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After the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, where the US was 1-3(One win against Russia, one really gutsy loss to Ireland on the 10th anniversary of 9/11), Eddie O'Sullivan stepped down as the head coach of the USA Eagles. USA Rugby felt that the time was right to hire and American-born head coach, and they felt that they had the right man in choosing Mike Tolkin.
The June Tests were a chance for Tolkin to try a new system and bring out some new faces to compliment some of the veteran USA Eagles like Mike MacDonald, Chris Wyles, Paul Emmerick and Captain Todd Clever.
|Mike MacDonald and Todd Clever after USA-Italy at RWC 2011 in Nelson, NZ
The First USA Eagles game was a very competitive 28-25 loss to Canada- the Auld Enemy- in Kingston, Ontario-The Canadians have held the edge over the USA in rugby for quite some time, but in the last 4 years, the Yanks do seem to be finally closing the gap on our neighbors to the north.
The second game against Georgia showed that the 25 points scored against the Canucks was no fluke.
One of the criticisms leveled against O'Sullivan was that the US played it pretty close to the vest as far as the style of play. (Read: Boring) It's understandable that the more risks you take, that the more you can get punished for errors. But if USA Rugby wants to expand coverage and appeal of the sport, the time has come to open up the game and let the boys play a bit. Particularly now that NBC/Universal Sports has been telecasting USA Eagle games here in the USA.
Against the very big and physical Georgians, who have an awful lot of their top players plying their physical profession in the French Top 14, Tolkin and his troops gave a large and vocal crowd in Glendale Colorado a lot to holler about in a nice offensive display in a 36-20 win.
For the third game against Italy, the Eagles would have to go from the high altitude and low humidity of Colorado to the low altitude, heat and humidity in Houston. The memory of Italy's 27-10 win in Nelson during the World Cup had to be fresh in the minds of a lot of the players-particularly those playing in the front row, who were going to have a tough day at the office against Martin Castrogiovanni and his front row mates. In Nelson, they have the Eagles fits in every scrum.
For Saturday's game at the new BBVA Compass Stadium, the Eagles and Italy were not going to get any break from mother nature: 92 sticky degrees at kickoff in front of 17,214 intrepid souls who braved the heat to break a record for a USA Eagles home crowd.(Not exactly feeling up Twickenham, but not bad progress, either)
Playing Italy was going to be a challenge, but the US did not help themselves by gifting the Italians an early try thanks to a poor line out on their 5 meter line, that did not come close to hitting it's target. Carlo Festuccia, the Italian hooker, was the recipient of the gift, fell on the ball and gave the Italians an early lead. (The line out proved a problem for the US most of the first half)
In the first half, the US showed that they could move the ball on the Italians and actually do well at the
breakdown against them. Paul Emmerick would cap off some nice work by fly half Roland Suniula and touch down for the Yanks. Fullback Chris Wyles added a conversion and a Penalty, and the US was creeping back into the game. Later in the first half, just when the US was looking good and the Texas crowd was finding its voice, the Italians created a score off their vaunted scrum; The formidable push crumpled the US scrum, and the Italian scrum half Edoardo Gori left the US in his dust. 20-10 at halftime.
Any thoughts of a US fightback in the second half were dashed to smithereens when Andrew Suniula laid out Bocchino on a late, dangerous hit that had him on the turf for several minutes. He was shown the red card by French Referee Jerome Garces. The US showed a lot of heart playing Italy tough a man down. A very difficult job was made impossible by Paul Emmerick also picking up a red card for dangerous tackle, meaning the US would finish with 13 men on the field.
The second half featured some really heavy hitting from both sides. Play was halted frequently as trainers worked on banged-up and cramping players. I was really impressed by the take-no-prisoners approach of Luke Hume, and Todd Clever embodied the spirit of a Captain by running hard, tacking hard and just being a general pain in the ass to the Italians.The long-maned Captain is a very worthy public face for the sport of rugby in the USA. Between the heavy hitting and humidity, the game was not a free-flowing spectacle in the second half. While playing two men down for so long of the second half, it was a moral victory for the US that Italy only scored 10 points in the second half.
So what to make of the 1-2 record if you are a USA Rugby fan? I saw real progress compared to what I saw in New Zealand. They were certainly a much more entertaining side to watch. I think it is still going to take American players getting picked up by European and SANZAR clubs to help us develop a higher level of professionalism and skill for American players. If it can happen in soccer(look at Clint Dempsey), it can happen with American Rugby Players. Todd Clever has already played in the Super 14, and Wyles and MacDonald have had good careers in England-but we need high school and college aged players getting that time learning the game at a higher level away from the US.
As an eternal optimist, I like to think the glass is looking half full for USA Rugby under Mike Tolkins watch.


text: Dr Goss's premise is that our current education system in Australia is currently not fit for purpose, given the complex challenges it faces: to improve learning outcomes in core academic areas; to better prepare young people for adult life; and to do so in a way that is equitable. He explains why and how we should move to an adaptive education system that would be neither top-down nor bottom-up; one which would balance local decision making with top-down guidance and resource allocation. He discusses how the transformed system would be designed to learn from the best of what works today, and to enable the changes needed for tomorrow.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Kitchen hours
Brunch menu
Mon to Fri: 8am to 12.00pm
Sat to Sun: 9am to 12:30pm
Main menu
Mon to Fri: 12pm to 9:30pm
Sat 12:30pm to 9:30pm
Sun: 12:30pm to 9:30pm
Supper menu
Tue to Sat: 9:30pm to 10:30pm.
Opening hours
Mon to Wed: 8am to 11pm
Thu to Fri: 8am to 12am
Sat: 9am to 12am
Sun: 9am to 10:30pm
21 High St, Harborne,
Birmingham. B17 9NT
0121 427 3678
Plough Harborne
If you are a supplier and you want to send
us details of your products please do so by
emailing email@example.com


text:
City of Palm DesertHome Menu
Palm Desert Meetings
Tom Dreesen
- Date: 12/09/2017 8:00 PM
- Location: McCallum Theatre
73000 Fred Waring Dr.
Palm Desert, California 92260
Return to full list >>
Frank Sinatra's opening act for 14 years, acclaimed comedian Tom Dreesen delivers a superb show sharing his unforgettable personal stories and keen insights from working closely with this entertainment legend. Taking audiences to Sinatra's last performance and his last days on Earth, Dreesen's heartwarming and witty delivery will move and delight. With over 500 appearances on national television, including more than 60 on "The Tonight Show," Dreesen has garnered rave reviews for his stand-up nationwide. "One of America's favorite stand-up comedians." — L.A. Times


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At a press conference in Veterans Stadium about 10 days ago, Philadelphia Eagles Coach Buddy Ryan was asked the importance of the upcoming college draft, his first as a head coach. "It probably means the difference between my being here with you 3 or 4 years and 7 or 8 years," he said. "It's very important."
Based on the results, initially at any rate, Ryan appears set for the long term. Maybe you don't approve of his methods and maybe you (and thousands more) were insulted by his predraft smokescreen Monday night, but you've surely got to admire his guts. He plays to win.


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Who am I Really.
by, 21-Sep-2013 at 22:19 (694 Views)
I do not mean who am I by why of personality, I know who that person is.
But who am I biologically.
You would think that every one would know this, we all have a biological mother and father.
Now I am sure who my birth mother is. But I don't think I or any one else has ever been told the truth of who my birth father is. I have been told all my life that it was on of my uncles. There were 16 kids in my moms family. The youngest only lived a few months. There were four boys the rest were girls.
Now the Uncle I have been told in the birth father was in the Army at the time. I do know that in 1951 he went to Korea. The Korean war was going on at the time.
Knowing my four Uncles I don't think any one of them would have gone to bed with one of their sisters.
I think my birth mother blamed my Uncle hoping he would not come back for the war. This may be bad of me thinking this but I have felt this way for a long time.
I have a gut feeling for most of my life that my birth mother got pregnant by some other boy and has said it was my uncle to protect herself or some one else. I do know that she was put in a home for pregnant girls at the time. A nice place to start ones life in, one of those places.
Now because I was adopted at birth my birth certificate was delayed. There is no other birth certificate.
Sorry I do this to myself every time some in my moms family dies, I feel that they are taking a secret with them . There is only one person who really knows and I have not talked to her in 13
years. That would be my birth mother and the last ime I talked to her and ask, she would not look me in the eye.


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Cardiology Research and Practice
Volume 2011, Article ID 313948, 7 pages
Modelling the Role of Dietary Habits and Eating Behaviours on the Development of Acute Coronary Syndrome or Stroke: Aims, Design, and Validation Properties of a Case-Control Study
1School of Medicine, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
2Department of Nutrition Science and Dietetics, Harokopio University, 17671 Athens, Greece
Received 2 August 2010; Accepted 25 August 2010
Academic Editor: Christina Chrysohoou
Copyright © 2011 Christina-Maria Kastorini et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
In this paper the methodology and procedures of a case-control study that will be developed for assessing the role of dietary habits and eating behaviours on the development of acute coronary syndrome and stroke is presented. Based on statistical power calculations, 1000 participants will be enrolled; of them, 250 will be consecutive patients with a first acute coronary event, 250 consecutive patients with a first ischaemic stroke, and 500 population-based healthy subjects (controls), age and sex matched to the cases. Socio-demographic, clinical, dietary, psychological, and other lifestyle characteristics will be measured. Dietary habits and eating behaviours will be evaluated with a special questionnaire that has been developed for the study.


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Updated | 4:27 p.m.
Original post | 9:44 a.m.
Commissioners from two Broward cities are facing off in a political contest that's likely to end up with one going to Tallahassee and the other out of office.
Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Bobby DuBose entered the race for the Democratic nomination for Florida House of Representatives District 94 on Monday, joining Lauderdale Lakes Commissioner Levoyd L. Williams, who's been seeking the nomination since July.
The 94th District includes parts of Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, Oakland Park, Plantation and Wilton Manors.
Besides geography, there's a generational difference to the contest between DuBose, 42, and Williams, 66.
Otherwise, there are many similarities. DuBose is a lifelong resident of Broward; Williams has lived in South Florida for more than four decades. Both are lifelong Democrats. Top issues for both are education and job creation.
And, so far at least, there's no negativity. "Bobby's a good friend of mine. He's a good man," Williams said. "I think it's going to be a very good race."
DuBose declined to discuss his relationship with Williams. The contest "will definitely push us to be out and deliver the message, and people will judge us based on our record."
Each said he could do well as a Democrat in state House, where the Republican majority relegates most Democrats to second-class status.
"I've learned to work with Republicans, Democrats and independents, and we've been able to mobilize on central issues that affect us," DuBose said.
Williams acknowledged a freshman Democrat won't have an easy time in Tallahassee. "I'm not going up there with an illusion that I can make wholesale changes," he said. "But I do know all my life I have been able to work with people to get things done."
DuBose, an independent insurance adjuster, has been elected to the Fort Lauderdale commission twice.
His current term expires early in 2015, and under state law he'll have to submit an irrevocable resignation that would go into effect when the new state representative takes office. If he loses the primary, he could run to regain his commission seat next year.
Williams is retired from management positions in the telecommunications industry and now works about three days a week as a substitute teacher. He's been elected to the Lauderdale Lakes commission four times. His only losing election was a 2008 race for mayor. His current term expires in November 2014, and voters will fill the open seat in that election.
Williams estimated a winning primary campaign would cost from $60,000 to $100,000. Campaign reports show he raised $10,925 by Sept. 30. He said he hasn't been pushing hard to raise money, but now that DuBose has jumped in the race, he'll step up his fundraising.
DuBose declined to say what he expected to raise and spend. He said he'd run a grass roots campaign that isn't expensive. "I don't want to put a number out there," he said.
The district is so overwhelmingly Democratic that the winner of the August 2014 primary is virtually certain of becoming the next state representative, to succeed Perry Thurston, who can't run again because of term limits. Democrats make up 68 percent of the registered voters, Republicans 13 percent, and independent/no party/third party voters are 19 percent.
Two other candidates have also filed paperwork indicating their intention to run. Neither could be reached for comment Monday.
One is Jimmy B. Witherspoon of Fort Lauderdale, who has raised $534. In 2008, he announced his candidacy for Fort Lauderdale City Commission, running under the name Jimmy "O' Glory" Witherspoon, but dropped his bid and endorsed DuBose.
The other is Eric Alexander Fowler III of Lauderhill, who has raised $1,516. Voter registration records at the Supervisor of Elections Office show he lives outside the 94th District, in Oakland Park. His voicemail ends with this message: "Once again this is Eric Alexander Fowler the 3rd, and always remember: together we can change anything."
Original post: Fort Lauderdale commissioner wants to go to TallahasseeFort Lauderdale City Commissioner Bobby DuBose said Monday he wants to give up his city position and seek a seat in the Florida House of Representatives.
He filed paperwork to run for an open seat in the House. In a statement, he said he would use his city Hall experience to "improve the quality of life for ... District 94 and the citizens of Florida."
The 94th District includes parts of Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, Oakland Park, Plantation and Wilton Manors.
DuBose was elected to the City Commission in 2009. He won re-election automatically in 2012 when no candidate stepped forward to run against him.
DuBose's statement included words of praise from Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler and House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, who currently represents the district. Thurston can't run for re-election because of term limits.
Despite the praise from Democratic leaders like Seiler and Thurston, DuBose faces a crowded field in the race for the Democratic nomination in the 94th District.
Already running are: Eric Alexander Fowler III, whose campaign lists a Fort Lauderdale Post Office Box as an address; Levoyd L. Williams of Lauderhill; and Jimmy B. Witherspoon of Fort Lauderdale.


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I had marijuana withdrawal symptoms at birth. They had to wean me off with Cheeto's, Fire flavored I believe.
Originally Posted by ClubDirt: planned parenthood is pro choice. we are pro abortion. the link didn't mention crime, but to make the correlation between unwanted babies, drug dependent babies and shitty parents and crime, you may have to exercise in a little something some of us call, independent thought. i'm not sure you're going to find a link to help you with that.
I was thinking about this the other day. When you see people that are entirely dependent on the state, often times they have 3+ kids. If you are that poor there should be a strict 2 child policy, maybe even a 1 child. What is so wrong with this idea? Why do people have the right to burdern society with their reckless behavior?
This isn't the 1800's any longer. Social responsiblity is demanded in this day and age.
Here's the thing:
a right winger opposed to abortion is often also opposed to the following:
-additional funding for welfare
-additional funding for state-run orphanage/adoption programs
-additional educational funding for afterschool programs
-additional funding for childcare programs
-additional funding for health care programs
statistically (because daroads comment on the racial disparity in abortions is correct) children whose parent would have been more likely to seek an abortion while disproportionally require the above.
What becomes the solution? It cannot be the old adage of 'don't get pregnant.' In real life, Superman cannot spin around the Earth and turn back time.
These are facts that I'm sure none of us like. But they're facts, however uncomfortable.
Why not just change it to those in the bottom 1/3rd of income in the country?
Want to take a guess as to how many non-sterilized people would be left?
Well, welfare is primarly funded by the states and the states have a lot of say in the other programs you mention since they are state run.
So how about this, why don't we try to make abortion rare, and if you have a baby you do your best to raise it on your own with family or charity support?
Originally Posted by ClubDirt: rick, don't fall into the trap of completely ignoring the women's right to choose aspect of the debate. you're better than santorum. 14daroad, i'm not going down that road with you. save that for your next klan meeting.
So in other words, you're not going to publicly state what you privately believe and allude to in post after post.
Intellectual coward.
What I don't understand is why anyone is even arguing about abortion access for those who are "shitty parents" or poor. The entire premise of the thread is false (and of course borne by ignorace).
There is no access problem to abortion in American and making silly accusations about Obama's budget doesn't make it so.
Forty-two percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level ($10,830 for a single woman with no children).
Twenty-seven percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes between 100–199% of the federal poverty level.
Originally Posted by dl36: Why even play the race card here? not enough racist rhetoric vented towards trayvon threads?
I'm not "playing the race card"
I'm pointing out that this poster wants a bunch of black babies to continue to be aborted.
That fact is uncomfortable to he and apparently you.
Interesting thought.
I would start posting statistics on income mobility in America, but that would probably cause people to re-think their positions and there is no indication anyone wants to do that.
Originally Posted by ClubDirt: 14daroad, you can get mad all you want, but i did address your lack of comprehension and attempt to take the thread down the more racist path that you are more comfortable with in post 17. the fact that you can't understand things that don't fall into your very limited view of things is something i can't control. that's what foxnews is for.
You fail to grasp that policy choices have consequences.
You don't want to talk about said consequences.
There is a reason for that.
Originally Posted by ClubDirt: post 24. have your mom read it to you and maybe for once you can respond to something a person actually says as opposed to what you want it to mean.
What you also fail to grasp is there is no access problem to abortion in America.
The entire premise of your posts is false.


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Unfortunately New York State does NOT have a right of redemption period post foreclosure sale. Once the property is sold at the public auction to the highest bidder, the original foreclosed owner has no right to satisfy the entire amount owed the lender. Unless the prior foreclosed owner has legal and/or equitable defenses to the foreclosure action, once the sale has occurred, the owner will be without a remedy. The only thing the prior owner can do in such case is to retain an attorney to determine if the sale was properly held and conformed to statutory law. If the sale was not proper then there could be grounds to move to set aside the sale. If the sale is set aside, then the prior owner would have the chance to satisfy the loan. If, however, the sale was proper, then the prior owner would need to show a defense to the foreclosure action, and if such defense is meritorious, it may result in the foreclosure sale being vacated and maybe the action being dismissed.
Barbara Moran
6/5/2018 12:26:30 pm
My landlord lost his house & bought # auction by a bank. I now got a notice of eviction in 30 days, from my landlord. I want to eventually buy this house. Does my landlord have any legal right to evict me?
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply.
Arnold M. Bottalico is an experienced Long Island, NY foreclosure attorney with over 25 years of experience, and he welcomes your questions and comments.
September 2018


text:
Brighten up any room with the vibrant Tangier Yellow giclee glow pattern on this graceful drum lamp shade.More Details >
The exciting Tangier lamp shade comes in a printed giclee style and is custom made to order. The vibrant yellow tone gives character to this eye-catching shade. The correct size harp and matching finial are included free with this shade. U.S. Patent # 7,347,593.


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I'll be talking about the agent server at the next NYC Semantic Web Meetup
Exploring the depths of the semantic gap between the Semantic Web and real world users and consumers
RDF and other Semantic Web technologies are powerful tools for hard-core information professionals to publish data for the Semantic Web, but are hardly usable for mere mortals such as consumers and other average users who wish to make their own content available on the Semantic Web. I propose what I call linked lists as a possible approach to publishing consumer-generated content for the Semantic Web. I am not using the term in the sense of traditional computer science (the linked list data structure), but more as a derivative of Linked Data and the Linked Open Data (LOD) movement. I started by noting that people like to keep and reference lists: lists of things to do, lists of people, lists of places, lists of songs, lists of movies, lists of restaurants, and even lists of lists. Lists tend to have a simple structure, easily processed by computer programs, and much of the data on the lists can relatively easily be translated into RDF-style URIs, at least in theory, and assuming that a sufficient library of the underlying concepts is developed, which is of course the segue into the world of Linked Open Data.
It is not the purpose or intent of this post to go into technical details, but simply to raise awareness of the basic concept of using consumer-generated lists as a way to introduce average users into being not just consumers of the Semantic Web, but generators of Semantic Web content as well.
Some lists are simple single-column lists of named entities. Simple enough, but the names may be nick names, incomplete partial names, misspelled names, ambiguous names, etc. That raise the point about the importance of entity name resolution for "entry" into the world of the Semantic Web. I see this as a solvable problem, but it does illustrate just how yawning is the chasm between the world of real people and the Semantic Web itself. One opportunity here is that the multiple items on the list itself can provide a form of context that can help identify the category to be used for the list. Do the items look like names of places, names of things, names of people, movies, songs, bands, etc.? Once the category is identified, entity name resolution is substantially simpler. In some cases automated methods can complete 100% of the resolution, in some cases the user can be presented with a single likely match for confirmation, and in other cases a list of possible matches can be offered.
Multi-column lists would seem to be a harder problem, but the columns provide context. A name column may not be unique, but address or phone number may provide enough disambiguation. A song name may not be unique to a performer and spelled out properly, but adding a band or album name column might be plenty to disambiguate. The song name and performer names might both be incomplete or partially wrong, but combined they may actually be sufficient for disambiguation or to at least dramatically reduce the possible likely options.
Multiple columns may be unnecessary other than as memory aids and for disambiguation. After all, the LOD cloud should have all of the public data for an any entity. So, the user can simply maintain their own stripped-down representation for any entity and then let the SemWeb itself supply any additional desired information. As long as enough info is supplied to identify the entity (or even plural entities), there is no need for the user to keep more detailed info in their own list. So, maybe the user can conceptually think of their lists as having two sides or parts: 1) their own raw list in their own preferred format (e.g., simple text file or spreadsheet), and 2) their preferred representation of the actual referenced LOD entities. Note that the SemWeb representation might be in a non-list format such as a graphical map or other structured format or even a full spreadsheet or database layout, if that is what the user has chosen. Of course, the user could choose any number of formats.
There will likely be some interest in templates for multi-column lists, but I don't see them as a requirement since the rows of the list provide disambiguating context. In fact, generally, the category of most lists will be quite obvious to even relatively simple automated analyzers, presuming there are enough rows. This does highlight the importance of being able to identify the category of SemWeb entities.
The user could of course author and maintain their lists in their favorite local editing tool such as a text editor or spreadsheet, but it is likely that keeping lists online would be preferable. Presumably sites would spring up which specialize in maintaining and publishing SemWeb lists. Of course there would be privacy controls so that private lists remain completely private or only shared as the user decides, but it should be dirt-simple easy to quickly publish a user-generated list. And once a user-generated list gets published to the Semantic Web, presto, it is now a candidate for getting linked into the LOD cloud.
Linking of user lists can occur in two ways: 1) A simple, direct link, such as a user-generated "list of favorite lists", or 2) creating a derivative list based on one or more existing published lists. Besides creating their own list from scratch or by wholesale copying of an existing published list the user could reference an existing list and tell the software that the user wants to "start with" the existing list and then supplement it, adding some items and deleting others. The user might even request that multiple lists be combined. Or maybe include only some columns of data. A common usage would be for a user to identify a trendsetter (maybe just a friend) and supplement that list with their own personal interests. The key is to maintain is a dynamic reference to the base list and the user's full, published list will change as any base lists change.
The user's lists would be as the user creates and maintains them and completely devoid of formal URIs or other arcane SemWeb concepts. The published version would of course be in hard-core RDF, but with the clear-text source as well. The user would also have the option of automatically "cleaning up" their list to correct spelling errors, complete names, etc.
Linked lists provide an opportunity for dramatically increasing the scope of the Sematic Web and also provide an opportunity to escape from the current paradigm of web sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn being walled gardens holding user data captive.
The issue of exactly where online user lists would be published and store is open, but the simple answer is: anywhere. In some sense user lists would be similar to blogs in that a user might have their own domain or chose a hosting site that caters to their personal skills and interests. The real point is that it truly does not matter where linked lists reside once they are identified or registered as being part of the Semantic Web. That raises the question of how to register new lists, but I am sure there will be plenty of sites and users ready and willing to fill that void.
We have a wide-range spectrum of levels of abstraction for representing information in computers, none of which is particularly well adapted to representing human knowledge in a form that is readily comprehended by computer programs. At the low end of the spectrum we have bits, bytes, characters, text, databases, XML, and even RDF for the Semantic Web. We have specialized abstractions for specialized applications as well. Somewhere in the middle of the spectrum we have various so-called knowledge representation languages which purport to being able to represent knowledge, but only in a host of well-defined, limited, constrained, forms that are still not representative of true human knowledge and are not directly recognizable and usable by mere mortals. Sad to say it, but text for natural language is the closest form we have in computers to something that is recognizable and usable by mere mortals. Unfortunately, free-form text is not readily and easily recognizable and usable to computer programs (as a surrogate for human knowledge.) So, we have a vast semantic gap between the bits of computers and the knowledge of humans.
I wish I had some graphic ability so that I could draw a fancy diagram of this spectrum of information and knowledge representation, but I don't, so I'll the spectrum as a simple list, starting at the low end:
RDF is a knowledge representation language of sorts, but is more specialized and adapted to representing raw information than more humanly-recognizable knowledge.
It is worth noting that there is a distinction between knowledge and communication, but that is beyond the scope of the main issue of the point about bits vs. human knowledge. One distinction is the concept of tacit knowledge which is knowledge that defies straightforward communication or representation in language.
This information/knowledge spectrum layout immediately begs the question of the sub-spectrum of knowledge representation languages, a topic worthy of attention, but that is beyond the scope of the immediate issue.
One of the most notable causes of the vast sematic gap between current knowledge representation languages and human knowledge is the issue of vocabulary definition. Computer-based systems strive to minimize and eliminate ambiguity while human knowledge and language embrace and thrive on ambiguity. Coping with ambiguity may be the ultimate abyss to be hurdled before computers can have ready access to human knowledge.
One major problem with knowledge representation languages is that there are a lot of them, a virtual Tower of Babel of them, so that we do not have a common knowledge language that can be leveraged across all forms of knowledge and all application domains. Leverage is a very powerful tool for solving problems with computers, but lack of leverage is one of the most serious obstacles to solving problems with computers. Leverage can rapidly accelerate the adoption of new technology, but lack of leverage seriously retards adoption. XML and RDF were big leaps forward in leverage, but still nowhere near enough.
One open question is whether a rich-enough knowledge representation language can be built using RDF as its lower level, or whether something richer and more flexible than RDF is needed. This may hinge on what stance you take on ambiguity.
At a grossly oversimplified level, the Semantic Web consists of semantic islands and semantic links between those islands, each represented by a uniform resource identifier (URI) and a collection (graph) of very brief statements (triples) in turn constructed from URIs. In essence, each of these semantic islands is a concentration of knowledge, as is each of the semantic links as well.
But what about all of the space between islands as well as all of the dotted-line links that are too weak to be recognized as formal semantic links? All of this white space that is somehow not a recognized part of the semantic map of formal knowledge. I'll refer to all of this informal knowledge that is outside and beside and under and over and around and in between the formal islands of knowledge and the formal links between these formal islands of knowledge as semantic white space.
Semantic white space is informal knowledge that exists in the margins of our formal knowledge which is just as important, but usually is accorded even less status than a second-class citizen in the hierarchy of knowledge.
If we are ever to construct a true consumer-centric knowledge web we will need to accord informal knowledge and semantic white space first-class status on a par with formal knowledge.
Cafe Philo in New York City will meet next week on Thursday, September 23, 2010 with a discussion on the topic of "Could we live well without borders?" It is time to explore the nuances of that question.
We have to start by exploring what we even mean by the concept of borders.
First off, there are a lot of kinds of "borders", but I will assume that we are primarily interested in political borders.
There are lots of types of political entities, including towns, boroughs, cities, counties, states, and countries, which all have a lot of common qualities, but I will assume that we are primarily interested in national political entities or countries.
So, when we casually refer to "borders" we are typically referring to the borders between countries.
One nuance is that there is distinction that could be drawn between borders and boundaries. A boundary is more of an imaginary or virtual "line" between adjacent countries, as in the lines drawn on a map, whereas an actual border is the physical manifestation of that imagined boundary in the real world, such as signs, fences, walls, other markers, checkpoints, etc. In some cases there may be no actual border per se, such as a country bounded by an ocean, or where a lake or river separates two countries and the division is only that imagined boundary line.
The border between Iraq and Iran is a great example. In some places there is a very visible border with border crossings under strict control. Then you have the southern portion of the Tigris river to the Persian Gulf (actually referred to as the Shatt al-Arab waterway) where there is no real border per se other than the imagined boundary in the middle of the Tigris waterway. That lack of a clearly discernable border led to the capture of British sailors by Iran who claimed they were in Iranian territory. One report indicates that Iraq and Iran have no formal agreement as to where the boundary line is, so the simple notion of an imaginary line down the middle of the waterway (relative to some agreed tidal conditions) is up in the air in that situation. Recently we have seen the case of the alleged "hikers" in northern Iraq who supposedly "strayed" across the border into Iran without even realizing that they had in fact crossed any "border". In other words, there is no visible border unless you are aware of local custom, even if legally there might be a more formal virtual boundary that may be clearly discernable on maps.
Another nuance is air travel where you hop on a plane "in" one country and then "land" in another country without physically encountering any actual border, just a traversal across that imagined boundary line or maybe even an ocean. In fact, you may "fly over" any number of countries during that flight, but are you ever really "in" any of them? Have you ever really "entered" a country except by passing across a physical border or a surrogate for the border in the form of an immigration station at the airport?
Personally, I would say that I have never been "in" Vietnam, but back in 1987 or so I was on a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong and the pilot announced that we were "over" Da Nang (I think, or one of the other notable cities in Vietnam.) I would not say that I have been "to" Vietnam, but maybe I can semi-legitimately claim that I was "in" Vietnam in the sense of being within its boundaries, at least as a crow flies.
Some borders are heavily fortified or require advance permission (a visa) to cross, or at least some sort of documentation such as a passport or drivers license to cross. Then there are the borders within the European Union which are effectively open, regardless of which member country you are a citizen of.
To me, this discussion topic is less about the physical manifestation of a border than the abstract concept of the imagined boundary. Even further, it is not the actual boundary that matters, but an abstract boundary that for all intents and purposes is just a circle or rectangle that lets us refer simply to "here" and "there" or "us" and "them." So, I think the core subject of the discussion topic is not borders per se, but what I would call abstract national borders.
But even that is still not be specific about the desired concept. My hunch is that ultimately the discussion topic is really about whether dividing the world and people into countries is necessary or necessarily advantageous. In other words, maybe the discussion is about whether world government is viable, or is it beneficial to divide people and places into separate and distinct nations with clear delineations between them. Or maybe we could say that we are interested in discussing the notion of national identity and whether it is needed or not or beneficial or maybe even harmful.
In any case, the four big things that people seem to care the most about relative to borders are laws, culture (including language and customs), communications, and trade. Political borders allow a clear distinction in how law is decided and structured. Culture does not require borders per se and can differ dramatically by regions within country that are not necessarily political in nature, but is still a major differentiation between countries. Trade certainly occurs regardless of whether there is a political boundary involved, but the terms of the trade, including laws that relate to trade can be affected greatly by political differences between countries. Communications seems to stand out as something that is likely to occur regardless of borders, although regulation of the communications infrastructure within and between separate countries can be impacted by political considerations within and between separate countries.
I'll stop there for now to give myself and others a chance to review and ponder all of that before continuing.
I tried to come up with the narrowest possible subject line for this post about mistakes, but it does cover quite a range.
Although we do casually use "wrong" in a pragmatic sense such as "making a wrong turn" on a trip, or "giving the wrong answer" on a test, and technically this is a proper usage, my own understanding has been that "wrong" as in "right and wrong" is primarily an issue of morality. We can speak of a "wrong turn in life", as an error in judgment which has led to moral issues. I think of mistakes and errors in a hierarchy of philosophical levels:
My point is that we can interpret mistakes or "wrong" at any or all of these levels and should be clear when we speak as to which we are talking about.
This is a casual model on my part. There could be other categories or the categories could be divided differently. In other words, I could be wrong, in a category 3 or 4 sense. I reserve the right to "revise and extend" my model later in the discussion.
Drinking, especially by underage adults and teens can quickly lead to category 5 "mistakes", such as the young woman who died in a fall from a high-rise apartment after an evening of "clubbing." Drunk driving, mistakes by aircraft pilots and vehicle drivers, and medical errors can also result in category 5 mistakes.
BTW, my hunch is that the "shame" referenced by Kathryn Schulz in her book Being Wrong would be for my category 3 and 4 mistakes which is pragmatic or aesthetic, not an ethical, moral, or existential problem, but quite unpleasant and embarrassing.
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz
Stuart Jeffries is cheered by a writer who sees a social value in our habit of mucking things up
Slate posts by Kathryn Schulz
How bad is the Semantic Abyss for the Semantic Web? Well, it is so bad that the process of trying to find or construct an ontology has been dubbed ontology dowsing]. Really. Seriously. It is that bad. The web page for Ontology Dowsing tells us:
At the moment, the methods used in practice to locate an adequate vocabulary for describing one's data in RDF are more akin to dowsing than to an educated, technically-guided choice, supported by scientific tools and methodologies. While the situation is improving with the progress of Semantic Web search engines and better education, oftentimes data publishers still rely on informal criteria such as word-of-mouth, reputation or follow-your-nose strategies.
This page tries to identify methods, tools, applications, websites or communities that can help Linked Data publishers to discover or build the right vocabulary they need.
The web page provides references to:
That's a good start, but the bottom line is that automatic search for ontologies is still a hard AI problem.
What I want to see is a relatively simple tool that lets me describe my data as I see it, including example data, and then goes off and tries to match my ontological structure and data examples with existing ontologies and data and then suggests possible ontologies. A further step would be to then automatically generate an ontology alignment mapping (inferences) so that my data can then appear to the world as if structured in known ontologies. In some cases I might want to move to a known ontology, but in other cases my ontology may be "better" or maybe just a more convenient shorthand that works well for me. Alas, my model is not "aligned" with current reality. Hence, another manifestation of The Semantic Abyss.
Doing a Google search of "The news makes the news" uncovered this interesting item:
Stephen Tyler (the Deconstructionist, not the lead signer for Aerosmith) describes the simulacrum thus:
"Where modernism focused on the central notion of representation, of the substitution of appearance, of a copy for an original version, post-modernism speaks of 'simulacra,' of models, of simulations, of constructed realities, of appearance as reality. The post-modernist simulacra undermine the notion of fundamental difference between reality and appearance, so we no longer think of 'models of reality' but in 'models as reality.' Simulacra do not re-present a prior or original presentation of the real, they are the real."
I saw a cartoon recently which perfectly illustrates the idea of simulacra: A TV camera is sitting in an easy chair watching television. A cable comes out of the camera and goes into the back of the TV set that the camera is watching. This cutting out of the "middle man," of self-simulation, is the essence of simulacra.
Of course the best example of simulacrum is the evening news. The news makes the News makes the news. CNN reports on the activities of Sadam Hussein, while Sadam watches CNN to find out what he's doing.
"The news" purports to represent a reasonably accurate account of some event that transpired, but this "image" by definition is a somewhat inaccurate representation of what actually and exactly happened. Even live video and audio doesn't give you the complete picture or context. It is only an approximation.
Even beyond the truth and accuracy and completeness of the details of what happened, the higher-level abstraction of what the event was or is categorically and what it "means" and its "significance" are open to debate. And context is both debatable and subject to purely subjective definition (e.g., what to "connect" the event to.) I would simply note that it seems as though a lot of people intentionally turn to "the news" media, whether a trusted "news anchor" on TV or a cherished newspaper (or web site), for... "analysis" that offers up interpretation of the actual news (the observable details) to provide meaning, context, and significance. Just the title of the "news story" alone can be very telling about how it is being "spun." "The news" can very quickly take on a life of its own that can be quite distinct from the reality that it purports to represent.
But, which do people really want? Do they want the boring details or the juicy story concocted with the details being only the starting point? I'll take the boring details any day, but it appears that most people prefer an elaborated story, no matter how far it diverges from objective reality.
So, this is a central problem with facts: the degree to which they represent reality, even if the intent of the observer and reporter is absolutely pure.
Maybe we simply have to accept the fact that all facts are subjective no matter how objective they seem or purport to be.
Could somebody remind me why I call this The Semantic Abyss?
How dumb could a software agent be and still be considered an intelligent agent, presuming that it can communicate with and take advantage of the services of other, more intelligent software agents?
This still begs the question of how we define or measure the intelligence of a specific software agent. Do we mean the raw, native intelligence contained wholly within that agent, or the effective intelligence of that agent as seen from outside of that agent and with no knowledge as to how the agent accomplishes its acts of intelligence?
We can speak of the degree to which a specific agent leverages the intelligence of other agents. Whether we can truly measure and quantify this leverage is another matter entirely.
In humans we see the effect that each of us can take advantage of the knowledge (and hence to some degree the intelligence) of others. Still, we also speak of the intelligence of the individual.
Maybe a difference is that with software agents, they are much more likely to be highly interconnected at a very intimate level, compared to normal humans, so that agents would typically operate as part of a multi-mind at a deeper level rather than as individuals loosely operating in social groups as humans do. Or, maybe it is a spectrum and we might have reasons for choosing to design or constrain groups of agents to work with varying degrees of interconnectivity, dependence, and autonomy.
So, maybe the answer to the question is that each agent can be extremely dumb or at least simple-minded, provided that it is interconnected with other agents into a sufficiently interconnected multi-mind.
But even that answer begs the question, leading us to ponder what the minimal degree of interconnectivity is that can sustain intelligence.
How dumb could a software agent be and still be considered intelligent, presuming that it can communicate with and take advantage of the services of other, more intelligent software agents?
This still begs the question of how we define or measure the intelligence of a specific software agent. Do we mean the raw, native intelligence contained wholly within that agent, or the effective intelligence of that agent as seen from outside of that agent and with no knowledge as to how the agent accomplishes its acts of intelligence?
We can speak of the degree to which a specific agent leverages the intelligence of other agents. Whether we can truly measure and quantify this leverage is another matter entirely.
In humans we see the effect that each of us can take advantage of the knowledge (and hence to some degree the intelligence) of others. Still, we also speak of the intelligence of the individual.
Maybe a difference is that with software agents, they are much more likely to be highly interconnected at a very intimate level, compared to normal humans, so that agents would typically operate as part of a multi-mind at a deeper level rather than as individuals loosely operating in social groups as humans do. Or, maybe it is a spectrum and we might have reasons for choosing to design or constrain groups of agents to work with varying degrees of interconnectivity, dependence, and autonomy.
So, maybe the answer to the question is that each agent can be extremely dumb or at least simple-minded, provided that it is interconnected with other agents into a sufficiently interconnected multi-mind.
But even that answer begs the question, leading us to ponder what the minimal degree of interconnectivity is that can sustain intelligence.
We encounter all manner of statements, beliefs, facts, and claims which we assert are either true or not true, or might be true or might be false. If a statement is true, how do we know it. Can we prove that it is true or false? Do we have evidence that it is true or false. What does it mean to say that we have proof or that we have evidence?
Truth is our ultimate objective as seekers of knowledge and wisdom. Whether we ever achieve truth is usually a matter of debate.
A proof or our ability to prove a statement, belief, fact, conclusion, assertion, or claim is some collection of knowledge and artifacts which when viewed by an independent, objective, competent observer with the necessary expertise would lead that observer to conclude that the claim is "true beyond all doubt." That's quite a tall order. In fact, except in pure mathematics or particular bureaucratic institutions, it is essentially an impossible objective. In truth, the best we can usually hope for is to approximate a proof of a claim. Each of us and each of our social and political institutions has a subjective right to define our own criteria for what standards we wish to accept for proof of any particular claim. Different individuals and institutions can differ on what proofs they accept as fact.
Evidence is basically anything, such as an observation, measurement, calculation, document, physical object, reasoning, knowledge, etc. that supports a claim, or, alternatively, anything that undermines a claim. Generally, evidence by itself does not necessarily prove (or disprove) a claim, but can help to guide us in the direction of strengthening or weakening our confidence in a claim. If we collect enough evidence of enough strength, we may in fact eventually be able to confidently assert that we are able to prove or disprove a claim beyond our own doubts. Maybe, but not necessarily. Evidence does not per se have to be able to prove or disprove a claim for us to assert that it supports or undermines a claim. Evidence does not have to be strong and convincing; it may merely be weak and flimsy, or maybe even irrelevant. The only real requirement is that evidence is offered to support or dispute a claim.
We could use the analogy of a destination and a journey to that destination. We seek to arrive at a proof. Evidence is the collection of individual steps along the way to that destination. We can, to some degree, measure our progress on our journey. At some point we may be able to confidently conclude that we have in fact arrived at the destination, that truth has been obtained.
As a final note, even an accepted proof may not necessarily be the definitive achievement of truth. People may in fact justifiably believe in a proof, but there may be a flaw in their assumptions, observations, measurements, analysis, calculations, or reasoning. People may not initially be aware of any such flaws, but as our minds, knowledge, and technology advance, flaws may become apparent. Then, suddenly, our knowledge and its proof may be overturned. Much of the evidence itself may still be just as valid as before, but our interpretation, integration, and induction of conclusions based on that evidence may be different.
In short, constantly seek evidence that supports or undermines claims and be careful to leap too quickly to conclusions and acceptance of proof, and always be ready for the sudden appearance of new evidence or new ways of thinking about and working with existing evidence that may undermine an existing proof or in fact support a new proof.
There is an old saying that "Philosophy bakes no bread", implying that philosophy has no significant practical value, but I disagree, at least somewhat. I do agree that a large portion of what is called "philosophy", especially as practiced in modern times, is rather disjoint from progress in the real world, but a significant portion of philosophy, especially in a historical context is and has been extremely valuable, and eminently practical.
Early philosophy was really the precursor of a lot of modern science and logic. Basically, early philosophy studied and promoted the kind of disciplined and structured thought that is needed for virtually all modern disciplines, from mathematics, science, and engineering to law and our social and political systems.
Another way of saying this is that over time, every modern discipline and social system borrowed concepts, methods, and techniques from early philosophy. That is an understatement; every modern discipline and social system is based on the products of philosophy. Without the early works of Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, and the enlightened efforts of Hume, Locke, and Rousseau, among countless other brilliant philosophers over the centuries, we would not have much of what we call modern in the modern world.
The simple fact is that all modern disciplines absorbed concepts from philosophy over the centuries so effectively that the concepts are considered part of those disciplines rather than being owned by the "discipline" called philosophy.
Critical thinking is, well, critical to analyzing the facts in any discipline. The world can be a complex and confusing place. Winnowing truth from fiction and relevance from irrelevance can be a very difficult proposition even on a good day. Technology can certainly help as a tool, but all tools must be used properly to be effective. Critical thinking is essential to guiding us to making practical and workable decisions from mushy and vague raw data.
A very pragmatic issue is that a lot of difficult questions are so poorly or vaguely phrased or framed so that it simply is not practical to even begin to answer the questions in a practical and workable manner until a deep and broad philosophical analysis can tell us what the questions are really all about. Answering inappropriate interpretations of questions can certainly lead to answers or solutions that do not meet the original needs that the questions may have been intended to address.
Another simple fact is that the adoption of the concepts of philosophy has been so thorough over the centuries that we have reached the stage where the rate of adoption of the remaining un-adopted concepts of philosophy is very slow or so slow that the average person simply cannot see it, even if they look very hard. But, as they say, appearances can be deceiving.
It is also true that a lot of "modern" philosophy has gotten so esoteric and so apparently disjoint from apparent reality that most people see philosophy as being completely disconnected from reality, even if that is not completely the case.
The truth is a bit more complex. Granted a lot of philosophy does appear disconnected from reality and maybe a lot of the time that is the case, but just as often it is simply that philosophy can run well ahead of the times. Politicians may not be ready to pass reasonable and workable laws permitting doctors to "pull the plug on granny" or define precisely how privacy and trust should function in online computer networks, but philosophers and leading edge experts in all disciplines can and do spend serious time discussing these kinds of issues seriously. They are, to put it simply, being philosophical. That is philosophy in action. That is philosophy baking bread. It may not be bread that the average person can eat today, but it is bread that the average person will be taking for granted somewhere down the road in coming years, decades, and centuries.
At the extreme, even the nature of existence itself is still an unsolved problem, with quantum mechanics, string theory, and "god particles" a matter of the kind of speculation and debate normally reserved exclusively by the kind of philosophers who supposedly do not bake bread.
In computer science there is an old saying that AI (Artificial intelligence) is just all of the things that we do not know how to do yet.
I would suggest a similar statement, that philosophy is where we hold preliminary discussions about the toughest unsolved problems of humanity or new ways of thinking that can be applied to those problems.
Philosophy is less concerned with what to do in life, but more about how to think about values and the processes of thought and action so that we can divine better systems of values and better techniques for thought and action that can then be applied in new and novel ways to solve problems in more innovative ways than were readily available to us in the past.
Put in more pragmatic terms, to be sure, philosophers do not directly bake break or tell people how to bake bread, but rather offer people new and novel approaches to how to think about new approaches to baking bread and how to leap ahead and think about meeting biological and social needs that bread was intended to address in the first place. Philosophy can guide us in forward thinking about ethical and social concerns related to global poverty and global health.
In short, there is still plenty of mileage to be gotten from philosophy, especially in leading edge research efforts of virtually all disciplines, especially in situations where significant uncertainty, lack of determinism, and ethical, social, and political concerns outstrip classical mechanistic approaches to problem solving.
So, yes, philosophers can certainly seem to be lost in the clouds, but a large part of that is because that is where some of the hardest problems facing humanity lie. So many of us remain so lost in the mundane concerns of daily life and the rote details of our disciplines that we continue to stumble through life precisely because we do not have the vantage point from the clouds that would enable us to distinguish the forest from the trees.
I have a simplified model of the progression of knowledge. Knowledge somehow needs to start somewhere as informal knowldge or tentative knowledge and eventually end up as formal knowledge, something seriously believed to be true.
In my simplified model knowledge progresses (loosely) in the following incremental steps:
So, one or more statements can be categorized as to how developed they are in my knowledge progression.
From the very moment we first open our eyes or first hear some sound or first touch anything we feel that we are experiencing the world around us and that we know that world, reality, but do we? Given enough experience, we gradually realize that some if not many of our earlier perceptions are not completely in accord with reality as it really exists. So, the most basic conception of the Semantic Abyss is that we have two worlds to deal with: 1) the real world, reality itself, and 2) the perceived world, our mental model of what we think or imagine the real world is.
We actually have a third and fourth world to deal with: 3) a model of the real world constructed from conceptions based on our perceptions that we can express to others, and 4) the models of the world that others have constructed and endeavored to communicate to us.
Somehow, we merge, mesh, and blend these three models and derive a composite model of the real world.
Over time and with enough input with enough diversity we come up with ever-better models that better represent the reality of the real world, but despite our best efforts, there will always be a lingering Semantic Abyss between the real world as it really is and our best mental model of what the world is.
Another issue is that even when we are fortunate enough to establish a workable one-to-one correspondence between the real world and our mental model of the real world, there is no guarantee that each correspondence of reality and mental model is accurate and rich enough to adequately model the full complexity of the real world.
A final issue is that we wish to share our models with computers and other artificial entities (e.g., robots which seek to move around and interact with the real world) so that computer programs can make sense of the real world, either in terms of recorded data or real-time sensor data.
In short, we deal with four models of the real world:
There are plenty of gaps between those four models of reality that we need to cope with when dealing with knowledge of the real world.
Given that there is a semantic gap that I have been referring to as the Semantic Abyss, how exactly do we go about bridging the gap? My overall position remains that the gap is far too great to completely bridge now, or at any time in the near future. That said, it is worth considering the many ways in which we can partially bridge the gap and what potholes, barriers, and mine fields exist in the remainder of the gap. I will not endeavor to do all of that right now and right here, but some examples are worth considering.
First, we have to acknowledge that it is virtually impossible to bridge the semantic gap as a general proposition and that at best we can only hope to approximate bridging the gap. Ray Kurzweil's vision of a Singularity would obviously have to complete the 100% bridging of the semantic gap by the year 2045 if not sooner, but that is far beyond the scope of my near-term interests.
Second, we have to acknowledge that there are a multitude of semantic gaps. For example there is the semantic gap between any two individuals, we need to acknowledge that the gap differs between every distinct pair of individuals, especially depending on how much knowledge they already share.
Third, in general, bridging the gap is a bidirectional process, not a one-way communication. For example, the more knowledgeable party has to learn at least an overview of what the less-knowledgeable party already knows and doesn't know before or as part of the process of bridging the semantic gap. As a general proposition, every party has their semantic strengths and their semantic weaknesses and bridging the semantic gap simply means a semantic balancing, so that at the end of the process they each know what the other knew. But that is only as a general proposition.
Fourth, bridging the semantic gap is frequently and intentionally an asymmetric process, where one or more of the parties seeks a semantic advantage over the other. For example, in a negotiation or propaganda. Or even education where it is usually preferable to incrementally stage the semantic transfer rather than attempt to accomplish it all at once since the cognitive capabilities of the students are under development over an extended period of time. You could say that a typical student accepts a semantic weakness if only because of the incremental nature of education. An amateur might also accept a semantic weakness relative to a professional.
As a general proposition the process of bridging the semantic gap is a learning process. As an extreme case, absolute semantic peers are "on the same page" and can communicate without any significant learning required. As a practical matter even nominal semantic peers frequently are not exactly "on the same page" and miscommunication occurs until one or both parties recognizes that the peer relationship has broken down and learning is required.
Partial knowledge is a common "solution" to bridging the semantic gap. By both parties "agreeing" that not all seemingly relevant knowledge is needed in any particular situation, the semantic gap can be dramatically reduced, "by definition" (agreement.) As a specialized case, we may simply decide that computers are still far too "weak" to support full comprehension of human knowledge and decide on a structured subset of knowledge to shrink the semantic gap to a manageable size.
Hardwired knowledge is another common solution, especially, but not exclusively, with artificial entities. The entity with the hardwired knowledge doesn't really "know" what it is dealing with in a very deep and meaningful sense, but "knows" at least deep enough so that a relatively meaningful conversation can occur.
(To be continued, eventually.)
So, what do I know? Literally. Or what do you know? And what do we collectively know? Even if we sincerely wanted to represent everything that we know and are very diligent about going about the task, it is still virtually impossible for us to adequately convey to anyone, person or computer or simply in written word, all knowledge that we possess, either individually or collectively. At best, we can approximate what we know.
One of the biggest problems is dealing with tacit knowledge where we are clearly able to perform various tasks but are literally unable to express in natural language exactly how we are able to perform those tasks.
Another big problem is that most people do not have photographic memories and are frequently unable to recall knowledge on demand even though in some other situation or simply after the passage of time or if prompted their recall may come much more readily or with more fidelity.
There are many other difficulties with any of us being able to fully express the totality of our knowledge.
The real problem is that even if we could express everything that we know, there is no reliable way for any of the rest of us to read or view or listen to those expressions and have a 100% certainty that we understood what the other person intended that they expressed.
So, we have these distinct, although overlapping collections of knowledge:
And that is just between two real people. Add more people, many more people. And add the many combinations of two or more people, the groupings of people we find in the real world. Layer onto that the huge issue of how to represent human knowledge in a form that artificial entities can adequately process. Obviously that is what we want to try to do in a full-blown knowledge web.
And even after we have done all of that, we must acknowledge and cope with the fact that our knowledge is a living thing, subject to constant and continual change.
Although my primary interest is in representation of knowledge, it makes sense to focus attention on how knowledge is generated and used by sentient entities, whether they are real people or artificial sentient entities such as robots and software agents.
I propose a fairly simple model of the structure of a sentient entity in terms of functional capabilities that somehow relate to consumption and production of data, information, knowledge, or wisdom:
Data, information, and knowledge flow into each of these functional capabilities either from the environment or other functional capabilities, is processed to some degree and some new form of data, information, or knowledge is generated and made available to other functional capabilities or the environment.
The representation of data, information, and knowledge within any of these functional capabilities may or may not be comparable or synchronized with external representations of that data, information, and knowledge in a Semantic Web or Knowledge Web. There may be some boundary lines delineating internal versus external flows or availability of any or all of the data, information, and knowledge.
Note: I am not sure how the information from a neurological brain scan fits into this model. Maybe it is simply an indistinct composite or a composition of neurological state information. Conceptually, the same issue can occur with an artificial sentient entity, by examining raw data in state variables (e.g., a raw memory dump). Whether this might have some utility is unknown, but it could have some analogy to a signature such as is done with a computer virus scan.
One could also view the DNA of a sentient entity, or the code of an artificial sentient entity as data, information, and knowledge as well.
Ditto for the biography or history of the sentient entity as well.
Only the most mindless simpleton believes that the future is predetermined and that everything that happens does so because it was "destined" or predetermined to happen. Most of us can agree that predestination is not an adequate account of reality. But that leaves open the general question of what determines the future or even any outcome in the present? If hard, full determinism does not preordain all outcomes, what model for the progression of reality should we be using? Just for the record, I will state my simplified model of what determines the future.
Every event or outcome or change of state in reality (the universe) is determined by some combination of factors, even if we may not be able to clearly determine what those factors may specifically be in any given instance. The categories of these factors are:
Now, I have attempted to summarize a model for what determines the future (or caused some past outcome) in the real world for real people. That said, is this same model valid for any or all virtual worlds? I think so, but not necessarily. Some categories of factors may not be relevant in some specific virtual worlds, but are there other categories that are operative in all or some specific virtual worlds but not operative in our real world? Conceivably one could define such a virtual world, although I have not personally heard of one. Nonetheless, it would be interesting to speculate what additional categories of factors might conceivably apply to the Semantic Web and future Knowledge Webs, especially as artificial sentient entities (software agents, robots, etc.) begin to proliferate.
As a final note, all of this ties in with provenance as well, a topic of emerging interest in the Semantic Web, although currently the Semantic Web is more interested in the who of a change in data rather than some deeper why.
I just finished reading an essay on Edge by noted computer scientist David Gelernter entitled "Time to Start Taking the Internet Seriously" which basically argues for his concept of lifestreams as a better model for publishing and accessing information than today's web model. Rather that organizing information in a spatial form, he recommends that we think about and organize information along the time dimension. As he puts it:
The Internet's future is not Web 2.0 or 200.0 but the post-Web, where time instead of space is the organizing principle -- instead of many stained-glass windows, instead of information laid out in space, like vegetables at a market -- the Net will be many streams of information flowing through time. The Cybersphere as a whole equals every stream in the Internet blended together: the whole world telling its own story.
He proceeds to describe the nature of the problem and how lifestreams will address it:
13. The traditional web site is static, but the Internet specializes in flowing, changing information. The "velocity of information" is important -- not just the facts but their rate and direction of flow. Today's typical website is like a stained glass window, many small panels leaded together. There is no good way to change stained glass, and no one expects it to change. So it's not surprising that the Internet is now being overtaken by a different kind of cyberstructure.
14. The structure called a cyberstream or lifestream is better suited to the Internet than a conventional website because it shows information-in-motion, a rushing flow of fresh information instead of a stagnant pool.
15. Every month, more and more information surges through the Cybersphere in lifestreams some called blogs, "feeds," "activity streams," "event streams," Twitter streams. All these streams are specialized examples of the cyberstructure we called a lifestream in the mid-1990s: a stream made of all sorts of digital documents, arranged by time of creation or arrival, changing in realtime; a stream you can focus and thus turn into a different stream; a stream with a past, present and future. The future flows through the present into the past at the speed of time.
16. Your own information -- all your communications, documents, photos, videos -- including "cross network" information -- phone calls, voice messages, text messages -- will be stored in a lifestream in the Cloud.
17. There is no clear way to blend two standard websites together, but it's obvious how to blend two streams. You simply shuffle them together like two decks of cards, maintaining time-order -- putting the earlier document first. Blending is important because we must be able to add and subtract in the Cybersphere. We add streams together by blending them. Because it's easy to blend any group of streams, it's easy to integrate stream-structured sites so we can treat the group as a unit, not as many separate points of activity; and integration is important to solving the information overload problem. We subtract streams by searching or focusing. Searching a stream for "snow" means that I subtract every stream-element that doesn't deal with snow. Subtracting the "not snow" stream from the mainstream yields a "snow" stream. Blending streams and searching them are the addition and subtraction of the new Cybersphere.
18. Nearly all flowing, changing information on the Internet will move through streams. You will be able to gather and blend together all the streams that interest you. Streams of world news or news about your friends, streams that describe prices or auctions or new findings in any field, or traffic, weather, markets -- they will all be gathered and blended into one stream. Then your own personal lifestream will be added. The result is your mainstream: different from all others; a fast-moving river of all the digital information you care about.
In short:
To accomplish this, we merely need to turn the whole Cybersphere on its side, so that time instead of space is the main axis.
There is much more to his model for information in the "Cybersphere", but time-based lifestreams are his core starting point.
I was reading an essay on Edge by noted computer scientist David Gelernter entitled "Time to Start Taking the Internet Seriously" and ran across a reference to the concept of information welling up in the context of his conception of lifestreams. He wrote:
Ten years ago I described the computer of the future as a "scooped-out hole in the beach where information from the Cybersphere wells up like seawater." Today the spread of wireless coverage and the growing power of mobile devices means that information does indeed well up almost anywhere you switch on your laptop or cellphone; and "anywhere" will be true before long.
That's an interesting concept. Rather than explicitly accessing data by going to its source or explicitly searching for it, all one need do is create the proper situation (the well) and the data simply appears or wells up, welcomed but not directly or explicitly bidden per se.
So, we have a collection of concepts here, in my view:
At a simplistic level, a knowledge well could simply be a search query directed at some data source, but to truly fulfill Gelernter's vision, something far more sophisticated is needed. What that something might be I cannot say at this time.
Curiously, maybe there is a community collaboration angle there as well, since the term reminds me of the famous The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link known as The WELL. Whether or not a connection between the two concepts would make sense would depend on how specific and narrow one wants to define the terms. One could define a simple RSS feed as an information well, I suppose. One could define the Twitter public timeline as an information well. Sure, one can tap into any "conference" on The WELL, but then that is a fairly narrow information stream. Somehow, a Gelernteresque knowledge well would have a more global, blended un-focus, I would think.
Thinking about how information might well up reminds me of a concept I considered years ago, something I call GMWIMW, for Give Me What I Might Want, a mythical filter for information on topics that I do not even know about yet. That would be at least one type of knowledge well that I would be interested in.
Superficially, that is the question: What is the unit of meaning? But, that one question is part of a bundle of questions, including (but not limited to):
In natural language the obvious choices for a unit are word, sentence, phrase, and morpheme. I would lean towards word or term or sometimes phrase, but at least when it comes to foreign language translation, anything less than a sentence is questionable for capturing meaning. Sure, we can look a word up in a dictionary, but frequently we find that a word will have multiple senses and the context of a phrase, clause, or sentence is needed to decipher which sense is appropriate. Maybe this simply means that word are still an appropriate unit, but that context is needed as well, much in the way that pieces of wood and nails can be units for building, but tools such as a saw and a hammer and a plan are needed to make sense of the units.
In the Semantic Web, we have units such as URI and literals, but it is the statement or triple as a unit of expression that seems the most useful focus. Or maybe not. An RDF statement is somewhat analogous to a natural language statement. A URI or literal string is comparable to a natural language word. The same literal can be used in multiple RDF statements, with a multiplicity of senses, each suggested by the resource and predicate of the RDF statement which contains it.
For now, I would suggest that the word is the natural unit of meaning in natural language, and the URI is the natural unit of meaning in the Semantic Web.
One related question that concerns me: The Semantic Web does not seem to have the concept of sense for URIs that we have in a natural language dictionary. Hmmm...
Language, natural or otherwise, is used to convey meaning from one party to another. Meaning and knowledge exist primarily in the minds of the parties who are communicating. Actual words and sentences or expressions in natural language are knowledge artifacts rather than the actual knowledge and meaning itself. As carefully as we may try, analysis of natural language text can only approximate whatever meaning was intended by the initiator of the expression. So, in some sense, deciding on the unit for natural language text does not necessarily tell us the unit for meaning and knowledge in the human mind. Nonetheless, we need to start somewhere and the knowledge artifacts of natural language are a rich trove to start with.
I'll stop there for now. More thought is needed.


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Some colleges with a good cosmetology department are Saint Paul College, Mayland Community College, Oakland Community College, Houston Community College and College of DuPage, notes Study.com. Cosmetology programs are typically found in 2-year community colleges and can lead to a certificate or associate degree.
St. Paul College is a community and technical college located in St. Paul, Minnesota. It offers an Associate of Applied Science cosmetology program for those who want training in skin care, nail care and hair styling.
Students at Mayland Community College have the option of receiving an Associate of Applied Science in cosmetology or a certificate. The programs focus on hair design, multi-cultural practices and professional imaging techniques.
Other schools with good cosmetology programs include Pasadena City College and Santa Monica College, states Study.com.


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Stargate Universe producer Joseph Mallozzi has revealed on his blog that a Stargate Atlantis crossover episode is in the works:
"With word from producer John G. Lenic that the deals have been closed on those Atlantis alums, we can now move forward on the script, secure in the knowledge that both extra-special guest stars will actually be on hand to say the dialogue written for specifically for them. Great news for fans of the old series. There was a reluctance to move ahead with an SGA crossover, particularly on my part, because the feeling was it would step on the timing of the SGA movie, Stargate: Extinction, the events of which directly proceed the Atlantis series finale, Enemy at the Gate. But given the delay on the movie front and the ideal premise pitched out by Remi Aubuchon and Brad Wright, it was decided to go ahead with the crossover. Not a big deal, but it will require some changes to the Stargate: Extinction timeline which, in turn, will beg a host of questions, some of which will be answered in episode #15, some of which won't…at least not right away…"
Mallozzi goes on to answer some of the obvious questions and then goes on to invite commentators to direct their own questions to Syfy Director of Development, Erika Kennair in the comments section of his site. Click over now to participate.


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CMU WBB Loses to Oklahoma City in NAIA First Round
FRANKFORT, Ky. - Central Methodist's first appearance in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship did not go as expected, as Oklahoma City defeated the Eagles 74-39 in the first round in the Frankfort Convention Center.
The Stars who entered Wednesday looking to defend its 2012crown, have now won six straight National Championship games dating back to last season and advance to the second round to face on Friday No. 5-seed Shawnee State which downed four-seed Columbia in the second game of the day.
The first round contest against Oklahoma City was Central Methodist's first appearance in a national postseason tournament since the Division II National Championship in 2000.
Despite Wednesday's setback, the Eagles' 2012-13 campaign was the most successful for the program in 13 years as they finished 25-8.
The Green and Black, the eight-seed in the fourth quadrant, were hoping to make headway for the Heart of America Athletic Conference which entered 2013 with a 1-6 record in the Division I National Championship, but the No. 1-seed Stars displayed their might early.


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FCCLG shares our newly remodeled fellowship hall and kitchen for special occasions. The fellowship hall is 2700 square feet with vaulted ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows. Attached to the fellowship hall is a kitchen set up for caterers, with a refrigerator, warming oven, sink, and dishwasher.
If you are interested in learning more about renting for your next event, please contact the office at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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A computer engineer surfing near Davenport, Calif., was savagely attacked by a large shark, pulled underwater three times and escaped only by wrenching its mouth open and pulling his arm out.
Rescuers said they were stunned that Eric Larsen, 32, of Sunnyvale, made it to shore alive yesterday. After a struggle that left his arms and legs badly mauled, Larsen clutched his surfboard and paddled 150 yards to the beach, not only in danger of bleeding to death but unsure if the shark was in pursuit.
"I'm amazed," said Capt. David Briggs of the Davenport Fire and Rescue Squad. "That's one tough dude."
Larsen was taken to Dominican Hospital, where he underwent more than 10 hours of surgery and was listed in stable condition last night. Locals familiar with north Santa Cruz County coastal waters believe he was attacked by a great white shark.


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Just a 3-minute walk from Sanjo Station, Kamogawakan offers Japanese-style rooms in the city centre. It features a large public bath, free Wi-Fi in public areas and massage service.
Rooms at Kamogawakan feature tatami-mat flooring with traditional futon bedding. They are fitted with a TV, a minibar and tea/coffee maker. Private bathrooms have a bathtub with shower and amenities.
The 24-hour front desk offers safety storage of valuables, and luggage storage service. Guests can shop for souvenirs in the hotel store. Vending machines selling drinks are available.
In traditional style, Hotel Kamogawan serves authentic local meals at their restaurant. Meals typically consist of a range of delicious seasonal dishes.
Kamogawakan is within 10 minutes' walking distance from downtown areas Gion and Ponto-cho. It is a 5-minute drive from Heian Jingu Shrine and an 8-minute one from Kyoto Imperial Palace.
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Guess what.. It actually snowed again last night and today. This little fellow I befriended just the other day must have been very disappointed. I met him basking in the sun on this rotten leaf. Hope he's ok.
(Hoover image for zoom)
(Dont read the following unless you're extremely bored and want to know the particulars about my day)
Today was a good day. It's not even over yet! Ok, lets sum it up (for my own sake. ehe): Woke up earlier than necessary. Enjoyed the early sun, but I had not made up my mind on what to think of the snow just yet. When I stepped outside I knew though, the fresh spring air in ice cold form. Ice in the small waterpits I know too well, warming sun, no mud. Love it. Off to work, got some time to read beforehand. It suddenly got really cold, sitting inside out of the reach of my beloved sunbeams, reading about Kvothe who is numb by cold, laying helpless in the streets of Tarbean in muddy snow. I finished up and started working. I knew I would have a lot to do before the end of todays work, so I figured I would start my monday with a bigger smile than usual. Work work work and I just love deadlines!!! eheh... Ended up leaving an hour later than planned, no breaks (means no food) and still I was not ready to go home just yet. Had to run some errands for my mom. (just checked up the word errands. It's particularly close to the norwegian word, Ærend, and it seems (according to wikipedia) that it originates from the old english word 'ærende') Finally got home around 7, had dinner, did important stuff. Ended up here to organize more photos, and now just some minutes past 10 pm I am actually tired enough to go to sleep.
I have a day off tomorrow. I will spend it in the sun (if there is any). I will eat fruits, read, make a salad, take the train to oslo and visit the a new library and just seize the day.


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EDGE: "Three times the protagonists gives you three times the number of toys and an engaging, if thoroughly convoluted, story, but it's not without cost. What Simon, Trevor and Alucard give to the mechanics and narrative they take from its flow: you still feel gated, even when you've got all the gear. It's a deflating discovery, but few games save their disappointments for their endgames. And Mirror Of Fate, like Lords Of Shadow before it, feels like Castlevania, but carves out a likeable identity of its own."
ehhh.. Not liking that im seeing a few 7s for this game.. Ive seen a couple 9z but not by credible sources


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My last trip to Bempton Cliffs was a bit of a disaster as I arrived to dense fog and so could not get any photographs taken and could just make out the gannets moving through the mist. On a recent return visit I was met by much better conditions. It is not the easiest placed to take photographs as you are on the top of a very high cliff and certainly not a good venue for those who suffer with vertigo.
The main target bird for the visit were the gannets but I will show those in the next posting and will concetrate on Fulmars and kittiwake for this blog entry. Firstly one of my favourite sea birds the Fulmar.There were large numbers of Kittiwake present perching on the edge of the cliff


text: Upcoming Conference: Controlled Substances Forum By Larry Cote on November 21, 2013 Posted in Conferences, DEA Compliance, Enforcement Actions, Schedule Listed Chemical Products If you're looking for fast-track training, I am co-chairing a conference that you may be interested in: American Conference Institute's Legal, Regulatory & Compliance Forum on Controlled Substances. The conference is in DC on January 16-17 and will provide training in core regulatory concepts dealing with DEA-scheduled pharmaceutical products. Additional details below. To view the agenda … Continue Reading


text: Hi everyone, I got my droid in December and had to return it because of problems downloading music. Fought with Verizon to waive $25 restocking fee to return defective phone....not happy with Verizon but enjoy my droid and looking forward to learning how to use it and get the basic things I got the phone for to work. I am now trying to download podcasts and am trying Acast free version but like everything on the droid there is very little or no instructions so I look forward to learning from all of you. Thanks,


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|Oracle FAQ
|Your Portal to the Oracle Knowledge Grid
Home -> Community -> Usenet -> c.d.o.server -> Re: Imp/exp and VNI-2015
On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 18:08:53 +0200, Alan Searle <aj_searle_at_xxxyahoo.com> wrote:
>> I am setting up an Oracle Management Server (9i on Win2K) to test the
>> functionality. This has worked OK but I find that when I try to import
>> a DMP database I get the message VNI-2015.
>> I followed the instructions that were displayed and entered the id of a
>> local user (called 'oracle') to access the node. I restarted the
>> Management Server and tried to log in again but got the same message. I
>> imagine that this is because I need to set up the user with 'log on as
>> batch job'. However, I cannot find this permission or profile in Win2K.
>> Is this because I am running a Win2K professional rather than Win2K
>> server? Or am I looking in the wrong place?
>I found the permission 'BATCH' which can be allocated to a group. I
>allocated this to the ORA_DBA group and then restarted the Management
>But I am still getting the VNI-2015 message. This is a bit confusing
>because the node is a very simple declaration (the local computer) and I
>have tried both my own local account and the 'oracle' account which I
>set up. Both these accounts belong to the ORA_DBA group (under windows)
>and ORA_DBA has 'BATCH' permission.
>Does anyone have an idea? What have I missed?
>Any tips would be gratefully received.
>Alan Searle.
AFAIK the account needs to be a *local* account (as opposed to a
domain account) and the privilege needs to be assigned to the user
*directly* (not via the group)
Also the Oracle service needs to be running using the LOCAL system user.
-- Sybrand Bakker, Senior Oracle DBAReceived on Thu Sep 01 2005 - 16:42:27 CDT
Original text of this message


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Longchamp knows its ties to Paris give it a leg up. In October, Jean Cassegrain told Success Magazine the brand designs bags with this in mind.
"Our strategy is to stay true to the brand values in every region and keep in mind our first customer: the Parisian woman," he said. "French women are known for their effortless elegance, their dynamism, their optimistic take on life. Our approach to luxury like theirs is casual, effortless, optimistic."
"It's managed to maintain an element of Parisian chic in a way that a brand like Michael Kors never can," Lysts's Ormerod says. "There are probably more Longchamp le pliage bags out there than the Michael Kors Jet Set, but they don't have the same connotation when it comes to status."
In addition to the all-important French connection, Ormerod notes Longchamp executes campaigns that have an added air of luxury. Ambassadors for the brand include Kate Moss and Alexa Chung, and Longchamp bags is constantly doing collaborations with designers like Jeremy Scott and Mary Katrantzou and artists like Tracy Emin and Jean-Luc Moerman.
"It really feels like they tap into pop culture," says Bloomingdale's Russo.
Strategically, the brand also only has two outlets stores in the UK (for comparison, Coach has 225 and Michael Kors has 45).
Some certainly argue that Longchamp is a one-trick pony. Today, more than 80 percent of its business comes from women's goods, according to the Australian Financial Review, and data provided by Lyst to Racked shows that the Le Pliage bag is the most searched-for and purchased bag within the Longchamp outlet category on the site. But the company is able to lean into the bag's popularity while still evolving it, offering new colors and design collaborations that keep shoppers coming back. Dusil says Longchamp fans on Longchamp Blog are most excited by limited-edition collaborations and often collect them.
"As other brands try to be fashionable and chase after trends so that they can sell a shape that is in style, Longchamp maintains desirability with the same bag," says Bernstein's Ortelli. "They are in a different league. Their strength does not come from extending into different styles."


text:
Key Details
Colin Ingram
Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh
Colin Ingram
Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh
Colin Ingram is a partner at Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh and practises in patent prosecution and litigation. He has represented clients in the electrical, life sciences, and clean technology industries. Ingram is a fellow of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, and a member of AIPLA. His notable cases include Amazon v Commissioner of Patents, and AstraZeneca Canada et al v Mylan Pharmaceuticals et al in 2011, where the Federal Court of Canada rejected arguments of inutility and obviousness put forward by Mylan.
Tel: 613.232.2486
Speaking engagements
Teaching activities


text:
Oakland, Berkeley, And East Bay News, Events, Restaurants, Music, & Arts
Born Jonathan French in Beverly Hills and orphaned at three months, this young boy was adopted by his Mexican nanny, Nena and step-father, E.J. and raised to be a good, God-fearing Mexican with a love for ranchero music. At age 33 and blessed with the talent to sing like the angels. He takes his ranchero act from the small, half-empty soccer bars in East L.A., to a larger music festival audience where he is discovered and quickly swept into Mexican pop stardom. Juan's everyman appearance and musical style undergo a celebrity make-over. He changes his name to "El Guero" and his songs for the working-class are transformed into heartless Reggaeton.
El Superstar: The Unlikely Rise of Juan Frances is not showing in any theaters in the area.


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Motor Carrier Officers to a Conduct Statewide Traffic Enforcement Detail
ATLANTA— Officers with the Motor Carrier Compliance Division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety will conduct a three-day statewide traffic enforcement safety detail focusing on the unsafe operation of motorcoaches and buses. The operation will begin on Monday, November 25 and end on Wednesday, November 27, and is a part of a nationwide motorcoach and bus safety event encouraged and endorsed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The goal for this detail is to emphasize both safety and security to provide a safer transportation experience for motorcoach and bus passengers, as well as enhance the safety of all motorists traveling our nation's highways. "Officers will be conducting safety inspections and writing citations for violations. Our officers will not hesitate to issue an out of service order on any commercial vehicle found to be unsafe," Major Gene Davis, Commander of the Motor Carrier Compliance Division said. "These inspections are one component of an overall safety effort to ensure that everyone enjoys a safe transportation experience on the highways of Georgia. Motorcoach inspections are conducted throughout the year on a regular basis but this detail provides an opportunity for officers to identify safety hazards on a large scale due to the high volume of holiday traffic," he added.
Motor Carrier Officers will also continue to patrol the interstates enforcing the High Occupancy Vehicle lane restrictions during the Thanksgiving holiday period. Motorists are reminded that only buses, motorcycles, passenger vehicles occupied by two persons or more, or a vehicle bearing an alternative fueled vehicle license plate are permitted to travel in the HOV lanes. The lane restrictions are in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.


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The fatherhood movement that is taking place in the United States of America along with the rest of the world indeed overall is a good thing that is taking place. Fatherhood especially for certain people may better them in the long run when it comes to things if they have a father figure.
Just 50 years ago or so, a father was someone who went out to work and then came home and read the paper and had a drink and a smoke. Today because of the fatherhood movement many young and older fathers are actively involved with their kids and are sought for guidance which is better for the kids and for the parents, including the mother.
For years we have been hearing the damage to children and communities caused by deadbeat dads. Children are most successful when they have both their father and their mother involved with their life. The fatherhood movement is good for society because it helps fathers earn the rights they need to stay involved with their children.
The fatherhood movement is not widely dispersed across the nation. I believe the fatherhood movement doesn't exist in some areas of the United States. For that reason, I do not believe it is having a positive impact on society. It doesn't seem to be having a full impact on American society at all.


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