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What services do you offer?
I work as a personal chef and caterer, both on site and at your home. We will be launching a home-delivery service in the near future, please check back for further details.
What inspires you?
I love seeing satisfied, sated faces—people genuinely enjoying a wonderful meal. I want my clients to taste the pride I have in serving great food.
If someone wants to hire you for an event, but is not sure where to start, what do you suggest?
I would ask what their 5 favorite dishes are, for starters. I would also want to find out what type of event they're having and what type of ambiance they wish to create. Each dish is customized to complement their event.
Why is food important to you?
Food has become more important to me as I've gotten older. We all eat, but we all don't get to experience great meals. My goal is to bring a unique dining experience regardless of the event—an intimate dinner or a 50th anniversary celebration. I want to bring joy to every experience that I'm able to create, for every person who I'm able to touch with my food.
What is your favorite type of meal to cook?
Funny, my favorite meal is one I believe will create the greatest response. I'm always looking to surprise people with my food and test my boundaries. That's probably why I find myself creating dishes that don't have a specific culinary origin. The one constant is big flavor.
What is your favorite food memory?
My favorite food memory is a dinner party I held in Brooklyn, NY a couple of years ago. Not only did we have live entertainment, but a full house. There were two tables of guests; one was very conservative, while the other table was more lively and raucous. The personality contrasts and the music made it a magical night.
What are your favorite kitchen tools and gadgets?
I like to make the magic happen with my cast-iron pans, knives and a microplane.
What are you favorite restaurants in the NYC area?
Pisticci, Juniper and Ripe.
Why should someone choose Carima Bey?
Because you want your event to be amazing, you want your chef to produce food that he's proud of, and want your guests to remember your event for all the things that were done well—especially the food.
How can I contact you?
I can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. I am also on Facebook and Instagram.
Any cooking tips
Yes, email ME!


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The Prime Minister was amongst a group of ministers who visited St George's, University of London to speak with medical students about their education and aspirations. The visit was shortly after the government announced a series of measures to promote the aspirations of young people from all backgrounds and put social mobility at the heart of plans for economic growth.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Alan Milburn MP, Pat McFadden MP - Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Tooting local MP Sadiq Khan visited St George's today (18 January 2010) in recognition of the pioneering work that the University has done in widening access to higher education.
The St George's widening participation team works with pupils from the age of nine years old upwards, supporting their educational development and aiding their transition from primary to secondary, secondary to further education, and then onto Higher Education. The team reaches over 3,000 state school pupils each year to support their educational development, raise their aspirations, challenge inaccurate stereotypes and inform them of their career options.
Amongst these initiatives is the adjusted criteria (AC) scheme, pioneered by St George's in 2003. This access scheme helps to level the playing field by considering applications to study medicine in relation to the peer group with which applicants studied, rather than in relation to the national average. Under the scheme, the standard AAA entry requirement can be dropped to two Bs and a C if a student's results are 60 per cent better than the school's average.
Other initiatives include school visits, residential summer schools and a web site to raise awareness about opportunities in medicine and healthcare, as well as a new scenario-based interview process designed to assess skills and characteristics that make a good doctor beyond academic achievements. As a result, the proportion of students joining St George's from state school has increased from 53 per cent nine years ago to 80 per cent today.
Whilst at St George's, the ministers met with students from a cross section of backgrounds and chatted to them about their studies and their dreams for the future.
The visit immediately followed Downing Street's response to 'Unleashing Aspiration', the final report from the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, setting out plans to implement the vast majority of the panel's 88 recommendations.
The panel, led by Alan Milburn MP, had challenged the government to do more to ensure that talented people can succeed in top professions regardless of their social or economic background.
Speaking in his weekly podcast yesterday, the Prime Minister said: "We can't be a truly aspirational society if some people are still denied the chance to get on and not just get by. And although we have raised the glass ceiling we have yet to break it. That is why our priority will be to remove all the barriers that are holding Britain back - to ensure that it is character and endeavour that matter most."
A video of the Prime Minister's visit can be found on the Number 10 website: www.number10.gov.uk/

subset: commoncrawl


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A prominent American-born Jewish activist appears to have been the victim of an assassination attempt in Jerusalem late on Wednesday, the latest in a string of terror attacks that Israeli leaders have linked to heightened incitement by top Palestinian Authority (PA) figures. The Times of Israel described the victim, Yehuda Glick, as having "worked tirelessly in recent years to restore the right of Jews to worship on Jerusalem's Temple Mount." Jews and other non-Muslims are barred from praying on the compound, which contains several structures that Muslims consider holy, including the Al-Aksa mosque. It is difficult to overstate Glick's central role as a public face for effortsto expand Jewish access to the area, which is also holy to Jews as the site of biblical Jewish temples. Yediot Aharonot described the right-wing rabbi as "a central activist... and a symbol of the struggle for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount." Eyewitness descriptions suggest that Glick was targeted due to his political activities. The attack comes after several months of sensational calls by PA leaders - including most recently by PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah - for Palestinians to deny Jews access to the Temple Mount.The exhortations often included lurid accusations describing Jews as seeking to desecrate and destroy holy places in the compound. An extensive 2013 study published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) had described the theme [PDF] - which it dubbed the "'Al-Aksa is in Danger' libel" - as "a classic libel that was embroidered in the first half of the twentieth century against the Jewish people, the Zionist movement, and, eventually, the State of Israel." Palestinian Media Watch, an Israel-based NGO that among other things monitors anti-Israel incitement, more recently rounded up statements from the PA Foreign Ministry accusing Israel of having activated "the Judaization plan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and of seeking to destroy it. Earlier this week Hamdallah gave a fiery speech while visiting the site, characterizing it as under threat and claiming it for the Palestinians.The speech was seen as the PA doubling down on an earlier one, given two weeks before by Abbas, in which he declared that Palestinians must prevent Jews from entering the compound "by all means." He had gone on to say that "they have no right to enter and desecrate [the area]. We must confront them and defend our holy sites." The calls were alarming enough that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu devoted portions of his speech on Monday, given to mark the opening of Israel's Knesset parliament, to emphasizing that Israel had no designs on the Temple Mount - and to warning that continued Palestinian incitement regarding Jerusalem risked generating violence. The assassination attempt - which targeted perhaps the most prominent figure associated with Jews accessing the Temple Mount, two weeks after Abbas called on Palestinians to use any means necessary to prevent Jews from doing so - is likely to deepen concerns about the potentially destabilizing consequences of Palestinian incitement.
An Israeli-led international group of scientists has announced the most significant breakthrough in a decade toward developing DNA-based electrical circuits. The new research could reignite interest in the use of DNA-based wires and devices in the development of programmable circuits. The international group led by Prof. Danny Porath, the Etta and Paul Schankerman Professor in Molecular Biomedicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, reports reproducible and quantitative measurements of electricity flow through long molecules made of four DNA strands, signaling a significant breakthrough towards the development of DNA-based electrical circuits. The research was published in the prestigious journal Nature Nanotechnology under the title "Long-range charge transport in single G-quadruplex DNA molecules." The central technological revolution of the 20th century was the development of computers, leading to the communication and Internet era. The main measure of this evolution is miniaturization: making our machines smaller. A computer with the memory of the average laptop today was the size of a tennis court in the 1970s. Yet while scientists made great strides in reducing of the size of individual computer components through microelectronics, they have been less successful at reducing the distance between transistors, the main element of our computers. These spaces between transistors have been much more challenging and extremely expensive to miniaturize – an obstacle that limits the future development of computers. Molecular electronics, which uses molecules as building blocks for the fabrication of electronic components, was seen as the ultimate solution to the miniaturization challenge. However, to date, no one has actually been able to make complex electrical circuits using molecules. The only known molecules that can be pre-designed to self-assemble into complex miniature circuits, which could in turn be used in computers, are DNA molecules. Nevertheless, so far no one has been able to demonstrate reliably and quantitatively the flow of electrical current through long DNA molecules. Now, the Hebrew University-led breakthrough could change that. "This research paves the way for implementing DNA-based programmable circuits for molecular electronics, which could lead to a new generation of computer circuits that can be more sophisticated, cheaper and simpler to make," says Prof. Porath. Prof. Porath is affiliated with the Hebrew University's Institute of Chemistry and its Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. The molecules were produced by the group of Alexander Kotlyar from Tel Aviv University, who has been collaborating with Porath for 15 years. The measurements were performed mainly by Gideon Livshits, a PhD student in the Porath group. The research was carried out in collaboration with groups from Denmark, Spain, US, Italy and Cyprus. (via Israel21c)


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The Winter Premier Sale, which is held in conjuction with the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Celebration of Champions in Fort Worth, Texas, took place the afternoon of Feb. 18, just before the World's Greatest Horseman finals. Hip No. 54, Tinseltown Throwdown, brought the highest price of the day when the hammer fell at $26,750.
Troop Quarter Horses consigned Tinseltown Throwdown, and Mary Boyd signed the ticket for the 2014 palomino stallion (Hollywoodstinseltown x Wimpys Little Gal x Wimpys Little Step). He is the only registered foal out of Wimpys Little Gal, who earned $18,515 in her career, and his sire, an earner of $178,156, is nearing the $1 million mark in offspring earnings, according to Equi-Stat.
Turnabout Farm, Inc. consigned Hip No. 4, Stars And Sparks, who was the sale's second-highest seller. Tom McCutcheon purchased the 2015 mare for $25,000. Stars And Sparks is by Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire A Sparkling Vintage, who earned $53,993 in the reining pen from 2000-2005. He produced National Reining Horse Association Triple Crown Champion Not Ruf At All (out of All Ruffed Up x Lil Ruf Peppy), whose lifetime earnings total $456,530. The mare's dam, Belle Starr Dun It (by Hollywood Dun It), has a lifetime record of $29,569 and has one other foal, a 3-year-old by Colonels Smoking Gun (Gunner).
Rounding out the top three was Hip No. 42, a 2015 sorrel stallion by Equi-Stat Elite $20 Million Sire Smooth As A Cat and out of the Shining Spark mare Shiners Lil Pistol. Tom and Mandy McCutcheon consigned Hes Pistol Packin, who brought a final bid of $24,500 from buyer Tony Grover. The stallion's dam has produced earners of nearly $150,000, including One Shiney Pistol ($46,828, by One Time Pepto), Peptos Shiney Pistol ($36,806, by One Time Pepto), Smart Shiney Pistol ($34,632, by Smart Chic Olena) and Cats Shiney Pistols ($21,188, by Smooth As A Cat).
For complete coverage of the NRCHA Celebration of Champions and the Winter Premier Sale, subscribe to Quarter Horse News.


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Right to rent – there are no winners from this flawed policy
Policy and public affairs manager Matthew Kennedy talks in more detail about CIH Cymru setting a number of recommendations to the Welsh Government as part of the 'Right to rent' policy.
Charging fees to tenants trying to access a tenancy in the private rented sector has been a hotly debated topic for quite some time, both in Wales and across the UK. As part of its commitment to reducing barriers to accessing housing, the Welsh Government is considering legislation that would effectively ban letting agents and private landlords from charging tenants anything but the rent, a holding deposit (of one week's rent maximum) and a security deposit (which is undefined as an amount in the legislation, but there's a power for Ministers to define this if they feel it becomes an issue itself).
We made it clear that the vast majority of PRS landlords are doing good work and that current schemes like Rent Smart Wales had clearly helped the way the sector plays a role in reducing things like homelessness. But we felt that considering the pressure and demand for a homes ban on these fees seemed sensible, particularly in light of the vast variation, poor communication and misunderstanding caused by the current environment.
Having provided evidence saying much of the above to the Equality, Local Government and Community Committee we reflected on one thing.
We were concerned they didn't seem more concerned about one aspect of the legislation in particular. Namely the bit that could involve someone loosing their holding deposit for a property if they fail an immigration check. Widely know in the sector as the 'Right to Rent' scheme, currently operating in England only, we felt the risks, if this were to be expanded and applied elsewhere.
We know from the experience in England that:
- It has led to a rise in discriminatory letting practices. 51% of landlords say they are now less likely to rent to a non-EU national, while 42% are less likely to rent to anyone without a British passport
- It (the scheme) is not widely understood by landlords. 27% of landlords are either unaware of the scheme or don't feel like they understand their obligations
- Levels of enforcement are low. Only 654 individuals have come to the Home Office's attention as a result of the scheme, and only 31 of these have since been removed from the country.
We've joined forces with the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Wales, Tai Pawb, Community Housing Cymru, Shelter Cymru and Dr Simon Hoffman, Associate Professor in the Department of Law and Criminology at Swansea University – to put forward some additional evidence through a joint letter highlighting our concerns.
You can see the letter in full here. But here's a taster of what we're saying the Welsh Government should do:
- Ensure landlords cannot retain holding deposits as a result of 'right to rent' checks
- Re-consider the inclusion of the 'right to rent' check within the legislation. We feel, considering the evidence, that the policy is discriminatory and therefore it should not be included
- Call on the UK Government to urgently undertake additional evidence gathering and evaluation exercises to meet the concerns posed by the independent research.


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Artist Residency: Return to McCarthy
by Julia Rosen, 2016 Artist in Residence
People warned me that McCarthy had changed. But this August, when I walked back across the footbridge — over the roiling waters of the Kennicott River — I was struck most by the things that have remained the same. The smell of the dirt road, wet from the rain, thrust me back to the summer of 2002, when I came to McCarthy as a college student in the Wildlands Studies program. I saw the familiar silhouette of Sourdough Peak rising into the clouds, and the tenacious willows marching across the glacial mudflats. A few days into my stay, inside the dilapidated red shack on the road to Kennecott, I spied a bearskin hanging in the shadows, just as I recalled.
But if McCarthy has stayed more or less the same, I have changed tremendously — in many ways because of my first visit. This is where I discovered my interest in geology (I went on to get a PhD) and where I first felt the allure of the wilderness (I have spent the years since exploring it). In retrospect, McCarthy is also where I first began to use science and nature as subjects for nonfiction writing, now my profession and what brought me back as an artist-in-residence to the Wrangell Mountains Center. I hoped, in returning, to understand what it was about this place that so profoundly affected me.
So I wandered the trails looking for answers, calling out for bears, admiring tall blazes of fireweed, watching the aspens smolder gold along the ridgelines. I walked through the soft dryas flats to the toe of the Kennicott Glacier, where I stood on the crumbling moraine and shivered in the sharp breeze. I spent a rare bluebird day alone on the ice, negotiating crevasses and skirting gaping moulins, making my way to the base of Donoho Peak, where I basked on a flat rock eating vegetables from the Hardware Store gardens. And of course, I wrote about the powerful memories and emotions these small adventures conjured.
When I couldn't get past a barrier in my words or thoughts, I sought the company of my fellow resident artist, the inspiring and fearless Nina Elder, on her own journey to understand McCarthy's place in the world. I sat on the porches of locals and gazed into the flames of welcoming campfires; I danced to music at the saloon and loitered around the mail shack, watching the ritual sorting. I learned that I was not the only one to have McCarthy in my bones. So many people have come to this valley and gotten caught in its thrall, builing shrines in the form of simple cabins or enduring institutions. I have done neither, and can offer only humble words, starting with a note of deep gratitude to the people and places that welcomed me back.
Are you interested in joining us for the 2018 Meg Hunt Residency Program? Learn more and apply today at Call for Entry.
Click HERE to learn how you can help support the WMC today.


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I have been craving noodles for some time, and I had this vision in my head of a sweet, spicy and gingery Asian dish. I like to play around with my flavours a lot through taste-testing, so sometimes it's hard for me to quantify my measurements but I managed to pull through on this one. This recipe turned out to be exactly as flavourful as I hoped it would be.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
- 1 package of frozen, cooked shrimp
- 1 package of soba or somen noodles (the amount you use will be up to you – we cooked about 3/4 a package for 5 servings). Buckwheat soba noodles were the healthiest variety I could find at the time.
- 2 carrots, julienned
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 cup of mushrooms, diced
- 1/4 head of cabbage, julienned
- 4 sprigs of spring onions, chopped finely
- A handful of bean sprouts
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
- Red chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp garlic
- 1 tbsp ginger
- Sesame oil (if you don't have it, olive oil is fine too)
Noodle base sauce
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup soy sauce (preferably the reduced sodium variety)
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 garlic gloves, minced
- 2 tbsp ginger, grated
- A splash of Worcestershire sauce
Peanut sauce
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (both creamy and crunchy will work fine)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (again, preferably the reduced sodium kind)
- 1/3 cup water
- 1-2 tbsp grated ginger
- Freshly squeezed lime
- Thaw the frozen shrimp in some lukewarm water.
- Combine the ingredients for the base sauce. Taste and adjust according to your preference (I ended up adding a bit more ginger after the initial 2 tablespoons).
- Heat up some sesame oil in a pan. Once the shrimp has been defrosted, add it to the pan and allow the shrimp to brown on medium heat. You don't want to keep them on the heat for too long, as they are already cooked and will dry out. Take the shrimp off the heat and set them aside to cool. Once they have cooled, you'll want to come back to them to remove the tails.
- Heat a wok up on medium heat with some sesame or olive oil. If you don't have a wok, a skillet or frying pan will work fine too. Toss the onions, garlic and ginger in and allow the onions to soften.
- Mix in the cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots and mushrooms, and 1/2 of the base sauce. Allow the vegetables to cook down.
- While you are waiting, cook the noodles according to the package instructions. You'll want to make sure you don't overcook your noodles – I recommend that you remove them from the water a minute sooner than the directions as they will continue to cook when added to the wok.
- Add the noodles and the shrimp in to the wok, along with the remaining base sauce. Turn the heat down to low and mix in the green onions. Sprinkle with chilli flakes. Allow to cook for 2 more minutes.
- For the peanut sauce, mix all ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust according to your preference. I added a lot of lime to mine.
- Turn the heat off, and serve the noodles with a spoonful of peanut butter and a wedge of lime . Garnish with cilantro.
Let me know what you think of the flavour profile!


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Campus Services that Support Student Success
Academic Achievement Center
(AAC) 588-5088 Tamarack, 2nd Floor
- Free peer tutoring for registered students in most subjects and study skills
- Supplemental Instruction (SI); group tutoring and review led by specially trained tutors
- Computers with free printing & study area for individuals and groups
588-5148 Upper Manzanita
- Assistance with textbooks, childcare, and transportation for eligible students
- Counseling services and academic/personal enrichment workshops
588-5109 Upper Manzanita
- Academic, career, and personal counseling for general students
Disability Services (DSPS) 588-5130 Upper Manzanita
- Serves students with verified disabilities that limit the educational process
- Academic, career, and personal counseling for DSPS students
- Specialized academic assistance and mobilityassistance in accessing educational facilities & resources
- High Tech Center, alternate media and adaptive computer equipment
588-5130 Upper Manzanita
- Academic, career, personal counseling and academic/career workshops
- Priority Registration, textbook and parking permit or bus pass cost assistance
- CARE services include help with child care costs, meals, texts, and transportation
Financial Aid 588-5105 Upper Manzanita
- Information about student financial aid, scholarships and veterans services
Health Services 588-5204 Juniper 2
- A registered nurse and mental health counselor offer services to enrolled students
- Health supplies and info on free and low cost community health care
- Reference books, pamphlets, and resting cot
Instructional Technology Center (ITC) 588-5011 Tamarack Hall, Rm 134
- Assistance with producing and creating multimedia materials
- Variety of multimedia software programs & equipment available for student use
- Online Blackboard orientations and drop-in help (Student Helpdesk Webpage)
Library Services 588-5119 Tamarack Hall
- Print and electronic resources for academic research
- Librarian assistance with conducting research and accessing library resources
- Computers and study rooms available for student use
Math Resource Center (Math Lab) 588-5276 Sequoia
- Tutorial assistance by staff & instructors in all math courses; centrally located near math faculty offices
- Computers, graphing calculators, current math textbooks, and other resources for student use
Student Employment Services
Upper Manzanita
- Job Placement Services (588-5312) provides employment opportunities for current students
Student Center 588-2174 Ponderosa
- Comfortable environment for students to meet, relax, hold discussions, workshops & club meetings
- Computers, printing, copy and fax machines, TV and outside patio area
- Student Government ( 588-5270 ), the Food Bank & list of county resources (free meals, showers, etc.)
Student Success Workshop Series
- Free workshops for all students on topics including Study Skills, Scholarships, College Financial Planning and more!
TRiO Student Support Services 588-5145 Upper Manzanita
- Intensive academic, career, and transfer counseling/step-by-step advising
- Peer mentoring groups, priority registration, and field trips to 4-year universities
- Specialized workshops for scholarships and financial literacy


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Facts to Set You Straight
Back to Facts To Set You Straight
You DON'T need a partner to Learn
Everyone seems to think they need a partner to learn with. Wow, what a mistake!
If you're planning to learn on your own, go right ahead, book a lesson, and rest assured that it's the best way for you to learn.
If you're planning to learn with a partner, please read on.
First of all, congratulations on your decision to do something so beautiful together! Throughout our teaching, we will maintain the priority of getting each of you to a stage where you can dance happily together.
There will be a few hurdles to overcome in that process - it's not hard, but it's important that you're aware of the nature of the learning process.
Partner dancing is a language, a constant communication of touch and movement between the two partners. The most important thing about dancing with a partner is the way it FEELS.
If you're dancing with your teacher, he or she can immediately feel what you're doing and how to improve it. If you're dancing with another partner, your teacher is restricted to standing outside and watching what's happening. We can catch some problems by watching, but it's very hard to pick up on the subtleties of your movement from outside.
Apart from that, you and your partner will have different needs in your learning. For a start, one partner leads and the other follows, and these are separate skills that need to be taught quite differently. Secondly, any two learners will have different strengths and weaknesses, and we'll need to work on those differently with each of you. Finally, chances are that the two of you will respond to different teaching styles.
There are two layers to learning with a partner. First, each of you needs to be taught at your own pace and in your own learning style. Second, you need to learn to put your skills together and to adapt to each other's strengths and weaknesses. Here's how we approach that.
We'll get you to take your first few lessons separately, so that we can give each of you a basic foundation, and so that we can learn about the way you learn. Once you're on your way, we'll put together a learning plan for you that combines separate lessons with shared lessons. On your separate lessons, we'll work on your own dancing - especially on aspects of partnership - and we'll teach in a way that suits you as an individual. On your shared lessons, we'll work on making sure you can dance, lead, and follow the steps you're learning on your other lessons.
You will ALWAYS find your teacher easier to dance with than your partner. Your teacher has years of experience and can make up for any faults of weaknesses instinctively. Your partner, on the other hand loves you and wants very much to dance with you. So be nice when it's tricky, accept that your partner is also a learner, and support each other in the learning process. If you do that, the two of you will have a beautiful skill that you can keep for the whole of your lives. Fantastic, let's get started!


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Video Tours
Adding on a Video Tour to one of our Virtual Tour Packages will take your listing to the next level. Our tours include HD video footage including some of the sounds from everyday life. Mixed with our professional photography, video footage brings the ambiance of each home. Each tour is custom branded to you and is completely customizable.
Professional Photography
Each listing is photographed with professional cameras and lighting by a trained photographer
Forever Online Access
Our photos are accessible online forever. Log in to our website to download any photo at any time.
Quick Turnaround
Our goal is to get your photos back to you as quickly as possible. In most cases we are able to delivery within 24-36 hrs.
HD Video Footage
Using state of the art DSLR cameras our photographers are able to capture the true essence of your listing. Mix video with sounds around the house and you have a complete feel of the home.
Custom Branding
Market your brand instead of ours. Each tour has your name, company, email address, phone number and can even have a custom domain.
Interactive Floor Plans
Clients love this feature! You can have an interactive floor plan right next to the photos of the home. A potential home buyer can click on a room and see that room, allowing them to truly explore the layout of a home before they schedule a showing. Shopping online for a home has never been better!
Weekly Statistics
You know what they say...knowledge is power! Each week you will receive a detailed email with all the statistics for your tour, giving you the ins and outs of your marketing effectiveness.


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Smoke alters the lung microenvironment to facilitate an alternative IL-33-dependent exaggerated proinflammatory response to infection
【LWBS 2015 03 19 A】(SpringRain edited from Immunity) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disorder defined by irreversible and progressive airflow obstruction. Acute exacerbations in COPD are associated with viral and/or bacterial infections. Frequent exacerbations accelerate disease progression, impair quality of life, increase the risk of hospitalization, and are a major cause of mortality in these patients. Further, they are characteristically more severe, prolonged, and associated with enhanced inflammatory responses.
Cigarette smoke exposure has a major impact on respiratory health and is considered to be the primary causative agent in COPD. How smoking alters the immune system and leads to a chronic and poorly controlled inflammatory disease is the subject of intense investigation. Infection of mice on a background of smoke results in exaggerated inflammation and delayed resolution, and several studies have implicated a role for the interleukin-1 (IL-1) family members IL-1α and IL-18 in COPD and corresponding mouse models.
IL-33 is a largely stromal-derived cytokine belonging to the IL-1 family and is primarily associated with T helper 2 (Th2) cell immunity via induction of IL-13, from type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) and Th2 cells. The IL-33/ST2 axis has been implicated in a number of inflammatory settings including asthma, influenza-associated airway hyperactivity (AHR), and allergic rhinitis; however, more recently a role for this pathway has been shown in non Th2-like diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and pain. Although not defined, release of this cytokine is thought to be mainly triggered via cell necrosis/damage. Notably, airway damage is a hallmark of COPD and is associated with prolonged exposure to cigarette smoke and microbial pathogens. A recent study showed that IL-33 is elevated in severe COPD and is associated with an IL-13- and mucin gene-like signature.
In this study, the authors have used a combination of cigarette smoke and infection to model exacerbations of COPD in mice and shown that on the background of smoke exposure, exaggerated inflammation to infection is completely attenuated in the absence of IL-33 signaling. Mechanistically, exacerbation entailed a two-step process, whereby smoke enhanced epithelial expression of IL-33 and virus-mediated damage induced release, leading to an IL-33-dependent amplification of anti-viral immunity. Importantly, smoke exposure impaired the ability of the lung to mount a Th2 cell response by suppressing ST2 expression and subsequent IL-13 production in ILC2s, while simultaneously increasing ST2 levels on NK cells and macrophages. This facilitated a synergistic response to IL-33 in these cells, resulting in elevated concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-12, and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and exaggerated Th1-like inflammation. Lastly, they extended the findings to human COPD and show that elevated epithelial IL-33 concentrations correlate with disease severity and that viral infection induces significant IL-33 release from human bronchial epithelial cells.
This study provides insight into how smoking might influence susceptibility to recurrent infection in COPD and suggests that therapeutic intervention of the IL-33 pathway might be of benefit in disease.(LiveWell-BioScience.com)


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N by n
The craft followed a perilous route to its destination, under threat of attack by bandits.
It is clearly is a straightforward attempt by the local produce buyers to curtail competition.
This is a typically brave and selfless decision by the Prime Minister.
Their defeat by Scotland in Paris a fortnight ago really sapped their pride.
This would be an unprecedented move by the two countries.
It's a production of enormous passion and great clarity with a magnificent central performance by Anja Silja.
The game was the high point of a five-day visit by a North Korean sports delegation.


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A classic San Francisco restaurant, known as the "home of the rudest waiter" is shutting its doors after 100 years in business.
Sam Wo Restaurant, on Washington Street, is now closed after several meetings with public health investigators.
"My mom use to send my dad here two three o'clock in the morning because she had a hankering for tomato beef chow mien," according to Sean Black.
Sam Wo opened it's doors about 100 years ago. The new owners have been in business here for about 60 years.
The restaurant was propelled to fame by waiter Edsel Ford Fung, who was immortalized in "Tales of the City" novels.
Fung famously insulted customers and criticized their menu choices.
Fung died in 1984.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the health department says it found several violations in March, including "rodent activity" and improper food storage.
The San Francisco health department wants the owners to bring the building up to code or close.
Julie Ho, the owner's daughter says health officials have never given them such a tough time when it comes to building codes.
One woman drove all the way from San Diego to eat at the restaurant one more time.
Meanwhile, there may be last-minute hope for Sam Wo.
The owners of the restaurant have a meeting next Tuesday. Maybe, just maybe something can be worked out.


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Hubbell Premise Wiring training webinars are now eligible for BICSI credits. Presented by Hubbell product managers, the Webinar series consists of live, on-line interactive audio/Web conferencing seminars that explore topics of interest to end-users, consultants, and contractors who write project specifications. Each webinar explores industry issues and solutions to challenging applications. Discussion is encouraged before and after each presentation. The webinars are held twice a month and are an hour long. Each topic is presented twice a week to accommodate schedules and time zones.
For more information, visit www.hubbell-premise.com/Webinars.asp.
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City Council Meeting
September 24, 2018 - 7:00pm
October 8, 2018 - 7:00pm
October 22, 2018 - 7:00pm
Governor's Room - St. Peter Community Center
The City Council meets on the second and fourth Mondays of each month beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Governors' Room of the Community Center (600 South Fifth Street). If the regular meeting date is a legal holiday, the meeting will be moved to Tuesday of that week.
Agendas for City Council meetings are available on the City's website at http://www.saintpetermn.gov/city-council-minutes-agendas-packets. For information on City Council meetings, please contact the City Administrator's Office at 507-934-0663.


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A wonderful close knit bunch of girls.
Last week I wrote about a close knit pack and how wonderful it can be. But what about when it isn't wonderful; what happens when it just doesn't work? I'm not talking about those people who get a puppy and then change their minds after seeing how much work it is. I'd like to discuss the fact that it sometimes doesn't work. There are times when a pack is not meant to be together. Often the humans that live with the pack do everything they can to no avail. Constant fighting can occur which typically causes time outs or separations. Soon the separations get longer and longer until the dogs can no longer exist in the same space; this is a very sad situation.
There are times when dogs fight; sometimes they have scuffles but with strong leadership it can be minimized. I have never allowed fighting in my home; disciplining and communications yes but fighting? No. I run a very structured pack. Having had a Jack Russell in our home for nearly 16 years I had no choice but to run a tight ship. You need to be able to read body language and communications between the dogs and stop any problem behaviors before they escalate. Once dogs start to fight it can be very difficult to create a peaceful and stress free household.
A weak leader can cause a great deal of damage within a pack. It all depends on the pack and the leader which is YOU. Whether you like it or not you must be a leader; if not then the job is up for grabs and someone in the pack will fill the position. There is most definitely a hierarchy within a pack but all of the members within the pack should clearly understand that you are the supreme pack leader. Sometimes just pulling in the reins a bit is all that is needed to fix issues within the pack. But there are times when it just doesn't work; then what?
I know many people who live with dogs in all different rooms of the house. They live a turnstile type of life. Living and sharing their lives with many dogs but individually. Sad, very, very sad. Of course you understand that this is just my opinion; others will have their own opinion and do as they see fit. But for me, a separated life is no life for a dog. A life of neglect, having to live in a room alone until their fleeting moment to once again join the pack is a sad life for a dog. Dogs are pack animals; they deserve a pack. If the pack that they are in is not working then they need to be placed into another pack that works.
In a wild wolf pack, members often clash. The leader of the pack may banish a member to live a life alone until they either join another pack or create their own. When we force dogs to live together who do not want to live together we create great stress. Dogs who fight each time they see each other live a high stress, always on the edge type of life. It is a horrible life, never having the chance to let down their guard, to relax and just chill in their home.
The best combination is always a male and a female; but even then their can be turmoil. I have worked with two very dominant dogs of opposite sex who fought at every chance they were given. This problem was rectified by stronger leadership and rule implementation. The most common fighting issues are same sex; often actual siblings or littermates. They can get along just fine for years until they reach maturity when it all changes. It can be one dog that starts it all by pushing but with continual pushing the second dog finally retaliates and its on.
When you have done everything you can and it hasn't worked; then re-homing is the next consideration. It is very sad to re-home a dog but sometimes simply unavoidable. The whole idea of failure to our dogs is something we can barely live with but for the health and happiness of everyone involved; the best choice. Making the decision is a very tough one and finding the perfect new pack for one of the members can take a very long time. But I have known dogs who lived horrible tumultuous lives in one pack and with a move to another pack lived out their days in sheer joy.
I also know of people who struggled trying to keep their dogs separated. They lived for years having dogs in separate rooms until one day they got out and one dog was killed. This end was far worse than having to live with a new family in my opinion. Life is not always great and there are times when we have to do things that we don't want to do; that we don't think that we can do.
If you got your dog from a great breeder then they will surely assist in finding a new home. Perhaps your dog came from a rescue group; they too will often help to find a new more suitable home. I have worked with people who had a very difficult time with the whole "it's not working" idea. Their life became such a toxic environment to live in for everyone; but they still couldn't see clearly to a solution. Once the dog was placed into a great new home with no other dogs everything was amazing. The old family fell back into place with the pack and the new dog was happy as a clam with "one and only" role in his new home.
It doesn't happen often; there is usually a solution to a pack problem. But there are times when the only solution is to break up the pack. Our human emotions can get in the way and block the way to success. It is very much a human trait to want to fix things but sometimes we just cannot. It is a fact.


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Kristin Skees
Kristin Skees' artwork combines traditional women's craft, contemporary DIY culture, and a love of the unexpected and absurd. In her current interdisciplinary project, Cozy Portraits, Kristin creates custom cozies for her photography subjects, who are often close friends and family. Like an ill-fitting handmade sweater, the cozies are about the claustrophobia and absurdity of relationships. Some of the portraits take a week to complete, and some take a year. From beginning to end, the piece is defined by the relationship, dialog, and collaboration with the person being cozied. This work is currently being exhibited in the show Cozied at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's ArtLab. Kristin received her MFA from the University of Arizona, and also has a MLIS from the University of Alabama. Last year she was awarded an Emerging Educator Fellowship from ITI. Kristin currently teaches Digital Photography, Video Art and 2D Design at Christopher Newport University in Virginia.
Kristin Skees - Portfolio
Assignment: Squares of Communication
click here to download Full Text of the Assignment
Squares of Communication: Student Work Examples
Materials: 6 x 6 inch designs made with black Artagain paper on 8.5 x 11 inch worksheets, flush mounted to bristol board


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This week has been a bad week! I said it, now its official! The kids have not been themselves. Ethan has been pretty emotional this week. The littlest things have been setting him off. Brooke is still pushing her limits. It was bound for this time to come with her. So with Brooke trying to see just how much she can get away with and Ethan crying at the drop of a dime, its been crazy in this house!!! I have been hitting the bed and going out! And still not feeling rested by morning. Hopefully , next week will be better. I guess we are all going to have our off times. At this point, i just want the kids to be happy. Watch TV all day and play video games. Just quit with the crying and attitudes! Next week we will get back to the discipline. I have had enough this week. That's ok, right?
Friday, October 30, 2009
bad week!
Posted by Wolfe at 8:49 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Sunday, October 25, 2009
accomplished :o)
i have made an accomplishment i am proud of...A DIRTY HOUSE!
Posted by Wolfe at 12:50 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Friday, October 23, 2009
I did it, I did it, I did it YEAH! (dora theme)
I finished writing my book! :o)
Posted by Wolfe at 10:56 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Time is just flying by!
Wow....lately life just seems to be speeding by. Is there a slow down button somewhere? Each day that passes, these kids get older and older...as do i! And to prove just how fast...i am only on my 6th book to read this month. I have been averaging 10-12. Today i am writing. I am coming to near the end of my book. After that...comes the fun stuff. LOL. I also have started a book club with a friend so that has been taking up some time too. Getting the group organized and so on.
Ethan has a soccer game almost every day now to make up for all the rain we have had. The boy is getting too smart. Currently, he is picking picture out of a magazine, glueing to a piece of paper. Then he draws a line from the features such as eyes and so on. Sounds it out and writes it. THEN turn the page over and writes a sentence!!!! Geez! He is also doing math! He is awesome at it. The teacher can write a probelm such as 5 + 4 = and he knows! The kids is 5 and probably already smarter then me. His class is up to about 50 site words now. He has also been into chapter books lately. No, he isn't readying those yet, but probably before long. He liked to read a chapter or 2 a night with me. And he doesn't mind they don't really have pictures.
Brooklynn is getting to big also. I can't belive we are less then 60 days before she is turning 3. This just blows me away! When did she get to be so big? Did i miss something. Its like i was telling a friend the other day. I get excited by each milestone and age Ethan hits. I guess b/c he is the first. Its exciting that he turns 5. But i guess with Brooke being the baby its like, slow down! Dont turn 3 yet! Brooke has been a handful lately. I think 3 is going to be a tough age with her. She has been very defiante latly. She is really pushing buttons and seeing what she can get away with it. Ethan is getting better in public now and walks with us. She is just going crazy with the new freedom of getting to walk in the stores some more. I actually lost her in walmart the other day! I thought she was standing next to me in toys, i look over and she is gone. I go to the next aisle, she isn't there. I should have known though she went one more aisle over to DORA! It did scare me for a moment though.
And Alex...what has he been doing? the same! lol. Working like crazy. He did clean the cushions yesterday. He took them all apart and washed them then restuffed them all. saturday brooke and i are going to a little girls party and Alex and Ethan are going to Funopolis to play putt putt and whatever else.
Will get some pics of soon!
Posted by Wolfe at 8:11 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Monday, October 19, 2009
The new nephew is here!
Kainan arrived here on saturday. He is 9 pounds and 8 ounces and a 21 inch long beautiful baby boy! I can not wait to meet him! I hope i don't have to wait until thanksgiving, but if i do, that's ok!
Posted by Wolfe at 8:20 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Friday, October 16, 2009
No more thumb....i hope!
Posted by Wolfe at 10:06 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Posted by Wolfe at 12:20 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Ok, for those of you who are taking your sleep for granted, can i just slap you!? Seriously. Man do i miss those days of going to bed and sleeping so soundly and waking when my body felt it was ready to wake. And even then, if i wanted i could roll right over and just snooze. Oh, it sounds like heaven just thinking about it.
Posted by Wolfe at 7:56 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Video of Ethan reading
Posted by Wolfe at 4:56 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Friday, October 2, 2009
My recent conversation with Brooke
I am putting the dishes away, Brooke comes into the kitchen.
Me: "Hi Brooke."
Brooke laughing: "Hi Mommy!"
Me: "What's so funny?"
Brooke: "I like farting in the toilet!"
LMAO! ha ha ha ha!
Me: "Nice to know Brooke."
Brooke: "I am gonna go pee and fart now mommy!"
Seriously, could i have had any better of a conversation today????
Posted by Wolfe at 2:45 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Thursday, October 1, 2009
feeling blah
Dear Whomever,
I don't feel good today. I have a headache. My stomach hurts and for some strange reason i have heart burn BAD today and i just woke-up. Yesterday i had the hiccups for about 8 hours....NO lie. I just want to go to bed today and do nothing.
So, i am looking for the number to call to get the mommy substitute in. I am sure since i work 7 days a week and 24 hours a day i should have a good bit of sick leave stored up after 5 years and 2 months on this job. So, if anyone out there has the number in which i should call, please send it this way.
You help is much appreciated,
Posted by Wolfe at 8:16 AM 1 comments Links to this post


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Related Gallery 2012 Shelby GT350 Convertible Number One
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LAS VEGAS – Sept. 18, 2013 – Shelby American, a wholly owned subsidiary of Carroll Shelby International Inc. (CSBI:PK), has announced that the serial #1 2012 model year Shelby GT350 wide body convertible will cross the block at this year's Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas auction, taking place from September 26 – 28. The blue with white stripes wide body muscle car is slated to be auctioned before an international audience on Saturday, Sept. 28 (Lot #750). Shelby American will display some of its latest high performance vehicles during the event, and will offer rides to the public in the Shelby Focus ST, supercharged GTS and Shelby GT350 as a part of Ford Motor Company's Hot Lap ride experience.
"The Shelby GT350 is among the world's most collectible modern muscle cars," said John Luft, president of Shelby American. "Historically, the first car per model year was built for Carroll Shelby's personal collection. He was especially keen to own a convertible built during Shelby American's 50th anniversary. This very special Shelby GT350 wide body is set to cross the block in our hometown during Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas. So we're giving someone the chance to own this special piece of American history, just months before production of the legendary Shelby GT350 will end."
The modern Shelby GT350 is light, nimble and powerful. Beginning with the "small block" 5.0 liter Ford Mustang GT as its base, every aspect of the car is enhanced or replaced to create a balanced performance pony car true to the spirit of the 1960's era GT350.
For the 2012 model year, power options include a normally aspirated and two supercharged versions. A short throw shifter, one piece drive shaft, more powerful brakes, cooling enhancements and interior and exterior styling upgrades are also options. For the first time since 1970, Shelby American offered a convertible option and the Shelby GT350 scheduled for Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas is a 624 HP supercharged drop top with equipment such as massive Shelby brakes all around and the upgraded interior.
"We carefully documented the build of this car," said Shelby American Vice President of Production Gary Davis. "Carroll was very excited about the new wide body option, so that was included on this car. It's the first 2012 GT350 serial number from our anniversary year. It is a very special car."
Orders are still being taken for all 2012 - 2014 model year Shelby American GT350's through the end of 2013; As of January 1, 2014, this chapter of Shelby American history will close. Production will continue on all existing models, including the Shelby GTS, GT500 Super Snake, Shelby 1000, Shelby Raptor muscle truck and hot hatch Shelby Focus ST.
Build Your Dream Shelby at http://www.shelbyamerican.com/buildone/2013GT350-Exterior.asp Customers interested in a Shelby GT350 can also contact the Shelby American sales department at (702) 942-7325 or go to www.shelbyamerican.com.
News Source: Shelby American
Category: Aftermarket, Convertible, Performance, Auctions, Ford
Tags: 2013 barrett-jackson las vegas, auction, barrett-jackson, barrett-jackson las vegas, ford, ford mustang, ford mustang convertible, shelby, shelby gt350, shelby gt350 convertible


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Crafting software is about balancing competing trade-offs. It's impossible to optimize every factor of a system, as speed, usability, accuracy, etc at the same time. Moreover, solutions of today impact decisions and solutions of tomorrow. On the other hand, in Competitive Programming, the best solution is one that just makes each test-case pass.
However, since each challenge has specific requirements and constraints, we can still imagine it as a small and simplified component of a bigger system. Indeed, a challenge specifies:
- the input format and the constraints of the problem;
- the expected output;
- the environment constraints (e.g. the solution should take less than 1s);
- [optional] amount of time available to solve the challenge (e.g. 1 hour).
Questions like: "can I use a quadratic solution?" or "may I use extra space?" will be answered only by taking into account all the problem information. Balancing competing trade-offs is a key in Competitive Programming too.
This post is a bit philosphical, it's about what I consider the essence of Competitive Programming and why a professional could benefit from it. Since February of this year I've been monthly organizing "coding dojos" on these themes, here in Italy. After some months, I'm seeing good results in people regularly joining my dojos and practicing at home. It's likely that in the future I'll dedicate a post about how dojos are organized, but if you want more information now, please get in touch.
Follow me through this discussion and I'll explain you some apparently hidden values of Competitive Programming and why I think they are precious for everyone.
Let me start by stating that the only real compromise in Competitive Programming is one that makes an acceptable solution. However, we distinguish two distinct "coding modes": competition and practice. Competition is about being both fast and accurate at the same time. You just have to correctly solve all the challenges as fast as possible. On the other hand, practice mode is the opportunity to take time and think more in deep about compromises, different approaches and paradigms, scalability, etc. In practice mode we can also explore the usage of standard algorithms. A story about that concept: at one of my dojo I proposed this warm-up exercise:
Given two arrays of numbers A and B, for i from 0 up to N-1, count how many times A[i] > B[i].
For example:
The answer is 3 (10>3, 4>3, 1>0).
This exercise was trivial and people just solved it by looping and counting.
During the retrospective I asked people: "can you solve this problem without looping explicitly?". I lowered my aim: "Suppose I provide you a function which processes the arrays pair-wise". One guy plucked up courage and replied " like ZIP?". I said "Yes!". I dashed off the blackboard and showed the idea.
The C++ algorithm to use in this case was std::inner_product, that we already met in the very first post of this series. I'll get back to inner_product again in the future, meanwhile here is the slick solution to this problem:
As we already saw, inner_product is kind of a zip_and_reduce function. Each pair is processed by the second function (greater) and results are sequentially accumulated by using the first one (plus). People realized the value of applying a known pattern to the problem. We discussed also about how easy it is to change the processing functions, getting different behaviors by maintaining the same core algorithm.
In this post I'll show different scenarios by turning on "practice mode" and "competition mode" separately, discussing the different ways to approach problems and care about compromises in both.
Consider the problem we tackled in the previous post: the "most common word". Since we used std::map, the solution was generic enough to work with types other than strings with a little effort. For example, given an array of integers, we can find the mode (as statisticians call it) of the sequence.
Imagine this solution still fits the requirements of the challenge.
In "competition mode", we stay with this solution, just because it works. The pragmatic competitive coder was lucky because she already had a solution on hand, so she just exults and lands to the next challenge of the contest.
Now, let's switch "practice mode" on. First of all, we notice two interesting constraints of the challenge: 1) the elements of the array belong to the range 0-1'000; 2) the size of the sequence is within 100'000. Often, constraints hide shortcuts and simplifications.
Ranting about life in general and not only about programming, I use to say "constraints hide opportunities".
In Competitive Programming this means that whenever we see particular sentences like "assume no duplicates exist" or "no negative values will be given", it's very likely that these information should be used somehow.
Sometimes "very likely" becomes a command and we won't have other options to solve the challenge: we have to craft a solution which exploits the constraints of the problem. Such challenges are interesting since they require us to find a way to cut off the space of all the possible solutions.
Anyway, back to the mode problem, since we know the domain is 0-1'000, we can just create a histogram (or frequency table) and literally count the occurrences of each number:
Although the solution is similar to the previous one (because std::map provides operator[]), this is dramatically faster because of contiguity.
However, we agreed to a compromise: we pay everytime a fixed amount of space to allocate the histrogram (~4 KB) and we support only a fixed domain of ints (the ones within 0-1'000). That's ok for this challenge, but it could not be the case in other cases. Balancing speed, speed and genericity is something to think about in practice mode. In my coding dojos in Italy we use to discuss about such things at the end of each challenge, during a 15-min retrospective.
At this point we need to answer a related question: "are we always permitted to allocate that extra-space?". Well, it depends. Speaking about stack allocations – or allocations known "at compile-time" – compilers have their own limits (that can be tuned), generally in order of a few MB.
The story is different for dynamic allocations. On websites like HackerRank we may have a look at the environment page which contains the limits for each language. For C++, we are usually allowed to allocate up to 512 MB. Other websites can limit that amount of space, typically per challenge. In these situations, we have to be creative and find smarter solutions.
Take InterviewBit as an example – a website focused on programming interviews. A challenge states: "given a read only array of n + 1 integers between 1 and n, find one number that repeats, in linear time using constant space and traversing the stream sequentially". It's clear that we cannot use an auxiliary data structure, so forget maps or arrays. A solution consists in applying a "fast-slow pointer strategy" – so does Floyd's algorithm. I won't show the solution because very soon we'll have a guest post by Davide Di Gennaro who will show how to apply Floyd to solve another – more realistic – problem.
Space and time have a special connection. The rule of thumb is that we can set up faster solutions at the price of using more space, and viceversa. It's another compromise. Sorting algorithms are an example: some people amaze when they discover that, under certain conditions, we can sort arrays in linear time. For example, you know that counting sort can perform very well when we have to sort very long sequences which contains values in a small range – like a long string of lowercase alphabetic letters.
Counting sort allocates an extra frequecy table (a histogram, as we have just seen), containing the frequencies of the values in the range. It exhibits linear time and space complexity that is O(N+K), where N is the length of the array to sort and K is the length of the domain. However, what if the elements go from 1 to N^2? Counting sort exhibits now quadratic complexity! If we need to care about this problem, we can try adoperating another algorithm, like Radix sort, which basically sorts data with integer keys by grouping keys by the individual digits which share the same significant position and value.
Radix sort has also other limitations, but I won't go into details because it's not the point of this article. Again, I just want to highlight that other decisions have to be taken, depending on the requirements and the constraints of the problem. A general rule is that often we can exchange space for making faster solutions. Space and time go hand in hand.
Time is constrained as well: typically 1 or 2 seconds on HackerRank. To give you some feeling about what it means, let's write down some time evidences measured on HackerRank's environment.
std::accumulate – O(n) – on vector<int>:
100'000 elements: 65 microseconds
1'000'000 elements: 678 microseconds
10'000'000 elements: 6973 microseconds (6.973 milliseconds)
However, don't be swayed by complexity. Time is also affected by other factors. For example, let's try accumulating on std::set:
100'000 elements: 747 microseconds
1'000'000 elements: 16063 microseconds (16.063 milliseconds)
10'000'000 elements: timeout (>2 seconds)
You see that contiguity and locality make a huge difference.
Imagine now what happens if we passed from N to N^2. Roughly speaking, we can just square the time needed to accumulate a vector of 100'000 elements to get an approximation of what would happen: we obtain ~4.5 milliseconds. If the challenge expects at most 1 second, we are able to afford it.
Should we submit such a quadratic solution?
Again, we may in competition mode. Instead we should think about it in practice mode. What if the input grows? Moreover, special contests run extra tests once a day, generally stressing the solution by pushing inputs to the limit. In this case, we need to understand very carefully our constraints and limits.
Compromises also originate from the format of input. For example, if we are given a sorted sequence of elements, we are enabled to binary-search that sequence for free (that is, we don't need to sort the sequence ourselves). We can code even more optimized searches if the sequence has also some special properties. For instance, if the sequence represents a time series containing samples of a 10-sec acquisition, at 100 Hz, we know precisely – and in constant time – where the sample of the 3rd second is. It's like accessing an array by index.
The more we specialize (and optimize) a solution, the more we lose genericity. It's just another compromise, another subject to discuss.
Compromises are also about types. In previous posts we have faced with problems using integer values and we have assumed that int was fine. It's not always the case. For example, many times problems have 32bit integer inputs and wider outputs – which overflow 32bit. Sometimes the results do not even fit 64bit ints. Since we don't have "big integers" in C++, we have to design such facility ourselves or…switch to another language. It's not a joke: in "competition mode", we just use another language if possible. It's quicker.
Instead, in "practice mode" we can design/take from an external source a big integer class, for being reused in "competition mode". This aspect is particularly important: when I asked to some top coders their thoughts on how to constantly improve and do better, their shared advice was to solve problems and refine a support library. Indeed, top levels competitive coders have their snippets on hand during contests.
This is a simplistic approximation to what we actually do as Software Engineers: we solve problems first of all by trying to directly use existing/tested/experienced solutions (e.g. libraries, system components). If it's not the case, we have two options: trying to adapt an existing solution to embrace the new scenario, or writing a new solution ("writing" may mean also "introducing a new library", "using some new system", etc). Afterwards, we can take some time to understand if it's possible to merge this solution to the others we already have, maybe with some work (we generally call it refactoring). You know, the process is more complicated, but the core is that.
Using or not an existing solution is a compromise. Mostly because the adapting and refactoring parts require time and resources.
I think everyone would love writing the most efficient solution that is also the simplest. Generally it's not the case.
However it happens in many challenges – especially in the ones of difficulty Easy/Medium – that "average solutions" are accepted as well (these solutions work for the challenge, even if they are not the "best" – in terms of speed, space, etc).
The balance between the difficulty of a solution and its effectiveness is another compromise to take into account. About that, I tell you a story I lived a few days ago at my monthly coding dojo. We had this exercise:
Given a string S, consisting of N lowercase English letters, reduce S as much as possible by deleting any pair of adjacent letters with the same value. N is at most 100.
An example:
becomes "dea", since we can first delete "aa"getting:
Then we delete "cc" and get: "bbdea", finally we remove "bb" and get "dea".
The attendees proposed a few solutions, none of which exhibited linear time and constant space complexity. Such a solution exists, but it's a bit complicated. I proposed that challenge because I wanted people to reason about the compromises and, indeed, I made one point very clear: the maximum size of the string is 100. It's little.
We had two leading solutions: one quadratic and one linear in both time and space. The quadratic one could be written in a few lines by using adjacent_find:
The other one adoperated a deque (actually, I have seen such solution applied many times in other contexts):
Both passed. Afterwards, we discussed about the compromises of these solutions and we understood limits of both. In a more advanced dojo, I'll propose to solve this challenge in linear time and constant space!
Competitive Programming gives us the opportunity to see with our own eyes the impact of self-contained pieces of code, first of all in terms of time spent and space allocated. As programmers, we are forced to do predictions and estimatations.
Estimating and predicting time/space is fundamental to decide quickly which solution is the most viable when different compromises cross our path. Back to the mode example, using std::map or std::vector makes a huge difference. However, when the domain is small we are allowed just not to care about that difference. Somehow, this happens also in ordinary software development. For instance, how many times do we use streams in production code? Sometimes? Never? Often? I think the most fair answer would be "it depends". Streams are high-level abstractions, so they should be relatively easy to use. However, they are generally slower than C functions. On the other hand, C functions are low-level facilities, more error prone and less flexible. What to do entirely depends on our needs and possibilities, and very often also on the attitude of us and our company.
Although Competitive Programming offers a simplified and approximated reality, facing a problem "as-is" it's an opportunity to understand compromises, estimate time and space, adapt known solutions/patterns to new scenarios, learn something completely new, think outside the box.
The latter point is related to another important fact that I see with my own eyes during my coding dojos in Italy: young non-professional people often find clever solutions quicker than experienced programmers. The reason is complex and I have discussed about that also with psychologists. To put it in simple terms, this happens because young people generally have a "weaker mindset", have less experience and are not afraid of failure. The latter point is important as well: many professionals are terribly afraid of failures and of making a bad impression. Thus, an experienced solution that worked seems more reliable than something completely new. That's basically a human behavior. The problem comes up when the experienced programmer cannot think outside the box and is not able to find new and creative ways to solve a problem.
Competitive Programming is a quick and self-contained way to practice pushing our "coding mind" to the limits. As a Software Engineer, programmer and professional, I find it precious.
Competitive Programming offers both a "practice mode", during which I can "stop and think", reasoning about compromises, time, space, etc. And a "competition mode", where I can "stress-test" my skills and experience.
Learning new things is often mandatory. This needs time, will and patience. But you know, it's a compromise…
Recap for the pragmatic C++ competitive coder:
- Compromises in Competitive Programming have different shapes:
- Dimension and format of the input;
- Time and space limits;
- Data types;
- Adaptability of a well-known solution;
- Simplicity of the solution.
- The essence of Competitive Programming consists in two phases:
- Competition: the solution has just to work;
- Top coders generally take on hand snippets and functions to use during contests.
- Practice: deeply understanding compromises, variations and different implementations of the solution;
- Top coders generally refine their snippets and functions.
- Competition: the solution has just to work;
- A challenge may have simplifications and shortcuts:
- The more we use those, the less generic our solution will be;
- Hopefully, the more we use those, the more optimized (and/or simple) our solution will be;
- Many challenges require us to find shortcuts in the problem constraints and description.


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273 Spire Moist Traps
If you are looking for answers then you should probably go elsewhere. If you are looking for a podcast in the true tradition of contrast on which this fine show was founded, then you are in the right place.
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(00:00) theaudience – Une Pessimiste N'est Jamais Decu
Tim from The Contrast Podcast
(04:14) Dada – Dim
Jeremy from Fingertips
(10:36) Public Image Ltd. – Fodderstompf
(19:04) Negativland – Richard Nixon Died Today
(21:56) People – The Lyrics Are Simultaneously About How The Song Starts And What The Lyrics Are About
Chris from Dead Sea Apes
(26:55) Wire – Kidney Bingos
(31:24) David Bowie – Please Mr. Gravedigger
Mike from wearedust
(34:08) Ace of Base – The Sign
James from Appetite For Distraction
(38:06) Mr Weebl – Magical Trevor
Andrew from RVA Playlist
(41:36) The B-52s – Mesopotamia
Tricia from I Sing in the Kitchen
(47:10) Sergei Leiferkus – Doubt
Niels from Sun in Late December
(53:25) Kurt Schwitters (Eberhard Blum, voice) – Ursonate: 1. Rondo
The In Crowd from I'm Learning to Share
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The staff was extremely friendly and helpful during the entire process.
What does it mean booking by categories?
You will book one of our apartments placed in the zone and with the features that you choose. We assure that your selection will be totally a right desition. Our high quality standards guarantee us. Enjoy an excellent stay and save money to spend in your holidays!
The staff was extremely friendly and helpful during the entire process.
Location and space
Thankyou Jorge, The clients were very happy!
Abbiamo trascorso sette giorni fantastici in una location molto accogliente.Personale molto disponibile e cortese. Grazie a Jorge Cristian e Daniele. P.S.: Vi informo che sulla mia carta Paypal non sono ancora disponibili i â
We enjoyed our stay here very much. The apartment was beautiful and made our stay very comfortable. Each time we return to Barcelona, this is where we will stay. I look forward to our next visit.
Great flat with excellent quality all round, the staff were great too, really enjoyed our trip!
We had a brilliant time in Barcelona our apartment was big and tastfully decorated and very convenient to everything many thanks to rent top apartments for everything and hopfully our stay will be longer next. cheers
The apartment is perfect! And the staff too!!!
The flat was clean and the block very secure, we found the staff to be helpful and the booking process was user friendly.
The apartment is really Beautiful, nice sofa :) Very good time. Just: we don't have a lot of glasses for champagne, for wine, for water.. SOme dirty flavor in the big room from the bathroom. So.. very very nice
This is a very nice apartment: we loved it! Our holiday was fantastic! We will reccommend!
Just wanted to thank you for all your help, great and punctual service. We enjoyed our stay in your apartment.
Max. Guest
A beautiful new duplex penthouse apartment on the 16th floor in Diagonal Mar.
The décor and interior of this apartment are truly stunning with professionally selected luxurious and stylish furnishings. This is a 4 bedroom apartment perfect for families or groups and accommodating up to 10 people; 2 double master bedrooms with en-suite and 2 double spacious bedrooms with park and city views. There are 3 impeccable marble finish bathrooms, 2 of which are complete with hydro- massage settings. Fresh towels and linens are provided for each guest upon arrival. The living space is open- plan with floor to ceiling windows and features leather sofas and plasma TV. The dining space has views onto the terrace and beyond.The kitchen is totally equipped with all kitchenware and modern appliances
The complex in which the apartment is situated is maintained in pristine condition and has an array of facilities including 2 swimming pools (1 children´s shallow swimming pool) and changing area. There is 24 hour security. If you are arriving to Barcelona by car, parking is available also (charge of 17.50 euros per night). Other facilities include Wifi internet connection, washing machine and dryer and dishwasher.
Diagonal Mar area has lots to offer and is hands- down the best location for a combined sea and city break. The area is tranquil surrounded by landscaped communal parks and gardens. The beach is just one block away and is a favorite amongst locals as it has a reputation for its cleanliness and swimming conditions incomparable with city beaches. For the shopaholics the shopping centre Diagonal Mar has most major high street retailers and huge hypermarket. To explore the historic centre just take direct metro line or catch a taxi and get there in a little under 10 minutes.
Guests are bound to thoroughly enjoy everything this apartment and location have to offer.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Only families and groups of people 30 years old or over are accepted. Swimming pool opens in summer only. Closures are subject to change based on weather and maintenance.
Public parking available upon request for 20€ per day
Electric scooters available in the apartment.


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- Mens Jackets Shop
- Womens Jackets Shop
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Availability: In stock
The Fjallraven Men's Greenland Winter Jacket is a fleece insulated jacket for mild winter weather. The Greenland Winter features the same durable G-1000® Original fabric, a polyester/cotton blend that is willing and ready to take on the wind, rain and snow. Spend a little time on the trails without fear of ruining your coat, while a fleece lining keeps you warm in cold temps. The large pockets close with a flap and a snap, whether you're tucking your phone into one of the chest pockets or gloves into the hand pockets. Pull up the fixed hood and protect your skull against the elements.
Products on Sale are Discontinued Styles or Colors.


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Taylor Harris Club
Since its inception in 2011, the Taylor Harris Club at the National Horse Show has been widely recognized as the elite hospitality standard in equestrian sport. As the premier hospitality venue at the FEI World Cup Las Vegas 2015, the Taylor Harris Club is a fully immersive hospitality experience, featuring ringside fine dining in the Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park for an experience like no other. The beautiful Taylor Harris Club overlooks the arena and provides the perfect location for family, friends and business clients. The popularity of the club, year after year, makes it the place to be during the National Horse Show and a sell-out is always a sure thing.
"Taylor Harris is proud to have been the sponsor of the Taylor Harris Club at the National Horse Show since the inception of the event," Michael Taylor, the President of Taylor Harris Insurance Services noted last year. "It's been a real pleasure to be the "place to be" at such a prestigious event. We are thrilled that so many of our friends, our clients and equestrians from around the world have enjoyed the great location and fabulous food."


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This page is currently in the removal process due to lack of activity. Not all info on this page is accurate or up to date. Please call if you have any questions.
This Project Page is dedicated to DNR Contract NO. 2503-12-12. Only those with the link will be able to view this page. If you have questions please contact Stewart Aucoin at 337-457-1492.
Freshwater Bayou Wetland Project (ME-04) and Freshwater Bayou Bank Stabilization Project (ME-13) Maintenance/Repair
Project Manager: Stewart Aucoin Jr.
Phone: 337-322-8663
Project Party Chief: AJ Ardoin


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As of 2015, CAADAC certification is no longer available, according to the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals. In 2013, the California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors and the California Association of Addiction Recovery Resources voted to merge the organizations and form CCAPP, an organization that certifies substance use disorder counselors. Applicants for one of the seven levels of certification must complete required application and registration forms, fulfill specific education and experience requirements, and pass an examination.
CCAPP offers four levels of certification for Certified Alcohol Drug Counselors, notes CCAPP. Each level has progressively greater education and practical experience requirements. The highest certification provided through CCAPP is the Licensed Advanced Alcohol Drug Counselor, which requires a master's degree, 2,700 hours work experience in substance use disorder counseling, 10 hours of private practice, 20 hours of clinical supervision and 20 hours of co-occurring disorder education. Applicants also must pass a written examination.
All alcohol and other drug programs certified by the California Department of Health Care Services require counselors to have valid credentials from a certifying organization recognized by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, according to the California Association of DUI Treatment Programs. CCAPP is one of three such organizations recognized by the Department of Health Care Services.