text:
Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Please!
Have you ever wished you could speak about another person without specifying his or her or its [some would say "their"] sex (aka "gender")?
Frustrating, isn't it? Certainly in the various dialects of English. Perhaps even moreso in the many languages that demand a gender for each noun; some may even have a completely different conjugation for each person, depending on "their" biologically-defined identity.
"Enough already!" Isn't it universal by now that people by nature don't want to be stereotyped, limited, judged, and stuffed into a box?
Once upon a time, Your Meggsy sought to set this matter straight. After many inquiries with sympathetic individuals, some soul-searching and analysis, This Agent settled on a set of gender non-specific pronouns for use in English, "The Nas":
To test this new proposal, we (at least, all those who entertained my determination, that is) created a looong list of example sentences, substituting The Nas for sex-con-straints-as-usual to see if using "Na/Nam/Ahz" would be awkward, ambiguous, or otherwise difficult for usage.
Example: She will take her high-frequency analyzer to verify its calibration and send an update to him.
Becomes: Na will take ahz high-frequency analyzer to verify ahz calibration and send an update to nam.
While gendered pronouns can help disambiguate assignment (and personifying an electronic instrument may be objectionable especially if it isn't a cute droid like R2-D2), we were unable to break the new proposal in any tests in terms of spoken disambiguation and awkwardness, perhaps because of the linguistic similarity of both the beginning and ending of the new pronouns to the sound of the status quo's existing options.
Even if we use the plural "they" to indicate a being without specifying a singular person's "gender", the word is similar enough to "na" (they~na) and likewise, "them" is similar in sound to "nam" (them~nam).
Testing further, assembling words that began or ended with similar sounds to na/nam/ahz still failed to create conflicts or confusion; certainly there were no more difficult situations than the many wacky and ambiguous possibilities English is already so famous for, and its lending to alluvial alliterations' deluges of delusions. 😉
This testing was admittedly not nearly exhaustive as the process used for verifying the Loglan/lojban language(s)/project(s) to verify ahz/their lack of audiovisual and isomorphic ambiguity (despite my having used Lex and Yacc and a li'l bit'o Bison in mah day, e.g., to construct a JAVA compiler in old school (thus being one presumably more immediately able than most to conduct more rigorous testing). But it seemed unwarranted. Just use it. I didn't "care" anymore; I wanted an option.
The world needed an option!
This was a personal imperative. I'd already identified a great wall of impassibility/ineffability falling from the fallacious fallibility and facetious faux-fascism forcing ferociously these lamely illuminary limitations of language.
While studying Loglan/lojban as a teenager, spending the nocturnal hours learning the first 1,000 words and ahz grammar in hopes of being the first fluent Loglan/lojban speaker in the world, my inspiration stemmed in no small part from frustrations with language itself, at least in my experience (primarily with various forms of American English). The promise of being free to express any concept was compelling.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (from which Loglan begat) spoke to me deeply: the question of whether language restricts culture, or culture restricts language. Of course, like "Nature v. Nurture", this was a conundrum limited by the narrowness of the times, yet critical to our evolution as a species capable of consciousness. It occurred to me that English and other major languages simply by virtue of their having overrun other languages were arguably languages of conquest and that peace would only be possible if we could find ways to communicate the many concepts that had been otherwise precluded — like a prison upon our consciousness — by established and royally- and culturally- and religiously-restricted/redacted languages.
Only much later, in the search for partnership, did Your Agent Meggsy learn with awe, admiration and joy, that some languages were long free of these chains.
Even later, much less joyously but no less in awe, a friend heard this concern about languages of conquest and confided cynically yet with compassion: "conquest is the language."
"Conquest is the language."
Yet examples exist!
Finnish, for example, to draw on personal experience, is a language I'm assured is free of compulsively-sex-defining pronouns. While acclimating to Finnish language and culture, in seek of partnership, some summers ago, Your Agent was most impressed to learn that in Finnish, one must actually do extra work to specify the sex of a person! Huzzah!
Essentially, in Finnish, all actions and actors are presumed equal across "genders" until specified otherwise, and thus all pronouns are by nature non-specific to gender. And "believe you me", in Finland you would not assume that a "man's job" couldn't be done by a woman!
Cutting wood? Add in a "she" if you prefer. Or a "he." Or nothing at all. We're only talking about cutting wood, so it's immaterial whether the person is biologically male or female. How refreshing!
Is there evidence that this language openness has led to societal openness? The leadership by women in Finland certainly supports the hypothesis that such freedom from self-fulfilling prophesies inflicted by "natural" language have important effects on socio-political outcomes. Finland was first country in Europe (and before the U.S., of course) to realize women's suffrage, and first in the world to recognize women's right to office.
My stay in Finland was full of tales of strong women; in one dramatic example, my prospective partner's grandmother, at age twelve, climbed a grain silo and waited with but a shotgun to dispatch Russian warplanes should they pass overhead. (But then the sad legacy of war is invoked and the terrible trauma of losing half a population to the merciless onslaught of empires.)
Did empowered women in Finland free the pronouns, or did the freed-up pronouns empower the women?
Does it matter? "Chicken and egg", "nature v. nurture", main thing is move forward.
Moving forward is possible; just recently Finland's nearby neighbor, the country of Sweden, announced a "fresh infusion of 13,000 new words" to the dictionary of the Swedish Academy, including the adoption of a gender neutral pronoun (hen).
We all must know how bent-out-of-shape so many English speakers can get if deprived of sex identification of children and infants. "Is it a boy or a girl" seems the first question so many impose. With some attention and skill, when speaking of anyone doing anything, one can meander through the language omitting clues as to the sex of the subject(s) spoken of. Just see how the sexual unknowns tension builds then!
The urge to know and to classify can be so strong, but is it necessary? Is it innate? True this is seen in many other aspects of existence as well. Where people are "from", their "age" in annums, their calculated class, rationalized race, etc,. become major sticking points to communication and commonality in such a system of conformity and categorical closure. To hold the space for possibilities can seem difficult or even tortuous to so many people in so many situations. Why is this? Does it need to be? Can it be challenged, changed, transcended? (
Trans-gendered, haha?) Erk, sawwy. Back to theeewiusss:
There are so many examples where people have released these chains and accepted open possibilities, that evidence associates such freedom and acceptance with a healthier, more honest, and more harmonious society.
It still seems self-evident that without the means to communicate concepts, culture is constrained, and our potential to evolve our consciousness is curtailed, and may wither, atrophy, and die on the many fruited vine. Whoever or whatever takes our means to speak, does so to subject and even enslave us. What took our freedom of thought, our freedom to be?
For we yearn to be. Just as nature, requires nurture. 😉
Next stop on the linguistic sub-series: how to write about yourself and your experience without saying "I".
Bees v. SUVs!!!
[About seven hours and seventy-seven minutes ago I realized it'd been about seven years and seven days since I posted this wacky article, the debut of the "Meggs Report" concept. Republished here now.]
Bees swarmed an SUV in front of Boalt Hall School of Law on Sunday, June 3, 2007 in hopes of mobilizing immediate action by the human species. (Video, linked from youtube to save bandwidth here, is 6:26 in length.)
Bees are refusing to pollinate crops until their demands are met. The recent disappearance of bees, they sang, is in protest of increasingly harsh conditions imposed upon them by corporate agriculture, and a growing concern that a wave of mass extinction will only accelerate in the near future without an immediate and drastic change in course. The bees put the blame squarely on the heads of humans, who they say have exhibited astoundingly poor planetary citizenship for over 2,000 years.
"We got the idea from the Rand corporation report on swarming, which focused on Critical Mass bicycle rides as a military tactic," said a cluster of buzzybooz. "We felt that if bicyclists are willing to brave offering an alternative in the face of, that we certainly can." The bee troop noted that groups of bicyclists are gathering to protest in opposition to the G8 this coming Friday in towns around the world.
"Immobilizing this SUV may seem insignificant," they admitted, "but it is a small taste of what is to come," referring to the overall bee strategy for compliance from Homo sapiens.
"Next we will target gas station pumps and even refineries and oil tankers," stated a spokesbee. The bees hope to leverage their potential impact by targeting particularly sensitive weak links in the petroleum-dependent "System of Destruction."
North American bee colonies have converged for the first annual "Sting the System Honeyfest" Apiary Action Camp, which kicked off with a tribute to Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume, a novel in which bees hold the City of New Orleans captive in an allegorically similar, timeless drama of survival. "That guy understands us," said the Queen Bee, who hopes that more humans will obtain consciousness.
"Well, that'll keep me away from a car," admitted one passing American consumer.
"Good plan," said another passerby.
The Bush administration is expected to respond by issuing a code red terrorist alert, with the president vowing to see through new tax cuts for pesticides, sting-proof suits, and total eradication of the entire superfamily, Apoidea.
"I din' like bugs to begin with," he said.
Local sustainability advocates decried the Federal approach, saying it would lead to endless famine and suffering. "Like Einstein said: Without bees, we are lost. It's time to face the music and own up to our responsibility to earth," said Professor Buzz.
"They really are sweethearts. Just be nice to them. Seems like a reasonable request. Creatures treat you as you treat them," said Dotty Tomorrow, 6, of Berkeley, who hopes to be able to live on planet earth in the future.
For more information about modern carfree cities, visit http://www.worldcarfree.net/ and http://www.carfree.com/.For more information about bees, take a moment to appreciate flowers and the foods which fruit of them.
Caution: this story contains satire and artistic license. The video has been edited. The bees really are pissed, though.
Rinpoche: The World is Unsavable
(Berlin) In May this year I had the unexpected opportunity to hear Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, speak about the important and timely topic of Green Tomato and Red Chilli, a whimsical title belying serious intent, honoring the intractable with joy and mirth.
"Of course, I did not come here to speak with you about green tomatoes, and red chillis," he said slowly, eyes beseeching our understanding, with the profound deadpan only a Buddhist monk can summon, a rising welter of laughter trailing along before his German translator took a turn.
The talk was irreverent, compassionate, challenging and thought provoking.
At one point Rinpoche stated in an off-hand manner, with palpable resign:
"The World is Unsavable."
This came as a shock and posed a real paradox for your Agent Meggsy; Buddhism seems focused on saving the world if anything.
Given the general agreement that exponentially increasing anthropogenic activity poses an ever-increasing challenge to our collective survival, and that many experts now consider it too late for sustainability and too late for sustainable development, does Buddhism remain detached, and turn away as if to give up? Sleeping giants may lurk in the arctic and the EPA has just released a report stating that climate change is already having large impacts on California, but would spiritual guidance suggest abandoning hope? Do we not rely on spiritual guidance to continue in the face of great odds?
While the situation may seem bleak, with carbon emissions steadily rising — despite runaway climate change holding the theoretical potential to wipe life completely from planet earth — is it consistent with Buddhism to say that earth is unsavable? Is this a turning away from engagement?
When question time came Your Agent Meggsy was one who took the microphone, voicing just this concern. "If Buddhism is devoted to liberating all sentient beings, and if our current course is one that threatens to literally end all beings, would we not try? Is there truly no hope?"
Rinpoche's answer focused primarily on the greed in human nature, and the potential for India and China to consume ever more, particularly to consume transportation fuels at the level of the Western World. The first thing a person does when the money is enough in India, Rinpoche said, is to purchase a motorcycle. When there is more, then a car. For status alone, this is done, whether or not the vehicle creates more convenience.
This same, surprisingly helpless attitude has been heard from top transportation professors at UC Berkeley as well:
"Who are we, having enjoyed this lifestyle, to tell others not to copy us?"
In these cases, a response was not always possible, but the response can be made now: Why would anyone having made such a terrible mistake not warn others to avoid making the same mistake? Organizing life around the automobile was not necessary, and is not sustainable. Petroleum is precious to life, yet its use threatens all life; to waste it on vanity transportation is reckless at best, murderous at worst.
Yet individual motorized transport continues to be the primary growth sector for carbon emissions, overrunning gains in all other sectors. Is a spiritual awakening the key missing element to adopting another way of life? To simply "wait until it breaks" and correct for crisis appears to be a market/social failure of a catastrophically colossal scale.
Proposed: The Controversy Index
Many an index has surfaced in recent years. Indicators and scientific approaches to making use of the bounty of data available, and to make sense of the world in new ways, have appeared in everything from a plethora of financial indices; various Happiness Indices (particularly as a counterpoint to GDP, most famously the GNH from Bhutan); sports, wine and other specialty indices; numerous health indicators, such as WHO's Children's Environmental Health Indicators; and of course we planners have an impressive slew of urban indicators, such as UN-Habitat's, and in the world of transportation alone there are many, such as the U.S.-based BTS indicators, sustainable transport indices from VTPI and performance measures from the EPA, of course the various walkability indices including the online Walk Score, and for bicycling, in the BICY Project we developed several, and a tip of the hat is due to the Copenhagenize Index.
One of Your Meggsy's personal favorites is the Corruption Perception Index or CPI, one of numerous commendable analysis offers from Transparency International, aiming to daylight and address corruption in the international arena.
In the realm of truth in science and media, however, there seems to be a dearth of investigative power brought to bear. Noam Chomsky famously counted lines of copy in newspapers for various issues to indicate the degree to which stories were given more or less exposure and public value, a promising experiment.
Only recently have scientific journals begun to make a more concerted effort to simply ask and report funding sources for published papers, and more rarely to ask disclosure identifying more broadly, any conflicts of interest from authors.
More recently in this Web 2.0 world, popularity indices have erupted wherein crowd sourced rankings are collected from those motivated to provide them, usually resulting in an average represented on a 5-star scale.
But what happens if there is controversy over a given online subject, such as a book or video, and an organized opposition emerges which votes based not on the quality of the writing but on lines of political disagreement?
In this case of a vote war we would expect to see a split vote, with many low rankings, few average rankings, and again a spike for positive rankings. Yet the typical representation by hosting websites would be an average, showing something in the middle.
Why not provide a Controversy Index, to flag and quickly identify, search for, and organize those issues where an online battle is taking place? A simple statistical analysis on the inversion of the expected normal distribution should suffice in those cases; simply being able to view the histogram of voting could go a long way. (Your Meggsy has in fact repeatedly written online crowd sourced media giants such as YouTube and Amazon to suggest such features.)
In the world of scientific literature, it appears there is still no established effort to measure and report controversy. It's well known that for many years, the tobacco industry funded scientific studies, resulting in a split body of literature where side by studies found opposite results. There are many areas of research where large financial interests, and/or strong ideological forces, might influence results, and certainly there can be found more lines of research with a split literature.
Indices to identify and monitor these trends in truth-swaying would be very useful, simply to increase the public awareness of and dialogue about how trustworthy scientific findings are.
Proposed: The Controversy Indices, a suite of metrics for gauging the likelihood of bias and distortion in the public discourse, from online media to scientific literature. A summary index, The Controversy Index, could be a vital new force for the public interest.
Do Bikeshare Systems Hurt Bicycling?
Much debate and many growing pains have accompanied the fanfare around the rise and rapid adoption of bikeshare systems such as Vélib in France and BIXI in Montréal. A recent article appeared critiquing the Bicing system of Barcelona, and by coincidence it came to my inbox (and was published) on the day of my first ever arrival in Barcelona. It took me more than a month to respond, but am glad to have done so. My commentary is published below, with my qualified conclusion in this case: no, it has not hurt bicycling!
The original article was here:
My commentary (soon to add photos, perhaps video too!) is here:
Thank you for looking at the big picture.
It was very interesting to receive this article because on that day, the day it was published, I had actually just arrived in Barcelona for the first time, and was in the process of analyzing the relationship between infrastructure and cycling in the BICY project (http://bicy.it). So it gave me a much appreciated puzzle to work on while in the area.
I spent several days pondering this during my visit, and even did some traffic counts and tours of the bikeways as well as cycling to the outer limits of the city to get a better understanding of the bicycle situation there.
First I must say that bicycle data is notoriously unreliable and collected in inconsistent ways, making it further unreliable or incompatible to use for analysis and comparison. It can also be quite political, and I've heard from people from other cities who do not believe the figures for cycling in their cities, because funding is sometimes allocated based usage.
Given this and my first impression, I was initially skeptical about the low cycling rates reported, particularly as in certain areas of the center one sees many bicycles. In fact the relatively low rates for everything but walking (45.5%!) presented a challenge.
However, having taken a further look, it's quite likely these numbers are reasonably accurate. Barcelona, like Paris, is one of the great walking cities, and high cycling in one area does not translate into high overall cycling.
The low rates of cycling are also predicted by our model developed for cities in Central Europe, based on the amount of infrastructure present, although we would have estimated 4% not 2%, which given the many factors and the uniqueness of the city is still quite close.
The unique diamond intersections where cyclists must made several rapid sharp turns were fun in a race course sort of way but struck me as dangerous and inconvenient, due to poor sight lines, tight turning, and unexpected conflict zones, although adaptation may reduce that risk considerably. However it probably further discourages cycling.
Interviewing residents I heard repeatedly that the frequent stopping for red lights creates even more frustration, and leads to dangerous and aggressive behavior. We saw this repeatedly as drivers peeled out with screeching tires after waiting at red lights, even if cross traffic of pedestrians had not yet cleared.
I had to wonder why not turn the diamond intersections into circles, probably removing some or all parking in the process), with many net benefits in noise and air pollution reduction, traffic calming, reduced wear and tear on the entire system (infrastructure and vehicles), and collision reduction, while presumably making it a more free-flow and bicycle-friendly environment.
Observing the use of Bicing bikes, I noted they made up more than 50% of bicycle traffic in some central areas, at some times of the day, but in other areas made up much smaller percentages (and in large areas of the city that are not served, zero). Traveling with a group I saw how local Barcelona residents used the bicycles, in these cases enabling groups to travel together when some didn't have bicycles.
In the end I certainly didn't have time nor resources to conduct a full assessment, and respect the analysis in this article and the city's publications. However I would like to put in some words of consideration in defense of the Bicing system:
1. Cost justification
While the system may cost a tiny bit more than the Metro or bus per trip, this is not a reason in itself to discontinue the service unless the Metro and bus systems should be discontinued as well (which, by the way, would be expected to increase bicycle use a lot, but likewise would increase motor vehicle use – the good news is bicycling has much more room to grow than car use, the bad news is motor scooters are almost as unlimited in their potential to increase, and carry worse emissions and noise pollution than cars for the most part). A bicycle trip has many benefits that a public transit trip does not, it deserves an even higher subsidy if need be. If we develop an ideal for traffic in Barcelona (choose your favorite), surely the total investment in cycling is much lower than it should be.
2. Political avoidance of building bikeways
Given that investment in cycling facilities is too low, the concern that the Bicing system is being used as an excuse for preventing development of a true and quality bikeway network is serious, and something raised other places (I've even heard officials in Montreal voice this regarding the BIXI system, for example).
However, the fact that many times more are invested in Bicing does not have to mean nothing for infrastructure. There should be more for both.
The kind of analysis presented here is a first step to action for an increase of funding for and implementation of infrastructure including secure parking.
But the situation is not so bad: it is very encouraging that based on the official report, infrastructure increased 8.3% 2009-2010, and has steadily increased since the system opened after a long plateau last decade.
Yes this needs to be much faster, but is better than many cities and increasing, and going in the right direction. Also good news, parking has increased a great deal since 2007, suggesting Bicing was related to increased bicycle parking (p. 57). Again too little but in the right direction.
3. Suppression of cycling
First I have to question that Bicing reduced cycling. If you look at the graph of bike trips per day, they nearly doubled when Bicing was introduced in 2007, and have only fallen slightly since then (see p. 55 of the 2010 report).
Discussing with people in Barcelona about the concern that the system led to lower levels of cyclists and is contracting, local residents told me that the surge and contraction of membership had to do more with the promotions and newness at the beginning (many people encouraged to try and interested to try) coupled with the glitches in the system at the beginning (people encountered major system unreliability being unable to obtain a bicycle, and then unable to leave it, so gave up). These aberrations are normal in a new system, the thing to look for is the long-term trend which seems stable with higher ridership since its introduction. In fact the report supports this, particularly looking at the first two years.
Whether there are more negative effects of a bikeshare system on ridership for some people, or on long-term growth potential, is of great interest, but needs more clear evidence.
One bike rental operator told me he thought the system had increased private bicycle ownership and boosted bike shops, by allowing new cyclists to try bicycling and then realize having their own bicycle was better. (At the same time, he was deeply concerned about opening the system to tourists, because many bicycle rental businesses would collapse.)
Regarding the slight decline of bicycle use in the one-year span 2009-2010, this seems troubling but is actually small, and may be a statistical anomaly. There is error in modal split surveys, which appears more exaggerated for small numbers (the same error in walking would not be noticed, like a regressive tax the minority is hit harder). It's even possible the true number increased. Certainly it is possible the Bicing system encouraged some people to give up private bikes, because it was easier to use the bikeshare occasionally for them, but on balance many more people are cycling since its introduction. The problem is this is still far too small for the potential.
It is also heartening that the total trips in Bicing, which should be a very reliable number, have increased by 377,744 2009-2010, although the rounded number for the higher 2010 figure suggests it's approximate with unknown error.
4. Bicycle behavior
I did not see much evidence of bad cycling behavior during my stay, but it was a short stay. I don't assume all non-bike lane trips are on the sidewalk, however; certainly I used the streets often, as in any city, and saw others doing so. (I'm also skeptical of any figure that attempts to know where all cyclists are, it's not an easy task as recent GPS-based studies of just a fraction of cyclists attest.) However, there is a learning curve in any culture adopting cycling, and public support for education of cycling skills as well as sensitivity and awareness from non-cyclists should be added to the imperative goal of increased quantity and quality of infrastructure.
My conclusion: cycling in Barcelona is on the rise. Bicing is not causing harm, it has overall helped. However, it must not become a barrier to major actions to increase cycling.
The Copenhagenize Index recognized this by allowing it to score highly despite having very low cycling overall and a relatively poor network.
Next steps are to consider the relationship of Bicing to bicycling (because scaling cycling begs for scaling Bicing, or changing its use), and to re-envision the relationship of all bicycling to the public transport system, as bike trips can be more direct, reliable and cheaper and will be preferred if people feel safe and accommodated to do so.
A truly bicycle-friendly Barcelona would mean a shift from all other modes: motor vehicles as well as from public transport, and even a decline in walking. For this case, Barcelona must choose to be a bicycle city.
Certainly from a public interest perspective the argument is strong: The money saved on more expensive modes more than justifies the investment in cycling; the cost is less to begin with, even before the tremendous benefits (health benefits, boosts to the local economy, and more, including tourism).
Meanwhile, consider conversion of traffic signals where possible, particularly in the diamond-intersection areas, and installing roundabouts and shared space/slow zones in large areas of the city, hand in hand with new bicycle infrastructure and an array of new restrictions on driving both private cars and motor bikes (motorcycles and motor scooters).
Picture this; if you like it, make it your goal; it can happen very quickly.
A final note: this data is now almost two years old. It would be good to know the latest developments now that the system, and the public, have had more time to adjust. (And speaking of delays, my comment has been delayed first because I wanted to do more research, apologies for the time lag.)
Presentations from Velo-city Global 2012
Dear all,
Thanks to many requests for these presentations I'm posting them online. This will also help assure their availability long-term; I do not know when presentations will be posted on the Velo-city Global website (and the stated plan is to remove them after one year). There were also many problems with the presentations from 2011 not being online.
PRESENTATION ONE: IDAHO LAW. meggs-jason-velo-city-2012-idaho-stops-law-srv2
PRESENTATION TWO: BICY PROJECT. bicy-velo-city-2012-meggs-schweizer-srv2
Please let me know if you have any problems or need any further information. There have been several problems (unusual!) with the PDF version of the Idaho Law presentation posted earlier. This one is slightly updated as well.
I hope to publish an extensive article about the entire experience soon, time permitting. There was much to see and do at Velo-city Global 2012! Many wonderful people and their projects came together to share.
The Idaho Law: allowing safer choice and happier travel
The IDAHO LAW: legendary in U.S. cycling circles. The 1982 "Idaho Law", I.C. §49-720, allows bicyclists to slow and safely choose whether to yield to stop signs and red lights. (Since 2005, cyclists must stop before proceeding straight through a red light, but may still yield on right turns.)
How did just one state achieve such a progressive approach to bicyclists and traffic controls? Great topic, important topic; its importance for active transport is not to be underestimated!
I was involved in a study of the Idaho Stops law at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
This included visiting Idaho, numerous interviews with key stakeholders, a survey, and video data collection, as well as comparing city traffic safety data with other cities.
There was absolutely no indication that the Idaho Law had caused any harm.
The most substantial piece of that study was a comparison with Sacramento, a city which is surprisingly similar in many ways.
Sacramento appeared to be much more dangerous for cyclists than Idaho by all comparisons, with at least 30% (or 60%, depending on definitions of injury) more injuries per bicycle commuter, and regular fatalities each year, whereas Boise had NONE, year after year.
This surprising difference year after year, from such similar cities, certainly dispels any "sky will fall" assumptions about the Idaho Law and lends strength to the supported hypothesis that the Idaho Law actually improves safety for all roadway users, and increases cycling. Other cities were also compared, and like Sacramento, all fared worse than Boise.
In fact, quite a list of apparently attributable benefits for the Idaho Law were found. Increasing cycling, increasing cycling safety, increasing safety for all roadway users, and reducing the risk of injury including repetitive strain injuries, were among the benefits. One of the largest benefits of all is political; across the USA political opposition to bicycling is vehement, even violent in many cases many of you have heard of, in attempting to control and contain cycling for "flouting" the law. But whenever a law has such near universal non-compliance, by everyone from grandmothers to police officers, and especially grandmothers who are police officers, we owe it to all to revisit the law.
The assumption that bicyclists follow all laws intended for motor vehicle users is highly flawed. No "warrants" (e.g., informed criteria) for cyclists to be held to stop signs and signals were developed in that broad sweeping legal measure (adopted by many states 50+ years ago, after the bicycle had been prominent in ground transport for about as many years without such control). Bear in mind that stop signs and signals would not exist as they do today, but for the motor vehicle.
In fact, many stop signs and even many signals are what traffic engineering would call "unwarranted" for motor vehicles; they are used solely for traffic calming. Ironically, this occurs intensively on what many if not most consider the ideal cycling routes, quieter streets parallel to arterials (e.g., bicycle boulevards). Thus to stop cars from using residential cycle routes, we've en masse hurt cycling on those very routes. Adding stop signs can more than double a cyclist's time spent, and more than triple the energy spent. No fun. It discourages cycling. Add to that the evidence that stop signs actually increase injuries, and the call for relaxing stops for cycling seems imperative.
We don't require walkers, runners, push-scooter operators, skateboarders, inline skaters, or electric wheelchair users to stop, yet those modes are as a strong general rule, much less able to avoid collisions…If we don't require those active transport modes to stop, why would we ever require bicyclists to do so?
We don't require walkers, runners, push-scooter operators, skateboarders, inline skaters, or electric wheelchair users to stop, yet those modes are as a strong general rule, much less able to avoid collisions. In general their operation has a longer stopping distance and a larger turning radius, and a reduced ability to see and hear. If we don't require those active transport modes to stop, why would we ever require bicyclists to do so?
A major distinction must be made between choosing when to yield for safety, and taking right of way over all other users. There is no reason to believe that the Idaho Law increases disrespect for pedestrians, which is best addressed by other means than a mismatched stopping law. If anything, proper respect for bicyclists (including proper education and training) will help reduce conflicts and create a friendlier culture of inclusion. The Idaho Law allows prosecution of any cyclist who violates the right of way of not only a pedestrian, but other cyclists and motorists as well.
I'm happy to provide the draft study and a policy document based on the study, and certainly welcome any help in completing and publishing the study. An earlier version of the paper is available here: idaho-law-jasonmeggs-2010version-2.
Perhaps the most informative for a quick look is an even earlier presentation, available here: idaho-presentation.
Presently I have an outstanding request for more data to the Idaho OHS, and a multi-city follow-up survey in the works. Your Agent Meggs has been asked to provide testimony to a number of states and cities considering adoption of their own long overdue version of this important, inexpensive, and broadly beneficial measure. In recent years numerous places in the U.S. have considered, and in some cases even introduced legislation, to adopt an Idaho Law, including Oregon, Arizona, Virginia, California, and Washington, D.C.
An example policy letter to share with decision makers can be found for download here: idaho-letter-jmeggs-20090627. I'm happy to also write a short letter introducing the latest version of my study, such as this one, available for download here. In addition to written testimony, I can be available for in-person oral testimony in support of legislation.
In the meanwhile, you may enjoy this very clear and helpful video from Oregon:
Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.
There's a new legal situation for cyclists in France, with a test rolling out in Paris. Despite a lot of confusion on the topic, Paris militants à vélo, Mieux se Déplacer à Bicyclette (MDB), assure me this article is "not totally false":
and that "this possibility is not only for Parisian cyclists, it is a nationwide law. For instance, in Nantes, the experimentation started one year ago without problem so it as be decided to make more" as discussed here: href="http://www.bicloo.nantesmetropole.fr/Magazine/Actualites/Le-tourne-a-droite-des-velos-generalise
And quite a perspective and discussion on the topic at the emphatically energetic On the Level Blog.
As a result of attending Vel Read more…
A Quick Meal with Meggs
The MeggsReport is cooking up a storm.
We've been encouraged to self-report on personal cooking theory and practice; "not many people cook like you do." Part chemist/alchemist, part traditional foods enthusiast (especially merging Chinese food theory with more universal traditions), this might seem a bit odd to most in the USA.
So as a first glimpse, let's take a quick look at a quick recent meal, noteworthy as it was made while traveling, yet adheres to principles usually used at home.
Watch as Meggs magically transmogrifies available goodies into a pile of tasty sustenance, in short order, each element cooked to perfection yet in the same pot, served hot with not a BTU of energy wasted. Colorful and tasty, prepared with a select combination of health and sustainability guidelines. All with a minimum of clean-up!
Fifteen minutes from first thought to table; Voilà!
The day in question, Meggs was traveling, staying with friends in Philadelphia.
Principles followed:
1) Sourcing. Goal of eating whole foods. Organic/local/free range/live/sprouted/traditional foods. Minimize processing including cooking; cooked (or not) as appropriate for the type of food and the needs of the individual. Sprouted grains possible thanks to specialty breads (e.g., Ezekiel, and other(s)) available in freezers at many stores. (At home, sprouted grains such as brown rice would be used.)
2) Cooking order and cooking intensity. Stalks and dense/root vegetables cut smaller and cooked first and longer, in a minimum of water (so material on bottom boils, material on top steams). Ginger was used for its health benefits and flavor, added first to cook longest, finely chopped. Leaves of greens tossed on top at the end as a secondary lid to absorb heat and retain heat, as the flame was reduced or turned off, so they cooked least; lightly cooked. Egg added for nutrient density and animal proteins and fats, placed directly onto cooking vegetables when almost done. Egg yolk is important to eat raw. Whites one might minimally cook to destroy avidin (that reduces uptake of biotin, a B vitamin) so some would say the ideal is soft poaching, although others say the biotin in egg yolks make up for the avidin, and cooking destroys important complex nutrients. But here a partial cooking: the whites cook from the hot water a bit similar to egg drop soup but no stirring. Stirring destroys complex proteins. The vegetables were cut in the order of cooking, added as they were ready, so cooking/cutting times closely corresponded.
3) Energy savings ("Not a BTU wasted"). Bowl for eating first used as lid, warming it up, so bowl will not sap heat when soup is served (eating hot food is a goal too, and a cold soup is a let-down). Bread thawed/warmed in lid (serving bowl used as lid for pot) while food cooks, and/or placed around edges to steam thaw. (Toasting avoided due to acrylamide and nutrient destruction.) Bread placed at bottom of bowl when serving to ensure not frozen, and also thus made softer and easier to eat by absorbing the liquid. The liquid contains important extracts (e.g., vitamins and minerals) essential not to be wasted. Not to mention, that just in time cutting method.
For additional flavor, spices and garlic can be added as appropriate. Garlic would be added near end to prevent cooking out healing properties. For saltiness and more fermented content, miso can be stirred in after boiling. To minimize disruption to the layered mix, pour off some hot liquid into the hot bowl, smash the miso with a spoon, then add the rest on top. Cayenne increases circulation and aids respiration, and good for certain conditions.
Served in one motion by sliding out of the pan into the hot waiting bowl, preserving the pile; thus the presentation in the photo.
Philosophy stems from numerous sources:
Guidance from Chinese Medicine, particularly Paul Pitchford's book, Healing with Whole Foods, and a nod to emerging trends: certainly the Traditional Foods Movement, public health issues (consideration for those intolerance to gluten and milk; diabetes epidemic; carcinogenicity of pesticides and some packaging and processing; strong association of processed foods with degenerative diseases; etc.); healthy and more sustainable sourcing (pesticide free/Bio/Organic, homegrown or local if possible, etc.). And of course, the Pollan-ization.
"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants." –Michael Pollan, a Berkeley southpaw of note. :p
Not mentioned: the ease of sprouting while on the go, even while backpacking.
Problems, anyone? 🙂
Knowing that vegans may find the Mmm-eggs photo objectionable, apologies; in another tale I might discuss my own history with veganism and vegetarianism. (An interesting broader inquiry, for this Report or another news venue, would be: why so many longtime vegans and vegetarians, including outspoken organizers, in the San Francisco Bay Area/Berkeley (an epicenter) have quietly or not so quietly given up that practice.) Vegetarians as well as vegans may have issues with the Traditional Food movement, and related emerging trends like the Paleolithic Diet.
An excellent resource for vegans and vegetarians which attempts to harmonize veg practices with traditional foods principles is found here.
Surely some will also question raw eggs. The risk of salmonella, while real, I understand is extremely low if organic/pastured eggs are used, and even quite low if the riskiest, factory-farmed-torture-swill eggs are used. Two commercial sources that seem good on why raw eggs are highly beneficial to eat this one and this one.
Thanks! We hope this is helpful. Your Meggsychef hopes to share more on dietary examples and perspectives in the future. Remember, everyone is different, there's loads of info out there, and quite a lot of conflicting advice and opinions. This information is provided here to help you make better choices, not to tell you what to do. More sharing planned for the future on the Meggs Report.
Updated October 11, 2012 due to changing information in the wiggly web world: folic acid reduction from uncooked egg whites no longer appears to be a concern, however now finding that biotin is said to be at least partially cancelled by avidin when whites are not cooked, e.g., here.
"Americans are sicker than ever."
A report from the Emergency Room, with a compassionate and accomplished doctor I've known a long time.
"Americans are really sick. Sicker than ever. And the emergency rooms are really getting hit. Diabetes epidemic, obesity epidemic, the asthma epidemic, congestive heart failure, more and more renal failure from the diabetes, and then the psychiatric stuff. What's really getting bad is depression. With psychotic breaks, they end up in the emergency room too. It's all tied together.
"By law, the ER must treat you before they ask your insurance status. So it's not a bad law; it saves lives. But, it's an unfunded law. And more and more people can't pay. So the insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid are cutting back reimbursement, so we ER docs are working harder and harder for less and less money.
"Nationwide, admissions to emergency rooms are growing at 5% a year. Some hospitals are going out of business, and some are closing their emergency departments. And it's not only that people have no place else to go, it's also because there's no place else that's appropriate for them to go."


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I was on Zocor (simvastatin), made by Merck, for 18 months to lower my cholesterol levels. I would never have taken it had my doctor told me of the side effects.
When I complained to my doctor about these effects, he dismissed them. To my complaint about dry mouth, for example, he said that I did not drink enough water. Nosebleeds, which I'd never had before, brought no comment from him, other than that I should see an ear, nose and throat surgeon to have my nose cauterized.I have a heart condition. A cardiologist helped me to get my blood pressure down, which corrected the extreme breathlessness I had been experiencing. But since starting on Zocor, increased breathlessness practically immobilized me at the least bit of exertion! Even though I stopped taking the drug in August, my severe itching continues.
Recently, I saw an advertisement about a similar cholesterol drug in a magazine. In the fine print, the ad clearly states the side effects that I've suffered.
Every doctor and chemist has a "little black book" listing side effects. Why has my doctor never considered that Zocor could be the cause of my problems? M P E, Hindhead, Surrey.....
As you rightly point out, dry mouth, shortness of breath, blood clotting problems and itching are but a few of the host of side effects with cholesterol lowering drugs, which in some cases also increase the risk of a heart attack. All this for a drug which a recent study demonstrates may not do any long term good. In a multicentre European trial of patients with elevated blood cholesterol given either simvastatin or placebo, the simvastatin group definitely showed a reduction in cholesterol levels a month later. However, four years later the simvastatin group were no better off in terms of arterial disease (The Lancet, 3 September 1994).
As doctors often seem incapable of making simple connections between side effects and the drugs they hand out, your condition presents yet another graphic argument for why patients have to resort to their own detective work before taking a drug.

subset: commoncrawl


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Donald Trump is going to get us in a war, and based on his rhetoric, it's going to be nuclear. Multiple sources confirm that Donald Trump just stated that if North Korean threats continue — as they have for years, with smart leaders downplaying the relatively impotent rage of the rogue nation-state and using diplomacy to de-escalate — they will "be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen."
See below:
BREAKING: Trump: If NKorea escalates nuclear threat, 'they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.'
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 8, 2017
.@POTUS warns North Korea over continued threats, per TV pool: "They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen."
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) August 8, 2017
Trump said that NK threats will be met with "fire and fury like the world has never seen". That sounds like something Kim Jong-Un would say.
— Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) August 8, 2017
— Mark Curtis (@MarkCM07) August 8, 2017
Read more:
- The Real, Damning Reason Trump Opened Fire On Blumenthal Via Twitter (DETAILS)
- The Anne Frank Center Just Nailed Trump To The Wall For His Latest Hitler-Like Moves
- Pat Robertson Is Having A Total Meltdown And It's All Thanks To Rachel Maddow
Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images


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dsIDXpress IDX PluginAdd to List
Get More Visitors & Leads From Your WordPress Website
With dsIDXpress, you can easily add SEO-friendly MLS listings to your WordPress website to attract more visitors.
Use shortcodes, widgets, and custom pages to display powerful MLS search tools that will keep visitors on your website looking at homes for sale.
Lead capture tools, like forms for scheduling showings and saving property searches, will help you turn these visitors into leads. Daily or weekly listing alerts will assist with converting your leads into clients.
Why dsIDXpress is the right IDX solution for your website:
* Detailed, up-to-date listings: Listing details pulled straight from your MLS's IDX feed, plus information about local schools, lists of similar and recently-sold homes, and bird's-eye and street view maps.
* Powerful MLS search widgets: Visitors can easily find MLS listings on your website with powerful map search widgets, slideshows of highlighted properties, and more.
* Lead capture tools: Turn visitors into leads with forms for scheduling showings, website registration, saving searches, and contacting you for more information.
* Search engine friendly: Bring in more visitors from search engines with unique indexable listing pages, Google XML sitemaps, and optimized page titles.
* Install and set up in minutes: Installing and setting up the plugin is fast and simple, regardless of your web development experience.
* Optimized for mobile devices: The plugin's mobile-friendly design ensures smartphone-using visitors will have a good experience on your website.
* Extensively customizable: Easily customize IDX listing details and the styling of MLS search forms and widgets.
* Integrated contact management: A built-in CRM stores, organizes, and tracks your leads and shows their saved searches, favorite listings, and listing search history.
700+ IDX Feeds Across the U.S. and Canada
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See dsIDXpress in Action
Test drive dsIDXpress on your WordPress website today! Get a free trial or call us at 800-491-3608.


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October 2, 2019
Written by: Ivette Rivera
To get to Roberto's house in the community of Mina de Agua, Nicaragua, during the dry season, you have to drive along a long dirt road that leads to a dry, rocky riverbed. During the rainy season, it is practically impossible to get to his house.
Don Roberto's story illustrates the impact the Microcredit Program can have on the lives of rural Nicaraguan families. At 52, Roberto is strong, diligent, innovative, and cheerful. He has worked hard and successfully grown corn, dragon fruit, and raised pigs.
Today, Roberto's family's fields are thriving and green. There are fruit trees and corn growing as far as the eye can see. However, there was a time when his fields were empty. When his children finished high school, they faced the possibility of never going to college because there were no schools nearby and his family had fallen on hard times. His children's futures seemed bleak, but everything changed when staff members from Amigos for Christ visited Mina de Agua to introduce the Microcredit Program, a program that works to bring financial stability and independence to farmers and small business owners. With that kind of stability, families can go from simply surviving to thriving.
"Amigos has been with me in good times and bad times. When I had nothing, they came to my community and offered me the Pig Project. I started raising pigs, selling them, and I began to earn a steady income since I received them."
Shortly after Roberto and his family received their microcredit loan at the end of 2017, their family began to make money, and in a year, they were able to raise and sell 22 pigs, which helped them earn enough to pay for their children to go to college and to begin planting crops.
With his remarkable drive, cheerful optimism, and resilience, we are sure that this family will continue to thrive and enjoy sustainable economic stability.


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Welcome to the Ocean City Cool FREE Classifieds Browse Ads page…
Begin to Browse Ads…
Looking for a job? Looking for an apartment, summer rental, vacation home? Items For Sale or have something to sell? Browse our classifieds. Have a job to advertise? An apartment to rent? Post a free classified ad.
pinball machine bicycles, collectables,golf balls lots of fun thingsDye cast cars total six-$40 ea.or 6/$200, light color wooden desk -$50 ,model car kits total 4 - $20 ea., peppermint barbie $20 in box,
Total views: 60
Total views: 60
|Want to know what's going on, where to stay, what's cool…
Ask the Ocean City Cool Community on Facebook – Click Here!
More Ocean City Cool Stuff
Ocean City Vacation Guides | Ocean City Bookstore | Ocean City FREE Classifieds | Newsletter Signup
Cool Stuff From The Beach For The Beach…
|Ocean City Cool Stuff Store > Everything made from photos from around Ocean City MD > Click Here!


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Cisco released two patches that correct issues in several of its enterprise-class products, including the widely deployed PIX 500 series appliance.
The company said one of the flaws could result in a sustained DoS attack against two of its security products, while the second bug could allow an attacker to take full administrative control of the impacted system.
Furthermore, Cisco said the PIX 500 firewall and its 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) are vulnerable to a crafted IP packet vulnerability.
This flaw occurs during processing of a crafted IP packet, purposely modified to trigger the issue. Processed when the Time-to-Live (TTL) decrement feature is enabled, this vulnerability can cause the affected device to reload its operating environment. Repeated exploitation of the flaw can cause a DoS attack, according to Cisco.
Cisco has posted a workaround that fixes the problem. The company also noted that versions 7.2(3)6 or 8.0(3) and later of the PIX 500 and ASA operating software contain fixes for the bug.
In addition to giving an attacker full administrator rights, the remaining vulnerability, in Cisco's Application Velocity System (AVS), an appliance that improves the performance of HTML- and XML-based applications, can open user-level access to the appliance's underlying operating system.
This vulnerability affects the Cisco AVS 3110, 3120, 3180 and 3180A management station appliances running software versions prior to AVS 5.1.0, according to the company. Cisco said it is offering free upgrade software to fix the vulnerability.
Sun's release of a new JavaSE Runtime Environment impacts users of Windows, Linux and Solaris systems. This release takes the software to Java 6 Update 4.
Windows users can determine what version they have with the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel. It is listed in various forms -- J2SE Runtime Environment, Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment or just Java(TM).
The Java update is available here []. After installing the Java upgrade, Windows users will most likely have multiple versions of Java installed; they should remove the earlier versions after upgrading their system.
See original article on SC Magazine US
Cisco, Sun patch flaws, including 370 bugs in JavaSE
By Jim Carr on Jan 29, 2008 10:43AM
Cisco and Sun Microsystems have released patches - the latter's covering more than 370 bugs in its JavaSE Runtime Environment software - fixing a wide range of vulnerabilities.
Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.


text:
High Holy Days
Join us for services on Erev Rosh Hashanah, on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur, the most important dates on the Jewish calendar. Services are accompanied by our beautiful choir and instrumental soloists. Members of the congregation take part in all aspects of the service for a truly participatory, community experience.
Junior congregation is offered on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur. Child care is also available.
Services are open to all, but pre-registration is required. To register, please contact the main office at 518-272-8872 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
In order to keep members with allergies more comfortable,
please refrain from wearing cologne or perfume to Services.


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So you know that thing that you wanted to get done this year, maybe it was getting fit, finally getting the business side of your school sorted or indeed to get your own English level up to where it "should" be, well you might have started the year with a resolution to get it done.
And I have a feeling maybe the resolution didn't last too long 🙂
And the reason it didn't work?
Because you chose the wrong date to start!!
January 1st sounds great for resolutions, but just think how many people start off and then lose interest after just a few days or weeks.
The reason is that it's such a looonnngg way to the end of the year that you think "meh, I can do it later!"
And then we get to November and it's still not done!
So what's the very best time of year to actually get that thing done?
Well, it's November 23rd!!!
Yep, nearly all the things you want to get achieved in life, whether that's health, finances, family or skills, is all down to habits. And to change habits you need 30 days. ( Well, you could do it in 21 days, but 30 gives you the right amount of extra leeway!)
So if you start today, November 23, and do 30 days you not only finally get that thing done – so you can say "Wow, I really did achieve something amazing this year!" – but you'll also finish on December 22nd, just in time for Christmas so you can chill, relax and enjoy the holidays knowing you really did something incredible with this year.
Christmas is crazy as it is so it's easy to add in a goal to make you feel like you are really achieving something.
And even if you have done a lot already, imagine what you could achieve in a final 30 Day Challenge to finish off the year??
I can certainly help with the getting your school launched, or indeed getting your school full of high paying students, or with improving your own English (if you're advanced or intermediate) and for health and fitness there are lots of great courses out there, or indeed pop down to your gym, just imagine having your dream body and dream finances in place in time for Christmas.
Now wouldn't that be an awesome Christmas present to everyone!!
Good luck!
Be genki,
P.S. Entry to the Advanced English challenge closes at midnight today! ( November 22nd!)


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CO CLARE, Ireland - A cold murder case dating back to 2006 has had a breakthrough.
Garda investigating the murder of 19-year old Aidan Kelly on 10 May 2006 at Blackwater, Ardnacrusha, Co. Clare, have arrested a man in his late 30s.
He was arrested Tuesday morning and is currently detained at Henry Street Garda Station.
Aidan was shot five times in the head and other parts off his body at Blackwater on 10 May 2006. A rifle was recovered at the scene. Aiden is understood to have been lured to a meeting, after his van was stolen some days earlier and was later found torched.
Aiden was living with his girlfriend Nicola Sopp, who was expecting a child 3 weeks after his death, at Moyross in Limerick City.
The man in his 30s arrested on Wednesday is the first person to be arrested as part of the investigation.
Garda investigating the murder are asking anyone who has information, no matter how insignificant they may think it is, to contact Henry Street Garda Station on (061) 212 400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666-111 or any Garda Station.


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This article is part of a Real Money series on 20 companies investors should consider adding to their distressed watch list.
When a company says it is "evaluating a variety of strategic alternatives," investors tend to get nervous. On Friday, shares of Houston-based Ultra Petroleum (UPL) plunged more than 40%, one day after the company reported a fourth-quarter adjusted loss of $0.25 per share and announced that it retained Kirkland & Ellis as a legal advisor to help it manage its debt.
As of the end of the fourth quarter, Ultra Petroleum's debt stood at $3.4 billion, and was downgraded to CCC- by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services earlier this month.
"The rating action reflects our view that Ultra Petroleum's leverage and liquidity continue to deteriorate in light of our recently reduced commodity price deck and our estimate that the company will breach financial covenants on both its unsecured credit facility and senior unsecured notes at the end of the first quarter," Carin Dehne-Kiley of Standard & Poor's said in the statement announcing the downgrade.
Covenants in Ultra Petroleum's revolving credit facility and senior notes bar the company from having a debt/EBITDA ratio that is greater than 3.5x. As of fourth-quarter figures, the leverage ratio stood at 3.4x. Additionally, the company announced that it borrowed an additional $266 million under its credit facility, which was "substantially all" of the undrawn amount under the agreement.
Shares of Ultra Petroleum are now trading below $0.25.
For more on Real Money's 20 distressed companies to watch:
Stressed Out: Introducing Real Money's Distressed Index
Stressed Out: Sprint Plans to Dash From High-Yield Mess With Faster Downloads


text: Stocks of our paperback booklet "Starting in Steam" have dwindled to the last dozen. After three printings, this booklet will soon be available only in digital form. If you have put off buying a hard copy printing of this handy introduction into live steam, then don't delay! Once they are gone, that will be it.


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"Police are looking for a 19-year-old pregnant woman who has been missing since Tuesday from Little Village on the Southwest Side.
Marlen Ochoa-Uriostegui, was last seen in the 2000 block of South California Avenue, according to a high-risk missing person alert from Chicago police." According to the Chicago Suntimes Media Wire & Fox News Chicago
Full Story Here:http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/pregnant-woman-missing-from-little-village?fbclid=IwAR364DKZSi1y1TT9r-fD6AWMvQQXD6kwRw2H6zLdN1DDPbhSkP5ig-tNf-E


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The digital world is now more hyped-up, dynamic and influential than ever before. It is more focused and competitive as well. With the end goal for you to achieve high search engine rankings and to maintain them, you have to look after the latest SEO updates 2017 using Google Keyword Planner . This is the initial move towards staying aware of the latest SEO trends and remaining focused on google ranking.
The google updates are directly proportional to Google's algorithm modifications that search engines receive. Since Google is the pioneer in the search marketing, new changes in Google Algorithm Update 2017 are vital to enhance optimization of your website. Website admins need to have good understanding of all the latest algorithm updates ,Google Keyword Planner as only this can let them know latest SEO updates 2017 essential to optimize websites and google ranking ensure better DA and high rankings in SERPs.
Largely, Google is centered around enhancing its web search administrations for online users, and by keeping a track of changes in Google's Algorithm updates, Google Keyword Planner marketers can increase google ranking of their sites. Google has a long history of famous search algorithm updates that channelize ranking mechanism of SERPs using Google Keyword Planner .
Google Link Quality Update - Fred
First reported by SERoundtable, Google Keyword Planner the initial speculation was that the developing update was related to link quality as black hat SEO forums had shown the most chatter.
As of the 7th our google ranking Risk Index on desktop had not shown any normal rank fluctuations. However, our index monitoring google ranking on mobile showed initial signs of an update, Google Keyword Planner displaying moderate google ranking fluctuations. On March 9th the Rank Risk Index on desktop showed a significant spike in rank movement as indicated by a risk level of 80. Similarly, our mobile index spiked to a risk level of 74.
To find latest Google SEO updates, Google Keyword Planner marketers need to check latest updates
Google Updates and Algorithm updates in 2017
1.) Google Hummingbird Update
Google Hummingbird Update is Google's new search algorithm that plays a significant role in deciding google ranking of websites. It is made up of 200+ factors that can affect search results and google ranking. The main changes made in Humming bird were capability to have on mobile marketing, Google Keyword Planner which is not surprising at all given the explosion of the smart phones in recent years. The name 'Hummingbird' comes from its ability of being "precise and fast" Google Keyword Planner and it is mainly designed to better focus on meaning of a phrase or keyword rather than individual keywords.
SEO new updates related to Hummingbird
Application of meaning technology to billions of pages from across the web
Use of Knowledge Graph facts to ensure better search results
Easy recognition of Keyword stuffing
Effectiveness of Long-tail keywords
Google Keyword Planner is one of the useful prompt of google ranking. Now find the change in siteseostatus. Siteseostatus provides latest and updated tools which will very helpful.
Register Now:
Articlesnow4u.com cannot show any publisher Adsense adverts at the moment, we have decided to create a clone site to give our publishers the opportunity to use Adsense with their articles to create further revenue.
The clone site is Articlesnow4u-Adsense.com your user details and articles have been copied from articlesnow4u.com as of Mon 28th May 16:00 GMT, please can all users check their login details and make slight changes to their articles please.


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Aluminum Universal Heat Exchanger - Chinaprice: 50.00 Dollar US$
Heat exchanger, due to the oil and water two kinds of medium in the plate-fin heat exchanger independent circulation channel in the upstream, downstream and efficient heat transfer
Advantage: the flow direction of medium a variety of options, high in thermal efficiency, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, high shock resistance.
Areas of application: chemical industry, engine, wind power, engineering machinery
Company Contact:
- Posted By: ZhenHua HeatExchanger Equipment Co.,Ltd
- Phone: +86-18568254073
- Address: Industrial Road 38,Zhaipo, Xinxiang, Henan, China
- Email:
- Website: http://www.zhcooler.com
Published date: September 1, 2016 -
- Business Description: ZhenHua HeatExchanger Equipment Co., Ltd is a manufacturer from China, we have been engaged in designing and producing heat exchanger for 18 years, we have advanced equipment, professional design team, good after sell service.Also we have enough experience in it, our mainly products is oil cooler, intercooler, radiator, heat exchanger core.
Related listings
Heat Exchanger Core For Construction Machinery Cooling SystemHeavy construction machinery - ZhenHua HeatExchanger Equipment Co.,Ltd - China - September 1, 2016 - 30.00 Dollar US$
our heat exchanger cores need to pass before they go out 63 processing procedures, 25 times test, 54 accreditation, packaged final, ensures the cleanness dry degree of each fin, ensure the accuracy and rigor of each weld, ensure that every product ef...
Heat Exchanger For Mixer TruckHeavy construction machinery - ZhenHua HeatExchanger Equipment Co.,Ltd - China - September 1, 2016 - 80.00 Dollar US$
Hydraulic oil air-cooled heat exchanger is created independently under our brand, the product is suitable for any brand with any type of concrete mixer truck Advantages: high efficiency of hydraulic transmission, effective thermal efficiency change, ...
Constructions Machinery Spare Parts Composite Heat ExchangerHeavy construction machinery - ZhenHua HeatExchanger Equipment Co.,Ltd - China - September 1, 2016 - 50.00 Dollar US$
Composite heat exchanger is the result of a variety of medium heat exchanger in combination with structure, the way of its compact, convenient mobile installation, modular design more fully application of a variety of fields Structure: a composite he...
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text:
iMac Pro review
- Most powerful Mac ever
- Excellent design
- Keeps cool
- New Space Gray color is ace
- Very expensive
- Non user-upgradable
- Magic Mouse 2 still frustrating
The iMac Pro, as the name suggests, is a powerful, sleek and stylish all-in-one computer with the familiar form factor of Apple's iMac range, but with the power, features and, yes, price that is squarely aimed at professional users.
When Apple unveiled the iMac Pro at its WWDC event last year, it touted the computer as 'the most powerful Mac ever made,' and it is clear that the Cupertino company has succeeded. This is an incredibly powerful machine that's been built for professional use.
And, it's not about power for power's sake – this is a carefully-built machine whose powerful components can help speed up the workflow for professionals. Sure, the price tag is steep, but if it can help reduce the time you work on projects, the time you save that can be put into working with clients or taking on further projects could be invaluable.
Here is the Apple iMac Pro configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 3.0GHz Intel Xeon W (deca-core, 14MB cache, up to 4.5GHz)
Graphics: AMD Vega 64 (16GB HBM2 RAM)
RAM: 128GB DDR4 (2,666MHz)
Screen: 27-inch 5K (5,120 x 2,880) Retina display (P3 wide color)
Storage: 2TB SSD
Ports: 4 x USB-C (Thunderbolt 3), 4 x USB 3.0, SDXC card reader, 10Gb Ethernet, 3.5mm audio jack
Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2
Operating system: macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Camera: FaceTime HD (1080p) webcam
Weight: 21.5 pounds (9.7kg)
Size: 25.6 x 8 x 20.3 inches (65 x 20.3 x 51.6cm; W x D x H)
Price and availability
Despite it looking a lot like a standard iMac, the iMac Pro is aimed squarely at professionals, with workstation-level computing power that will be easily more than what most people need for day-to-day computing, and with a price tag to match. However, if you are a professional photographer, game designer or architect, then you'll probably be looking at the iMac Pro as an investment.
So, how much is the iMac Pro going for? As you'd expect from a computer that's aimed at professionals, the iMac Pro comes in a number of configurations, so there is scope for configuring the iMac Pro to suit the needs of you and your business, as well as your budget.
The baseline model of the iMac Pro costs $4,999 (£4,899, AU$7,299). For this price, you get a 27-inch 5K Retina display, an 8-core Intel Xeon W processor, AMD Radeon Vega 56 (8GB) graphics, 32GB of error-correcting code (ECC) memory and a 1TB solid-state drive (SSD).
Next, you can buy an iMac with a 10-core Xeon W CPU, 16GB of high-bandwidth memory (HBM2) AMD Vega 64 graphics and a whopping 2TB SSD. That model costs $7,999 (£7,599 and AU$9,539).
The top-end iMac Pro comes with an 18-core Intel Xeon W processor, 128GB of RAM, 4TB of SSD storage and the same AMD Radeon Vega 64 GPU for $13,199 (£12,279, AU$20,419). Of course, that's a huge investment, but you're getting a heck of a lot of power as well.
You can also tweak each of these configurations further, for example changing the SSD size, adjusting the amount of RAM or going for a 14-core Intel Xeon processor, which will alter the final price of the machine.
These specifications and the price tags involved alone will let you know if the iMac Pro is for you. If spending almost as much as a new car on an iMac seems extravagant, then this is not the machine for you. If you rarely use graphic-intensive programs, and you wouldn't know what to do with a graphics card with 8GB – let alone 16GB – of HBM2 memory, then, again, the iMac Pro isn't for you.
However, if you're heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, love the all-in-one designs of previous iMacs, and need a workstation that will handle intensive workloads, then the iMac Pro could be your ideal machine, and the undeniably high cost could justify itself. If you find yourself hanging around while your current machine compiles code, or renders 3D images, then spending that sort of money to drastically cut down (or even eliminate) that time could be a no-brainer.
Considering the boosted specifications of the iMac Pro compared to the standard iMac, Apple has done an excellent job of maintaining the iconic look of the all-in-one machine. All those impressive components are located behind the 27-inch screen, leading to an attractive, minimalist machine that looks great in any office or studio.
The fact that Apple has kept the body as thin as it has is also testament to the effort, and careful design considerations, involved in the creation of the iMac Pro. At its edges, the iMac Pro is an impressive 5mm (0.2 inches) thick, meaning it won't hog too much space on your desk. It also weighs just 9.7kg (21.38 pounds), which means it's easy enough to move from desk to desk if needs be.
Having such powerful components, which require more power and therefore produce more heat, means that a capable cooling system is required – especially considering the slimline design of the iMac Pro. Thankfully, Apple's engineers have created an impressive cooling system for the iMac Pro, with dual fans that help circulate cool air over components, while expelling hot air.
In our tests, this did an excellent job of keeping the iMac Pro cool while under a lot of pressure: editing 4K HDR content in Final Cut Pro X, a pretty strenuous task, while also reducing the noise of the fans. Sure, it emits heat while being used, but that's the point of the cooling system, and we are impressed with how quiet it is. With an all-in-one machine that sits in front of you on your desk, you don't want any distracting fan noises while you work, and the iMac Pro does an excellent job of mitigating that.
According to Apple, the cooling solution, which includes a high-capacity heat sink and extra venting on the back of the device, allows for almost 75% more airflow and an 80% increase in system thermal capacity. All the while, the iMac Pro uses 67% more power than a 27-inch iMac.
So, if you're a fan of the iconic look of previous iMacs, but want a device that offers some serious hardware for professional use, then you're going to be very pleased with the iMac Pro. One particularly noticeable difference with the iMac Pro's design, compared to regular iMacs, is that it comes in a new color scheme: Space Gray.
As you'd expect from an Apple product, the Spay Gray iMac is gorgeous to look at, and the included Magic Mouse 2, Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2 also come in the new color, looking just as fantastic.
Of course, as nice as the body and peripherals look, the most important aspect, especially if you're a professional photographer, video or image editor, is the screen. The 27-inch 5K screen is described by Apple as it's 'best ever,' with 500 nits of brightness, an increase of 43% over the screen brightness of previous iMacs. The 5,120 x 2,880-pixel resolution is just as impressive here as it is on high-end iMacs, which also feature this resolution, and the boost over 4K resolution (3,840 x 2,160) means video editors can work on 4K video at full resolution, while also having room on screen for their editing tools.
It's little touches like this that make the iMac Pro such a compelling choice for professionals, and help speed up your workflow by eliminating the need to enter and exit full-screen mode if you're on a 4K – or lower – monitor.
Because the iMac Pro is designed for professionals, color reproduction has to be as accurate as possible. This is essential for photographers, graphics artists and video editors, amongst others. The screen supports the P3 wide-gamut color space, an RGB color space that is widely used in digital movie production. If you work with digital film, then this support will be hugely welcome, though not too surprising. Apple iMacs have supported it since 2015, as does the iMac's competitor: the Surface Studio all-in-one by Microsoft.
While P3 is wider than sRGB, it's not quite as wide as Adobe RGB. So, if you're relying on Adobe RGB – for example, if you work in printing and publishing – then you may be disappointed with the lack of Adobe RGB support here. For many people, however, the P3 color space will be perfectly fine and a big improvement over sRGB.
On the bezel above the top of the screen resides the FaceTime camera, like with other iMacs, but there are a few major improvements here. For a start, it can record in 1080p resolution, whereas previous FaceTime cameras on iMacs were 720p.
The boost in resolution is immediately apparent when using the iMac Pro for video calls. So, for client meetings, or chatting to work colleagues, this increase in video quality is greatly appreciated.
The webcam also features four microphones, compared to a single one on the 5K iMac. This array of microphones also helps eliminate background noise and, as they are placed at the top of the screen (rather than at the bottom with previous iMacs), it does an excellent job of noise cancelling. Of course, if you work in very noisy environments, you'll still want to use a headset for the best possible sound quality, but these improvements are very welcome.
While Apple has caught flack for limiting the ports in its professional-oriented MacBook Pro, the iMac Pro suffers no such problems, with a decent array of ports that will allow you to hook up many peripherals to the device.
At the base of the back of the iMac Pro, you get a 3.5mm headphone jack, SDXC card slot, four full-size USB 3.0 ports, four Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports and a 10Gb Ethernet, which offers incredible network speeds. The four USB 3.0 ports are welcome for older, legacy, peripherals and devices, while the Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports support Thunderbolt devices with up to 40Gbps data transfers, and USB 3.1 devices.
The Thunderbolt 3 ports can also be used to connect extra displays, such as two 5K external displays at 60Hz, or four 4K UHD displays at 60Hz. Basically, you're pretty much set for ports, and we're glad to see that Apple hasn't skimped here.
However, while the slimline all-in-one design certainly looks impressive, it does mean that this is a workstation you won't be able to easily open up, tinker with and upgrade components yourself. This may not be an issue for many people; however, if you want an easily-upgradable device for future-proofing, then this won't be a device for you.
Overall, the design of the iMac Pro is everything you'd expect from Apple: gorgeously made, with some genuinely innovative features and excellent professional-focused details that go some way to justifying the steep price tag.
Magic peripherals
The iMac Pro comes with the Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad, Magic Mouse 2 and, optionally, the Magic Trackpad 2 – all of which come in the new (to the iMac range) Space Gray color. Apart from the new color, these peripherals should be pretty familiar.
We're glad to get the Magic Keyboard version with a numeric keypad, as that's definitely a convenient addition for quickly writing up sums. While we wouldn't describe the typing experience on the keyboard as 'magic', despite its thin keys and shallow travel, it's comfortable enough to type on. However, if you're planning on doing a lot of writing, then you may find a more tactile keyboard is more comfortable.
In our view, the Magic Mouse 2 is much more successful. While the design hasn't changed (apart from the color) since its debut in 2015, many would argue that if it's not broken, don't fix it.
The mouse feels smooth and responsive in use, and handles well on a variety of surfaces. If you're used to using Macs, then you'll feel right at home, though again, for some tasks you'll probably find it better to plug in a specialized pointing device.
There is something we do still think is broken with the Magic Mouse 2, and which we'd love Apple to fix: the fact that to charge it, you need to plug the Lightning cable into the bottom of the mouse.
Not only is this a rather inelegant way to charge, it also means you can't use the Magic Mouse 2 while recharging its battery, a baffling design decision that we're frustrated with Apple for failing to rectify.
Finally, the Magic Trackpad 2 is a handy addition with an edge-to-edge surface that allows you to control the iMac Pro in a similar fashion to a MacBook. Used alongside the mouse and keyboard, it's quite a nice alternative method for scrolling through files and websites, and zooming in and out of photos (amongst other uses).
The lack of change with these peripherals will please anyone who's a fan of them, and annoy anyone who doesn't like them, and was hoping for something a bit more special for the iMac Pro. The new color makes them look fantastic, it has to be said, and the Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 paired with the iMac Pro as soon as they were switched on.
Strangely, the Magic Trackpad 2 didn't pair automatically – we had to connect it to the iMac Pro via the included Lightning cable (which comes in black) before we could use it with the iMac Pro wirelessly.
via Matt Hanson at techradar


text:
Introduction: Flower Vase
material required :
1 tape
2 scissor
3 glue
4 news paper
5 tissue
6 card board
7 empty pen
8 paint
Step 1:
insert a flower into the pen and tape it.
Step 2:
take newspaper and roll them and tape it .
tape it with pen [as shown in the pic]
Step 3: Step 3
make a ring out of news paper and tape ita
cut out a sq piece of card board
and tape the ring to the pen
and glue the card board to the pen
Step 4: Setp 4
make a solution of glue and water
cut out strips of tissue
apply the solution to pen and stick the tissue
same way cover it fully
Step 5: Step 5
let it dry
paint it as you like
thank you
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12 468
hahahaha insanely simple but beautiful


text:
WAYNE, Okla. - Most mail carriers may run away from barking dogs - but one woman in Wayne runs toward them.
It all started two years ago with a puppy dumped out on country roads.
Tammey Little scooped him up, took him home, named him Ben, and then realized that she had a new calling.
Tammey decided to turn her horse barn into a dog rescue called Goin' to the Dogs, and says she has since adopted out about 300 dogs that she has either found on her route, or that she has rescued from euthanasia at shelters.
She spends all of her own money feeding them, and also has the dogs spayed or neutered.
All she asks in return is a $75 adoption fee to help offset the cost of the dog's surgery.
Her generosity is the reason Peggy Underwood nominated Tammey for a Pay It 4Ward award from First Fidelity Bank.
"She's one in a million," Peggy said. "She spends her own money on all these dogs and she's got the biggest heart I've ever seen to try to save these animals."
"Thank you so much!" Tammey said. "It's in my blood now and I love it, I love dogs, and I feel like it's my calling."
Tammey keeps the dogs that are not adoptable for health or aggression reasons as her own pets.
"I've got a lot of sweethearts here," Tammey said. "I try to give them love they have never had."
The dogs have large pens and get lots of exercise time in a large field every day.
Tammey is a mail carrier who doesn't just deliver mail, but the gift of a forever home to the animals she rescues.
"I feel like I'm doing God's work."
If you would like to adopt from Goin' to the Dogs, click this link to visit Tammey's Facebook page.
First Fidelity Bank is a sponsor of Pay It 4Ward.