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Posted in | Agricultural Robotics
Vegebot Harvests Lettuce Using Machine Learning
A University of Cambridge team developed the "Vegebot," which was primarily trained to identify and harvest iceberg lettuce in a lab setting. It has recently been successfully tested in different field conditions in collaboration with G's Growers, a local fruit and vegetable co-operative.
A robotic harvester, dubbed the 'Vegebot', has been trained to identify and harvest iceberg lettuce, a crop which has so far resisted automation. (Image credit: University of Cambridge)
Even though the prototype is not as quick or efficient as a human worker, it shows how using robotics in agriculture could be expanded, even for crops such as iceberg lettuce which are especially challenging to harvest mechanically. The results have been reported in The Journal of Field Robotics.
Crops such as wheat and potatoes have been harvested mechanically at scale for several years, but a number of other crops have so far resisted automation. Iceberg lettuce is a typical example. Despite the fact that it is the most widely grown type of lettuce in the United Kingdom, the iceberg is easily damaged and grows comparatively flat to the ground, posing a difficulty for robotic harvesters.
Every field is different, every lettuce is different. But if we can make a robotic harvester work with iceberg lettuce, we could also make it work with many other crops.
Simon Birrell, Study Co-Author, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
"At the moment, harvesting is the only part of the lettuce life cycle that is done manually, and it's very physically demanding," stated co-author Julia Cai, who worked on the computer vision components of the Vegebot while she was an undergraduate student in the lab of Dr Fumiya Iida.
First, the Vegebot identifies the "target" crop within its field of vision. It then establishes whether a specific lettuce is healthy and mature enough to be harvested. Finally, it cuts the lettuce from the rest of the plant without damaging it so that it is "supermarket ready."
For a human, the entire process takes a couple of seconds, but it's a really challenging problem for a robot.
Josie Hughes, Study Co-Author, University of Cambridge
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The Vegebot has two key parts: a cutting system and a computer vision system. The overhead camera on the Vegebot captures an image of the lettuce field and initially identifies all the lettuces in the image. Then for each lettuce, it categorizes whether or not it should be harvested. A lettuce might be excluded if it is not yet fully developed, or if it has a disease that could infect other lettuces in the harvest.
The scientists created and trained a machine-learning algorithm on sample images of lettuces. As soon as the Vegebot could identify healthy lettuces in the lab, it was then taught in the field, in a range of weather conditions, on numerous real lettuces.
The Vegebot's second camera is located close to the cutting blade and helps ensure a clean cut. The scientists could also modify the pressure in the robot's gripping arm so that it gripped the lettuce secure enough not to drop it, but not very hard as to crush it. The force of the grip can be modified for other crops.
"We wanted to develop approaches that weren't necessarily specific to iceberg lettuce so that they can be used for other types of above-ground crops," said Iida, who leads the team behind the study.
Going forward, robotic harvesters could help solve issues with labor scarcities in agriculture and could also help curtail food wastage. At present, each field is normally harvested once, and any unripe fruits or vegetables are thrown away. However, a robotic harvester could be taught to pick just the ripe vegetables, and since it is capable of harvesting nonstop, it could carry out numerous passes on the same field. It can return at a later date to harvest the vegetables that were unripe during earlier passes.
We're also collecting lots of data about lettuce, which could be used to improve efficiency, such as which fields have the highest yields. We've still got to speed our Vegebot up to the point where it could compete with a human, but we think robots have lots of potential in agri-tech.
Iida's team at Cambridge is also part of the world's first Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in agri-food robotics. In partnership with scientists at the University of Lincoln and the University of East Anglia, the Cambridge scientists will train the next generation of experts in robotics and autonomous systems for application in the agri-tech domain.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has granted £6.6m for the new CDT, which will aid a minimum of 50 PhD students.
(Video credit: University of Cambridge)
Source: https://www.cam.ac.uk


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In 1910, at the age of 36, Joseph Erlanger was invited by Washington University to head the Department of Physiology in the newly reorganized School of Medicine. He had received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1899, after which he became a member of the faculty in Physiology there. Six years later, he became Professor of Physiology at the University of Wisconsin. In 1909, a 21-year-old student named Herbert Gasser took a number of courses at the medical school at Wisconsin, one of which was Erlanger's course in Physiology. This was so different from what he had expected that he described it as a "revelation." Gasser went to Johns Hopkins to complete his medical studies and returned to Wisconsin as an Instructor in Pharmacology.
Soon after the new buildings at Washington University were ready for occupancy, Erlanger invited Gasser to join his department. During his first year in St. Louis, the United States entered the first World War; he and Erlanger collaborated in war-related studies on shock. When the war was over, and Gasser returned from a brief period in Washington, they developed a new collaboration in studies on fundamental properties of nerve.
While Erlanger had already done important work on the spread of excitation in the heart, Gasser had yet to find his research interest. The problem of recording nerve activity was a topic of discussion between them. The technical impasse was the need to amplify the small potentials which could be recorded from nerve and to have a recording device fast enough to follow the rapid changes. Newcomer, a classmate of Gasser at Johns Hopkins with a background in physics, had built an amplifier using vacuum tubes which he brought to St. Louis. He and Gasser recorded the action potentials of the phrenic nerve using a string galvanometer, but this device had too much inertia to follow the potential changes with fidelity. The cathode ray or Braun tube was known to have the requisite speed but required very large voltages to deflect the electron beam. Gasser learned that Western Electric had developed a cathode ray tube with a heated cathode that had much greater sensitivity. With the gain available from Newcomer's amplifier, the potentials from peripheral nerve could now be recorded with fidelity.
Erlanger and Gasser built and assembled the requisite equipment for stimulation and recording. With it they investigated the characteristics of conduction nerve axons. Together with George Bishop, who subsequently joined in the work, they determined the speed of conduction in nerve fibers and its relation to axonal diameter, the independence of action potentials, in individual nerve fibers, the time course of the individual action potentials, the refractory period after an action potential and a host of other properties which are fundamental to our understanding of nerve physiology. It is amazing to think that for several years the only electrophysiological equipment in the world employing a cathode ray oscilloscope was in the basement of the South Building of this Medical School.
In 1921, at the age of 33, Gasser was made Head of the Department of Pharmacology at Washington University. Abraham Flexner arranged for him to spend two years visiting laboratories in Europe. Following this interruption, he rejoined Erlanger and Bishop. They were very successful in reconstructing the compound action potential from the fiber diameter spectrum, their values for action potential size and duration, and assuming a linear relation between axon diameter and conduction velocity. In 1944, Erlanger and Gasser were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for these studies.
In 1932, Gasser moved to New York as chairman of the Department of Physiology at Cornell Medical School. Three years later, he was appointed Director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, a post he held until his retirement in 1953. He then returned to the laboratory and again turned his attention to peripheral nerve. During these years, he made important discoveries on unmyelinated nerve axons. He died in 1963.
Erlanger remained as Head of Physiology at Washington University until 1946. He continued working on problems of peripheral nerve including excitation, effects of polarization and repetitive firing of axons. In addition to research, he contributed much as an administrator and teacher. A founding member of the Executive Faculty, he played a large role in the building of the modern Washington University School of Medicine. He died in 1965.
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1990 Stanley Cohen, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
1991 George E. Palade, M.D., University of California San Diego
1992 Sir Andrew Huxley, O.M., F.R.S., Trinity College, Cambridge
1993 Bert Sakmann, M.D., Max-Planck Institute
1994 Edwin G. Krebs, M.D., University of Washington
1995 Gunter Blobel, M.D., Ph.D., Rockefeller University
1996 Alfred G. Gilman, M.D., Ph.D., University of Texas, Southwestern
1998 Gerald D. Fischbach, M.D., National Institutes of Health
2000 Floyd E. Bloom, M.D., Scripps Research Institute
2002 Clay M. Armstrong, M.D., University of Pennsylvania
2003 Wolfhard Almers, Ph.D., Vollum Institute, OHSU
2004 Anton J. Berns, Ph.D., The Netherlands Cancer Institute
2006 Thomas D. Pollard, M.D., Yale University
2008 Carol W. Greider, Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University
2009 Pietro De Camilli, M.D., Yale University
2010 Tony Hunter, Ph.D., Salk Institute
2011 Gregory Hannon, Ph.D., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
2012 Ronald D. Vale, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco
2013 Michael P. Sheetz, Ph.D., Columbia University
2014 Peter C. Agre, M.D., Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute
2016 Robert A. Weinberg, Ph.D., Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT
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Meet Beaux Tox, a Labrador Retriever who was born with a facial deformity and experienced a life of constant rejection and neglect, until he found Jamie Hulit, his soul mate and a true best friend.
Beaux was born with his unique features, a result of being squashed in his mothers womb as one of six pups. "He just kind of got pushed out of the way, and formed how he formed," Jamie told The Dodo. This was just the beginning of a life of being pushed around for Beaux, whose intelligence and bubbly personality were not affected by the deformity.
"Because of his facial deformity, the people who were breeding couldn't sell him," Jamie explained. "So they gave him away for free." Beaux ended up living with a man who neglected him and left him outside, all alone, for 5 years. He was neglected to the extent that local rescue groups tried to intervene, without success, and all that was left of Beaux was a sad, disease and parasite-ridden bag of bones without a shred of hope left.
Jamie could empathize with Beaux as she had been in foster care herself as a child, and knew the feelings of false hope and rejection that come from being passed around from family to family.
Beaux was given intensive treatment by Dr. Jay Rydberg, a dedicated and heroic vet that invested as much time and emotion into getting Beaux back onto his feet as Jamie did. Together they turned the poor dog around, helping him through a chronic case of heartworms which nearly cost him his life. Finally, Beaux was given a clean bill of health, and Jamie was able to take him home with her.
Well not really the ugly people were the ones that looked at the dog and said no because he looks like a cartoon the owners merely breaded him/her and should not be shamed.
Do you really mean to tell us that people are ugly because when looking for a pet, most would choose one that looks good and healthy ? I'm really glad this one finally found a nice home, but you can't blame other people for not feeling up to it... The ugly one is definitely the previous owner, who according to the article neglected that dog for 5 years.
reminds me of the dog from Up!
"My name is Dug. I just met you and I love you. "
I was just about to say that, they should gave named him "Doug".
Just about made me cry. What a lovely smile he has. His friends don't care what he looks like, they love him anyway. Bless you for adopting him. He's having a happy life.


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One way to translate a fundamental claim of phenomenology into Thomist terms is to say that before Phenomenology, everyone was working from an unrealized negative abstraction from their actual experience of the world.
Thomism developed to recognize several different sorts of abstraction. There were at least two sorts of positive abstraction, sc. the abstraction of a universal whole from its parts (like when we get the idea "placental mammal" by looking at pigs and cows) and the abstraction of a form from the-thing-with-the-form (like when we get the idea of "redness" from "red" or the idea of a circle from looking at a wheel.) Both of these abstractions, however, presuppose the more general reality of negative abstraction, which is simply the act of considering one thing without another. This allows not only for positive abstraction but also the mere act of paying attention or focusing on one thing and letting others fall from consciousness, e.g. we can consider the color of a rose without considering its scent. This sort of "abstraction" is found in any finite cognitive power – a cat focusing on something will tune other things out.
The claim of phenomenology is that pre-phenomenological thinkers all made an unrealized negative abstraction from the world as actually experienced. Experience comes to us as a totality, but science and philosophy all try to start from some part divided from that whole. Aristotle, for example, starts with "substance". He separates, say, a cow from the field of experience, lets everything else drop from view, and quietly assumes that the world is an enumeration of these substances. But experience does not come to us like this. We see the whole first and then divide it into parts (like "substance") by various turns of focus. True, if we are to study anything, we need to let this initial totality fall into the subconscious, but this only means that any act of learning involves a submersion of a vast section of the world as it comes to us. This is one application of Heidegger's idea that every disclosure of being also hides it.
Arguably, by overlooking this initial totality of experience, we have fallen into the idea that analysis is fundamental, or that ultimate reality is the part. Our ontologies are thus all searches for the ultimate part. We seek reality in what is most isolated and cut off from things.
Even if we take "God in the gaps" as a fallacy, we dismiss the argument too quickly. There is very often more going on in them than what can be waved off with a catchphrase or quick refutation.
There must be some explanation for ___________, since it's there.
Therefore, there is some explanation above or beyond nature, and this is what all call God.
Predictably, the minor premise is attacked. The argument requires that something is unexplainable in principle, but we can't establish the existence of such a thing by multiplying instances of things actually unexplained. We thought we needed God – i.e. an act of special creation in addition to the general creation- to explain star formation, elemental genesis, the origin of species, etc., but we were wrong. This leaves open the central question whether there is something unexplainable in principle. So how can we being to touch on that question?
Some marvels arise when we don't know an explanation, but they are of different sorts. The marvel at a magic trick is dispelled when the trick is explained, but the wonder of, say, seeing your two-minute old baby know how to nurse is not the same sort of thing. The difference I'm interested in here is that the first wonder can be repeated on command in front of pretty much anybody; while the second strikes you out of the blue, and you are simultaneously amazed that everyone can't see it and completely able to understand why they wouldn't. This difference seems to be grounded in different ways in which the marvel is seen as integral to the reality of what we are seeing. In seeing the magic trick, no one assumes they are seeing something fundamentally real – no one calls 911 when Copperfield cuts a girl in half or Houdini is underwater for twenty minutes. But the amazement at seeing the child nursing or the night sky or whatever-it-is is a sense that you are seeing the reality of things. During the experience you are flooded with the idea that there is a dazzling and therefore inexplicable reality at the basis of things. Non theists have this experience too, and so it's not definitive for the God-in-the-gaps argument, but it does move the argument to a more interesting place, since now theists and non-theists are on the same page that there is something inexplicable in principle.
There does, however, seem to be an atheist way to interpret the experience in question. After all, if there is something inexplicable in things, it is false to say that there must be some explanation for ___________, since it's there. But the argument hides a subtle and significant claim: sc. that if something is in principle inexplicable to us, it is altogether inexplicable. But this claim does not seem to be faithful to the very experience it is trying to explain. The ecstasy of seeing something inexplicable in things is not an awareness of their fundamental irrationality – it is not the chaos and abyss of something that falls outside of reason altogether; though for all that it remains something in principle inexplicable to us. If this is so, we have a good reason to accept the theistic account of the experience over the atheist one.
I stress that, by the very premises of his argument, the theist can give no explanation for the thing – not even "God did it". God does not enter into the account of the marvel as a being we can ferret out by a causal account. God shows up in the argument as he who is necessary if we are to distinguish what is inexplicable to us from what is wholly irrational. IOW, we're working from the idea that being is intelligible, and if it is not so to us, then it must be so to another. Without this division, it seems impossible to faithfully account for the experience of a natural marvel. If this is what the supposed "God-in-the-gaps" argument is trying to say, then the argument is sound.
-Without ether, it becomes impossible to make light a physical phenomenon as opposed to a mathematical one. The problem is a familiar one, since it is the exact problem that led Newton to posit ether in the first place – since without ether space was a purely mathematical phenomenon. Time was too, but for whatever reason no one posited time ether.
-If "space" is just "whatever all physical things have in common", then it can't do the work that Newton needed it to do. This makes space Einsteinian, i.e. purely relative. Newton needed space to be wholly separate from the physical. This makes for an interaction problem every bit as compelling as the soul-body version, but for whatever reason we don't dwell on it.
-"But we don't dwell on it because we don't believe in absolute space any more!" This misses the point. The need to divide the purely mathematical from the physical is just recast by an account of a new absolute (EM waves) with no ether-principle that can distinguish the purely mathematical from the physical. Like it or not, we're insisting that EM waves are wholly separate and divided from physical phenomena. They're Euclidian realities (okay, Riemannian, same difference) defining physical spaces.
-What about Einstein's space, then? It is entirely relative, which renders it incapable of being a substrate or medium for an absolute. You can't write red letters with black ink.
-Mathematization of nature is one way of articulating the radical difference between the absolute and relative. We can understand a world where mathematical things are separate from the world, but still structure it, all the while not interacting with it. They are extrinsic from what they define while still being intrinsic to it. This is simply the role absolutes have to play. We could do more to articulate the reality of God and soul by mathematicals.
-Newton's ether was a concession that did not eliminate the fundamental scandal. Ether might correspond to absolute space and remain at rest (allowing for a division of real and apparent motion). But a contraction of ether would still be in absolute space.
-The absolute space is at once necessary and superfluous. We needed it to account for a real division between real and apparent motion and rest, but it required an appeal to something that could never be used. No one could do an experiment that required us to mark off meters in absolute space.
-For Aristotle, a mathematical thing is a physical one with something left out. On this account, the physical is fundamental and the mathematical is derivative. The science of the last few centuries wants to reverse this, but is ambivalent.
– Is mathematics abstract, or is the physical exemplary/incarnational? Are the two compatible by making "abstraction" epistemic and the other ontological? Is the Euclidean triangle an abstraction from all the triangles we visualize, or are the visualized triangles all derivations and incarnations of a more fundamental idea?
1.) Inductively, we have been arguing about probability since Pascal and the debate has only become more intense and intractable by QM.
2.) All measurements are imperfect. There is no way for it to distinguish non-mathematical rational and irrational magnitudes, and it is only precise within a finite accuracy. But certitude in the sciences is pegged to measurement.
2a.) A perfectly determined universe is logically possible, but it is, by definition, one whose motions are infinitely precise. But we are unable to verify the existence of an infinitely precise quantity, since all of our measurements have a definite, and therefore finite accuracy.
3.) For simplicity, we must treat some quantities as negligible but are not sure which ones are. Newtonian mechanics was verified to 10^-6, and if any quantity were basically negligible, it would be things on the Planck scale, though it made all the difference between classical and quantum physics. We have no idea how many scientific revolutions are right of the decimal point.
-Matterless particles make as much sense as light without ether.
-Take the ether out of light and you are left with a purely geometrical wave. So why not have purely geometrical points? response: a geometrical point could not be used to build up extension. Sed Contra but a purely mathematical particle would be no better than a point at making a physical body! One can't multiply any Euclidean reality into a real body.
-Speaking experimentally, whether there are particles or a vacuum depends on whether the observer is moving accelerating.
The clearest objection to vows is that we simply lack the intelligence to make them. The future is unknown to us and therefore includes contingencies that we simply cannot plan for but which a vow cannot avoid tying us to. Who can be sure his wife won't become crazy, catatonic, or perhaps just less fulfilling than someone or something else we might discover later? Again, even if the future were not contingent, the immaturity and necessary lack of marital experience seem to make marital vows crazy. Why not just try it out for a while and see if it works? In light of this, vows need to be underwritten by a power beyond ourselves. Social structures and safety nets certainly help, but the fundamental thing we need is the confidence that there is some purpose to sticking with the vow, no matter how pointless or harmful it might appear in light of present circumstances. But no human knowledge or structure could underwrite such a claim. And so the vow is really only reasonable from within a worldview that includes the providence of a benevolent God. The multitude of worldviews opposed to this – whether atheist or theist (like Epicurianism, some humanisms, or deism) might very well still have vows, but they could only be frightening and terrible things that, for all we know, might turn out to be suicide pacts. They cannot underwrite the claim that a vow is good things to the individual that makes one.
If a society is secular it has to decouple sexual activity from vows, and thus from marriage. The logic of the consequence stays the same, whether we use it as a basis of modus ponens or modus tollens.
A: Newton showed that rest and uniform motion were equivalent, even the same. Einstein showed the same thing about acceleration and gravity.
A: Because you could never do an experiment while in one state that would be different from the other.
B: The same is true of dreaming and being awake.
1.) Something like this might be behind why our science of mind is always a science of "consciousness". This abstracts from its definition in relation to reality or truth.
2.) We could escape from the problem by saying that the dream/wakefulness question is resolved by discourses that do not depend essentially on experiments, but this would mean that it would not be entirely adequate to deal with the problem of consciousness by physical sciences.
2a.) The point is obviously not that an observer in some reference frame can't tell the difference between waking and dreaming, but that he can't and needn't do so by experiments.
3.) Just as "consciousness" is mind as though truth or reality were not essential, it also does not capture what is uniquely human. Dreamers and animals are both conscious.
Say you give a bunch of brain scans, record what lights up, and then ask the person to describe what they were perceiving at the time; your subjects all respond that they clearly perceived that they were not limited to their body, that they would survive death, and that time itself – to say nothing of our time ending – is an illusion. The experiment has actually been done by Andrew Newberg, and could be repeated from multiple evidence streams (say, from nuns doing centering prayer, shamans taking DMT, Buddhists meditating, etc.) We could label the brain scan something like "brain activity where brain perceives the non-necessity of brain activity for thought". In this case, the "qualia" problem is made sharper since the qualia in question are asserting a real separation from observable reality. Note that we don't need to claim that the particular brain state in question is actually separate, but only that it perceives that neither that state nor any other is necessary.
What's going for determinism, again?
Me: So why do you want me to be a determinist again?
My Einsteinian-Laplacian side: Because otherwise something won't be predictable by the tools that have worked so well so far, and so our science will not be totally exhaustive and infinitely precise.
Me: You want me to choose that over the reality of free choice?
Comments Off on What's going for determinism, again?
Metaphysics (or at least special metaphysics) seeks first causes whereas physics tries to explain things in causal systems. These are diverse diverse: a first cause is not taken as subordinate, whereas a cause in a system is always subordinate to the system as a whole.
Newton's third law specifies the empirical domain. It is a domain of systems, i.e. a place where every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and so where any cause is just a part of a larger cause-effect system.
Without a homogeneity of cause an effect in a system, one can't write an equation. Goodbye (physical) science.
The irreversibility of temporal relations is not an exception from Newton's third law. Time is not an action on something.
The simplest solution to the family of interaction problems is to deny that the cause-effect relation is an interactive relation. This is only true in the physical domain, indeed it specifies the physical domain.
Making a physical difference does not require entering into a physical system. This is true only where symmetry is isomorphic with cause-effect. Thus, the best argument for physicalism begs the question.
The homogeneity of interactive causes, curiously, makes physics in one sense indifferent to causes. There is some truth to the idea going around lately that cause and effect are only logical distinctions in a single, unified phenomenon. This is true, for (physical) science.


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We would like to unlock your inner songwriter by asking you to write new lyrics for a piece of music by Melodica, Melody and Me. You can listen to this music below.
Melodica, Melody and Me called this music Ode to Victor Jara, however we want you to take this piece of music and turn it into your own song. Choose your own title for the piece and write your own words, about whatever subject you wish.
While the original song was about Victor Jara we would like to encourage you to write lyrics on a new subject. In the interview, Huw from Melodica, Melody and Me, talked about using poems for inspiration; if you are stuck for ideas why not choose a favourite poem to help inspire your new song.
When writing your song it may help to listen to the Melodica, Melody and Me lyrics, you can listen to these below, but remember we're asking for new lyrics which could be on any theme!
This challenge is now closed. Here are some fantastic earlier responses to the challenge, chosen as winners by Huw – they should give you an idea of the range of themes you could write about. If you enjoy doing this, you could try it with any song you like; why not experiment with giving a well-known or favourite song a completely different spin?
Please can you tell how the winner of the competition will be awarded?
Hi Ishaan, Huw from Melodica, Melody and Me has agreed to judge the competition.
That would be brilliant Bianca, we'd love to hear your version as well as reading it. Could you send both: a clip and the lyrics written down?
wait, how do we submit our lyrics???
Hi Mim, have a look at the section entitled "To Send Us Your Lyrics", it explains how you can send them to us. We're asking for everyone to send a written copy of their lyrics, but if you would also like to send us a recording of your version please do attach that too!
Hello, I was just wondering if we were allowed to submit more than one set of lyrics, or is it restricted to one submission per person? Thank you very much!
Hi Ankita, you can submit more than one set of lyrics. Although it's always a good idea to focus on getting one submission to the highest possible standard rather than writing lots and lots of variations. However if you feel you have two equally good pieces we'd love to read them both, and of course to hear them both if you would like to record them too!
Hi Alice, You're welcome to interpret the brief in whatever way you like. But remember you don't need to submit a recording, you can just send the words, so even if you hate singing you could send a written song.
I have discovered this Young Poets Network just recently, so I was just wondering if I want to submit song lyrics, does it have to be specifically song lyrics, or it can be just a poem, as I write poems, and have never wrote song lyrics or music and not sure if a poem words would make lyrics for a song. Thank you.
If you are looking for a challenges to start off new poems, do click through our workshops section – we have over a year's worth of challenges there to get you writing. Plus if you enjoy the competition element look at the Poetry Map section, there are lots of competitions listed there and many of them have a theme or a particular brief to help you start writing.
Hey ! I just wanted to know if the new lyrics should suit perfectly whith the ones you sing ; I mean do the lyrics have to go the same timeline ?
Hi Laure, the lyrics need to fit with the music, so yes using the orginal lyrics as a guide could be helpful.
Hello! I wanted to ask if I can submit lyrics without music, and not on the instrumental "Ode to Victor Jara". Well I don't play instruments but can compose music in my mind. Second question: I'm no good singer so if I just send you the lyrics on "Ode to Victor Jara" how would you know which way it is sung? This is a challenge right, so is there any declaration date for the results telling as to who wrote the best lyrics? Thank you.
Hi Pranita, the lyrics do need to be on "Ode for Victor Jara" for this challenge. It will be judged by Huw from Melodica, Melody and Me, he's familiar enough with the music to be able to hear how a set of written lyrics can fit to it. However, if you feel your entry would benefit from being sung and you don't feel comfortable singing yourself, then why not ask a friend to sing your words for you?
We haven't set a results date, we'll try to turn them results around as fast as possible, but since we don't know how many submissions we're going to receive we want to keep some flexibility.
Well, it says the deadline is 28th May, so when exactly (time)? And I've composed it (I've edited one of my poems to match with the music). So can I send it now and the recording afterwards? Or should it be along with the lyrics as an attachment? Thank you.
Hi Pranita, all deadlines are midnight (UK time) unless otherwise stated. So, since there is no time mentioned for this challenge, you can submit any time on the 28th (UK time).
Hi Brittney, we asked for submissions inspired by this challenge earlier in the year and Huw has chosen his favourites. Now the challenge is there as a workshop to spark a poem – if you like what you write, you could submit it to one of the competitions or publications on our Poetry Map. Or if you want to take part in a challenge, there is a new one based on Stars running until Monday 24th Sept.
Is this competition/challenge still on? My 13 yrs. old pupils are keen to write lyrics. Hope to hear back soon. Thank you.
I hope some of these things sound interesting. If you'd like to be added to The Poetry Society's Education mailing list, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest opportunities from The Poetry Society. Do just let me know.


emergence: the gradual beginning or coming forth; "figurines presage the emergence of sculpture in Greece"
Growth is a 2009 American horror film, written and directed by Gabriel Cowan.
(Growths) Any new shoots that emerge, whether they be pseudo bulb, rhizome, leaf, stern, inflorescence, or root.
Increase in diameter, basal area, height, and volume of individual trees or stands during a given period of time. Also known as increment (17).
One of the seven goals. Its positive pole is comprehension; its negative pole is confusion. It is used for lifetimes emphasizing learning new things. It is the most frequently used goal. People in growth seek stimulation.
An investment objective of many stock funds. Current income, if considered at all, is a secondary concern for these funds. Capital growth is achieved when the market value of a fund's holdings increases, causing the fund's net asset value per share to increase.
This world label is applied both to a type of mutual fund and to a style of investing. Growth funds invest for capital gains-the profit that you make when you sell an investment for more than your cost.
Profit on an investment. Sometimes called earnings, return or interest.
refers to measurable changes in body size such as changes in height, weight, and percentage of body fat.
The purposeful expansion of the number of students enrolled at Scripps College and at The Claremont Colleges, as well as the expansion of the faculty cadre needed to serve this student population.
Funds or stocks that carry relatively high valuations, because rapid growth is expected.
The amount, as a percent, a community's demand for water or wastewater treatment has increased or decreased. This value will be used to adjust future revenues and expenses.
Usually an individual fish's increase in length or weight with time. Also may refer to the increase in numbers of fish in a population with time.
Style of investing that focuses on the future prospects for the company, not past sales, management and profits.
Interval increase in the measurement of the maximum diameter of the observation. For hyperenhancing observations, growth may refer to entire observation or the hyperenhancing component.
The development of the organization to a higher state of being.
The process of becoming more sophisticated, independent, and content at rationalizing the misery of my stunted life.


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BC missed great chance to create pine beetle fund
VICTORIA - The B.C. government had a great opportunity to help communities facing hard times because of the pine beetle infestation.
But it let the big chance slip away.
The Liberals' pre-election budget did have some significant measures to help deal with the problem over the next few years.
But there was an extraordinary chance to do something much more significant, and lasting. As the Liberals put together the budget, they realized the province was on track to a surplus that could top $2.8 billion in the current fiscal year.
That's a huge pool of money. Some of the surplus is the result of one-time factors, so care had to be taken in avoiding spending commitments that might not be supportable in the future.
But the opportunity for one-time investments was enormous, in health care, economic development - or a program to help forest communities cope with the coming crisis.
Instead, the government opted to use more than 80 per cent of the money to pay down the debt. About $2.3 billion will go off to the lenders; $450 million will go to meeting today's needs in the province.
The forest ministry got $112 million extra out of the surplus. But $50 million of that, already announced, will go to help contractors and workers hurt by the province's industry restructuring plan and tenure takebacks. Another $50 million will go to the big forest companies, because it's costing more to compensate them than expected. That leaves $12 million for enhanced reforestation.
There's another $89 million for reforestation in the plans for the next three years.
That's all welcome.
But what a missed chance to take some of that surplus - say $300 million - and set up a special fund to provide targeted aid to those communities.
Everyone agrees that forest communites across the province will face tremendous challenges. The pine beetles are killing trees today, but that's not having any significant negative economic impact. The trees still retain their commercial value for five to 10 years.
But in about 15 years, those treees - 80 per cent of the lodgepole pine in the province - will be dead and worthless. The next generation of trees, even with aggressive reforestation, won't be ready for harvest for 20 more years. Communities will see the annual allowable cut reduced by up to 40 per cent for decades. Mills will close, jobs will be lost, and the face of communities will change.
Take the Quesnel area. The timber supply is expected to be cut by almost one-third. About three-quarters of the 12,000 jobs in the area are tied to the forest industry, which means more than 2,500 jobs will vanish. That's the equivalent of 300,000 lost jobs in the Lower Mainland.
There is other money in the budget which will help the communities. Mining and tourism get more support, and there are transportation and other infrastructure programs.
But those are province-wide programs. They don't target communities facing the specific problems caused by the pine beetle infestation.
There are no easy answers. Even the current challenge of getting the wood harvested before it loses its value is proving difficult.
But both the Liberals and the NDP have agreed that a legacy or development fund would help communities prepare for the coming crisis. They could improve infrastructure, offer retraining or promote tourism. And they could establish just how bad the situation will be, to allow proper planning by families, and by communities.
There's still a chance for the legacy fund. But this year's big surplus offered a great opportunity to providep money for the communities that will be affected. Instead, 80 per cent of the surplus went to paying down the debt, a response out of step with the priorities of most British Columbians.
The government had the chance to take a balanced approach, paying down debt and supporting forest communities facing the pine beetle crisis.
It missed an opportunity.
Footnote: One reason the province hesitated is that it wants a significant contribution from the federal government, and feared that Ottawa would back aay if B.C. seemed to be handling the problem on its own. The federal budget didn't include any pine beetle funding. Industry Minister David Emerson, ex-Canfor CEO, has the federal responsibility.
Everything you need to know about the STV referend...


text:
Q: How to stop service when home button pressed? I'm currently working on a mobile app as a final project in my course. My problem here is the background music I play using Service didn't stop when I pressed the HOME button of the phone.
BgMusicService.class
package com.example.biowit;

import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.media.MediaPlayer;
import android.os.IBinder;

public class BgMusicService extends Service {
MediaPlayer player;

@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    return null;
}

@Override
public void onCreate() {

    super.onCreate();
    player = MediaPlayer.create(this, R.raw.bg_music);
    player.setLooping(true);
    player.setVolume(100, 100);
    player.setOnCompletionListener(mp -> player.release());
}

@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {

    player.start();
    player.setOnCompletionListener(mp -> player.release());
    return super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);

}

@Override
public void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    player.stop();
    player.release();
}

@Override
public void onLowMemory() {
    super.onLowMemory();
}

}

No ERROR LOG detected

A: Inside your Activity lifecycle methods call intent that will start/stop service, or even better instead of start/stopping whole service just send intent to play pause music and keep service running.
Depending on your app structure either go for onPause/onResume or onStart/onStop

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Interview with Royals Prospect Bubba Starling
Shane Emery / June 2, 2019
Imagine just wrapping up your senior year of high school and you have a scholarship to play quarterback at one of the most storied programs in the country. Now, imagine that you are also a consensus first round draft pick in the MLB draft Finally, imagine the team, the hometown team and team you grew up loving, take you with the number one pick in the draft all at the age of 18.
For Bubba Starling this was a reality. It also came with some unimaginable pressure. Pressure that even the greatest of athletes would have a terrible time trying to overcome.
Starling started in the minors in 2012 with the Burlington Royals in Rookie ball. After making it to Omaha in 2016, he is in his fourth season with the Storm Chasers. In fact, an injury filled year in 2018, along with some other struggles, led to Starling being non-tendered by the Royals. Starling hit .257 for the season with a OPS of .664
The Royals signed Starling and assigned him back to Omaha in the off-season. With a new contract in hand, Starling has had his best year for Omaha hitting .323 and an OPS of .807, which now more than ever has Royals fans clamoring for him to be added to the 40 man roster and brought to Kansas City.
Bubba was nice enough to sit down with us and answer a few questions. Most of his answers and his play this year show just how much he has matured as a player and a person in his career in the Royals system.
Q: You grew up in the Kansas City area. What was it like to be drafted by your home town team?
BS: "It was awesome. Obviously being from the Kansas City area I was a huge fan. I got to watch some of the greats: the Joe Randas, Carlos Beltrans, Mike Sweeneys when I was a kid and to be drafted by them was pretty awesome."
Q: You were a multiple sport athlete growing up. Is there a sport that you preferred?
BS: "Football kind of came about probably my sophomore year and as I went into my junior year, offers started to be thrown my way from various colleges and it kind of just picked up and football was always probably my favorite sport from then on. I enjoyed whatever season I was playing, basically with all my teammates, so you know I battled it weather it was basketball, football, or baseball, I always wanted to win."
Q: What advice do you have for kids who are playing multiple sports at a high level?
BS: "I think it's great that the kids these days are playing more sports and not specializing. I think each sport can help them out with various other sports too. That is what I learned. I just think it is good to keep being active and playing those different sports and interacting with your teammates and there is a lot of stuff that goes into it."
Q: Do you ever allow yourself to look back and wonder what it would have been like to play Quarterback at a high D-1 level at a program like Nebraska?
BS: "It would have been a great opportunity. At the time Shawn Watson and Tim Beck coming in they were Offensive Coordinators. I can't remember who left first or where they went. I know Tim Beck is at Texas now, but it would have been a great opportunity. You know, you think about it sometimes and where a guy is at now if they are in the NFL right now that you played against or played with. Guys like Ameer Abdullah for Nebraska are in the NFL right now, so it is cool to see them doing there thing but I am happy where I am right now."
Q: Being a highly sought after athlete in multiple sports, what is the biggest challenge starting in Minor League Baseball?
BS: "I think there was a lot of pressure being drafted where I was, being from Kansas City and where I got drafted people thinking I would make it up there quick. Obviously Kansas is not Florida, it's not Texas, it's not California type of competition, you guys know that. They play more games and they play year round, guys who do specialize and that get more at bats in and get more time on the field. Guys like me only play twenty, twenty five games a season and half of the time it was too cold or rain outs or what not. For guys like me and guys in the Midwest, that's why they need to go out and get there showcasing in and do stuff like that. It has been a long journey so far."
Q: Statistically speaking this has been one of your better years. What adjustments have you made over the last couple of years?
BS: "I think just being a little more comfortable at the plate, staying positive. I think me personally being a good teammate and taking care of your work before the games kind of takes care of its self. Would I like to be more of a power hitter, extra base hits guy? Yes. I think that is coming, but I am just going to take my hits when I get them and keep being positive about it all."
Q: Have you noticed being here in Omaha the extra love from the fans being that you were committed to Nebraska?
BS: "Well there is a lot of great fans here. Obviously here and there are different fans that are Royals fans wherever you go in the Pacific Coast League, but especially here it is fun showing up. Lot of great fans here and a lot of big crowds. I enjoy the weekends, especially big crowds and the fireworks, but they are sure passionate about their football though."
Q: You have been around a lot of areas is there are favorite ballpark that you have?
BS: "You know what I would say oddly Oklahoma City. Something about the atmosphere there at Chickasaw Bricktown park, I love playing there, It's a fun place to play. I think a lot of our guys would say the same thing. Nashville's another good place. There's really not too many parks here in the league that that you show up and are like aww gosh I wish we didn't have to play here."
Q: You don't get a lot of down time during the season but what but what do you do when you get some down time?
BS: "The down time that I get is a lot of relaxing. Sometimes I will be on the lake with a few guys, Jonathan Dziedzic and Andrew Susac will be fishing a little bit. Usually it is grab a little food and head out on the lake or something."
Photo Credits: Kent Sievers, Omaha World-Herald
June 2, 2019 in Uncategorized.
2017 Royals Prospect Rankings: 40-31
The trade deadline could mean a lot for Bubba Starling
Right now isn't the right time for Bubba Starling
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Keep staying positive. Hope to see you soon in KC


Here at InstallTimelineCover we offer tons of high quality Family - Expecting Parents facebook covers such as Pink or Blue Either Will Do for your Facebook profile. Installing Family - Expecting Parents facebook profile covers with something like the Expecting baby number 3 cover is simple! Simply choose the Family - Expecting Parents facebook profile cover you would like to use, for example the Expecting baby number 2 cover then just click the button to update the cover to facebook, then follow the easy instructions on the next page.


Fundamentally, the crankshaft performs a simple task: translate the linear motion of the pistons into rotation. It's doing the same job as the crank arm of a bicycle, which turns the more-or-less up and down motion of your legs into rotation.
Although the principal is simple, there are complications aplenty when it comes to high performance motorcycle engines. But before we get into them, we need a few definitions. The crankshaft (or crank) is connected to the pistons by connecting rods (conrods), which have a bearing at each end. The end connected to the crank is bigger, because the bearing it holds has to fit around the crank, which has to be chunky to resist a multitude of forces. So that's called the big end. The bits of the crank which hold bearings are called journals - and there are two types. The main journals are where the crank is held in place, so these are along the crank's centreline. The rod journals are, you guessed it, the bits the conrods attach to (these are also known as crank pins). Then there are the webs. These are the lumpy bits which look relatively unmachined compared to the rest of the crankshaft. Their job is to try and balance out the forces created by the pistons flying up and down and the crank itself rotating.
ABOVE: This is a crossplane crank from an R1, and you can see how the pistons aren't paired – the crank pin for each conrod is offset from previous one.
The forces the crank has to withstand are enormous. As you'd expect, one major force is created by combustion chamber pressure, which slams the piston and conrod down, turning the crank against the resistance of a sticky tyre - the twisting and bending forces associated with that are huge.
Then there are the forces created by piston acceleration. As the piston nears the top of its stroke, for example, the crank is forcing it to decelerate – if it wasn't attached to the crank, it would fly upwards, smashing into the valves. Though modern pistons (and the associated gubbins of wrist pin, small end bearing etc) are light, the speeds they reach are so high that this deceleration, and the associated forces on the crank, are large.
Besides being strong enough translate explosive linear forces into rotation, a crank also determines when the pistons of a multi-cylinder engine go up and down, which in turn determines the level of vibration, the type of noise it makes and how the bike grips. Take an old Brit twin like a 1960s Triumph Bonneville, for example. These have a crank which lines the two big ends up exactly, so both pistons go up and down in unison – it's like a single cylinder with two pistons, though they fire on alternate rotations so it's slightly smoother. Result? Plenty of vibes and that glorious crobba-crobba noise.
By contrast, most inline four-cylinder engines have a crank that sends the centre two pistons up and down together, and the outside two up and down together at opposite times to the central pair. This means the main (primary) forces of the pistons going up and down are balanced, and by firing the cylinders at even intervals there's a smooth flow of power (which also means the webs can be lighter because they don't have to keep the crank spinning while it waits ages for the next power pulse).
There are downsides to this layout though. The crankshaft has to be long, which can make the bike feel fat compared to a twin, and because some of the smaller forces are not balanced, you can get plenty of buzzing vibrations if designers are not clever with engine mounts.
Of course there are plenty of other crank designs - some parallel twins (eg the new BMW F850GS), have cranks with offset crank pins so they mimic the feel and sound of a V-twin. And Yamaha introduced the crossplane crank to four cylinder motors – this uses the same offset crankpins as those twins, which evens out the pulses of what Yamaha calls the inertial torque (which is generated by the crank spinning). The end result is a cool droning engine note and, supposedly, better grip under acceleration.
Then there's Ducati's new V4, which sounds and feels ridiculously similar to one of their twins because its crank makes the four pistons move in pairs. The two crankpins (each has two conrods attached in a V4) are offset by 70-degrees so that one pair of cylinders can fire close together, then there's a pause, then the other pair fire close together. It results in a completely different sound and feel to Honda's silky smooth V4s, in which the crank pins are separated by 180-degrees.


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The BLM's suitability analysis for Wild and Scenic designation for Deep Creek is nearing the end
October 31, 2013 Coyote Gulch Colorado River Basin, Colorado Water, Wild and Scenic
Deep Creek via the Bureau of Land Management
From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Stroud) via The Aspen Times:
A process that began nearly 19 years ago to have Deep Creek in far eastern Garfield County designated as a Wild and Scenic waterway is nearing the end of a formal suitability analysis as part of the BLM's new Resource Management Plan.
"We are conducting our suitability analysis for Wild and Scenic Rivers through our RMP," said David Boyd, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Northwest Colorado District. "We anticipate the proposed plan/alternative will be released late this fall or early next year," he said.
In addition, the White River National Forest is working with the BLM to analyze eligible segments of Deep Creek as it passes through forest lands.
"The draft plan has identified both the BLM and Forest Service segments of Deep Creek as suitable for Wild and Scenic in two alternatives," Boyd said, including a conservation alternative and a less-restrictive "preferred alternative."[…]
One other area waterway, the Crystal River south of Carbondale, is in the preliminary stages of being proposed by conservation groups for Wild and Scenic designation as well.
More Wild and Scenic coverage here.
The Middle Colorado Watershed Council E-Newsletter for October 2013 is hot off the presses #ColoradoRiver
October 31, 2013 Coyote Gulch Colorado River Basin, Colorado Water
The Colorado River in Eagle County
Click here to read the newsletter.
Aspinall Unit update: Gunnison Tunnel diversions off until spring
October 31, 2013 Coyote Gulch Aspinall Unit, Colorado River Basin, Colorado Water, Gunnison River Basin, Infrastructure
Aspinall Unit via The Denver Post
From email from Reclamation (Erik Knight):
With the end of the irrigation season upon us, diversions to the Gunnison Tunnel have been shut down for the winter as of yesterday, October 30. Releases from Crystal Dam will be reduced to 300 cfs today, October 31, at 11 AM. This will leave 300 cfs in the Gunnison River through the Black Canyon for the winter months.
More Aspinall Unit coverage here.
'Piece by piece, we are getting things together, making progress' — Jerre Stead #COflood
October 31, 2013 Coyote Gulch Climate Change, Colorado Water
From The Denver Post (Monte Whaley):
Colorado's flood-recovery chief says there are yawning gaps in the funding available and the funding needed to help home and business owners trying to rebound from the September deluges. As many as 26,000 flood victims have applied for individual assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which usually gives out about $6,000 in flood aid.
"But many people are getting much less," said Jerre Stead, appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper in September as the state's chief recovery officer.
Stead said his most important job is to listen carefully to the victims of the flooding to make sure they get the resources, and money, to get back to their lives.
"They've got to know people care about them, that they are being heard," said the 70-year-old.
Through the work of local, state and federal recovery teams, as well as the website http://ColoradoUnited.com, information about help is filtering out to people in 24 counties nearly washed away by floodwaters, Stead said.
That help includes raising nearly $12 million for housing for flood victims through groups such as United Way and Red Cross.
About $46 million has been approved for Small Business Administration low-interest disaster loans for about 1,000 homeowners and 121 business, primarily in Boulder, Weld and Larimer counties, he said.
Still, one the biggest problems facing recovery efforts is that officials are still assessing the damage, Stead said. For instance, the toll on the state's farms and ranches is just now being tallied.
But it's known that 1,200 farms were impacted by the floods, including 32,000 acres of cropland.
"Piece by piece, we are getting things together, making progress," Stead said. "But these numbers change daily as we get further and further into the recovery."
Stead, an Iowa native, has been the executive chairman at Englewood-based IHS since December 2000, a job he took shortly after retiring as the top executive at Ingram Micro. He also has held top jobs at AT&T, Honeywell, Square D and Legent. Stead took over as CEO of IHS in September 2006. The company is a Douglas County provider of information and analysis to businesses and governments across the globe.
In September, Hickenlooper praised Stead as one of the more talented executives in the state, saying "Jerre was really sent from heaven to do this task."
Stead and his staff are not being paid for their work, which has included touring flood-ravaged areas of the state.
He found the cooperation among local, state and federal agencies heartening, which is helping speed the rebuilding. At least 78 percent of the state's roadways are now open, and he's confident the rest will be ready for use by Dec. 1.
"It's amazing the work being done out there," Stead said.
Upper Colorado River Basin Precipitation from October 21-27, 2013 via the Colorado Climate Center
Click here the read the current assessment. Click here to go to the website hosted by the Colorado Climate Center.
The Roaring Fork Conservancy is studying the effects of drought on invertebrate populations #COdrought
October 31, 2013 Coyote Gulch Climate Change, Colorado River Basin, Colorado Water, Fryingpan Watershed, Roaring Fork Watershed
Macro Invertebrates via Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge Water Quality Research
From Aspen Public Radio (Marci Krivonen):
"We just started hearing a lot about it from local fishing guides that they just weren't seeing the hatches on the river, from local anglers, and even from residents on the Fryingpan," he says. The problem was the bugs weren't hatching. The hatches are key to good fishing because the bugs are dinner for trout.
A winter-time phenomenon called anchor ice could be to blame. It's ice that builds up on the riverbed instead of on the river's surface and it happens in cold temperatures and shallow waters.
"The river ran at 39 cubic feet per second for almost four months last winter and you probably remember we had a pretty cold winter as well, so there was a lot of concern," Lofaro says.
The Roaring Fork Conservancy is so concerned it decided to replicate a study done following the 2002 drought. This multi-year analysis will examine bugs in the river, take water temperatures throughout the winter and look at the economic impact of a slower fishing season.
Today a team is collecting bug samples from the Fryingpan River as part of the study. Bill Miller is a biologist from Fort Collins. He is carefully moving bugs and mud into a small container. The contents will be taken to a lab and examined under a microscope.
"In a sample like this, there'll be hundreds of bugs, so we can't really tell what the diversity is until we get it into the lab and then go through and sort the sample, and get all the identifications and put them in their classifications," he says.
The more diversity and the higher amount of bugs mean the stream is healthy. The team is taking samples from three sites along the river and will compare the findings to previous years.
A few miles downriver, a separate team is decked in waders and spread across the width of the river. They're slowly trudging upstream and catching fish in nets.
This is called "fish shocking" but the team isn't really shocking the fish. They're dipping long, metal poles into the river that send out an electrical current. The current attracts fish. For the team of ten, it's hard work.
More Roaring Fork River Watershed coverage here and here.
US Bureau of Reclamation: Final Grand Lake Water clarity technical review now available #ColoradoRiver
October 31, 2013 Coyote Gulch Bureau of Reclamation, Colorado River Basin, Colorado Water, Grand Lake
Grand Lake via Cornell University
Here's the release from Reclamation (Kara Lamb/Mike Collins):
The Bureau of Reclamation has finalized its Grand Lake Water Clarity Technical Review and Work Plan that addresses concerns of water clarity at Colorado's Grand Lake. The report is available at http://www.usbr.gov/gp/ecao.
"We appreciate the participation of our partners and stakeholders in this very important process," said Eastern Colorado Area Manager, Mike Collins. "It has helped us streamline the process and take an important step forward."
The purpose of the Technical Review is to provide a roadmap outlining the steps required to transition numerous proposed alternatives to improve the clarity of Grand Lake into a 30% engineering design. The Technical Review considers non-construction operational changes, as well as potential constructed alternatives.
To download the report in PDF, please visit http://www.usbr.gov/gp/ecao.


text:
The Solutions Lab
Banks and Funding
SME Magazine
Business Management Top five tips on dealing with menopause in the workplace
Top five tips on dealing with menopause in the workplace
By Fiona Hamor, above, an employment lawyer at Pannone Corporate
Menopause in the workplace has quite rightly risen up the agenda in recent months. Driven in large part by high-profile advocates, it was given real impetus earlier this year by the Women and Equalities Select Committee (WEC) inquiry into the extent of discrimination being faced by women in the workplace and how policy and workplace practices can better support those experiencing the menopause.
After many months of scrutinising the evidence and listening to a broad range of voices from employees to businesses to organisations campaigning for change, the WEC's report into menopause and the workplace highlighted a series of recommendations aimed at creating a working environment that promotes equality, understanding and transparency. Recommendations included:
A call for the menopause to be made a 'protected characteristic' under the Equality Act 2010, which currently provides protection from discrimination because of characteristics such as age, sex, disability, race and religion. However, such a move is thought to be highly unlikely.
A much clearer set of obligations for organisations and businesses which will better support women.
Appointing a 'menopause ambassador' tasked with producing model workplace policies, which would include how to request reasonable adjustments and guidance on flexible working and sick leave.
A menopause service in every clinical commissioning group.
A Government-led public health campaign concerning menopause symptoms to raise general awareness, and a menopause leave policy pilot scheme in the public sector.
The 54-page report is far-reaching and in-depth but, in a nutshell, it places the onus on businesses to ensure they have the most appropriate processes and procedures in place to support those experiencing the menopause. Why is this so important? According to a survey conducted by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD), three in five menopausal women, usually between the age of 45 and 55, were negatively affected at work and almost 900,000 women in the UK left their jobs over an undefined period of time because of menopausal symptoms. That's a significant amount of talent being lost from the labour market – experienced people at the peak of their career, and a wave of losses that will ultimately impact on the productivity of businesses at a time of increasing economic uncertainty.
The reasons behind these figures are multifaceted, but a key contributor is that many women going through the menopause have been unable to get the support at work that they need and employers have not been well enough informed or equipped to manage and adapt to support staff dealing with menopause symptoms.
So what can businesses do to plug the drain on talent and ensure they're positioned in the best possible way to manage menopause in the workplace?
Whilst a policy is an important starting point and a key document to have, it is important to go beyond that if you want to ensure that staff feel comfortable in discussing menopause related issues and that your managers have the confidence to respond appropriately and sensitively to any issues raised. This is all about breaking the taboo surrounding the menopause at work and creating an inclusive working environment.
Create material to support managers and provide information about ways they can consider assisting employees who are managing symptoms, including FAQs, suggested adjustments to offer, and tips on how to discuss the issue with colleagues looking for support.
It is essential that training is developed on how to put the principles of a menopause policy into practice, to embed this into organisational culture and habits, as well as regular reviews to ensure this is working effectively.
Keep abreast of the latest industry developments and guidance, whether that's Government-led publications, or support from organisations such as the CIPD, which has a dedicated online knowledge hub providing resources, case law and discussions on the menopause.
Review your policies and procedures regularly (ideally every 12 months) to check how things are progressing and to address any queries or issues employees may have about the policy or its roll out.
Menopause in the workplace is by no means a new issue, but with the increased attention it is rightly being given, the need to address any concerns and shortcomings in the workplace has never been stronger.
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Do you not have a lot of time for working out? Make two smaller workouts by splitting your ordinary exercise routine. Simply split your normal workout time into two parts. If you normally spend 60 minutes on the treadmill, schedule half an hour of treadmill time each morning, and 30 minutes more later that night. If you would rather not visit your fitness center twice in a single day, you could do one workout at the gym and then do another workout outdoors.
Are you concerned about fitness? Want to shape up for the summer? Need to drop a few pounds from that last vacation? Improve the fitness routine you currently have? You have come to the right place! Read the following article to get some handy tips and how to do just that.
Shopping for new work-out clothes will boost your confidence and encourage you to meet your fitness goals. Even one new article of clothing gives you something to fashion for your friends and maybe encourage a new trip to the gym.


Dr. Raffy Chouljian joined Rotary in 1998. He served as President of his club in 2001 – 2002 and is currently an Assistant District Governor. Dr. Chouljian started the Brush-a-mania dental program for elementary students in 2001 to help them develop good dental hygiene practices. He has been serving as the Chairperson of the program ever since. He has also provided two mobile dental clinics to remote regions of Armenia through the assistance of Rotary International's Matching Grant program.
Jennifer Boyd joined Rotary in 2011 after hearing about the work Rotarians had done to eradicate Polio from the world. She is the Office Manager of Scarborough North Dental Group and is currently serving as the President of her Rotary Club. She co-Chairs Brush-a-mania with Dr. Chouljian and is the Chair of District 7070's World Polio Day committee.
After many years of supporting the Rotary International Polio Eradication Program, both Dr. Chouljian and Jennifer Boyd wanted to take part in the immunization clinics hands on. Earlier this year, they joined a group of Rotarians from District 7070 and travelled to India to take part in the National Immunization Days vaccinating children against Polio. Following the days of administering vaccines to young children, and seeing first hand the difference the vaccines have made in these communities, they have decided to raise $100,000 to aid in the Polio eradication effort.
Scarborough North Dental Group is a proud sponsor of both Brush-a-mania and the 2016 Kilimanjaro Polio Climb. They have decided to sponsor the 2016 Kilimanjaro Polio Climb by paying for all costs associated with their Team's climb and fundraising efforts. They are also donating $10,000, toward their goal of $100,000, to Rotary International to eradicate Polio.


Justin Phillips, a.k.a. Crywolf, has only been behind the board for a couple of years, but his dedication is clear—this Angeleno is not a hobby producer. Ever since his initial offering Ghosts fired up the Hypem charts in 2013, it's been a whack-a-mole-style grind to appease his rabid online fanbase. Phillips has embraced the challenge with open arms, frequently reminding himself of the mantra, "Easy is overdone."
Check out Fuse's exclusive premiere of Crywolf's brand new single, "Neverland," featuring Charity Lane, below.
Propped up by a cutting, percussive backbone, Justin and Charity search for Peter Pan's elusive home on the track. The airy ecosystem is anchored by a Purity Ring-meets-traphouse chorus. "Neverland" drifts through indie pop scarcity on the verse before building to a subtle, and unexpected dubstep breakdown—an intriguing first look into the upcoming Dysphoria, Crywolf's official follow-up to 2014's lauded Runaway. The aptly titled Dysphoria reportedly follows a mysterious storyline—no doubt fueled by Phillips' irregular eating and sleep schedules—which is expected to unfold throughout the month of June.
Dysphoria is slated for a June 23 release on Okami Records.


Our company has been mainly engaged in researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing different functions of power strips and extension lines. We own punching machines, injection machines, wire line equipment, high precision inspection testing equipment,such as (Receptxacle integration capability tester,cable plug tester,Welding tensile testing machine,Insulation resistance tester) assembly lines and other facilities, thus we greatly reduce the production cost and improve our competitiveness.
JIANDE HUNLEE ELECTRICAL APPLIANCE CO.,LTD is established in 2007,we have over 10 years in manufacturing power strips,surge protector,PDU and extension line.
We are located in ancient Meicheng Town, Jiande City, which is situated in a state-level tourist area Xin'an River.has a building area of 20,000 square meters, with a tidy and spacious workshop and a modernized office.
Our products sell well in the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Turkey and other countries. We are widely accepted by our customers because of our high product quality and excellent service.
We provide samples and small trial order for customers. Most of our products are accept order at MOQ 500-1000pcs. If you are just start your business and import from China, our knowledgeable staff will guide you through each step of the ordering process.
We partner with you to develop the best solution specific to your needs. Including logo printing, packaging designing, shipping etc. With more then 10 years OEM experiences, our professional team are here to service for you.
We are following ISO 9001:2008 quality management systems standards. Your satisfaction is our No. 1 concern. The product will be exactly as you approved. We're not satisfied until you are!
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« Christmas in July: What About Advent?
Today we hear from Meghan Howard. She's the associate pastor and digital communications director of Fairborn United Methodist Church in Ohio. Meghan also writes for ChurchMag.
Two of the things I love the most I get to do—preach and talk about social media.
I am one of the pastors on staff at Fairborn UMC and although my primary responsibilities are leading the worship band and overseeing all of our digital and social media communications, I do get the opportunity to preach about once a month. On my plate this week is getting the message ready and finalized. The awesomeness of this is my worlds are slightly colliding this week because we are in the midst of a series on faith and culture and I am preaching on how the church can leverage social media for the kingdom of God. Two of the things I love the most I get to do—preach and talk about social media.
In the midst of all the sermon preparation I do, I still have other tasks to complete. I will be creating and scheduling content for the weekend. Also, I am a staff writer for ChurchMag and have an article to write for them about church communications Facebook Groups to check out. Quite a bit of my week online is spent "listening" to what the people in my community are saying and dealing with. I often ask questions through the week on our various social media channels and I spend the time engaging with the people as they respond.
Along with the church tasks, I also manage four other local organizations social media channels. I spend time during the week also creating content and engaging with their followers and customers.
Finally, on my plate this week and every week is spending time with my family. They definitely keep me going and grounded.
Time. I overcome needing more time by looking at my priorities and then ordering my tasks that need completed. Knowing what I need to be working on when I need to be working on it helps keep me focused.
I often do some of my best work at the coffee shop. It's quite and has endless cups of coffee, which is always quite helpful.
Click to see a larger version of Meghan's work space.


The safest way to feed a pigeon is to replicate the parents' method of feeding. In natural conditions the baby will insert its beak inside the parents beak and gape. The parent bird (both parents feed the young) will pump food from its own crop into the baby's beak. For the first three days they produce pigeon milk, which is NOT like dairy milk, from the crop cells after that they feed whatever they have eaten but soaked in the crop first.
Please note that although turtle dove nestlings and squabs need the same care needs as other squabs - but more time needs to be taken as can stress easily (they are very delicate up to around 21 days old). Heart attacks are imminent in youngsters if stressed too much. If they display signs of stress such as open mouthed breathing they should be placed back in seclusion and another slow-steady attempt made later to feed, etc. By the time youngsters are 21 days old - they are much more robust and can handle stress.


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Previous / Series qualifying report Next / K-PAX Racing race 1 report
SRO America News
Series race 1 report
Long, von Kluge and Aschenbach Take Pirelli World Challenge Season Opening Wins
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 26, 2011) – "Exciting." That was the word that overall and GT class winner Patrick Long, from Belleair, Fla., GTS class winner Jason von Kluge, from Ann Arbor, Mich., and Touring Car winner Lawson Aschenbach, from Darnestown, Md., each used to describe Saturday's Acura Sports Car Challenge Presented by Pirelli, featuring 49 Pirelli World Challenge Championship cars battling on the temporary street circuit in St. Petersburg. The season-opening race was part of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Long, an accomplished sports car racing veteran but making just his second career World Challenge start, started on the pole in his No. 45 TruSpeed/Privacy Star/Entrust Porsche 911 GT3 and battled early in the race with defending GT class champion, and early leader,Randy Pobst, Mike Skeen and James Sofronas.
The four used the early part of the race to get a feel for the race and the crowded race track that featured all three Pirelli World Challenge classes running on Pirelli slick tires for the first time, a dramatic change from the treaded DOT-approved tires the series traditionally used. The intensity picked up for the front runners after race's only full-course caution flew on lap seven for two separate incidents – a single car accident that ended the day for 15-year-old Alec Udell in the GTS No. 06 Momentum Autosports Chevrolet Camaro, and a three-car accident that collected a trio of Touring Cars (Eric Meyer's No. 32 XOWii/Samaritan's Feet/Delvira Mazda RX-8, Shea Holbrook's No. 67 Lucas Oil/MyPluggz.com Honda Civic Si, and Brett Sandberg's No. 28 Monticello Motor Club Honda Civic Si).
By the time the clean-up was finished, the scheduled 34-lap race had bumped up against the 50-minute time limit, and only eight minutes remained when the green flag flew again on lap 18.
Long brought the field to the flag followed by Skeen's No. 2 Crager Wheels Chevrolet Corvette Z06, and the pair left third-running Pobst's No. 6 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 and the rest of the field behind.
Long and Skeen ran essentially nose-to-tail through traffic until the white flag came out on lap 23. Coming through the right-handed turn nine onto Bay Shore Drive, the No. 63 Venodrome Honda S2000 of Tom Felt spun just in front of the leaders. While Long narrowly avoided it, Skeen had nowhere to go and was collected, leaving him to limp home for a ninth place finish and giving Long a 4.110-second victory.
"Mike was running very strong and certainly keeping me honest," Long said. "As we came into the back of the traffic on the last lap, the black S2000 lost it just coming out of the first of the double rights in the back session. I missed him narrowly, literally by inches, and unfortunately that left Mike with a blocked racetrack and I was able to just slither through. It was unfortunate for him, good for us, and that's what it's all about with multiple classes."
Long was happy to escape with a win in the opening round and was already turning his attention to Sunday's second race.
"It's an exciting series, and I think World Challenge has progressed since then last time I raced here in 2006," Long said. "The tires are one thing, the multiple class structure adds an endurance element to the track and to the race series. I think it's a lot of fun, but its certainly challenging, especially on a street course. It's unbelievably busy, but I have a lot of respect for the GTS and Touring Cars who have their own battle going on. There were a lot of yellow flags today, and that's not the way we want to put on a show but hopefully we'll run a little bit cleaner out there. It's tough going out there, everybody is doing their best out there and we'll try to put on a better show tomorrow."
Skeen's bad luck created a podium sweep for Porsche, with Global Motorsports Group teammates Dino Crescentini's No. 4 Centric Parts/Stoptech/GMG Porsche 911 GT3 and Sofronas' No. 4 GMG Porsche 911 GT3 finishing second and third.
Crescentini, who was running fifth under the caution, shot past Sofronas and Pobst on the restart and into turn one, leaving him in a prime position to inherit second when Skeen fell back.
"Frankly, I was stunned," Crescentini said. "I was fine where I was and debating what gear to be in. I saw Patrick [Long] really slowed down, and I figured he was trying to pull a move on the Volvo. I went down to first, and I think that was my lucky call right there. I launched from first gear and just put the hammer down right there when the green flag came out. Before I knew it, I was like geez, I'm in third. I just rolled with it. I had warmed up my tires well in advance and my brakes were warm, and I was pretty hooked up. I just wanted to hang with the leaders for a little bit. Unfortunately for Skeen, he got hit, and what was I supposed to do? I got around the carnage, and I was in second. It was taking advantage of some bad luck that turned into a good break for me."
Sofronas also got past Pobst on the restart and landed on the podium for the third time in as many starts at St. Petersburg.
"It came down to the restart and Patrick was going real slow, which I thought was a strategic move on his part," Sofronas said after the race. "The Porsche is really good on the throttle, and he knew he could get a jump when it was up to him. It caused Randy to bog down on the boost, and I knew that was going to happen. I got a great run and got by Randy, and the next thing I know I look up and Dino is just hauling ass past me!
"Anyone else, I would have shut the door, but he had a great run and got by me. I was going to let Dino go after the top two guys, and I thought there were more laps left so I was just going to bide my time. Then I saw the white flag come out and I thought that was fast. I'm trying to chase down Dino, and he never put a wheel wrong the whole run. The next thing I know it's the last lap, Skeen is turned around, I see the [local] yellow flags and jump onto the back of Dino. We got through the carnage, and finished two and three, and that's pretty good for GMG and the Porsche sweep."
Long pointed out that, while it certainly paid off for the Porsches, the pace of the restart was dictated by World Challenge rules and not strategy.
"It wasn't very strategic. I had a meeting with the race director and the starter this morning to make sure I had the procedures correct in how things work here. I'm the new guy and I didn't want to screw things up if I did lead the field around, and that ended up happening. I was told to maintain the pace of the safety car until I reached the green acceleration cone and that's what I did. I might have caught some guys off guard, but that's my job. There's an array of different types of cars out there, and obviously the Volvos and the Corvettes have a lot of horsepower and I wasn't about to give the race up. Unfortunately my teammate [Rob Morgan] got a little bit caught out by it, but I want to make it clear that it wasn't strategic; I wouldn't have wanted to bog his race. But it worked out great for the GMG boys, and it's a great one-two-three for the Porsche 911 GT3."
Johnny O'Connell, driving the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V Coupe, finished fourth in the return to the Pirelli World Challenge for the manufacturer. Cadillac was the 2005 and 2007 Manufacturers' Champion, with Andy Pilgrim clinching the 2005 Drivers' Champion in the previous iteration of the CTS-V racecar. Pilgrim is also back in the No. 8 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V Coupe and finished eighth in the opening round.
Pobst was the fifth to take the checkered flag during Saturday's race.
In GTS, von Kluge drove his No. 19 Varsity Ford Ann Arbor/Steeda Ford Mustang Boss 302S to a 0.893-second win in his first appearance in World Challenge. Von Kluge also took advantage of the lap 18 restart, rocketing past defending GTS Champion Peter Cunnigham, Eric Foss and Paul Brown to move from fourth in class to the lead.
Brown gave chase in his Lucas Oil/K&N Filters Ford Mustang Boss 302S during the remaining five laps of the 23-lap race, while Foss and Cunningham battled for third.
With a mostly clear track after the caution period, von Kluge held off Brown and took the checkered flag.
"I couldn't ask for anything better today," von Kluge said. "The car worked great, the Pirellis worked great. The restart was a little bit crazy, they said there was going to be lights but there was no lights, so I just went when I saw tire smoke. The guy in front of me didn't go anywhere and I managed to make it around him so that was nice. Unfortunately there was a lot of cautions today, but I think that helped me.
"When you come to a series like this, you have to expect the competition to be fierce. RealTime and Peter come with very well prepared vehicles, and that's what you have to expect. The Boss Mustang really came through for me today, I couldn't ask for anything better."
The jump on the restart earned von Kluge the Cadillac CTS-V Move of the Race award.
The battle between Cunningham's No. 1 Acura/RealTime Racing/HPD Acura TSX and Foss' No. 73 Traxxas/St. Jude Hospital/SPX Ford Mustang FR500S was reminiscent to World Challenge fans of several battles the pair contested in the Touring Car class during the 2009 season when Foss was on his way to the Rookie-of-the-Year title. Cunningham, the all-time World-Challenge leader in wins and a six-time champion, slipped past the muscle car on the final lap to earn the podium finish.
George Winkler piloted his No. 27 Winkler Automotive Service Ford Mustang FR500S to a fifth-place finish in the GTS class.
Aschenbach, the 2006 World Challenge GT Drivers' Champion and 2006 GT class race winner at St. Petersburg, survived the attrition in the Touring Car field to win the race by 6.146-seconds in his No. 71 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si.
Starting third in class, Aschenbach spent the opening laps trailing polesitter Tristan Herbert's No. 33 Brimtek Motorsports Volkswagen GTI and Chip Herr's No. 07 Grid 1 Motorsports Mazda RX-8. While the two front-running Touring Cars trying to get an upper hand on the other, both ended up with flat tires that would remove each from contention. Herbert finished 13th in class, one lap down after a tire change, with Herr finishing 15th in Touring Car.
With the top two forced to pit and the three-car incident serving as a warning, Aschenbach used his experience to safely bring the car to the checkers for a season-opening win.
"It's just great to be back," Aschenbach said in his return to World Challenge. "It's an amazing series, it's an exciting series. There's nothing like sprint racing. It's nice that it's your car, it's not two guys' car. It's fun. I enjoy it, especially street racing. There are so many factors in a race like this – the walls, the pavement changes, the other cars. There were so many cars on the track today, and I'm just super excited to be back. I can't thank Karl Thompson and the whole Compass360 team for having me this year, and with this Honda I think we have a shot to race for the championship this year.
"The start was really smooth for us and the whole Touring Car class. There wasn't much carnage where we were, a couple of GTS cars were mixing it up in front of us and that made it interesting. Chip and Tristan were going at it.Tthey were bumping each other pretty good. I was pretty happy with where I was, just watching what was going to happen. Sure enough, they ended up getting together enough to cause some flats. It's a shame, obviously I would have liked to fight them for the race, but its part of racing. Sometimes you just have to cool down a little bit and take what the car will give you at that point and time and stay clean. It was a bit hectic, but we just tried to stay smart and keep at it."
While Aschenbach used his series experience to earn the win, neither of the two drivers who joined him on the podium had a previous start in World Challenge. Ronald Zitza, who makes his home just a couple of hours away in Orlando, finished second in the No. 60 Zotz Racing Volkswagen Jetta. Ray Mason finished third, driving the No. 69 TLMUSA.com/Columbus Truck Honda Civic Si.
Defending GT class Team and Manufacturers' Champion K-Pax Racing and Volvo have added the Touring Car class to their list of challenges for 2011 with a pair of K-Pax Racing Volvo C30s. Aaron Povoledo finished fourth in the No. 88 machine for K-Pax in the season-opener. Povoledo also earned the Optima Batteries Best Standing Start Award for making up the most places on the opening lap.
Patrick Seguin finished fifth in Touring Car behind the wheel of the No. 80 Theberge Homes/capsparts.com Honda Civic Si.
Devin Cates earned the Sunoco Hard Charger Award in the No. 23 Cutaway Creations/Cates Engineering Volkswagen GTI after improving 15 overall positions and finishing eighth in Touring Car.
In addition to the Pirelli tires that have lowered lap times all weekend for the World Challenge machines, a new qualifying rule for doubleheader weekends went into effect for 2011. During doubleheader weekends with just one qualifying session, the grid for the second race is set by fastest lap times during Saturday's race.
With the fastest lap of the race in a time of 1:16.163 (85.080 mph), Pobst will start Sunday afternoon's race from the overall and GT class pole, followed by Long, Sofronas, Skeen and Crescentini.
Brown earned the pole for the GTS class with a fast race lap of 1:23.232 (77.854 mph). von Kluge, Udell, Foss and Cunningham complete the first five in the GTS race.
Aschenbach is the only one of Saturday's race winners to also earn the top starting spot for Sunday after a fast race lap of 1:26.653 (74.781 mph). Herr, Herbert, Sandberg and Zitza turned the next fastest times and will be the first five Touring Cars on the grid.
Pre-race ceremonies for Sunday's Round Two is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m., with the lights out for the standing start at 4:55 (EDT
-source: world-challenge.com
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