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Mainplate & Bridge
A blog about watches.
My Contributions to The Collective
Is the New Omega Speedmaster Professional Too Enthusiast Focused?
Posted byDavid Klint January 5, 2021 January 5, 2021 Posted inAll PostsTags:Omega, Rolex, Speedmaster, Watches
On the first "Speedy Tuesday" of the year, Omega announced a major upgrade to the Speedmaster Professional "Moonwatch." This is a watch that Omega doesn't update often, and this particular update was the biggest in decades. Most notably, the new reference 310.30.42.50.01.001 has a Master Chronometer certified Co-Axial movement, a new bracelet, and some great nods to vintage Speedmaster references. Overall, I love it. They've taken a great watch and made it significantly better. That said, I have a few gripes with this timepiece. There is ambiguity around its qualification for manned space missions, and I think Omega misstepped in focusing so hard on pleasing the enthusiast watch segment.
I'll get into my grievances in a second, but first, the goods. The biggest upgrade is, of course, the movement. Omega has upgraded from the long adored caliber 1861 to the OMEGA Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861. Being a Master Chronometer means not only can this watch endure more than its predecessor, but it's also one of the toughest and most accurate watch movements on the market. Architecturally the 3861 is very similar to the 1861, like the 1861 was to the 861 and the 861 was to the 321. It's still a manual winding—with 50 hours of power reserve—lever and cam switching chronograph, and the general structure is unchanged. But now, it has a co-axial escapement and the silicon balance spring and is highly resistant to magnetism. For the average wearer, this just means a more accurate, tough, and reliable watch.
OMEGA Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861
The watch's inside was not the only thing upgraded as there is a handful of conservative but meaningful design changes. The bracelet is now five links instead of three and is finished differently depending on if you get the Hesalite or Sapphire crystal model. The move from three to five links means this bracelet should be more adjustable and comfortable on the wrist, but it also gives the watch a more vintage and slightly more dressy vibe. The Hesalite version is fully brushed, while the sapphire model has an alternating polished and brushed finishing. While I like the new bracelets, the clasp overshadows them.
The twin-trigger clasp has a gorgeous vintage design inspired by the clasp on the first gold Speedmaster reference BA145.022-69. It's my favorite detail on the new model. Other vintage inspired queues added to the watch include the coveted dot over 90 on the bezel and the pie pan style stepped dial. The stepped dial for me is a significant visual improvement, the dot over 90 I couldn't care less about, but I get that many other enthusiasts will love it. The sapphire model now comes with an applied logo, while the Hesalit models' are still painted on. The logo difference further delineates the two and, in my mind, draws a clear line in the sand. The sapphire is now more of a vintage reissue, and the Hesalite is the purist model.
Dot over 90, stepped dial, chef's kiss.
All of these updates I love, and I should. I'm a watch guy, after all. Now we get to my grievances. Before this update, a Speedmaster Professional cost $5,300 and was arguably the best value proposition in watches. Not only was it a fantastic entry into the Omega brand but luxury watches in general. Few if any watches could compete with the Speedmaster Professional's story and legendary design and movement. It had everything you could want in a great watch for most people, and at $5300, most people could aspire to own one should they choose.
With this new model and its litany of upgrades, Omega saw fit—justifiably—to increase the watch's price to $6300. I know this is not an insane price increase, and I still consider this watch a good value for the money. But again, I'm a watch guy. All of the updates to this watch matter to me, and I'm the minority. The Speedmaster transcends the watch enthusiast world and is one of Omega's most popular watches. Increasing the price one thousand dollars higher when most people who would buy it won't notice or care about the updates seems like a dangerous move. The watch is now in Rolex Explorer territory at this price, which I consider a very similar watch in spirit. Omega had such a killer advantage with the previous model. Their flagship, their most legendary watch, was less than essentially any Rolex, and I'm sure that fact alone gained them many buyers. That advantage is now gone because of a lot of details that only enthusiasts will love. Case in point the picture below shows the previous model on the left and the new updated model on the right. Pretty similar even for a watch nerd.
New Caseback with Co-Axial Master Chronometer and "in 1965" added
Now to the issue of the flight qualification. On the back of this watch, Omega has conspicuously changed the engraving from "Flight Qualified by NASA for all Manned Space Missions." to "Flight Qualified by NASA in 1965 for all Manned Space Missions." This might seem like a small detail, but the former indicates the watch is currently flight-qualified, and the latter seems to imply it once was. I'm not sure if this is why Omega added the qualifier of "in 1965" or not, but I consider this a key detail of this timepiece. Per Fratello watches, the two previous Moonwatch generations with the 861 and 1861 movements were not actually tested by NASA but rather Omega according to NASA's parameters, and those still received the qualification from NASA. With this model, Omega says they've tested these new watches accordingly, but there doesn't seem to be any official word that NASA recognizes them as qualified for spaceflight. For now, we'll have to wait to see whether Omega clears things up or wait and see if it ends up on an astronaut's wrist—hopefully, both.
Again, I love this watch. I've been waiting for it to get a Co-Axial METAS movement for a few years now. I love the new dial, I love the new bracelet, I love all of it. I'll probably buy one in the near future. But I'm also exactly who this watch was made for, and for every watch nerd like me, there are thousands of people who just want a nice watch, people who will now be cross-shopping this Speedy with some steeper competition than it's used to. Time will tell if the Speedmaster is up to the task like it has been so many times before.
All images from omega.com
Published by David Klint
Husband, Dad, writer, and watch enthusiast.	View more posts
Rolex 2020 Releases
Mainplate & Bridge, Blog at WordPress.com.


Warmth courses through my body as I sit here; my face resting inside both palms.
"Another one," I order one of the men behind the counter.
Leaping up from the stool, a violent wave crashes over me and I lose my balance but somehow managing to support myself on the bar top. "You don't tell me…" my voice trails off with heavy slurs.
What sort of man have I allowed myself to become? This isn't me.
The bartender hurries around the counter to catch me as I threaten to fall to the hard tile floors.
"You do this every time. I'm not gonna serve you if you keep this up," he reprimands.
"Don't you judge me," I murmur, holding on to his sports jacket.
With his hand around my shoulder he tries to steady me, and for a moment I almost drag us both down until he lets me go. My body thumps loudly on the unforgiving floors.
"Get up, you fool," he demands, pulling on one of my arms.
I sit in a daze for a while, not wanting to move as the room spins around me. I faintly here the music in the background as my wife's favorite song plays. The tune still makes me smile.
Light smacks on my cheek pull me back into reality and the bartender helps me to my feet once again. "Who would have known!" I yell, laughing hysterically to myself.
Shoving him away from me, I wobble towards the doors as if the ground were shaking beneath me. "I'll see you tomorrow!" I call behind me.
The cab is waiting as I approach the parking lot and the bartender walks quietly behind me, making sure I don't try to make an attempt at my own vehicle. He opens the cab doors for me and shoves me in.
"Behave yourself," he says, before handing my address to the driver.
Dropping the phone, I let her bicker with the leather seat.
She sighs, and the line goes dead.
"I leave every day at six in the morning. I buy Lisa anything she wants and she still finds things to complain about. She's ungrateful, is what she is," I chuckle.
Stretching across the backseat, I close my eyes and listen to the sound of the road as my head continuously swims. Mary is so good to me.
She makes me believe in me in me again. Takes away the empty feeling I harbor in my heart and the resentment I have for my wife.
He reluctantly takes the card from my fingers and glances down at the address. "I don't think your wife would be too happy about this," he responds, sitting the card down.
"It wasn't always bad between us," I whisper, struggling to remember the good times.
With his distractions, he pulls up into my driveway and blows the horn. When I look up at the two-story home I'm stricken with the urge to vomit.
She did this to me.
Lisa comes prancing out of the house, her hair in rollers and her nightgown blowing freely in the wind. I open the door before she approaches the car and throw up in her prized bushes.
I'm unsure whether it's judgment or concern in her voice and I slap her hand away as she tries to help me get out of the car. "Get away from me," I chide.
Tumbling out of the car, I lay on the ground for a moment, thwarting Lisa's attempts to lift me up. I hear the gravel crackle underneath the tires as the cab backs out of the driveway and for a moment, I wish it were me. For so long I've lived in misery.
"I can't believe you, John. This is the fifth night this week! I thought you wanted to be sober? You were doing so well," she says, pushing me down on the couch and heading off into the kitchen.
As I peel my shoes off, I glare at some of her small trinkets sitting on the coffee table as they dance around in mockery of my vision. Lisa comes back into the room with an ice pack and places it on my forehead.
"I can't keep doing this, John," she whispers softly.
Holding the compress to my head, I lean back on the couch. "Let's just talk about this in the morning," I reply.
When she picks up one of the cups left out on the table, I briefly believe she's going to throw it at my head. "You talk about it like it's a woman for Christ's sake!" she yells, shattering the glass against the wood floors.
When she ran away, I got up from the couch and scoured the house in search of her car keys. Catching sight of them on the kitchen counter, I pick them up and drag towards the door. "Good luck on your own," I yell up the stairs before closing the front door behind me.
I speed down the dark road as if I'm racing towards my future. Tears burn down my cheeks as I grip the steering wheel so tight my knuckles whiten.
There's something about the sweet and smooth taste of tomato sauces mixed with the soothing vodka that make me stick so strongly to it. It reminds me of better days- days I don't want to end. But it also makes me angry- angry at Lisa for things beyond her control.
Afterall, it's not her fault she can't have any children. Chemo has taken everything from her since the day they first started injecting the poison into her veins. All we ever talked about were having at least two or three kids to fill our home with love. Maybe that's what started the division.
Pressing my foot further down on the accelerator, I jerk the wheel to turn around. Rain on the road makes it hard for the tires to catch traction and I lose control of the wheel.
"I choose you," I whisper as the car crashes against the steel rails and lunges over the edge, colliding with the cold water.


Upper: Twin-faced grade A sheepskin with suede heel guards.
Insole: Merino curly sheepskin lining,100% Geniune sheepskin insole.
Outsole: Stacked leather heel accented for great traction and stable walking.
The Women's Corinth Boot is a tall, fashionable boot on a three inch rubber wedge with a sleek, sophisticated silhouette. This UGG corinth boot has a functional wrap buckle closure guaranteeing a perfect fit. Cozy genuine sheepskin lining and a genuine sheepskin insole make the Corinth uniquely. Upper includes sheepskin lined plush leathers, leather overlay wrap, functional buckle closure, medial zipper for easy entry. The corinth boot looks very fashionable and it also can make your comfortable and warm which UGG Boots famous for.


Corinne & Keiran 12th Dec 2009.
A garden wedding in the grounds of Keiran's family home.
Sarah & Bryden 6th dec 2009.
Loxley on Bellbird was the venue for Sarah & Bryden's marriage and Reception.
Helena & Toby 5th Dec 2009.
Helena & Toby were married at St Gregory Church, Kurrajong and held their Reception at Loxley on Bellbird.
Nina & Ben 29th Nov 2009.
Nina & Ben were married at Scots Kirk Presbyterian Church, Mosman. The Bridal party then gathered for photographs at Clifton Gardens and Balmoral Beach before boarding the Sydney Glass Island at Milsons Point.


You've decided to become a medical writer. You've set up your LinkedIn profile, sent out countless resumes, and networked yourself to death. You finally land the interview and realize, wait for it - they actually want you to write something before they hire you!


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Dan McNamara joins Havant & Waterlooville on loan
Young defender to spend rest of season on south coast
Young Millwall defender Dan McNamara has joined Vanarama National League side Havant & Waterlooville on loan until the end of the 2018/19 season.
McNamara becomes the second player to sign for The Hawks on a temporary deal from The Den, with Harry Donovan completing a loan move just days before.
The 20-year-old - who has played for and captained Kevin Nugent's Under 23 side regularly this season - made his debut for Lee Bradbury's side at the weekend, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2-2 draw at Sutton United. He has also spent loan stints with Dover Athletic and Welling United this term.
The south coast side are further acquainted with Millwall through Lions legend Paul Robinson now representing The Hawks.
In further U23 news, goalkeeper Ryan Sandford has extended his loan with Egham Town until the end of the current campaign.
Everyone at the club would like to wish Dan and Ryan all the best during their time at Westleigh Park and the Runnymede Stadium respectively.
Danny McNamara
Ryan Sandford

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Nicole's casual interest in old crochet and knitting patterns grew into a mission to search The Library Company's collections and make available to patrons a comprehensive database of holdings focused on needle crafts and their relationship to the economy of the family, leisure, philanthropy, and manufacturing.
Nicole's research has allowed her to cross-reference a large number of materials on the history of knitting and crochet throughout the 19th century and translate patterns of the period for modern use while uncovering a social history of knitting and crochet in early American culture.
Entry filed under: Publication Highlights. Tags: america, american history, crochet, culture, economics, economy, family, google preview, historic reflections in crochet, history, industry, knitting, leisure, library company, manufacturing, needle craft, patterns, philadelphia, philanthropy, pop culture, popular culture, social history, united states.


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Berggrundvecklare (Celypha rurestrana) är en fjärilsart som först beskrevs av Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel 1843.  Berggrundvecklare ingår i släktet Celypha, och familjen vecklare. Arten är reproducerande i Sverige.

Källor

Externa länkar

Vecklare

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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As the election approaches, transgender athletes like me have reason to worry
Emmett Lockwood | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Emma Cameron competes as a transgender woman athlete
Transgender runner Emma Cameron, 28, talks about Rep. Barbara Dittrich's bill barring transgender girls and women from all-female school sports. Dittrich cited Cameron's first-place finish in a 50K race as an example of the need for the legislation.
Mike De Sisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
I started playing water polo when I was 10 years old. There's nothing else quite like it: four seven-minute quarters filled with splashes, swimming, eggbeater kicks, and occasionally scoring gives an adrenaline rush like nothing else.
After seventh grade, I was invited to compete in USA Water Polo's Junior Olympics with the U13 Greenwich Aquatics girl's team in Connecticut. A couple of months later, I climbed out of the saltwater pool with zinc smeared across my face. I rushed over to my mom after shaking hands with the other team and eagerly exclaimed "Mom! That girl on the Pasadena team pushed me under but then treaded water on top of me to keep me down, can I practice that when we get home?!"
I was hooked.
Yet while I was deeply in love with water polo, a tension began to emerge. As I moved into puberty, it became harder and harder as the person I saw in my water polo suit was not who I imagined myself becoming. While my teammates seemed excited as they got their first bras and started learning the art of managing your period while playing a water sport, I started preparing as if puberty was armageddon. I hoped someone would tell me the secret switch to flip to stop it all.
I didn't learn the word "transgender" until my sophomore year of high school, and it wasn't until my junior year of high school that I vocalized that I was a transgender guy — first to my friends, then to my family. In my senior year, I was captain of my high school's girls' water polo team. While everyone on my team got my new name and pronouns correct, and our coach even went out of his way to correct athletic trainers or referees who referred to us all as "girls" or "ladies" — it still wasn't my team.
I started as a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in September 2021, and instantly I found the men's water polo team to be of my homes on campus. I have never been the fastest swimmer or the highest scorer on the team, and most of the guys are at least half a foot taller than me. But I love this sport and I love my team to pieces, whether it is the exhilaration of setting up my teammates up for a great goal or joking with them on the pool deck. I wouldn't trade them for the world. They accept me as their teammate.
Men's Club Big Ten Water Polo isn't perfect. There will always be the other teams that give me an odd look at tournaments,or the announcers who assume my gender based on the swimsuit I wear, but that all melts away the second coach taps me to go in the water.
Last year, the state Assembly and state Senate in Wisconsin passed Assembly Bill 195, a bill aimed at banning the participation of transgender women in women's sports at UW-System Schools and state technical colleges.
More:Wisconsin Republicans advance ban on transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports
While Assembly Bill 195 was vetoed in March by Governor Evers, there is a real fear among myself and supporters of trans athletes that Tim Michels and Republicans in the state Senate would work to expand this bill to exclude all transgender athletes from sports in the state of Wisconsin. Michels has not been shy about his transphobia — recently he stated that Evers is "using public schools to indoctrinate 3-year-olds with radical gender ideology."
There is nothing radical about my gender. I am simply living the life I have always been meant to lead.
Recently, the UW-Madison's Men's Club Water Polo Team placed fifth at the Big Ten Championships andyet the whole time, even while cheering on my teammates as they scored, I was more silent than normal. A pit in my stomach formed as we played our last game against the University of Iowa.
I knew the second I hopped out of the water at the end of the game, it would be in the hands of the voters of Wisconsin whether I will be able to jump back in again with my team.
Emmett Lockwood is a sophomore political science student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.


I've been fortunate to meet a superb illustrator recently, by the name of Alex of 2 Stoked.
As a result, I commissioned him to draw this, to feature in the forthcoming book chapter of the 'PIES Chart'.
To find out more about the book launch, please sign up to our mailing list.


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Bioinformatician / Postdoctoral Fellow / Researcher / Scientist
Postdoctoral or Scientist Positions in Organogenesis, Birth Defects, and Bioinformatics Full-time
University of California at Davis
NIH-funded postdoctoral or research scientist positions are immediately available at the Institute for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California at Davis, to study the mechanism and prevention of several common and severe structural birth defects, such as neural tube defects and orofacial clefts in genetically modified mutant mouse models. We currently focus on Wnt signaling and chromatin modification.
The institute provides an excellent research environment. Salaries are at the latest NIH and UC scale based on experience, plus fringe benefits/health insurance. Our projects employ various practical research approaches, including conditional gene targeting, mouse embryo culture, wholemount in situ hybridization, real-time PCR, immunoblot, chromatin immunoprecipitation, promoter luciferase assay, live imaging, single cell RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq, and related bioinformatic analyses. Self-motivated candidates who hold a PhD or equivalent degree in an appropriate area and have demonstrated solid publications are particularly welcome to apply.
Applicants may email their CVs (including a brief summary of research experience and technical expertise) and contact information for three references for considerations.
Tagged as: Life Sciences
Postdoc in applying CRISPR technology Full-time
rice university United States (US) Houston
This position is mainly focused on developing the genome editing tools based on CRISPRtechnologies through rational design and engineering of...
Postdoctoral Positions- Gene Therapy for Hearing and Balance Disorders Full-time
University of Iowa- Carver College of Medicine United States (US) Iowa City
There are open post-doctoral positions in the laboratory of Samuel Young at The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine,...
Postdoc Position in Mechanisms and Function of Sleep at Penn Full-time
University of Pennsylvania United States (US) Philadelphia
A postdoctoral position is available in the lab of Dr. Franz Weber in the Department of Neuroscience at the University...
Neuroscience Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University Full-time
Rowland Institute at Harvard University United States (US) Cambridge, MA
Rayshubskiy lab postdoc candidate search What happens in the brain when an animal is committed to a behavioral goal? Through...
Postdoctoral Scholar in Translational Bioinformatics and Cancer Immunotherapy Full-time
University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine & UPMC Hillman Cancer Center United States (US) PIttsburgh
A postdoctoral position in translational bioinformatics and cancer immunotherapy is available in the Translational Immuno-informatics Laboratory (TIIL) directed by Jason...
Research Scientist I – III (NGS Data Analyst / Molecular Biologist) Full-time
EpiCypher, Inc. United States (US) Durham, North Carolina
PhD level (Next-Gen Sequencing (NGS) Data Analyst / Bioinformatician) sought to support product development, services and manufacturing for a rapidly...
Deadline:December 8, 2021
Sacramento & Davis, California
Closes: December 8, 2021
Please send your application to cjzhou@ucdavis.edu
Don't forget to mention that you found the position on jobRxiv!


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Q: Access a global static variable from a .so file without modifying library I have a global static variable defined in a library (.so file) which I want to access from my application. Application loads the .so library at run time.
Is there a way to access the static variable without modifying the library code? I know it is not straightforward as I see that variable symbol itself will be gone from symbol table once compilation is done. I still think that there could be some hacky way (by crawling symbol table etc) to access this variable. Any help?
lib.c -> static struct Abc abc --> compiled to a.so
app.c ->loads a.so and need to access abc variable?

update: a.so is compiled using gcc -O2 option.

A: In general, it is correct that a static global variable cannot be accessed. It even might be optimized away under some circumstances, so that there doesn't exist a fixed memory location at all.
But if it is not optimized away, then of course there are always "hackish" ways to access it anyway. Crawling the symbol table is however not an option, since the symbol usually is not listed there. You have to dig deeper into the assembly code. This example is for linux with gcc and x86_64 cpu. It assumes, that the source is available, to identify the variable access in the assembly code.
Imagine the following shared object source file:
static int bar = 31337;

int foo (void) {
    bar = getpid();
}

bar is your static variable. You can now find out the offset of bar from the function foo - which is always constant despite relocation of the whole library - by examining the disassembled source:
objdump -x shared.so
00000000000006a0 <foo>:
 6a0:   48 83 ec 08             sub    $0x8,%rsp
 6a4:   31 c0                   xor    %eax,%eax
 6a6:   e8 c5 fe ff ff          callq  570 <getpid@plt>
 6ab:   89 05 c7 02 20 00       mov    %eax,0x2002c7(%rip)        # 200978 <_fini+0x2002c0>
 6b1:   48 83 c4 08             add    $0x8,%rsp
 6b5:   c3                      retq

Here, you see that the function foo has address 6a0 (subject to relocation later) and the static global variable bar is accessed at address 200978, which makes a total offset of 200978-6a0 = 2002D8. So if you open the shared library
void *h = dlopen("shared.so", RTLD_LAZY);

and lookup the symbol foo
void *foo = dlsym(h, "foo");

you can calculate the address of bar by adding the calculated offset:
int *a = foo + 0x2002D8;
printf("%d\n", *a);

A hackish way, as requested ;)

A: It is not possible as the idea of the static global variable is to make it invisible to anything except the current compilation unit
If the library developer made the object static probably it was done for a reason and he did not want this object to accessed outside the library code

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


How Much Our Roads Cost?
In the race to keep up with aging infrastructure, population growth and changing fiscal realities, the time is ripe for Reno, Sparks the Regional Transportation Commission officials to change the way they build our roads. Nevada could save driving taxpayers tens of millions of dollars during the next several years by considering better pavements and a better process for road construction.
Many transportation agencies around the country are using economic tools that help them choose the most cost-effective highway project alternatives. Not us.
Require life cycle analysis when awarding roadway construction bids. This means considering a 20 to 30-year lifespan when government builds project bids.
Create alternative bid polices (as does Colorado and other states), to compare roadway pavements side by side, true dollar to true dollar, over a 30-plus year lifespan on all new construction or major rehabilitation projects. Increased competition lowers bids.
Implement a highway design process that would bring more accurate estimates of current and future costs. This means selecting the most economically sustainable pavement alternative, and making these LCCA reports open for public and professional review and/or comments.
Your friends at SmartRoadsNV have tried to share latest tools and techniques with local road officials, but we haven't been able to crack the bureaucracy that controls the development of roads...even though we are trying to save taxpayers money.
Help us out. Help your pocketbook out.
Email these folks to ask them why we can't be smarter about our roads.
Concrete's long-term performance brings solid return on investment and helps the state use money for more improvements instead of maintenance.
Concrete pavement isn't only for urban freeways and interstates. It is an effective solution for RTCs, cities, and rural state routes that serve the mining industry.
Lighter colors keep surfaces and cities cooler.
Brighter surfaces and reflective light improve pedestrian safety in intersections.
Greater stiffness produces better fuel economy, according to reasearch conducted by MIT. Other pavements need to be 60% thicker to match concrete's MPG.
The perception that concrete is too costly or takes too long to build is not always accurate. Explore options. Give concrete a chance. Your pocketbook will appreciate it in the long run. The concrete choice for Nevada.
SmartRoadsNV is an awareness and public education campaign about getting more from our road tax dollars. It is brought to you by The Sierra Nevada Concrete Association. The SNCA is an active force in promoting the use of quality concrete for all types of construction; from tilt-up logistics and manufacturing facilities, to lower-life cycle cost concrete pavements for roadways and parking lots. The SNCA provides public officials, engineers, architects and private developers with access to information regarding concrete in the Northern Nevada/California region.
The SNCA also provides continuing education for construction and architecture professionals, and supports student construction engineering with scholarships. SNCA is a long-time sponsor of the championship University of Nevada Concrete Canoe Team.
For more information about the SNCA and its programs, or for technical assistance, please visit www.sierranevadaconcrete.org.


§ 1890. The importance of this article will scarcely be doubted by any persons, who have duly reflected upon the subject. The militia is the natural defence of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpations of power by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from the enormous expenses, with which they are attended, and the facile means, which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the government, or trample upon the rights of the people. The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them. And yet, though this truth would seem so clear, and the importance of a well regulated militia would seem so undeniable, it cannot be disguised, that among the American people there is a growing indifference to any system of militia discipline, and a strong disposition, from a sense of its burthens, to be rid of all regulations. How it is practicable to keep the people duly armed without some organization, it is difficult to see. There is certainly no small danger, that indifference may lead to disgust, and disgust to contempt; and thus gradually undermine all the protection intended by this clause of our national bill of rights.
§ 1891. A similar provision in favour of protestants (for to them it is confined) is to be found in the bill of rights of 1688, it being declared, "that the subjects, which are protestants, may have arms for their defence suitable to their condition, and as allowed by law." But under various pretences the effect of this provision has been greatly narrowed; and it is at present in England more nominal than real, as a defensive privilege.


May 7th, 2011 6:44 AM by Lehel S.
penalties for those that do not.
their individual circumstances," DeMarco said.
borrowers as soon as they become delinquent and focus solely on remediating that delinquency.
encourage servicers to continue to help borrowers pursue a foreclosure alternative.


text:
Q: File upload fails when phone screen turns off In my web app, when submitting a form with a file to be uploaded, if the user pushes the button to turn the screen off before the upload finishes, it doesn't get uploaded. I'm assuming this is because the browser has been put into the background to sleep. I've searched for the answer here for how to approach this problem, but haven't found anything for a web app. Is there a way to keep the browser awake in the background until the file upload finishes, or a way to detect when the browser sleeps and then wakes up, or should I just show the user a message to Please Wait and hope they don't shut the screen off?

A: I didn't receive any responses. What I ended up doing is just showing a "Uploading..." message with a spinning loader. I'll update my post if I find a better way to handle this.


If you're looking for [tag]basketball drills for kids[/tag] give this drill a try. It is a [tag]dribbling basketball drill[/tag] (or dribbling game). The object is to be the last one with a ball.
All the kids are in a circle (preferably a circle painted on the floor). Nobody can dribble out of the circle. You have to have control of your [tag]basketball[/tag] and walk around in the circle dribbling and try to tap out the other opponents ball (w/out loosing yours).
If you loose your ball, you sit right in the circle. Now the other kids have to avoid you siting on the floor and other people trying to tap your ball. I only give them maybe 3-5 min. Then I start another game. This way nobody sits too long.
When the kids started to get really good at keeping their balls from being knocked away, I had them switch hands and dribble left. They couldn't stop laughing plus concentration improved tremendously.


What we do matters to us, of course it does, but what you want to achieve and how we can help you achieve that matters a whole lot more.
Our mission is to be the trusted source of reliable location and mapping data, the continual innovator, the provider of exceptional user experience and the enabler to help you transform your business using location data.
And that mission has been evolving for nearly 2 decades.
To many of our customers, we are simply 'the mapshop' - somewhere you can quickly license and download the most detailed and up-to-date data for your area, site, point or portfolio of interest. We bring together data from over 30 providers including household names such as Ordnance Survey and the Environment Agency together with more specialised and bespoke data creators and our own array of value added and derived data products.
This wealth of data is coupled with tools that allow you to create and share your own plans, to obtain bespoke reports for underground assets and risk profiling and to easily share data with contractors and stakeholders using the unique ContractorLink.
These online products and services have continued to evolve in response to feedback from and engagement with you, the customer and that process is ongoing.
Since 2006 - truly an age in internet digital economy time - our services have been underpinned by quality assured, on-demand 'web map services'.
We were the first to launch commercial OGC compliant Web Map Services (WMS) for OS MasterMap that year. While the OGC standards body has published many other standards (WMTS, WFS, WCS being of note), other de facto standards and methods have emerged that together have really opened up location content (or spatial data or geoinformation) for more than 'just' visualisation. Our web APIs embed these standards providing our customers with coherent programmable access to all our location data resources.
In a nutshell, our web API's can give your business location analytics on-demand.
That may be as simple as requesting an image, but it's so much more than that - search, query, analyse, compare, model, mash-up, combine - whatever it is, gain insight, confirm (or not) your hunches, act faster, act smarter, about what you have and where you have it, be more effective, seek and find better value.
Choose a location, choose some data, choose to provide us with your own data, choose your partners, choose your contractors, choose your criteria, choose your risk appetite, choose how you interact, choose results, fast - choose emapsite.
These days, nearly every piece of data you choose, has some form of location information attached to it, either directly (XY, lat-long, postcode, address, UPRN etc) or indirectly (i.e. it's about an asset, a property, a location in some shape or form).
Big data, little data, the sensor-web, IoT devices by the billion, smart meters/grids/lights/cities, your mobile, your IP address, your travel data - that location element is ever-present. Then there's satellite imagery, aerial photography, UAVs, drones, connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs), CCTV, ANPR, loyalty cards, iBeacons. And then there's all the data collected about us and where will live and work - surveys, polls, census, maps, 'geographies', those sometimes mysterious but most often administrative invisible lines on the map that represent some form of boundary or zone of aggregation.
Census output areas, wards, local nature reserves, utility boundaries, crime, flood, subsidence, monuments, greenspace, broadband, pipelines, SSSIs and National Parks, the list is almost endlessly rich and enriching.
Location data is everywhere and gives so much rich possibility for understanding your world better and all of the above is available from emapsite.
To enrich your decision making you need to bring new place based data to your challenge, while combining it with your skill set, in your domain and with your tools.
But location data (or even big data) needs to be harnessed by developers, integrators, bedroom coders to fit into and benefit their chosen systems, processes and platforms. From Salesforce to SAS, from Tableau and Qlik to Bluemix and so much more, location content can literally plug into the full enterprise tool set - BI, CRM, enterprise resource planning, asset management, supply chain management.
Perhaps more importantly vertical industry point solutions, in insurance, in financial services, in transport, in facilities management, in acquisitions and disposals, in planning, in routing, in waste, in housing, in environmental protection, in fact everywhere, are finding that they can plug location data in and make a difference, save money, gain new insight, gain time.
If you know us already, chances are you already think location matters and that everything happens somewhere, but you may be wondering how to take the next step in realising the benefits.
If you are new to emapsite, then welcome, and if you've got this far, you know location matters.
You've all come to the right place, for location content, for location data analytics, for location intelligence and for location services.
Spatial may no longer be as special as it used to be - but for many it is not a core competency, while it IS our defining competency.
emapsite guarantees to bring you location data services for the most detailed, up to date data sets for Great Britain, when you want and how you want.
We will support you - we have the best people managing the best data so that we can provide the data for you to work with to deliver better outcomes.


text:
Q: Taking a list of integers and displaying them in reverse using arrays If my input is 1 2 3 the output is also coming out as 1 2 3, how do I make these numbers to display 3 2 1?
 public static void main(String[] args) {
    // TODO code application logic here
    Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);

    String text = s.nextLine();

    String[] entries = text.split(" ");
    int[] nums = new int[entries.length];

     for(int i = 0; i < entries.length; i++){
        nums[i] = Integer.parseInt(entries[i]);
    }
     for(int i = 0; i < entries.length; i++){
        System.out.println(nums[i]);
    }
}

}

A: If you want to store numbers in reverse order:
for(int i = 0; i < entries.length; i++)
{
     nums[i] = Integer.parseInt(entries[entries.length-i-1]);
}

If you want to just display numbers in reverse order(they'll remain same order in list:
for(int i = entries.length-1; i >= 0; i--)
{
    System.out.println(nums[i]);
}

A: Try below code:
public static void main(String[] args)
{
  Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
  String text = s.nextLine();
  String[] entries = text.split(" ");
  for(int i = entries.length-1; i >= 0; i--)
  {
     System.out.print(Integer.parseInt(entries[i])+ " ");
  }
}

A: If you want Java 8 version, here is the code
Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
String text = s.nextLine();
String[] entries = text.split("\\s");

List<Integer> integers = Arrays.stream(entries)
        .map(Integer::valueOf)
        .collect(Collectors.toList());

Collections.reverse(integers);

integers.forEach(integer -> System.out.print(String.format("%d ", integer)));

\\s indicates 'white space' and I suggest you to close Scanner at the end.

A: You could loop through your entries array backwards. This would involve starting int i at the length of entries minus 1 (as that is your last index in your array - ie your last number). It would also require that you keep looping while i >= 0. Lastly, instead of incrementing your i variable, you need to decrement it. This way your counter i will go from the end of your loop to the start of your array (eg: if you enter "1 2 3", i will go from indexes: 2, 1, 0)
See example below:
public static void main(String[] args) {
   // TODO code application logic here
   Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);

   String text = s.nextLine();

   String[] entries = text.split(" ");
   int[] nums = new int[entries.length];

   for(int i = 0; i < entries.length; i++) {
     nums[i] = Integer.parseInt(entries[i]);
   }
   for(int i = entries.length-1; i >= 0; i--) {
     System.out.println(nums[i]);
   }
}


text:
ORCHARD PARK, NY - OCTOBER 15: Eli Harold #58, Colin Kaepernick #7 and Eric Reid #35 of the San Francisco 49ers kneel in protest on the sideline, during the anthem, prior to the game against the Buffalo Bills at New Era Field on October 16, 2016 in Orchard Park, New York. The Bills defeated the 49ers 45-16. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)Michael Zagaris/Getty Images
Companies Need to Do Better When Handling Issues of Race and Diversity
It's important to stand by your employees who stand up to white supremacy.
By Lincoln Anthony Blades
Do Better is an op-ed column by writer Lincoln Anthony Blades, debunking fallacies regarding the politics of race, culture, and society — because if we all knew better, we'd do better.
Five years ago, I was invited to a day-long "Realize Your Dreams" retreat where young professionals — especially those who felt they were at a crossroads in their career — were tasked with conceptualizing dream jobs we'd want for the rest of our lives. I landed on "corporate racial consultant": basically, a male version of Olivia Pope who would try to help clueless companies navigate racial incidents to help them become more "woke" while avoiding a serious social media dragging that could affect their bottom lines. The job seems more important than ever in the face of events we've seen in recent weeks with ESPN SportsCenter host Jemele Hill and model Munroe Bergdorf, both women who have faced disciplinary pushback from their employers for criticizing white supremacy. The National Football League is no stranger to these conversations either, as former quarterback Colin Kaepernick started a national conversation by taking a knee during the national anthem last season, a movement that reached unprecedented support from other players this weekend.
Marginalized people are going to continue to find it hard to be silent in the face of oppressive policy and overt racist antagonism, and companies are going to continue to find themselves in the middle of controversies that arise from such commentary. Positions like the one I dreamed up at that retreat do exist, and I expect they'll become crucial assets to companies as society continues to discuss and dismantle racist systems. We're at a point now where white supremacy is being called out by white people like Miss Texas, Margana Wood, during the live broadcast of the Miss America pageant — so you better believe that people of color are anxious to speak out about it now more than ever.
This is not just about being on the right side of history; this is about being on the right side of now. Brands can be recognized as being truly inclusive and welcoming of all customers to ensure that their business will survive no matter how demographics in America shift — and they are changing rapidly. Brands can't punish people for standing up for what they believe in because those people's incursion makes us uncomfortable. Marginalized people, who also shape America's workforce, must instead be supported, and their employers should strive to understand their needs. I'm not a professional diversity counselor, but I am a consumer of color, and I do have some advice for companies who may find themselves in a situation like this.
1. Understand that it's important for you to stand beside your employees in denouncing white supremacy.
These days, far too many people think that being labeled a racist is somehow worse than actual racism, but white supremacy exists in many violent forms. The belief that minorities are lesser than white people has historic roots that persist today, and ongoing oppressive policy reflects this past. Racism dehumanizes humans — your customers — every single day. It exists today. As we find ourselves facing an uprising in white nationalism and hate crimes targeting vulnerable minority communities, addressing the toxic insidiousness of bigotry and prejudice could become a conversation in your offices.
Taking white supremacy to task is never easy or immediately rewarding — it is courageous. Harriet Tubman is proof of that. Jackie Robinson is proof of that. Muhammad Ali is proof of that. Nelson Mandela is proof of that. Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis are proof of that. Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks are proof of that. People whom we roundly praise today as designers of a more equal society first had to stare down injustices. We're all better for their work.
Not only is it important to be good people who are committed to fighting the good fight, but it's also important to not be viewed as the Montgomery bus system, or the whites-only diner. That isn't an economically tenable position to take if your company is interested in maximizing customers in a nation where diversity is quickly increasing. Some teams with the NFL recognize this now.
Anya Taylor-Joy Proved the "Naked" Dress Remains an It Girl Style Staple
By Chandler Tregaskes
NCT 127 Members Know Exactly How to Describe Each Others' Styles
By Vandana Pawa
OBX S3, You S4, Freeridge, & More Coming to Netflix This Month
By Kaitlyn McNab
2. Understand that inclusiveness comes with diversity of thought.
Some companies, like ESPN, have demanded that employees who are news reporters refrain from making comments about social and political issues on their own social media. Other companies encourage it, like the National Basketball Association, which recently sent a memo to its players encouraging them to speak up about social issues. No one is saying that your brand needs to align directly with activism, but it's important to know that hiring minorities isn't just about putting a different skin tone or gender identity in front of your audience — it's about embracing the cultural differences that exist among us. When you reach out to other communities, it's important to know that you are including groups of people with different concerns, fears, and realities than the so-called silent majority. To be trans is to be a part of a group that is dealing with rising rates of violence, which means that the reality of your trans spokesperson/employee will be unfortunately embedded in this possible incursion. This goes for people of different faiths who are being targeted by xenophobia and people of different races who are being subject to racism. The idea that they can just ignore that issue for the benefit and comfort of others is irrational.
This is a message that NFL owners, like Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis, are finally understanding and embracing in the wake of Trump's recent inflammatory comments at a rally in Alabama, in which he effectively labeled [black] players who kneel for the anthem "sons of b*tches" who should "be fired." Owners like Davis, who once were reticent about player protests, have now realized that they cannot continue to ask their players to quietly accept ill treatment.
3. Understand that if you value minority consumers, you must also consider the financial impact of ignoring them.
Multicultural consumers are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population. While different projections of the estimated buying power of multicultural consumers exist, nonwhite consumers are willing to spend just as much as any other consumer. In fact, a recent Nielsen report revealed that America's 24.3 million black women (who make up 14% of all American women and 52% of all African-Americans) should be viewed as an incredibly coveted demographic of customers. Black women are the leaders of our social movements and some of the most outspoken critics of white supremacy, so ignoring them is to your company's detriment — especially when they are such major cultural trendsetters. The wild popularity of Rihanna's Fenty Beauty line isn't just predicated on her inclusion of products for women with traditionally overlooked skin tones; it's also built upon the fact that her customers, women of all different shades and cultures, trust in her personal politics of inclusiveness.
And that's just one example. More people of all different races, religions, and backgrounds are making the decision to be more socially conscious with how they spend their time and money. If your company finds itself in a controversy where an employee has called out white supremacy, and you believe that propagating the absence of tension is the only good move your company can make, it's time that you look at your consumer base and listen to them intently because the days of being moderate toward white supremacy without taking a serious brand hit may be over. Just ask the National Football League, which many believe "effectively blackballed" Kaepernick and has since suffered a decline in early-season ratings, which some suggest may be attributed to fans boycotting the league over the way he was treated. If you're not prepared to stand with your employees who call out racism, your multicultural consumers may not be standing with you for very long.
Related: Outrage Over Police Brutality Shouldn't Require a Dead, Unarmed Body
Keywordswhite supremacycompanySocial Mediaracistsilence black womando better
These 21 Women Are Black History Icons
Get to know these names.
By Molly Longman
Many Students Learn a Racist, Inaccurate History of Reconstruction
But this was a pivotal period in American history.
By Catherine Caruso
Black Cops Are Still Cops
The Black officers who killed Tyre Nichols are part of a racist, violent system.
By Olayemi Olurin
Lucky Girl Syndrome Might Help, But It's Not the Key to Success
Positive thinking can be good, but it won't get you everything you want.
By Darshita Goyal


text:
Q: In Unity, how can I hide the global menu on an application running fullscreen in a second monitor? I often play video content on my second screen, and I've noticed that when the fullscreen application loses focus (i.e. I go back to doing something on my main screen) a global menu bar appears above it. I find that distracting -- is there some way to prevent the menu bar from appearing in that context?

A: Install CompizConfig Settings Manager  if you don't have it installed in your system.
To do that, either click the link or open a Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager.
Then open CompizConfig Settings Manager (by running the ccsm), select "Ubuntu Unity Plugin" if you dont find it search for it in the search toolbar. In Ubuntu Unity Plugin select the  "Experimental" tab, adjust the menus-fade in/out time duration according to whatever you want.

A: I'm not sure if this is a solution or just workaround, but I found this to work pretty well. I do have exactly the same problem. Dual monitors and when one app is in fullscreen on one monitor, but loses focus, the app menu appears over it. Simply right click on the menu and toggle 'Always on top'. It works not only with vlc, but also with a firefox window and fullscreen youtube etc.


text:
Q: EHCache Disable Is there a way to disable ehache externally using a property file? CacheManager.shutdown() doesnt seem to work? Actually we have 2 app with the same source code i require ehcache in one and not the other. one where i dont need cache is a webapp! Unable to figure to out yet how to go about this?

A: There is a system property you can use for this:
net.sf.ehcache.disabled=true

A: I had the same problem and Alex Miller's solution helped me along. I do get the value from a properties file via this technique:
<!-- Enable/disable ehCache using property in config -->
<bean
    class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.MethodInvokingFactoryBean">
    <property name="targetObject">
        <!-- System.getProperties() -->
        <bean
            class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.MethodInvokingFactoryBean">
            <property name="targetClass" value="java.lang.System" />
            <property name="targetMethod" value="getProperties" />
        </bean>
    </property>
    <property name="targetMethod" value="putAll" />
    <property name="arguments">
        <!-- The new Properties -->
        <util:properties>
            <prop key="net.sf.ehcache.disabled">${net.sf.ehcache.disabled:false}</prop>

        </util:properties>
    </property>
</bean>

A: Check the following line
cache.getNativeCache().getCacheManager().getCacheManagerEventListenerRegistry().notifyCacheRemoved("properties");


I am a learning scientist and human-computer interaction researcher who focuses on enabling student collaboration in the classroom when it will be productive. Currently, I am a PhD candidate in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University working with Vincent Aleven and Nikol Rummel.
My research combines learning science research and findings with human-computer interaction methodologies. Within my research I have developed intelligent tutoring systems to support student collaboration for elementary school students. Using these tutors, I have investigated when it is beneficial for students to work collaboratively and when it is beneficial for them to work individually and how these social planes can be combined. I am currently working to develop a prototype of a tool that would allow researchers and teachers to better integrate the adaptive switching of collaborative and individual learning into the learning process.
To support productive learning in the classroom, it is important to support learning on multiple social planes (i.e., individual, group, class). To have technology be integrated into the classroom, it needs to support the orchestration between the different social planes. This can be especially difficult in an individual paced environment where students may be at different points of the learning at different times, such as when working on an intelligent tutoring system. We are working to develop an orchestration tool that can support the switch points between individual and collaborative learning in an individual paced environment.
Different studies have shown collaborative and individual learning to be more beneficial for student learning. Within this project, we explored how collaborative and individual learning may have complemnetary strengths. In addition, we explored how a combination of collaborative and individual learning may be stronger than either alone.
For intelligent tutoring systems, student models can help support the learning process both online and offline. Currently most models are designed for individual learning and do not take into account the aspects of a collaborative environment that can impact learning. For this project, we extended the Additive Factors Model to include features of collaboration to better fit the data from collaborative sessions of learning.
As an undergraduate student, I worked with Julie Booth to assess student errors when solving algebra problems. We conducted a think aloud analysis with students to better understand the misconceptions that they have when solving both algebraic equations and word problems.
With changing technology, people are collecting large numbers of virtual possessions. It is not yet clear how we can design systems to help people in finding meaning within these possessions, especially since early research has indicated that virtual possessions are valued less than material. To investigate if changing the form would impact the percieved value, we used a technology probe where we sent participants snippets of their emails in the form of postcards.
As an undergraduate student, I worked with Lori Kramer on a project assessing how people view privacy across their devices within their home. We explored privacy from the viewpoint of device, file type, location, and relationship of the person trying to view the files.
As an undergraduat student, for my senior honors thesis, I worked with Roberta Klazky on how color can effect cognition. We used two different experiments to test the hypothesis that different colors can create different motivations when working, specifically the avoidance motivation and the approach motivation.
For the summers from 2014-2016 I was a mentor for the Intelligent Tutoring Systems track for the LearnLab Summer School. The summer school is a week long activity where participants can come to learn a educationally-related technology skill. As a mentor, i worked closely with one or two groups each summer to help them build out a project and learn the skills to build an intelligent tutoring system within the week.
In the fall of 2015, I was a recitation instructor for PUI, which consisted of a mix of graduate and undergratudate students. This entailed editing the previous syllabus, lecture slides, and homework assignments as well as holding office hours, lecturing, and grading. The class was primarily new programmers with limited experience. For the first half of the semester, we worked primarily in Adobe Flash Builder to learn programming concepts related to rapid prototyping, debugging, algorithms, and data structures. the secnd half of the semester, we explored other prototyping tools while continuing to explore rapid prototyping through paper protoyping, PowerPoint, Balsamiq, POP, and InVision.
In the fall of 2014, I was a recitation instructor for UCRE, which consisted of a mix of graduate and undergraduate students. Along with co-instructors for other sections, I created a syllabus, lecture slides, and homework assignments. Each week I also lectured, graded, and held office hours. The class material focused on teaching contextual inquiry along with other evaluation methods such as A/B testing, heuristic evaluations, think alouds, and data analytics.
Early in my PhD, I took a class, Educational Goals, Assessment, and Evaluation. The class was a research-based class for designing curriculum. Within the class, we had a "Big Ideas" project that linked the readings done in the class with practical teaching recommendations.
During my free time, I enjoy baking and running. I enjoy making everything from cakes and cookies to breads and mini frittatas. Last year I ran at least one race ech month. The races varied from a marathon to a 5K.
You can find my CV here. Feel free to contact me if there is anything you would like to discuss more.


A bill that would change who is considered a juvenile by the courts and modify the bail system didn't get called for a vote Thursday by the Senate because, according to Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, it was unclear if the House had the votes.
After finishing up debate on the budget and a bill detailing the amount of borrowing Connecticut will do for infrastructure projects, the Senate decided to call it quits.
Looney said his members wanted to know for sure the House was going to pass the bill if they were going to subject themselves to a four hour debate after midnight.
The House is expected to convene at 10:30 a.m. Friday to debate the four budget-related bills and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's so-called "Second Chance 2.0" proposal.


Secret powers. Deadly enemies. A shy love.
Marcum is plucked from his easy farm life on Klaqin to serve in the Interstellar Combat Academy where he is schooled in galactic warfare. He forms a reluctant alliance with an incorrigible recruit named Coreg. Together they risk banishment, prison and death to exceed the space travel limits in a search of a time-bender.
They find Selina on the out-of-bounds planet Earth. Her ability to slow the passage of time will be invaluable in fighting other aliens. But Marcum loses his heart to her and when Coreg takes her back to Klaqin Marcum remains on Earth in order to develop a far greater talent than time-bending.
Now he's ready to return home and get the girl. But Coreg isn't his only obstacle.


This listing is for one strand of multicolor Jade smooth pebble beads. The beads measure roughly 11-12x6-8mm.
You will receive 50+ beads on a 16" strand.
These are so beautiful! Don't miss these cool beads for your jewelry design projects!!!


I really wanted to love this game. Firefighters are pretty much the unsung heroes of our time, and the idea of a first person fire-fighting game for the Wii is a highly appealing concept that could really set the Wii ablaze (sorry, bad pun) if pulled off effectively. But alas, Real Heroes: Firefighter is anything but heroic, as many flaws make it just your average Wii game with a few shining moments here or there but not enough to burn a hole in the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere (No more fire puns, I promise).
Let's start off with the graphics, as they're sure to be a sore point for this game. I've never been a graphics whore in the past and if the graphics on a great game are subpar, then I'll usually turn a blind eye to them and note the game's other stellar qualities instead. But this game seriously looks like a Nintendo 64 game. More specifically, this game looks like Goldeneye 64, which wouldn't be so bad if so much of the gameplay didn't rely on scoping out the background for what you have to do next. There were instances where I seriously had no idea what I was doing because the graphics are so last (last) gen. Many objects blend into the background and I had a hard time spotting my objectives. I was often tempted to just put the game down and let the building burn to a crisp.
The arrow that shows you where to go, while helpful, only achieves so much. One example of arrow malfunction is when I was supposed to clear a doorway so my partner could get into the room, but no matter what I tried to do, I couldn't figure out how to do it. A dresser was blocking the doorway, but I couldn't push, break, or shoot it with my water, so I had no idea how I was to go about moving it, even though the arrow kept pointing towards the dresser the entire time. In fact, I STILL don't know how to open that door. My poor partner is still standing outside the building somewhere while I'm writing this article, stranded because of poor communication with the player.
The clunky controls - you use a Wiimote and nunchuck combo - added to my overall dissatisfaction as well. If I didn't point the Wiimote directly at the sensor, my character would be shooting water aimlessly all over the place instead of where I intended to shoot. Often I'd spray everywhere except the flames. You have no idea how many times I was burned to bits just because I wasn't hitting what I really wanted to hit. It's aggravating because I was really trying, and the more I seemed to try, the less I seem to hit. Arg!
But that's not to say that everything about this game bothers me, as it does have some plusses that truly save the day. The objectives, for one (besides the ones you get stuck at), are pretty fun, as you'll be tasked with doing everything from rescuing workers from a flaming building, to breaking down doors with an ax, to getting on an actual fire truck and shooting out flames from the top of it. This game doesn't lack variety, which is surprising when you consider that there's only one villain (fire).
Fire is actually a pretty formidable foe in this game, too. It's really quite scary when it starts exploding out of control all over the rooms, hitting the ceiling, walls and floor in an instant just when you think you've got everything under control. If this is what real firefighting is like, then hats off to the boys and girls in yellow and black for not soiling their suits every time they go on a mission, as even in a game with poor visuals like this one, the fire is pretty intimidating as it snakes around the halls and floors.
Last but not least, the voice work in Firefighter is commendable. James Marsters (Better known as Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Futurama's John Di Maggio, and comedian, Jaime Kennedy, add nice little perks to the game if you can actually pick out their voices.
All in all, though, with bland graphics, sloppy controls, and confusing objectives, Real Heroes: Firefighting doesn't reach the spiraling heights that you're hoping it will. However, it's a promising introduction from upstart company and the price is certainly right at only thirty dollars. I'd like to see what they could do with a bigger budget and a few more folks on their team. A sequel with more money backing it could be worth a look.


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How to Manage Digital Overwhelm (And Stay Sane in the Process!)
Posted by Digital Pharma Editor on March 27th, 2018
Email has become a standard commodity in modern day life. Just like death and taxes. Little did Ray Tomlinson, the man credited with "inventing" email in 1972, know that over 3.7 billion people would be using email and sending billions of messages daily! This accounts for nearly 54% of the world's population! The rise of email has to do with our shared belief that it is less time consuming, more reliable, and more efficient than face-to-face meetings or phone calls. It also allows for asynchronous communication that facilitates collaboration with individuals irrespective of geography. Moreover, it enables the sharing of more information with more diverse sources when compared to the traditional single-channel meetings and memos (remember those!?). Ultimately email was seen as the ultimate savior in connecting more people more of the time. We, of course, know better now.
The email paradox
Alas, the "not-so-nice" side to email has, unfortunately, reared its ugly head. We continuously hear the cries of "overload" when we think about our inboxes that never seem to go away. Today, it is literally impossible to get emails down to "zero". And even if you do, it is a moment of celebration that can last for not more than a second before torrents of new messages start pouring in.
Email overload is directly correlated with the number of emails received, the length of messages received, and the time that is required to process and respond. The immediacy of receiving has also caused pressure for people to respond quickly. It is also the culprit for generating many of the unanticipated tasks in our calendars. Email causes the innumerable number of interruptions we experience daily, leaving us feeling out of control when it comes to managing our time. Finally, email forces us to switch tasks continuously as well as challenges us to enact different roles simultaneously. We, in effect, lose our sense of focus and flow when in the midst of email. Flow, according to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who coined the term in 1975, is a mental state when one is fully immersed in a thought or action that is both energizing and focusing. It is in these times when we can lose our sense of time and space.
Human beings have a limited capacity to receive, interpret, assimilate, and apply information. When our limits are exceeded, our cognitive performance declines. This can be seen at slower speeds or the inability to make decisions, prioritize, or organize information, thoughts, and processes. Hence lies the "email paradox". On the one hand, email has facilitated widespread information distribution and reduced information delays. On the other hand, it can overwhelm our processing capabilities and hence reduce our personal effectiveness. The can lead to feelings of stress, inefficiency, demotivation, and confusion.
The financial impact of email
Email volume is dependent on many factors including job characteristics and organizational culture. An average employee will receive slightly more than twice the number of messages they send. With our ability to send "one to many", the marginal cost per message experienced by senders is dramatically reduced when compared to traditional tools like "snail mail". As a result, senders enjoy a disproportionate share of the email benefits while email receivers bear the brunt of the proverbial costs.
For example, a typical employee will receive upwards of 350 email messages per week (70 messages per workday) while an executive will receive upwards of 300 messages a day! On average, one-third of messages received daily are considered unnecessary and can be quickly deleted. The other necessary messages will require anywhere from 2-5 minutes to process as they need to be read and responded to with attention to proper word choices, correct spelling and grammar, and the correct recipient list. This all takes time. In fact, the average employee will spend approximately 2.9 hours/ day on email while an executive can spend upwards of 10.8 hours!
In addition to the time and energy involved in reading and responding to another's information request, recipients also tend to interrupt their own work to continuously monitor incoming emails to satisfy senders' expectations of a timely reply. Studies have shown that an employee will take 24 minutes, on average, to get back into the groove of their work after checking email. They will also check email at least 50 times per day and use instant messaging, on average, 77 times during the same time period. These numbers are steadily increasing as we incorporate the "internet of things" into everything we do. The average worker will lose at least 6 hours per week to email interruptions and 2 hours per week to processing unnecessary email. This is a total productivity loss of 8 hours per week just on email alone. The comes out to 392 hours per year-per employee. For an organization with 50,000 employees, this can translate to an approximate loss of $1B in productive employee time!
Email and its effects on cognitive performance
In addition to corporate financial losses, other employee productivity parameters are also affected. The average employee, while distracted by email, exhibit twice the degradation in IQ scores during the task execution. This the same IQ scores that are achieved by an individual who has just smoked marijuana! The use of IQ scores has been used historically by psychologists when comparing performance in distracted versus non-distracted states. They refer to the degradation in focal task performance as "dual-task interference" when an individual tries to perform a second task simultaneously.
In the tech-driven world in which we live and the increased pressure to "empty our inboxes", we are forever multi-tasking. This can be seen in checking email while in meetings or texting while driving. It starts in the morning when checking our social feeds while, at the same time, feeding our dog or going to the bathroom. We kid ourselves into believing that doing multiple tasks at the same time somehow increases our productivity. The sad reality is that studies completely disprove this belief.
It has been noted that "high media multitaskers" who frequently engage in five or more simultaneous information streams score poorly on standard judgment, recall and reaction times when compared to "low media multi-taskers". Other studies of "task switching" and "interruptions" both show similar results. The scary thing, however, is that multitaskers and task switchers usually feel "more confident" about their performance than those engaging with less divergent efforts. Unfortunately, decision-makers who are bombarded with more information feel more confident about their decision making than those with access to less information. Sadly, the "information rich" people usually end up making worse decisions. Continuous churning through email has given us a false sense of "control" over our work. We have also internalized the cultural belief that more information is better, safer and more reliable. Little did we know that besides the possibility of "paralysis by analysis", more information has actually numbed our higher faculties.
It is recognized that an individual's information-processing capacity will vary over time. It can fluctuate with mental and physical energy levels as well as other external conditions. Our natural limitations for information perception, interpretation and judgment are exacerbated by our common email practices of constant interruptions, task-switching, and multi-tasking. Our daily routines of consuming social media, text messages, and email has eroded our capacity to assimilate and apply new knowledge, to successfully accomplish tasks, and to make decisions. Unfortunately, our boosted self-confidence, buoyed by the banks of "at your fingertips" information delays our recognition of underperformance due to overload.
When we finally realize that, despite our best efforts, we are underperforming, the tragic reality of "overwhelm" sets in. "Overload" is a multi-dimensional experience incorporating factors such as time, tasks, relationships and a sense of control, or lack thereof. In technical terms, overload can be defined as a condition where the cognitive demands associated with information processing exceeds an individual's information processing capacity. Our cognitive performance decline can be detected by our inability to make accurate "signal-noise" distinctions and situation assessments. In addition, we become less efficient in making high-quality decisions. When we hit the "overwhelm" stage, it can affect our long-term memory, attention levels, comprehension, retention, and recall. Overload can also result in an individual experiencing exhaustion, poor physical health, reduced relationship satisfaction, and other psychosomatic symptoms.
How email can contribute to social overload
Another key component in the paradigm of digital communication is the level of "social" overwhelm that it has created. Although we are social animals, social overload can occur when the number and variety of social exposures and the associated social information received exceeds an individual's interaction capacity. In our older more traditional work environments, when people worked in offices, workers would use the physical barriers, the walls, doors and the distance between employees, as ways to segregate, contain and "serialize" their interactions and their accompanying role demands. These structures, in effect, created the container that people needed to protect their personal boundaries and to give them a refuge in which to recharge.
With the new world of "hoteling", reservable workspaces, virtual offices, and co-working spaces, there is less protection and more pressure to be available at all times. It is interesting to note that people living in more densely-populated urban areas have a tendency to unconsciously contract the physical range of their social circle, effectively limiting their number of relationships and day-to-day encounters. This is their way of creating "space" in their day in order to recharge and decompress. These same individuals, in contrast, will increase the density of their computer-mediated world in order to further expand their circle of online encounters. No wonder we see individuals engrossed in their tablets and phones even when in the midst of family members or colleagues. We become more attached to our virtual world and social connections as we have unconsciously detached from the real world in order to protect our limited capacity for social interaction.
The lines between when and how to engage in professional social media sites, such as LinkedIn, social sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, and company chat rooms, such as Yammer or Slack, have blurred. We are spending time at work updating our Snapchat account and time at home connecting with colleagues from overseas. In practice the boundaries between these domains are becoming less distinct, further increasing the social load employees encounter during work hours. In any given hour of the workday, one may receive messages from one's boss, spouse, client, child's soccer coach, vendor, child, dentist, friend, organization, and former classmate, each with a unique request and a particular time horizon for responding. Not only do we have to cognitively-process the content of the message and reply appropriately, but each interaction must be prioritized within the broader ecology of one's relational life. Work-life balance has transmuted into work-life integration.
How to assess and manage email overload
There are a series of assessments and suggested ways to monitor and manage email overload. The first step is to take an inventory of the number, length, type, and importance of emails that are received within a specific period of time. Next, one must determine the amount of time that it is taking to process each message type, and the time required to complete any tasks necessary to respond to the received messages. Other dependent variables include the average time per day that is spent processing email communication, both within and outside of regular work hours, the average elapsed time between message receipt and message response for each message type, and the proportion of each day's messages that go unread.
Descriptive statistics of an employee's interaction partners over the course of a workday and the number of different social contexts represented by these contacts should also be evaluated. Subjective data, such as ratings of perceived 'stress' or feeling 'focused' versus 'fragmented' at intervals throughout the study period (e.g. hourly, daily) should be evaluated and tracked. These ratings would then need to be mapped against the social density of the interval (ie. the number of unique message senders and the number of discrete social contexts represented by that interval's message senders).
It could also be useful to measure the time required to compose response messages and the appropriateness and tone of the language used. Did they remember to add the attachment they mentioned? Did they include the right individuals in the recipient list? As individuals become socially overloaded, they may become less adept at making role transitions. Consequently, it may require an employee longer to compose a relationally-appropriate response or they may respond quickly but without making the appropriate shifts in vocabulary and tone. It is important to note that when employee's interaction density increases due to multiple professional and personal roles, they can have a more difficult time with "recovery" strategies. This can lead to less ability to psychologically detach, relax, and master their feelings of autonomy.
There are a few strategies that some organizations have incorporated as a means to manage email overload, many with varying degrees of effectiveness and impact. A few of these are:
Filtering and message threading
Organization email policies incorporating communication restrictions (ie no email on weekends)
Subject line rules, "to" vs "CC" prioritization, batch processing, email emptying software (ie. sanebox), disable notifications, auto-responders, and guidelines on media to use for communication as well as for when and how often
Rules to use instant messaging and internal chat platforms for task-related communication while reserving email for broadcast, non-time sensitive content, or to document decisions
Rules on how and when chat platforms should be used, how and when to use "out of office" or "don't disturb" notifiers.
Interestingly, enough, companies are also leveraging synchronous channels such as web meetings to create a sense of proximal interactions which is often missing in our virtual world. People still want to feel "connected" to the greater ecosystem in which they work and with the people, they are collaborating with. Working in vacuums or in "transient offices" where the average employee feels like a displaced person, has caused many workers to migrate to coffee shops in order to stay motivated and connected with other human beings.
The exciting future of digital communication
In addition, increased numbers of company branded portals to incorporate threaded projects and to capture tribal knowledge among colleagues and customers in the form of advisory boards and working groups have surfaced recently. These are excellent asynchronous forums that reduce email overload as project work can be captured in private, company branded, online spaces. Convenient, asynchronous communication, sharing, and collaboration can occur unobtrusively. These types of online environments can assist in giving each individual processing time to respond without feeling the pressure to give a knee-jerk reaction to an email or text message request. These kinds of portals provide the right balance between adequate social density while maintaining individual boundaries and structure to recharge. Private online portals have dramatically increased the level of customer engagement and brand advocacy as a result.
Email will continue to drive our work and life. It is here to stay. But that's a good thing as digital communication has expanded our data exchange to a level never previously imaginable. As we step on the precipice of artificial intelligence, the need for rapid information exchange and big data analysis becomes even more pronounced. It is up to us now to leverage these tools, email included so that they optimize our life potential and don't deter our personal and professional progress. By taking active measures to monitor our sources of information, work, and social overload, we can create solutions to combat overwhelm and to protect our decision making prowess.
Guest post provided by Impetus. Click here to see a printable version of this post, including references.
Want to hear more from Impetus? Join them at the 10th Digital Pharma Europe conference as their Managing Director, Natalie Yeadon, leads the session "The Psychology of Digital Collaboration."
CATEGORY: Digital Marketing, Uncategorized
TAGS: digital communication, Digital Marketing, Digital Pharma, email fatigue, email marketing, email overload, Impetus