The answer to that question differs for everyone but I believe there to be one key element that is common across the globe as the single greatest contributor to a life that is well lived.
It is so sad that so many of us are just not happy. So many of us are anxious and stressed and suffer from depression. There seems to be an endless quest for this 'happiness'. People are constantly looking for this magical cocktail of things to do and see and buy and be to produce happiness. What if we stopped searching so feverishly to achieve happiness and just slowed down and looked around at our present place in life and became grateful for what is and allowed ourselves to be happy? What if we did that? Have you tried that?
It's tough. I can attest. We watch others go and see and do and think that they are happy because they go and see and do. But, I have also recognized that many people that go and see and do come back from all of it not so happy. Once the high of going and doing and escaping and buying has faded, they are back to feeling like something is missing and then anxiety and/or regret and feelings of lack set in and the cycle continues until the next 'cure-all' adventure comes up. If you didn't start out happy, ya ain't coming back happy.
Happiness is not a checklist. A dream job, a fast car, a good home, world travel, even love, mean nothing at all if you have not yet found a way to feel full and content in your own mind and heart.
I guess what I'm getting at is that you need to create a life and mindset that allows you to be happy when you're still. Consider the latest suicides of fashion mogul Kate Spade and world travelling foodie Anthony Bourdain. Would you ever have thought that these souls were unhappy? To the outsider, they had it all. How desperately unhappy were they in their stillness that they took their own lives as a way out? So so sad.
At the end of our line, it would be nice to look back over our lives and say that they were well lived. That whatever we did, wherever we went, whatever we explored was done in the spirit of happiness. That the choices we made contributed to our contentment and peace of mind and not to our stress level and disconnect from ourselves. Happiness is the foundation upon which every other thing you do is built on. If that fundamental foundation isn't there, nothing you stack on top of it will hold.
I'm beginning to recognize that real happiness isn't something large and looming on the horizon ahead but something small, numerous and already here. The smile of someone you love. A decent breakfast. The warm sunset. Your little everyday joys all lined up in a row.
I loved this post! I agree that it's better to be happy everyday instead of looking for things or places to make you happy. It's hard sometimes but I'm working on it. I try to be grateful; that really helps me realize that I've got it good.
Very well said, and to be honest with you, it is something that I've been saying to myself for years. I'm glad to see that someone else feels the same way.
Thank you Max. It is nice to know others share the same sentiment. Have a wonderful day and thank you for the comment!
As they say life should not be measured by the breaths you take but by moments that take your breath away. live and enjoy every minute of the ups and downs of life.
Well said. Living well is treasuring the moment.


AEA's membership has grown from just over 3000 members in 2001 to over 7700 today. We have members from every state in the United States and over 60 foreign countries.
Join your professional colleagues as members of the American Evaluation Association!
AEA's annual meeting includes over 50 workshops, plus hundreds of conference sessions at which to learn from professional colleagues. We also partner with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to offer the AEA/CDC Evaluation Institute each summer where beginning to intermediate level evaluators can sample a range of training opportunities. AEA members receive significant discounts on workshop, conference, and institute registration.
Each month, a different leader in the field headlines our members-only online Thought Leaders discussion. Members also receive free access to our Coffee Break Webinars series, both in real-time and via the recorded archive, that offers 3-4 short, new webinars each month.
Members receive hardcopy and electronic subscriptions to AEA's two journals, The American Journal of Evaluation (AJE) and New Directions for Evaluation (NDE), members also receive electronic access to both current and back content from Evaluation Review and Evaluation and the Health Professions right from their desktops.
Consultants and those working in consulting firms may submit a listing to AEA's searchable "Find an Evaluator" database on the AEA website. This is among the most active site components and a great way to get the message out about your firm and availability for consulting.
Membership includes participation in up to five of AEA's 40+ Topical Interest Groups, each one a professional community of colleagues with similar interests and professional foci. Members also receive regular newsletters and electronic updates regarding the latest happenings in the field and the Association, and a listing in and access to the AEA Online Membership Directory, a key resource for networking among colleagues.
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It's been up and running for a while now, and has had a coat of paint or 2 since the last post, so I thought I'd pimp my Wordfeud Tile Tracker again.
I've been promoting it on the Wordfeud League of Honour site semi-regularly, and mentioning it to my opponents – well, the chatty ones anyway 😉 There have been 18 unique user logins in the past 10 days, and a total of 5709 (and counting) total page views to date.
I'd like to encourage anyone reading this to spread word about the site – I made it for people to use.
Positive and negative feedback is welcome in the comment section of this post!
The first incarnation of my automated tile tracker is now available to try out. I'm looking for people to beta test it and identify any functional problems, and to make any suggestions for features. Both forms of feedback may be left in the comments section below.
As previously mentioned I've been working on a Perl library for talking to the Wordfeud game servers.
After having issues logging in to my own account, I've discovered that passwords on older accounts seem to have a fixed string appended to them. I have no idea why – the new account which I created with my API does not share this requirement, so I can only assume it's some kind of legacy mechanism to allow users to have no password set.
Anyway, now that I no longer see a 'wrong_password' response on my own account, work can continue. My first project is going to be a simple webapp which will allow the user to view the board layout, their own rack and the remaining tiles for any of their active games.
As I play more league games at Wordfeud League of Honour, I'm finding it increasingly useful to count the tiles played in my games. This gives me 2 important bits of information.
Firstly, I know at a glance which "high risk" tiles are still out there, so I can be careful not to leave spaces open which may be used by some of the higher scoring letters.
Secondly, towards the end of a game, it tells me exactly which tiles my opponent has on their rack.
This is a completely legal tactic in competitive Scrabble, and is allowed in the particular league I play. However, because of the mobile-centric nature of this game (I tend to play it on my phone), it's not always convenient to perform such tracking on paper.
Eventually, I hope to write an automated web-based tool to perform this task – something which, given your Wordfeud credentials, will present a list of all current games and the remaining tiles, or something along those lines. This of course depends on me completing the API I'm working on – I'm getting there!
I play a lot of Wordfeud on various devices (online Scrabble-like game – imagine Words With Friends didn't look like it's for children), and I'm finding a disappointing lack of game tools out there. I'm not talking about cheat apps – there are plenty of those.
I'm interested in collating statistics and tracking my current games in progress – including counting which tiles have been played, current scores, etc. All of those kind of things are not classed as cheat tools – they're the kind of thing you can do with a pen and paper.
Over the last couple of days I've started writing a Perl library to allow communication with the Wordfeud game server, as a first step. Once I have essentially written an API which provides access to all of the game client's functionality then I can start writing some useful tools.


Hunt for the Virtual Bee around Central Maine and you could find yourself sharing the microphone with B98.5's Quinn Alexander as you guest host on the air! The B98.5 Scavenger Hunt begins JULY 9TH. Be sure to download the free B98.5 app.
Complete the B98.5 Scavenger Hunt App Challenges.
First, download the free B98.5 app on either your iPhone or Android devices.
Then, using the mobile app, complete B98.5 Scavenger Hunt challenges to get points.
You'll get 100 points for checking in at each of the following locations and 200 points for collecting the "token" at each location.
Participants who have completed at least 800 points will be entered into the Prize Draw. For every 800, up to 2,400 points you get one entry.
The lucky winner will be drawn at the end of July.


Bruce Green, Lawrence on the lower Clarence, planted Hayman in early September only to see the leafy variety shredded by hail in mid November. Fast forward to today and the plant has recovered well.
Better support for soybean production, from prices to agronomy, is a coming of age for this soil-friendly commodity.
Soybean prices above $700 a tonne will galvanise production beyond this season say leading industry players.
Domestic yield, with no genetic modification, Australian soy has an appreciative market that is coming to terms with the new level of pricing, up more than $100 on the 2017 harvest.
As a result growers have taken a greater interest in this useful summer legume, which can be grown from the Burdekin to the Riverina.
The Richmond, Clarence and Tweed valleys on the Northern Rivers have been growing them for more than 40 years in rotation with sugarcane, 10 to 15 per cent of which is typically fallowed in beans to break the monoculture of cane, reduce root pathogens and build soil nitrogen levels.
Patchy rain in these parts has been enough to continue the early summer plant of soybeans, particularly in the mid Richmond and lower Clarence. Some areas on the upper Richmond still have to wait, after minimal rain in November.
Natalie Moore and her team at the Trenayr research station near Grafton did the trial work on Hayman and Richmond varieties which the market loves.
North Coast Oilseeds president Paul Fleming, Ellangowan, estimates 10 per cent of the summer soybean crop has already been planted in the Richmond and Clarence Valleys however most producers were waiting on rainfall to before they put seed in the ground.
"A lot of people are getting ground ready and some are finding soil too hard and dry and are waiting for moisture to soften it. Most have got country ready and if we get a couple of inches they'll be in a hell of a rush," he said.
The Clarence benefited from 70-280mm last weekend while the Tweed got a fraction of that and the Richmond missed out.
The Burdekin, which has benefited from better rain, is emerging as a major supply area with the capability of producing a winter soy crop as well as another in summer.
The Riverina, once an historic catchment for the useful legume, is no longer a supplier as water allocation going forward will be used first for cotton then rice.
On the Northern Tablelands, growers like Clint Nugent, Balaclava, Glen Innes have sown beans into good soil moisture which now require follow up rain in spite of mixed falls last weekend. Mr Nugent has planted 280ha of Cowrie variety on the back of 50mm in late November.
To his north the Darling Downs remains on a knife edge whether it plants or not after a depressing spring and zero return on cropping last summer.
Last weekend's rain fell in patches, a word that should be framed as a suitable description of 2018.
Ben McIntyre, grain trader, at PB Agrifoods Toowoomba, said cropping on the Darling Downs was on hold until it rained again however there was interest with producers ready to act on just 50mm. Some areas last weekend got greater than that, many other localities got way less.
"The price of soybeans this year are more than we and our customers want to pay," he admitted.
"But if you want Australian-grown then buyers have to compete on price with sorghum and cotton.
DPI's Nathan Ensbey says more and more graziers are including soybeans in pasture improvement programs, with growers either cultivating their ground or direct drilling soybeans into sprayed out pasture.
Lowering clouds at East Coraki, on the Mid Richmond last Monday gave a welcome sip of 10mm to soybeans planted late November.
"It is such a low cost option and returns of between $1500-$2000/ha with current pricing makes it an attractive option," he said.
Meanwhile, Lower Clarence producer Bruce Green is experimenting with new variety Hayman, known for its ability to grow biomass.
Last summer his son Jackson planted Hayman well outside its optimum window, placing seed in a fallow cane paddock in early September and growing it out for feed, baling the crop in early January and over sowing with winter rye.
The technique worked so well his father Bruce took a punt and did the same this season, planting the first week in September with the intention of baling his crop and following it up with a second planting for grain.
Despite cold soil temperatures and a slow start the crop looked half way there in mid November when a hailstorm stripped every leaf but left the stems.
Three weeks later and the Hayman variety recovered substantially, in spite of very little rain.
Last weekend's substantial falls will kick the crop along and Mr Green intends to let it go through to seed.
Two new soybean varieties, Hayman and Richmond, were trialled at DPI's Grafton research station, Trenayre, where Nathan Ensbey, technical officer, says demand for that seed has been strong in the lead up to summer sowing.
"Excellent prices and a better agronomic understanding of our new varieties will see plantings of soybeans increase on the North Coast," he said.
"We have brought the recommended planting window for Richmond forward into November.
Both Richmond and Hayman handle powdery mildew and pre-harvest weathering better than the old varieties, are less prone to lodging and have clean leaf drop making them easier to harvest.
Most importantly end users, like tofu and soy-milk manufacturers, like the consistently high protein levels and manufacturing traits.
"Hayman is such a versatile variety. You can plant it in early spring as a fodder/silage crop or as a grain crop in summer or both if the weather is your side.
Ross Larssen, Mara Global Foods, is helping top underpin an emerging optimism among producers of soybeans.
Light hours dictate Soybean's summer growing window and yield potential but producers will tweak sowing dates by weeks if they think they can get rain around flowering.
The last two summers have been cruel to crops planted in early December with high temperatures well into February. Later planted crops fared better after decisive rains came just before March.
Ross Larsson, Mara Global Foods, at Shannonbrook and Mallanganee via Casino, has invested heavily in the future of soybeans and its value as a processed product so was pleased to see keen interest in this year's production.
"Based on seed sold I would estimate soybean production here on the coast could be up by 30 to 40 per cent," Mr Larsson said.
Mr Larsson is banking on soy ingredient consumption to steadily climb, as it is already a key ingredient in baked goods, from donuts to Turkish bread.
"Whether we can supply 30 tonnes or 50t, the demand for our product is the same," he said.


Hi Zulya! We just returned to Los Angeles from Uzbekistan.
We had a most marvelous time. Every day of the trip was a jewel in my memory book. I loved our guide Behruz so much who cater to me and my desire to understand the history.
I am so thankful that we got full attention from our tour guide and he was extremely flexible and very kind every minute. He was a most admirable fine person. It was our honor to be with him.
Thank you so much and we look forward to traveling with you.


P1 with the puck enters the zone at half speed.
P2 enters at full speed.
P1 first looks for the pass.
1) Can I get a pass over to P2? Is the D blocking it?
2) Is the G cheating to the left side?
3) Is the G challenging my shot?
In #1 if the D is taking away your passing lane you should shoot for the far post (a rebound off the left pad could go right to P2).
In #2 you should take the shot - shoot to score, not for a rebound.
In #3 if the goalie is challenging you for some reason then as long you have the passing lane open, pass to P2.
Only pass this far away if P2 is a lefty. P2 can take the one-timer (there's a chance for a rebound so P1 needs to skate to the net).
If P2 is a righty P1 should wait a little longer until P2 can simply tip it in - use your judgment.


text:
Tyndall Begins Cleanup and Evaluation of Aircraft, Will Start Allowing Families to Return
—Brian Everstine and Steve Hirsch
F-22 Raptors at Tyndall AFB, Fla., will be examined for hurricane damage on Wednesday. Air Force photo by SSgt. Ryan Conroy.
The Air Force said on Tuesday it will start letting families return to Tyndall AFB, Fla., which was largely destroyed after Hurricane Michael ripped through and caused "catastrophic damage" to base facilities. An undisclosed number of F-22s that were left behind to ride out the storm also were damaged, though USAF leaders said on Monday that damage to the fifth-generation fighters wasn't as bad as initially expected.
With some debris cleared, the service on Wednesday will start wheeling F-22 aircraft out of severely damaged hangars so maintenance experts and Lockheed Martin officials can evaluate the Raptors' condition. Service officials visited the site over the weekend, and visually "we do not have any destroyed aircraft at Tyndall," USAF head of public affairs Brig. Gen. Ed Thomas said. "Generally, they look to be in good shape."
USAF officials would not specifically say the number of aircraft that were left behind and damaged, but Air Force Magazine has reported that up to 19 Raptors stayed. Fifty-five aircraft are stationed at Tyndall, and many of them have now moved to JB Langley-Eustis, Va.
At Tyndall, there is a "stark contrast" between the state of the hangars and of the aircraft left inside. Though the storm ripped doors off hangars and shredded roofs, the aircraft inside were intact.
Two of the hangars at the base are "structurally sound," and Air Force civil engineers will construct five to seven temporary hangars to house damaged aircraft while they are inspected, said Brig. Gen. John Allen, the director of civil engineers on the air staff. The base's tower is still standing, though its windows were blown out, and a temporary tower is controlling aircraft for now.
The base's flight line was damaged "catastrophically," with almost all buildings torn apart. It will take years for that part of the base to return to how it looked before the storm hit, Allen said. However, the runway itself was relatively unscathed, and aircraft were able to land after essentially a "large FOD walk," he said.
RED HORSE heavy construction units have already deployed to the base, and Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force, or Prime BEEF, will arrive soon to help build up the base so it can run as it would in a deployed contingency location, Allen said.
The Air Force, starting Tuesday, will allow a "limited return" of families to the base from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. through Sunday. Families and Air Force personnel can retrieve valuables and take pictures of damage to their homes, Thomas said. Insurance companies will also begin to arrive and set up mobile claims centers, Thomas said.
The return will be a challenge, as airmen and their families had fled the base to locations across the country. The Air Force is building a "heat map" of where personnel are to help the process, Thomas said.
There are more than 11,000 airmen displaced after the storm, said Maj. Gen. Andrew Toth, commander of the Air Force Personnel Center. AFPC is making a "significant effort" to help airmen who are facing reassignments, retirements, and separations. AFPC is also coordinating with Air Combat Command and Tyndall leadership to return airmen who are deployed, and is working on a "case-by-case basis" with airmen who are scheduled to deploy.
Tyndall also has a large training presence, with exercises such as Combat Archer for aircraft and Silver Flag for civil engineers scheduled in the future. The Air Force is looking at other locations for those exercises, noting there are some reserve bases the infrastructure necessary to conduct Silver Flag training for deploying civil engineers while Tyndall is down, Allen said.
Florida's two senators and the House member representing the area of Tyndall have written to President Donald Trump as well as Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein to support recovery of the storm-hit base. Sens. Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D), and Rep. Neal Dunn (R) wrote to Trump on Monday asking him to affirm his commitment to rebuilding the base.
In their letter, the three called Tyndall "one of the most critical installations in the United States" and said it is "imperative we rapidly repair and restore operations as quickly as possible." They asked Trump for his "commitment in moving quickly to bringing the thousands of devoted service members and civilians back to Tyndall Air Force Base," adding that they are committed to the base's recovery "and are ready to work with you to achieve that goal." In a letter to Wilson and Goldfein, they said the base serves "a critical role in protecting and promoting US national security interests," adding that "it is vital that we rapidly repair infrastructure and restore operations in the wake of the storm."
Each of them, they said, is ready "to work with the Air Force to rebuild Tyndall AFB and advocate for the resources needed to do so." As the Air force assesses damage, they wrote, "We request consistent, immediate, and detailed communication of the funding and support needed to repair infrastructure, restore operations and provide for local service members, civilians, and their families."
A group of military spouses at nearby Eglin AFB, Fla., have set up online Amazon and Target wish lists for anyone looking to support the military families displaced by Hurricane Michael. By Oct. 12, the group had already received some 900 packages, but donations are still needed, reported Military.com. If you'd like to donate the Amazon list is available here and the Target list is available here.
More than 300 members of the Air Force Association also were affected by the Catagory 4 storm, which is one of the worst on record. To help them, and other local military families in need, AFA's Tyndall Chapter has set up a relief fund and is accepting donations.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Gasol brothers lead Spain preliminary Olympic roster
By Nick ZaccardiJun 2, 2016, 2:04 PM EDT
Brothers Pau and Marc Gasol are on Spain's list of 24 possible players for its 12-man Olympic team, after Pau's concerns about the Zika virus and Marc's broken foot surgery Feb. 23.
"Marc is trying to recover, trying to see if he can arrive in time," Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said earlier this week, according to FIBA. "Today, it's too early to tell."
Every Spanish NBA star is on the list, including 2012 Olympic silver medalists Serge Ibaka, Ricky Rubio and Jose Calderon, in addition to the Gasol brothers and potential first-time Olympian Nikola Mirotic of the Chicago Bulls.
Only one of Ibaka and Mirotic can compete in Rio due to the naturalized-player rule.
MORE: Shabazz Napier may play at Olympics
Tags: basketball, Jose Calderon, Marc Gasol, olympics, Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Serge Ibaka, Spain, Jose Calderon, Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Serge Ibaka


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The implementation of educator testing in Ohio is in response to standards adopted by the State Board of Education (see Ohio Administrative Code). The State Board of Education has adopted examinations for licensure that are provided by (1) Evaluation Systems group of Pearson (Pearson), (2) Educational Testing Service (ETS) and (3) the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Successful completion of required tests is designed to ensure that candidates for licensure have acquired the minimal knowledge necessary for entry-level positions.
Licensure tests provided by ACTFL/LTI are required of all modern world language candidates. These assessments ensure the spoken and written language proficiency of candidates for licensure to teach modern world languages.
The ODE requires only ONE Pedagogical Knowledge Assessment test be successfully completed in an educator's career. However, new content or licensure areas require additional Pearson, ACTFL or OAE subject tests to establish minimum competency in that subject area. Any applicant interested in specific test requirements of an educator preparation program MUST contact the school, college, or department of education of an approved institution. Any person holding licensure in another state and interested in obtaining Ohio licensure should contact the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), Center for the Teaching Profession, Office of Educator Licensure, 25 S. Front Street, MS 105, Columbus, Ohio 43215-4183, (614) 466-3593 or (Toll free) 877-644-6338.
"Educator Licensure Testing Requirements." Ohio Department of Education.
Applicants may qualify via a combination of scores/grades (e.g., ACT English, ACT Reading, and a grade of B in MATH1110). ACT, Score Academic Skills assessment, and grades from specific courses in the GEP may be combined to meet this threshold.


about anything, he/she is welcome to contact with me directly.
1- They should be very good in English.
2- They should have very good skills in using computer.
3- They should be in twenties of age.
4- They should have any experience in secretariat.
5- They should be good-looking.
5- They should be from Shoubra or areas around.
ready to receive phone calls and faxes. Thank you so much.


text:
Why Run Linux on a Mac?
I don't understand why anyone would bother running Linux on a Mac. For $99 you can purchase Mac OS X and get real live tech support for problems that (probably won't) pop up. There's a lot of technical reasons you should run Mac OS instead of Linux.
Here are some of them.
PowerPC hardware, PowerPC operating system
Linux has its origins on IA32, Intel's 32-bit architecture. Every platform Linux has migrated to since then has been beset with porting problems — Linux runs 32% more efficiently on Intel than PowerPC. This is very telling as PowerPC is in general much faster per clock than Intel. Somewhere in the translation from PowerPC to IA32 something got lost.
Mac OS is 100% native for PowerPC. The Mach kernel has been optimized for the G3, G4, and 970 since Apple began writing the operating system back in 1996. Why choose a hacked and kludged OS from another platform when you can have an environment tailor-made for the system you'll be running it on? Mac OS certainly isn't plagued by same driver problems Linux is (in)famous for.
Control over the source code
In Linux, the development model is highly irrational: anyone is allowed to submit patches, and one man (Linus Torvalds) sorts through gigabyte after gigabyte of amateurish code, attempting to integrate it into the kernel. Apple's model is much more modern and decisive: the code for the low levels of Mac OS is available for anyone to download and modify, while the more complex parts of the system (QuickTime and OpenGL) are kept closed-source so those that know better — the Apple programmers — are the only ones allowed to tinker.
The results because of these differing development models are clear. Apple released a major update to the OS once a year, and releases about five minor updates to the OS, as well as several dozen security patches and driver updates, in the interim. Since March of 2001 we've gone from 10.0 to 10.2.5! Linux is still stuck at some sort of bizarre in-between 2.5 kernel patch and won't move on to 2.6 until well after Apple has released Mac OS 10.3.
It's not hard to see the difference here is a bunch of kids playing with source code instead of doing their homework vs. highly qualified professionals pushing their skills to the limits. The Mac OS user benefits.
I don't even think I have to touch on this. While Linux offers several GUIs from GNOME, KDE, and Enlightenment, Apple offers only one. But here we have a case of quality vs. quantity. Apple controls the GUI for its operating system while anyone can hack and modify the various Linux GUIs as they please. This has led to a lack of desktop standards and a whole lot of bickering and flame wars over human interface guidelines. Most of the GUIs for Linux are simply poor knock-offs of the Windows 95 interface.
Apple's Aqua and QuickTime graphical interfaces are faster, more elegant, and very consistent. A Mac user can sit down at any Mac and (assuming someone hasn't installed Linux) get right to work. With Linux, it's hit or miss as to whether the user will know what to do when he logs in! Getting work done is the most important aspect of a computer. After all, it is just a tool. Linux fails in this area miserably — you're forced to edit and tinker and kludge and hack to make things perfect. A Mac allowes you to just sit down and roll up your sleeves and get some work done. I don't have time to play at my job.
Software!
I've used Linux before and the headache of downloading drivers and libraries and making sure the versions all sync up are too mucvh to handle, especiallly considering one has to compile these applications. On a Mac, I mount a disk image and drag the .app file to /Applications, and I'm done. Hell, most software for Mac even installs it there for you.
To put this last point in perspective, let's look at a recent task I performed under both Linux 2.4 and Mac OS 10.2.
Sendmail and sshd were both cracked recently and needed updated. The guys who code these programs were on the ball and had patches ready and waiting just hours after the security holes were discovered. Both a Linux box and my dual 1.42GHz Mac system needed updated. Here's a breakdown of how this went on my Mac:
Go to the Apple Menu's Software Update item.
Check items to install.
Hit the install button.
Wait for Mac OS X to download, install, and optimize the updates.
Total time: Four minutes
Now here's how it went in Linux. I was severely unimpressed:
Download the source code for sendmail and sshd.
Check the readme file for library and driver version requirements.
Download new library files.
Compile new library files.
Update older applications not compatible with new versions of library files.
Compile source for sendmail and sshd.
Email a mailing list about errors during compilation.
Wait a few days for the correct response.
Recompile new sendmail and sshd.
Update Linux kernel with patches.
Reboot Linux.
Total time: 200 minutes (over the course of 3 days)
I don't think I need to go on anymore — these examples are pretty common. Anyone willing to shell out the money for a Mac is smart enough to know you should run Mac OS X. I just don't get the mentality of the fringe who shells out several grand for an Apple system and runs an operating system on it that makes it harder to work with and cuts down productivity.
Labels: Apple, Linux, Mac


The Library Global Excellence Tour 2017 is primarily aimed at senior leaders in public and academic libraries in the UK and Ireland. The tour, completely free to attend thanks to our sponsors, is designed to showcase global excellence and ambition in library service delivery and to inspire library leaders to achieve excellence in their service.
This is a free event and an opportunity for non-librarians too to see just what state and national library tech and infrastructure in US, Australia and Europe have delivered and to hear from the best in the UK.
CILIP Cymru Wales have three events planned for the 9th of October in Cardiff. All three are open to CILIP members and non-members alike. CILIP Cymru would like you to get involved and share your experiences around the three themes. Places are limited- for each session, if you would like to come please book a place.
Privacy Seminar. 16:00-17:00. Both Nick Poole and Guy Daines will present a seminar on the work CILIP is doing in this area. No charge.


Our Egypt Flags from Flags Unlimited are available in sizes from 4 inches by 6 inches up to 5 feet by 8 feet. We offer the Egypt Flag in Durable Nylon material or Budget Polyester material. Indoor Egypt flags with a pole sleeve and gold fringe are also available, along with Vinyl Decals.
The flag of Egypt in its current form was adopted on October 4, 1984. It is depicts the national emblem; Eagle of Saladin centered in the white band of the three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black. Our international flags are accurately reproduced to exact specifications. The flag has 2 brass grommets on the left edge for hanging. The 4"x6" size is mounted to a staff with a spear top. Also available below is a Waterproof Vinyl Decal (suitable for outdoor use). Polyester flags are imported and not recommended for prolonged outdoor use. For outdoor use, we recommend our nylon flags. Also available below is an indoor/ceremonial version of the flag with a pole sleeve and gold fringe.


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Home » Rural Life » RHASS announce next generation judges for Royal Highland Showcase
RHASS announce next generation judges for Royal Highland Showcase
William Kellett
May 11, 2021, 11:39am
The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) has unveiled this year's beef cattle judges for the forthcoming Royal Highland Showcase, taking place from June 14 – June 20, 2021.
This year's judges have all earned their place on the judging line up by coming up through the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Club's Stock Judging program, or as young breeders at previous Royal Highland Shows.
Taking place over two days – June 14 and June 15 – the Native and Continental Interbreeds and Interbreed Pairs will be judged by all judges on the day using a points system, with judges excluded from scoring their own breed.
Commenting on the judging line-up, RHASS chief steward of cattle lines, Kay Adam said:
We are thrilled to be presenting a top tier of young talent as this year's beef cattle judges.
"Each individual is well qualified to take control of the rings having excelled in their own right as stock judges and breeders, and we are excited to be giving our next generation an opportunity to shine as part of this year's innovative showcase."
The 2021 judges for each category are:
Beef Young Handlers: Avril Aitken, Perth, Perthshire;
Beef Shorthorn: John McCulloch, Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway;
Aberdeen Angus: Andrew Adam, Forfar, Angus;
Galloway: Steven Taylor, Stirling, Stirlingshire;
Belted Galloway: Judith Cowie, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire;
Highland: Dexter Logan, Alva, Clackmannanshire;
Hereford: Abbie Anderson, Arbroath, Angus;
British Charolais: Ellis Mutch, Banff, Aberdeenshire;
British Simmental: Tom Bruce, Ellon, Aberdeenshire;
Beef Limousin: John Graham, Stirling, Stirlingshire;
British Blonde: Ellis Mutch, Banff, Aberdeenshire;
British Blue: Stephanie Dick, Stirling, Stirlingshire;
Salers: Adam Crockett, Hawick, Roxburghshire;
Lincoln Red: Steven Taylor, Stirling, Stirlingshire;
Commercial Cattle: James Graham, Stirling, Stirlingshire.
Adding to Kay's comment, David Tennant, RHASS competitions manager said:
"This year's showcase will be beamed across the globe and having young talent judging in the rings sends the message that Scotland values its next generation of farmers and livestock breeders, and that we have complete confidence in their skills and expertise."
Closing date for entries is Friday, May 14. Entries can be made online.
Arla Foods aims to become carbon net zero by 2050
RHASS


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Plaza Premium: Catering To The Millennial Traveller
Zarina Ismail: More to Laundry Than Wash, Dry and Fold
Lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Zarina Ismail turned to the laundry business when she realised there was a lack of toxic free textile care services in Malaysia. The founder of laundry chain Drop & Wash wants to help other business owners become more environmentally, and socially sustainable.
To the regular person, Zarina Ismail may be known as the 'dobi lady' who owns Drop & Wash, a local laundry chain based out of Jalan Tun Razak, near Kampung Baru in Kuala Lumpur.
"Internationally, we are referred to as textile and laundry care professionals," the lawyer-turned-entrepreneur says with a smile.
Indeed, there is so much more to the laundry business than the regular cleaning of clothes – from stain elimination and steam pressing, to textile care and even Syariah compliant washing, and like many other industries, it is not spared from changes; technology is disrupting even your regular neighborhood laundromat.
Coin operated laundry provides an easy do-it-yourself option, while apps, geolocation, and sophisticated tech allows more time and cost efficient laundry pickup (something that Drop & Wash provides too).
However, for Zarina and her husband, Omar Adam Hon, the changes they want to bring to the market are more fundamental.
Since getting into the business ten years ago, the couple have strived to stay ahead of the curve in introducing best practices, with a keen focus on sustainability.
"Firstly, we are different than your usual dry cleaners because we do not use toxic chemicals like 'perc'," Zarina explains.
'Perc' or perchloroethylene is the most widely used solvent in dry-cleaning – where despite its name, is far from a dry process as clothes are soaked in chemical solvent.
I knew that traditional chemicals were bad. I was hungry to look for alternatives, and of course, having a passion in it helps too
While a highly effective cleaning agent, perc is not always the best choice for the environment. Studies have shown that the chemical can also cause harmful side effects to human.
For Zarina, it was a desire to bring an alternative cleaning option to Malaysia that led her to starting Drop & Wash - a water-based cleaner that uses no toxic chemicals.
"I knew that traditional chemicals were bad. I was hungry to look for alternatives, and of course, having a passion in it helps too," says Zarina, who says she's always 'had a knack for cleaning'.
"When we use a water based system that comes with smart technology, the machines are programmed to handle even the most delicate items like silk, wool, leather, sequins or lace – all using bio-degradable detergents."
The couple had held discussions with local city councils, advocating a more sustainable business practice among the smaller laundrettes.
When Laundry Meets Business Innovation
When it comes to sustainable development, as in many fields, putting in place green technology can be expensive up front.
At Drop & Wash's spacious main outlet, stretching over four shop units, some of the machines cost up to hundreds of thousand of ringgit.
It houses a few Electrolux Lagoon system, the only wet cleaning fabric care system approved by Woolmark, a global quality assurance of wool product.
Meanwhile, its Japanese Sankosha shirt finishing machine can blow and press up to 1000 shirts per day – a 'Rolls Royce equivalent' machine in the laundry industry, says Zarina.
"Firstly, this is in line with our mission to move into automation," she explains.
You have to care about the community around you – it's no longer just about profit making
"We decided in our first year of operations to invest our money back into the company's assets, which are the people and the machine."
"That's why we get the best equipment because the returns are better in the long run - your people are less tired, they get to learn more skills and at the same time, we use a more efficient technology."
Currently, Drop & Wash has ten outlets and pickup points in the Klang Valley, with most of their staff coming from low income or marginalised communities – also another conscious business decision undertaken by Zarina and her husband.
"You have to care about the community around you – it's no longer just about profit making," says Zarina.
'We hire the Projek Perumahan Rakyat residents, the jobless, (people) from the Chow Kit and Kampung Baru communities, the disadvantaged group, even transgenders."
"Because we invest in good machines, they are able to learn and upskill on the job. So even when they decide to leave us one day, they can join bigger laundrettes like in hotels with the skill sets acquired."
Drop & Wash's social business model was recognised won the International Committee of Textile Care (CINET) Global Best Practice Award 2018.
It is also in the midst of obtaining Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) Impact Driven Enterprise Accreditation.
Best Practices, Transparency Key to Business Sustainability
A strong believer that sustainability and purposefulness makes for better business, Zarina is trying to advocate similar practices across the industry through organising knowledge sharing events and conferences.
"We do have local (laundry) associations but compared to other countries, we are less active. And because we have had insights from overseas, we wanted to share them with the local market."
Zarina and Omar had recently organised the Southeast Asia Professional Textile Care Forum.
"So, we brought professionals from Japan, Indonesia, France and the Netherlands to share the latest technologies and innovative business models to show the local players that the laundry business is not just about wash, dry and fold. It's beyond that!"
"We'd like to share what we feel is good for the market with others. We want to emphasise on best business practices. At the same time, give reasonable cost and value to customers."
Drop & Wash's Growth Plans - Increasing Investment in Tech & Logistics
Speaking about growth plans, Zarina emphasises that their focus is on increasing capacity, rather than expanding physical presence.
"We would like to grow outside of the Klang Valley but we have to be very careful. We do not want to invest for the sake of showing that you have presence. The market is relatively slow at the moment."
"Our growth will mainly be in our assets and machineries. Because the more machines you have, the more load you can take."
"We will also be focusing on setting up more collection points and improving the logistics such as door-to-door services. That is what the market wants," says Zarina. "Growth, to us, is about investing in new systems and best practices."
Cynthia Ng
Cynthia Ng is anchor and news editor at Astro AWANI and AWANI Review.
Follow @cynthiaawani
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If this is the first time you are setting up your printer, it won't be displayed from the list. Please follow the steps below to finish the set-up. The driver operate on operating system windows 10, Windows 8. If the next screen appears, click Open. Many printer drivers, utilities and applications are available to download free of charge from the support pages of the Epson website.
Epson hasn't already taken care of to do much concerning noise levels on the maker, aside from pricing quote unrealistically reduced figures. Ur computer will re-connect to a wire-less network automatically once this has completed. The tool contains only the latest versions of drivers provided by official manufacturers. Run the setup file as administrator. To see more matches, use our custom search engine to. It covers all the fundamentals, including a web browser toolbar for simpler printing of websites. Drivers may also be manually updated.
The software will search for any printers already set up on your network. The New Scan dialogue box to your scanner opens. If this happens, click on the setup icon setup located in the dock, to display the screen again. Given that the noise degree range is logarithmic, this is a lot louder compared to the spec. Please follow the on-screen instructions carefully to prepare your printer for link. Updating your driver updates will fix any kind of Driver conflict problems with the devices as well as make improvements to the overall performance of your Computer. A 1,200dpi 6x4in output assumed control two minutes, yet examines at lower resolutions were genuinely snappy.
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To automatically forward the record u have only scanned as an attachment to a new fax message click on the Forward as Fax button. If you are using and older version of Internet Explorer or another browser, select the option to run or save the file to the desktop, if available. Press the Wireless button until the Direct lamp D lights up. It's uncommon to locate a machine at this cost offering fax performance as well as with the common spread of email, fax is the modern technology which will not die mainly due to the fact that it just works. Tech Tip: If you are having trouble deciding which is the right driver, try the. This method allows you to save your time and correctly install all necessary drivers, not being afraid to make a mistake during a manual installation. If you would like to register as an Epson partner, please click.
It is strongly recommended you update your Epson Drivers frequently to prevent issues. If u have to reset your network settings back to factory default, for example, if u change your access point, u can do this by following these instructions: Please be aware that initialization erases all system settings on the device, so printing or scanning from a computer over the network will become hopeless until the printer is re-configured with new system configurations. Epson Product Setup contains everything you need to use your Epson product. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari. The black control board is well laid out and also includes a number pad for the machine's fax functions. We generated figures of 2. As such any files downloaded from the Epson site should be regarded as coming from a trusted source.
Switch over to typical print setting, which most people will use for daily work, and the speed drops to 3. Press the Colour Press the Wi-Fi Press the Colour The network data page will be printed. The information on this page is for informational purposes only. It gives a full scope of capacities in an exceedingly minimized and effective structure component, made to flawlessly meet your home office needs. Once successfully printed, click Next. If u can't see your printer listed, continue to Step to 12.
Photograph prints had smooth shading, sharp detail and clear dull tones, however some brilliant hues looked quieted. Click Instructions to find out more information about setting up your apparatus, or click Next to keep. You can unsubscribe at any time with a click on the link provided in every Epson newsletter. It is a software utility that will find the right driver for you - automatically. Filter quality was fabulous on photographs and archives, with smooth and exact shading and shading in our photograph outputs and clear, decipherable lettering on 150dpi record examines. Click Next , to find a list of optional software u can also install. For more information about this driver you may read more from Epson official website.
Our unpredictable shading test record looked awesome, with rich regions of strong shading and fine shading. The webpage will automatically recognise your operating system, e. It triggers to initiate the installing wizard. Note: All Epson software is checked for viruses and potential errors. The company asserts 31ppm for black print as well as 15ppm for colour. Press the Colour button C. Therefore it's ideal to move the overview out to full size before putting paper stock.


Hello friends. I was thinking that there are some folks that I've seen here on Facebook that are already seeing some pretty "light" things in their ascension experience. (i.e. people's bodies as their "space suits," auras around everything, etc.) I try to not compare my experience with others, but since I've been at this work for over 25 years I couldn't help but wonder why I wasn't seeing these things! I was given some info from the Keepers that I thought was helpful.
I was told that besides the designations that have been given as Adult Indigos, Light workers, and so on, there are now some more. I was told that I am what they called a "Light Anchor," and that also many around and working closely with me are as well.
1) A Light Anchor is someone that is grounded, yet familiar with travel in 5D states, either to share energy (as a healer,) information, or both. People that are Light Anchors usually have Sun in an Earth Sign, and/or predominant earth planets, but this is not always the case. Their job through the Shift is to "hold down the fort" (they like that term!) and create a safe space for people to awaken to their own light resources. This is why we aren't having all of these wild visions and so on, we've got work to do! Most of our spiritual visions are seen in our meditation time. Many Light Anchors are Adult Indigos (1st and 2nd wave,) and also "Wizards" who are in their late 60's all the way to their 80's now. Light Anchors often work with words to convey their messages and can serve as teachers, writers and channels.
I came across this quote by Eckhart Tolle today and I feel this mirrors the job description of the Light Anchors perfectly.
2) Transformers – are those that are able to quickly and efficiently transmute lower vibrational energies. Some of these people will choose difficult environments (i.e. low income neighborhoods, war zones, etc.) to do their job. They are less empathic than other light workers because they have to be. Adult Indigos and Blue Ray folks are also transformers to a certain extent, but they work in a different way; in the sense that they work to transmute family or ancestral karma(s) over a period of time. These younger generation transformers tend to "get in and get out" quickly, as it is the nature of their mission. They are in the age range of their 20's to early 30's, but again this is just a generalization, there can be some that are younger or a bit older too. Many transformers note that people often are either instantly attracted to them or repelled by the strong energies that they carry. They tend to have a "No BS" policy and a low tolerance for drama of any kind.
3) Sitters/Beamers – many of these are the Crystal & Rainbow kids that are coming of age now. Part of the reason why there is a bit of a "communication gap" between these folks and Indigos is that they have spent less or in some cases, ZERO lifetimes on earth, so they don't really "get it," as far as the 3D experience goes. They may come across as unintelligent, cold or arrogant, but they really are none of these. They are still adjusting to life here and their mission. Their primary job is to beam and bear the light. As the light quotient on the earth gets stronger, their job descriptions will expand and become elaborated. For now they are to keep their divine connection in tact and radiate LOVE to ALL.
4) Watchers – Carry an ancient, "wise ones" vibration. They are not limited to any age group but the majority of them on the planet at the moment are over the age of 40. They can have attributes of "Activators," but are here primarily to "hold space" for the Divine Will/Mind to be made manifest on Earth. Etherically, their energy systems are tall and are seen to be like Redwood or other powerful trees with roots both deep into the earth and also high into the aethers. In their physicality they tend to be very strong and hearty. On a personality level they tend to be introspective and quiet. When they speak it is often something useful and/or profound. These folks are often seen as the "old souls" of their families and communities. Though they are natural teachers, they recoil from a Guru role as they are naturally more reclusive than the other types.
5) Activators – this can be a sub-group of it's own in combination with Light Anchors and Watchers, primarily. It is also it's own stand-alone designation. Activators can be of any Sun Sign but can especially be found in those with strong Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio or Aries planets. They are ones who's "light is switched on," and in many cases this case been the case since their childhood or young adulthood. Many of the activators being born in the 2000's and beyond are born with high spiritual consciousness. Like Transformers, people tend to react very strongly to them and some may dislike them almost instantly due to both their energetic intensity and ability to "see," which is one aspect that they share with the Transformers. Activators tend to be in both the 1st and 2nd wave Indigo Adults, but there are some that are a bit younger also. Activators serve in some cases as a "walking diksha" or energy transmission. Some of these beings can activate others just through conversation. Others may use the vehicles of body work, physical touch and so forth.
© Irma Kaye Sawyer 2012-2013. Please feel free to share these messages as you are guided with author and copyright information included. Thank you.
Talking back to 2012 – originally blogged in 2010.


Have you ever talked with another writer and you both brainstormed and came up with a great idea? Then maybe you thought, who's going to be the one to write about it? Ah - a solution. Both of you can work together. Co-authoring is very common and popular. Writers across the world often join forces to pen articles, short stories, even books. There's something special about creating with a partner, whether they are one of your friends, or someone you meet just to write with.
So how does it work? Well, first you need at least one other writer. When looking for a partner, make sure you both like to write in the same genre - i.e. horror, drama, young adult. It's always fun to try something new, of course, but for a project like this, it is best to team up with someone who likes to write the same kinds of things you enjoy.
After the decision has been made to work together, the next best step is to have someone older draw up a contract of sorts. What? You wonder why you would need that, right? Co-authoring doesn't always work out - sometimes someone quits, or someone decides they've done more work than the other. Sometimes you just can't agree on what direction your story or article should take, so you both quit, leaving you with a good idea that both would like to pursue on your own. No matter what happens, it is best to have a written agreement that an adult has written up for you. Your contract doesn't have to be full of hard-to-understand legal jargon. Rather, friendly language just there to stipulate how things should work out if anything happens, be it publication or a split, will do the trick.
Deciding on a theme or plot.
Sharing ideas for the title of the article, story, or book.
Deciding whose name should go first. Many times, co-authors decide this by alphabetical order. Also, some writing partners have in the past combined their names into one pen name, so the work appears as first glance to be written by one person.
Discussing plans for writing - will you write 1000 words and then your partner write 1000 words? Will you write every other chapter? Will one of you provide the skeleton of the entire work while the other fills in the gaps to bring it all together?
After you've worked out all these details, settle on one plan of action and get to work. If you run into problems with your first decisions, rethink and begin again. But don't linger too long on the planning. More works have been dropped during the planning stages than any other due to doing nothing BUT planning. You have to move past that and get on to the writing process.
Once you are writing, though, don't expect it to happen overnight. Writers often get the notion that having a co-author means the work will be completed that much faster. While a book might actually get written quicker, the process is slowed because you both have to agree on each and every thing. If you write a scene that your partner absolutely does not like, it's going to halt the progress right there. So patience must be present.
Also, things happen in life. When writing something all by yourself, if you don't feel like writing anymore, you can just quit. You only have yourself to answer to. But with a co-author, they are waiting on you. You should be timely. But you should also understand if they don't return and reply as quickly as you might be able. Some writers are able to write thousands of words as if it's not a big deal. Others take all day to get even a few sentences out. Plus, most young writers have many other things going on in their lives, like school, church, sports, music, etc. Just because YOU might think about writing all the time, that doesn't mean your co-author does, so remember that when the process is in full groove.
Finally, when you complete your project, celebrate together in some way. Don't let the completion be the end of your friendship. Continue to work together even if on separate projects. Not only have you just shared something important with this person, but you've also built a friendship.
Whether your co-author is right next door, or across the world in another country, you will both find this a journey of fun and learning - and one you'll never forget.
If you have a parent who writes, ask them to co-author something with you.
Ask your teacher about doing class projects - splitting the class into teams of two to work on creative writing projects together.
Spend time teaching the love of writing with a brother or sister by writing stories together.
* Novel Notes: Scott is at a standstill with his book. He's recently spent more time on poetry and has been having fun in the sun. Angela may have edged ahead of Scott by now, as she has a rough three chapters and scattered scenes.


Who Saw Sovereign Debt Crises Coming?
This paper studies sovereign debt crises through the prism of the primary sovereign bond market and describes the behavior and interactions among the principal actors in the sovereign bond market before and after a sovereign debt crisis. The study finds that investment banks price sovereign default risk well before crises occur and before investors detect default risk. As early as three years before a crisis, countries that will eventually enter into a debt crisis pay underwriting fees that are almost twice as high as the underwriting fees paid by the average emerging market country. In contrast, sovereign bond spreads do not seem to be good leading indicators of debt crises. Between three years and one year before a crisis, there is almost no difference between the bond spreads paid by countries that will eventually enter into a crisis and the spread paid by the average emerging market country. The paper also shows that investment banks' behavior differs depending on the type of sovereign debt crisis. While Investment banks charge higher underwriting fees to countries that will later enter into crisis because of high risk of sovereign default, they do not appear to charge higher fees to countries that will eventually suffer a liquidity crisis driven by external factors or banking problems. Given that my results suggest that investment banks price default risk well before investors do, they raise the puzzle of why underwriting fees, which contain valuable publicly [End Page 125] available information, are not used in pricing bonds issued by emerging market countries.
While there are many papers that study how emerging market countries access the international bond market (Grigorian 2003; Gelos, Sahay, and Sandleris 2004; Fostel and Kaminsky 2007), studies of the formation of prices in the emerging sovereign bond market are rare and tend to focus on the incidence of pricing of certain covenants, such as collective action clauses (for different perspectives, see Eichengreen and Mody 2004; Gugiatti and Richards 2003; Becker, Richards, and Thaicharoen 2003).1 This stands in contrast to the massive literature on the determinants of underwriting fees in the primary corporate market. This literature shows that the main determinants of underwriting fees are the characteristics of the issue (such as maturity, amount, regulation, and currency denomination), the characteristics of the issuer (for example, credit risk as measured by credit rating, size of the firm, profitability indicators, and activity sector group), and a set of market variables that include secondary market conditions and volatility of prices (West 1967; Higgins and Moore 1980; Rogowski and Sorensen 1985; Lee and others 1996; Livingston and Miller 2000; Kollo and Sharpe 2006; Melnik and Nissim 2003; Hua Fang 2005). These studies tend to find an inverse relationship between the quality of the issuer and the level of underwriting fees. This is usually interpreted as a consequence of the greater effort required from intermediaries when they act as underwriters of lower-quality issues (Altinkihc and Hansen 2000).
The analysis of the primary market is a key element to understanding the behavior of investment banks and investors, and the formation of fees and primary sovereign bond spreads. This section describes the structure of the primary sovereign bond market and the main risks faced by investment banks when they act as lead managers in this market (for more details on the structure of the primary market and the critical steps of the issue process, see Flandreau and others 2010b).


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Q: quasi-homomorphisms of groups Suppose that $G$ is a group and $d$ is a left-invaraint metric on $G$, e.g., the word metric (provided that $G$ is finitely-generated) or distance function determined by a left-invariant Riemannian metric on $G$ (provided that $G$ is a connected Lie group). Let $\Gamma$ be another group.
A map $f: \Gamma\to G$ is called a quasi-homomorphism if there exists a constant $A$ so that for all $\gamma_1, \gamma_2\in \Gamma$ we have
$$
d(f(\gamma_1 \gamma_2), f(\gamma_1) f(\gamma_2))\le A.
$$
There are two sources of unbounded quasi-homomorphisms I know:

*

*Group homomorphisms (and their bounded perturbations).

*Quasi-morphisms, i.e., quasi-homomorphisms to ${\mathbb R}$ (with the standard metric) or, equivalently, to ${\mathbb Z}$ (again, with the standard metric). (One can modify this construction by taking quasi-morphisms with values in other abelian groups, but I will not regard this as a separate source of examples.)
There is, by now, a considerable literature on constructing quasi-morphisms, both in geometric group theory and symplectic geometry.
One can combine 1 and 2, by taking, say, compositions and direct sums/products: I am considering this as, again a trivial modification.
Question 1: Are there are other sources of quasi-morphisms which do not reduce to 1 and 2?
If this is a bit vague, here is a sub-question:
Question 2: Suppose that $\Gamma$ is higher-rank (real rank $\ge 3$) irreducible lattice (thus, it has no unbounded quasimorphisms) and $G$ is a nonelementary hyperbolic group (to exclude homomorphisms $\Gamma\to G$ with infinite image). Are there examples of unbounded quasi-homomorphisms $\Gamma\to G$?
Is there any literature on this? I could not find anything, but maybe I was looking at wrong places.
Note that the setting of quasi-homomorphisms (in the case of nonabelian targets) is very different from the one of quasi-actions, in which case there is a substantial literature and I know most of it.

A: As it turned out (contrary to my expectations), all quasihomomorphisms with noncommutative target groups (which are discrete with proper left invariant metric) are obtained via some natural constructions starting from homomorphisms to groups and quasihomomorphisms to abelian groups:
This is the main result of our paper with Koji Fujiwara here.
To the list of constructions I had in my question one would have to add extension from a finite index subgroup in $\Gamma$ and a lifting construction using a bounded cohomology class in $H^2(\Gamma, A)$, where $A$ is an abelian group. In particular, the answer to Question 2 is negative.

Update. Many things have happened in the last 9 years. In particular, very recently it turned out that the answer is quite different in the case when the target group is a connected noncompact Lie group and the group $\Gamma$ is the fundamental group of a compact negatively curved manifold. Namely, a large supply of quasihomomorphisms (much bigger than in our paper with Fujiwara) was discovered in
Michael Brandenbursky, Misha Verbitsky, Non-commutative Barge-Ghys quasimorphisms, arXiv:2212.12958, 2022.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Love Letters From Pronk is an ongoing series where Pronk shares his love for somebody connected to the Cubs. Sometimes funny, sometimes weird, Pronk likes to make 100% sure people know that they are loved, and best expresses that through gushing letters. Today's pick: Rafael Ortega
Rafael Ortega is a 30 year old outfielder from Venezuela. He was signed by the Rockies as an international free agent way back in 2008. He then was with them until the winter following 2013. Since then, he made stops in the Rangers, Cardinals, Angels, Padres, Marlins, and Braves organizations. He's played 13 years of minor league baseball, spanning 1121 games and 4745 PAs. His reward? 208 games at the MLB level, as organizational depth.
This year, he's had more opportunities and capitalized on them. In nearly 200 PAs as a Cub, he's got an OPS over .850. After the Cubs unloaded at the deadline, he became the team's leadoff hitter, and has been amazing so far. He had a career day on August 1st, when he launched 3 home runs against the Nationals. What a special day for a dude who's hung tough.
Dear Rafael,
Welcome to the Cubs. Congratulations on your hot streak. After bouncing around for a lot of different teams for a lot of years, it was such a thrill to see you have that big day on August 1st. That will be a memory you never forget, and it's an experience you earned. It was a huge thrill for a guy who comes out of nowhere to have a legendary day like that.
Then again, your performance this year hasn't been limited to just that one day. You are hitting over .300 on the season, which is impressive as your number of at bats continues to grow. This isn't some tiny sample size. At this point, you've been starting for two months, and continue to play well. I am really impressed.
I hope that you continue to grow into an every day big leaguer for the Cubs. It's been good having you around so far, so let the good times roll! Keep it up!
-Pronk
Love Letters From Pronk: Frank Schwindel