text:
Canada's big banks wrapped up the first quarter of the fiscal year with increased profits and widely expected dividend hikes. But the early impact of the oil rut was evident, with increased provisioning and reports of growing credit card and loan delinquencies in the hardest hit provinces, primarily in Western Canada.
[np_storybar title="Scotiabank hikes dividend as profit rises, but oil woes are registering" link="https://business.financialpost.com/investing/market-moves/scotiabank-hikes-dividend-as-profit-rises-five-per-cent-on-gains-in-foreign-banking"%5D
Bank of Nova Scotia beat analyst estimates with first quarter earnings, and raised the quarterly dividend by nearly three per cent
Bank of Nova Scotia, the last to report for the period ending Jan. 31, beat analyst estimates by a couple of cents with the results released Tuesday.
Like Toronto-Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce before it, Canada's third-largest bank raised the quarterly dividend to be paid to shareholders. Scotia boosted the dividend nearly three per cent to 72 cents a share.
Despite a quarter described as solid by financial analysts, Scotia executives followed other bank officials by acknowledging a less pretty picture for clients hit by the plummeting price of oil.
Canadian banks are beginning to see the impact of the oil rut in their corporate lending books and in their consumer loan portfolios. Pockets of unsecured lending, including credit card debt and some auto loans, are expected to be the hardest hit with the unemployment rate in Alberta now above the national average.
The amount of money Scotia set aside in credit loss provisions rose to $539 million the first quarter, up from $463 million a year ago, with the increase driven mainly by higher provisions in the oil and gas sector and in the Canadian retail portfolio.
Impaired loans in the oil and gas portfolio doubled from the previous quarter to $336 million, and executives said about five per cent of energy loans are on a "watch list," which Scotia's chief financial officer Sean McGuckin characterized as an early warning system for potential defaults.
Loans on this list could return to the "fully performing" list if conditions improve or steps are taken to reduce the bank's exposure to losses, he said in an interview with the Financial Post.
Scotia's chief risk officer Stephen Hart said low oil prices are causing more energy companies to trip covenants on their loans, leading to negotiations with the bank.
"Just because someone trips a covenant doesn't mean they're seconds away from default," he explained on a morning conference call with analysts. Negotiations are aimed at improving the position of the bank to ultimately recover funds, whatever the outcome is for the borrower.Despite the ongoing energy issues, Scotia reported an uptick in overall profits in the first quarter.
Net income rose to $1.81 billion ($1.43 a share), from $1.73 billion ($1.35) a year earlier.
An expansion of domestic margins allowed the bank to "earn through the energy provisions," John Aiken, an analyst at Barclays Capital, said in a note to clients.
Excluding an item related to amortization, Scotia said the earnings came in at $1.44 a share, beating the consensus analyst estimate of $1.42.
"At first blush, the results appear to be reasonably clean, with the acquisition of JPM's (JP Morgan) credit card portfolio adding a penny to earnings and helping to increase domestic retail margins," Aiken wrote.
McGuckin said credit card delinquencies are rising in Alberta, but improvements across the rest of the country more than offset the trend in the first quarter.
Alberta represents about 15 per cent of Scotia's Canadian loan book, with unsecured exposures of roughly $2.5 billion, according to Peter Routledge, an analyst at National Bank Financial.
On the corporate side, Routledge said it makes sense for Scotia to be working with oil and gas companies, easing covenants, for example, in exchange for a lower loan commitment, better security, or a better price for the bank.
"A bank has a far better chance of getting repaid on its Oil & Gas loans in full if a borrower continues to operate, as opposed to a decision to force a borrower into bankruptcy in order to seize the collateral for ultimate resale," he said in a note to clients.
"A decision to ease covenant restrictions in return for a lower commitment, for example, will lower the bank's ultimate risk in return for providing the client with more financial flexibility," Routledge wrote. "This decision may well keep a client in going concern status and, thereby, lower the probability of default on that loan."


text:
Some simple tips for you to get home safe in the winter:
• If you hit a glossy area of ice or snow, pump your brakes and turn the steering wheel in the same direction the car is skidding in. For example, if the car is drifting right, turn the wheel to the right in order to stay in a straight line. (This does not be appropriate to anti-lock brakes, which should not be pumped ever.)
• Keep your headlights at all times to ensure the upper limit of visibility.
• Never ever don't use cruise control in below-freezing temperatures. Why? Because cruise control can slow reaction time if you come across risky circumstances. (You should also avoid overdrive.
• Drive a little bit more slowly. Driving like a mad man in a hurry, around sharp corners makes a car difficult to control under the best circumstances; adding snow or sleet to the equation can spell car collision. When visibility is down and road conditions are poor, it's better to take your time and get to your destination in one piece.
• Leave plenty of room in front of your car for emergency stops; even when driving slowly accidents can occur.
Don't forget to take make all the preparations that can be done at your mechanic.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hello! I'm intrigued by the Status plugin, and I'm wondering if it would help my less-tech-savvy clients with updates.
I activated it on one of my sites last night to experiment for myself. Perhaps it was because I was up late, but I was having trouble making sense of everything.
My main question is, Can I use Status to create a normal WP post, or does it have to stand outside the loop?
Is there any kind of tutorial available?


text:
Captain Planet Meets Darth Vader
For aficionados of George Lucas' Star Wars series of films, Rogue One is the long-awaited missing link between the several installments that preceded and post-ceded the original 1970's Luke Skywalker film. In Rogue One we finally get to see the personal and political layout just before the original Star Wars film began. For loyal fans, anything short of a cheaply done installment will suffice. For newbies, curiosity may lead them to forgive the same. For the indifferent, given the hype surrounding the landmark film series, nothing less than a perfect production will do.
I'll put it this way—Rogue One is as advanced and technically state-of-the-art as the limited story line can allow. Gritty and action-filled, the panoramic vistas of planets and their destruction at the hands of the lunar craft Death Star are stunning in their beauty and detail and alone worth the price of admission even if you cannot finagle a discount as I did. Unfortunately, however, there still remains no explanation of what the heck The Force actually is. Will-To-Power? Mushrooms? Hypnosis? Transcendental Meditation? A figment of Maharishi Yoda's dream? Or of how the swarms of flying vehicles and spaceships actually manage to avoid the grip of gravity, Rogue One making only a casual reference to "hyperspace," and none whatsoever to light-years, seemingly a rather important bit of information for those impressionable viewers who may conclude that porting from world to world is an easy matter or that flying through airless space creates sonic booms.
The story fails in other important ways. For instance, the robots aren't cute and what they say isn't funny. I never thought I would confess to missing cute robots in any story line, but in Rogue One's gloomy atmosphere and darkened stage-sets, a brightly colored funny robot would have brought enormous relief from the movie's dull plot. The characters are studiously constructed mass-market Hollywood stereotypes, devoid of interest or credibility, with as much depth as cellophane. The Bad Guys all have English accents while the Good Guys speak American, a device that was old when Kirk Douglas starred in Spartacus in 1960. Moreover, the Bad Guys are all white males, while the Good Guys have no white males at all, but are "Diverse" as only Hollywood comprehends the term, including a Mexican, an Arab, a South Pacific Islander, an American black guy, and Jyn, the unavoidable, ever-present, educated-to-near-genius-level despite being raised as an orphan young woman with a sword, a yawningly stock figure in Hollywood movies ever since the 1950's and seemingly immune to reality updates.
The only white male among the Good Guys is Jyn's father—who, predictably, falls immediately into the stock character reserved for white males in today's politically correct Hollywood plots that suffer from blockbuster-itis: he is morally flawed as all white males are presumed to be and goes back to work for the Bad Guys, only belatedly realizing that he has compromised his integrity before finally undergoing a deathbed conversion back to Virtue after a tongue-lashing by his morally superior daughter Jyn, who—true to her profoundly uninteresting stick-action-figure character—lectures him (and the rest of the Good Guys) on how to be morally upright, her female character's moral superiority to men being another de rigueur requirement of any sword-wielding woman in Hollywood's endless belching of the latest "original" epic-of-the-year. The Diversity of the Good Guys, again utterly predictably, doesn't include men giving orders to any woman, but on the contrary the men all take orders from a female Commander. Apparently in matriarchal Hollywood, Diversity only extends to appearance and identity, not to social organization, morality, or thought, which all prior centuries perceived were infinitely varied in custom and belief, but which this century alone crawls into Safe Spaces to avoid acknowledging.
There are more issues with the characters. Who could have guessed that Lucas would drag out of the dust-bin of tired plots a blind monk who sees better than any and kicks ass with a staff? Be still my flat-lining pulse. Who else than Hollywood would have the nerve to inflict such a hackneyed character on an innocent and trusting public? I could almost swear I heard the monk utter "grasshopper" several times. This blunder matches the black guy who sacrifices himself for the others, another characterization that was tired and cliched 50 years ago in Star Trek episodes, et al. A sacrificial black guy… Really? You've got to be kidding me. Forest Whitaker's excellent performance cannot save the doom that Lucas lowered on his role like a politicized IRS audit.
Some elements of the movie are simply disturbing in what they suggest about today's Hollywood mentality. The Imperial Storm troopers patrol a desert kingdom called Jeda, which reminds of the City of Jedda in Saudi Arabia (did some Saudi billionaire help finance the movie, and that was part of the deal?), and reminds of American troops patrolling Iraqi and Afghan cities, complete with tanks and air strikes. The heroic Rebels, on the other hand, dress and act like Taliban and other Muslim terrorists, suggesting a thinly veiled condemnation of American Middle Eastern policy, and the current peculiar alliance of Hollywood with Muslim terrorism, clothing the latter in trendy Hollywood myopic Progressivism.
The splicing in of clips of the late Peter Cushing overlaid with CGI is also disturbing. His digital transformation should be an alert to everyone of the imminent possibility of political figures being subjected to "fake news" of highly publicized misconduct that never in fact occurred. Are we about to witness the media breathlessly airing "breaking news" of video clips of a President assassinating someone in broad daylight while the real President is actually sitting in his office? This is what the Cushing clips in Rogue One portend. Perhaps we are not quite there—the final clip of Princess Leia is not in the least believable but shouts uncanny valley.
Last item is the subliminal symbolism in Rogue One. The Rebels sport red, the color of life. The leaders of both sides are black where Power matters, but the Storm Troopers are white—the color of death. Jyn taking refuge in a cave establishes her as an Earth Goddess, while Darth Vader, coming from the stars, in fact inhabiting a fake one (the Death Star), is the eponymous male Sky God, by its association with Industrialism pure evil. The Rebels' home planet has pre-Columbian temples solidly attached to earth, signaling their identification with the Planet, the religion of Environmentalism, and Faith, while standing in opposition to the faithless Scientism of the Death Star and its faceless occupants who represent male-oriented Industrialism Gone Wild.
Devoid of suspense and originality, Rogue One is in the end merely a rerun of a Captain Planet cartoon, with an unlikely Jyn as the Captain. Fine for fans and techno-voyeurs, but tedious in the extreme for anyone hoping for mature fare. —Glenn Lazar Roberts for SiriusReviews.com.


text:
Law Dork @ Ohio State has this post on what he went through to apply for federal judge clerkships.
I don't know anything about this any more, but I know better now than I knew when I was in law school that the best thing in the world is a federal judge clerkship, especially for a district court judge. My clerkship was sort of like high school or college - a relatively short period of time, of which many, many tales have been told. A few years back, I gave a little speech about my judge, and how working for him has affected me, and I finished with these words (at the risk of quoting myself, yet again):
"The author Scott Turow in one of his lawyer books has a character, a woman, describe the relationship between a lawyer and the judge for whom he or she clerked, and she said that just as a race horse is always known by its sire and dam, the lawyer is known by his or her judge. Like that character in the book, it is my proudest heritage in the law, that I will be known always as a Judge Williams clerk."


text:
South & South West
At Matthews we offer executive coach travel for golf groups throughout Ireland. By liaising with IGTOA members that special break can be created to include hotels, meals and greenfees which are tailored to suit you and your group's specific requirements. The South of Ireland is a haven for World renowned links and parkland courses. Choose between the fabulous links courses of Waterville, Dooks, Tralee, Doonbeg, Lahinch, The Old Head Kinsale, Adare Manor or the Irish Open hosting Killarney Golf & Fishing resort. The South is truly an area filled with beauty, culture and heritage and is a must visit for any golf trip to Ireland. This is a part of the country that must be seen to be believed. Why not combine your golf trip with a tour of The Burren, Cliffs of Moher or The Ring of Kerry.
Visit our Tour Planner section, tell us what you require and let us design your perfect golf trip.
Price on request
Courses Included: Shannon, Lahinch Old, Dingle, Tralee, Waterville, Ballybunion - Old, Adare, Dromoland, Doonbeg, Beaufort, Dooks, Lackaban, Killarney Killeen, Ballybunion Cashen, Killarney Mahonys Point, Ring Of Kerry, Old Head Kinsale, Fota Island, Cork, Old Head, Monkstown, Douglas, Lee Valley, Kinsale, Bandon, Macroom, Bantry Bay.
Call: +353 42 9378188 Lo-Call: 1890 25 20 40
Golf Manager: Damian Keenan E: email@example.com


text:
This mockumentary tv show was hilariously aware of itself and the result is pure entertainment! I don't think this is for everyone, but I found myself laughing at more than a few situations. The kid making the documentary is not my favorite lead, but Jimmy Tatro is as hilarious and engaging as ever. This show is obviously not taking itself serious, so neither should you! If you don't enjoy the first episode, I wouldn't keep watching. The rest of the series is more of the same, but if you do like it, have fun! Happy watching.
All posts for the month September, 2017
This mystery, sci-fi movie literally blew me away! I was on the edge of my seat for about 75% of the time. Typical alien movies are basically monster movies, but Arrival flips the norm and delivers a much different perspective. Instead of an action thriller, it's more suspenseful, but it builds up beautifully. The alien lifeforms are intelligent, but our protagonists are also intelligent. Amy Adams' performance was fantastic and all of her interactions with the aliens are phenomenal. This movie plays with time in a way I've never seen before and I loved it! Can't recommend this movie enough!
Most of my reviews so far have been from movies I've seen several times. If not several times, I've at least been able to enjoy them from the comfort of my own living room. For new releases, I find that it's helpful to come home from the theater and either talk about the film at length or write a short phrase or synopsis to better remember it. I'm glad, however, that I did not do that with this movie. I watched "mother!" several days ago, and if I wrote a review that same night, it would be completely different than the one I'm about to write now. See, my first reaction to this movie was that I hated it. Not "didn't like it that much" or "wasn't for me", but I seriously did not enjoy it at all. Halfway through the movie I was ready to walk out, that's how unbelievably stressful this movie was. Not only stressful, but confusing too. This movie has no plot, and Javier Bardem's character is catalyzing everything, but his motivations are unclear/nonexistent. Since then, I've learned that this movie is a metaphor for the book of Genesis in the Bible. I honestly love this concept, but I wish the movie itself made this a bit clearer. There are subtle hints (very subtle), but the few lines of dialogue are too broad to draw any sort of conclusion. Jennifer Lawrence plays mother nature, so spoiler alert, it doesn't turn out well for her. Understanding what the film is based on makes me like it more, but I think a film should stand on it's own, without requiring internet research.
After taking a step back and a deep breath, it's hard to deny the talent behind the camera. Darren Aronofsky does a brilliant job showing us every little detail about the house, the only setting in the entire movie. And although I was very stressed toward the end, the effects and the scenes were visually stunning. I still can't point to any one scene and say "That was good, I liked that." Which is kind of an issue for me, but maybe that says less about the movie, and more about the Bible. Either way, good or bad, I cannot stop thinking about this movie. I don't think any review can prepare you for the madness, but this movie is worth watching for the after discussion alone. Happy Watching!
IT was a truly terrifying remake… Good terrifying. With horror movies generally lacking substance these days, Andy Muschietti delivers a powerful film with a lot (A LOT) to chew on. I'm usually not keen on child actors, but all of the children in this movie are directed so perfectly, by the end of the movie, I felt like I knew all 6! It's difficult for most horror movies to develop more than 2 or 3 characters, but I think, in time, we're going to look back on this movie as a road map to the future of scary movies. I hope so anyways, because although I was frightened several times throughout the film, I genuinely enjoyed the ride. On the edge of my seat, even. Bill Skarsgard's performance as Pennywise is the only reason you need to watch this, but you'll be glad you did. Happy Watching.
"You'll float, too!"
It's clear to see the talent behind the camera in this film. Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio team up for the first time, and the result is exactly as good as it sounds. Daniel Day-Lewis' character is terrifying, but extremely watchable. Solid acting and directing makes Gangs of New York an achievement of a film. It's a long movie, grab a popcorn. Happy watching.
I wouldn't normally describe any movie as "perfect", but after my most recent viewing of James Cameron's Titanic, I'll have to change that rule. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet have the sort of chemistry that other on-screen couples can only dream of achieving. That's impressive by itself, but the rest of the movie is shot so beautifully, you might forget this movie is 3 hours long! The only VHS I can remember that needed 2 separate tapes! It's ironic, because what I found particularly interesting on this repeat viewing was the fact that you could look at Titanic as 2 completely separate movies. The first half is a romantic drama, telling the age-old story of forbidden love. The second half, however, is an action thriller. Once the Titanic hits the iceberg and the ship begins to sink, the movie becomes about survival. And because of the blossoming love we witnessed in the first half of the film, the gravity of the situation is only heightened. I've seen the movie at least 10 times, and even thought I know how it ends, it doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the film. The journey that James Cameron takes us on is beautifully inspired and I can't recommend this movie enough. I'm not crying, you're crying! Happy watching.
"I'm the king of the world!"
If you haven't seen this movie before, you might think it's overrated, but I can assure you it is not. This "coming of age" movie pulled me in right away and was a blast to watch! Robin Williams teaching poetry and mentoring a small group of boys doesn't necessarily sound like a movie you "have" to see, but this film is executed so beautifully that it is. There is a hint of nostalgia I get from some of the classroom scenes, although this was years before my time. I could have swore I was watching young children at the beginning of this movie, but along the way it's clear to see that these boys are actually young adults. And Robin Williams is there to guide them and us through their journey. There is a fantastic scene where Ethan Hawke adlibs a poem in front of the classroom with the support of Robin Williams and it's tearjerkingly satisfying. I honestly can't say enough great things about this movie. I'm surprised it's only rated 8/10 stars on IMDb. This is a must see. Happy Watching.
"O Captain! My Captain!"


text:
Getting the first online teaching job might seem more than intimidating. If you are still new in the field of teaching or barely a graduate, an online teaching job might feel like a far-fetched dream. However, securing the first job may be the actual hard nut, but once you get through it, you won't have to contemplate as much when you apply for other promising teaching related jobs in future. However, there are a bunch of hearsay things about teaching jobs that you should avoid to prevent yourself from bothering unnecessarily.
Here are some of the common myths:
- You cannot expect an online teaching job if you have no prior experiences in your bag
- You need a doctoral degree in your resume to get an online teaching job
Certain special qualities such as having played as a guest lecturer at a local college, to have played the leader at your workplace and to have taught others regarding technologies, to have devised a course or to have expertise on a new software can replace the space of prior experiences on your resume.
Both are just baseless myths. There have been many instances where teachers with masters degree have been hired for good job positions. Some job positions specifically mention the need for doctorates but it does not matter that much, since teachers with master's degree end up getting some of the positions. So, the underlying fact is that you should apply for all possible teaching jobs without any sort of filtrations. It is very obvious that a doctorate degree will make it more probable for you to get a particular job or you might be offered with a vast array of job opportunities. But, along with this truth another truth prevails, that is, a doctorate degree is not the sole criteria on the basis of which the employers will select or reject you. Let it not demotivate you and get you dejected from applying and trying for numerous teaching jobs. If you apply for around 120 jobs, you have the probability of securing one job at least. However, it cannot be estimated how long you have to wait after applying for a job. It depends a bit on the luck factor and a bit on your discipline. If your discipline is more specialized or a bit exclusive, you have the probability of getting a job faster. No matter what, you need to be patient and go on applying for jobs. Also, it would be beneficial for you to focus on getting your educator package completed.
The educator package is crucial for your job interview. It comprises of your resume, 3 letters of recommendations, a cover letter, unofficial transcripts, your statement of teaching philosophy both in the CV and as a separate file, and 3 references in your CV as well as in a file separately. Creating your educator package is the step that you need to take before applying for a job. You need to make sure that the package is genuine and authentic. There can be multiple parts in your teaching philosophy, but make sure it has at least 2 parts. You can reflect upon your teaching ideologies in the first part.
The major questions that should be covered are:
- Why education plays a significant role in your life?
- What is your purpose of teaching?
- What are your qualifications to prove your credibility as a teacher?
- What are your tactics of keeping the students engrossed?
The second part might contain the answer to the question:
- How would you implement your teaching ideas to make your methods more effective?
A teacher with the genuine intent of helping his or her students can always be a phenomenal teacher, whether offline or online. However, there are certain smart tips to follow, when it comes to online teaching:
- Building a great rapport with students
Students tend to share everything with their peers. So, if teachers built a relation with students where the students are free enough to share even their shortcomings openly, half of the job is done. Teachers should always be on the lookout to provide a helping hand to the students that makes the students rely on their teachers, and focus more on their studies.
- Devoting extra time
Students should be made aware that online course has to be treated with great seriousness. Same applies for teachers as well. This is no shortcut to gaining teaching experience. In fact, extra hours have to be contributed to understand the course themselves.
- A genuine feedback is a must
Assessments should always by followed by proper feed backs to the students on individual basis, since it is an online course. Many students feed on their teacher's remarks to improve themselves and even to get their sense of capability reinforced.
The teacher should also be sensitive to the student's needs or concerns and should always seek out for solutions on a positive note, for the student.
- Communication with students
Many tools are provided by online schools to facilitate potential communication with students, such as discussion forums, live sessions or privatized emails. You have to experiment as to which of these works the best and draw a conclusion.
- Do not treat it as any other 9 to 5 Job
Students can crave for your helping hand in critical times, even at your "off " hours. Without your guidance at the proper time, they might lose confidence. So, you might have to sacrifice your personal time or extend your working hours during crucial times, in order to fulfill your responsibility as the student's angel.
- Get immersed into the course management
Actively participate in reviewing assignment submissions or setting gentle reminders for students for deadlines.
- Establishing a scheduled procedure
There should be an element of repetition to their style of handling the course. Students will have a clear idea as to what is expected of them and this will help them to create their personal schedules for upcoming weeks. This specific pattern will help students in developing their time management skills.
- Plan for emergencies beforehand
Online teachers plan out to keep students aware of even subtle changes to the common pattern being followed. They might even appoint a person for emergency situations, such as if they face health issues or, if the website gets non-functional for a while or if some tools do not work. Students should be kept updated.
- Be mindful when writing to students
In the world of online learning, where there are no face to face interactions, it is very important to be mindful while conversing with students, or sending them messages via mail. Any kind of harsh tone or derogatory remarks should be avoided. You should remember that your remarks can make or break them, so you need to be extra conscious and considerate.
- Flawless course materials
It is your duty to make sure that the course material is flawless, that is, the contents should have the attributes of systems performance, proper instructional design and precision. The course material should always be of a superior quality and content.
- Understanding the student's needs on a personal basis
You need to be sensitive to the student needs, and that too on an individual basis, unlike in traditional classrooms. Only then can you come up with personalized solutions for each one of your students.
- Keeping students motivated and attentive
Encouraging students to speak their minds or collaborative assignment works captivates the minds of the students, much contrary to monotonous lectures.
- Encouraging students to give their feedback
Allowing students to give feedback early in the course can be beneficial to the teachers and to bring about necessary changes to make their teaching pattern more effective.
- Making the students aware of the course expectations
This step should be taken at the beginning of the course itself. Students should be informed as to how many assignments they need to submit on a weekly basis, how important are group activities and that quizzes are also to be treated with seriousness.
- Making effective use of the tools
The online school provides many useful tools that you should be aware of first and foremost. You should have a comprehensive knowledge of the tools and the entire online platform right from the start of the course and only then can you teach the students about the tricks and intricacies of using the various tools. Tools such as chat rooms or programs pertaining to quizzes can be used throughout the course to make it more interactive and engaging for students from time to time.
- Be ready to make amendments in your course materials as per student's needs
The beauty of online schools are that the students are not forced to adhere to any set-up coursework. You need to bring changes to your lessons, in case, a particular student needs more details on a particular topic.
The most essential point to keep in mind is that students should never feel alone while taking online courses as it might scare them off. There are no face to face interactions, so if there is not enough communication between teachers and students, online courses will never work for students. They need constant mental support at all the stages to feel your presence beside them. Online teaching is a great responsibility, yet it can give you a great sense of achievement, especially when you make a difference in a student's life without even meeting him or her face to face.


text:
Nacho's with melted cheese, chilli & sh*t
Tortilla chips - extra thick - 1 14-oz bag
Refried beans - 2-3 cups
Cheddar Cheese - 1/2 lb, grated, about 3 cups
Pickled jalapeno peppers - 4 peppers, sliced
Sour cream
Cilantro, chopped (I'm so fckn American)
Prep. Time → 15 min
Cook Time → 15 min
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Arrange a layer of tortilla chips along the bottom of a wide, shallow baking pan. It will make things easier if this baking pan also can be used as a serving pan, such as the ceramic platter shown in the photo above. The layer of tortilla chips can be a couple chips thick.
2. Spread the refried beans over the chips (this is why you need extra thick chips, so they don't break when encountering the beans). Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top of chips and beans. Sprinkle slices of jalapeño peppers over the cheese. Bake in oven for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. 5 minutes in a convection oven.
3. Serve with dollops of salsa, sour cream and guacamole, with chopped cilantro sprinkled on top.
4. Serves 8.
side dishes, nachos May 30, 2012 08:24
Author Mario De'Cristofano


text:
From original design concept submitted for a grant, Swajal has spent almost a decade refining and innovating Water ATM product. Today, the concept of distributed Water ATM systems have proliferated to tens of thousands of Water ATM across many countries.
IoT based remote monitoring on cloud platform. Remotely manage, update and repair each system.
Solar ready system to allow for energy independence from unreliable grid for continuous water supply.
RFID based smart card system, coin acceptor and mobile wallet compatibility with PayTM, BHIM and other mobile wallets.
Ultra Fast installation
Each component is modular and can be installed as much as 4X faster as regular installation of system.
Energy Efficient
Built to ensure energy efficiency throughout the system. As much as 60% more efficient.
User Interface
LCD touch panel for end user (optional), LCD panel for parameter display and LCD panel for operator of the system.
User Interface
Secure Access
Storage backup
Date logger
Over the air updates
Smart Algorithms
Control Panel for Water ATM
For us one of the most important part of a Water ATM is the driver, the brain behind it. Which is why we have learned from our experience to create our own brain behind it. Each unit water vending machine typically has three control panels, dispensing, water treatment and logger. All three of the control panels then connect to our central system that connects to IoT platform and communicates over the cloud.
Imagine, you need to change the amount to be charged for 1 liter of water? With Swajal Water ATM, you can change each machine remotely.
Security is an important aspect to each . We have devised multiple layers and 2 step authentication with OTP to ensure that any change is authenticated. Also, each modification in control panel is documented in an audit log on server.
Remote Monitoring System, IoT
Why IoT?
At Swajal, we stay at the forefront of innovation and technology. We are using the power of cloud to our advantage. Our Water ATM has a proprietary award winning IoT platform that our R&D team built from the ground up. We leverage AI and Machine Learning to run predictive maintenance algorithms that enables us to predict system failure even before it happens.
The IoT alerting platform, alerts on certain parameters. Even a slightest change from expected normal gets documented.
End to end manufacturing
We manufacture the end to end from control panel to software. Tight control on manufacturing allows us to innovate and increase efficiency of the system.
Franchise Opportunities
Become part of Swajal Water ATM network as a franchise or channel partner. Become a social entrepreneur with great financial as well as social returns.Franchise
Where are our Water ATM installed?
Swajal Water ATM have a wide range of applications. From disaster relief mobile water unit to industrial applications for hospitals and schools. Each of our water franchise partner also uses a Swajal Water ATM. We have systems installed in Railway Stations, Metro Stations, Hospitals, Schools, Universities, Apartments, Cities (Municipalities), Franchise, Slums, Villages and more. The versatility of our Water ATM enables multiple applications.


text:
Welcome to the team Jen!
As some of you may know, my family has doubled in size over the past 11 months & we have adopted 2 baby girls – welcome home Nola & Brynn!
Being a new mom is a ton of fun but it has definitely taken time away from running Pigeon Post. I want to make sure my business runs smoothly & I am giving my clients the service they expect, so I am very excited to announce that I have brought someone on to help me do that while I hang out with my girls for the next few months on mat leave.
Jennifer Batstone will be working with PPMI in the role of Community Manager. In her role, Jen will be taking on a majority of the day to day tasks, including managing many of our existing client's social media profiles. Jen can be reached at email@example.com or on twitter @JenniferBatston . I will still be available for any questions, concerns or inquiries so please feel free to continue to reach out to me at firstname.lastname@example.com or @pigeonpostmedia on twitter.
Welcome to Pigeon Post Jen, we are very happy to have you on-board!


text:
1 - Goring
2 - Into The Woods
3 - Daisy Ridley / Rey
4 - Midweek Mammal - British Shorthair
5 - Top Tips for a Happy Life #12
Steph :)
Steph! Hello!
I just had to comment and tell you how much I love your blog, you creative old hat, you. Haven't stumbled across such a good one in ages. Especially love the 'Tips for a happy life' and the arrangement of the quotes you do. So artistic as always, good to see nothing much has changed in that respect!
Anyway keep on blogging, I think I am your new no.1 fan. Not in a weird way. I'm not a stalker...promise! I literally made one of these google account thingies to leave this comment and tell you how enthusiastic I am about bearandcrocodile... I can almost hear you laughing at my groupie-like keeno insanity, but as is life!
Hope you're well, keep up the good work
Lotsa love, Gee :) xxxx


text:
A North East health trust is investing millions of pounds to improve the road infrastructure around a new emergency hospital.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is spending £3.8m to enhance traffic flows around the new Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington, Northumberland.
Roadworks costing £1.3m will start at the Moor Farm roundabout next week and will be completed by November this year. Paul Brayson, project director for the building of the new hospital, said: "These schemes represent a very significant investment into the local road infrastructure as well as the local economy and have been designed to make the roads safer and more efficient for residents in the area."
The works follow the first phase of traffic improvements in the area that were completed in East Cramlington earlier this year.
It includes the realignment of the southbound slip road off the A189 into East Cramlington to a new roundabout at the entrance to the new hospital site together with the installation of traffic lights and road improvements at the junction of Lamb Street and Front Street.
Northumbria Healthcare has invested £2.5m in these works, bringing the total investment in road works in the area to £3.8m.
The money is part of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust's £200m investment in healthcare for the 500,000 people who live in North Tyneside and Northumberland.
The new hospital is expected to open in 2015 and will be the first dedicated emergency care facility with emergency care specialists working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Specialists in a broad range of conditions will be on call through the night to treat patients referred to them from life-saving treatment.
Work on the new road layout will take place during the day between 8am and 4pm, and overnight between 8pm and 6am. During the day two lanes will remain open to traffic.
Lane closures and full closures will be required on the A19 eastbound and westbound approaches to the roundabout. Speed limits of 50mph will also be in place.
Shaun Cullumbine, Highways Agency project manager said: "This scheme is designed to increase the capacity at the junction in order to accommodate increased traffic flows associated with the new hospital facility. The work will reduce congestion and improve safety at Moor Farm Roundabout.
"During the work we advise road users to plan their journeys to avoid delays. For the safety of road users and road workers we encourage all drivers to drive carefully along the diversion route, keeping within the speed limit, and concentrating on the road ahead."
During the closures signed diversion routes will be in place. Local traffic wishing to travel eastbound on the A19 using Moor Farm Roundabout will be diverted to / from the A19 via the Dudley Lane junction on the A1171 to Moor Farm.


text:
- Richard Feynman -
Database:Adding constraints to prevent garbage data
- 1 Meta
- 2 MariaDB difference warning!
- 3 Constraints
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.2 Foreign key constraints
- 3.3 Using a check constraint for validating dates in SQLite3
- 3.4 Force integer values to INTEGER columns
- 3.5 Certain text formats using GLOB
- 3.6 Naming a constraint for better error messages
- 3.7 Not accepting NULL
- 3.8 Force a column to have unique values in the table
- 4 Videos
- 5 Links
- 6 Work in progress
Expand using link to the right to see the meta section with instructor's notes.
This topic deals with adding constraints to columns when creating a table. The constraints restrict the allowed values for the column, in order to prevent us from inserting junk data into the table.
Expect the main lecture on constraints to take 25-30 minutes. As usual, we recommend that you read the online text, see the video lecture and review the exercises before giving this lecture.
If you go for also the optional extra lecture, expect it to take around 10 minutes but prepare some tables as a proof of concept and show it live after the lecture.
Topics addressed or used in the online exercises
- FOREIGN KEY constraints
- CHECK constraints (including checks for well-formed dates)
- The functions STRFTIME and DATETIME
- Constraint failure error messages
- Using the IN operator for explicit enum-like constraints
- The optional extra lecture shows an alternative approach
- NOT NULL constraints
- UNIQUE constraints
- Globbing using the GLOB function
- Also basic globbing in bash, which uses the same syntax
- Check-your-progress questions with answers on a different page
Think about
- This lecture uses syntax and constructs that are specific to SQLite3 - Other DBMSes have a different syntax and often more types of constraints
- Explain that a key can be a foreign key without a constraint (as we have seen in the lecture about JOIN). The FOREIGN KEY constraint is only a tool to ensure consistency so that we can guarantee that a foreign key refers to an existing row in the foreign table
- Globbing can be done either using the GLOB function or the GLOB infix operator
- The order of the glob expression and the string to be tested are different between the function and operator - this is confusing to students (and the authors!)
- A colum with a PRIMARY KEY modifier gets the UNIQUE constraint implicitly
- This does not mean that PRIMARY KEY is a constraint - it is a modifier which includes the UNIQUE constraint
- There are many use cases for UNIQUE constraints for columns which are not primary keys
- Using a CHECK constraint for testing date well-formedness is rather compicated in SQLite compared to other DBMSes that are more strongly typed. SQLite accepts basically anything as the value for a column of type DATETIME. Make sure you read up on how to do the check using the strftime and datetime functions, so that you can explain this to the students (even if we think they will learn it hands-on in the online exercises)
- One way to create a kind of ENUM-like construct in SQLite is shown in the optional extra lecture. Prepare some tables which demonstrate this in action and show it live, if you opt to give also the extra lecture.
MariaDB difference warning!
The syntax in this chapter differs a lot from the syntax used in MariaDB. The syntax in this chapter works for SQLite3. If you want to see how you can do constraints in MariaDB, please see This page
Unless otherwise specified, this chapter uses syntax and functionality of SQLite3. This chapter starts with some theory and examples. Then we link the lecture (as videos and PDF). After this chapter, move on to the next with exercises.
This chapter deals with adding constraints to columns when creating a table. The constraints restricts the allowed values for the column, in order to prevent us from inserting junk data into the table. See the videos, read the PDF, check out the external links for further readin and head on to the exercises in the next chapter.
Foreign key constraints
The purpose of foreign key constraints is to ensure referential integrity, which is to say that a foreign key in a table can only contain values that really exist in the referred table.
Consider the following tables:
CREATE TABLE artist(a_id integer primary key, a_name text);
CREATE TABLE track(t_id integer, t_name text, a_id);
The idea is to have the track table refer to the artist table by connecting rows on the
a_id column, so that a track in the
track table has a name and refers to an artist of the
artist table using the
a_id column.
For instance, we can have the following state of the database:
sqlite> SELECT t_name, a_name FROM track NATURAL JOIN artist;
t_name a_name
-------------------- --------------------
space oddity bowie
cortez the killer neil young
sqlite> SELECT * FROM artist;
a_id a_name
-------------------- --------------------
1 bowie
2 neil young
sqlite> SELECT * FROM track;
t_id t_name a_id
-------------------- -------------------- ----------
1 space oddity 1
2 cortez the killer 2
As you can see, the track table uses an
a_id for representing the track's artist, and that column obviously refers to the
artist table, so that a track with
a_id of 2, refers to "neil young" which is the row in
artist with an
a_id of 2.
But what happens if we INSERT a new row in
track with an
a_id of 3? There is no artist with such an
a_id in the
artist table. We will end up with an inconsistency. Referential integrity is lost.
The solution is to use a foreign key constraint which ensures that only such
a_id values are allowed in the
artist (referring) table that are present in the
artist
. In other words, we don't want to allow a track with a_id of 3, because there is no artist in the
artist table that has
a_id 3.
This is the syntax for the create table syntax for the
track table with a foreign key constraint:
CREATE TABLE track(t_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, t_name TEXT, a_id REFERENCES ARTIST);
However, in SQLite3, foreign key constraints are turned off (not enforced) by default, so we also need to turn them on (for every connection or session to the database):
sqlite> PRAGMA FOREIGN_KEYS=ON;
Now, if we try to insert a track with an invalid
a_id, we will get an error (which is what we want rather than creating an inconsistency):
sqlite> INSERT INTO track(t_name, a_id) VALUES('monkey stole my face', 3);
Error: FOREIGN KEY constraint failed
Foreign key constraints - advanced
In SQLite (and most other database mangement systems), there are ways to defer the enforcing of foreign key constraints.
Let's say we really want to add a track with name 'monkey stole my face' (which is a brilliant song, by the way) with an
a_id of 3, before we add the artist with
a_id 3. It is not a consistency as long as we remember to add the artist with
a_id 3, we are just doing it in the "wrong" order.
We can use transactions in combination with another pragma for this. If we start a new transaction, set foreign keys to deferred and insert the track before the artist, this can be done. Deferring the foreign key constraints means to wait with the validation until we commit the transaction. Here's what it would look like:
sqlite> BEGIN TRANSACTION;
sqlite> PRAGMA DEFER_FOREIGN_KEYS=ON;
sqlite> INSERT INTO track(t_name, a_id) VALUES('monkey stole my face', 3);
sqlite> INSERT INTO artist(a_name) VALUES('mighty boosh');
sqlite> COMMIT;
If you want foreign keys to work like the above (being deferrable by default), they you could have created the
track table as folows:
CREATE TABLE track(t_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, t_name TEXT, a_id REFERENCES artist DEFERRABLE INITIALLY DEFERRED);
Using deferrable foreign keys only works in a transaction. This is because doing two inserts as an atomic action requires a transaction.
Note: Deferring is an advance concept we include here for completeness. It's quite advanced for an introductory database course. Also, this section is specific to SQLite3. Look up the documentation if you are using a DBMS other than SQLite, in order to learn the rules and syntax for that DBMS.
Using a check constraint for validating dates in SQLite3
SQLite3 is very liberal when it comes to types. In fact, you can even put text (strings) into a column of type INTEGER (if it is not a primary key). So what about dates in columns of type DATETIME? It pretty much also suffer from this loose typing. But you can use the
CHECK function together with a date formatting function and the
DATETIME function. This is what such a constraint looks like in SQLite3:
CREATE TABLE authors(
authorid INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
name TEXT,
born DATETIME
born IS STRFTIME( '%Y-%m-%d', DATETIME(born) )
The way that works, is that we specify a dateformat for our dates. The format
%Y-%m-%d means YYYY-MM-DD as in for instance 2018-05-17. The function
STRFTIME takes a format string and date as arguments. We use the
DATETIME function takes a date string and tries to parse it to a date.
If we'd try to insert, e.g. "9/11/10", the constraint would do the following check:
- take 9/11/10 and convert it to a date (fails and returns null)
- convert the result of the above (NULL) to a string, using the format string '%Y-%m-%d' (fails - evaluates to NULL)
- compare the result to the string to be inserted "9/11/10" which also fails
The constraint let's us specify the exact input format of dates. Internally, the dates inserted (if valid according to our pattern) will be stored as dates, but only date strings compliant to our date format will be accepted. Another example:
We'll try to insert the date string '2018-05-17 07:30:00' (which is a string SQLite3 can parse into a date). However, the string doesn't match our specified date format (we didn't want the hour, minute and seconds part!). This will happen:
- Take "2018-05-17 07:30:00" and convert it do a date (works - we'll get the date 2018-05-17 07:30:00 back!)
- convert 2018-05-17 07:30:00 to a string, using our date format '%Y-%m-%d' - which returns '2018-05-17'
- compare the string '2018-05-17' to the original '2018-05-17 07:30:00' - which returns false
The check fails, since we got false back from the last step.
Force integer values to INTEGER columns
As we mentioned before, SQLite3 is very loosely typed and even accepts strings on columns whose type is INTEGER (if the column is not a primary key).
If we really want to only accept actual integer values in SQLite3 for columns whose type is
INTEGER, we need a constraint also for this.
This is what such a constraint could look like:
CREATE TABLE example (
column_name INTEGER CHECK(TYPEOF(column_name) = 'integer')
The result of trying to insert a string value to the
column_name column would result in the following error:
sqlite> INSERT INTO example VALUES(3);
sqlite> INSERT INTO example VALUES('Some text');
Error: CHECK constraint failed: example
Certain text formats using GLOB
You can use the
GLOB function (or operator) to create a constraint for checking that a text follows a GLOB pattern.
You can learn about the GLOB function and globbing in the exercises in the next chapter (follow the next-link at the end of this page).
Here's an example for a (not very complete) GLOB constraint for Swedish personal identification numbers:
CREATE TABLE person(id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
id_num TEXT CHECK( GLOB('[0-9][0-9][0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]', id_num) ));
The above requires six numbers followed by a hyphen followed by four numbers. In addition, the third number can only be 0 or 1 (the first number of the month needs to be 0 or 1 - there are no months whose number start with 2 (23 is not a valid month), the fifth number must be between 0 and 3 (the day number cannot start with e.g. 4 - day 48 doesn't exist).
The expression isn't complete since it would accept e.g.
001339-1234 (month 13, day 39), but you get the picture.
The brackets is the syntax for expressing one single character and all the valid characters as a list. That means
[abc] means "one character from the list 'a', 'b', 'c'". In order be more expressive, intervals of characters are allowed in the list (as long as they represent the orders of characters in the ascii table. So we could also say
[a-c] to express the same thing. We can also combine intervals:
[a-cf-g] meaning "one character from the list 'a', 'b', 'c', 'f', 'g'".
Naming a constraint for better error messages
Using the GLOB example above, we'd get an error message like this:
CREATE TABLE person(
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
id_num TEXT check(GLOB('[0-9][0-9][0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]', id_num)));
insert into person(id_num) values ('711144-0000');
Error: CHECK constraint failed: person
We could name the constraint for at better error message:
CREATE TABLE person(
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
id_num TEXT
constraint valid_id_num
CHECK(GLOB('[0-9][0-9][0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]', id_num))
INSERT INTO person(id_num) VALUES('711144-0000');
Error: CHECK constraint failed: valid_id_num
Not accepting NULL
If you insert data into a table and leave out a column and its value, the default behavior is that the row gets NULL as the value for the left out columns.
If you don't want to accept NULL for a column (meaning that the row always must have an actual value for a column), you just add a
NOT NULL constraint:
sqlite> CREATE TABLE beer(beer_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT NOT NULL);
sqlite> INSERT INTO beer(beer_id) VALUES(1);
Error: NOT NULL constraint failed: beer.name
Force a column to have unique values in the table
If you don't want to allow duplicate values for a column in your table, you can add a
UNIQUE constraint. Note that columns that are
PRIMARY KEY get this implicitly - primary keys are always unique in order to make sense.
sqlite> CREATE TABLE users(user_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
email TEXT UNIQUE,
user_name TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL);
sqlite> INSERT INTO users(email, user_name) VALUES('firstname.lastname@example.com', 'xrazor');
sqlite> INSERT INTO users(email, user_name) VALUES('firstname.lastname@example.com', 'xhesa'); --email must be UNIQUE
Error: UNIQUE constraint failed: users.email
sqlite> INSERT INTO users(email, user_name) VALUES('firstname.lastname@example.com', 'xrazor'); --name must be UNIQUE
Error: UNIQUE constraint failed: users.user_name
-- What if we leave out user_name? Then it will be set to NULL
sqlite> INSERT INTO users(email) VALUES('firstname.lastname@example.com'); --email must be UNIQUE and NOT NULL
Error: NOT NULL constraint failed: users.user_name
- Constraints - Begränsningsvillkor 1/2 (Swedish)
- Constraints - Begränsningsvillkor 2/2 (Swedish)
- Slides for the Constraints lecture (English PDF)
- Databases - enum (video/eng) - (English PDF)
Further reading
- SQLite manual - CREATE TABLE
- Databasteknik - integritet (Swedish)
- ZetCode - SQLite - Constraints
- TutorialsPoint - SQLite - Constraints
- SQLite manual Constraint syntax diagram
Where to go next
Next page contains Exercises on constraints
« Previous • Book TOC • Next »
Work in progress
Remove this section when the page is production ready.
- Record English version of the videos (medium priority)
Create PDF and video for the MariaDB triggers alternative (low priority)DONE!


text:
The CAL5000 is a passive device designed to help maintenance professionals verify the calibration of their leading vendor's electric motor test equipment. This device is of high value to companies that wish to self certify the performance of their electric motor test equipment. Technicians or engineers can quickly verify performance of their equipment versus this calibrated apparatus. It is intended to help avoid the shipment of expensive, sensitive test equipment, and is provided in a rugged transport shipment case, for its own periodic certification need.
This self contained device carries an array of traceable and certified calibrated resistance values. The values contained in the device enclosure are selected based upon those generally required for verification of several leading manufacturer's electric motor test equipment. The CAL5000 device carries an NIST traceable calibration certificate. A multi-vendor adapter test lead kit is furnished with the unit.
Cal5000 base unit includes: Cal5000, Digital Multimeter, Fluke 80k-40 HV probe used for Schleich Testers (Option could be available for other types of testers - Contact Us)


text:
WARNING: This story contains graphic language.
After releasing an extensive sit-down interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God, Kanye West appeared on Tuesday's episode of TMZ Live with founder Harvey Levin.
West began by defending his support of Donald Trump and his posting of a photo of himself on social media wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat.
The Life of Pablo rapper said he loves his "boy" Trump and added: "So many rappers love Trump, but then he get into office, and now they don't love him. Trump is one of rap's favorite people."
READ MORE: Kanye West posts open letter from his late mother's plastic surgeon, wants to 'start healing'
West then transitioned to the discussion of race, stating, "When you hear about slavery for 400 years, for 400 years? That sounds like a choice. Like, you were there for 400 years and there's all of y'all? It's like we're mentally imprisoned."
He continued: "I like the word 'imprisoned' because slavery goes too directly to the idea of blacks … so prison is something that unites us as one race. Blacks and whites being one race. That we're the human race."
WATCH BELOW: The latest on Kanye West
This caused Van Lathan, a TMZ employee, to speak up and voice his disapproval for West's "absence of thought."
"Kanye, you're entitled to your opinion, you're entitled to believe whatever you want but there is fact and real world, real life consequence behind everything that you just said. While you are making music and being an artist and living the life that you've earned by being a genius, the rest of us in society have to deal with these threats to our lives," Lathan said to West.
Lathan continued: "We have to deal with the marginalization that has come from the 400 years of slavery that you said for our people was a choice. Frankly, I'm disappointed, I'm appalled, and brother."
"I'm unbelievably hurt by the fact that you have morphed into something to me is not real," Lathan concluded.
West responded by approaching Lathan and saying, "I'm sorry I hurt you."
READ MORE: Kanye West backlash continues after rapper posts text messages with John Legend
Many people were shocked by West's remarks on TMZ Live.
Director Spike Lee took to Instagram to call out West, writing, "OUR Ancestors Did Not Choose To Be Stolen From Mother Africa. OUR Ancestors Did Not Choose To Be Ripped Of Our Religion, Language, Culture. OUR Ancestors Did Not Choose To Be Murdered, Lynched, Castrated, Raped, Burnt At The Stake, Families Sold Apart."
Lee's post continued: "OUR Ancestors Built This Country (On Land Stolen From The Native Americans) From The Ground Up Under The Institution Of SLAVERY. Where Is This Brother In The Picture Next To Me??? I Would Not Be Surprised If OUR Ancestors Are Not Pleased With Your Uneducated Comments. P.S. Your Retraction Does Not Undue The Harm You Cause To Our Beloved ANCESTORS. WAKE UP."
View this post on Instagram
"SLAVERY…A CHOICE"❓❓❓My Brother,OUR Ancestors Did Not Choose To Be Stolen From Mother Africa. OUR Ancestors Did Not Choose To Be Ripped Of Our Religion,Language,Culture. OUR Ancestors Did Not Choose To Be Murdered, Lynched,Castrated,Raped,Burnt At The Stake,Families Sold Apart. OUR Ancestors Built This Country (On Land Stolen From The Native Americans)From The Ground Up Under The Institution Of SLAVERY. Where Is This Brother In The Picture Next To Me❓❓❓I Would Not Be Surprised If OUR Ancestors Are Not Pleased With Your Uneducated Comments. P.S. Your Retraction Does Not Undue The Harm You Cause To Our Beloved ANCESTORS. WAKE UP.🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
Will.i.am took to Twitter to write, "@KanyeWest #slavery vs #prisons Reality: its not & never was by choice. This wickedness was done by force & strategic conditioning. & education deprivation is at the root. The fact that the USA builds prisons & not schools, is not our choice."
Tatyana Ali, who played Ashley Banks on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, wrote "Remember when we got a list of books to read over the summer? Could we all please send @KanyeWest a list? One suggestion: Slavery and Social Death by Orlando Patterson. Reading is fundamental. #KanyeInterview #SlaveryWasAChoice."
Musician Talib Kweli, wrote: "I will always have love for @kanyewest but bro out here putting targets on our backs. Slavery was not a choice."
Musician John Legend, who got into an exchange with West over his support for Trump last week, retweeted many people criticizing the rapper.
One of the tweets Legend included was from civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson, who wrote, "Kanye's rhetoric continues to fuel the racist right-wing folks who believe that black people are responsible for their oppression."
READ MORE: Stephen Colbert says Kanye West should change name to 'Kellyanne Kanye'
After receiving a great deal of backlash, West then turned to Twitter to clarify his comments about slavery.
"To make myself clear. Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will," he wrote.
West sent a follow-up tweet, saying, "My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved."
"They cut out out tongues so we couldn't communicate to each other. I will not allow my tongue to be cut," West wrote.
West also explained that he mentioned "400 years" of slavery, since slavery lasted 246 years.
"The reason why I brought up the 400 years point is because we can't be mentally imprisoned for another 400 years. We need free thought now. Even the statement was an example of free thought. It was just an idea."
READ MORE: Kanye West draws criticism for praising conservative activist Candace Owens
West hinted at the interview on Twitter earlier in the day, which teased that conservative commentator Candace Owens would be joining himself and Levin.
READ MORE: Kanye West admits he didn't vote but if he did, 'I would have voted Trump'
During his time at TMZ, West also revealed that his 2016 hospitalization —which was widely attributed to mental heath issues induced by exhaustion — was also due to struggling with an opioid addiction.
"I was drugged the f**k out, bro," he told TMZ's Levin, before standing up and shouting to the news room. "[…] Hey, everyone listen to this please! Two days before I was in the hospital, I was on opioids. I was addicted to opioids. I had plastic surgery because I was trying to look good for y'all."
West continued: "I got liposuction because I didn't want y'all to call me fat, like y'all called Rob at the wedding, and made him fly home before me and Kim got married. I didn't want y'all to call me fat, so I got liposuction, and they gave me opioids."
READ MORE: Kanye West reportedly suffering from memory loss following recent hospitalization
West went on to say that he was prescribed two pills a day and continued taking them through the Saint Pablo Tour. He said he decided to quit the drugs after one of his team members expressed concern.
"When he handed to me, he said, 'You know, this is used to kill genius.' Right, so I didn't take it," West revealed. "Two days later, I'm in the hospital. I was taking two pills a day at that time. When I left the hospital, how many pills you think I was given? Seven! I went from taking two pills to seven."
West also admitted he was high during his infamous visit to Trump Tower and during many of his controversial Twitter rants.
"So the reason why I dropped those tweets and everything, is because I was drugged the f**k out, bro. And I'm not drugged out ," he said. "These pills that they want me to take three of a day, I take one a week maybe — two a week. Y'all have me scared of myself, of my vision; so I took some pills so I wouldn't go to hospital and prove everyone right."
Watch Kanye West on TMZ Live in the video above.Follow @KatieScottNews
© 2018 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.