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GrubMarket gobbles up $120M at a $1B+ pre-money valuation to take on the grocery supply chain
By: TechCrunch
September 13, 2021 at 10:44 AM EDT
When people talk about "online food delivery" services, chances are that they'll think of the Uber Eats, Instacarts and Getirs of this world. But today a startup that's tackling a different aspect of the market — addressing the supply chain that subsequently turns the wheels of the bigger food distribution machine — is announcing a […]
When people talk about "online food delivery" services, chances are that they'll think of the Uber Eats, Instacarts and Getirs of this world. But today a startup that's tackling a different aspect of the market — addressing the supply chain that subsequently turns the wheels of the bigger food distribution machine — is announcing a big round of funding as it continues to grow.
GrubMarket, which provides software and services that help link up and manage relationships between food suppliers and their customers — which can include wholesalers and other distributors, markets and supermarkets, delivery startups, restaurants, and consumers — has picked up $120 million in a Series E round of funding.
The funding is coming from a wide mix of investors. Liberty Street Funds, Walleye Capital, Japan Post Capital, Joseph Stone Capital, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Tech Pioneers Fund are among the new backers, who are being joined by existing investors Celtic House Asia Partners, INP Capital, Reimagined Ventures, Moringa Capital Management, and others, along with other unnamed participants
Mike Xu, GrubMarket's founder and CEO (pictured, above), tells me that the company is currently profitable in a big way. It's now at a $1 billion annualized run-rate, having grown revenues 300% over last year, with some markets like New York growing even more (it went from less than $10 million ARR to $100 million+).
With operations currently in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington, and some 40 warehouses nationwide. GrubMarket had a pre-money valuation of over $1 billion, and now it will be looking to grow even more, both in terms of territory and in terms of tech, moving ahead in a market that is largely absent from competitors.
"We are still the first mover in this space," Xu said when I asked him in an interview about rivals. "No one else is doing consolidation on the supply chain side as we are. We are trying to consolidate the American food supply chain through software technologies, while also trying to find the best solutions in this space."
(And for some context, the $1 billion+ valuation is more than double GrubMarket's valuation in October 2020, when it raised $60 million at a $500 million post-money valuation.)
Longer term, the plan will be to look at an IPO provisionally filing the paperwork by summer 2022, Xu added.
GrubMarket got its start several years ago as one of many companies looking to provide a more efficient farm-to-table service. Tapping into a growing consumer interest in higher quality, and more traceable food, it saw an opportunity to build a platform to link up producers to the consumers, restaurants and grocery stores that were buying their products. (Grocery stores, incidentally, might be independent operations, or something much bigger: one of GrubMarket's biggest customers is Whole Foods, which uses GrubMarket for produce supply in certain regions of the U.S. It is currently is the company's biggest customer.)
As we wrote last year, GrubMarket — like many other grocery delivery services — found that the pandemic initially provided a big fillip, and a big rush of demand, from that consumer side of the business, as more people turned to internet-based ordering and delivery services to offset the fact that many stores were closed, or they simply wanted to curtail the amount of shopping they were doing in-person to slow the spread of Covid-19.
But fast forward to today, while the startup still serves consumers, this is currently not the primary part of its business. Instead, it's B2B2C, serving companies that in turn serve consumers. Xu says that overall, demand from consumers has dropped off considerably compared to a year ago.
"We think that restaurant re-openings have meant more people are dining out again and spending less time at home," Xu said, " and also they can go back to physical grocery stores, so they are not as interested as they were before in buying raw ingredients online. I don't want to offend other food tech companies, but I think many of them will be seeing the same. I think B2C is really going to slow down going forward."
The opening for GrubMarket has been not just positioning itself as a middleman between producers and buyers, but to do so by way of technology and consolidating what has been a very regionalized and fragmented market up to now.
GrubMarket has snapped up no less than 40 companies in the last three years. While some of these have been to help it expand geographically (it made 10 acquisitions in the Los Angeles area alone), many have also been made to double down on technology.
These have included the likes of Farmigo, once a Disrupt Battlefield contender that pivoted into becoming a software provider to CSAs (an area that GrubMarket sees a lot of opportunity), as well as software to help farms manage their business staffing, insurance and more: Pacific Farm Management is an example of the latter.
GrubMarket's own in-house software, WholesaleWare, a cloud-based service for farmers and other food producers, saw its sales grow 3,500% over the last year, and it is now managing more than $4 billion in wholesale and retail activity across the U.S. and Canada.
There will be obvious ways to extend what GrubHub does deeper into the needs of its customers on the purchasing end, but this is in many ways also a very crowded market. (And not just crowded, but crowded with big companies. Just today, Toast, the company that builds software for restaurants, filed for a $717 million IPO at potentially a $16.5 billion valuation.) So instead, GrubHub will continue to focus on what has been a more overlooked aspect, that of the suppliers.
"I am focused on the food supply chain," Xu said. "Operators in the food supply chain business most of the time don't have any access to software and e-commerce technology. But we are not just a lightweight online ordering system. We do a lot of heavyweight lifting around inventory management, pricing and customer relations, and even HR management for wholesales and distributors." That will also mean, longer term, that GrubMarket will likely also start to explore connected hardware to help those customers, too: robotics for picking and moving items are on that agenda, Xu said.
"GrubMarket has built a profitable, high-growth business underpinned by its best-in-class technology platform that's reinventing how businesses access healthy, fresh foods," said Jack Litowitz, director of strategic investments at Reimagined Ventures, in a statement. "We're proud to support GrubMarket as it continues to expand into new regions and grow its WholesaleWare 2.0 software platform. At Reimagined Ventures, we always seek to invest in businesses that are disrupting inefficient industries in innovative ways. Mike Xu and the GrubMarket team have built one of these businesses. We're excited to back their vision and work in making the food supply chain more efficient."
"GrubMarket is transforming the trillion-dollar food distribution industry with unprecedented speed by implementing advanced digital solutions and operational discipline. The company's scale, growth, and profitability are extraordinarily impressive. Pegasus is delighted and honored to be part of GrubMarket's exciting journey ahead," added Bill Reichert, partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures.
Cnooc Ltd Goodfood Market Olo Inc Cl A


Lucky you! Someone cares enough about you to invite you to join them for Christmas Dinner!
The nicest way to repay this kindness is with a timely Christmas Dinner thank you note ... and possibly a small gift as a token of your appreciation.
After all, there's no doubt that your host(ess) will dedicate lots of time and energy to making sure you have a wonderful time, with a beautifully decorated home and a table laden with good things to eat and drink.
So, even if you've never sent a thank you note before ... or you're on your annual pilgrimmage to the in-laws (and your mother-in-law is not the best cook in the world), sending a thoughtful Christmas dinner thank you will make you feel good ... and it will make your host feel appreciated and loved. A real Win / Win situation!
There's a fighting chance you will be able to remember what you had to eat!
TIP: Make sure you have a supply of stamps, some quality notecards or paper and a good quality pen ... you'll be all set for getting your thank you notes out quickly!
Thank you so much for inviting us to join your family for dinner on Christmas Day.
It was lovely to sit and eat your excellent meal in such great company, surrounded by your beautiful festive decorations. It must have taken you weeks to prepare!
Thanks once again, we truly had a wonderful time!


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REVIEW | April in Paris | Belgrade Theatre
Sarah Earnshaw and Joe Pasquale in April in Paris. Photography: Mark Senior
There's something special about stepping foot into a theatre after they had to close their doors back in March 2020. There's certainly a buzz in the air as everyone takes their seats in the newly socially-distanced auditorium. When the Belgrade Theatre's Executive Director Joanna Reid steps on stage, and you can tell this is a huge moment for the theatre. Joanna thanks the audiences for their support, but most importantly turning up tonight to be part of this momentous occasion.
With Coventry City of Culture opening a few days ago, the Belgrade is at the heart of the arts in the city and it's so important to have it back open again.
But it isn't until Producer and Director of the show Richard Lewis starts talking, did I realise I was part of history last night. As April in Paris was the first regional production being staged across the country on the 17th May – Coventry are on the map with their triumphant return to theatre.
It's the perfect show to reopen with. The intimate two hander tells the story of the life of an ordinary couple as they go on a journey of a lifetime. Al and Bet have been married for twenty six years, their conversations are running dry and the monotony of life is wearing them down. Bet enters a competition in a magazine and wins a trip to Paris in April.
It's a fitting story for the times after many of us have spent lockdown with our partners and can relate to the irritations and squabbles. After barely being able to leave the house the past few months, their trip to Paris is the escapism we've all been craving.
It's a simple production but executed so brilliantly. Joe Pasquale who plays Al brings his natural humour to the role. His witty remarks and slick comedy timing brings a hilarious yet realistic dynamic to the relationship. Sarah Earnshaw portrays the role of Bet with sharpness and charm, she's a dreamer who wants to get out of their sleepy town and explore. She loses patience with Al but ultimately has a big heart. The rollercoaster of emotions between them creates a superb comedy as they embark on their travels to Paris via the P&O ferry from Hull.
It's silly, sweet and uplifting as Joe Pasquale and Sarah Earnshaw invite us into Al and Bet's world for a truly joyous experience.
It's heartwarming to hear the sound of collective laughter and feel the appreciation of an audience experiencing live theatre once again. April in Paris is the perfect way to dip your toe back into the wonderful world of theatre.
April in Paris is on at the Belgrade Theatre until Wednesday 19th of May.
INTERVIEW | Prema Mehta on Bringing The RSC's The Winter's Tale to the BBC
INTERVIEW | Madeleine Kludje Talks City of a Thousand Trades – Birmingham Royal Ballet's Love Letter to the City

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


You're looking at your morning checklist feeling a little bit overwhelmed. That doesn't seem to take much because nowadays, everyone seems overwhelmed. Your company brand contains a certain set of characteristics to it. What's the unique thing that helps your brand stand out? Are you using them in your digital marketing to their fullest use?
Take some time to look at each thing that makes your company different (in a good way) from the competition. To get favorably noticed, promotethe company's individual brand specifics in your digital marketing efforts. In other words, promote the unique in your business. When you do, you become very visible to your ideal prospect.
People think in words. Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine a picture in your mind that expresses the satisfied feelings your client feels using your company's products and services. Duplicate that picture to your target market and you'll raise your conversion levels. These satisfied feelings pictures contain customers acting happy because they've experienced the outcome they wanted using your exclusive business solution. The unique sells in your business marketing.
In a casual conversation format, carefully select words. Use those and talk with your ideal prospect. These are words your CLIENT already uses to express the FEELINGS he or she wants to FEEL right now as a result of engaging in business with your company. Your product or service is the tool your ideal prospect uses and then feels satisfied. See how this works?
That mind picture you create needs to be an image that clearly depicts your ideal clients behaving happily. They feel happy expressing satisfied FEELINGS of using your solution to their problem. Translate this image into digital marketing copy on your website. These types of images drive the right traffic to your website.
It is FEELINGS that drive clients to your business. By using digital marketing images in stills or video in a way contextually relevant to your ideal prospective client, you connect deeply with your target market. So, using the right SEO formatted words with the succinct image clearly helps your business stand out from your competitors.
If you are not currently getting enough converted traffic via your marketing efforts, do something different. Again, the unique is how to do it.
Like a turtle poking its head out of its shell, getting out of your comfort zone can bring up inner resistance. However, that inner resistance to what's new and different can be robbing you of generating wonderful business relationships with people.
When a business grows, you do so by expanding your horizons. Reaching out and connecting with people in a mutually interesting way between both prospect and company helps you succeed in business. Of course, you stay within your ethical standards when you do something new and different. However, it is showcasing and spotlighting the unique characteristics about your business that is attractive to your target market.
Your marketing efforts keep you in business. Boldly be unique and different (without being unprofessional about it!) You'll see that things change for the better.


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Project Cork: Clinical Screening Tools
Project Cork's disseminates current, authoritative information on substance abuse for health and human-service providers and policymakers. The "clinical tools" page of its website includes 15 screening tests. Some are alcohol specific while others cover alcohol and other drugs. Some are designed for self-administration and others for use in clinical interviews.
Project Cork's mission is to assemble and disseminate current, authoritative information on substance abuse for clinicians, health care providers, human service personnel, and policy makers. Project Cork produces a bibliographic database, offers current awareness services, produces resource materials, responds to queries, and collaborates in professional education efforts. The CORK database of more than 89,000 holdings is searchable online.
The "Clinical Tools" page of its website includes fifteen different screening tests. Some are alcohol specific while others cover alcohol and other drugs. Some are designed for self-administration and others for use in clinical interviews. Some are intended for special populations. Each test is accompanied by instructions for scoring, basic references, and a link to a current bibliography. A copy of each test is available in pdf format for duplication to use in clinical settings.
Title: Project Cork: Clinical Screening Tools
Author(s): Project Cork
Publisher City: Lebanon, New Hampshire
Publisher Name: Project Cork Institute, Dartmouth Medical School
Principles of Addiction Medicine, Fourth Edition
Fidelity to Assertive Community Treatment and Client Outcomes in the New Hampshire Dual Disorders Study
Psychiatric Advance Directives (MHA)
Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT): An Overview of the Evidence-Based Practice
John's Story: Tenacity keeps John focused on his dream and connected to employment specialists
Michele Robinson helps young woman with co-occurring disorders re-enter community after prison by providing supported employment
Technology transfer and technical assistance facilitate integration of behavioral health services in Ohio, 23 other states


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Media ReleaseTeam USA WomenDomesticFeatured News
USA Cricket Announces Women's National Team Selectors
By Dhruv BarotMarch 18, 2020 No Comments
Home » USA Cricket Announces Women's National Team Selectors
USA Cricket is pleased to announce today the new panel of National Selectors for the USA Women's National Cricket Team. It is the first time that USA Cricket has a dedicated Women's Selection Panel, completely separate and distinct from the Men's Selection Panel, and it signifies the increasing importance being placed on the development of the Women's game in the United States.
After the review of the role, structure and composition of the National Selection Panels and the underlying Selection Policy for all of the USA's National Teams was undertaken last November, USA Cricket invited applications for the roles of National Selectors.
The USA Cricket Committee then met to review these applications and has chosen the following five selectors to be appointed to the new panel of USA Women's National Team Selectors, with each of the five positions having either a 2 or 3 year term to ensure continuity moving forward.
Joan Alexander-Serrano – Chair (PA, 2 years)
Patricia Whittaker (NY, 2 years)
Ritesh Kadu (CA, 3 years)
Jyotsa Patel (FL, 3 years)
Deepali Rokade (NJ, 3 years)
The five-person Panel will assume responsibility for the selection of all USA Women's teams and also play an active part in the broader role of identifying more talented women's players at all levels who have the potential to progress to the USA Women's and girl's teams in the future.
Joan Alexander-Serrano will Chair the new panel
The five selectors had already begun their duties, attending the first two of the ongoing USA Cricket Women & Girls Talent ID hunt. Unfortunately, as previously announced here, the remainder of those events have now been postponed, but this period of downtime gives the selectors an opportunity to work with the USA Women's National Team Head Coach, Julia Price, to align behind an agreed selection philosophy that supports the objectives of the evolving High Performance Plan for women and girls.
"Women's cricket is a significant potential growth area for USA Cricket and I am delighted that we have taken such a positive step with the appointment of the new dedicated Women's National Team Selection Panel" said USA Cricket CEO Iain Higgins. "I would like to wish Joan as Chairperson, alongside her panel members the very best in their new roles and I look forward to their contribution to developing the women's game in this country. I know they are all extremely passionate about that objective, and they collectively provide a significant amount of relevant local and international cricketing knowledge and experience and I have no doubt will be fantastic contributors.
"On behalf of USA Cricket, I would like to acknowledge the quality of all of the candidates that submitted applications for the Women's National Team Selection Panel and we would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming levels of interest generally. I would also like to place on record our thanks and appreciation to the selectors (Joan Alexander-Serrano, Patricia Whittaker and Julie Abbott) who have performed this role admirably over the past few years."
USA Cricket: Statement on Coronavirus (COVID-19)


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Головки — название населённых пунктов:

Белоруссия
 Головки — деревня в Речицком районе Гомельской области.
 Головки — деревня в Минском районе Минской области.

Украина
 Головки — село в Малинском районе Житомирской области.
 Головки — село в Полтавском районе Полтавской области.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Protect and restore a key stretch of coastal shoreline at the mouth of Bayou La Batre River. Specifically, the project includes the acquisition of more than 100 acres of coastal habitat and the engineering and design for restoring approximately 28 acres of marsh and 1.5 miles of intertidal nearshore breakwater. The acquisition targets represent more than 2 miles of nearly contiguous undeveloped waterfront adjacent to existing protected lands owned by the state, Mobile County, and the City of Bayou La Batre.


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Home » Games » Choices: Stories You Play
Choices: Stories You Play
Last updated on May 15, 2019Games
App Download Version 2.5.2
App By Pixelberry
Size Varies with device
Get It Now Download Link
As most of you might already know, Choices: Stories You Play Mod APK is one of the most engaging Visual Novel games. These types of games have established a particular reputation in the world of gaming. Compared to other genres, visual novels are merely text-based and are often characterized by being less challenging. Despite the apparent simplicity, Visual Novel is full of compelling plots that will put the player's creative imagination on a test. Interestingly, the genre is not really new. It originated in Japan and was later adapted in the Western world.
Visual novels are present in various gaming platforms from video game consoles to PC. I still remember a massive resurgence of the genre during the time when browser games (flash games) were at their peak. From Romantic drama to fantasy and thriller! Name it! There's a visual novel dedicated for each category.
Now that everyone is embracing the mobile device as the newest gaming platform, it is not really surprising to see a lot of visual novel game apps on your Playstore. In fact, they are much better and well-crafted. Pixelberry Studios' Choices: Stories You Play is probably one of the leading games from this category.
Unlike the classic visual novels games that we used to play on our browsers, Choices: Stories You Play will not just focus on a single storyline. In fact, it is more like a portal of not just hundreds, but thousands of stories every player can freely explore. The Mod APK we are providing will give you access to a vast library of different scenarios for various genres.
The game takes you to various short stories and major series. Tracing back its humble beginning, Choices: Stories You Play initially offers three main genres including romance, fantasy, and mystery. As time passed by, the mobile app eventually expanded to many other genres which give players more reason to play the game. Above all, each series is divided into books, and each book is composed of multiple chapters which provide each story commendable longevity. If you are into such genre, feel free to download Choices Stories You Play Mod APK and see what else this app has to offer.
The Gameplay
The mechanics for this game are straightforward and easily manageable. It basically captures the classic point of click gameplay that we used to enjoy while adding some noteworthy features on it to make the game even more engaging.
As soon as the game begins, you will have to select your preferred genre. In my case, I had three options: Young Adults, Romance and Vampire. After choosing a category, the app prompts you to the first chapter of the featured story which will also serve as a tutorial.
The game is generally text-based, so it definitely requires a lot of reading. If you are looking for some hardcore action, this may not be the right game for you, but if you are such a bookworm, these visualized novels will suit you well.
Everything in this game is tap-based. As the story progresses, you will encounter a lot of decision-making phase. This is where the challenge comes in. As what the title of the game implies, the game is all about choices. What really makes the game even more interesting is the fact that it comes with multiple endings.
Be mindful that once you download the Mod APK on your mobile, the story will generally conclude depending on the choices you have made. If it's a romance drama, you might end up engaging in a different character. It captures the classic element of visual novels where decisions often affect the relationship with other characters. If you are lucky enough, you can always end up with a happy ending. On the other hand, if you are not satisfied with the result, you can always restart the chapter and see what happens if you picked a different path.
Timed Choices and Diamonds
This game is more than just a simple decision-making challenge. Eventually, you will encounter choices that come with a price. Some options are timed and will only give you a few seconds to decide. This is the reason why you have to pay attention to every detail you are reading rather than skipping the dialogues just to expedite the situation. It is essential to focus on the aspects in order to come up with an appropriate answer. Otherwise, you might end up on a different path of the story.
Diamonds, on the other hand, act as the premium currency in this game. You can obtain diamonds in three different ways. First is through microtransaction. Players can avail bundles using real money where packages come in 20 to 1500 pieces of diamonds per purchase. Another way to earn Diamonds is to finish an entire chapter. While players will be rewarded with diamonds after completing an episode, however, the prize is not really generous as you can only earn a single or two per chapter. The third option is through rewarded videos. You can watch an ad and receive a diamond in return.
Diamonds have great value in this game. Some choices will cost diamonds. Interestingly, this will lead you to exclusive scenes which can significantly affect your relationship with other characters in the story. You can also use diamonds to purchase outfits or earn a relationship boost.
Keys and Choices Library
Much like the Diamonds, Keys are also a massive part of this game. Using keys, you will unlock any chapter of any stories. Each section will cost you a key. Interestingly, you only have a maximum of two keys in this game, and after consuming one, you'll get another key for free after two hours. Therefore, if you used both keys, you have to wait for another four hours to get them back. You can, however, purchase additional keys via the in-game shop. You can get a maximum of 150 pieces per purchase.
Heading over to the main menu, you will encounter various tabs on the lowermost panel. The "Featured" section will showcase all the featured contents including the newly released chapter, monthly featured stories and other recommended stories catered for you. Under the "Browse" section, you can search for a particular series based on their respective categories. You also get a heads up about the upcoming releases.
"My Books" section allows you to archive your favorite books and also displays all the books you have completed. The Reward Section is where you can watch ads and collect Diamond rewards in return.
With regularly updated books and tons of great stories to explore, this is indeed a great addition to your mobile game list. It feels like reading Pocket Books where you take control of your own story.
To top it all, the game is enhanced with beautiful western-inspired illustrations which makes it a lot more appealing. The only downside of this game is the ungenerous reward system which sometimes forces the players to buy diamonds, especially if they are really engaged with the story. Other than that, the game is absolutely worth playing!
Currently, the game is available for both iOS and Android devices. For your convenience, you can download Choices: Stories You Play Mod APK directly to your device. Good luck and have fun!
Guns of Boom
World Conqueror 4
Pandora Premium
Youtubers Life: Gaming Channel
Episode: Choose Your Story
Poot APK


text:
// Copyright 2019 The Bazel Authors. All rights reserved.
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
//    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.

package com.google.devtools.build.skydoc.rendering;

import com.google.devtools.build.lib.syntax.StarlarkFunction;
import com.google.devtools.build.skydoc.rendering.proto.StardocOutputProtos.AspectInfo;
import com.google.devtools.build.skydoc.rendering.proto.StardocOutputProtos.ModuleInfo;
import com.google.devtools.build.skydoc.rendering.proto.StardocOutputProtos.ProviderInfo;
import com.google.devtools.build.skydoc.rendering.proto.StardocOutputProtos.RuleInfo;
import com.google.devtools.build.skydoc.rendering.proto.StardocOutputProtos.StarlarkFunctionInfo;
import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.Map;

/** Produces skydoc output in proto form. */
public class ProtoRenderer {

  private final ModuleInfo.Builder moduleInfo;

  public ProtoRenderer() {
    this.moduleInfo = ModuleInfo.newBuilder();
  }

  /** Appends {@link RuleInfo} protos to a {@link ModuleInfo.Builder}. */
  public ProtoRenderer appendRuleInfos(Collection<RuleInfo> ruleInfos) {
    for (RuleInfo ruleInfo : ruleInfos) {
      moduleInfo.addRuleInfo(ruleInfo);
    }
    return this;
  }

  /** Appends {@link ProviderInfo} protos to a {@link ModuleInfo.Builder}. */
  public ProtoRenderer appendProviderInfos(Collection<ProviderInfo> providerInfos) {
    for (ProviderInfo providerInfo : providerInfos) {
      moduleInfo.addProviderInfo(providerInfo);
    }
    return this;
  }

  /** Appends {@link StarlarkFunctionInfo} protos to a {@link ModuleInfo.Builder}. */
  public ProtoRenderer appendStarlarkFunctionInfos(Map<String, StarlarkFunction> funcInfosMap)
      throws DocstringParseException {
    for (Map.Entry<String, StarlarkFunction> entry : funcInfosMap.entrySet()) {
      StarlarkFunctionInfo funcInfo =
          FunctionUtil.fromNameAndFunction(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
      moduleInfo.addFuncInfo(funcInfo);
    }
    return this;
  }

  /** Appends module docstring protos to a {@link ModuleInfo.Builder}. */
  public ProtoRenderer setModuleDocstring(String moduleDoc) {
    moduleInfo.setModuleDocstring(moduleDoc);
    return this;
  }

  /** Outputs the raw form of a {@link ModuleInfo} proto. */
  public void writeModuleInfo(BufferedOutputStream outputStream) throws IOException {
    ModuleInfo build = moduleInfo.build();
    build.writeTo(outputStream);
  }

  /** Appends {@link AspectInfo} protos to a {@link ModuleInfo.Builder}. */
  public ProtoRenderer appendAspectInfos(Collection<AspectInfo> aspectInfos) {
    for (AspectInfo aspectInfo : aspectInfos) {
      moduleInfo.addAspectInfo(aspectInfo);
    }
    return this;
  }

  public ModuleInfo.Builder getModuleInfo() {
    return moduleInfo;
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


If you are considering dental implants for the replacement of your missing teeth, you may want to learn more about the cost. Dental implants are so versatile that it is impossible to determine a generic cost of dental implants without explaining the factors that may affect influence your investment.
The cost of dental implants is largely affected by how many implants you are receiving and what type of implants are performed. It is, of course, more expensive to place multiple individual implants than it is to place a single implant. The cost of dental implants fluctuates with the procedure as well. All-on-4 or implant supported dentures will cost less than traditional implants, placed by our Boston periodontist, to restore a full set of arches.
The cost of dental implants will be impacted by any procedures that may be necessary to prepare the oral environment for successful implantation. If our Boston periodontist discovers that you have advanced periodontal disease, for example, he must treat this condition before dental implants surgery can be performed. There are myriad factors affecting the cost of dental implants. Do you have significant bone loss? If the amount of bone in the jaw is insufficient for the placement of dental implants, our Boston periodontist would need to perform bone grafts before proceeding. This would increase the cost of the dental implants, as would a sinus lift or even the extraction of existing teeth.
Would you like to learn more about the cost of dental implants before making a decision? Schedule a consultation with Boston periodontist Dr. Thomas Mone to discuss your unique dental needs. After an evaluation of your oral health and a review of your medical and dental history, Dr. Mone can give you a comprehensive and detailed cost of dental implants.


Ten organisers and supporters of the Llangollen Motorcycle Festival recently returned from a 1000-mile trail bike tour of Vietnam, where they helped some of that country's poorest schools with gifts and cash donations.
Most of the riders (seven from North Wales, two from England and a Canadian) were on Yamaha XTZ 125s – tough little workhorses that they all came to respect – and two others rode Honda CBZ 125 road bikes that coped amazingly well with some pretty rough terrain.
This is the kind of terrain the team encountered during their two-week-long trail bike tour of the Vietnamese mountains, helping local schools along the way.
There was also a Honda XR 150L, which was a seriously good mount for Vietnam as it had everything to cope with larger Westerners.
"Anything bigger would have been a waste of money given the conditions and speeds," said LlanBikeFest co-organiser John Hutchinson from Bodelwyddan. "Vietnam definitely isn't BMW G5 country.
"Trail bikes are rare in Vietnam as the locals do fine with step-throughs, mostly Hondas. We're all fairly handy trail riders, but on one long climb that we rated between three and four on a scale of five – up on the pegs for a steep, rocky gulley with steps, stones, boulders and sand – we were humbled by meeting a Honda step-through coming happily the other way with a family of three aboard!
Read more in the April issue of OBM – out now!


On this page you can check the availability of T1 lines in Princeton with instant, real time results. By filling in the short form below, you will be pre-qualifying for a fast T1 line from all the top local and nationwide T1 service providers available in Princeton.	Your T1 pricing is heavily influenced by the distance between your local phone office (called the 'POP' or 'CO') and your business. This distance, called the 'local loop', helps determine which of the providers in Princeton will be able to cost-effectively service your location.
Page Keywords: Princeton Frame Relay Princeton T1 line Princeton T1 Connection Princeton	T1 Service Princeton T1 Provider Princeton T1 Internet Princeton T1 Internet Connection Princeton T1 Service Provider Princeton T1 price Princeton T1 Speed Princeton T1 Internet Service Princeton T1 Internet Access Princeton Fractional T1 Princeton T1 Bandwidth Princeton T1 Internet Service Provider Princeton T1 Internet Provider Princeton T1 Pricing Princeton T1 Internet Services Princeton T1 Services Princeton T-1 Princeton T-1 Line. Keywords are placed here to provide a quick summary of the services specifically offered by T1 Shopper in Princeton.


Condo has 1 bedroom,master bath with double sinks and 1/2 bath for guest. The patio is fully enclosed with a nice view of the lagoon. The pool is located just across from the front of the condo and there is a gazebo and dock in the back of the unit. This is a must see condo!


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var Builder = require('../index');

var builder = new Builder('test/fixtures/circular-tree');

suite('Test circular tree', function(err) {
  test('Circular tree', function() {
    builder.reset();

    return builder.bundle('a.js')
    .then(function(out) {
      assert(out.entryPoints.length == 1 && out.entryPoints[0] == 'a.js');
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An Overview of the New Privacy Controls Coming to Apple's OSes
Privacy has become a central theme of Apple's OS updates in recent years, and this WWDC's announcements were no different. During the opening keynote yesterday, the company introduced new privacy features across its OSes and system apps designed to put users in control of their data and prevent unwanted tracking. As Craig Federighi Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering explained in an Apple press release:
Privacy has been central to our work at Apple from the very beginning. Every year, we push ourselves to develop new technology to help users take more control of their data and make informed decisions about whom they share it with. This year's updates include innovative features that give users deeper insights and more granular control than ever before.
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Raycast: The Ultimate Productivity Tool.
One of Apple's focuses this year is on email. Hide My Email, which is part of iCloud+, lets users create random email addresses that forward to their main address, allowing them to avoid giving out their primary email address to third parties that may sell it or use it to send unsolicited messages. According to Apple, iCloud+ subscriptions with the new features the company announced will cost the same as they do now for the amount of storage offered with a current iCloud subscription. Another new mail feature is, Mail Privacy Protection, which is built into Apple's Mail app, and prevents invisible pixel trackers that are used to tell if someone has opened a message and gather other information.
Apple will accomplish this in its OS updates by routing data through multiple proxy servers and downloading message data in the background, preventing location information from being revealed and making it impossible to know if someone has interacted with a message. As with many privacy features, it's a change that will not be welcomed by everyone:
How Apple's mail changes work - effectively it will report 100% open rates. A huge pain for a lot of business that aren't violating anyone's privacy. pic.twitter.com/165Yu9mAeF
— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) June 8, 2021
Apple's OSes will also begin preventing third parties from discovering your IP address when you use Safari, which can be used to determine your approximate location and track you across websites.
The Settings app on iOS and iPadOS devices will gain an App Privacy Report section too. The new feature will report to users when and how often apps are using their location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts during the past seven days. The report also lists the domains to which an app reports data it collects. How users act on the information provided in the App Privacy Report is up to them.
Siri will be adding on-device speech detection too. The change eliminates potentially unwanted audio recordings from being shared with Apple. The company's voice assistant will also gain the ability to process more requests completely on-device, limiting the transfer of information over the Internet and, in the process, speeding up the activation of requests to do things like play music, change settings, set timers and alarms, and open apps.
It's been quite a while since iCloud was updated, but with this fall's OS updates, Apple is adding new privacy features under the umbrella of iCloud+. I've already mentioned the Hide My Email feature above, but there's more. Private Relay is a feature that, similar to a VPN, routes Internet traffic through multiple proxies to obscure its source, making it impossible for sites to determine your location. The data transmitted from your device over the Internet is also encrypted for added privacy. As Apple explains:
All the user's requests are then sent through two separate internet relays. The first assigns the user an anonymous IP address that maps to their region but not their actual location. The second decrypts the web address they want to visit and forwards them to their destination. This separation of information protects the user's privacy because no single entity can identify both who a user is and which sites they visit.
iCloud+ eliminates the limit on the number of video cameras supported by HomeKit's Secure Video too.
Apple will also allow third-party developers to give users the ability to share the location just once, provide more granular access to users' photo libraries, and let users paste content from other apps securely, so they don't have access to the clipboard until the user actively pastes the content into an app.
You can follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2021 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2021 RSS feed.
Tags: Privacy, WWDC 2021
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Everyone at NEW ROOM THEATRE is blown away by your generous support. We had 146 backers which translated in us raising an astonishing £5555 after fees and costs. This including a substantial donation from the Gayfield Projects: Journeys in Design based in Edinburgh. But every fiver and tenner meant we got across the line on our all or nothing project. Click on the company names for links to websites.
GP Journeys in Design is currently presenting Material World, an exhibition and events series placing Scottish Design in an international context and including the Gayfield Design Commission: which aims to link Art, Design and Industry and forge innovative collaborations.
SRN is a non-profit initiative working in Scotland and beyond. Their aim is to place the experience of recovery at the centre of life, practice and policy. They act as a catalyst for change by sharing ideas and practice.
SRC is a recovery-orientated charity. They exist to build and promote recovery from addictions in Scotland using means and messages that are consistent with the values and practices of recovery from addictions.
Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Partnership are committed to reducing alcohol and drug problems in Edinburgh. Their website contains information on their approach to reducing alcohol and drug problems within Edinburgh. It also includes a directory of the help and support available.
Platform is the arts centre at the heart of The Bridge, located in Easterhouse, offering a year-round programme of cutting edge performance, music, visual arts and participation. Platform views culture and creativity as a bedrock of a healthy and inclusive society. Their work is rooted in their location and engages directly with audiences. They work with a range of local and national partners to bring together communities and artists.


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OLHZN-8 :: RectifyOverlook Horizon2017-09-19T11:12:06-04:00
About OLHZN-8 :: Rectify
Result: Success!! 109,102 FT.
OLHZN-8 was the eighth high altitude weather balloon flight for Overlook Horizon High Altitude Balloons. This flight launched on August 1, 2017 at exactly 10:00:00am ET (14:00:00 UTC). The focus of this flight was to have a short recovery distance and we were also looking to resolve our radio positioning broadcast issues that occurred on OLHZN-7. We thought we had this resolved once and for all after OLHZN-5 successfully transmitted throughout the entire flight, but this issue returned unexpectedly on the last flight due to some voltage drops that occurred when the radio transmitter began its broadcast. This flight again used a third Lightdow LD4000 Camera upwards facing camera recording the balloon to obtain better footage of the balloon burst than we obtained on OLHZN-7.
Flight Day Story
The launch of this flight was unique in that it was our first completely solo launch that was performed by only 1 member of the team. This was simply because the flight was launching in the middle of the week and in the middle of the day so most of the team had to work. Solo launches are much more difficult to perform, particularly when it comes to inflating and sealing the balloon as well as making sure the launch procedures stay on track for an on time launch. Even with those difficulties, we were able to launch on time with a liftoff of exactly 10:00:00am ET (14:00:00 UTC) – on time down to the second!
Around the T-15 minute mark, prior to launching, we were experiencing some issues with one of our cameras failing to power on. It was determined that one of the battery lines for the camera had a loose / broken connection. We were able to quickly piece it together to get the camera to power on, but it was a very weak solution so we were not confident that it would last for the entire flight. Fortunately, upon landing, we discovered that all three cameras performed perfectly and somehow the loose connection stayed in place and capture the entire flight, including some fantastic footage of the balloon burst!
The radio tracking system changes we made for this flight to rectify that issues on OLHZN-7 work almost perfectly. We were able to track the entire flight all the way to 109,102 FT. when it reached our highest achieved altitude yet! The flight computer remained powered-on and functioning throughout the entire flight and did not power cycle at all during flight. We did experience one minor issue with the flight computer that we'll be looking to resolve on OLHZN-9, which was that the landing alarm cut-out early and stopped sounding at around 1400 ft. in altitude. When this occurred, the flight computer seemingly locked up and stopped recording data so the last 20 seconds of the flight were not recorded with the onboard systems.
Despite the system failing in the last 20 seconds, the most exciting part of the flight came within those last few seconds when our solo recovery "team" was on-site for the landing. We were so close to the landing site that we were able to literally run to the payload and caught the payload line in our hands before it hit the ground! This was incredibly exciting and a very rare opportunity that we may never see again! This event was captured during the live broadcast and you can see the catch as it happened.
Overall, this was our most successful flight to date and was the closest we've come to perfection on one of our flights. It was just short of perfect as we did have some very minor issues, but we'd call this a 99.9999% success and we had some amazing achievements:
Solo launch by only 1 team member
Perfect on-time launch to the second!
New record for maximum altitude achieved at 109,102 FT.
New record for shortest downrange recovery achieved at 5.01 miles
Nearly perfect flight computer performance
Flawless in-flight camera performance for all 3 cameras
Caught the payload as it landed!
Maximum Altitude: 109,102 ft.
The maximum altitude on this flight was 109,102 ft. which was recorded at 12:05:14 ET over East Bloomfield, NY, just 6.26 miles from our launch site. This burst event occurred only 46 seconds prior to our predicted burst time of 12:06pm ET. This is the highest recorded altitude we've achieved up to this point.
Tech Changes
This flight again featured a third Lightdow LD4000 Camera as an upwards facing balloon camera to try to capture better footage of the balloon burst event. We also added two sets of capacitors to the power rails to try to smooth out voltage drops that occurred on OLHZN-7 in the colder temperatures, causing the Arduino to power cycle continuously during the flight. The first set of bypass capacitors was on the unregulated battery input to smooth out any voltage drops on the battery that could occur. The second set of bypass capacitors was on the regulated 5V rails for the Arduino's power output to the components, like our radio transmitter. This set of capacitors drastically improved the flight computer performance and worked well to smooth out ripple effects that could occur when the transmitter needed more power, but the Arduino's 5V regulator may need a microsecond to catch up to the increased power demand causing an incredibly brief, but significant brown-out / voltage drop and a subsequent power cycle.
1200g Balloon
This flight again featured a large 1200g balloon to ensure an altitude of over 100,000 ft. Due to the quick turnaround after OLHZN-7, this flight had a much smaller 600g backup balloon that we already had on hand. The 600g balloon size was last used on OLHZN-4. The 1200g balloon performed flawless on this flight.
Landing Distance: 5.01 miles
One of the main perks of this launch date was the possibility of a very short downrange recovery distance. On this flight, we set a new group record for shortest downrange landing of just 5.01 miles from the launch site. Previously, our shortest downrange recovery was 17.6 miles which was achieved on OLHZN-2. Additionally, the payload never traveled more than 8.63 miles away from the launch site at any point during the flight. It reached 8.63 miles away at 6565655 ft. in altitude. Lastly, the payload also passed within 0.56 miles of the launch site at 96,196 ft. in altitude at 1 hour and 52 minutes into the flight which is another interesting and unique note.
Max Ground Speed: 48 mph
The maximum achieved ground speed for this flight was just 48 mph. This is lower than we've seen on some flights, but one note that is very interesting is that this maximum speed was achieved at 101,974 feet in altitude. We've never seen the maximum ground speed occur at such a high altitude before.
Minimum Temperature: -55° F
The minimum temperature we recorded on the flight on the outside of the payload package was -55° F which occurred at an altitude of 53,185 ft. This temperature appeared pretty consistently between 40,000 ft. and 55,000 ft. We've seen much lower temperatures in the past, but that's still cold!
Freefall Speed: 129 mph
After the balloon burst at 109,102 ft., we recorded the fastest freefall vertical drop speed of 129 mph which occurred at 106,890 ft. The payload fell at over 100 mph for the first 10,000 ft. It remained about 50 mph until 68,000 ft. and didn't reach a gentle 25 mph until it hit 38,000 ft.
Flight Prediction
The launch time was bumped up significantly in the final hours prior to launch in an attempt to try to achieve the shortest possible downrange landing distance. Wind predictions were looking great for a Tuesday morning launch that would allow us a single digit recovery distance. Unfortunately, our launch team was very slim due to this launch time, but we had to try for the shortest recovery distance possible! This also gave us the opportunity to perform a solo launch procedure. These images were the final flight predictions from the midnight forecast that we operated off of with an on time launch of exactly 10:00:00am ET / 14:00:00 UTC. Another prediction was available around 6:00am ET on launch day, but our FAA notifications had to be completed no later than 6 hours prior to launch time so the launch time couldn't change after this point.
Launch Time: August 1, 2017 at 10:00:00am ET (14:00:00 UTC)
Launch Location: Canandaigua Academy, Canandaigua, NY, USA
Ascent Rate: 4.20 m/s (Target: 4.35 m/s)
Burst Altitude: 109,102 ft. (Target: 108,000 ft.)
Time to Burst: 125 minutes, 14 seconds (Expected: 126 minutes)
Helium Volume: 122.7 cu ft. (Target: 124.9 cu ft.)
Payload Mass: 1615g (3.56 lbs)
Neck Positive Lift: 751g (Target: 816g)
Landing Speed: 5.45 m/s (Target: 6 m/s)
Descent Time: 38 minutes, 6 seconds (Expected: 37 minutes)
Landing Location: Prosecco Italian Restaurant, Farmington, NY
Buy a Shirt & Keep Us Flying!


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Never a Straight Path
By Florence Sullivan, MSc, GEMM Lab Graduate
It's rather amazing how, in a span of five years, the journey of your life can take twists and turns that you never expected. Long time blog readers may remember me as the graduate student who began this blog way back in February of 2015 with a recitation of our lab's very first science outreach event. Since then, I completed my master's thesis investigating gray whale foraging ecology (a project that just finished its 6th field season thanks to the excellent leadership of Lisa Hildebrand), fulfilled a dream of working as a marine mammal observer, and survived the existential crisis of graduation and job searching.
None of the species we study in this lab forage in straight lines. If we consider a job (and salary) as the mechanism by which most of us put food on the table (i.e. foraging) why should our path be any less complex than theirs? By April 2018, I had moved back in with my parents in Seattle and was thoroughly heartsick about how long my job search was taking, so I jumped on the first field opportunity that came my way. The project was billed as an attempt to pair discrete killer whale behaviors to specific call sequences, with collaborators from a variety of countries and backgrounds. In my enthusiasm, I ignored some red flags, and paid for it with a field season where I (1) experienced my first person-overboard situation, (2) witnessed steady verbal harassment, (3) was injured when our live-aboard trimaran was run aground on a clearly marked reef, and (4) ended up committing mutiny and leaving the project early. There have been encouraging discussions in the marine science community recently about the barriers that women & early career scientists face while in the field, particularly with regard to accessibility, equity, and unpaid/underpaid internships. I will add some learned lessons to the list of things one should consider before embarking on a new research endeavor:
If someone says they are affiliated with a university, but will not give you a project or lab website because 'the project is quite delicate, we don't want other folks stealing our work', check that they actually do have university affiliations and aren't misrepresenting their connections. Do some homework.
Don't cross a border without a contract, and when repeated attempts to secure a description of your responsibilities and payment are put off until later, consider that this might be a pattern of behavior.
If you were told that you would work under a senior bioacoustician, and you show up to find that your new colleague had been told the same thing, but neither of you has more than a MSc degree or much experience with acoustics, add this to your tally of red flags.
If basic safety standards (like wearing a life jacket on deck) are being ignored, hold yourself to a higher standard, and lead by example.
If sustained verbal and emotional abuse is occurring, you still have not been paid, and you've been asked to keep working after being injured in an accident caused by negligence, it is ok to break faith and leave a project.
Entering this project, I was very keen to learn new skills in acoustics, study a new species, and build partnerships with international researchers. Instead, I learned about interpersonal conflict and resolution strategies. So, time for a new plan & another bend in my path. Thankfully, I have the immense privilege of a capable, employed husband who was able to support me while I recovered and began a new job search.
A pod of northern resident orcas resting during the rain, British Columbia. Photo credit: F. Sullivan
As salmon migrate upriver, their bodies undergo drastic changes in coloration, and once they spawn, they die. Their decomposing carcasses provide a critical influx of nutrients to the river and forest ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. Photo credit: F. Sullivan
In the year that followed, I joined the team at the Environmental Science Center and taught 3rd -10th graders how to be "Salmon Heroes". I explained salmon ecology, taking them on field experiences where we dissected salmon, measured oxygen and nitrogen levels in salmon streams, assessed habitat quality, observed migration and spawning behaviors (when fish cooperated), and brainstormed ways to protect these special (and delicious) fish.
When salmon season came to an end, we transitioned to the "Beach Hero" program, targeted at K-3rd grade, where I became part of the classroom team, teaching intertidal ecology before bringing the kids to the beach where many of them experienced low tide for the first time. In keeping with the education theme, I also worked with South Sound Nature School to provide kids with a forest-based after school program and was a summer camp counselor at Camp Long for several weeks. Still, I continued to try to find my way back to research and a data-driven career.
This is a sea star, it turns its stomach inside out to eat mussels! (we had awesome puppets for demonstration). Photo credit: Kharli Rose
Another bend in my 'foraging' job search happened when I stumbled across a short term data contract at my local election office while searching the state and county job boards. Washington State is a vote-by-mail state, and with a record turn-out in the 2018 mid-term elections they needed help updating everyone's contact information & verifying signatures. Let me tell you, staring at a computer screen, deciphering people's handwriting to add emails and phone numbers to their voter registration for 8 hours a day for 6 weeks was not particularly fun. Yet, it gave me a little more experience in government databases, and gave me a lot of confidence in my election office for how transparent they are about every step of the voting process. I can't speak for anywhere else, but in King County (Washington), you can go visit the election office & give yourself a self-guided walking tour of the whole ballot counting process from arrival to sorting to signature verification and opening to tallying. (There's a hallway with massive windows surrounding the giant open concept floor space where everything happens, so you can observe without interfering). I'd never thought about what happens to my ballot after I mail it before, and its rather fascinating. Speaking of which, Please Vote!
Frustrated by a job search that failed to yield anything with health benefits or more than part-time hours, my Dad suggested that I apply to the University of Washington Continuing Education program, and enroll in a professional certificate to add another explicit skill to my resume. When enough pressure is applied to the system, something has to give eventually. The month where I was accepted to the UW Certificate in Statistical Analysis with R Programming was also the month I started interviewing for the Research Analyst Position at the Pacific Whale Foundation. Partially because I could prove my data management experience, and that I was serious about continuing to hone my skiIls, I was offered, and accepted the position! Hilariously or stressfully, however you want to look at it, I moved to Maui, began my new position, and started my statistics with R programming coursework all in the same week – the learning curve was STEEP.
Amazingly, Leila (another GEMM Lab alumn) was visiting Maui the week I moved, and we were able to have dinner together my first night on-island! Photo credit: Leila Lemos
I completed my certificate in June, and hit my one-year work anniversary last month! I'm responsible for a good portion of our database management, and use R coding on a daily basis to pull data requests, tidy historical data, and add new information. I'd never been to Maui before moving here, but now I've experienced the glory of Humpback whale breeding & calving season and heard whale song underwater. I've helped collect important life history data for false killer whales, spotted, spinner & bottlenose dolphins, and I'm looking forward to encountering more new-to-me odontocete species. It took months before I felt like I was past the 'onboarding' information stage, but now I'm collaborating with my colleagues on my first data analysis project (rather than simple data management) and loving my team despite the wrenches that the pandemic has thrown in our work. My job search = cetacean foraging analogy breaks down a little at this point, but my story still stands. I acknowledge my privilege of a good education and supportive husband, but I have this suggestion for job seekers: Don't be afraid to get creative while you search for the right position, because you never know what you might stumble across and learn along the way. In the process, do your best to catch red flags, and keep yourself out of dangerous positions. My job search hasn't been a straight path, but that doesn't mean it wasn't full of small victories, and it did ultimately lead to a successful "prey patch".
A pod of northern resident orcas traveling along the outer coast of British Columbia.
Posted on October 26, 2020 October 26, 2020 Author Dawn BarlowCategories UncategorizedTags alumni, Florence Sullivan, foraging ecology, job, job search, Marine Mammals4 Comments on Never a Straight Path
The Room Where it Happens
By Rachel Kaplan, PhD student, OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab
As I solidified my grad school plans last spring, one of the things that made me most excited to join the GEMM Lab was the direct applicability of its research to management and conservation practices. Seeing research directly plugged into current problems facing society is always inspirational to me. My graduate research will be part of the GEMM Lab's project to identify co-occurrence between whales and fishing effort in Oregon, with the goal of helping to reduce whale entanglement risk. Recently, watching the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Commission in action gave me a fascinating, direct look at how the management sausage gets made.
Two humpback whales surface together off the coast of Oregon. Photo taken under NOAA/NMFS research permit #21678.
At the September Commission meeting, ODFW Marine Resources Program Manager Caren Braby presented proposed rule changes in the management of the Oregon dungeness crab fleet. As part of a coordinated effort with Washington and California, the main goal of these changes is to reduce the risk of whale entanglements, which have increased sharply in US West Coast waters since 2014.
With the aim of maximizing the benefit to whales while minimizing change to the fishery, Braby and her staff developed a recommendation for a shift in summer fishing effort, when whales are most abundant in Oregon waters. Based on diverse considerations — including the distributions of humpback whales off Oregon and season fishery economics — she outlined options along what she termed a "spectrum of reduced risk," which included possible shifts in the fishing season, spatial extent, and number of pots deployed.
Although the GEMM Lab project to provide a robust understanding of whale distribution in Oregon waters is not yet complete, the data collected to-date has already significantly refined knowledge of whale distributions off the coast — and it directly informed the proposed monthly depth limitations for fishing effort. It is never possible to have perfect knowledge of an ecosystem, and resource managers must navigate this inherent complexity as they make decisions. As the GEMM Lab collects and analyzes more data on the distribution of whales and their prey, our ability to inform management decisions can become even more precise and effective.
Braby proposed that the fleet reduce the number of crab pots deployed by 20% and prohibit fishing at depths greater than 30 fathoms, starting May 1, for the next three seasons. The goal of this recommendation is to effectively separate the bulk of fishing effort from the deep waters where humpback whales forage, when they visit their feeding grounds off the coast of Oregon during the summer.
ODFW Marine Resources Program Manager Caren Braby outlined management options along a "spectrum of reduced risk." Source: ODFW
Following Braby's presentation, a public comment period allowed stakeholders to offer their own opinions and requests for the Commission to consider. Fisherman, lawyers, and members of conservation nonprofits each provided succinct three-minute statements, offering a wide range of opinions and amendments to the proposed rule changes.
This comment period highlighted how truly multifaceted this decision-making process is, as well as the huge number of livelihoods, economic impacts, and types of data that must be considered. It also raised essential questions — how do you make regulations that protect whales without favoring one group of stakeholders over another? How can you balance multiple levels of law with the needs of local communities?
Even during heated moments of this meeting, the tone of the dialog impressed me. This topic is inevitably a contentious and emotional issue. Yet even people with opposing viewpoints maintained focus on their common goals and common ground, and frequently reiterated their desire to work together.
After more than six hours of presentations, comments, and deliberation, the Commission voted on the proposed rule changes. They decided to adopt somewhat more liberal rule changes than Braby had proposed — a 20% reduction in crab pots and a prohibition on fishing at depths greater than 40 fathoms, starting May 1. After three years, the Commission will evaluate the efficacy of these new policies, and plan to refine or change the rules based on the best available data.
Witnessing this decision-making process gave me a new perspective on the questions and context my research will fit into, and this understanding will help me become a better collaborator. Watching the Commission in action also underscored the difficult position managers are often put in. They must make decisions based on incomplete knowledge that will inevitably impact people's lives — but they also need to protect the species and biodiversity, that also have an innate right to exist in natural ecosystems. Seeing the intricacies of this balancing act made me glad that I get to be part of research that can inform important management decisions in Oregon.
ODFW Marine Resources Program Manager Caren Braby's presentation begins around an hour and 52 minutes into the video, and it is followed by a question and answer session and public testimony.
Posted on October 19, 2020 October 20, 2020 Author Rachel KaplanCategories Oregon whale distributionTags Humpback whales, management, Oregon Coast, policy, Rachel KaplanLeave a comment on The Room Where it Happens
Summaries, highlights, and musings – our 2020 gray whale field seasons at a glance
By Lisa Hildebrand, MSc student, OSU Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab
Fall has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. For humans, it means packing away the shorts and sandals, and getting the boots, raincoats and firewood ready. For gray whales, it means gulping down the last meal of zooplankton they will eat for several months and commencing the journey to warmer waters and sunnier skies in Mexico where they will spend the winter fasting, calving, and nursing. While the GEMM Lab may still squeeze in a day or two of field work this week, we are slowly wrapping up the 2020 field season as conditions get rougher and our beloved gray whales gradually depart our waters. This year marked the 6th year of data collection for both of our gray whale projects: the Newport project that investigates the impacts of multiple stressors on gray whale ecology and health, and the Port Orford project that explores fine-scale foraging ecology of gray whales and their zooplankton prey. Since it will be several months before the GEMM Lab heads back out onto the water again, I thought I would summarize our two field seasons, share some highlights, and muse about the drivers of our observations this summer.
Some snapshots of the field team hard at work this summer. Top left: Hunter Warwick operating the drone. Top right: PI Leigh Torres rocking the lab swag to protect against the sun. Bottom left: Lisa Hildebrand waiting for a whale to surface to get photos of it. Bottom right: Alejandro Fernandez Ajo transfers zooplankton from the light trap to sample jars.
Our RHIB Ruby zipped around the central and southern Oregon coast on 33 different days. The summer started slow, with several days of field work where we encountered no whales despite surveying our entire study region. Our encounters picked up towards the end of June and by the end of the summer we totaled 107 sightings, encountering 46 unique individuals, 36 of which were resightings of known individuals we have identified in previous years. Our Newport star of the summer was Solé, a female gray whale we have seen every year since 2015, and we also saw many of our other regulars including Casper, Rafael, Spray, Bit, and Heart. None of these whales shone as bright as Solé though. We flew the drone over her 8 times and collected 7 fecal samples (one of which was the biggest whale fecal sample I have ever seen!). In total, we collected 30 fecal samples and flew the drone 88 times. These data will allow us to continue measuring body condition and hormone levels of Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG) gray whales that use the Oregon coast.
Left: Our RHIB Ruby heading out for a day of field work in Port Orford, OR this summer. Right: Solé. Image captured under NOAA/NMFS permit #21678.
Our tandem research kayak Robustus may not be as zippy as Ruby (it is powered by human muscle rather than a powerful outboard engine after all), but it certainly continues to be a trusty vessel for the Port Orford team. The Port Orford research team, named the Theyodelers this year, collected 181 zooplankton samples and conducted 180 GoPro drops during the month of August from Robustus. Despite the many samples collected, the size of our prey samples remained relatively small throughout the whole season compared to previous years. The cliff team surveyed for a total of 117 hours, of which 15 were spent tracking whales with the theodolite and resulted in 40 different tracklines of whale movements. The whale situation in Port Orford was similar to the pattern of whale sightings in Newport, with low whale sightings at the start of the field season. Luckily, by the start of August (which marked the start of data collection for the Theyodelers), the number of whales using the Port Orford area, especially the two study sites, Mill Rocks & Tichenor Cove, had increased. Of the whales that came close enough to shore for us to identify using photo-id, we tracked 5 unique individuals, 3 of which we also saw in Newport this year. The Port Orford star of the summer was Smudge, with his tracklines making up a quarter of all of our tracklines collected. Smudge is also the whale we sighted most often last year in Port Orford.
Top: Theyodelers Mattea Holt Colberg and Liz Kelly sampling atop the kayak Robustus. Bottom: Smudge. Image captured under NOAA/NMFS permit #21678.
Many of you may be familiar with the whale Scarlett (formally known as Scarback). Scarlett is a female, at least 24 years old (she was first documented in the PCFG range in 1996), who is well-known (and easily identified) by the large concave injury on her back that is covered in whale lice, or cyamids. No one knows for certain how Scarlett sustained this injury (though there are stories), however what we do know is that it has not prevented this female from reproducing and successfully raising several calves over her lifetime. The GEMM Lab last saw Scarlett with a calf (which we named Brown) in 2016. Since Scarlett is such a famous whale with a unique history, it shouldn't be a surprise that one of our highlights this summer is the fact that Scarlett showed up with a new calf! In keeping with a "shades of red" theme, Leigh came up with the name Rose for the new calf. In July, the mom-calf pair put on quite a cute performance, with Rose rising up on Scarlett's back, giving the team a glimpse of its face. The Scarlett-Rose highlight doesn't end there though. Just last week, we had a very brief encounter in choppy, swelly waters with a small whale. The whale surfaced just twice allowing us to capture photo-id images, and as we were looking around to see where it would come up a third time, it suddenly breached approximately 20 m from the boat. Lo-and-behold, after comparing our photos of the whale to our catalogue, we realized that this elusive, breaching whale was Rose! I am excited to see whether Rose will return to the Oregon coast next summer and become a PCFG regular just like her mom.
Top: Scarlett, easily identified by the large concave injury on her back covered in cyamids. Bottom: Scarlett with her new calf Rose riding her back, giving us a glimpse of its face. Images captures under NOAA/NMFS permit #21678.
The highlight of the field season in Port Orford is the trial, failures and small successes of a new element to the project. There is still a lot that we do not know and understand about PCFG gray whales. One such thing is the way in which gray whales maneuver their large bodies in shallow rocky habitats, often riddled with kelp, and how exactly they capture their zooplankton prey in these environments. Using drones has certainly helped bring some light into this darkness and has led to the documentation of many novel foraging behaviors (Torres et al. 2018). However, the view from above is unable to provide the fine-scale interactions between whales, kelp, reefs, and zooplankton. Instead, we must somehow find a way to watch the whales underwater. Enter CamDo. CamDo is a technology company that designs specialty products to allow for GoPro cameras to be used for time-lapsed recordings over long periods of time in harsh environmental conditions. One of their products is a housing specifically designed for long-term filming underwater – exactly what we need! The journey was not as easy as simply purchasing the housing. We also needed to build a lander for the housing to sit on (thankfully our very own Todd Chandler designed and built something for us), and coordinate with divers and a vessel to deploy and retrieve the set-up, as well as undertake weekly battery and SD cards swaps (thankfully Dave Lacey of South Coast Tours and a very generous group of divers* donated their time and resources to make this happen). We unfortunately had some technological difficulties and bad visibility for the first 4 weeks (precisely why this CamDo effort was a pilot season this year), however we had some small success in the last 2 weeks of deployment that give us hope for the future. The camera recorded a lot of things: thick layers of mysids, countless rockfish and lingcod, several swimming and foraging murres, a handful of harbor seals, and two encounters of the species we were hoping to film – gray whales! While the footage is not the 'money shot' we are hoping to film (aka, a headstanding gray whale eating zooplankton right in front of the camera), the fact that we captured gray whales in the first place has showed us that this set-up is a promising investment of time, money and effort that will hopefully deliver next year.
Top left: CamDo atop its lander designed and built by Todd Chandler. Top right: Divers getting ready to get into the water for a battery and SD card swap. Bottom: Dave Lacey and two of our divers with the Black Pearl, South Coast Tour's boat.
You may have picked up on the fact that we had slow starts to our field seasons in both Newport and Port Orford. Furthermore, while the number of whale sightings did increase in both locations throughout the field seasons, the number of sightings and whales per day were lower than they have been in previous years. For example, in 2018, we identified 15 different individuals in the month of August in Port Orford (compared to just 5 this year). In 2019, 63 unique whales were seen in Newport (compared to 46 this year). Interestingly, we had a greater diversity of encountered individuals at the start and end of the season in Newport, with a relatively small number of different individuals in July and August. While I cannot provide a definitive reason (or reasons) as to why patterns were observed (we will need to analyze several years of our data to try and understand why), I have some hypotheses I wish to share with you.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, this summer the coastal upwelling along the Oregon coast was delayed (Figure 1). Typically, peak upwelling occurs during the month of June or shortly thereafter, bringing nutrient-rich, deep waters to the surface and, when mixed with sunlight, a lot of productivity. This productivity sets off a chain of reactions — the input of nutrients leads to increased phytoplankton production, which in turn leads to increased zooplankton production, resulting in growth and development of larger organisms that consume zooplankton, such as rockfish and gray whales. If the timing of upwelling is delayed, then so too is this chain of reactions. As you can see from Figure 1, the red lines show that the peak upwelling this year occurred far later in the summer than any year in the last 10 years, with the exception of 2012. Gray whales may have cued into this delay and therefore also delayed their arrival to the PCFG feeding grounds, hence causing us to have low sighting rates at the start of our season. However, this is mostly speculative as we still do not understand the functional mechanisms by which cetaceans, such as gray whales, detect prey across different scales, and to what extent oceanographic conditions like upwelling may play a role in prey availability (Torres 2017).
Figure 1. 10 year time series of the Coastal Upwelling Transport Index (CUTI). CUTI represents the amount of upwelling (positive numbers) or downwelling (negative numbers). The light-colored lines represent the CUTI at that point in time while the dark, bold line represents the long-term average. The vertical red lines represent the point of peak upwelling in that summer and the horizontal green line shows the peak level of upwelling in 2020 relative to all previous years.
Furthermore, the green line in Figure 1 shows that even after peak upwelling was reached this year, upwelling conditions were lower than all the other peaks in the previous 10 years. We know that weak upwelling is correlated to poor body condition of PCFG gray whales in subsequent years (Soledade Lemos et al. 2020). Upon arriving to the Oregon coast feeding grounds, gray whales may have noticed that it was shaping up to be a poor prey year (we certainly noticed it in Port Orford in the emptiness of our zooplankton net). Faced with this low resource availability, individuals had to make important decisions – risk staying in a currently prey-poor environment or continue the journey onward, searching for better prey conditions elsewhere. This conundrum is known as the marginal value theorem, whereby an individual must decide whether it should abandon the patch it is currently foraging on and move on to search for a new patch without knowing how far away the next patch may be or its value relative to the current patch (Charnov 1976). If we think of the Oregon coast as the 'current patch', then we can see how the marginal value theorem translates to the situation gray whales may have found themselves in at the start of the summer.
Yet, an individual gray whale does not make these decisions in a vacuum. Instead, all gray whales in the same area are faced with the same conundrum. Seminal work by Pianka (1974) showed that when resources, such as food, are abundant, then competition between predators is low because there is enough food to go around. However, when resources dwindle, competition increases and the niches of predators begin to overlap more and more. With Charnov and Pianka's theories in mind, we can see two groups of gray whales emerge from our 2020 field work observations: those that stayed in the 'current patch' (Oregon) and those that decided to seek out a new patch in hopes that it would be a better one. Solé certainly belongs in the first group. We saw her consistently throughout the whole summer. In fact, she was oftentimes so predictable that we would find her foraging on the same reef complex every time we went out to survey. Smudge may also belong in this group, however it is hard to say definitively since we only survey in Port Orford in late July and August. In contrast, I would place whales such as Spray and Heart in the second group since we saw them early in the summer and then not again until mid-to-late September. Where did they go in the interim? Did they go somewhere else in the PCFG range? Or did they venture all the way up to Alaska to the primary Eastern North Pacific (ENP) gray whale feeding grounds? Did their choice to search for food elsewhere pay off?
As I said earlier, these are all just musings for now, but the GEMM Lab is already hard at work trying to answer these questions. Stay tuned to see what we find!
* Thanks to all the divers who assisted with the pilot CamDo season: Aaron Galloway, Ross Whippo, Svetlana Maslakova, Taylor Eaton, Cori Kane, Austin Williams, Justin Smith
Charnov, E.L. 1976. Optimal Foraging, the Marginal Value Theorem. Theoretical Population Biology 9(2):129-136.
Pianka, E.R. 1974. Niche Overlap and Diffuse Competition. PNAS 71(5):2141-2145.
Soledade Lemos, L., Burnett, J.D., Chandler, T.E., Sumich, J.L., and L.G. Torres. 2020. Intra- and inter-annual variation in gray whale body condition on a foraging ground. Ecosphere 11(4):e03094.
Torres, L.G. 2017. A sense of scale: Foraging cetaceans' use of scale-dependent multimodal sensory systems. Marine Mammal Science 33(4):1170-1193.
Torres, L.G., Nieukirk, S.L., Lemos, L., and T.E. Chandler. 2018. Drone Up! Quantifying Whale Behavior From a New Perspective Improves Observational Capacity. Frontiers in Marine Science: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00319.
Posted on October 12, 2020 October 12, 2020 Author Lisa HildebrandCategories Gray Whale Foraging Ecology and Vessel Disturbance, Gray Whale Individual Behavior and Body Condition, Impacts of ocean noise on gray whalesTags Field Work, Gray Whales, Leigh Torres, Lisa Hildebrand, Oregon Coast, Pacific Coast Feeding Group, predator prey dynamics, UpwellingLeave a comment on Summaries, highlights, and musings – our 2020 gray whale field seasons at a glance
Marine mammals of the Northern California Current, 2020 edition
By Dawn Barlow, PhD student, OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab
Clara and I have just returned from ten fruitful days at sea aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada as part of the Northern California Current (NCC) ecosystem survey. We surveyed between Crescent City, California and La Push, Washington, collecting data on oceanography, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and marine mammals (Fig. 1). This year represents the third year I have participated in these NCC cruises, which I have come to cherish. I have become increasingly confident in my marine mammal observation and species identification skills, and I have become more accepting of the things out of my control – the weather, the sea state, the many sightings of "unidentified whale species". Careful planning and preparation are critical, and yet out at sea we are ultimately at the whim of the powerful Pacific Ocean. Another aspect of the NCC cruises that I treasure is the time spent with members of the science team from other disciplines. The chatter about water column features, musings about plankton species composition, and discussions about what drives marine mammal distribution present lively learning opportunities throughout the cruise. Our concurrent data collection efforts and ongoing conversations allow us to piece together a comprehensive picture of this dynamic NCC ecosystem, and foster a collaborative research environment.
Figure 1. Data collection effort for the NCC September 2020 cruise, between Crescent City, CA, and La Push, WA. Red points represent oceanographic sampling stations, and black lines show the track of the research vessel during marine mammal survey effort.
Every time I head to sea, I am reminded of the patchy distribution of resources in the vast and dynamic marine environment. On this recent cruise we documented a stark contrast between expansive stretches of warm, blue, stratified, and seemingly empty ocean and areas that were plankton-rich and supported multi-species feeding frenzies that had marine mammal observers like me scrambling to keep track of everything. This year, we were greeted by dozens of blue and humpback whales in the productive waters off Newport, Oregon. Off Crescent City, California, the water was very warm, the plankton community was dominated by gelatinous species like pyrosomes, salps, and other jellies, and the marine mammals were virtually absent except for a few groups of common dolphins. To the north, the plume of water flowing from the Columbia River created a front between water masses, where we found ourselves in the midst of pacific white-sided dolphins, northern right whale dolphins, and humpback whales. These observations highlight the strength of ecosystem-scale and multi-disciplinary data collection efforts such as the NCC surveys. By drawing together information on physical oceanography, primary productivity, zooplankton community composition and abundance, and marine predator distribution, we can gain a nearly comprehensive picture of the dynamics within the NCC over a broad spatial scale.
Northern fur seal
Common dolphins
Risso's dolphins
Pacific white-sided dolphins
A few images of marine mammals of the NCC. Click a photo to explore gallery. All photos by Dawn Barlow.
This year, the marine mammals delivered and kept us observers busy. We lucked out with good survey conditions and observed many different species throughout the NCC (Table 1, Fig. 2).
Table 1. Summary of all marine mammal sightings from the NCC September 2020 cruise.
Figure 2. Maps showing kernel densities of four frequently observed and widely distributed species seen during the cruise. Black lines show the track of the research vessel during marine mammal survey effort, white points represent sighting locations, and colors show kernel density estimates weighted by group size at each sighting.
This year's NCC cruise was unique. We went to sea as a global pandemic, wildfires, and political tensions continue to strain this country and our communities. This cruise was the first NOAA Fisheries cruise to set sail since the start of the pandemic. Our team of scientists and the ship's crew went to great lengths to make it possible, including a seven-day shelter-in-place period and COVID-19 tests prior to cruise departure. As a result of these extra challenges and preparations, I think we were all especially grateful to be on the water, collecting data. At-sea fieldwork is always challenging, but morale was up, spirits were high, and laughs were frequent despite smiles being concealed by our masks. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this ongoing valuable data collection effort, and to be part of this team. Thanks to all who made it such a memorable cruise.
Figure 3. The NCC September 2020 science team at the end of a successful research cruise! Fieldwork in the time of COVID-19 presents many logistical challenges, but this team rose to the occasion and completed a safe and fruitful survey despite the circumstances.
Posted on October 5, 2020 October 5, 2020 Author Dawn BarlowCategories Current Projects, Oregon whale distribution, UncategorizedTags Collaborative Research, data collection, Dawn Barlow, Distribution, dolphins, Fieldwork, Marine Mammals, NOAA Fisheries, Northern California Current, oceanography, whales, zooplanktonLeave a comment on Marine mammals of the Northern California Current, 2020 edition


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Zhibek Zholy Avenue is set to transform to a pedestrian zone in accordance with the project designed by Dutch architect Jan Gale. This will highly benefit the commercial premises, ensuring high customer traffic and convenience.


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Home Israel "Peace" Process / Normalization / Abraham Accords Jewish, Pro-Israel Groups React to Morocco Agreeing to Normalize Ties with Israel
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Jewish, Pro-Israel Groups React to Morocco Agreeing to Normalize Ties with Israel
Jackson Richman / JNS
25 Kislev 5781 – December 11, 2020
Photo Credit: Abir Sultan / Flash 90
An Arab salesperson point at ritual Jewish articles "Magen David " in a old art store that formerly used to be a synagogue for the Jewish population 100 years ago, in the Casbah of an ancient quarter in Ourzazate City, Morocco. Oct 11, 2009
Jewish and pro-Israel groups reacted positively to Morocco's announcement on Thursday of its intention to normalize ties with Israel.
It's the fourth normalization deal in the past four months between Israel and Arab countries, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. These nations follow in the wake of Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively.
In a JNS webinar on Thursday, Aaron Klein, strategic adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said "the Teutonic plates are shifting."
"The entire concept of peace that we are seeing unfold now between Israel and the UAE, between Israel and Bahrain, Israel and Sudan, now Israel and Morocco, a lot of this traces back to the Netanyahu Doctrine, peace through strength, peace in exchange for peace," said Klein.
In applauding what he called "another outstanding accomplishment for the current administration," Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, highlighted the difference between those peace agreements and the four normalization deals with Israel that have been made this year.
"Normalizing ties with Israel is the new normal in the Middle East, which decades of expert commentary told us was the 'impossible dream,' " Menken told JNS. "Instead of a cold détente attained via surrender to unreasonable demands, these new agreements promote true peace based upon common security needs and mutual medical, technological and financial benefits."
"History has once again been made with the announcement that Israel and Morocco will normalize diplomatic relations," said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris said "Morocco's announcement is further affirmation of the growing recognition by Arab leaders that establishing relations with Israel will be mutually beneficial."
Republican Jewish Coalition national chairman and former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) called the announcement an "important step towards greater stability and peace in the region."
"Morocco and Israel have agreed to reopen their liaison offices, with the intention of opening embassies later. Official contacts, economic cooperation and direct flights between the two countries will also commence," he said in a statement. "All of these steps—and we hope to see even more to follow—will enhance the security and prosperity of both countries."
B'nai B'rith International CEO Daniel Mariaschin told JNS that "official ties between Morocco and Israel make sense for many reasons, not the least of which is the storied history of the Moroccan Jewish community, and its many contributions to life in Morocco and Israel. We want to recognize the important role played by the United States in bringing this about. This is yet another vital building block in bringing peace and stability to the Middle East and North Africa."
Nathan Diament, executive director for the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, told JNS that the latest "agreement will help unite nations in the Middle East region to deter Iran's aggression and improve Israel's security and economic bonds with its neighbors." He added that his organization looks forward to more countries joining the expanding circle of "peace and security."
The agreement included the United States recognizing the disputed territory of Western Sahara as part of Morocco, becoming the only Western country to do so. The deal also includes agreeing to grant overflights and also direct flights to and from Israel for all Israelis. Israel and Morocco also agreed to open reciprocal embassies in Rabat and Tel Aviv, respectively, immediately.
'A recognition of two historical realities'
"These landmark diplomatic agreements set the Middle East on a different path, where reconciliation replaces rejectionism and old enemies become new friends," said a statement from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
"We salute the American, Israeli and Moroccan diplomats who achieved this historic agreement," continued the organization. And "we look forward to the exchange of ambassadors and embassies, economic cooperation, and greater cultural bonds between Israel and Morocco in the days ahead."
Christians United for Israel founder and chairman Pastor John Hagee said "with each of these announcements, we get one step closer to true peace in the region. It is our sincere hope that the Palestinians see the benefit of ending their conflict with Israel and will one day soon choose to finally 'beat their swords into plowshares,'" told JNS, citing a phrase from the Book of Isaiah.
There's not only a political, but also historical, significance about the development, according to American Sephardi Federation executive director Jason Guberman.
He said the announcement "is a recognition of two historical realities: the Kingdom of Morocco's territorial integrity, which includes sovereignty over the Moroccan Sahara, and the kingdom's independent leadership in forging a decades-old relationship with Israel."
In an email, Guberman said Morocco agreeing to establish diplomatic, economic and other ties with Israel "must be understood in its context," as "900,000 Moroccan-Sephardic Jews live in Israel and keep the sacred chords of memory with the kingdom alive through their traditional observances, building bridges with Moroccan Muslims and travels to Morocco."
In fact, he noted, "Israel issued a postage stamp in honor of Morocco's Chief Rabbi and the Rabbi of Jerusalem Hakham Yosef Massas that included praise (in four languages) for the royal family."
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The main feature of the current world is the urgency. More and more people work more and spend less time at home. With the advance of the lack of time, the food also had to follow the trend. The fast foods started about 1940, when restaurants had the idea of creating the drive-thru. The car passes through the window of the restaurant, make the order, and in minutes the meal is ready. To shorten the time to eat, practice kinds of foods were invented. To be classified as a fast food, the meal need to: fit in a small "to go" package, has to be easy to handle and also, has to satisfy hunger.
That is why most part of fast food are, actually "fat food". The high calorific value of these fast food is the highest concern of the modern society. People are more and more eaten "fat foods" but is not healthy eating. In the last 40 years, the obesity rate increased over 27%. The result is 2,1 billion of people are obese. Lately, the concern with healthy is being discussed around the world and low-calories solutions are being spread through the world. Campaigns are created to encourage the use of healthful kinds or food, or even the substitution of fat ingredients for the low-calorie ones. But, still, the fast food is loved and highly consumed all over the world. Here we list the top 11 most eaten foods in the world.
One of the most popular fast food in the world, the Hamburger meat has the beginning of history registered in Germany, probably in Hamburgo. Besides the country of origin, the Hamburger fame spread in the USA, where the meat was placed in the bread with other ingredients. Since 1904, the Hamburger has become a USA principal icon of cooking and culture. Today this fast food is loved all over the world. The combinations of ingredients can vary according to the country, culture or with the hungry.
someone can actually bite this giant mega-burger'?