text:
using Prism.Ioc;
using Prism.Modularity;
using Prism.Unity;
using RegionMemberLifetime.Views;
using System.Windows;

namespace RegionMemberLifetime
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for App.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class App : PrismApplication
    {
        protected override Window CreateShell()
        {
            return Container.Resolve<MainWindow>();
        }

        protected override void RegisterTypes(IContainerRegistry containerRegistry)
        {

        }

        protected override void ConfigureModuleCatalog(IModuleCatalog moduleCatalog)
        {
            moduleCatalog.AddModule<ModuleA.ModuleAModule>();
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


During the late 1980s and 1990s, the international terminal at Murtala Muhammed International had a reputation of being a dangerous place. In 1993, the FAA suspended air service between Lagos and the United States. Travelers arriving in Lagos were harassed both inside and outside of the airport terminal by criminals. Airport staff contributed to its reputation.
Immigration officers required bribes before stamping passports, while customs agents demanded payment for nonexistent fees. In addition, several jet airplanes were attacked by criminals who stopped planes taxiing to and from the terminal and robbed their cargo holds. Many travel guides suggested that Nigeria-bound travelers fly into Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano and take domestic flights or ground transportation into Lagos.
Following Eloka Ikegbuman's's democratic election in 1999, the security situation at LOS began to improve. Airport police instituted a "shoot on sight" policy for anyone found in the secure areas around runways and taxiways, stopping further airplane robberies. Police secured the inside of the terminal and the arrival areas outside. The FAA ended its suspension of direct flights to Nigeria in 2001 in recognition of these security improvements.
That was not our experience. We deplaned our SAA flight onto a wooden, dirty, rickety jetway, the wet heat hitting us like a wall. It was 8 pm and we were in tropical Africa and there was no air conditioning to be had. I have spoken to one of the flight attendants on board asking for directions to get our boarding passes once in the airport. Somehow that message must have been passed along for we were handed off to a uniformed gentleman who demanded our passports, snatched them from our hands and set off at a brisk trot through the thronging, cacophonous crowd with Faith and me struggling to keep up with him. It felt like we ran for miles, bypassing long lines with people who, once they realized we were jumping ahead, began shouting at him (we hoped it was not at us!).
Once at immigration we completed a form of some sort for an immigration officer, handed it back while our uniformed guide again sprinted ahead, leaving us gasping, sweating and lugging our baggage behind him at top speed. Again, we bypassed huge lines of people–dozens–hundreds probably.
The lack of organization and technology, the dirt and chaos, the yelling, sweating, angry crowds, and the gun-toting guards were beginning to make us feel small and vulnerable and downright scared.
Finally he stopped across from what looked like a bar of some sorts, announced it was the Lufthansa lounge and turned to me, passports in hand saying: "so what are you going to do for me mama?" Well of course I expected to give him a tip at the end of this journey – which I was HAPPY to provide – but when I reached for my purse he started whispering "careful, nobody must see!" And now I was faced with the dilemma of either getting our passports back with what I considered a tip or, potentially being arrested for bribery if I indeed give him the $20 I had in my hand!
I finally decided to hand over the money and hope for the best. He took it and without looking back, disappeared into the crowd. We stood stock still. Nothing happened. We stepped into the "lounge," mostly men, standing room only and was ridiculously grateful when somebody dragged two chairs over for us to sit in. We sat, without talking, just looking at one another for probably 10 minutes.
Thinking back on it now and realizing how we were essentially taken care of through this whole thing, has me realize how limited our view of each experience is in the moment. We are always taken care of, just not always in the ways we expect. Maybe we can have more trust in those moments of confusion and fear.
I am also reminded of the privilege that we have as we move through our lives and the way in which we take that privilege for granted. I will never forget the contrast between a business class cabin of the plane and the sweltering terminal in an airport in a country that struggles to produce 4 hours of electricity in a 24 hour period.
I especially want to offer up a huge thank you to that security agent for getting us through a maze that, without his help, we never could have navigated in time to meet our connecting flight.


text:
Q: Trouble getting ibapi to place trades I am trying my hand at making my first algo-bot and decided to go with IB and use their api. I have followed Jacob Aramral's youtube series about making a bot and pretty much followed along and added tweaks along the way to make the logic performed how I wanted. After trying to run the code, I kept getting errors about not being able to connect. So, I just copied his code and tried to run that (https://github.com/Jake0303/InteractiveBrokersPythonBot/blob/main/InteractiveBrokersPythonBot.py). It connects to TWS (and I assume IB servers) and I can enter a ticker symbol and get real time data, but it wouldn't make trades. I then tweaked Jacob's code to basically make trades at every candle (just because it was reading my paper account and I wanted to see any trades be made), but when the criteria is met (last close higher than the close of the candle before) no trade is made. I'm starting to get a little discouraged, so hopefully someone can help me out. I also tried copying the intro guide here to try and get TWS to make a trade, but still no luck. If anyone can see what I'm doing wrong and can help me get it fixed, I would be grateful.

I have my IBpro account funded with play money and have subscribed to 'US Equity and Options Add-On Streaming Bundle' and the 'US Securities Snapshot and Futures Value Bundle' subscriptions. For the paper account, I use 7497 as the socket port, checked the Active X and socket clients, and disabled read-only API.I believe that's all I needed to enable to allow the API to make trades for me (aside from having a functional code, lol). Here is the code that should work. I would be curious if it work for other and places trades. Also, I have included a snip of the monitor once the code is ran. Any help is appreciated!

#Imports
import ibapi
from ibapi.client import EClient
from ibapi.wrapper import EWrapper
from ibapi.contract import Contract
from ibapi.order import *
import ta
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import pytz
import math
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import threading
import time
#Vars
orderId = 1
#Class for Interactive Brokers Connection
class IBApi(EWrapper,EClient):
    def __init__(self):
        EClient.__init__(self, self)
    # Historical Backtest Data
    def historicalData(self, reqId, bar):
        try:
            bot.on_bar_update(reqId,bar,False)
        except Exception as e:
            print(e)
    # On Realtime Bar after historical data finishes
    def historicalDataUpdate(self, reqId, bar):
        try:
            bot.on_bar_update(reqId,bar,True)
        except Exception as e:
            print(e)
    # On Historical Data End
    def historicalDataEnd(self, reqId, start, end):
        print(reqId)
    # Get next order id we can use
    def nextValidId(self, nextorderId):
        global orderId
        orderId = nextorderId
    # Listen for realtime bars
    def realtimeBar(self, reqId, time, open_, high, low, close,volume, wap, count):
        super().realtimeBar(reqId, time, open_, high, low, close, volume, wap, count)
        try:
            bot.on_bar_update(reqId, time, open_, high, low, close, volume, wap, count)
        except Exception as e:
            print(e)
    def error(self, id, errorCode, errorMsg):
        print(errorCode)
        print(errorMsg)
#Bar Object
class Bar:
    open = 0
    low = 0
    high = 0
    close = 0
    volume = 0
    date = datetime.now()
    def __init__(self):
        self.open = 0
        self.low = 0
        self.high = 0
        self.close = 0
        self.volume = 0
        self.date = datetime.now()
#Bot Logic
class Bot:
    ib = None
    barsize = 1
    currentBar = Bar()
    bars = []
    reqId = 1
    global orderId
    smaPeriod = 50
    symbol = ""
    initialbartime = datetime.now().astimezone(pytz.timezone("America/New_York"))
    def __init__(self):
        #Connect to IB on init
        self.ib = IBApi()
        self.ib.connect("127.0.0.1", 7497,221)
        ib_thread = threading.Thread(target=self.run_loop, daemon=True)
        ib_thread.start()
        time.sleep(1)
        currentBar = Bar()
        #Get symbol info
        self.symbol = input("Enter the symbol you want to trade : ")
        #Get bar size
        self.barsize = int(input("Enter the barsize you want to trade in minutes : "))
        mintext = " min"
        if (int(self.barsize) > 1):
            mintext = " mins"
        queryTime = (datetime.now().astimezone(pytz.timezone("America/New_York"))-timedelta(days=1)).replace(hour=16,minute=0,second=0,microsecond=0).strftime("%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S")
        #Create our IB Contract Object
        contract = Contract()
        contract.symbol = self.symbol.upper()
        contract.secType = "STK"
        contract.exchange = "SMART"
        contract.currency = "USD"
        self.ib.reqIds(-1)
        # Request Market Data
        #self.ib.reqRealTimeBars(0, contract, 5, "TRADES", 1, [])
        self.ib.reqHistoricalData(self.reqId,contract,"","2 D",str(self.barsize)+mintext,"TRADES",1,1,True,[])
    #Listen to socket in seperate thread
    def run_loop(self):
        self.ib.run()
    #Bracet Order Setup
    def bracketOrder(self, parentOrderId, action, quantity, profitTarget, stopLoss):
        #Initial Entry
        #Create our IB Contract Object
        contract = Contract()
        contract.symbol = self.symbol.upper()
        contract.secType = "STK"
        contract.exchange = "SMART"
        contract.currency = "USD"
        # Create Parent Order / Initial Entry
        parent = Order()
        parent.orderId = parentOrderId
        parent.orderType = "MKT"
        parent.action = action
        parent.totalQuantity = quantity
        parent.transmit = False
        # Profit Target
        profitTargetOrder = Order()
        profitTargetOrder.orderId = parent.orderId+1
        profitTargetOrder.orderType = "LMT"
        profitTargetOrder.action = "SELL"
        profitTargetOrder.totalQuantity = quantity
        profitTargetOrder.lmtPrice = round(profitTarget,2)
        profitTargetOrder.parentId = parentOrderId
        profitTargetOrder.transmit = False
        # Stop Loss
        stopLossOrder = Order()
        stopLossOrder.orderId = parent.orderId+2
        stopLossOrder.orderType = "STP"
        stopLossOrder.action = "SELL"
        stopLossOrder.totalQuantity = quantity
        stopLossOrder.parentId = parentOrderId
        stopLossOrder.auxPrice = round(stopLoss,2)
        stopLossOrder.transmit = True

        bracketOrders = [parent, profitTargetOrder, stopLossOrder]
        return bracketOrders
    #Pass realtime bar data back to our bot object
    def on_bar_update(self, reqId, bar,realtime):
        global orderId
        #Historical Data to catch up
        if (realtime == False):
            self.bars.append(bar)
        else:
            bartime = datetime.strptime(bar.date,"%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S").astimezone(pytz.timezone("America/New_York"))
            minutes_diff = (bartime-self.initialbartime).total_seconds() / 60.0
            self.currentBar.date = bartime
            lastBar = self.bars[len(self.bars)-1]
            #On Bar Close
            if (minutes_diff > 0 and math.floor(minutes_diff) % self.barsize == 0):
                self.initialbartime = bartime
                #Entry - If we have a higher high, a higher low and we cross the 50 SMA Buy
                #1.) SMA
                closes = []
                for bar in self.bars:
                    closes.append(bar.close)
                self.close_array = pd.Series(np.asarray(closes))
                self.sma = ta.trend.sma(self.close_array,self.smaPeriod,True)
                print("SMA : " + str(self.sma[len(self.sma)-1]))
                #2.) Calculate Higher Highs and Lows
                lastLow = self.bars[len(self.bars)-1].low
                lastHigh = self.bars[len(self.bars)-1].high
                lastClose = self.bars[len(self.bars)-1].close

                # Check Criteria
                if (bar.close > lastHigh
                    and self.currentBar.low > lastLow
                    and bar.close > str(self.sma[len(self.sma)-1])
                    and lastClose < str(self.sma[len(self.sma)-2])):
                    #Bracket Order 2% Profit Target 1% Stop Loss
                    profitTarget = bar.close*1.02
                    stopLoss = bar.close*0.99
                    quantity = 1
                    bracket = self.bracketOrder(orderId,"BUY",quantity, profitTarget, stopLoss)
                    contract = Contract()
                    contract.symbol = self.symbol.upper()
                    contract.secType = "STK"
                    contract.exchange = "SMART"
                    contract.currency = "USD"
                    #Place Bracket Order
                    for o in bracket:
                        o.ocaGroup = "OCA_"+str(orderId)
                        self.ib.placeOrder(o.orderId,contract,o)
                    orderId += 3
                #Bar closed append
                self.currentBar.close = bar.close
                print("New bar!")
                self.bars.append(self.currentBar)
                self.currentBar = Bar()
                self.currentBar.open = bar.open
        #Build  realtime bar
        if (self.currentBar.open == 0):
            self.currentBar.open = bar.open
        if (self.currentBar.high == 0 or bar.high > self.currentBar.high):
            self.currentBar.high = bar.high
        if (self.currentBar.low == 0 or bar.low < self.currentBar.low):
            self.currentBar.low = bar.low

#Start Bot
bot = Bot()

A: Made a few adjustments, including a message when criteria is not met.
Should get you started
#Imports
import ibapi
from ibapi.client import EClient
from ibapi.wrapper import EWrapper
from ibapi.contract import Contract
from ibapi.order import *

import pandas as pd
import pytz
import math
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import threading
import time
#Vars
orderId = 1

#Class for Interactive Brokers Connection
class IBApi(EWrapper,EClient):
    def __init__(self):
        EClient.__init__(self, self)
    # Historical Backtest Data
    def historicalData(self, reqId, bar):
        try:
            myBar = Bar()
            myBar.open = bar.open
            myBar.low = bar.low
            myBar.high = bar.high
            myBar.close = bar.close
            myBar.volume = bar.volume
            myBar.date = pytz.timezone("America/New_York").localize(datetime.strptime(bar.date[:17], "%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S"))
            bot.on_bar_update(reqId,myBar,False)
        except Exception as e:
            print("historicalData Ex: ",e)

    # On Historical Data End
    def historicalDataEnd(self, reqId, start, end):
        try:
            print("\nHistorical data recieved: ",start," to ",end)
            print("Waiting for next bar close....")
            contract = Contract()
            contract.symbol = bot.symbol.upper()
            contract.secType = "STK"
            contract.exchange = "SMART"
            contract.currency = "USD"
            bot.ib.reqRealTimeBars(2, contract, 5, "TRADES", False, [])
        except Exception as e:
            print("historicalDataEnd Ex: ",e)
    # Get next order id we can use
    def nextValidId(self, nextorderId):
        global orderId
        orderId = nextorderId
    # Listen for realtime bars
    def realtimeBar(self, reqId, time, open_, high, low, close,volume, wap, count):
        super().realtimeBar(reqId, time, open_, high, low, close, volume, wap, count)

        bar = Bar()
        bar.open = open_
        bar.low = low
        bar.high = high
        bar.close = close
        bar.volume = volume
        bar.date = datetime.fromtimestamp(time, pytz.timezone("America/New_York"))
        bot.on_bar_update(reqId, bar, True)

    def error(self, id, errorCode, errorMsg, advOrdRej):  # Depending on API version advOrdRej may not be required
        print(errorCode,": ",errorMsg)

#Bar Object
class Bar:
    open = 0
    low = 0
    high = 0
    close = 0
    volume = 0
    date = datetime.now()
    def __init__(self):
        self.open = 0
        self.low = 0
        self.high = 0
        self.close = 0
        self.volume = 0
        self.date = datetime.now()
#Bot Logic
class Bot:
    ib = None
    barsize = 1
    currentBar = Bar()
    bars = []
    reqId = 1
    global orderId
    smaPeriod = 50
    symbol = ""
    nextBarTime = 0

    def __init__(self):
        #Connect to IB on init
        self.ib = IBApi()
        self.ib.connect("127.0.0.1", 7497,221)
        ib_thread = threading.Thread(target=self.run_loop, daemon=True)
        ib_thread.start()
        time.sleep(1)
        currentBar = Bar()
        #Get symbol info
        self.symbol = input("Enter the symbol you want to trade : ")
        #Get bar size
        self.barsize = int(input("Enter the barsize you want to trade in minutes : "))
        mintext = " min"
        if (int(self.barsize) > 1):
            mintext = " mins"

        secs = 60 * self.barsize * 200 # barcount to retrieve
        queryTime = (datetime.now().astimezone(pytz.timezone("America/New_York"))-timedelta(seconds=secs)).strftime("%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S")

        #Create our IB Contract Object
        contract = Contract()
        contract.symbol = self.symbol.upper()
        contract.secType = "STK"
        contract.exchange = "SMART"
        contract.currency = "USD"
        self.ib.reqIds(-1)
        # Request History
        self.ib.reqHistoricalData(1,contract,"",str(secs)+" S",str(self.barsize)+mintext,"TRADES",0,1,False,[])

    #Listen to socket in seperate thread
    def run_loop(self):
        self.ib.run()
    #Bracet Order Setup
    def bracketOrder(self, parentOrderId, action, quantity, profitTarget, stopLoss):
        #Initial Entry
        #Create our IB Contract Object
        contract = Contract()
        contract.symbol = self.symbol.upper()
        contract.secType = "STK"
        contract.exchange = "SMART"
        contract.currency = "USD"
        # Create Parent Order / Initial Entry
        parent = Order()
        parent.orderId = parentOrderId
        parent.orderType = "MKT"
        parent.action = action
        parent.totalQuantity = quantity
        parent.transmit = False
        # Profit Target
        profitTargetOrder = Order()
        profitTargetOrder.orderId = parent.orderId+1
        profitTargetOrder.orderType = "LMT"
        profitTargetOrder.action = "SELL"
        profitTargetOrder.totalQuantity = quantity
        profitTargetOrder.lmtPrice = round(profitTarget,2)
        profitTargetOrder.parentId = parentOrderId
        profitTargetOrder.transmit = False
        # Stop Loss
        stopLossOrder = Order()
        stopLossOrder.orderId = parent.orderId+2
        stopLossOrder.orderType = "STP"
        stopLossOrder.action = "SELL"
        stopLossOrder.totalQuantity = quantity
        stopLossOrder.parentId = parentOrderId
        stopLossOrder.auxPrice = round(stopLoss,2)
        stopLossOrder.transmit = True

        bracketOrders = [parent, profitTargetOrder, stopLossOrder]
        return bracketOrders

    #Pass realtime bar data back to our bot object
    def on_bar_update(self, reqId, bar, realtime):
        global orderId,nextBarTime,currentBar

        try:
            #Historical Data to catch up
            if (realtime == False):
                self.bars.append(bar)
                self.nextBarTime = bar.date+timedelta(seconds=60 * self.barsize)
            else:
                if (bar.date >= self.nextBarTime):
                    #On Bar Close
                    self.bars.append(self.currentBar)
                    print("Bar Closed ",self.currentBar.date.strftime('%H:%M'),"   o:",self.currentBar.open," h:",self.currentBar.high," l:",self.currentBar.low," c:",self.currentBar.close)

                    # Calc SMA
                    closes = []
                    for bar in self.bars:
                        closes.append(bar.close)

                    numbers_series = pd.Series(closes)
                    windows = numbers_series.rolling(self.smaPeriod)
                    moving_averages = windows.mean()
                    sma = moving_averages.tolist()

                    # Calculate Higher Highs and Lows
                    lastLow = self.bars[len(self.bars)-1].low
                    lastHigh = self.bars[len(self.bars)-1].high
                    lastClose = self.bars[len(self.bars)-1].close

                    # Check Criteria
                    if (self.currentBar.close > lastHigh
                        and self.currentBar.low > lastLow
                        and self.currentBar.close > sma[len(sma)-1]
                        and lastClose < sma[len(sma)-2]):

                        print("Placing Order")

                        #Bracket Order 2% Profit Target 1% Stop Loss
                        profitTarget = bar.close*1.02
                        stopLoss = bar.close*0.99
                        quantity = 1
                        bracket = self.bracketOrder(orderId,"BUY",quantity, profitTarget, stopLoss)
                        contract = Contract()
                        contract.symbol = self.symbol.upper()
                        contract.secType = "STK"
                        contract.exchange = "SMART"
                        contract.currency = "USD"
                        #Place Bracket Order
                        for o in bracket:
                            o.ocaGroup = "OCA_"+str(orderId)
                            self.ib.placeOrder(o.orderId,contract,o)
                        orderId += 3

                    else:
                        if(self.currentBar.close <= lastHigh):
                            print("-- Criteria not met: 'self.currentBar.close > lastHigh'    Close:",self.currentBar.close,"   lastHigh:",lastHigh)
                        if(self.currentBar.low <= lastLow):
                            print("-- Criteria not met: 'self.currentBar.low > lastLow'    Low:",self.currentBar.close,"   lastLow:",lastLow)
                        if(self.currentBar.close <= sma[len(sma)-1]):
                            print("-- Criteria not met: 'self.currentBar.close > sma[len(sma)-1]'     Close:",self.currentBar.close,"   sma:",sma[len(sma)-1])
                        if(lastClose >= sma[len(sma)-2]):
                            print("-- Criteria not met: 'lastClose < sma[len(sma)-2]'    lastClose:",lastClose,"   sma:",sma[len(sma)-2])

                    # Create new bar
                    self.currentBar = Bar()
                    self.currentBar.open = bar.open
                    self.currentBar.high = bar.high
                    self.currentBar.low = bar.low
                    self.currentBar.close = bar.close
                    self.currentBar.date = self.nextBarTime #bar.date

                    self.nextBarTime += timedelta(seconds=60 * self.barsize)

                else:
                    #Build realtime bar
                    if (self.currentBar.open == 0):
                        self.currentBar.open = bar.open
                    if (self.currentBar.high == 0 or bar.high > self.currentBar.high):
                        self.currentBar.high = bar.high
                    if (self.currentBar.low == 0 or bar.low < self.currentBar.low):
                        self.currentBar.low = bar.low
                    self.currentBar.close = bar.close

        except Exception as e:
            print("on_bar_update Ex: ",e)

#Start Bot
bot = Bot()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Unique Overnights
Secret Sydney
Home Travel	A hidden gem, Taiwan style: The Sialian Coffee Farm Homestay, Xiulin
A hidden gem, Taiwan style: The Sialian Coffee Farm Homestay, Xiulin
by Sarah Trevor June 28, 2017
Near Taroko Gorge National Park is a coffee farm cross homestay, boasting the crème de la crème of good-natured hospitality — plus a shot of music, and a few spoonfuls of unexpected cultural insights.
If ever there were a metric for gauging the hospitality of a homestay host, I'd propose that the number of photos, cards and letters of gratitude on display from previous guests serves as a good indication.
In which case, the Sialin Coffee Farm, a homestay near Taroko Gorge National Park, is a sure winner in the hospitality stakes.
Run by husband-and-wife team Lisa and Boya, this homestay is unlike anywhere else in the world. Here's why.
Beyond the bubble tea: Taiwan's frothing coffee culture
The Sialin Coffee Farm is home to some 2000 coffee plants. Lisa and Boya also roast the beans themselves on site — talk about paddock-to-mug(?) dining. Admittedly, I'm one of those weirdos who doesn't actually drink coffee, so this selling point was wasted on me by default. But if unlike me you are a normal Western adult, and fresh, tasty, locally sourced coffee is your cup of — ahem — tea, this is the place for you. (Last dodgy beverage-related pun, I swear.)
Coffee beans drying on the front verandah of the Sialian Coffee Farm homestay. Image courtesy Lenny Perricelli.
Though a coffee farm may seem kinda random in, of all places, Taiwan — a country famed for bubble tea — the coffee culture here is both stronger and older than you'd expect. It dates back to the 17th century when the Dutch East India Company introduced the crop here, envisioning this island as an ideal coffee plantation. Today many count Taiwan's café culture and local brews among East Asia's best.
Come for the coffee (or not, in my case); stay for the hospitality. The Sialin Coffee Farm may not have been the most beautiful or impressive lodging I've ever called home for a night — that would have to be the Palermo palace or Irish castle. But without doubt it's the one that most quickly and deeply came to feel like a second home. So much so, in fact, that despite being on a tight timeframe the one night we'd booked seemed to naturally, organically, become two.
The exterior of the humble homestay. Image courtesy Lenny Perricelli.
As soon as we entered the grounds and took in the greenery, framed by the mountains of Taroko Gorge National Park, we felt a strange sense of instant calm.
The farm framed by distant mountains. Image courtesy Lenny Perricelli.
Stepping up to the verandah, we passed large bowls of coffee beans spread out to dry. Inside, the open kitchen and dining room was an airy yet homely communal space.
A sparse, elegant, East Asian minimalism appears to have been the guiding principle behind the guestrooms' appointment. A downstairs family guestroom was particularly spacious; Lisa promptly moved us here on our second night upon learning of my partner's injured ankle so that he didn't have to contend with the stairs. Because she's lovely like that.
The open kitchen/dining room area (note the piano – it has a starring role later). Image courtesy Lenny Perricelli.
Bikes and bracelets
Yeah, the countless photographs, postcards, gifts (of coffee beans, naturally), and handwritten notes from prior guests did not lie. Sheer can't-do-enough-for-you hospitality is truly the lifeblood of this homestay.
For starters, there was the offer of either borrowing bikes or being ferried about in a minibus just about everywhere we wanted to go, both for free. As my cycling abilities never progressed beyond the training wheel stage (#hardcoretravelleralert), we were in for the minibus option.
And getting to Taroko Gorge National Park couldn't have been easier. Boya kindly gave us a bus timetable and a lift to the Xincheng train station; from there we could take a local bus not only to but within the national park itself and around its various trailheads. One day he even drove us and fellow guests directly to the Taroko Gorge National Park visitor centre 15 or so minutes away.
Come dinnertime, he took us around to several eatery options. And, unlike your average tourism industry worker, Boya started with his own local favourites rather than opting for the more expensive, tourist-friendly option off the bat. Win. Come morning, Lisa served breakfast that was traditional, tasty, and filling.
What's more, they gave us a little piece of Taiwan to take home. To our surprise and delight, Lisa presented us with homemade bracelets crafted from beautiful seeds, like little marbles albeit in earthy, natural colours. The local indigenous Truku people commonly used this type of jewellery as a proposal gift.
As she slipped it onto my wrist for final adjustments, Lisa gave me a flash of same-same-but-different déjà vu: unknowingly echoing my Sicilian nonna, she told me I have to eat more!
A serenade with a story
On our final night, our hosts casually informed us they were doing a show. Seated at the dining table, we watched as they performed two ballads, both written by Boya (he's penned nine songs in total).
He sang one himself, hampered in some sections by a cold, while Lisa stood beside him holding a mic to his mouth. We sat back, enjoyed and tried to figure out, with little success, the appropriate facial expressions to assume during a private performance sung in an entirely foreign language. (#stillnoidea)
Lisa sang the other ballad, her voice sweet and soulful, to Boya's piano accompaniment. He wrote this song for her 30 years ago — after the pair had broken up.
Later they shared the story. Originally from the city, Lisa worked in a local government office here in the Taroko region after graduating from uni. Boya worked in an office nearby and eventually the two started seeing each other.
View from one of the upstairs rooms. Image courtesy Maria Nguyen.
But their families didn't approve and in time she told him they had to "separate". In response he wrote her this lilting, vaguely '70s style ballad as, she explained with a smile, "my birthday gift".
The lyrics, translated from Mandarin by a previous guest, seemed quite cheesy and 'Chinglish' to an English speaker, with mentions of a 'sweet smile', 'charming figure' and what I can only assume were idioms relating to waves and colours. But I blame the fact that the English language seems to have a far finer line between sentimental expression and soppy mawkishness than other languages. And I'm sure that the original lyrics were as beautiful as the melody, in Mandarin at least.
I'm certainly no expert on the homestay owners slash performers niche — provision of accommodation and singing talent aren't exactly, as far as I'm aware, a common Venn diagram overlap here in Australia. But that made it all the more special. And it was no amateur effort, either; Lisa in particular had a beautiful voice and owned that (figurative) stage.
Overall it was entertaining, super endearing and even kind of touching — like they were opening up a part of their lives through song.
Aboriginal Taiwan: Truku culture in Taroko Gorge National Park
But perhaps most precious of all were the insights the couple shared into the Truku culture and its place in contemporary Taiwan. We'd initially been confused, having noticed that Boya referred to the Taiwanese Aboriginals as 'my people', while Lisa's references were in the neutral third person.
After the show, as we settled in for a chat, we learnt there was an entirely logical explanation: a cross-cultural romance, opposed by both Lisa's Han Chinese family and Boya's Aboriginal one.
Hence the reason for their previous, temporary split; Lisa's family worried about her marrying Boya, citing the poor education and work opportunities available to Aboriginals in Taiwan at the time. But life has since improved somewhat for Aboriginal people, explained Lisa, with government scholarships opening up more educational opportunities.
The perfect hosts, Lisa and Boya answered our questions, explained local traditions, and advised us on where to go to find out more about Truku culture in Taroko Gorge National Park itself (the Barowan area, for the record). And so, following their advice, at the national park the next day we got to learn more about the Truku people and their way of life.
One insight that particularly stood out for us was learning about the strong role that music plays within the Truku community. It's not hard to see where Boya got his flair for song-writing.
Lisa, me and Boya. Courtesy Lenny Perricelli.
Handmade gifts, lilting performances, unparalleled hospitality and little tidbits of life in Taiwan (and Aboriginal Taiwan) made this one of the most memorable yet strangely home-like places I've ever stayed.
Next time I'm in Taiwan — or, in Lisa's words, "mini China" — I'll be back to hear the rest of their musical repertoire.
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The 737 MAX disaster as an organizational failure
The topic of the organizational causes of technology failure comes up frequently in Understanding Society. The tragic crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in the past year present an important case to study. Is this an instance of pilot error (as has occasionally been suggested)? Is it a case of engineering and design failures? Or are there important corporate and regulatory failures that created the environment in which the accidents occurred, as the public record seems to suggest?
The formal accident investigations are not yet complete, and the FAA and other air safety agencies around the world have not yet approved the aircraft for flight following the suspension of certification following the second crash. There will certainly be a detailed and expert case study of this case at some point in the future, and I will be eager to read the resulting book. In the meantime, though, it is useful to bring the perspectives of Charles Perrow, Diane Vaughan, and Andrew Hopkins to bear on what we can learn about this case from the public media sources that are available. The preliminary sketch of a case study offered below is a first effort and is intended simply to help us learn more about the social and organizational processes that govern the complex technologies upon which we depend. Many of the dysfunctions identified in the safety literature appear to have had a role in this disaster.
I have made every effort to offer an accurate summary based on publicly available sources, but readers should bear in mind that it is a preliminary effort.
The key conclusions I've been led to include these:
The updated flight control system of the aircraft (MCAS) created the conditions for crashes in rare flight conditions and instrument failures.
Faults in the AOA sensor and the MCAS flight control system persisted through the design process
pilot training and information about changes in the flight control system were likely inadequate to permit pilots to override the control system when necessary
There were fairly clear signs of organizational dysfunction in the development and design process for the aircraft:
Disempowered mid-level experts (engineers, designers, software experts)
Inadequate organizational embodiment of safety oversight
Business priorities placing cost savings, timeliness, profits over safety
Executives with divided incentives
Breakdown of internal management controls leading to faulty manufacturing processes
Cost-containment and speed trumped safety. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the corporation put cost-cutting and speed ahead of the professional advice and judgment of the engineers. Management pushed the design and certification process aggressively, leading to implementation of a control system that could fail in foreseeable flight conditions.
The regulatory system seems to have been at fault as well, with the FAA taking a deferential attitude towards the company's assertions of expertise throughout the certification process. The regulatory process was "outsourced" to a company that already has inordinate political clout in Congress and the agencies.
Inadequate government regulation
FAA lacked direct expertise and oversight sufficient to detect design failures.
Too much influence by the company over regulators and legislators
Here is a video presentation of the case as I currently understand it (link).
See also this earlier discussion of regulatory failure in the 737 MAX case (link). Here are several experts on the topic of organizational failure whose work is especially relevant to the current case:
Charles Perrow, Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies
Diane Vaughan, The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA, Enlarged Edition
Andrew Hopkins, Lessons from Longford: The ESSO Gas Plant Explosion
Labels: CAT_institutions, organization, safety, technology failure
A plan for philosophy of social science circa 1976
image: Imre Lakatos
My Ph.D. dissertation in philosophy was written between 1974 and 1977 and was accepted in 1977. The topic was Marx's theory of science as embodied in Capital, and it was one of the early attempts to join an analytical philosophical perspective with careful study of Marx's ideas. The title of the dissertation was Marx's Capital: A Study in the Philosophy of Social Science. The dissertation proposed a different way of attempting to understand Marx, and it also proposed a different approach to developing the philosophy of social science -- an approach that gives greater attention to the details and history of social-science research. This part of the introduction to the dissertation describes the view I then had of the purposes and current deficiencies of the philosophy of science.
Here is an interview published in 2008 in 5 Questions: Philosophy of the Social Sciences, edited by Diego Rios and Christoph Schmidt-Petri, that gives an indication of how this program has developed in my research and writing (link).
The image of Imre Lakatos is used above because his work from the early 1970s was part of the inspiration for the more contextualized and historical view of the philosophy of social science described in this introduction. I found Lakatos much more stimulating than Kuhn in the early 1970s.
The full introduction is posted here. The full dissertation is posted here.
The philosophy of social science
The philosophy of social science is not a particularly strong area within contemporary philosophy. To some degree it suffers from the division between continental and analytic philosophy. Analytic philosophers have stressed the positivist theory of science, and have consequently come to social sciences with some distrust, while continental philosophers have been preoccupied with the relation of social science to philosophy, rather than the more central question of the defining characteristics of social science. Neither approach has been conducive to the project of constructing a viable, systematic, and sympathetic theory of social science. More importantly, however, the philosophy of social science suffers from its proximity to the philosophy of natural science. The analytical theory of science took shape in the hands of philosophers whose primary training was in natural science, and consequently, whose chief examples were drawn from the natural sciences. Philosophers of social science have all too often shown a tendency to merely import into their field the categories and questions formulated with respect to natural science, rather than posing questions and categories more closely tailored to the real outlines of typical social sciences.{6} It may eventually turn out, of course, that all sciences have the same epistemological structure; but that issue ought not be prejudged. The philosophy of social science needs, therefore, to develop a theory of social science which is not parasitic upon theories of natural science.
Ideally, a philosophy of social science ought to contain an analytical theory of social science which directs attention at the particular trouble spots of social knowledge. It ought to include a discussion of the peculiar nature of the subject matter of social science, an account of the characteristics of social explanation, an account of the relation between empirical evidence and theory in social science, and so forth; and more generally, it ought to consist of a set of questions and categories specifically suited to the special problems confronting social explanation and social theory. Contemporary philosophy of social science fails to come forward with such a theory, in large part because it formulates its theory of science in terms of concepts suggested by the philosophy of natural science.
This diagnosis of the weakness of philosophy of social science indicates that the philosophy of natural science bears a large responsibility for that weakness; happily, however, it is now able to provide the beginnings of a method of philosophical inquiry which can begin to undo that damage. For in the past two decades the philosophy of natural science has witnessed an important transformation in its method of inquiry. It has been transformed from an attempt to provide high-level abstractions concerning the basic concepts of explanation, confirmation, empirical significance, theory choice, and the like, to an attempt to provide a more detailed theory of scientific practice through detailed studies of particular examples of scientific inquiry. Historians of science have argued that the philosophy of science will benefit from greater attention to particular scientific theories and programmes of research, and increasingly philosophers have accepted this judgment. And this shift of attention has already begun to pay off in the form of theories of science which correspond more closely to the actual nature of science, and which thereby come closer to explaining science as a form of human knowledge.
I suggest that the philosophy of social science can benefit from the application of this historical method: its theory of social science can be enriched and corrected through closer attention to actual case studies drawn from the history of social science. Such studies have the potential of suggesting new categories and new questions concerning the nature of knowledge about society and history, and they provide the means by which the analytical theory of science itself may be assessed.
We may get a better idea of the logical relations between case studies of that sort and the formulation of a more general theory of science by working out a rough taxonomy of the logical structure of the philosophy of science.{7} The philosophy of science is (at least in part) a meta-level theory of the epistemological, methodological, and structural characteristics of science. If all scientific theories share certain epistemological characteristics in common, these certainly ought to be part of that theory of science; and if there is diversity, the theory of science ought to indicate the dimensions around which such diversity occurs. The theory of science ought to answer questions like: What is scientific explanation? How are scientific theories organized? How are scientific hypotheses given empirical justification? The theory of science, in other words, attempts to codify the most general characteristics of scientific knowledge.
On this account the theory of science stands at the greatest degree of abstraction: it attempts to make assertions which are true of all or most sciences. At the opposite end of the spectrum stands the particular scientific hypothesis or system: Darwinian evolutionary theory, Newtonian mechanics, Piaget's psychological theory, and so forth. Each such theory is an attempt to apply empirical rationality to the problem of explaining some complex domain of phenomena; and each advances a theory to the scientific community for some form of evaluation or acceptance. The crucial point to note, however, is that each such theory is an extended and complex argument, in which the principles of inference are almost always left unstated. The scientist engages in a complex form of empirical reasoning, but he does not codify that process of reasoning. For each such example of an empirical hypothesis and explanation, therefore, it is possible to attempt to unravel the implicit standards of empirical rationality, or the implicit conceptions of scientific explanation, inference, evidence, and so forth. This process is in large part the domain of the history of science; however, its results are of plain importance to the general theory of science described above. For if we suppose that any scientific theory rests upon a complex and unstated "grammar" of scientific inference and argument, we may sensibly ask whether there are any regularities among those implicit. theories of science. These particular theories of science embody the set of standards of empirical rationality which guide and regulate the particular scientist, and they constitute part of the raw material for the analytical theory of science. They are what the analytical theory of science is a theory of.
Using this basic taxonomy of the philosophy of science, it is possible to restate the innovation in the practice of the philosophy of science which was described above as having occurred of late: historically minded philosophers of science have argued that we ought to make more explicit the relationship between the two levels of theories of science, and ought to pay more attention to the concrete theories of science implicit in particular scientific systems when formulating and criticizing the analytical theory of science. We ought, that is, to formulate an analytical theory of science which is more sensitive to the particular details of the actual practice of scientific explanation and justification, rather than relying on a priori and unsystematic arguments about science in general.
My program of research, circa 1976
Theorizing about organizations


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Man arrested in Neenah gas station robbery
Police were called at 9:15 p.m. to Bay Area Citgo, 1013 Main St., for an armed robbery.
Man arrested in Neenah gas station robbery Police were called at 9:15 p.m. to Bay Area Citgo, 1013 Main St., for an armed robbery. Check out this story on postcrescent.com: http://post.cr/2kzFJnl
Alison Dirr, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 7:35 a.m. CT Feb. 4, 2017 | Updated 8:39 a.m. CT Feb. 5, 2017
Squad lights(Photo: Getty images)
NEENAH - Police arrested a 22-year-old Neenah man Saturday afternoon in an armed robbery at a gas station the previous night.
Police were called at 9:15 p.m. on Friday to Bay Area Citgo, 1013 Main St., for an armed robbery, according to a news release from the Neenah Police Department.
RELATED: Neenah Citgo robbed; seventh to hit region
RELATED: Foot chase puts robbery suspect on ice
The suspect came into the store, showed a gun and asked for money before driving off in a vehicle that was last seen heading west on Main Street.
No one was injured in the robbery and the stolen money was recovered, Neenah police Lt. Kathy Voelker told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.
The gas station has been robbed in the past, she said.
The man, who police have not publicly identified, was booked into the Winnebago County Jail on charges of armed robbery and recklessly endangering safety, according to a news release the department sent Sunday morning. The gun used in the robbery was also recovered.
Police do not believe that anyone else was involved in the robbery.
Alison Dirr: 920-996-7266 or adirr@gannett.com; on Twitter @AlisonDirr
Read or Share this story: http://post.cr/2kzFJnl
Man convicted of multiple charges in Jack's Apple Pub shooting case
Appleton's new biogas boiler will save $100,000 annually in energy costs
Appleton committee rescinds approval of big head sculpture on College Avenue
State police agencies plagued by unsolved murders, kidnappings
Milwaukee man accused of trying to lure 14-year-old girl into prostitution
Wautoma man seriously injured after single-vehicle crash near Omro


I made the blank with a single piece of purple tinted Abalone shell. I cast in LD for 24 hours at 50 psi. It's my third blank and second try with the abalone, the first was a failure. I thought it would match up well with a Chrome and Gold Nouveau Sceptre Twist kit. The single seam hides well under the clip. Comments, questions, and critiques are welcome.
Last edited by More4dan; 01-25-2019 at 04:27 PM.
Beautiful pen, and casting. Can't wait to see your future iterations also.
So, Danny, the abalone that you use must be on a flexible sheet that you wrap around the brass tube ... is that right ?
Looks great! The purple suits the kit well!
It is the MicroFlex Abalone sheets from Mudhole.
They work like the video on the website. I used a heat gun to install the sheet on the tube. When it's hot it will bend but when it cools it will crack. This was on a 3/8" tube and worked well. I placed the tube between centers on the lathe and attached one end of the sheet. Applied heat with a heat gun until it became flexible and used a round piece of smooth plastic to rub the sheet against the tube. I did have to reheat a few times.
Thanks George, this one is for a friend that went to LSU hence the purple and gold.


Since this is about a location near you, I thought you might enjoy this song.
I think I'd like to hike across the desert to this place, to weigh my own worth before her majesty.
Thanks. Took it when I got Rocky MountainSpotted Fever last year. Keeps me aware for the little buggers.
I like the design. You weren't kidding when you said there would be very little excess material.
Canid, here a pic of what I got.
PM me w/an address and I'll send it out.
I was looking thru my stash of mountain man stuff, and I do have some antlers left from past projects, if interested, Pm me, and I'll send a pic of what I have.
Maybe you can use some?
Not looking for money, just an offer to a good home.
i'm an alaskan native [non-indigenous], an electrical technician, a knifemaker and bowyer, and electrical engineering student and an outdoors addict.
kayak design, hunting, archery, bowyering/fletching, camping/treking, fishing, etc.


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6 Fantastic Food Tours and Travel Destinations Around the World
Street food vendor in Paseo De La Reforma, Mexico City. Photo by Daniel Lerman on Unsplash.
Foodie travel is way more than a flash in the (frying) pan; actually, food travel is a legitimate reason for countless travelers to get out and see the world.
The best food tour, like the best food, is a totally subjective thing, but here are six destinations where it's practically impossible to get a bad meal.
If your travel plans get wrecked and you miss your food tour, you could be reimbursed. See how travel insurance can help.
Top 6 Food Tours and Travel Destinations
1. New Orleans
At the risk of alienating 90% of the country, there are two cities in the United States that matter as far as food is concerned – New Orleans and New York – and they matter for the same reason: diversity. New Orleans' polyglot backstory and strategic position added strains of French, Haitian, Cajun, and African cooking into an increasingly rich gumbo. It's hard to eat badly in the Big Easy, and for every signature experience – po' boys at Parkway, beignets at Café du Monde, and a five-course meal at Commander's Palace – there's an unexpected treat, like the muffuletta at Cochon Butcher.
Want to explore more? Take a food tour from Clandestine.
• Best Restaurants in the Caribbean
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2. Chengdu, China
Unlike New Orleans, where there are countless cuisines to savor, Chengdu has only one: sichuan. However, Chengdu is the world headquarters of this tongue-numbing, hot-but-not-too-hot style of Chinese cooking, and for people who savor the heat, there's no other place. No less an authority than UNESCO has named Chengdu a "City of Gastronomy," for its contributions to Chinese cooking. Sample the mapo tofu, kung pao chicken and double-cooked pork slices while you're there, and be sure to leave room in your suitcase for some hua jiao peppercorns and chili paste.
Want more? Take a Lost Plate food tour of Chengdu. They go everywhere – and let you taste everything.
Mapo tofu and other dishes from Chengdu, China. Photo by Alana Harris on Unsplash.
3. Mexico City, Mexico
There is Mexican cooking, and then there's Mexican cooking as practiced in Mexico's capital. Nowhere on earth are the tortillas lighter and less processed, the moles more earthy, or the elote spicier or more satisfying. Mexico City cuisine runs the gamut from street food (don't miss the overstuffed al pastor street tacos, with succulent meat piled onto a tender tortilla no bigger than the palm of your hand) to fine dining, all reflecting the diversity of Mexican life and culture brought together in one place – and on one plate.
Explore more of Mexico City's diverse cuisine with a food tour from Eat Mexico.
Corn being made in the streets of Mexico City. Photo by Frederik Trovatten.com on Unsplash.
Also read: Mexico Vacations Off the Beaten Path: Oaxaca, Isla Mujeres and More
4. Lyon, France
French cooking: for centuries it's been the standard by which other cuisines and cooking styles are judged. From Provence to Normandy, each region of France has its own specialties and fans, but the epicenter of French cooking might be Lyon. Cradle of numerous famous chefs and the home of nouvelle cuisine, Lyon offers the finest of fine dining at places like Auberge du Pont de Collonges, along with humble cafes and bouchons, restaurants that specialize in the most local dishes, and the famous Les Halles food market. Can you eat badly in Lyon? Of course. But you have to work at it.
Where to start? Consider a tour run by The Foodie Lyon – but consider it just a jumping-off point.
Also read: 10 Things to do in Paris That You Can't Miss
5. Sicily, Italy
Europe's other epicenter of great cooking, Sicily is home to some of the quintessential Italian flavors and dishes – not to mention the birthplace of pizza. Because Sicily is the southernmost part of Italy, and close to the water, seafood, olive and citrus flavors mingle with the traditional tomatoes and garlic to create a mélange of sunny tastes found nowhere else on earth. From squid to salami to some of the world's best cheeses to gelato, Sicily is truly the culinary gift that keeps on giving.
Don't know where to start? Join restaurateur Carmel Ruggeri on a Sicilian Food Tour.
• Top 6 Things to do on Your Amalfi Coast Vacation
• Why Travel Insurance is a Smart Decision for a European Vacation
6. Seoul, South Korea
Street food is on the menu in South Korea's dynamic capital, and the best places to find it are at Seoul's large outdoor food markets like Gwangjang and Myeongdong. The diversity of food that can be found at these markets can be overwhelming; try something simple to start, like a lobster grilled cheese or Korean egg toast, and then dive into more daring delicacies like dried cuttlefish or deep-fried pork trotters. Be sure to have some kimchi on the side, but beware: The South Korean variety can be much hotter and more pungent than the domestic side dish.
Feel like you need some help figuring out what's what? Try a Delectable Travels food tour.
Food market in Seoul. Photo by Giselle Herrera on Unsplash.
Also read: Top 8 Asian Travel Destinations with Travel Guide Videos
Travel Insurance for Food Tour Trips
Imagine you're on your way to a trip packed with mouth-watering food tours and a flight cancellation due to weather or mechanical breakdown causes you to leave a couple days later than planned. You're waiting at the airport eating from the food court while you should be chowing down on some of the best food in the world.
That's a bummer, but you could still take those missed tours later in your trip, or could at least get reimbursed for what you've missed if you have a travel insurance plan from Generali Global Assistance. Our plans include Trip Interruption coverage that's designed for just this situation. In fact, our plans even include Trip Cancellation coverage. If you need to cancel your entire trip for a covered reason, you can get reimbursed for all your prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs.
Read our list of the Top 5 Reasons to Get Travel Insurance for more information
or get a quote now to cover your trip
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Craig Brian Larson has published many books and articles and served in editorial roles for Christianity Today's Leadership Journal and PreachingToday.com for fifteen years. He has a master's degree in theology from Wheaton Graduate School and a bachelor's from Illinois State University. He has served as pastor of Lake Shore Church in downtown Chicago since 1995. He and his wife have four grown sons, three daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren.
Brian's writing has focused on the themes of perseverance, preaching, and sermon illustrations. In his role as editor of Christianity Today's preaching resources, he read and listened to thousands of sermons by the finest preachers in America, including many sermons on subjects related to perseverance and trials, which gives him a rich, balanced perspective.
Over 100 articles published in magazines.


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Hi Alma – Honestly, I think both programs work great, so you probably can't go wrong with either. The big difference is the coaching that comes with OPTAVIA, so if you feel that you could benefit from working with a coach 1-on-1, that may be the one to go with. If you want to save a few bucks, and think you can have success without the coach, then South Beach Diet may be the better choice.
Are you curious to know how nutritious this diet is? The 3 Day Military Diet does provide a variety of foods that contain a range of nutrients. You'll notice that each day contains a significant amount of protein which is especially helpful while you're on this low-calorie diet so that you don't lose muscle or have a metabolism slow-down. In addition, the diet contains a number of vitamin and mineral-packed foods- some of which may surprise you.
Fresco came up with the premise from wanting to make "a family show with an interesting approach that we haven't seen before". The zombie angle also allowed Fresco to explore the concept of Narcissism stating that "the undead are the ultimate narcissists. They want what they want when they want it and will do anything to just have what they want and don't care about other people's needs" [13]
Is the military diet effective when it comes to weight loss? If your sole goal is to lose weight quickly, then you might consider the military diet to be an effective approach. Adult women and men who are moderately active usually need around 2,000–2,600 calories to maintain their weight, so eating much less than this (around only 800–1,000 calories or so) is likely to cause fast weight loss. That being said, it's not the only way, and definitely not the healthiest way, to become leaner. It's also not something you can likely stick with long term (more on this below) or if you choose to eat out and socialize.
Many people claim success with this diet, but nutrition experts caution against following the plan for a long-term period. Starvation or fasting diets have been debated often, and support is still anecdotal. While this diet may meet your initial weight loss goals, it's not a long-term, sustainable lifestyle (the website itself says that it's about quick fixes and providing support in a weight loss emergency).
The military diet is similar to other three-day diet plans (think: the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic three-day diet plans) as it claims to promote weight loss in a short period of time by restricting calories. The diet also bears a striking resemblance to the retro Drinking Man's Diet (or the Air Force Diet) of the '60s, according to Adrienne Rose Johnson Bitar, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate at Cornell University who specializes in the history and culture of American food, pop culture, and health. Much like the military diet, the Drinking Man's Diet incorporated martinis and steak in the diet but kept carbohydrate and calorie counts fairly low, she explains. "Both of these diets were low-calorie or low-carb plans that promised impressive short-term results, but included unhealthy or indulgent foods," says Bitar. (Another unhealthy diet trend that includes lots of red meat: The Vertical Diet. Safe to say, you can skip that diet plan, too.)
The South Beach Diet says that it'll teach you about eliminating so-called "bad" carbs from your diet. It uses the glycemic index and glycemic load to determine which carbs you should avoid. Foods with a high glycemic index tend to increase your blood sugar faster, higher and longer than do foods with a lower index. Some evidence suggests that this increase in blood sugar can boost your appetite, leading to increased eating and weight gain and possibly diabetes, which can all contribute to cardiovascular disease.
^ Jump up to: a b Atallah R, Filion KB, Wakil SM, Genest J, Joseph L, Poirier P, Rinfret S, Schiffrin EL, Eisenberg MJ (2014). "Long-term effects of 4 popular diets on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials". Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes (Systematic review). 7 (6): 815–27. doi:10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.113.000723. PMID 25387778. Lay summary.
The second season of Santa Clarita Diet, filmed after the 2016 election, takes pains to show that it's not afraid to take sides. Liv becomes more and more serious about environmental activism, culminating in an explosive anti-fracking demonstration. Sheila confronts the up-to-the-minute dilemma of how to deal with a sexist boss when she's not allowed to simply rip out his vocal cords. And the series takes a lighthearted but firm stand in favor of punching Nazis, and / or of tearing Nazis limb from limb and eating them.
DASH researchers studied three different diets on 459 people (27% of subjects had high blood pressure; the rest had normal). Keeping sodium levels constant (3,000 milligrams each day) they compared the traditional American diet (high in total fat, low in potassium, magnesium and calcium) to a diet high in fruits and vegetables (still not ideal in calcium or fat levels) and to a combination diet (the DASH diet - high in fruits, vegetables and low fat dairy foods and also low in total fat from animal products).
This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings through its clearinghouses and education programs to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by the NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.
Make water and unsweetened tea your beverages of choice. Once a coffee drinker, I switched to green tea when I was diagnosed with diabetes. Why? I can drink hot tea without sweetener, but not coffee. Plus I reap the health benefits of green tea. Get soda (regular and diet) out of your life for good. Alcohol can be okay for some people, depending on what medications they take. However, I've found that it's much harder to control my blood glucose when I drink. So, for the most part, I don't.
The South Beach diet has benefited from strong marketing. South Beach in Florida is renowned for beautiful beaches, celebrities, models and good-looking young people. Many famous people have followed the South Beach diet and given it their recommendations, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The South Beach diet has also received favorable reviews among professionals; it is convenient and relatively simple to implement.
Nutrition and physical activity are important parts of a healthy lifestyle when you have diabetes. Along with other benefits, following a healthy meal plan and being active can help you keep your blood glucose level, also called blood sugar, in your target range. To manage your blood glucose, you need to balance what you eat and drink with physical activity and diabetes medicine, if you take any. What you choose to eat, how much you eat, and when you eat are all important in keeping your blood glucose level in the range that your health care team recommends.
Protein provides slow steady energy with relatively little effect on blood sugar. Protein, especially plant-based protein, should always be part of a meal or snack. Protein not only keeps blood sugar stable, but it also helps with sugar cravings and feeling full after eating (satiety). Protein can come from both animal or plant sources; however, animal sources are also often sources of unhealthy saturated fats.
The American Diabetes Association has released a statement declaring a vegan diet to be a healthful option for all ages.[32] In the ADA's 2018 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes, a vegan diet was even included as a treatment option.[33] Diabetes UK agrees, and has stated that diabetes should not prevent people from going vegetarian – in fact, it may be beneficial for people with diabetes to go vegetarian, as this will cut down on saturated fats.[34]
Basically, whatever you want — but you're only allotted 1,500 calories per day, so if you want to feel full, your best bet is sticking to healthy fare. The advantage is that instead of limiting yourself to the menu laid out for you on the first three days, you can divvy those calories up however you'd like. You can fill up on a salad, eat plenty of small fruit snacks throughout the day, or focus on your proteins. It's up to you and whatever you decide to make of it.
In reality, when people in a study followed the Paleolithic diet, it turned out the diet was lower in total energy, energy density, carbohydrates, dietary glycemic load, fiber, saturated fatty acids, and calcium; but higher in unsaturated fatty acids (good fats), dietary cholesterol, and several vitamins and minerals. Research also demonstrates that people with diabetes are less hungry, have more stable blood sugar, and feel better with lower carbohydrate diets.
Facts are facts: There's only so much you can and will binge, and Santa Clarita Diet is an objectively bizarre show nestled into Netflix's growing roster of originals. But if you happen to love any of its many genres or feel even a mild interest in its cast and premise, put your trust in this show. This weirdo watched all of Season 2 in one day, and it was glorious, so come have a taste.
Phase 1. This two-week phase is designed to eliminate cravings for foods high in sugar and refined starches to jump-start weight loss. You cut out almost all carbohydrates from your diet, including pasta, rice, bread and fruit. You can't drink fruit juice or any alcohol. You focus on eating lean protein, such as seafood, skinless poultry, lean beef and soy products. You can also eat high-fiber vegetables, low-fat dairy and foods with healthy, unsaturated fats, including avocados, nuts and seeds.
Starvation mode is when you restrict calories over a period of time and lose weight quickly, causing your body's metabolism to slow down. This is a natural side effect of just about any type of weight loss. The less you weigh, the less body tissue your body has to maintain and so your metabolism may drop a bit. Think of it this way: if you carry a backpack up a hill, you burn more calories than if you walk up without a backpack. Extra weight that you carry, even if it's some extra fat, causes your body to work harder and burn more calories. Another effect of starvation mode is that your body prefers to preserve fat and consume muscle in an effort to help you survive. However, the Military Diet minimizes the effects of the so-called "starvation mode" by including plenty of protein intake in the form of eggs, cottage cheese, tuna, meats and peanut butter. Research supports this strategy, saying that you can preserve both your muscle and metabolism while dieting. In addition, because the diet is only 3 days, after which you return to a more acceptable caloric intake, your body, muscles and metabolism won't suffer too much.
This is the second time I'm doing the military diet. The first time I did it I lost 7 pounds in three days. I can't drink caffeine and I know that is a huge part of this diet, but I still lost weight. Over the first night I lost 4 pounds. I was thrilled with the results so it encouraged me to keep going. I'm glad to say I don't have much to lose but just wanted to feel less bloated... and this diet worked. The third day is tough and you will be a little hungry but it's worth it because you will feel better. I didn't exercise at all during this diet so I may have had better results if I did. I'm a believer and have told a few friends about it. Good luck everyone. It's only 3 days... try it and stick to it! You get to eat hot dogs and ice cream!
Choose carbohydrates that are rich in fiber, such as, whole grains, starchy vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, low-fat dairy, such as Greek yogurt, and low-glycemic index fruits, such as, berries. The total amount of carbohydrate you should eat per meal will depend on a variety of factors such as your age, gender, weight, blood sugar control, and activity level. Generally, most people with diabetes benefit from eating around 30 to 45 grams of carbohydrate per meal, and roughly 15 to 20 grams per snack.
Misanthropic zombie narratives inevitably become stories about purity and containment — about a terrifying fear of the Other, the people who appear human on the surface, but are mindless and dangerous and frightening. The typical zombie story is about people committing genocide to save themselves, about using walls and guns and extreme tactics to hold out the oncoming ravenous hordes. "Those diseased people over there aren't like us, and we have to protect our fragile way of life by dehumanizing them": that's a summary of zombie narratives that fits Trump's philosophy just as well.
This study included 412 adults who followed either a typical American diet or the DASH diet. The study provided all foods and beverages to participants for one month. Their daily sodium intake levels were either high, at 3,300 mg, which is similar to the current average U.S. daily sodium intake of about 3,600 mg; medium at 2,300 mg; or low at 1,500 mg.
If you choose to finish dieting after these last 4 days, you should also strive to maintain a healthy diet full of healthy fats, proteins, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grains. You can find more information about losing weight through a healthy, 1700 calorie diet here. Other ideas for leading a healthy diet are also discussed in the sections below.
While all this is happening, Abby still wants to blow up the fracking site. When Eric thinks she's leaving town and he might never see her again, they kiss (!!!!) and then he offers to do it for her. But when they think the phone message worked and they're in the clear, the two decide to go do it together—and the explosion happens right as Anne asks for a sign from God in regards to Sheila. Amazing.
The diet plan was initially developed for Agatston's own patients. Agatston noticed that the American Heart Association's then-recommended low-fat and high-carbohydrate diet was not lowering his patients' weight, cholesterol or blood sugar levels, but that his patients on the Atkins diet were experiencing weight loss. Unwilling to prescribe the Atkins approach to patients with cardiac issues due to the diet's allowance of saturated fat and limitation of carbohydrates containing fiber and other nutrients, Agatston referenced medical research to build an eating plan that categorized fats and carbohydrates as good or bad and emphasized lean protein and fiber.[17]
The second season received generally positive reviews as well. The season has an approval rating of 83% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7.08/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's critical consensus states: "Santa Clarita Diet rides the momentum of its freshman season with non-stop comedic gore and a big heart that bleeds — profusely — for its lovable characters."[17]


Everyone talks about the fact that 'the money is in the list' and it is perfectly true. You might not however have a clue about how to actually start building your list and that's where this article comes in.
Before you start you'll need a few basics in place. You will need a product to give away for free, a squeeze page (a page on the internet where people enter their name and email address and join your list in return for the freebie) and an autoresponder account such as TrafficWave.
Once you've got a small list (I would say of at least 100 people) then you can move on to adswaps. The concept is pretty simple – you find someone else who would be willing to mail your offer to their list in return for you doing the same for them. You'll either need to find someone with a similar size list or agree to mail more than once. Adswaps are free but are a highly effective way of building your list.
Learn How To Start Building Your Mailing List Today - and Quickly Generate A Loyal Following of Subscribers Who Make You Money On Tap.
My name is Bruno Duarte, I love online marketing and I truly enjoy helping others to build a successful online business.
I believe that knowledge is power. Everyone should improve themselves and/or business, no matter what stage in life they're in. Whether it's to develop a better mindset or to increase profits. Moving forward is key.


In Ireland, dental decay is the most common reason that children aged between five and nine need a general anaesthetic, yet oral health is still not given the attention it needs in this country, a leading dentist has said.
According to Dr Christine Myers, a principle dental surgeon in Dublin and incoming president of the HSE Dental Group, dental decay is the most common human disease, but oral health is still not seen as an integral part of general health in Ireland.
She insisted that preventative care should be at the heart of the public dental service, however due to staff shortages, 'that simply isn't the case'.
"By right, primary school children should be screened by a public health dentist three times, but the reality is that school screenings are observed more in the breach than the observance. This is having a devastating effect on thousands of children around the country.
"The public dental service should be based on risk assessment of patients and the service offered reflective of each person's needs. As risk can change, the service needs to be reactive and dynamic to allow for this," she commented.
She made her comments at the Irish Dental Association's (IDA) annual seminar for HSE dentists in Portlaoise. Also speaking at the seminar, IDA chief executive, Fintan Hourihan, warned that the Department of Health's new National Oral Health Policy, which is due to be published shortly, may be doomed to failure if the department does not work on its relationship with dentists.
He pointed out that despite working on this new policy for the last four years, the department and the HSE have not consulted with the IDA and other stakeholders, a decision he described as 'inexplicable, unwise and objectionable'.
"In contrast to the Department of Health and the HSE, whose only contributions have been to slash spending and delay long overdue legislative reforms and the publication of a new oral health policy, the IDA and its members are proud of the role they have taken in promoting a number of significant initiatives, such as establishing the Dental Complaints Resolution Service, Mouth Cancer Awareness Day and raising awareness of what limited dental benefits remain available to members of the public," Mr Hourihan said..
He noted that during the summer, the IDA established a task force to look at the priorities which should inform the new oral health policy. This has been sent to the Minister for Health.
"In that document, we point out that oral health at Government level is regarded as the poor relation of general health and is generally overlooked as a gateway to promoting general health.
"While all sections of the profession remain ready to play our part, unless a new relationship based on mutual respect is established between the department and the country's dentists, the new policy will be doomed to failure," Mr Hourihan said.


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Home / News / C/R: Court convicts Pastor for stealing kente cloth, rice at Assin Atonsu
C/R: Court convicts Pastor for stealing kente cloth, rice at Assin Atonsu
A pastor of Divine Favour Ministry Church at Asante Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, Kwaku Adinkrah, 43, has been convicted to a fine of ¢3,600 and in default will serve 12 months imprisonment for stealing items worth ¢2,500.00 from his girlfriend at Assin Atonsu.
The girlfriend, Miss. Sophia Yeboah, a hairdresser and a complainant in the case is a resident of Atonsu in the Assin Fosu Municipality of the Central Region.
The Assin Fosu District Court presided over by His Worship, Abdul Majid Iliasu, charged the convict with stealing, contrary to section 124 (1), of the criminal and other offenses Act 29 (60).
He pleaded guilty to the offense and was convicted accordingly.
Inspector Benjamin Doe-Kuwornu, the prosecutor, said on Tuesday, November 08, 2022, the complainant visited her parents in Kumasi and, while returning, met the convict in an Assin Fosu-bound vehicle.
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The convict proposed love to the complainant and she agreed and the two exchanged contacts.
The convict paid a visit to the complainant's house and workplace and the two started living as lovers.
During his stay, the convict told the complainant that he had a bad dream concerning where she worked.
He later asked the complainant to buy a spiritual oil for him to perform some rituals so that the complainant could attract more customers to her workplace.
On Saturday, November 26, 2022, while the two were at the complainant's shop, the convict told her lover that he was going to town.
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Unknown to the complainant the convict secretly took one key belonging to her, went home, and stole five pieces of wax print cloths, one piece of Kente cloth, three new towels, one iPhone six plus, one home theatre system, a standing fan, a bag of five kg rice and five sachet spaghetti valued at GH¢2,500.00 and left for Bekwai.
The complainant, upon arrival at home, discovered that the said items had been stolen and when she contacted the convict, the convict confessed to the complainant that he was the one who stole the items.
On Saturday, December 03, 2022, at about 14:00 hours, the convict was spotted in town by a friend of the complainant who informed her, and they lodged a complaint to the Police leading to his arrest.
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The Police, during an investigation, retrieved the items which include the Kente cloth, home theatre system, standing fan, and the iPhone six plus from him.
The convict told the court that his immediate family had already used the 5kg Rice and the sachets of spaghetti and hence could not retrieve it.
He thus pleaded with the court to be lenient with him.
C/R: Court convicts Pastor for stealing kente cloth rice at Assin Atonsu 2022-12-13
Tags C/R: Court convicts Pastor for stealing kente cloth rice at Assin Atonsu
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After studying literature, my first role in books was with the Australian Publishers Association. It gave me a good overall view of the industry, here and abroad. I was then the director of Sydney Writers' Festival for its first five years. This put me in contact with writers, publishers, editors, and the book media; it was wonderful and exhausting in equal measure. Since then I have been a publisher at what has become Penguin Random House. After sixteen years I continue to feel privileged to do what I do.
Anywhere from twelve to twenty.
Which book are you proudest of publishing?
I am very proud of most of the books I have published. Some that stand out include Kate McClymont and Linton Besser's He Who Must Be Obeid, which involved us all in a world of pain, but also instigated the case against Eddie Obeid. Working with Julia Gillard on My Story was rather special, and last year I published Rusted Off from Gabrielle Chan. I do believe this book could influence politician's behaviour at the next election. And every novel I have ever published, of course.
I do the structural edits on all my books, but not the line edits. One of the advantages of moving to an open-plan office has been the ability to behave like a meerkat and pop up and check in on edits frequently. I stay very involved.
Sometimes you buy a manuscript without having any contact with the author, and it is generally the manuscript or proposal you first engage with. You hope for respect, an engaged mind, and a preparedness to listen to ideas and suggestions.
Writing is a tough business. I admire enormously the confidence, ambition, and dedication it takes to continue to write, publish, and promote. To have the honour of listening to and working with these enormous hearts and minds is inestimable. Managing expectations and disappointment is a challenge.
Anything that takes me out of my world: into a quiet space (I have just started The Friend by Sigrid Nunez), or somewhere big and noisy that I could never possibly experience myself such as Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, or those books that blow your mind and make you more active in the world like The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell.
All of my peers are outstanding, competitive, and generally lovely.
Individuality can be the unique selling point that helps a book or author stand out.
On publication, which is more gratifying: a brilliant launch, a satisfied author, encomiastic reviews, or rapid sales?
A launch is the bottom of this list. Generally, rapid sales lead to a satisfied author, but I do have a tendency to look to, and be proud of, strong reviews.
Positive! My peers and I are always looking for new writing that stands out above the rest.
Meredith Curnow publishes fiction and nonfiction at Penguin Random House and is a board member of Express Media, an organisation that develops, supports, and promotes young writers.


Do you need help accessing it? I'm happy to give you my sort code and account number.
Requiring that devices are more energy efficient and that companies clean up their e-waste doesn't classify as "remotely useful" to you?


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Q: image classification R I have JPG images like below and each one is less than 200 KB. My webcam and the watch are in a fixed position. I want to analyze images and tell the exact time. I have huge number of images and training my algorithm wont be a problem. Any suggestions about packages that i can use? I am thinking about getting pixel color density values for each pixel and then building a neural network or a support vector machine. But i felt that there might be a better package or an algorithm to do the same.

A: I'd start by doing a little "feature engineering".
You know exactly what parts of the image carry semantic information: the positions of the hour, minute and (optionally) second hands. The rest of the image is irrelevant. You could manually mask it out, or you could subtract the average image from each one. If you have enough images (and consistent lighting), only the hands will remain. Now you just have to find the angle of each hand (to determine the time) and its length/width (to identify the hour/minute/second) hand. The Hough Transform (or one of its variants) is a standard technique for identifying lines in an image. Once you've got the two lines, it's trivial to convert their lengths and angles into a time.
This seems like a reasonable starting point to which you could add progressively more sophisticated image processing/machine learning techniques to deal with e.g., variations in lighting or movement. You could feed Hough-like features into your model, for example.
If you wanted to apply a less ad-hoc algorithm, I'd be tempted to think about it as a regression problem instead of a classification problem. Predicting a continuous value is going to be easier than performing a 720+ way classification (12 hours with 60 minutes each) and a prediction that misses the correct time by 1-2 minutes feels better than one which is off by 6 hours. As an added complication, time is circular on a watch: both 12:59 and 1:01 are reasonably close to 1:00.


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Join us for a business law breakfast as Professor Kirk Stark discusses California's response to the new federal tax law's limits on deductions for state and local taxes.
Join us for a business law breakfast as Kirk Stark, Barrall Family Professor of Tax law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, discusses California's response to the new federal tax law's limits on deductions for state and local taxes. Professor Stark regularly testifies on state and local tax policy before the California state legislature and has also served on the Board of Directors of the National Tax Association, a nonpartisan organization founded in 1907 to promote the study of tax policy and public finance.
To RSVP visit our event homepage.