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I'm counting down the days until John is home from work with me. He now only has Monday to go, then we have a lovely FIVE weeks off together. The kids are due back at school in under two weeks, with Nick starting Pre-Prep. All the school books are covered and packed into the school bags (and hidden at the top of the tallest wardrobe in the house to stop the kids going through them all)!
Bubs is due also in just under two weeks.
Renovations have completely halted over the past two weeks with John back at work, so I am pretty keen to get stuck back into them and finally have a finished kitchen. I think I mainly just want to get everything packed back into the kitchen, rather than have bits and pieces stashed all over the house!!
I can't believe I haven't pulled my camera out at all this year! So unlike me!! I'm pretty sure that as soon as Baby is born, I'll be getting John to drag my equipment up to the hospital to get those first few days recorded. I'll have my Point & Shoot with me, but it just isn't the same.
So I have no photos to share, sorry. I just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking (as is Baby – lol). Take care.


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From GHER
We present here a few topics for an internship ("stage" in the French cursus).
The students would spend some time in our group working on a practical problem encountered in ocean sciences and the modelling of ocean currents, density fields etc.
For practical information once you have identified a topic and agreed with us on the period of the internship see administrative steps
Regional statistics using ARGO floats
For a specific region of the world ocean, the student will have to retrieve ARGO float data and provide statitics such as average vertical profiles and its variance for the definition of quality controls of ocean data. This work will involve data retrieval and data transformation using Ocean Data View, which requires to be at easy with computers and simple statistics.

subset: commoncrawl


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We here at Rancho Santa Fe Fire, the Local 4349 would like to encourage our community to stay diligent in its measure to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We understand that much of the population will eventually contract this virus, but if too many people get it all at the same time, then it becomes taxing on the Emergency Medical System. The CDC has established guidelines on how to limit exposure and slow the spread and they should be followed. These consist of limiting travel, home confinement, not gathering in groups larger than 10 people, and staying at least 6 feet from others. Although social distancing seems to be a burden on the public, studies have shown that it can greatly reduce the spread of this disease.
Many people who contract this virus will have a mild response exhibiting symptoms no worse than a common cold. Although patients who have this should be monitored for worsening symptoms, the real danger is to the elderly population. Those that are experiencing shortness of breath, poor perfusion, or a high, uncontrolled fever should absolutely seek further treatment immediately at a hospital or accessing the 911 system. Many people believe that transport by an ambulance to the hospital is a way to bypass the long lines and waiting rooms at the local emergency room, but this is false. Ambulances are often instructed to drop their patients off in the triage area of the emergency room to be evaluated by the staff to determine the severity of their condition as those in the most severe categories are tended to first. So, if you suspect that you have the COVID-19 virus, or even the flu or common cold for that matter, and you are experiencing normal, manageable symptoms, there is no need for you to access the 911 system. A phone call to your primary care physician is appropriate and they will further direct you. For further instruction on how to manage your health from home click on the link below.
Every October, the Local 4349 teams up with the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Prevention team to go into the schools and teach about fire safety. Each grade levels are taught different aspects of fire safety. The youngest students learn about not playing with matches and lighters, stop drop and roll, and are shown what a firefighter looks like when they are dressed up in their turnouts, mask and breathing apparatus. Our newest firefighter, Harry Lee, demonstrates that "It's just happy firefighter Harry inside all that gear and not to be afraid if he, or someone like him, was to enter their house during a fire and search for them." If was fun to share and teach the students of Rancho Santa Fe's district and we would like to extend our appreciation to the schools that participated.
Newly Promoted Captain Craig McVey (2nd from left) and Engineer Alex Trottier (Far right).
Local 4349 would like to welcome our newest firefighters
Derek Wheeler and Alec Connelly
RSF Local 4349 Firefighters would like to congratulate this years recent promoted members.
Brian Ciuchta is one of Local 4349's most fit employees. In an attempt to meet his nutritional needs for the ultra marathons he competes in, he has been experimenting with growing Microgreens. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture "microgreens" is a marketing term referring to tiny, edible greens grown from the seeds of vegetables and herbs. They're smaller than baby greens and bigger than sprouts. Microgreens germinate in soil or soil substitute, require sunlight for growth and are harvested when they're 7 to 14 days old and one to three inches tall. Their flavor is much more intense than that of mature greens. You can add them to salads or use them to garnish soups and sandwiches. So is Brian on to something or is this just an unsubstantiated health claim? Actually, microgreens do appear to have a significant nutritional advantage. A study from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) found that, at equal weights, almost all of the tiny greens contained about five times more nutrients than found in the mature leaves of the same plants. Buying and using your microgreens can sometimes be difficult. Commercially produced varieties found in your local store are stored in plastic containers that do not allow for extended shelf life. The best way to buy your greens is either alive or freshly cut. Well, visitors to the Fairbanks Ranch Farmer's Market on Sunday mornings are in luck. Our very own Local 4349's "microgreen expert" is on hand selling his nutritional gold. So head on down this Sunday, look for the High Ranch Farm booth, and get a taste of this new healthy trend!
Rancho Santa Fe Local 4349 Firefighter's Richard LaFleur and Haydne Shimer construct a training dollhouse. During the first year of a new firefighter's career, they are instructed to build a small version of a house. We then ignite a fire in the lower room and examine how the fire behaves, where the smoke travels, and when the conditions could become dangerous. By controlling the air flow into the fire, these firefighters can simulate backdraft situations where smoke and fire explode out of an open door. By training in this manner, we avoid putting our firefighters in harms way but are still able to learn in a real fire environment.
Each year the Local 4349 participate in a Boot Drive to raise money to send burn injured children to camp. This year, Rancho Santa Fe Firefighters raised over $14,000 for this amazing organization. Thank you for all who participated.
Congratulations to our newly promoted
Local 4349 welcomes Haydne Shimer, Justin Cloyd, Richard LaFleur, Sam Stamy, and Robert Scott. Good luck on probation!
A recent article posted by KTLA in Los Angeles reported that three Los Angeles firefighters earned a combined $1.36 Million in 2016. The top earner receiving $469,198 in which $334,655 was from working overtime. You may be asking; "How could firefighter make so much money; and why can't that happen to me?" The details of what is required would turn your wildest dream into your biggest nightmare.
Every few years some news agencies like to post some public employee's annual income simply for the shock factor. Unfortunately, the articles never really paint a good picture of what is actually going on with that statistic. I'd like to shed some light on this reality.
Do you work 40 hours a week at your job? Would you be willing to work a 56 hour work week? How about a 156 hour work week? If you are doing the math in your head, let me save you the time. There are 168 hours in a week. While the average American employee works 40 hours a week, firefighters work 56 hours. This fire Captain mentioned in the article, estimated on the amount of overtime income received, worked, on average, 156 hours each week. That equates to 11 hours off from work each week for a total of 22 days off during the 2016 year. While 8 hours of straight work is normal for most, some private sector employees may push it to 10 hours to earn a little extra or have every other Friday off. Firefighters work 24 hour shifts where the busiest units run in upwards of 20 plus calls for service within a 24 hour period. There is not much of a chance to catch more than 30 minutes sleep at any one time. We don't know where this Captain was stationed and we don't know how busy his unit was, but even a moderate to low volume of calls would have been exhausting.
Overtime in the fire service is necessary and unavoidable. Most public sector employees can use a sick day or take a vacation with only the burden of postponing meetings and setting up an automatic "Out of the office" reply on their email. Often, no one is needed to fill in for them. In the business of Emergency Services, an empty seat, caused by a sick employee, would require that a fire engine goes out of service. That could be life threatening if a fire engine or ambulance took an extra 10-20 minutes to get to your house in the event of a fire or medical aid. In the case of LAFD, currently there are 244 unfilled firefighting positions left open to fill. That's like 81 employees calling in sick every single day on top of those who actually are sick or are on vacation. Firefighters are often held at work and not allowed to go home, without a choice, for 5-7 days in a row. These can be brutal stretches of constant work.
People also overlook the psychological effects of working so much. Families struggle from being apart. Holidays spent working, children's dance recitals and baseball games missed, along with stressed marriages can make life difficult. A firefighter that works even a moderate amount of overtime would require the absolute support from his, or her, family to the extent of the spouse not being able have their own employment. Most salaries discovered on sites like Transparent California, often reflect a "household" income and not just one employee. Furthermore, a lack of sleep, strenuous labor, dealing with situations that would send most into PTSD, all for chance to earn $400K? That's just not worth it.
The question is, what is a firefighter worth? How much should it cost to make sure that every time you pick up that phone and dial 911, someone comes to your aid? Would it have been better for these overtime hours to be spread out among the LAFD workforce? At least that way news agencies wouldn't be able to post some shocking article on an employee's annual income to enrage the general public. Either way, to keep the services available that we all count on, fire departments should maintain full staffing as to not impact the physical and mental wellbeing of their employees and continue to fill any and all vacancies with any firefighter willing to serve.
The Local 4349 would like to welcome to the District 3 new employees!
(Left to Right) Chase Cantrell, Jake Barkhimer, and Alex Trottier.
Rancho Santa Fe Local 4349 raises money for charity by participating in the 2nd Annual Guns and Hoses Golf Tournament. All proceeds go to help wounded and disabled vererans through the Phoenix Patriot Foundation. http://phoenixpatriotfoundation.org/
IAFF Local 4349 has its best year yet in collecting donations for the San Diego Burn Institute. Drivers traveling through Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, and Harmony Grove were generous to the tune of nearly $25,000. All donations, as usual, go to the Burn Institute's "Camp Beyond the Scars" in an effort to support burn-injured children of San Diego. RSF Fire, the Burn Institute and the children thank you.
Beginning on January 1st, 2016, the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District has assumed fire protection for the area of Harmony Grove under a contractual agreement with the County of San Diego. A LAFCO study should be completed by mid-year making official the annexation. In addition to this 5th station, the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District will be merging with Elfin Forest Fire Department to make the current EFF volunteer station, station number 6. The current Station 5 in Harmony Grove is a temporary station at 2604 Overlook Point Road in Escondido near the entrance of the HGV development. We at the Local 4349 are excited to provide our excellent customer service and fire protection for the new residents of Harmony Grove and surrounding areas.
Local 4349 welcomes 7 new recruits
Rancho Santa Fe firefighters are proud to serve. We serve residents. We serve businesses. We even serve pancakes! On Sunday November 8th, the Local 4349, in conjunction with the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District, host our most successful pancake breakfast of all time. 800 - 1000 people attended raising over $4000 for charity.
In addition to pancakes donated by Ralphs grocery store, Miguel's Cocina donated and served eggs and nachos, State Farm donated and poured orange juice, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf provided gallons of coffee, and Maranatha Chapel provided tables and chairs. Without the generous support from these local 4S Ranch businesses, this would not have been possible.
Rancho Santa Fe firefighters were on display with an exciting car fire extinguishing demonstration, fire engine display, fire prevention booths, and hands only CPR training. Other booths from the Burn Institute, 4S Ranch Library, and Union pool safety further educated the attendees. The San Diego Sheriff, California Highway Patrol, Elfin Forrest Fire, American Medical Response, Mercy Air, and Palomar College all pitched in to provide exhibits and education to the residents of 4S Ranch.
We at the Local 4349 Firefighters Union would like to say thank you for making our event a resounding success. It has been, and will be in the future, a pleasure to serve this amazing community. We look forward to possibly hosting another event like this next year!
On Saturday September 5th, the Local 4349 took to the steps for charity. The 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb is an event where firefighters and first responders don their gear and climb 110 stories of the Hilton Bayfront Hotel in memory of the 403 emergency workers who lost their lives on 9/11/2001. The Local 4349 raised $10,500 for Firefighter Aid and it was the 2nd most money raised by the 25 teams.
A recent video on the internet portraying a Butte County Fire Company being heckled by a citizen for shopping for groceries brings forth an interesting issue. The debate ranges in topic from area emergency coverage, public impression, and firefighter work schedules. The Butte County firefighters were respectful and cordial in this face of opposition and all was caught on tape by a pro-firefighter bystander. The heckler in the video confronts the firefighters at a local grocery store as they are returning to their fire engine after shopping for food. He goes on to state that the engine crew should do their shopping at a specialty high-end grocery store that is closer to the fire station so that they can respond to calls faster. This man making these remarks fails to grasp the entirety of the facts as he threatens to file a complaint with the local governing board.
From my own experience with the residents I speak to, many don't realize that we work twenty four hour shift work. That means we arrive at work in the morning at 8am and leave the next day, twenty four hours later, at 8am. It seems obvious that packing a mere lunch would not suffice for the entire shift. In addition, our kitchen is the size of a normal residential kitchen equipped with one range top, oven, microwave and sink. Often these stations house multiple fire units and companies to run them in upwards of 8-12 personnel. Imagine the confusion and lack of space there would be in a kitchen having that many people trying to prepare their own meal at the same time. That is why most full-time fire stations across the country organize their meals by participating in a common mess. That means that each person pays into a meal fund and a few guys cook for the masses.
When I tell residents that we purchase our own food on our dime, they often reveal that they thought the tax payers paid the bill if they expected the firefighters to be there twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. I've heard stories about firefighters being heckled for buying steaks at the grocery store because it was perceived that taxes were paying for those steaks and firefighters should be eating cheaper. The truth is, we by our own food and it is often more expensive to eat at work than at home. I can see why the Butte County firefighters bypass a specialty grocery store to opt for an affordable store a little farther away. After all, we are just firefighters, earning a modest wage, often on a single income due to our commitment, and trying to make our money stretch.
Emergency coverage is taken very seriously by every emergency responder agency across this country. Often units are moved, or staged, in areas to maintain coverage for when a unit is out of service due to mechanical issues, training, or commitment on another emergency. It is unlikely that a unit, in this case Engine 64 of Butte County, would leave their response area to shop without providing for some coverage. Often the grocery stores fire engines visit while on duty are within their first-in areas, but if not, managers make sure that stations are covered by other units if need be. The grocery store may not be the only place you may encounter firefighters out of the station. Fire agencies often rely on fire companies to conduct annual fire inspections in commercial buildings, including the grocery store they are also shopping at.
Firefighters make an easy target for some disgruntled members of the public that don't approve of how their tax dollars are spent. Much like the often ridiculed traffic sign holding road worker, each person has a job to do and without that one person the team breaks down and efficiency is lost or, in our case, lives are put in danger. The importance for a person to "Stand-by" for an emergency is rarely seen until the need arises. The fire service has changed throughout the last hundred years but the premise is still the same. Protect life, property, and the environment from the threat of any disaster and to respond to the needs of the citizens we serve in the most efficient, timely, and fiscally responsible manner possible. It is a shame that some people's negative rants are aimed at the same people who have sworn to protect them. However, these attitudes are rare, especially in Rancho Santa Fe, and we are more likely to be greeted and thanked while in the grocery store than heckled for being there, and for that, we thank you for your support.


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This species is a colorful wings damselfly that belong to Chlorocyphidae family, the genus name maybe because of its structure of the face with a object that is prominence forms a rhino face shape.
The small species is one of the most early species that was described as a new species for science from Vietnamese fauna of Odonata. The holotype was collected from South Vietnam with note as Cocochina area. Recently, this species has been found also from Cambodia and Laos.
They are very sensitive species that found near that clean running water (waterfalls, streams) of shadowed forests in low land areas. In a quick observation, this species is easy to misidentified with another common species, the species Rhinocypha fenestrella. However they are clearly difference in color and color marking of the wings.
Lateral view of male of Rhinocypha fulgipennis, photographed by Cuong Do


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Menifee Buzz Staff
Wednesday, 03 June 2020 23:00
Learn how recent events can impact your Finances
Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:12
Car Problems!! Come to the New Auto Hub
Saturday, 23 May 2020 02:12
Enjoy Mexician Grill Come to Cafe Rio
Saturday, 23 May 2020 02:09
Mt. San Jacinto College to Celebrate Record-Breaking Class with Virtual Graduation Ceremony on Thursday
Yolanda Diego will have much more to celebrate than the average graduate when she serves as the student speaker of Mt. San Jacinto College's virtual graduation ceremony on Thursday. The 37-year-old Hemet resident started to pursue her higher education in the early 2000s, when she attended community college in East…
Wednesday, 13 May 2020 19:22
Link the Love Come to Provident Bank
Wednesday, 13 May 2020 19:17
MSJC Partners With OnTrac to Ship Face Shields to Regional Hospitals
Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) has teamed up with OnTrac to deliver 3D-printed face shields to regional hospitals to support front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. OnTrac, a parcel delivery service, has provided its services for free to benefit the hospitals and healthcare professionals during the health crisis. "The proportions…
Thursday, 09 April 2020 00:50
Census Data Determines How Billions Of Dollars In Federal Funds Are Distributed To Vital Programs
MENIFEE, CA: The City of Menifee is encouraging all residents to participate in the 2020 Census to ensure everyone in the community is accurately counted during the nation's once-a-decade count of every person in the United States. The results of the 2020 Census will help determine how hundreds of billions…
Tuesday, 07 April 2020 03:37
Firehouse Restaurant Choice Stubs
Monday, 06 April 2020 22:42
Corona Virus Update
Monday, 06 April 2020 22:39
City Urges Compliance with Stay-at-Home Order by Governor Menifee Responds to Recent Rise in COVID-19 Confirmed Cases in Cities in Riverside County
MENIFEE, CA – It has been eight days since Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order, N-33-20, directing all residents to immediately comply with State public health directives to stay home, except as needed in order to continue the operations of essential critical infrastructure industries, with additional ones being identified if…
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Did Woody Allen ruin romantic comedies?
Posted by Vadim Rizov on
In a thoughtful appraisal better than "The Back-Up Plan" deserves, the New York Times' Manohla Dargis doesn't so much review the movie as the entire landscape of the contemporary romantic comedy, one of her favorite topics. She observes a decline from the days of witty banter to "speeches about feelings": "Freud might have hit Hollywood decades earlier, but Woody Allen and the generations of funnymen and women he inspired, have a lot to answer for."
On that note, it's fascinating to wonder about how "Annie Hall" might have lead to the mess we're in now. The rom coms of the '30s-'50s remain supremely watchable to both genders — you'd be a fool to label the Hepburn-Tracy movies "chick flicks." While the power imbalances and assumptions are now definitively of their time, they still awarded parity to both sides when it comes time to make the rhetorical case.
Something happened in the 1970s, the decade when the public discovered sex. (Nope, it wasn't the '60s: the '70s were when people had to reckon with what they'd learned.) Indeed, Woody Allen does have a lot to answer for: "Annie Hall" inverts the romantic comedy and reinvents it something born of disillusionment, a difficult movie to watch, acutely despairing as it is. '70s cinema is fraught with loveless, despairing sex — 1977, the year "Annie Hall" hit theaters, also brought us Diane Keaton in "Looking For Mr. Goodbar," in which she plays a schoolteacher who, for her pains in trawling the singles bars, ends up dead.
The effort to reconstitute movie romance is downright heroic if you look at it in a certain light — it had to be taken out of the realm of teen love, à la John Hughes, and restored to the world of adults. How else to explain Nora Ephron's transition from bitter chronicler of divorce in "Heartburn" to shameless huckster of enduring romance in "When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless In Seattle" and beyond? It's almost admirable, even if the ensuing movies aren't — and, in the process, somehow got tagged as and made for women only, a lamentable shift.
The contemporary rom com is often an inadvertently angry thing, fighting for transcendent love (or at least a decent date) in a post-sexual lib, post-romance world, a fairly toxic combo. Jennifer Lopez didn't ask for all this — she's just fighting her way through it the best she can. We may return to banter someday; right now we'll have to settle for angry misunderstandings, obscenely expensive evenings out, and a wariness of being hurt that's unbelievable.
[Photos: "Annie Hall," MGM/UA Home Entertainment, 1977; "The Back-up Plan," CBS Films, 2010]


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People injured in deadly Ottawa bus crash are improving, hospital says
A double-decker city bus that struck a transit shelter at the start of the afternoon rush hour on Friday, remains in place at Westboro Station in Ottawa, on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
The Canadian Press
Published Sunday, January 13, 2019 7:50PM EST
OTTAWA - Those critically injured when a double-decker city bus crashed into a transit shelter in Ottawa on Friday have started getting better, a local hospital said Sunday.
The patients who had been listed in critical condition are now considered to be in serious condition, the Ottawa Hospital said in a tweet.
Three were killed and 23 hurt when a double-decker city bus hopped a curb and collided with the shelter, taking a chunk out of the vehicle's second level and crushing several seats.
The hospital initially said 14 patients were taken to hospital in critical condition - two of whom died - and 11 were in serious condition.
Meanwhile, the city announced that the scene of the crash, the Transitway, would reopen on Sunday evening, more than 48 hours after the collision.
It asked that mourners hoping to leave a memento or memorial item do so at two designated areas: the westbound transitway platform on the lower level and the northwest corner of Scott and Athlone.
But in spite of the developments, officials say the investigation is far from over.
Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau has said as many as 90 passengers were on board, who investigators will need to question.
Police officers are collaborating with Ontario's Ministry of Transportation and Transport Canada to probe the incident.
"It's a slow, painstaking process," Bordeleau said at a news conference on Saturday. "Our goal is to ensure that we get it right."


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A public gathering on "Aao Misali Khandan Banae" was held at Ahmedabad East, Gujarat on 15th April, 2016. Program started with Tilawat-e-Qur'aan by Hafiz Afzal Hussain and tarana sung by Khalid Azmi on Ideal Family. After this Janab Shakeel Ahmed Rajput (Ameer-e-Halqa, JIH Gujarat) had given introductory work and importance of Happy Family.
Maulana Waliullah Saeedi Falahi (National Secretary -Tarbiyah) spoke his presidential speech. Maulana said that Muslims should strictly follow Islamic commandments as given by the Almighty through Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in each and every part of life with regular prayers, fasts, hajj, etc and do not follow the western civilization.
He further said that, Married couples should live with love and affection and avoid quarreling with each other because the family setups are used to be destroyed through the conflicts and quarrels.
Master Bashir Khan, Ameer-e-Maqami of JIH Ahmedabad East, had given the vote of thanks and the program was concluded. More than 500 audience, including men and women, attended the program.


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New study: Voice assistants may spell trouble for your brand loyalty
Digitas Reveals That 85% of VVA Shoppers Forgo Brand Loyalty When Making Voice Assisted Purchases
New research from Digitas reveals that virtual voice assistants like Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomePod may be putting brand loyalty in jeopardy — pushing decisions to algorithms, rather than consumer preference.
According to the Digitas study conducted online by The Harris Poll of over 2,000 U.S. adults, among whom over 500 have made a purchase using a virtual voice assistant (VVA), 85% of VVA purchasers say that on at least one occasion, they've purchased the first option presented by the voice assistant, rather than specific brand they requested — meaning that brands that don't show up first may be boxed out of the decision entirely.
The study marks the launch of Digitas' intelligence hub, VERA, the Latin word for "truth" — dedicated to uncovering truths worth tackling and trends worth tracking.
Click here to view full results of the "Brand Loyalty vs. Virtual Voice Assistants" study, along with a companion guide for how brands can navigate these new challenges.
Some key findings include:
Millennials lead the virtual-voice-assistance generation.
- VVA purchasers ages 18–34, a.k.a. millennials, are more than 2X as likely as VVA purchasers ages 45–64 to always or often purchase the first option selected by the voice assistant when requesting a purchase for a specific brand of product (37% vs. 16%).
Virtual voice assistants with screens could help unlock commerce potential.
- 78% of Americans say if they were purchasing a product using a virtual voice assistant with a screen, they'd be likely to scroll through additional product options instead of purchasing the first option the voice assistant gives.
Americans are receptive to purchasing in these categories using a voice assistant.
- Personal Care/Wellness Products (39%)
- Beauty Supplies (38%)
- Small Home Appliances (35%)
- Clothing/Accessories (34%)
- Technology/Consumer Electronics (33%)
- Sporting Goods (33%)
- Large Home Appliances (25%)
Survey Method:
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Digitas from June 21-25, 2018 among 2,019 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among whom 557 have made a purchase using a virtual voice assistant. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com.
As seen in Business Insider


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Allows users to search and embed images into posts or pages directly from their SmugMug accounts.
This plugin adds a tab into the media manager which gives authors access to a linked Smug Mug account.
The plugin first authorizes the user to a smug mug account. In the settings screen, the administrator decides which galleries will be available to the author, the sizes available, and several other options.
More Information
For more information, please visit http://www.wicklundphotography.com/servicesweb-designdevelopmentsmugmugembed-wordpress-plugin/
Consider donating to the development and maintenance of this plugin.
- Unzip the file content into the /wp-content/plugings/smugmugembed directory.
- Activate the SmugMug Embed plugin in the Plugins menu.
- After the plugin is activated, you will find SmugMug Embed in the Plugins menu of the Admin Panel.
- How does an admin decide which galleries to display?
On the settings page of SmugMug Embed, administrators choose which galleries they want to display on the embed form by placing a check mark in the box next to the gallery name.
- No galleries are being displayed on the settings page…What is happening?
The plugin must first authenticate with smug mug. If this has not been done, please click the « Start Activation With SmugMug » button.
If the plugin has been authenticated in the past and something is still wrong, click the « Delete SmugMug Authentication » button on the setting page for SmugMug Embed.
- What is the process to authenticate with SmugMug?
- Click the « Start Authentication With SmugMug » button.
- Click the « Click here to log into SmugMug to approve access ». This will open a new window on SmugMug.com which will ask the user to verify credentials.
- Enter the username and password when prompted (if not already logged into SmugMug). Once complete, the screen will display « SmugMugEmbed was added to your Authorized Applications. »
- Close the SmugMug window.
- Back on the SmugMug Embed settings page, click the « Authorization Complete…Let's finalize this » button.
- The window will refresh in 5 seconds. If not, click the « Got the key » button.
- Why can locked galleries only display thumbnails?
A locked gallery requires a password to view the sized images on SmugMug. No mechanism exists to pass the gallery password to SmugMug, so only thumbnails can be displayed.
- Why does my gallery name have « thumbnails only » next to it in the drop down list of available galleries?
The gallery is locked.
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Contributors & Developers
"SmugMug Embed" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.Contributors
Translate "SmugMug Embed" into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
- Added support for XL, X2Large, and X3Large
- Added functionality to reload images and galleries on demand.
These are cached once hit and the cache is held hourly to increase
performance on large galleries. Users have requested the ability
to reload this cache on demand
- Added functionality to uncheck images once inserted into a post.
Before, the same images just inserted would still be checked
if a user selected to add more images. However, the settings will still remain.
- Added the ability to set the default image alignment in the settings tab
- Fixed an issue which occurred when a user selected a gallery from the
drop down in the media browser, but then chose « Select Gallery ».
The system would throw an error before
- Added ability to select all images from the media chooser SmugMug Embed form
- If a gallery had a hidden image, then the plugin would not embed any
image after the hidden image. This is resolved
- SME now respects the SmugMug hidden flag on photos
- SME now has the ablitity to create shortcode that will use WordPress's out of the box galleries style
- Added a progress indicator on several events in the Embed from SmugMug form
- Added ability to link to Cart in SmugMug. The image is automatically added to the cart!
- Added ability to open the link in a new window
- Fixed several labels in both the admin panel and the embed form to be more user friendly
- Fixed an issue causing the white screen of death at plugin start (thanks Lord Laughter)
- Fixed an issue with pathing which threw errors on WP installs not at the root directory
- adding uninstall.php to clean up options
- SmugMug Embed initial release


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Florida Congressman Allen West was wrong when he suggested that there were dozens of communists in the current Congress. Misled by crank websites, the out-there Republican from Florida said Tuesday, "I believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party that are members of the Communist Party… They actually don't hide it. It's called the Congressional Progressive Caucus."
It would be generous, indeed, to suggest that West is confused.
The Congress is not currently a haven for followers of Karl Marx.
And there are none to be found in the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has over the years included a few friends of democratic socialism—which espouses an economic and social justice vision every bit as far removed from the Stalinist excesses that West seems to be decrying as the current Republican Party's views are from those of its radical founders.
The democratic socialist connections and tendencies that exist are no secret. The CPC was once led by US Senator Bernie Sanders, who has always identified as a socialist, and it is includes as a longtime member former House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers, who (like former US Senator Ted Kennedy and the Reverend Jesse Jackson before him) has worked with groups such as Democratic Socialists of America to advance proposals for single-payer "Medicare for All" healthcare reforms.
But the vast majority of CPC members are run-of-the-mill progressive Democrats, very much in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson when it comes to domestic policy and to their support for civil rights and economic fairness.
As for Marxists, they're in short supply in this current Congress.
But West might take a measure of comfort in knowing that he is not entirely wrong about the fact that the Congress has included readers of Marx, ideological allies of the Communist Party and members who were elected in alliance with the Socialist Party.
For the most part, these radicals have operated under a single banner. But it is not that of the Congressional Progressive Caucus—and certainly not that of the Democratic Party.
The banner around which radicals have historically gathered in official Washington has been that of the Republican Party.
Founded at Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854 by utopian socialists and militant abolitionists, the early Republican Party included many German-American immigrants who had come the United States after the wave of European revolutions that stirred in 1848 fell short of its radical goals. Among the first Republicans were allies and associates of Karl Marx, such as Joseph Weydemeyer, who would eventually serve as as a Civil War colonel.
Abraham Lincoln, who like so many of the leading Republicans of his day read Marx and Engles in the pages of Horace Greeley's New York Tribune (where they served for many years as European correspondents), spoke often about the superiority of labor to capital and was highly critical of concentrated wealth. Among Lincoln's White House aides was Charles Dana, Marx's editor. And the sixteenth president accepted the congratulations of Marx and his fellow London Communists after Lincoln's 1864 re-election.
The radical Republicans of the late nineteenth century and the progressive Republicans of the early twentieth century often worked closely with Socialist Party stalwarts. Indeed, when Robert M. La Follette, a lifelong Republican, sought the presidency in 1924, he did so with the backing of the Socialist Party.
In the 1920s, New York Congressman Fiorello LaGuardia, another lifelong Republican and the future mayor of New York, was elected on the Socialist line. When LaGuardia served as mayor in the 1930s and 1940s, Manhattan's Republican borough president hired the political writer for the Communist-aligned Daily Worker newspaper as one of his top aides.
La Guardia's successor in the US House, Vito Marcantonio, was elected on the Republican line but with open support from Communists. Though Marcantonio often voted for policies backed by the Communists and was hailed in the pages of the party press, it is not believed that he ever joined the Communists. He identified as a Republican, and he served as a independent man of the left who was beloved by his working-class constituents.
Marcantonio's Republicanism was in the tradition of the party's founders, very radical and very committed to breaking the grip of racist and segregationist Democrats on the policymaking of the country. It happened that this stance, in this regard, paralleled that of the Communist Party—which during the period of his Congressional service elected members of the New York City Council from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Marcantonio, who represented part of Harlem, worked to bring African-Americans into the Republican Party and championed their candidacies. He would have delighted in the fact that a once-segregated Southern state such as Florida now sends an African-American Republican—Allen West—to Congress.
But Marcantonio, a student of Lincoln and the radical Republican tradition, would probably have encouraged West to read a bit more of the real history of the Republican Party.
John Nichols is the author of The "S" Word: A Short History of a American Tradition—Socialism (Verso).


text:
A persisting concern: anti-Gypsyism as a barrier to Roma inclusion
Report / Paper / Summary
Despite ambitious initiatives, the fundamental rights situation of Roma in the EU remains profoundly troubling. This report examines the persisting phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism and its effect on Roma inclusion efforts. It first presents data on key manifestations of anti-Gypsyism, namely discrimination, harassment and hate crime.


text:
A young Kentucky boy and his mother have become the center of a national petition after a school employee allegedly put her son in a bag.
Sandra Baker says the 9-year-old, who has autism, was placed in the bag as punishment for acting out at school in Mercer County. Since then, hundreds of people from across the country have signed a petition to help the family.
His mom, Sandra Baker, says last week she was called to the Mercer County Intermediate School where Chris is enrolled in a program specifically for special needs. She says she was told Chris had been misbehaving.
"When I walked in, I went down his hallway, and I saw this big green bag laying in the floor beside the aide that was sitting beside the bag," she said. "And I saw it moving."
Baker says teachers explained that Chris was confined to the bag as punishment.
"It was a drawstring at the top and it had a hole about this big around left in the top of it," "There was no way he could get out of it, could not get his head through if he needed to."
Lydia Brown, an 18-year-old university student who also has autism , learned about Chris from a story on Landon Bryce's blog ThAutcast.com and launched the petition on Change.org calling on the school to fire the teacher and institute a comprehensive training program in the school district.
More than 7,000 people have joined the campaign in the first 24 hours.
"Clearly there is anger over the alleged treatment of this boy, and the growth of this campaign is quite remarkable," said Benjamin Joffe-Walt, director of communications for Change.org, the world's fastest growing online campaigns platform. "Armed with only a laptop and without any funding or support, an autistic 18-year-old has recruited some 10,000 supporters in less than 24 hours, with dozens joining every minute."
There is no doubt that teachers and aides that work with students with autism spectrum disorders need training (Click HERE to learn about the program at Alliant Universtiy, and HERE to learn about the program at Dominican University.)
Working with students with autism can be confounding and exhausting, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. Thanks to petitions like Lydia's, more teachers and aides will be better equipped to work meaningfully with our kids and reap those rewards.
To learn more about Change.org, CLICK HERE.
To sign Lydia's petition, CLICK HERE.
To learn about Landon Bryce and ThAutcast, CLICK HERE.
Need to explain autism to someone? CLICK HERE for a primer.
Got autism questions? Need resources? Email me here email@example.com and I will do my very best to help.
FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.
In case you wondered, I'm happy to talk to your group.
GO HERE to learn more.
Read the first three chapters of A REGULAR GUY: GROWING UP WITH AUTISM here.


text: The school boasts of providing one of the finest laboratory facilities to its students. It is a veritable temple of experiential learning to understand the fundamental concepts. The labs are equipped with a diverse array of specimens and models. These laboratories provide fundamental and practical insights into the basis of life and nature. The faculty employs a highly interactive teaching methodology, which is both innovative and contemporary.


text:
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The Metro Police Christmas Charities is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity that has been serving Davidson County since 1961. Because the program has grown each year to meet the needs of the ever expanding community, funding is always a matter of concern.
Several benefit motorcycle rides have been held annually which have been instrumental in raising funds and toys. Several other organizations have also provided financial assistance as well as toys. Donations are also made by police employees, private citizens, small businesses and other charitable organizations.
Families are selected based on recommendations from police officers. Metro Police officers encounter numerous disadvantaged families on a daily basis. Unfortunately we cannot provide for them all therefore we give careful consideration when choosing the neediest families. Thrifty buying allows for large quantities of basic foods to be purchased. Each family receives 4 bushel baskets of groceries. The baskets of food and toys are assembled in a warehouse the week prior to Christmas. Christmas Eve morning employees of the department arrive to participate. By 9am all of the baskets have been delivered and the warehouse is quiet for another year. A great satisfaction is felt by those participating in being able to make the holidays more enjoyable for those less fortunate.
Questions about the Metro Police Christmas Charities may be directed to
Captain Harmon Hunsicker
© 2020 Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee


text:
I was recently engaged in a discussion with someone elsewhere about comics, and the subject of the Legion of Superheroes came up, and it became, as all Legion discussions have since 1986, a rumination of how to "fix" the Legion and how to "make it work" for a broader audience.
And strangely enough, though I was never what you call a hardcore fan of the Legion (and even if I was, the past 25 years have surely taught hardcore Legion fans the error of their ways, I expect) I spoke up and made what I felt was a modest proposal, which I'm going to tease out a bit longer before we get to it.
A lot of approaches have been tried--shifting the status quo ahead to leap over the continuity problems and move relentlessly forward (whilst codifying fanfiction) making the Legion into a youth movement, or just saying "hang it all" and stating over from scratch, re-telling the classic stories with whatever character shook out from the last continuity fix.
I'm not the first person to weigh in the comics blogging game to weigh in on this (certainly not the most famous) but I will share with you my idea. The main thrust of it is this:
1. You don't need Superboy
2. You don't need R.J. Brande as the driving mechanism behind the formation of the Legion, because it's silly and not needed.
3. That firewall of superheroes between the present DC time and the future is where you should focus.
So! In Legion-time, mankind has colonised the stars, and thanks to special adaptations, you now have entire planets full of superhumans. And yet, for at least a millennium, the concept of superheroes has been forgotten about.
Why? Maybe in a society where everyone's super, no one is (a la The Incredibles) Maybe there's just been an exceedingly peaceful period of time (unlikely) maybe there was some great singularity point concurrent with humans migrating to space that shook up society so much that it fell away from the public consciousness.
They've kind of fallen into the same level of common myth that Robin Hood or the Knights of the Round Table have in our day and age--everyone knows the story, but no one really believes them all that much. This serves the purpose of setting the stage and also hopefully satiates those tedious tits who write that superheroes are the modern myth all the damn time.
And so, you set the stage for a group of young and old idealists from all the worlds of the galaxy banding together in the style of the Justice League or the Justice Society, or more appropos, the Teen Titans, and are equal parts the wave of the future and an echo of the distant past (or present) This would, I'd think, open things up to be able to tell superhero stories and build in the mythology worth using without it becoming this inscrutable mess that appeals only to the dwindling part of a dwindling whole.
And maybe we should also stop calling everyone "lad" and "lass," now.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Just Sayin'--The 31st Century's Yesterday
Posted by Kazekage at 8:47 PM
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text:
Agenesis of the dorsal pancreas
Sonography of the right upper quadrant was unremarkable. A hepatobiliary nuclear medicine scan demonstrated patency of the cystic duct, the study was terminated prior to visualizing activity in the small bowel, and therefore patency of the common bile duct could not be commented on. A computed tomography (CT) study (Aquilion 16, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Tustin, CA) was ordered with 1 mm slices of the abdomen and pelvis acquired using 100 mL of iohexal (Omnipaque™ 300, GE Healthcare, Chalfont St. Giles, U.K.). These images were reformatted in the coronal and sagittal planes as well as reconstructed in 3 dimensions (Figure 1).
Agenesis of the dorsal pancreas is a rare anomaly. Patients will commonly present with acute onset abdominal pain and a medical history of diabetes.1 At the time of this writing, 19 cases had previously been described in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first case occurring in association with the following congenital defects: horseshoe kidney and congenital hydrocephalus. Seven prior cases had previously been described in nondiabetic patients.2,3
In this patient, CT showed agenesis of the dorsal pancreas (Figures 2, 3 and 4). A uncinate process was present, which had previously been reported as absent in similar cases.4 There was also a congenital horseshoe kidney (Figures 1 and 5). The superior mesenteric artery was seen crossing the transverse portion of the duodenum, though resultant ileus was not seen. Associated findings previously reported, though not seen in this case, are as follows: pancreatic calcifications,4 polysplenia, hepatomesenteric trunk, 2,5 retro aortic left renal vein,5 hypertrophic change of the ventral gland,6 or obvious fatty replacement of the liver. Unlike many other cases of agenesis of the dorsal pancreas, this patient had no history of diabetes mellitus or prior pancreatitis.1,4
The development of the pancreas begins at the fourth week of gestation. Two separate buds arise from the duodenum. The ventral bud originates initially, followed by the dorsal.2 The ventral bud forms the majority of the head and uncinate process. The origin of the uncinate process remains controversial as to whether it arises from the ventral or dorsal pancreatic bud, this case suggests the uncinate process arises from the ventral gland.6 The dorsal bud gives rise to the upper part of the head, isthmus, body and tail. The ventral and dorsal portions fuse at approximately the eighth week of gestation. The dorsal pancreatic duct becomes the major pancreatic duct, emptying into the duodenum via the ampulla of Vater. The proximal portion of the dorsal duct remains patent and becomes the accessory pancreatic duct, draining through the minor papilla. Normally, a communicating channel develops between the 2 ductal systems. When this channel fails to develop, it is termed "pancreatic divisum."4 If there is agenesis of the dorsal pancreatic bud, a rare anomaly, resultant absence of the body, tail, and uncinate process, as well as the accessory duct of Santorini, and the minor papilla is seen.2 Because the islet cells reside in the tail of the pancreas, the development of diabetes has been attributed to this.1,7 Exocrine pancreatic dysfunction is rare.1
The cause for acute onset abdominal pain is as of yet undetermined. It has been hypothesized that the variant pancreatic duct system may cause insufficient drainage, causing acute, intermittent or chronic pancreatitis.1 However, no findings of pancreatitis were demonstrated in this case.
Advances in multidetector CT, including increased resolution and utilization of isotropic voxels, coupled with the ability to view studies in the sagittal and coronal planes have added another dimension to the diagnosis of congenital anomalies of the pancreas. Whereas in the past, interventional endoscopic retrograde choledochopancreatography was required,3,7 the majority of the cases today can be diagnosed noninvasively.
Agenesis of the dorsal pancreas. Appl Radiol.


text:
Free Shipping on Most Items*
Brand: Lifetime
Color: Black/Orng
Publisher: Lifetime
Release Date: 2008-02-01
Warranty: 5-Year Limited Manufacturer Warranty
Details: This in-ground basketball system from Lifetime Products features a 50" Steel-Framed Shatterproof backboard with an Action Grip height adjustment mechanism that adjusts from 7.5 to 10 feet high in 6-inch increments. It also includes a Slam-It Rim with an all-weather nylon net and a 3.5" diameter round steel pole. So bring the arena to your home with a residential basketball system from Lifetime Products.Hone your jumpshot in your spare moments or perform a backyard dunking drill with the Lifetime 71799 in-ground basketball goal. Designed for permanent installations in cemented driveways, the 71799 includes such features as a Shatter Guard backboard, a spring-back Slam-It Rim, and an Action Grip pole mechanism for speedy height changes.
The goal's sturdiness stems from the cement-ready base, which is more rigid and takes up less space than portable basketball goals (it does require roughly 72 hours of cement drying time, however). The clear 50-inch Shatter Guard backboard, meanwhile, is made of Makrolon polycarbonate, which is virtually unbreakable and 30 times stronger than acrylic. As a result, broken backboards are a thing of the past, even from errant rocks and other non-basketball threats. In addition, the board offers a UV coating that prevents yellowing over time, a high-impact polyethylene frame, and screen-printed inks for fade-resistant color.
Lifetime knows that dunking and above-the-rim play are a huge part of modern basketball, which is why the 71799 also comes with both a height adjustment mechanism and a spring-back rim. The three-piece, 3.5-inch Action Grip pole includes counter-balance springs that make it easy to raise or lower the rim from 7-1/2 to 10 feet in 6-inch increments without requiring a broomstick, crank, or other tool. Thanks to the Action Grip technology, players of all ages and skill levels can enjoy the game on their own terms, while aspiring dunkers can gradually raise the level 6 inches at a time as their vertical improves. The orange Slam-It Rim, meanwhile, is designed specifically for players who like to throw down. The orange solid-steel rim features double-compression springs that give way during dunks to protect the player, then spring back once released. The rim is also supported by 1/2-inch braces, with welded-steel net hooks and an all-weather nylon net.
The 71799, which is protected by a powder-coated, weather-resistant finish, comes with a five-year warranty.
Amazon.com Basketball System Buying Guide With the high-quality construction of many portable basketball systems, turning your driveway into a basketball court can be as simple as hooking up your garden hose. But while a portable system may ultimately be your best choice, there are reasons you may want to consider an in-ground or wall-mount system before you decide.
In-Ground Systems In-ground systems are permanently cemented into the ground--either via a bolt mounting kit or directly into the ground--and are generally more rigid and take up less space than portables. In-ground systems often require that you hire a professional to complete the task, but when the cement dries you'll have a hoop that can take punishing dunks with ease.
Many in-ground systems are height-adjustable, include removable post features that let you take the system down for off-season storage, and feature heavy-duty break-away rims. You'll also want to research the adjustable mechanisms on the systems, as there are several types to choose from. Some feature a counter-balance spring that lets you perform easy, one-hand adjustments while others may feature a sturdy, pneumatic system.
Wall-Mount Systems Wall-mount systems can be mounted to the side of a house, a tall retaining wall, or a garage. Generally sturdier than portables, wall-mounts have the added advantage of optimizing your existing ground space for the court, since you won't take any space up with the base or pole. Not all systems include the necessary hardware, so make certain you add a mounting kit to your list.
Portable Systems Portable systems require minimal installation and offer ultimate convenience. These systems generally feature a base that can be filled with sand or water to stabilize them and include wheels for portability. Although they are not as sturdy as in-ground or wall-mounted hoops, portables are simple to set up and can often be folded for convenient storage.
Backboard Considerations Regardless of which system you choose, you'll want to brush up on Backboards 101. Most residential systems feature backboards made of acrylic, fiberglass, graphite, or various other composite materials. While clear acrylic gives the professional look and feel of glass, it is not as rigid as fiberglass or graphite. Some systems may offer steel or aluminum backboards, which are virtually vandal resistant, but don't offer the true rebounding action.
The regulation size of an NBA backboard is 72 inches wide and 42 inches high. Most portable hoops are 42 or 44 inches wide and 36 inches tall. In-ground systems tend to be a bit larger, with 54-inch and 60-inch widths being the most popular. While rectangular shaped backboards provide more bank shot opportunities, they are generally more expensive than the streamlined fan-shaped board.
Package Dimensions: 53.7 x 34.4 x 6.5 inches


text: The German telecoms group Deutsche Telekom is reportedly moving to buy out the 39.23% stake it does not already own in its Czech subsidiary T-Mobile Czech Republic. The deal, worth an estimated EUR800 million (USD1.09 billion) according to a report from Reuters, will see the German firm take over shares currently held by a consortium of investors led by private equity group Mid Europa Partners. Deutsche Telekom says the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, will have no impact on group revenue and EBITDA because T-Mobile Czech Republic is already fully consolidated. The unit is the largest provider of cellular services in the country, claiming more than 40% of all subscribers at the end of September 2013, according to TeleGeography's GlobalComms Database.


text:
This is calssic Chicken & Egg problem. You won't find much evidence of it in use because there's not much support for it. You won't get support for it until there's evidence of it in use. The "image type fallback" I proposed was specifically to address this issue. It wasn't about WebP specifically, but about the idea that it's fundamentally a *smart thing* to allow for a mechanism that chooses whatever file-format the current environment happens to support. Because that's the only way to break the chicken-egg cycle problem. Right now it's binary: either the browser supports the format and you see a picture, or it doesn't and you don't. That's not tollerable and therefor no-one risks using the new format. Which makes any new format unattractive to implementers. -MattReceived on Thursday, 18 October 2012 20:53:12 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Friday, 17 January 2020 17:06:08 UTC


text: PIX2XY Type: Adverb (Real*2) Use: Specifies a pixel position in an image. The first number gives the column number and the second number gives the row number. The (1,1) pixel location is the bottom left corner of the image. Fractional pixel values can be used. Null value: 0 Null value usually means at reference pixel


text:
Simply Flowers Rochdale
Lilac Lush
Regular price £30.00
Pinks and mauves combine in this lovely arrangement for that perfect occasion.
If you would like alternative colours to those shown, please specify in the notes section at checkout.
Please note that due to the seasonal availability of flowers it may be necessary to vary individual stems from those shown.


text:
Hello again. We've just had the tracks from the next E.P returned from mastering. They're really sounding great. It's going to be called 'Alchemy' and the tracklisting will be:
1.Boomerang Boy
2. Meet You On The Other Side Of The World
3. Sun Coming Up
4. Bad News
Been adding a few more shows to the calendar and things are looking pretty busy for the next couple of months. Here are all the gigs we have coming up in the near future, would be great to see you at them!
26 Feb 2010 20:00
Jack Came Here to Party – DJ set Islington, London
27 Feb 2010 20:00
Bar Mondo Dartford, Kent
2 Mar 2010 20:00
Lavender Trust Benefit – Last Days of Decadence Shoreditch, London
4 Mar 2010 20:00
229 Great Portland St Marylebone, London
5 Mar 2010 20:00
BBC Radio Kent 2nd Birthday Party @ Quarterhouse Folkestone, Kent
9 Mar 2010 20:00
Tom Williams Single Launch @ Old Blue Last Shorditch, London
12 Mar 2010 22:00
White Hart Corby, Northamptonshire
19 Mar 2010 20:00
Studio Theatre, Roundhouse Camden, London
10 Apr 2010 20:00
The Game @ Scala Kings Cross, London
20 Apr 2010 20:00
The Gaff Holloway Rd, London
21 Apr 2010 20:00
Barhouse Chelmsford, Essex
24 Apr 2010 20:00
The Hope Brighton
13 May 2010 20:00
Bloody Awful Poetry Club Camden, London
Had a really fun night out at Ronnkie pop at the Flowerpot in Camden the other night. It was absolutely packed in there as it so often is. The Supernovas played a great set, as did the Is Tropical boys who were Djing afterwards. Ended up in the Macbeth with them at some kind of lock-in. Then woke up in Brockley with a headache and holes in my clothes.
Adios amigos


text:
People don't really annoy me or maybe I am hard to get annoyed. So, I really had to think hard to make this list. These are my top 3 pet peeves.
- I am annoyed by the people saying:
"Pity you, you are Muslim, you wear scarf in this hot weather".
Next time someone will ask me something like this, my reply would be:
"Pity you, you are a human, only civilized living thing in this world, you have to wear clothes in this hot season"
Just like you cover your private parts, I cover mine. You are making me more annoyed than the weather…
2. People who start eating the food from the middle of the plate.
3. People who disrespect teachers and talk bad behind their back.
What are your top three pet peeves?


text:
I haven't written in quite a while, despite my constantly telling myself I will be better at it. I enjoy it, and I definitely don't make the time for it like I should.
That being said, I have had a pretty good excuse this time.
We're having a baby!
I was almost 21 weeks along before we made it "Facebook official". We had planned to announce it sooner, but we actually very much enjoyed keeping it to our closer circle of family and friends for as long as we could. With everyone putting every ounce of their business on social media these days, it was nice to know that we held this precious {almost} secret for a little while longer.
Now that it's out, it feels so weird to say it openly to everyone or for them to notice and comment on my ever-growing bump. The kicking is almost constant, which I love. I like being reminded that this little person is there, and I'm never alone. I know this will pass way too quickly, so I'm soaking up every drop that I can.
We've been diligently working to prepare for the little one's arrival. My parents have come to stay several weekends to help do some light remodeling to get the house baby-ready. We've refinished our hardwood floors and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Things are looking fresh and new, and it's exciting.
The house is still relatively empty. We chose not to buy much furniture until after the floors were finished so that we wouldn't have to put it in storage. All we currently have is our king-sized mattress (best money we've ever spent), our TV and entertainment center, our couch, 4 sitting chairs, and a cheap folding table and chair set to temporarily use for dining. I've sold everything else. And since the house used to belong to my organized hoarder grandmother, there was a lot to sell.
I can't wait to get a couple of nice pieces for the nursery as well as an actual dining room table and chairs. We still plan to keep the house relatively empty as we've grown accustomed to the open space. We'll stick with the essentials and just enjoy our breathing room for now.
Of course, our plan is to carry over the minimalist principles we've been living into parenthood. I've been entertained with all the people who have expressed their doubts that this will be possible. After all, babies need soooo much stuff! #sarcasm
All I can think is, you must not know how seriously we take our lifestyle! Haha!
We probably won't get it perfect every time. In fact, I know we won't. But we do intend to try. We've already been taking steps to ensure we keep our baby spending in check. We knew immediately that we didn't want to find out the baby's sex. So far, this alone has held us to our minimalist ideals. You would be surprised at the amount of cute stuff I had to pass up at the store because I don't know what we're having! I can see why people go a little crazy in the baby departments. Everything is so cute, convenient, and eye-catching that it's super hard not to!
Instead, though, I sat down at the computer and began listing things that I knew for sure our baby would need. Basics like: neutral onesies, socks, diapers, wipes, baby wash, teeny nail clippers, a thermometer, soft towels and washcloths, burp cloths, a place to sleep, etc. Then, I did research upon research on topics like, Do Babies Actually Need Cribs To Sleep In, Is A Bottle Warmer Completely Necessary, How Many Outfits Will An Infant Go Through In A Week's Time, and so on and so forth. Then, after slowly adding and removing things from my list over several weeks based on my findings, I started a registry online. I only went into the store once to get a look at a few items in person and to add (or remove) accordingly. The rest was done from my computer, further keeping the temptation to buy-all-the-stuff at bay. What I'm left with is a list of things I will actually need and use for our new baby without getting bogged down in all the unnecessary, albeit cute, items.
Yes, my list may seem a little boring to some. Yes, if I have a sweet baby girl, she will be wearing mostly whites, yellows, and greys for the first few months of her life (which, as someone with an aversion to pink, is fine by me). No, we won't be having some huge gender reveal party or some over-the-top gender stereotypical baby shower, but you know what? We're fine with it. In fact, we prefer it. Sometimes in the midst of all the cutesy pinks and blues and mountains of baby gear, we can lose sight of the miracle that's right in front of us. By keeping it simple, our attention will not be on all the stuff we'll receive or think we'll have to purchase. Instead, it will be totally focused on the new life we'll be bringing into the world.
And honestly, I don't know of anything more precious than a cozy baby in a simple, white onesie asleep in your arms.
If decorating your nursery to the nines or monogramming ruffled, boutique rompers makes your heart sing, then go for it! There's nothing wrong with these things. Just remember that they are babies, and the truth is, they don't need a lot of stuff. They don't require it or ask for these things, and they'll outgrow most of it in a matter of weeks. They just need a lot of love, as cliche as it sounds, and that's exactly what we plan on giving ours.
We want our children to have everything when it comes to what matters and to not get confused, bombarded, or even spoiled, by the things that distract them from it. We want to teach them the value of relationships and the meaninglessness of replaceable possessions. We want them to want to spend more time with the people that love and care for them than with the screens on their electronic devices. We want to take them on trips and provide them with experiences they will never forget. We want to instill these values in them so that they will one day understand the importance of passing them on to their children.
I'm so excited about what's to come. This new journey will be fun, challenging, amusing, comical, and sometimes heartbreaking, but I look forward to it all and hope to share pieces of it with you guys along the way.
Thanks for reading!


text: Addooco are delighted to continue putting stated growth plans into action by hiring a new Senior Engineer to join the ranks within our technical team. Russell Sargeson joins with a wealth of experience that will allow him to slot into the business seamlessly. He said "By joining Addooco I start an exciting new adventure with a like minded team of specialists in Cloud Hosted IT Services, helping the supply of these services into both local and global companies. I look forward to the new challenges this will bring and the new technologies that I will help develop for Addooco's discerning client base." Russ will be helping with second and third line support, technical presales, back end system maintenance and projects. The team would like to extend a very warm welcome to Russ and are highly confident that he will add further value to our strong technical proposition.


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Lana Jean Clarkson (April 5, 1962 – February 3, 2003) was an American actress and fashion model. During the 1980s, she rose to prominence in several sword-and-sorcery films.
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A couple of months ago, in the midst of all the consternation over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh and the arresting testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford before congress, Donald Trump of all people said something that caused me to think a great deal. (I know, I never thought I'd utter that phrase either!)
I could pick another Supreme Court judge, justice. I could pick another one, another one, another one. This could go on forever. Somebody could come and say 30 years ago, 25 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago he did a horrible thing to me. He did this, he did that, he did this, he did that. And honestly, it's a very dangerous period in our country. This is beyond Supreme Court. This is everything to do with our country. When you are guilty until proven innocent, it's just not supposed to be that way. Always I've heard you're innocent until proven guilty. I've heard this so long. It's such a beautiful phrase. In this case, you're guilty until proven innocent. I think that is a very dangerous standard for our country.
There's a lot to unpack in those words, provided you can get past the baffling syntax of that statement. It's like Donald Trump's brain has an internal Siri that's constantly mixing up his words, often leading to some incoherent press interactions. But once you move on from that, you find that Trump is speaking to fears shared by more than a few men in the post "Me Too" world.
Following a series of bombshell articles published in the New York Times and The New Yorker regarding Harvey Weinstein and the widespread allegations of sexual abuse and rape against him, dozens of prominent men in the entertainment, political and financial world have faced their own accusations of sexual assault, abuse and rape. It's become a subject of almost morbid fascination, to see who will be named next. More importantly, thousands of women and men have taken courage from the movement and are now coming forward with their own stories of abuse and assault. While a vocal and ignorant minority continues to resist any change, for the majority of this country "Me Too" has permanently changed the relationship dynamics between men and women (as well as homosexual relationships). I would say with little reservation that this is for society's betterment, and I hope the next generation will not have to endure the pain and stigma their fore-bearers did.
Some people will tell you the past is past and it ought to be left there, because the only thing you get by digging it up is dirty. That's some bullshit. The past is the place where we look back on our successes and mistakes, learn from them and try to become better moving forward. I've done a lot of soul searching in the age of Trump, though at least some of that can be attributed to aging out of my twenties. "Me Too" has certainly led me to reflect back upon my own dating past. My dating life has been messy and filled with mistakes. Looking back through my own history, there are moments I've found where, had they gone the other way, would've fit right in with so many of the horror stories coming out now. The thing that scares me the most is how many men did take a different path.
A person's first sexual encounter is a subject that continues to be mythologized on film, in literature and in song (for an accurate portrayal on this subject, please see Netflix's "Sex Education"). Some people are lucky enough to experience a beautiful moment with the person they love. I was not one of those people. Like most, my first experience was awkward and, in some ways, downright cringe worthy. However, it's not the bedroom misadventure itself, but what lead up to it that I want to explore further. In the early days of 2010 I was working at Sears, broke as shit and still living with my parents. I was also dating for the first time in almost two years. Jamie and I met through online dating, which is the same of every adult relationship I've ever had. And our first date was… well different. At one point we stopped at Leunig's in Burlington so she could demand her camera back from an ex-boyfriend who worked in the kitchen. She also shared the story of how, at just 23 years old, she had suffered a stroke which caused her to have to relearn everything, from how to walk to intensive speech therapy. It really was one of the more surreal nights of my life, and it wouldn't be my last with her.
Over the course of getting to know one another Jamie revealed that she was still seeing a therapist, who had advised her against having sex for at least a month. I was disappointed by this, I won't lie, but agreed that we would wait until whenever she was ready. The same day she told me that, we were having dinner at a Chili's when she got a phone call. I could tell when she got off the phone that she was very upset. Jamie told me that it was a collections agency who was getting more and more aggressive. One of the consequences of her stroke was she incurred an enormous amount of debt due to medical expenses. She looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Don't ever get sick." Those words have been seared into my memory ever since and have only gotten more relevant with the passage of time. We didn't talk for a few minutes after that, I was sitting there trying to figure out what I could say to make her feel better. What happened next, I've debated quite a bit in the years since. I was picking my way through a chicken caesar pita when Jamie said to me in a firm and clear voice, "Let's have sex." I thought she was kidding so, as I am apt to do, I sarcastically replied that we should go in the freezer right now so it could be called The Thriller In The Chiller. It turned out she was quite earnest though, even offering to get a hotel room if necessary. I asked if she was sure about this, what about the whole thing with the therapist and waiting? She told me to forget about that and anxiously asked me to flag down the waiter for the check.
You can imagine what came next, I was a twenty-two-year-old virgin so I choose not to press the issue further. On one hand, she was an adult who was not intoxicated and made a choice of her own free will. I was fully prepared to honor her request that we wait, then she changed the equation on me and I again went along with her. We had also been on several dates by that point so the timing wasn't abnormal. On the other hand, I feel like I took advantage of Jamie when she was in an emotionally vulnerable position and ask myself, was she really in a place to give consent? I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that Jamie was acutely aware I wanted to sleep with her. It is entirely possible she felt pressured into doing so. Between the health and financial pressures she was under, Jamie could've felt that the additional lack of sex would cause me to cut my losses and leave, so she went against her better judgement. The terrible irony of it all is that I did leave her not long afterward. She was understandably angry, going so far as to accuse me of using her for sex and then throwing her away like she was trash. That was never my intent, but actions and intentions are two different things. The fact was I did have concerns, but instead of sitting down like an adult and talking them out I choose to get out, via text no less. In the end I will always feel guilty about this, and not just because of the stupid way I chose to end the relationship. I did not actively coerce her into having sex with me, but I can't help but wonder if someone already had coerced her and if that experience affected her choices with me.
Some years later I was living in downtown Burlington and dating a woman named Ingrid. She and I hit it off over some blueberry cider on the roof of the now defunct Das Bierhaus. I fondly recall a misty evening when we walked down to the beach by Red Rocks Park and sat together in the sand. We looked at the distant lights dotting the shadowy landscape below the mountains on the New York side of Lake Champlain. I mused on about all the stories there must be in the world and how many would be lost to time. She playfully poked me with my umbrella and I said I was lucky she enjoyed my tangents. Things progressed and one evening we found ourselves in the bedroom of my cramped King Street apartment watching a movie (I believe the popular parlance nowadays for this is "Netflix & Chill").
We were in the midst of what I assumed was foreplay when she said "You know we're not having sex tonight, right?" I was taken aback but I said okay. All of the sudden there was serious tension in the room, she got incredibly anxious and covered her eyes. Unable to even look at me she just kept saying "I'm sorry" and curled into a ball. I reassured her that it was perfectly alright, eventually cutting the tension by recalling folksy and embarrassing stories from my childhood to make her laugh. Ingrid told me that she was just embarrassed, but I got the feeling it was something more. Afterwards I was confused, concerned and even a bit insulted by Ingrid's reaction. Maybe a guy had assaulted her in the past, I didn't know and didn't feel it was my place to ask. What I could say with certainty was that I personally had never so much as raised my voice to a romantic partner in my life. I didn't understand why she might equate that behavior with me, but I think I do now. Regardless of whether or not I was a "nice guy" Ingrid was acutely aware of certain facts. Firstly, we were on my home turf and she'd just had a couple of drinks so she wouldn't be able to drive anytime soon. And while nobody would confuse me with a body builder, physically I still had six inches and fifty pounds on her. What if I didn't take no for an answer and forced myself on her, could she stop me? Or what if I was humiliated by the denial of sex and lashed out in anger? To Ingrid and thousands of other women out there, the danger of these things happening is all too real, I can see that now.
The last story I'll share is a first date that didn't exactly go according to plan. I met a woman named Angela at a bar called Drink in downtown Burlington. It's a favorite spot for first dates, because even if things go sideways, I can still get in a couple of chocolate mint martini's and a game of connect-4. It was 2016 and I was meeting a Republican… in a Presidential election year but still I was curious to see if I could hit it off with somebody whose political beliefs were so fundamentally different from my own. I felt the evening was going reasonably well, we stayed away from politics for the most part and even when we discussed politics we remained respectful of one another. I even managed to make her laugh some, mainly at my inability to best her at a single game of connect-4 (as anybody who's ever played Call of Duty with me can attest, I am no master strategist). At some point a couple of hours in she mentioned that she had just gotten a text from a friend, who was staying at her apartment, who had been cooking and manage to lock herself out so now Angela had to go let her back in. This is the part where I should've gotten the message and gracefully taken my leave, but I didn't.
We got to the corner of Pearl St and North Winooski Ave. She said she lived a few blocks down in the Old North End and was going to walk home. I offered to walk her home and she initially declined. I offered again, it was a Friday night and there were already drunken idiots about so I wanted to make sure she got home safe. She said she would be fine but I insisted so she relented and said I could accompany her. I really did want to make sure she made it home alright, but admittedly there was a part of me that wanted to be there when it was revealed that there was in fact no stranded friend waiting outside to be rescued, that she had made some lame ass excuse and now was caught in it. It was a pleasant enough walk, we talked the whole way and, sure enough when we arrived there was no friend. "She must've found her way back in," Angela said sheepishly. "Must've" I said with a none too subtle grin on my face. Still I bade her a pleasant evening and was on my way, reveling in a sense of gotcha satisfaction.
To give you the reader some background, I have been subjected to some pretty lame "I have to go" excuses. My gold medal goes to the woman I met for dinner who, while we were still having pre-meal drinks said, "I have to go have dinner with my family". I had within the past few months been ghosted by a girlfriend, have a date arrive, take one look at me and say "by the way I have to leave in 30 minutes" and been flatly stood up on another date. I was fed up, if Angela wasn't interested she should just come out and say it. Why couldn't she just be honest, instead of making up some cock & bull story about why you have to leave and then never answering any follow up text or e-mail I might send? Without realizing it, my actions had already answered that question. Angela likely made up that story because she had, at some point that evening, determined that she was not interested in me. But why the tall tale? Dating inherently carries more risk for women than it does for men.
According to statistics compiled by The National Domestic Violence Hotline, more than 1 in 3 women will experience physical violence, rape and/or stalking by a date or significant other in their lifetime. It's a horrifying figure, and the more I think about it the more I understand what Angela was trying to do. When she concluded that we weren't going to work out, Angela likely concocted that story for one of several reasons. Most likely,she didn't want to hurt my feelings by coming right out and saying she didn't find me attractive or that our personalities did not jive. Also,it was likely a safety mechanism to extricate herself from a situation she wasn't entirely comfortable with. Even if I didn't necessarily buy that story, I should've accepted that she had her reasons and called it a night. Maybe she really didn't mind if I walked with her, maybe she didn't have any interest in me but also didn't know how to say it, so letting me walk her home was just easier. Through her body language and indirect way though, Angela was telling me no, and I wasn't hearing her. That is an issue I continue to work on to this day.
It's a brave new world out there for men and women in the "Me Too" era, and I think a lot of people are still trying to figure out what that means to them. I've listened to some embittered guys say "things used to be better before #metoo and all this other politically correct bullshit. Whatever happened to the time when men could just be men and not fear having the Twitter mob sicked on them?" My contention is this; was it really better or just better for you as a straight, white male? "Me Too", "Time's Up" and other associated movements aren't just reckonings for past sins, they can't be. No this is a watershed moment, a before and after moment in our social history. This is a time for men and women and those who chose not to identify a gender to come together and open a dialogue with one another, to help redefine what consent means, close disparities and change relationship dynamics for the better. For me personally, this is a time to look back on past mistakes and learn from them. This is a time to talk less and listen more. This is a time to continue reeducating myself and, ultimately to be better moving forward.


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Fishers Parks & Recreation is excited to welcome Marissa Deckert as the department's new Assistant Director! Marissa will manage internal administrative operations and lead key initiatives for the department.
Born and raised in Southern California, Marissa is a new resident of Indiana after spending the last few years in the Pacific Northwest.
Marissa started her career in recreational programming for youth with Young Champions and successfully expanded cheerleading and dance programs by 80 locations throughout Southern California. In 2006, after 6 years in youth recreation, Marissa moved into venue management. She spent 10 years with the Anaheim Ducks, and oversaw event operations for the Honda Center venue. In 2015, Marissa accepted a role as Senior Director of Security and Guest Experience for the Rose Quarter Sports and Entertainment district, and moved to Portland, Oregon. She spent the last 3 years advancing security operations with the Portland Trail Blazers and led efforts to become the first sensory inclusive venue on the West Coast. She has been an integral part of thousands of successful events including NBA and NHL playoffs, a presidential campaign rally, and hundreds of major touring acts.
Marissa lives in Fishers with her husband, Justin, and unstoppable 4-year-old, Arthur. She is a proud mother and grandmother to 1-year-old, Eva, and her daughter, Ariana, is expecting her second baby in a few weeks.


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Outdoor Equipment
Equipment Matters
Wherever you are going and whatever you are doing, your outdoor adventures will always be enhanced by the best equipment. The extensive range here at Complete Outdoors features everything you need for your comfort and safety whether you are enjoying a hike in the Mendip Hills or an Alpine expedition!
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Complete Outdoors keeps you safe and comfortable for the Journey!


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Did y'all catch the Golden Globe awards? It was epic. Go watch Oprah's speech. It felt like the salve my soul needed after processing #metoo. Catch Natalie Portman calling out the all male nominations in the directors category. So many inspired speeches; this award show was revitalizing to me.
I've been thinking a lot about sexism, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. I go on walk/attempted runs at night in my neighborhood and I feel like I leave the house prepared. I give myself a good pep talk about shouting no and fighting back if I was attacked. Which got me down the thought rabbit hole of saying no. I feel like saying no wasn't something instilled in me. Is that my upbringing? A generational thing? A female thing? I took a self defense class in my early 20's and I couldn't finish the course. The act of saying no was startling and overwhelming. One time, Eric's Oma was in a wee car accident and in the hospital over night for monitoring. She told the doctors no to asprin because she didn't want a blood thinner. I had NO idea you could say no to a doctor. As a mother I've been told by countless memes to embrace the chaos and say yes to more. Y'all. I don't want to say yes. I want to say no. Or at least only say yes when I'm emotionally/spiritually/physically prepared for the adventure. Anyways, this was the rabbit hole my brain took tonight to process #metoo and #TIMESup. I don't have any answers or plans, but I'm going to keep practicing finding my voice and calling bull shit on sexist behavior around me.
Another way we process current events around Knitted Wit is with Colors for a Cause. Our newest one is #TIMESup and we'll be donating 10% to National Women's Law Center. They will be the organization administrating the funds raised by the #TIMESup go fund me.


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Aviation attorney, Arthur Alan Wolk, who has done substantial research in the field of aircraft fires, notes that the United States Navy refused to allow the continued use of Kapton in Navy fighters because of its poor performance, specifically its propensity for arcing and the propagation of dangerous fire-producing sparks. The FAA was made aware long before this crash that Kapton was a hazardous wiring for use in aircraft, yet did not mandate more stringent inspections of aircraft in which Kapton was used as electrical insulation.
Kapton was described by DuPont, its manufacturer, as having "outstanding thermal, mechanical, chemical and electrical properties." In fact, Boeing engineers concluded that Kapton was completely unsuitable because when wires arced within the Kapton insulation, Kapton became a carbon track, allowing further propagation of the electrical arcing, much like a dynamite fuse.
This clearly made Kapton a bomb waiting to go off in any aircraft in which it was utilized.
It is indefensible that both the FAA and the manufacturer of this aircraft would permit the use of electrical wiring in a civilian, passenger carrying airliner, knowing that in an aircraft in which the crew is equipped with an ejection seat, the material was found to be unsuitable because of its fire and arcing propagation characteristics, says Wolk.
This will be undoubtedly a very ugly and embarrassing investigation for the industry and a further embarrassment to the FAA, which already has thousands of lives etched on its tombstone of ineptitude, says Wolk.