru Tony Gaskins chats with Great Day Houston host Deborah Duncan about finding and keeping love (Jan 1, 2014). Posted: ...
Finding Success In Love! w/ Tony Gaskins! Pt1 MP3
watch the rest of the interview at http://sotomayortv.com/31515successinlove/ follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/tjsotomayor.
Tony Gaskins | Self-Control (FOR MEN) MP3
Tony Gaskins | Look Within MP3
BOYFRIEND Benefits!! MP3
Forgiving and Leaving | Tony Gaskins | Life Coach MP3
Join me on the Real Love Tour -- http://TonyGaskins.com/events.
Save The Sex!! MP3
Don't Play Yourself While Looking For Love! MP3
Real Love Tour ATL: http://realloveatl2.eventbrite.com.
What A Real Man Wants MP3
This video isn't overly thought out or scripted and is not a representation of Tony Gaskins' live presentations. ------------------------------------ Tony A. Gaskins Jr. is an ...
Relationship Coach | The Other Woman | Tony Gaskins | Tampa FL MP3
Author, Life & Relationship Coach, Tony A. Gaskins, Jr. Tony Gaskins is one of today's leading life & relationship coaches. Having coached thousands of ...
Long Distance Relationships MP3


text:
On The Day
Choose your ceremony on the dropdown list for your graduation timings.
Addtional information:
Graduation 'On the day' information
When you collect your graduation tickets in June , you will find enclosed a Graduation Day Leaflet. This will tell you important information for you and your guests about graduation day. It will also tell you your lining up venue where you must go one hour before your ceremony starts to be lined up in processional order. Please see the online versions below:
July 2017- Tuesday on the day leaflet
July 2017- Wednesday on the day leaflet
July 2017- Thursday on the day leaflet
July 2017- Friday on the day leaflet
Nearer to graduation week, you will also be able to download the iLancaster App for a quick overview of Graduation Day information for students and guests.
Lining up and guest seating
Please remember that graduands must go to their lining up venue 1 hour before the ceremony starts to line up in processional order. Guests can take their seats in the Great Hall from this time. Lining up venues are listed in the 'on the day leaflets'.
Graduation Village
Visit the Graduation Village Marquee in Lancaster Square where food and drink will be available. You will also be able to visit:
- The Alumni stand- Collect your welcome pack from the stand. Find out about the benefits of joining the alumni network and keeping in touch.
- The stand for university memorabilia.
- The stands to purchase DVDs, College Photography and the 'handshake' photograph to help you remember your day.
- Food, drink, a champagne bar and a Gin Shed will also be available in the Graduation Village.
Live Webcast
Guests without tickets to the ceremony can watch the ceremony live on big screens in the Faraday Building. This venue is staffed and fully accessible, with Degree Day programmes available on request. No tickets are required for the live broadcast venue.
The ceremonies will also be streamed live.
Lancaster University's Print & Photography are the official University photographers and will have their sales and studio area conveniently located adjacent to the gowning area in LICA. Please see the Print & Photography website for more information about the packages available.
There will be a college photograph taken in Lancaster Square of each college either before or after their ceremony. Please see the time for your college on the dropdown list.


text:
Just a little something that I wanted to write about. Something I had a dream about a few nights ago, decided to write a short story about it. I hope you enjoy. It's nothing special.
Incurable Heartbreak
It was 5 years ago today when she was first diagnosed. Nobody expected her to live as long as she did. She was slowly losing her battle though. Here I sat, on a small chair next to her hospital bed. The only sound in the room came from the various machines that were hooked to her. She was in a coma. Her body had began shutting down. I tried not to cry each time I looked up at her. She looked so peaceful, her eyes closed, breathing slowly. At least she was still breathing.
"Haruka, why don't you go home for a little while? At least take a shower."
I turned to look at the doctor as he entered the room. He was probably right. But I didn't want to leave her. I didn't reply to him, I only rested my head back on the edge of the bed, waiting for some kind of response from the woman I loved.
"At least go and get a cup of tea, or coffee."
I jumped when he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Yea…I suppose." I looked down at Michiru. "I'll be right back sweetheart. I promise."
After placing a soft kiss on her forehead I left the room. I took my time walking out to the cafeteria. It was a trip I had made several times a day for the past two weeks. It took six minutes, that included the elevator trip, to get from Michiru's room to the cafeteria. At the pace I walked it usually took 413 steps. I grabbed a prepackaged sandwich as well as a cup to fill with strong, black coffee. I pulled my wallet out at the register to pay for the items before making my six minute trip back to her room.
My body froze when I turned the corner to see two doctor's run into Michiru's room. "No…" I barely noticed as the items slipped from my hands to land on the floor, my focus turned on getting to that room. The only sound my ears focused on was the heart monitor that had flat lined. I stood at the door, making sure to stay out of the doctor's way as they tried to revive her. Each passing second felt like an eternity. I slowly fell to my knees when I saw the doctor look up, all he did was shake his head. She was gone.
The house was so quiet. It was so peaceful, so calm. Too quiet. I slid my jacket off, as well as my shoes, my keys fell to hit the floor. The first thing I did, I walked into the living room and put Michiru's favorite CD into the stereo. Soon soft piano music filled the empty house. She'd want it this way. I felt numb. How was I suppose to go on without the one person I loved? I loved her ever since I first laid eyes on her. That was more than 40 years ago. She wasn't suppose to die.
I haven't even cried yet. I don't think it's hit me that she's never coming home to me. I walked into our bedroom to see the perfectly made bed. She was always a stickler for things being so neat and tidy. I flung the closet doors open, half of it was full of dresses, skirts and blouses, the other half, full of dress slacks, khakis, button down shirts, and t-shirts. I reached in and grabbed her favorite black silk dress. With the hanger still on it I placed it over my neck and hugged it tightly. My eyes closed and I tried to envision hugging her for one last time. The feel of her skin, her hug, the touch of her lips against mine, the smell of her ocean air body wash, the scent of her perfume. It all lingered in my thoughts and senses.
I removed the dress from my neck and laid it on her side of the bed. Then I returned to the closet and pushed a few boxes out of the way to get to the built in wall safe. 1, 27, 3, 6. The door opened as it always did. I reached in to pull out a small wooden box. I placed it on the bed beside her dress and opened it. The gun it contained was already loaded, we never unloaded it, just in case. I didn't hesitate. I took one final breath, placed the barrel in my mouth and pulled the trigger.
Don't forget to review :)


text:
Compiled by duo Ansel Neckles and Stephanie McLaren-Neckles, LET'S BE BRIEF (LBB) is a cultural journal targeted at the creative entrepreneur. Their aim — to bridge the gap between creative culture and business.
"State of Independence Market is a great opportunity for indie makers to sell products direct to their customers alongside like-minded traders, and to gain real time experience of customer feedback — which can be crucial to the development of new businesses. All in a convivial environment" – Stephanie McLaren-Neckles (LBB co-founder)
With the LBB Pop up school they are at the vanguard of the pop up phenomenon, promoting independent makers, hosting events and producing content from the very outset.
Poster artwork: Ben Rider
Now they have launched a boutique at the the State of Independence Market – creating a new and exciting platform for the creative community. Working in collaboration with EAT WORK ART they now have a monthly residency pitching up in the car park of Hackney Downs Studios and transforming the space into a hub for creative businesses.
Running on the last weekend of every month from May and until the end of September, the market will play host to a miscellany of designers, artists, musicians and street food vendors.
WHERE: Hackney Downs Studios
WHEN: May 30-31 | Jun 27-28 | Jul 25-26 | Aug 29-30 | Sep 26-27
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text:
Soliciting papers
Upon acceptance of a proposal Guest Editors are requested to solicit papers for a Special Issue.
There are two ways of soliciting papers, which are relevant for both Special Issues which focus on a topic, as well as those which are based around a conference. The first is soliciting by Author Invitation and the second by Call-for-Papers.
Publication Schedule
It is required that Guest Editors agree to a time schedule and inform contributing authors of the deadlines for submitting and revising manuscripts. Elsevier staff will advise on realistic deadlines. Deadlines should be strictly adhered to, especially at the revision stage.
1. Author Invitation
The traditional way of soliciting papers is to approach individual researchers and invite them to contribute to a Special Issue. These researchers should be active in and have expertise on the Special Issue topic.
Paper preparation
Upon acceptance of an invitation to write an article for a Special Issue, Guest Editors will instruct authors to prepare their manuscript according to the Guide for Authors. The Guide for Authors can be found on each journal homepage on Elsevier.com.
Paper submission
Authors will be asked to submit their manuscript via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES). This can be done by clicking on the Submit Your Paper link, which can be found on all journal homepages.
2. Call for Papers
An alternative way of soliciting papers is to place a Call-for-Papers on the Elsevier homepage of the journal which has accepted the proposal. Guest Editors are responsible for preparing the Call-for-Papers text.
To view an example of a Call for Papers, please click on the link below.
Call for Papers template
When preparing a Call for Papers, Guest Editors should ensure it includes the following information:
- Title of the Special Issue
- Special issue topic
- Special Issue scope
- Guest Editor contact information
- Author guidelines
Contact Information
At the soliciting papers stage
Any queries which are regarding scientific quality, the topic of an invited paper, or the content of a Call-for-Papers, should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal.
At the paper submission stage
Authors with system queries can refer to the EES User Guide for Authors - http://support.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/116
Alternatively, they can call support at the telephone numbers below:
- For The Americas: +1 888 834 7287 (toll-free for US & Canadian customers)
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Or contact support by writing to: firstname.lastname@example.com
Please note that this information is also posted on the EES website and can be found by clicking on the "Contact Us" link.
For any queries on special content, please Contact us