text:
\section{Introduction}
With the rapid introduction of new techniques to reinforcement learning, a smörgåsbord of approaches have emerged, all promising improvements over baseline methods. The goal of our project is to examine some of the most high impact recent advances in reinforcement learning, and see how and whether they can be combined to create a new state of the art standard in performance on OpenAI Gym tasks. Our hope is that we can identify which of these methods, or combination of these methods, has the best performance, and create a new benchmark for these standardized learning environments. We will examine techniques involving two popular and promising ideas in current in reinforcement learning literature: experience replay (ER).

With the advent of the successful utilization of deep neural networks (DNNs) as function approximators in various model-free techniques based upon TD learning, experience replay has become a necessary tool to enhance  accurate and generalized learning by DNNs. As a result of the emphasis that has been placed on experience replay, a variety of modifications have emerged in recent years that have individually shown significant increases in convergence speed when applied to DNN-based learning models. The ones that seem to have shown the most dramatic performance improvements are prioritized experience replay (PER) \cite{prioritized} and hindsight experience replay (HER) \cite{hindsight}. Another technique, combined experience replay (CER) \cite{combined} has also been shown to improve performance.

To our knowledge, there has been no study on the combination of all the experience replay advances in recent years. Thus, We combine the recent experience replay techniques of HER, PER, and CER in order to show the combined effectiveness in a multitude of environments.

\section{Background and Related Works}

\subsection{Deep Q Network}
In standard reinforcement set up, an agent interacts with an environment in discrete time steps. At each time t, the agent receives an observation $x_t,$ makes an action $a_t$ and receives a reward $r_t.$ An agent's behavior is defined by a policy $\pi$ which given a state outputs a probability distribution over the possible actions. The process is modeled as a Markov Decision process with state space $\EuScript{S}$ action space $\EuScript{A}$ and an initial state distribution $p(s_0),$ transition dynamics $p(s_{t+1}|s_t,a_t),$ and reward function $r(s_t, a_t).$ The return is defined as sum of discounted reward $\gamma \in [0,1].$
\begin{equation}
R_T = \sigma_{i=t}^{T} \gamma(i-t)r(s_i, a_i)
\end{equation}
The goal of reinforcement learning is to learn a policy distribution that maximizes the expected reward. The expected reward after taking an action $a_t$ in state $s_t$ following policy $\pi$ is
\begin{equation}
Q^{\pi} (s_t, a_t) = E_{r_i \geq t, s_{i>t}~E, a_{i>t}~\pi}[R_t|s_t, a_t]
\end{equation}
Expanding the expectation gives the Bellman Equation
\begin{equation}
Q^{\pi}(s_t, a_t) = E_{r_t, s+1 ~ E} [r(s_t, a_t) + \gamma E_{a_{t+1}~\pi}[Q^{\pi}(s_{t+1}, a_{t+1}]]
\end{equation}
If the target policy is deterministic, it can be described as a function $\mu: S -> A$
\begin{equation}
Q^{\mu}(s_t, a_t) = E_{r_t, s+1 ~ E} [r(s_t, a_t) + \gamma Q^{\mu}(s_{t+1}, \mu(s_{t+1}))]
\end{equation}
The expectation depends only on the environment. It is possible to learn $Q^\mu$ off policy, using transitions generated from a different policy.

Q-learning uses the greedy policy $\mu(s) = argmax_a Q(s,a).$ This can be approximated by minimizing the loss of its parametrization using $\theta^{Q}$
\begin{equation}
L(\theta^{Q}) = E_{s_t~p^{\pi}, a_t ~ \pi, r_t~E} [(Q(s_t, a_t | \theta^Q) - y_t)^2]
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
y_t = r(s_t, a_t) + \gamma Q(s_{t+1}, \mu Q(s_{t+1}, \mu(s_{t+1})|\theta^Q)
\end{equation}
Using replay buffer and a separate target network for calculating t, large neural networks could be used to approximate the Q function. This is known as deep Q learning.
\subsection{Deep Deterministic Policy Gradients (DDPG)}
The DDPG algorithm \cite{ddpg} uses an actor-critic approach based on the DPG algorithm. The DPG algorithm uses a $\mu(s | \theta^{\mu})$ to specify the deterministic policy by returning an action given a state. The critic $Q(s|a)$ is updated using the Bellman equation. The actor is updated using the following gradient
\begin{equation}
   \Delta_{\theta \mu} J \approx E_{st~p^{\beta}}[\Delta Q(s,a|\theta^{Q})|_{s=s_t,a=\mu(s_t)}\Delta_{\theta_{\mu}(s|\theta^{\mu})|_{s=s_t}}]
\end{equation}
Rather than directly copying the weights, the DDPG algorithm creates a copy of the actor and critic network $Q'(s, a|\theta^{Q'})$ and $\mu'(s|\theta^(\theta'))$ and perform target updates. The weights of the networks are updated by having them slowly match the learned network: $\theta' <- \tau\theta + (1 - \tau)\theta'$ with $\tau << 1.$ The target network is constrained to train slowly, making the entire network more stable. In order for the hyper parameters to generalize across environments with different scales of state value, DDPG employs batch normalization that normalizes each dimension across the samples in a unit to have unit mean and variance. It maintain a running average of the mean and variance to use for normalization. Batch normalization is applied on the state input, all layers of the $Q$ and $\mu$ network prior to the action output. It allows the system to learn on different environment with different settings. The exploration policy samples from a noise process in addition to the actor policy.
\begin{equation}
\mu'(s_t) = \mu(s_t|\theta_t^{\mu}) + \EuScript{N}
\end{equation}
The noise process is chosen to suit the environment.

\subsection{Hindsight Experience Replay (HER)}

In HER\cite{hindsight}, the trained value function takes in not only state $s \in S$ but also a goal $g \in G.$ After experiencing some episode $s_0, s_1, ... s_t,$ each transition is stored in the memory replay buffer with both the original goal and the same transition with the original replaced with an alternative goal. Thus, HER is motivated on the principle that an agent that performs multi-task learning (in this case on all the goals in the goal-space $G$) will learn more quickly, then an agent solely trying to learn the singular, original goal.

In this case, the different set of goals is $m(s_t),$ the goal achieved in the final state of the episode. This is especially useful a sparse reward environment, where an agent training to achieve single goal has trouble receiving any useful reward. By setting the goal to the final state of the episode (or more generally, by setting the goal s.t. the agent achieves a big reward through the episode) the agent will receive much more reward signal in its experiences, and thus learn more quickly.

\subsection{Prioritized Experience Replay (PER)}
In regular experience replay, all transitions are sampled uniformly. But this does not seem ideal if some transitions do not really help the agent learn, yet we keep sampling them.\\
In PER \cite{prioritized}, the transitions are sampled according to how helpful they will be for learning. Clearly, we have no way, at present, of knowing exactly how much each transition will help the network in its learning progress, but we can try to get a proxy for it.\\
Transitions with high expected learning progress, as measured by the magnitude of their temporal-difference (TD) error ($\delta$) are replayed more frequently. The magnitude of the TD error indicates how "surprising" a given transition is since our network did not predict the Q-values well, and so we prioritize these for learning. \\

However, we don't want to only choose the transitions that have the highest priorities as this can lead to a loss of diversity and thus over-fitting. So we ensure that there is a non-zero sampling probability for all transitions (equation \ref{eq:PER}).

The probability of sampling transition $i$ is
\begin{equation}
    \label{eq:PER}
    P(i) = \frac{p^{\alpha}_i}{\sum_k p^\alpha_k}
\end{equation}
where $p^i$ is the priority of transition $i$ (in this case $p_i = |\delta_i|$).\\

We further use importance sampling weights to correct for the bias introduced by the prioritization changing the original data distribution.

\subsection{Combined Experience Replay (CER)}
CER \cite{combined} is a special case of PER. PER gives the latest transition a higher priority but it is not guaranteed to be replayed immediately. CER deals with this by adding the latest transition into the training batch. As a hyper parameter, the size of the replay buffer is extremely sensitive to the stabilization of the training system. CER attempts to remedy the effect of having a large replay buffer by ensuring that the latest transition is sampled.

\subsection{Evaluating experience replay techniques}

Previous work has addressed the issue of memory replay size, by either measuring the empirical results of changing the buffer size on Gym and Atari environments \cite{combined}, or using analytical techniques to derive a theoretically optimal buffer size dynamically throughout training\cite{adaptive}. These works provide insight into the the hyperparameter of the buffer size of the experience, and provide strategies through which that hyperparameter may be chosen to maximize the convergence speed. Zhang et al. (2017) demonstrates that the choice of buffer size can have a large impact on the sample efficiency of the model being trained, and furthermore, proposes that experience replay can be detrimental if used with improper priority methods since it may delay certain samples that could speed up convergence due to the stochastic nature of the sampling process.

\section{Methodology}
We first implemented the three individual experience replay techniques to establish a baselines for how well they can perform. We then tried the combinations of the various techniques as well. To establish the efficacy of these techniques, we first tested these in conjunction with a deep Q-network (DQN) on the CartPole, MountainCar, and LunarLander environments from OpenAI Gym.
For the DQN, we implemented a DQN with target fixing in order to increase stability.

We then extended our methods to use continuous environments. Since DQN cannot generate continuous outputs, we implemented a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG).
We tested DDPG on the Pendulum, Continuous Lunar Lander and Continuous Mountain Car environments.

We looked at two metrics when evaluating all of our various model depending on the environment: (1) highest reward after a fixed number of episodes or (2) speed of convergence i.e. how many episodes until convergence. where We define convergence to be the first episode where the frozen policy network can achieve an average reward over 100 episodes that exceeds or is equal to the goal for solving the environment. This is defined to be the following for the environments we utilized:

\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\label{solve-reward}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\textbf{Environment} & \textbf{Reward needed to solve} \\
CartPole-v0 & 200 \\
MountainCar-v0       & -110                            \\
LunarLander-v2       & 200                             \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

For the remaining environments i.e. Acrobot-v1 and Pendulum-v0, we measure the effectiveness of our experience replay strategies by setting an episode limit for each environment and analyzing their performance by taking the best average reward over 100 episodes model from the training rule.

For each environment, we tried every possible combination of combined, prioritized, and hindsight experience replay strategies, which in total resulted in 8 different agents being experimented on at most. We wanted to test, even for simple environments, whether the combination of different experience replay techniques could be counterproductive when utilized simultaneously, or that the techniques could all yield improvements in convergence rate and sample efficiency. However, some tasks are not conducive to the goal based formulation that hindsight experience replay uses. Thus, for CartPole-v0, Acrobot-v1, and Pendulum-v0, we only run variants of combined and experience replay, which totals of 4 different agents being run in those environments

All of our code is available at: \url{https://github.com/himat/CHAPtER}

\section{Results}

Below are our results for the various environments we tested our experience replay strategies on. Note that we tested every combination of combined (C), prioritized (P), and hindsight (H) experience replays (ER) for each environment, providing an exhaustive search for the interactions between different types of strategies.

\begin{table}[H]
\centering
\caption{DQN used to solve these discrete action environments (CartPole does not support hindsight goals)}
\label{dqn-results}
\begin{tabular}{l|l|l|l|}
\cline{2-4}
                                                                    & \multicolumn{3}{c|}{\textbf{Environments}}                               \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textbf{Strategies (Episodes to Convergence)}} & \textit{CartPole-v0} & \textit{MountainCar-v0} & \textit{LunarLander-v2} \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textit{Baseline}}                             & 4000                    & 33000                   & 3500                    \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textit{CER}}                                  & 3500                    & 15000                   & 4500                    \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textit{PER}}                                  & 4000                    & N/A                      & 7000                    \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textit{HER}}                                  & N/A                    & 15500                   & 11000                   \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textit{CPER}}                                 &5000                   & N/A                       & 19500                   \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textit{HPER}}                                 & N/A                    & N/A                      & 10000                   \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textit{CHER}}                                 & N/A                    & 17500                   & 4500                    \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|l|}{\textit{CHPER}}                                & N/A                    & N/A                       & 8000                    \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
Interestingly, different environments have different strategies that seem to be more optimal than others. Noticeably for LunarLander-v2, the baseline actually performs the best out of all the experience replay strategies. In fact, CPER, HER, and HPER are perform significantly worse than the baseline.

\begin{figure}[H]
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{lunarlander/Baseline.png}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{lunarlander/C.png}
\end{subfigure}
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{lunarlander/P.png}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{lunarlander/H.png}
\end{subfigure}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[htb]\ContinuedFloat
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{lunarlander/CH.png}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{lunarlander/PH.png}
\end{subfigure}
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{lunarlander/CP.png}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{lunarlander/CHP.png}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{Training/test average reward over time of different experience replay strategies for the \texttt{LunarLander-v2} task. The red background is the standard deviation of the test reward.}
\end{figure}
\newpage
\begin{figure}[H]
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/pendulu_baseline.png}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/pendulum_CER.png}
\end{subfigure}
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/pendulum_PER.png}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/pendulum_HER.png}
\end{subfigure}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[htb]\ContinuedFloat
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/pendulum_CHER.png}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/pendulum_PHER.png}
\end{subfigure}
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/pendulum_cper.png}
\end{subfigure}%
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.45\textwidth}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/pendulum_CHPER.png}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{Training/test average reward over time of different experience replay strategies for the \texttt{Pendulum-v2} task. The red background is the standard deviation of the test reward.}
\end{figure}

\section{Discussion}
\subsection{CartPole-V0}
CartPole-v0 is a task of balancing a pole on top of the cart. The cart has access to its position and velocity as state, and can only go left or right for each action. The task is over when the pole falls over, the cart goes out of the boundaries, or 200 time steps are reached, with each step returning 1 reward.

Prioritized and combined replay both ended up being detrimental to CartPole-v0 over the baseline. It may be that CartPole-v0 is an easily solved task, which results in additional techniques only perturbing the training, but show no additional benefit.

\subsection{MountainCar-V0}
MountainCar-V0 is a one dimensional track between two mountains. The goal is to drive up the mountain to the right. The agent receive a -1 reward for every time step it does not reach the top. The episode terminates when it reaches the top and receives 0 reward. The objective is for the agent to learn to drive back and forth to build momentum that will be enough to push the car up the hill. The observation consists of the car's position and velocity and the action consists of pushing left, pushing right and no push. For hindsight replay, the code passes in the position of the car as the modified goal. The main challenge of mountain car is that the rewards are very sparse since the agent only receive a reward if it reaches the top.

We found that our MountainCar results were not very good, and there is not much of a differentiating factor among the different ER techniques tried, and so we omit the results for brevity.

\subsection{LunarLander-v2}
LunarLander-v2 is a two dimensional environment featuring a landing pad at (x,y)=(0,0). The goal is to move from the top of the screen to the landing pad without crashing. The agent receives 100-140 points for landing. If it moves away from the landing pad, it loses rewards. If it crashes it will receive -100 and if it lands successfully it receives 100.  Each leg ground contact is 10. Firing main engine is -0.3 points each frame. The observation consists of f the x and y coordinates, the x and y velocities, angle, angular velocity, and ground contact information of the lander and the action consists of do nothing, fire left orientation engine, fire main engine, fire right orientation engine.

An important distinguishing feature of the LunarLander-v2 environment and the other environments tested in this paper is that it is the only one that has dense rewards. The reward each step is calculated based on the distance of the lander way from its landing spot. Consequently, this environment may not suffer from the issues that hindsight and prioritized experience replay are best at tackling: sparse rewards and off policy sampling that does not assist the agent. We can observe that the results for techniques involving hindsight and prioritized experience replay do worse than baseline on this task, and this may be due to the non-universality of these techniques. In contrast, combined experience replay performed close to baseline, but still worse than the baseline. This perhaps is on account of the combined strategy being only slightly deviant from the baseline sampling strategy.

\subsection{Pendulum-v0}
Pendulum-v0 is a two dimensional environment featuring a frictionless pendulum. The goal is to keep the pendulum standing. The precise equation for reward is $-(\theta^2 + 0.1*\theta_{dt}^2 + 0.001*action^2).$ The observation consists of $\cos(\theta), \sin(\theta), $ and $\theta_{dt}.$ The action consists of the joint effort, which ranges between -2.0 and 2.0. For hindsight replay, we pass in the angle of the pendulum as the goal with the original goal being achieving a vertical position.

Unlike all the other environments, Pendulum-v0 has continuous action space. We found that our DDPG algorithm did very poorly on this task. Many times the agent never reached the goal. We were supposed to train pendulum with baseline, P, H, CH, and CHP. Among them, CHER converged the fastest, at 500 episodes. This demonstrates that hindsight replay has great potential in continuous action environment. Further hyperparameter tuning could improve the stability of the results.
\section{Conclusion}

Through this endeavor, we found that the field of reinforcement learning is highly unstable, and testing often requires multiple trials.
Unfortunately this means that there was a large amount of variance in our results and so some experience replay methods which worked well at times would work terribly at other times.

Our DDPG algorithm in particular did not perform well, and so we were unable to get substantial results on continuous action environments due to the poor training of the model.

However, in conclusion, we believe that there is a lot of promise in combining the various experience replay techniques proposed in recent years. Hindsight experience replay in particular makes a lot of sense as a standalone technique, since it provides a lot more information to the agent in that the agent can still learn even if it ends in a different final goal state. Combining this with prioritized experience replay should only serve to improve the convergence of the agent by choosing more informative updates. And using the idea of always learning from the most recent experience a la combined experience replay should also add a slight edge. We believe that these techniques should be further explored and exploited in the future.

\printbibliography

\end{document}

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Aravind Adiga is a source of inspiration for all. Read your way through his biography to know more about his life and profile.
Home : Famous Indians : Writers : Aravind Adiga
Aravind Adiga
Born On: 23rd October 1974
Born In: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Career: Writer
Being a person with flawless language and great writing skill, it is no wonder that Aravind Adiga bagged Britain's most prestigious literary award - The Man Booker Award for his book 'The White Tiger'. From a proven student to a journalist and then to a famous writer, success always accompanied him. He always kept his eyes and ears open to the world around and derived inspiration from the facts he come across in daily life. His award winning book "The White Tiger" was a critical view on "an India of light and an India of darkness while his latest novel "Last Man in Tower" describes the life and soul of one of India's biggest cities, Mumbai, where he discovers that the city and its people are obsessed with real estate. He derives this fact from the common man who often talks about elusive 'square feet' while journeying on suburban trains. The book gives a different picture of the city which is always described as the "Bollywood City" or "Mafia City". Read on to learn more about this young talent, Aravind Adiga.
Aravind Adiga was born on the 23rd day of October, 1974 in Chennai. His parents Dr. K. Madhava Adiga and Usha Adiga hailed from Mangalore, Karnataka. His paternal grandfather late K. Suryanarayana Adiga served as the Chairman of Karnataka Bank. He was brought up in Mangalore, he completed his schooling from Canara High School and St. Aloysius High School. He completed SSLC in 1990, ranking first in the state preceding his elder brother Anand Adiga who secured 2nd rank in the SSLC exams. He also got the first rank in PUC in the state.Rest of his studies continued in Sydney as his family migrated to Australia. Aravind studied at James Ruse Agricultural High School in Australia and then pursued English literature from Columbia College, Columbia University in New York, where the famous British historian Simon Schama was his fellow. He completed his graduation in 1997 and then moved to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was taught by Hermione Lee, the current President of Wolfson College, Oxford.
Aravind Adiga started his career as a financial journalist intern at the Financial Times covering stock market and investment protocols, interviewing luminaries like Donald Trump (American business magnate and television personality). He also wrote literary reviews, a famous one being the one about "Oscar and Lucinda", written by the previous Booker Prize winner Peter Carey. He then moved to TIME magazine where he served as South Asia correspondent for three years. He then quit TIME magazine and opted to work as a freelancer. It was during his freelance period that he wrote the Man Booker Prize winning book -The White Tiger, thus became the fourth Indian to achieve this. Thus, he turned into the field of writing and has penned many books since then. He donated a part of the Man Booker Award prize money to St. Aloysius College where he did his schooling, as a token of gratitude.This amount will be utilized to provide scholarships for underprivileged children staying in Aloysian Boys Home, Kotekar, Ullal. Aravind Adiga is now put up in Mumbai, India. Shortly after bagging the Man Booker Prize, he was accused of sacking his agent to secure his contract with Atlantic Books. His book 'The White Tiger' was a big hit and was popularized by many other Booker Prize winners and his novel was adopted into a film according to an announcement made in April 2009. The Indian hardcover edition of his award winning book "The White Tiger" has sold in excess of 2, 50,000 copies. His second book, namely "Between the Assassinations" that depicts 12 interlinked short stories, was released in November 2008 in India while its release in the US and UK took place in 2009. The book features 12 interlinked short stories.
Aravind Adiga's contributions to literature include novels and short stories
The White Tiger: A Novel, 2008
Between the Assassinations, 2008
Last Man in Tower Due to be published, 2011
"The Sultan's Battery", 2008(online text)
"Smack",2008(online text)
"Last Christmas in Bandra",2008 (online text)
"The Elephant" 2009(online text)
Man Booker Prize, 2008
1974: Born in Chennai.
1990: Got the 1st rank in the SSLC examination.
1997: Completed graduation.
2008: Won the Man Booker Prize.
2009: It was announced that 'The White Tiger' would be adapted into a feature film.
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The Demons In the Reverse Harem Game Are Obsessed With Me
Author: KimNoir
She possessed a character from an R-rated reverse harem game. The female lead would be sent to the demon Valley, since she would be the key to the Spirit Stones.It was a game where the world was majorly run by demons. However, the character's body she was in, was the second princess, Yulia, who wasn't the female lead. She was relieved thinking that now, at least she won't be dragged into the demon world. And, the moment she heaved a sigh of relief- "You shall be the one to go to the demons. I couldn't possibly send Esther." The emperor made her take the original female lead's place. She was pushed into the Valley Of Death instead of her, the regime of the demons. "If I eat you, I can get the power of the Spirit Stones, right?" "… What?" On waking up, she found out that she was the first person to unify the demon world. She ran into the great demon Bael. Since then, the rain of weird demands began- "If I can't eat you, what about sex?" … Save me!
Latest Release: CH 29.2 . CH 30.1 . CH 30.2 . CH 31.1 . CH 31.2 . CH 32.1 .
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Press Release: Microsoft, WNBPA Announce Joint Program for WNBA Players
Posted by Michael Goldsholl September 26, 2019
MICROSOFT, WNBPA ANNOUNCE JOINT PROGRAM PREPARING PLAYERS FOR FUTURE CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Microsoft LEAP for WNBPA to offer paid, 16-week integrated offseason apprenticeships featuring technology training, professional development and career networking
NEW YORK, NY and REDMOND, WA, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 – The Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) and the Global Talent Innovation Team at Microsoft Corp. announced today a unique partnership, the first of its kind for the Players Association. The partnership, Microsoft LEAP for WNBPA, is an immersive off-season technology readiness program that will launch at the conclusion of the 2019 WNBA season. It is aimed at empowering WNBA Players to realize their potential and value beyond basketball.
LEAP Engineering Acceleration Program (LEAP) will offer participating members of the WNBPA with professional development and experiences across a variety of areas that make up the multinational tech company. The paid apprenticeship program is comprehensive and specifically designed with the professional athlete in mind. Four weeks of in-class meetings on Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, Washington, are followed by 12 weeks of on-the-job training on the main campus or at other Microsoft locations.
"We are delighted to collaborate with Microsoft in our efforts to further opportunities for Players to gain practical experience as they explore future careers beyond basketball," said Terri Jackson, WNBPA Executive Director.
"By working together to develop an immersive offseason program that is both applied and aspirational and built around Microsoft's world-class technology, we are excited to accelerate the future success for professional athletes," said Priya Priyadarshini, Senior Director on the Global Early Career team at Microsoft.
As part of the apprenticeship program, participating players will:
Learn and apply Microsoft technology
Build their professional skill sets
Establish critical connections across business, technology, and engineering
Following the training sessions, participants will have further opportunities to apply their experience in pursuit of future careers in areas such as finance, human resources, marketing, sales, business management and customer service, among others.
"WNBA Players are accomplished, highly successful individuals and they are more than basketball," said Jackson. "Microsoft LEAP for WNBPA will facilitate the union's goal to assist Players – both active and those preparing for retirement- with opportunities designed to help them build a next career."
"As Microsoft's mission states, our commitment of global empowerment is for every person and every organization to achieve more," said Priyadarshini. "We're pleased to form the partnership with WNBPA to provide a unique opportunity for WNBA Players to achieve more. Sportsmanship is about grit, perseverance, and team collaboration – all of which is integral to the success of any professional. We look forward to welcoming WNBA Players to Microsoft LEAP for WNBPA."
About Microsoft:
About the Women's National Basketball Players Association:
The Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) is the union for current women's professional basketball players in the WNBA. The WNBPA is the first labor union for professional women athletes. It was created in 1998 to protect the rights of players and assist them in achieving their full potential on and off the court. The WNBPA handles the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, filing grievances on their behalf, and counseling players on benefits and post-WNBA career opportunities. The WNBPA also serves as a resource for current players, while they are competing internationally during the offseason. The WNBPA encourages players to participate in union activities – including executive leadership roles, team representative positions, and global community outreach initiatives.
Microsoft Media Relations
rapidresponse@we-worldwide.com
WNBPA
Press Release: NASA, WNBPA Team Up for Tech Transfer Partnership
Press Release: WNBPA assembles its own "super team" with newly-formed Board of Advocates


text:
package org.apache.geode.rest.internal.web;

import org.apache.http.HttpHost;
import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.auth.AuthScope;
import org.apache.http.auth.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
import org.apache.http.client.CredentialsProvider;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpDelete;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpHead;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPut;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpRequestBase;
import org.apache.http.client.protocol.HttpClientContext;
import org.apache.http.conn.ssl.NoopHostnameVerifier;
import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicCredentialsProvider;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClients;
import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONException;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import org.json.JSONTokener;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import java.security.SecureRandom;
import java.security.cert.CertificateException;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
import javax.net.ssl.KeyManager;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager;
import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager;

public class GeodeRestClient {
  public static final String CONTEXT = "/geode/v1";

  private int restPort = 0;
  private String bindAddress = null;
  private String protocol = "http";
  private boolean useHttps = false;
  private KeyStore keyStore;

  public GeodeRestClient(String bindAddress, int restPort) {
    this.bindAddress = bindAddress;
    this.restPort = restPort;
  }

  public GeodeRestClient(String bindAddress, int restPort, boolean useHttps) {
    if (useHttps) {
      this.protocol = "https";
      this.useHttps = true;
    } else {
      this.protocol = "http";
      this.useHttps = false;
    }
    this.bindAddress = bindAddress;
    this.restPort = restPort;
  }

  public static String getContentType(HttpResponse response) {
    return response.getEntity().getContentType().getValue();
  }

  /**
   * Retrieve the status code of the HttpResponse
   *
   * @param response The HttpResponse message received from the server
   * @return a numeric value
   */
  public static int getCode(HttpResponse response) {
    return response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode();
  }

  public static JSONObject getJsonObject(HttpResponse response) throws IOException, JSONException {
    JSONTokener tokener = new JSONTokener(new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent()));
    return new JSONObject(tokener);
  }

  public static JSONArray getJsonArray(HttpResponse response) throws IOException, JSONException {
    JSONTokener tokener = new JSONTokener(new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent()));
    return new JSONArray(tokener);
  }

  public HttpResponse doHEAD(String query, String username, String password) throws Exception {
    HttpHead httpHead = new HttpHead(CONTEXT + query);
    return doRequest(httpHead, username, password);
  }

  public HttpResponse doPost(String query, String username, String password, String body)
      throws Exception {
    HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost(CONTEXT + query);
    httpPost.addHeader("content-type", "application/json");
    httpPost.setEntity(new StringEntity(body, StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
    return doRequest(httpPost, username, password);
  }

  public HttpResponse doPut(String query, String username, String password, String body)
      throws Exception {
    HttpPut httpPut = new HttpPut(CONTEXT + query);
    httpPut.addHeader("content-type", "application/json");
    httpPut.setEntity(new StringEntity(body, StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
    return doRequest(httpPut, username, password);
  }

  public HttpResponse doGet(String uri, String username, String password) throws Exception {
    HttpGet getRequest = new HttpGet(CONTEXT + uri);
    return doRequest(getRequest, username, password);
  }

  public HttpResponse doGetRequest(String url) throws Exception {
    HttpGet getRequest = new HttpGet(url);
    return doRequest(getRequest, null, null);
  }

  public HttpResponse doDelete(String uri, String username, String password) throws Exception {
    HttpDelete httpDelete = new HttpDelete(CONTEXT + uri);
    return doRequest(httpDelete, username, password);
  }

  public HttpResponse doRequest(HttpRequestBase request, String username, String password)
      throws Exception {
    HttpHost targetHost = new HttpHost(bindAddress, restPort, protocol);

    HttpClientBuilder clientBuilder = HttpClients.custom();
    HttpClientContext clientContext = HttpClientContext.create();

    // configures the clientBuilder and clientContext
    if (username != null) {
      CredentialsProvider credsProvider = new BasicCredentialsProvider();
      credsProvider.setCredentials(new AuthScope(targetHost.getHostName(), targetHost.getPort()),
          new UsernamePasswordCredentials(username, password));
      clientBuilder.setDefaultCredentialsProvider(credsProvider);
    }

    if (useHttps) {
      SSLContext ctx = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
      ctx.init(new KeyManager[0], new TrustManager[] {new DefaultTrustManager()},
          new SecureRandom());
      clientBuilder.setSSLContext(ctx);
      clientBuilder.setSSLHostnameVerifier(new NoopHostnameVerifier());
    }

    return clientBuilder.build().execute(targetHost, request, clientContext);
  }

  private static class DefaultTrustManager implements X509TrustManager {

    @Override
    public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] arg0, String arg1)
        throws CertificateException {}

    @Override
    public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] arg0, String arg1)
        throws CertificateException {}

    @Override
    public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
      return null;
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Marc Polmans was the defending champion but lost in the second round to Tristan Lamasine.

Lloyd Harris won the title after defeating Lorenzo Giustino 6–2, 6–2 in the final.

Seeds
All seeds receive a bye into the second round.

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Bottom half

Section 3

Section 4

References
Main draw
Qualifying draw

2019 ATP Challenger Tour

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Amida (Diyarbakır)
Amida: town on the Upper Tigris, modern Diyarbakır.
The walls of Amida, from the south
Situated on a high platform commanding a crossing of the river, Amida is one of the strategically most important places in the Upper Tigris region. It comes as no surprise that already in the most ancient times, people were interested in seizing this town. There's a relief that represents the Akkadian king Naram-Sin (r.2255-2218; middle chronology), who was apparently interested in controlling this area.
Several centuries later, the city must have been visited by the Assyrian traders who went to Kaneš in Central-Anatolia. At the beginning of the first millennium, "Amedi" is mentioned as capital of Bit Zammani, an independent state that became part of Assyria before 819. In 856, Salmanasser III used it as base for a campaign against Armenia. The Royal Road, which connected the capitals of Persia, Elam, and Assyria, to Gordium and Sardes in the west, crossed the Tigris at Amida.
The Assyrian king Naram-Sin
In spite of being an important node in the international trade networks, the city was not to become famous until the fourth century CE. For the Romans, the Upper Tigris was an important part of the frontier with Armenia,note[Procopius, Buildings 3.1], a kingdom that was at times a vassal of Rome's archenemy, the Sasanian Empire. In the early 330s, the Roman prince Constantius, who was to be emperor from 337 to 361, "surrounded Amida with strong walls and towers, and by establishing there an armory of mural artillery, he made it a terror to the enemy". note[Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History, 18.9.1]
It was of no avail, because in 359, the Sasanian king Shapur II (r.309-379) was able to take the city, although it was defended by its normal garrison, the Fifth Legion Parthica, and five other legions. Ammianus Marcellinus offers a famous eyewitness account of the siege, which lasted seventy-three days. When the two empires concluded a peace treaty in 363, the city was returned to the Romans, who reconstructed the damaged walls between 367 and 375.note[CIL 3.6730] By this same treaty, Nisibis was surrendered to the Persians, and the Christians living over there had to leave their hometown. They settled in Amida.
In the fifth century, we read about many kinds of Christians in Amida: adherents of the Nicene Creed, Nestorians, and Monophysites. The last-mentioned group appears to have been dominant, because a Monophysite bishop represented Amida at the Second Council of Constantinople (553).
The bridge at Diyarbakir
In October 502, the city was besieged again, this time by the Sasanian king Kavad I (r.488-530), who captured Amida in January 503, on the 97th day of the siege. The population was massacred, and the Roman commanders Patricius and Hypatius were unable to recapture the city when they arrived in the spring. A second attempt, however, during the winter of 505/505, was more successful, although the Romans had to pay the Persian garrison to leave.note[Procopius, History of Wars, 1.9.20]. It was left to the emperor Justinian (r.527-565) to reinforce the damaged walls.note[Procopius, Buildings, 2.3.27]; the walls we see today, essentially belong to this period.
By now, the nearby fortress of Dara was more important, and became the focus of new fights between the Byzantine and the Sasanian Empires. Amida remained Roman, although it was briefly Persian during the campaigns of Khusrau II (r.591-628); the emperor Heraclius recaptured it - but as is well-known, his military successes against the Sasanians were disastrous for the region, which was an easy conquest for the Arabs. Four years after the battle of the Yarmuk (636), Amida received new masters: the Beni Bakr, after which the city is still named, Diyarbakır.
Visitors can still see the ancient walls, built by Justinian; the Harput Gate - in Antiquity known as "Gate of the Armenians" - contains several interesting inscriptions. One of the Greek texts, which dates back to the fifth century, commemorates the building of a hospice by a man named Appius. The bridge, south of Diyarbakır, was built in its present form in the final years of the fifth century by bishop John Saoro.
A Latin inscription at the Harput Gate mentioning Valentinian I, Valens, and Gratian
VIRTVTE PRAECIPVIS INVICTISQVE
INPERATORIBVS SALVI Sint < strong="">ominis Nostri
VALENTINIANO VALENTI ET
GRATIANO PERPETVIS
AC TRIVMFATORIBVS SEM-
PER AVGVSTIS CIVITAS DISPOSITIONE
PIETATIS EORVM A FVNDAMENTIS
FABRICAVIT<>
To our emperors, leaders in virtuous initiative and unconquered - may they be safe and well! - Valentinian and Valens and Gratian, ever triumphant Augusti: the city, following their sense of patriotic duty, constructed this from the foundations.
Amida, Southeastern walls
Amida, Masonry inside a tower
Amida, Northern walls
Amida, Harput Gate, Cross
Amida, Harput Gate
Amida, Harput Gate and towers
Amida, Greek inscription at the Harput Gate
Amida, Harput Gate, Medieval relief with birds, trees, and felines
Diyarbakir, Tigris bridge
Diyarbakir, Tigris bridge, Piers
Diyarbakir, Tigris bridge, Medieval relief
...to Bill Thayer.
This page was created in 2010; last modified on 13 October 2020.
Home » Articles » Place » Amida
Diyarbakir (Amida)
Subdisciplines
Tigris (article)


text:
Where is The Kosovo? Kosovo Located in The World? Kosovo Map
June 4, 2018 October 2, 2019 whereismap	0 Comments
Where is The Kosovo? / Where is The Kosovo Located in The World? / Kosovo Map – Kosovo is located in the southeast of Europe and in the centre of the Balkans, and Kosovo is a Balkan country. Kosovo has been occupied for many years. However, after the great war with Serbia, Kosovo declared its independence in 2008.
Where is Kosovo?
Kosovo is a neighbor of Serbia in the Northeast, Montenegro in the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia in the southeast, and Albania in the southwest. Kosovo consists of 7 cities. Pristina is the capital of Kosovo and also the most populous city. The official languages of the Kosovo country are Albanian and Serbian. In addition, Bosnian, Romanian and Turkish are also spoken in the country.
The majority of the people of Kosovo are Muslims. The currency of the country is Euro. In Kosovo, a temperate continental climate is dominant and winters are cold and snowy, summers are hot. Therefore, the best time to visit the country is between May and September. Kosovo does not require visas for visits not exceeding 90 days. There are flights to Kosovo from America.
Map of Kosovo
Picture of Kosovo
Where is The Kosovo – Where is The Kosovo Located in The World – Kosovo Map
Is Kosovo a city?
Is it safe in Kosovo?
What is the continent of Kosovo?
When was Kosovo recognized?
Is Kosovo still a country?
Are Albania and Kosovo the same?
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text:
Category Archives: Single Reviews
SINGLE REVIEW: Thin Disguise by Davy Williamson
Davy Williamson is a singer/ songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who was born in Plant City, Florida and raised in his hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina. He was the co-founder of the band Third Class Passenger and also the punk rock band Ma Shot Pa. This year, 2020, has seen him launch his solo career having successfully overcome some personal issues. Overcoming adversity is a theme explored in his music along with betrayal, love lost and broken homes.
This track, Thin Disguise, is his debut single and one on which Dave impressively plays all the instruments and performs the vocals. The song is a powerful and highly emotional hard rock epic, bursting into action with pounding drums and widescreen heavy electric guitars. Dave's authentic and passionate vocals enter, bringing to mind the late, great Chester Bennington from Linkin Park and another lost legend, Chris Cornell from Soundgarden.
The brooding verse that seems to reflect his personal struggles ("Forgiving everyone but me, forgetting everything I've seen, fight these insecurities…") builds up to an explosive chorus based around the barbed refrain, "I hate your lies, can't stand these ties, your alibis, your thin disguise…".
After the second chorus it breaks out into a fantastic, lengthy but perfectly structured guitar solo that shows an influence of classic rock. The lead guitar playing here is truly superb and refreshing to hear, a solo not a commonplace thing anymore, even on a rock track. It really elevates the music to an even higher peak, providing a surge of energy and momentum for the final choruses.
Overall, this is an exceptional debut release from a hugely gifted singer, songwriter and musician. He's managed to convey and channel the turmoil and struggle of past experiences into a cathartic classic that strikes the perfect balance between melodic and rhythmic power. In this troubled era, the redemptive songwriting of Davy Williamson is the tonic we need to weather us through the storm.
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged Davy Williamson, Faulkner Review, Ma Shot Pa, rock, Soundgarden, Thin Disguise, Third Class Passenger
SINGLE REVIEW: Terror in Disguise by Savannah Nider
Savannah Nider is a singer and songwriter born and raised in Pawnee City, Nebraska. She was already getting music industry attention for her singing at just fifteen, which led to working with people who were involved in the careers of Grammy winning artists including Collin Raye and others.
After moving to Nashville in 2019, she met a well known songwriter, Joie Scott, which led to her first co-written song. She was then introduced to producer Bryan Cole, who produced her latest EP. Her song We Are Us reached no.1 on the ITunes country singles chart in South Africa.
This song, Terror in Disguise, is an upbeat and highly emotive pop/rock track produced to perfection by Bryan Cole. It represents something of a departure for Savannah, who had previously been solidly in the country genre. But to her credit, she's pushed herself out of her comfort zone in order to do something a little more musically daring.
Beginning with a haunting piano melody over an insistent guitar figure, Savannah's expressive and instantly distinctive lead vocals then take centre stage in a compelling way. The verse conveys that a relationship has gone awry, as a partner turns out to be not the person they thought they knew ("maybe that's why it's a dangerous disaster…").
The rhythmic descending melodies on the verse are contrasted by the cathartic chorus, which finds Savannah in her upper register augmented by beefy electric guitars. Musically, it brought to mind Shania Twain, the Stevie Nicks songs of Fleetwood Mac, with more modern artists like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Sia. More remotely, it reminded me of great 80's female pop like Belinda Carlisle and Alannah Myles.
The chorus succinctly captures the strong emotion behind the song: "As it all falls down we just watch it from the ground...". The second verse is just as emotionally visceral: "You're a tragic masquerade….". The genuine melancholy of the depicted situation is perfectly counterpointed by the relatively upbeat energy of the music, with every musician playing with passion and conviction. The final choruses allow Savannah to express the considerable power and range of her voice, leaving the listener on a high.
Overall, this is a superb follow up song to the hugely successful We Are Us. This song constitutes a brave leap into uncharted artistic territory for Savannah, but she pulls it off owing to her versatile voice and deeply emotive performance. If she can maintain this high standard, the sky's the limit for Savannah Nider.
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged country., Faulkner Review, Miley Cyrus, pop, rock, Savannah Nider, Sia, Taylor Swift, Terror in Disguise
SINGLE REVIEW: Runaway by Hollis Jordan (ft. Zaire Danae)
Hollis Jordan is an artist with a fascinating family background. He was born in Detroit and is the second cousin of female rapper "Bo$$" of Def Jam Records and sixth cousin to the great singer, composer and trumpeter Louis Armstrong.
In 2007, he attended the Malcolm X Academy and he was chosen for lead singer of an all male choir after auditioning, leading to several awards. Since 2011 he's been a solo artist and music producer, releasing his first national single Live For The Moment. This was produced by his older brother MoStaxx which was released on their label. Since then, he's released a plethora of material that has proven popular.
This track, Runaway, also featuring RnB singer Zaire Danae. Opening with slick delay-drenched hi hats, an infectious RnB rhythm kicks in providing the bedrock for Hollis to deliver his smooth as honey vocals, bringing to mind Pharell Williams and Craig David. After the verse refrain it breaks into an instantly memorable chorus: "Oh let's runaway, start listening to Marvin Gaye…".
After the sultry second verse and chorus, Zaire Danae's versatile voice enters, her feminine tone providing the perfect contrast to Hollis and adding to the sensual vibe of the music. It then enters an effective spoken word section reminiscent of the Pussycat Dolls, before one final burst of the killer chorus.
Overall, this is a slam dunk of a single release from the gifted Hollis Jordan. Music is deep in his genes and, here, his vocal talents collide with a really strong song which has been produced to perfection. Zaire Danae's guest vocals give an extra sophistication and variety to the sound, resulting in what sound like a dead cert hit. Something tells me you'll be hearing the name Hollis Jordan a lot more in the future.
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged Bo$$, Faulkner Review, Hollis Jordan, Live For The Moment, Louis Armstrong, MoStaxx, Runaway, Zaire Danae
SINGLE REVIEW: Wow by Larry Jay
Larry Jay is a country/pop singer and songwriter native to New York who now resides in California. His Americana-tinged music has already found acclaim, becoming a first runner up in several songwriting contests including the highly regarded John Lennon Songwriting Contest. He has performed at the historic Troubadour in Los Angeles and shared the stage with a Neil Young sidekick and Crazy Horse member, Sonny Mone. Neil Young is actually one artist Larry has been compared to, along with Keith Urban.
This song, Wow, is a country pop ballad based around crystalline, picked acoustic guitar. It features the vocals of The Voice contestant and Team Blake member Caeland Gardner, depicting an amorous, romantic situation in an intimate low register: "The way that my girl looks at me when all the lights are low tells me that we're going to the land of rock n' roll….".
It's when the chorus hits that this song truly shines; Caeland switches to a higher octave, singing a glorious melody augmented by tight lower harmonies. The deep romanticism is expressed through the wide ranging and poignant melody, surmised by the cute title hook.
After the second chorus, the drums really kick in, the sound and intricate rhythm giving the music a modern edge, along with the subtle but effective electric guitars. After a breakdown chorus the song ends on a high with one more refrain, finishing on the guitar figure that started the song surrounded by the glow of warm, rich organ.
Overall, this is a finely crafted country/pop ballad that shows Larry Jay's gifts as a songwriter and Caeland Gardner as a singer. Larry shows with this song that he can write the kind of track that radio and the country loving public adore. I see no reason why Larry Jay won't become a household name as a songwriter and perhaps Wow is the song that helps propels him there.
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged Caeland Gardner, country, Faulkner Review, Keith Urban, Larry Jay, Wow
SINGLE REVIEW: Do What You Gotta Do by Dejhare
Dejhare (pronounced Dei-Jhar) is a singer and songwriter based in San Jose, California. She first released an eponymous six-track E.P. in the autumn of 2018, which was popular. Dejhare then released her debut full length album, Unbreakable, in 2019. This brought her more acclaim and expanded her fanbase. 2020 has seen the release of D7, a seven track experimental album that featured reinterpretations and dance versions of seven songs from Unbreakable.
This latest track, Do What You Gotta Do, is specifically about the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected all our lives so much worldwide. It's immediately become one of her most popular tracks, and it's easy to see why. Musically, it's a very catchy pop/dance track whilst lyrically it's a song that almost everyone will be able to relate to, as we learn to grapple with the "new normal".
Starting with pulsing, upbeat synths, when Dejhare's instantly distinctive vocal sound enters it melds with the EDM production style perfectly. Her sound brings to mind the anthemic, euphoric Europop of Lady Gaga, combining her exotic vibe with a style all of her own. The verses depict how everything we experienced as regular life has been turned upside down ("No more dining out…").
It's the chorus where this song really shines, lyrically combining personal responsibility with not losing your essential humanity and empathy: "Wear your mask but never close your heart!" This is a vital and inspiring message in a time where crucial efforts to save lives also mean social isolation and an unnatural distance between us all. Musically, the hook is instantly infectious and the middle "bridge" section provides another memorable refrain: "The new normal, we have to adopt, the new normal, we have to evolve..do what you gotta do."
Overall, Do What You Gotta Do feels like Dejhare's most important release so far and, musically, captures her at the height of her powers. Mainstream pop needs to reflect the highly serious nature of the times we're living in, whilst retaining the qualities of timeless great songwriting. Dejhare has managed to achieve this difficult balancing act and it deserves to be her breakthrough track to a huge worldwide audience.
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Dejhare
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dejharemusic/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dejhare
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dejhare
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged COVID-19, dance, Dejhare, Do What You Gotta Do, Lady Gaga, pop, The Faulkner Review
SINGLE REVIEW: Things To Come by Jeremy Parsons
Jeremy Parsons is a singer/songwriter born in San Antonio, Texas. As a child he experienced the music in the dancehalls of Lone Star State and became a big fan. But it wasn't till his later high school years that he taught himself guitar, then eventually began writing and performing music.
In the past decade he has performed all over America and Europe, taking inspiration from Texas performance artists and wowing crowds wherever he performs. His Things I Need To Say album saw the release of several singles including the Top 40 Roots Report Track, Burn This House Down, and Why Is The Bluebird Blue which reached no. 2 on the Hits You Love pop charts.
This track, Things To Come, is taken from that album and acts as a fine introduction to this artist. It's a mid paced country ballad in 6/8 time that stands out for its emotive vocal performance. Blessed with a strong voice and a smooth, easy on the ear tone, he delivers a charismatic and touching lead vocal backed by solid, steady drums and augmented by crystal clear acoustic guitars. Mellifluous bass and gently overdriven electric guitar fills out the sound perfectly, along with sweet as honey backing harmonies.
The song is about the importance of looking towards the future as tempting as it is to look back to the past: "Ain't nostalgia a wonderful thing…". The song's theme is captured succinctly in the fine chorus: "I'd go back if I could, that ain't how it works, I've lived and I've loved and all that I've learnt… time is a healer and life must go on, so here's to all the things to come.…".
Overall, this a finely written and superbly performed country rock ballad with a reflective yet uplifting message. Jeremy Parsons has certainly honed his songwriting craft and combined with pristine performances and production, the result is a very classy song perfect for country and pop radio. Jeremy Parsons has huge commercial potential and is most definitely a name to watch out for.
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged country rock, Faulkner Review, Garth Brooks, Jeremy Parsons, Things To Come
SINGLE REVIEW: The Ballad Of Johnny Blowtorch by The Little Wretches
The Little Wretches are a Pittsburgh rock band founded by frontman and chief songwriter Robert Wagner. In the 1980's/90s the band were at the forefront of the Pittsburgh underground music scene. They went through various line up changes across their lengthy career, starting out as a folk/punk duo then over time developing into the rock band that became hugely popular in the Pittsburgh scene. A third incarnation of the group recorded two albums together and they eventually disbanded in the late 1990's.
This song, The Ballad Of Johnny Blowtorch, is taken from the 2001 album Undesirables & Anarchists, which Robert Wagner has only recently released after it having been locked away in the archives for twenty years. The track is a blazing piece of rock 'n roll, fuelled by a raging wall of electric guitars and pounding drums.
Wagner has the authentic, distinctive voice necessary for rock, giving a vocal performance full of verve and attitude. Equally spirited is the music behind him, channeling the fierce energy of the punk era bands like The Ramones with the gritty guitar sound of the great garage bands like The Velvet Underground and The Stooges, the former a noted influence on theirs.
Based around a simple but very effective low end guitar riff, it develops into a sonic juggernaut with strummed acoustic guitar and, towards the end, piano filling out the sound perfectly. The dynamics, backing harmonies and the call & response vocals on the final verse all add to the addictive nature of the song that remains compelling from the first second to the last.
Overall, this is an incendiary rock track full of passion that has been released from the band's archives, much to our gain. Robert Wagner is a gem of a songwriter, fusing punk spirit with rock 'n roll sass and cool. The result is a hugely enjoyable Little Wretches classic that should be treasured forever now that it's been unearthed.
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged Faulkner Review, Little Wretches, Robert Wagner, The Ballad Of Johnny Blowtorch, Undesirables & Anarchists
SINGLE REVIEW: 1st Entr'acte (#38/76)-The Bombshelter Is Now A Mosh-Pit and I'm A Freakin' Star by The Gangsta Rabbi
The Gangsta Rabbi, a.k.a. The King Of Jewish Punk, is the moniker of the multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, composer and producer Steve Lieberman. He was born in Brooklyn, New York to a working class Jewish family and now resides in Freeport. Perhaps more than most artists, his work needs to be understood in the full context of his life.
He has been considered an 'outsider artist', partly attributed to his lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder which began for him at the age of just eleven. He has been releasing studio albums since 2002 and has now released over thirty, along with live albums and countless cassettes. He has shared the stage with Weezer, Andrew WK, Glassjaw, Ryan Dunn and The Misfits, but had to retire from performing in 2011 owing to having to battle an advanced form of leukaemia, returning briefly to the stage in 2016.
In 2018, he was admitted into a hospice and remarkably has carried on creating, producing his most challenging works including completely covering Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick (a major influence) and thrash metal versions of the British Opera, The H.M.S. Pinafore and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. In 2019, he released his 3 hour magnum opus, Symphonie-Thrash Du Professeur Juif Rebelle.
This latest release, the catchily titled 1st Entr'acte (#38/76)-The Bombshelter Is Now A Mosh-Pit and I'm A Freakin' Star is a seven minute epic that continues Lieberman's highly original hybrid of classical, punk and metal. Remarkably, this constitutes the overture to to the Noise Militia #38/76, meaning that at 33 hours it's a potential world record, a fact currently pending with the Guinness Book Of Records!
As with his other work, from its first seconds the sound of the music blows you away, a hectic sprawl of layered instruments, a rollercoaster ride of punk spirit and attitude, a sonic riot. While it may strike the listener as chaotic dissonance, there's always method in the madness, a melodic core under the surface. The textured sound is a potent fusion of electric guitar, bass and drums with a plethora of classical instruments being played mostly in tandem, all performed by the Rabbi himself.
This track features a relatively large amount of lyrics compared to previous work and the words display the same defiant spirit and inventiveness as the music: "Got sick but never fade, wrote a never ending Mosh Parade, I'm a freakin' Star."
He shows Dylan-esque eloquence and sardonic wit with lines like, "Punkifier Militia Fire, I'm Jewish Punk's little Sire, Lower Brass Distorted Wire". One of the verses towards the end has real poetic force: "Not a War Brigade but a Militia Of Peace warning them the oppression must desist must cease, rose from my deathbed, He gave me the Power, I did a song for thirty hours…".
Overall, this another blazing musical assault from the Gangsta Rabbi. Not even a terminal disease can stop his indefatigable artistic spirit, and his music feels like a shot in the arm when this year appears to have decimated so much art and culture. May Steve Lieberman continue to long keep raging against the dying of the light.
STEVE LIEBERMAN THE GANGSTA RABBI · 1st ENTR'ACTE(# 38/76)-BOMBSHELTER NOW MILITIA MOSH-PIT AND I'M A FREAKIN' STAR
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged classical, Faulkner Review, Guinness Book Of Records, Noise Militia #38/76, punk, Steve Lieberman, The Gangsta Rabbi, Weezer
SINGLE REVIEW: La Vida by Joseph Fermán
Joseph Fermán is a singer and songwriter originally from Salvador in Brazil but now based in California. There's a strong Latin American influence on the music he makes, employing salsa and cumbia rhythms amongst others. He released his debut single in May of last year, Holy Mamá. This was written as a tribute to his mother's memory and was translated into four languages. He then followed up with the cumbia Birthday song and both these releases were very successful on radio.
This latest song, La Vida, is sung in Spanish and is about the current Covid 19 crisis which has affected people worldwide. For this song, Joseph collaborated on the arrangement with Angel Castaños and accordionist Julian Rojas. Commenting on the meaning behind this song, Joseph states, "Life is only one and should not be tied to materialism because nothing is yours in this life, you come with nothing and you leave with nothing".
The track is upbeat and instantly infectious, with mellifluous bursts of accordion first capturing your attention. Joseph's spoken word introduction then provides the focus before he delivers the verse in an authentic and immediately memorable style. The catchy vocal melody is augmented throughout by punchy brass, which has been extremely well arranged. The lyrics are very life affirming and philosophical, especially the profound chorus: "If it happened, it happened for good, if it happens, it happens for good".
The essential message of the song is an important one, reminiscent of the classic song Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be). Musically, it is comparable to the highly colourful and energetic music of the Gypsy Kings and fans of that group will absolutely love this song. It employs cumbia vallenata rhythms, combining Salvadoran and Colombian styles. The quality of the musicianship and production is also of a very high standard throughout, full of nuance and flavour.
Overall, this is an emotionally powerful and hugely uplifting song in a Latin American style, with a charismatic vocal performance from Joseph Fermán. The music is very rich in melody, especially the lead vocal line and the contrapuntal accordion lines give an evocative texture and energy, along with the guitars and brass. Most importantly, it's a message to us all that we must retain our faith in life during these troubled times and that we must make the most of what we have.
VERDICT= 9 out of 10
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged cumbia, Faulkner Review, Gypsy Kings, Joseph Fermán, La Vida, Latin American, salsa, Salvador
SINGLE PREMIERE: Loveolution by Toby TomTom
Toby TomTom is a singer/songwriter and producer with a very interesting backstory. Earlier in his career he worked with Alicia Keys and Shelby J (of Prince fame) , apprenticed with Kenni Hairston (Cameo, Cyndi Lauper) and even sat in on sessions with the legendary producer and composer Quincy Jones. He has a diverse range of influences, ranging from classical composers like Debussy, to funk and soul artists like Tower of Power and Marvin Gaye as well as the late, great Tupac Shakur.
This track, Loveolution, is the follow up to the excellent Born To Be Free, which I reviewed very favourably upon its release (read here). Loveolution is a high energy, extremely infectious blend of RnB, hip hop, soul, funk and pop that showcases Toby's versatile gifts. He describes the inspiration behind the track: "My goal with Loveolution is to touch the pulse of the world. Make us think about the tools we can use to fight and make it better!"
It's an inspiring and uplifting anthem which begins with female spoken word samples set to a swinging RnB beat. You can hear the distinct influences of Marvin Gaye and Prince, combining Marvin's soulfulness and Prince's restless musical inventiveness, which Toby has in spades. Indeed, his expressive vocals on the verse in particular brought to mind Marvin's classic What's Going On album, while the hugely anthemic chorus has a real party vibe that made me think of Prince's 1999.
After a relatively sparse verse where the ultra punchy beat dominates, the chorus explodes into technicolour with bursts of guitar and sax. Again, similar to Prince, Toby is a gifted multi-instrumentalist and not only he has performed all of the musical instruments, but also produced it by himself.
Lyrically, the song could not be more apposite and appropriate for the times we're living in. Whilst many are stirring up a societal revolution based on negative events, Toby transcends all of that and delivers an instantly memorable chorus hook with a truly inspirational message: "Gotta be, gotta be, gotta be a Loveolution…".
To come out with a song like this in times of such political turmoil and upheaval is testament to his artistry and character. Special credit should go to the arrangement and production which is so full of nuance and detail that you hear a new facet or texture every time. The way it builds to a climactic finish with the sound of chanting crowds leaves the listener on a high.
Overall, this life affirming anthem is a timely release from a hugely gifted artist with a spiritual soul. It's a sonic concoction that takes what's great from the past and brings it up to date with cutting-edge production and a modern stylistic vibe. In our troubled and turbulent times, Toby TomTom has produced the soulful and joyous song that we all needed to hear.
VERDICT= 9.2 out of 10
Leave a comment Posted in Single Reviews Tagged Alicia Keys, Faulkner Review, Loveolution, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Toby TomTom, Tower of Power


Do not let diabetes scare you. If you know how to deal with this condition and always remain vigilant, you have nothing to worry about. This article contains much advice about diabetes and how to live with it on a daily basis while improving your health.
Having a kid who has diabetes can be very frustrating, but you will be able to deal with it. Today, diabetes is becoming so common that there are many new treatments that can offer a normal life for your child. The world's oldest diabetic is currently 90 years old, and he was around before the medical advances we have today!
Diabetes has increasingly become more prevalent in our society. This will reduce the stress and shame associated with the diagnosis, and just make your life easier.
Following a sensible diet without overindulging is important if you suffer from diabetes. You probably need not shun sweets entirely. If your blood glucose level is under control, it is fine to eat desserts occasionally. Plan for desserts by removing an equal number of carbs from the main part of your meal.
Sleeping well is especially important for diabetics and if you experience problems sleeping, it can be helpful to be tested for sleep apnea. If sleep apnea is a problem for you, then get treatment now, before it has a chance to impact your health.
Switch to a diet high in fiber in order to lower your risk of developing diabetes. This is a good way to replace high glycemic foods, such as white bread or processed foods by whole grain foods. Whole grain foods are not only good for maintaining diabetes, but they can also help to prevent development of the condition in children.
If you're not sure how you can afford your diabetes medications, try looking at online pharmacies. They even have it set up so you can receive your medications monthly, this way you never have to worry about running out of the crucial supplies you need.
Make a list of high glycemic index foods and learn to identify potential problem foods and ingredients. Breads, desserts, juices, pastas and cereals are some of the foods that have a high glycemic index. Your blood sugars do not respond well to foods that are processed either. Fresh produce, high grain breads and cereals and healthy sources of protein are the best choices for diabetics.
There are many free ways to work exercise into your schedule which is great for controlling diabetes, such as jogging around your neighborhood or doing some work outs at the park nearby. Can goods can make inexpensive weights, as do bags filled with heavy items and chin-ups can be performed on your local park's jungle gym.
As previously mentioned, diabetes seems frightening if you do not know how to handle it. If you follow the tips in this article, you will come to realize that knowledge is the best tool you have for improving your health.


Lazy loading of associations between entities is a well established best practice in JPA. Its main goal is to retrieve only the requested entities from the database and load the related entities only if needed. That is a great approach if you only need the requested entities. But it creates additional work and can be the cause of performance problems if you also need some of the related entities.
Let's have a look at the different ways to trigger the initialization and their specific advantages and disadvantages.
Lets start with the most obvious and unfortunately also the most inefficient approach. You use the find method on the EntityManager and call a method on the relation.
This code works perfectly fine, is easy to read and often used. So what is the problem with it?
Well, you probably know it. This code performs an additional query to initialize the relation. That doesn't sound like a real problem, but let's calculate the number of executed queries in a more real world-ish scenario. Let's say you have an entity with 5 associations which you need to initialize. So you will get 1 + 5 = 6 queries.
OK, that are 5 additional queries. That still doesn't seem like a huge issue. But our application will be used by more than one user in parallel (I hope).
Let's say your system has to server 100 parallel users. Then you will get 100 + 5*100 = 600 queries. That is called the n+1 select issue, and it should be obvious that this is not a good approach. Sooner or later, the number of additionally performed queries will slow your application down. Therefore you should try to avoid this approach and have a look at some other options.
A better option to initialize lazy associations is to use a JPQL query with a fetch join.
The advantage is that Hibernate fetches everything within one query. From a performance point of view, this is much better than the first approach.
And the main disadvantage is that you need to write additional code which executes the query. But it gets even worse if the entity has multiple associations and you need to initialize different associations for different use cases. In this case, you need to write a query for every required combination of associations you want to initialize. That can become quite messy.
Using fetch joins in JPQL statements can require a huge number of queries, which will make it difficult to maintain the code base. So before you start to write lots of queries, you should think about the number of different fetch join combinations you might need. If the number is low, then this is a good approach to limit the number of performed queries.
OK, this approach is basically the same as the one before. But this time you are using the Criteria API instead of the JPQL query.
The advantages and disadvantages are the same as for the JPQL query with a fetch join. Hibernate retrieves the entity and the relation with one query from the database, and you need specific code for every combination of associations. But you often already have lots of use cases specific query code, if you are using the Criteria API. So this might not be a huge issue. If you are already using the Criteria API to build the query, this is a good approach to reduce the amount of performed queries.
Named entity graphs are a new feature of JPA 2.1. It can be used to define a graph of entities that shall be queried from the database. The definition of an entity graph is done via annotations and is independent of the query. If you are not familiar with this feature, you can have a look at one of my former blog posts where I covered it in more detail.
The named entity graph can then be used by the find method of the EntityManager.
This is basically an improved version of our first approach. The entity manager will retrieve the defined graph of entities from the database with one query. The only disadvantage is that you need to annotate a named entity graph for each combination of associations that shall be retrieved within one query. You will need less additional annotations as in our second approach, but it still can become quite messy. Therefore named entity graphs are a great solution, if you only need to define a limited amount of them and reuse them for different use cases. Otherwise, the code will become hard to maintain.
The dynamic entity graph is similar to the named entity graph and was also explained in one of the former posts. The only difference is, that the entity graph is defined via a Java API.
The definition via an API can be an advantage and a disadvantage. If you need lots of use case specific entity graphs, it might be better to define the entity graph within the specific Java code and to not add an additional annotation to the entity. This avoids entities with dozens of annotations. On the other hand, the dynamic entity graph requires more code and an additional method to be reusable.
So I recommend using dynamic entity graphs if you need to create a use case specific graph, which you will not reuse. If you want to reuse the entity graph, it is easier to annotate a named entity graph.
You had a look at 5 different ways to initialize lazy associations. And as you have seen, each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. So what to remember from this article?
Initializing a lazy relation via calling a method on a mapped relation causes an additional query. This should be avoided for performance reasons.
Fetch joins in JPQL statements reduce the number of queries to one but you might need a lot of different queries.
The Criteria API also supports fetch joins and you need specific code for each combination of associations that shall be initialized.
Named entity graphs are a good solution, if you will reuse the defined graph in our code.
Dynamic entity graphs can be the better solution, if you need to define a use case specific graph.
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Thanks a lot for this great article! I will definitely bookmark it!


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New LCS Northwest finance leader has eye for transparency, cool coffee mugs
by Matt Misterek | Aug 15, 2022 | Staff Spotlight
Nicholas Lee carried a piece of LCS Northwest with him into the North Puget Sound backcountry, even before he was hired to be the agency's new Chief Financial Officer. However you want to describe it – job interview souvenir, good luck charm, creative photo prop, or simple coffee mug – he felt so comfortable with it and the agency it represents, he brought it on a summer family hike.
Nicholas Lee
"Gift giving is an art, and it was kind of the LCSNW leadership team to give me the mug," he said. "I thought it would be great to take my new friend with me on a walk."
A variety of descriptions could also be applied to Nicholas. He's a seasoned public service leader who's worked the last five years as Finance Director at the King County Library System, one of the busiest library systems in the U.S. He's a husband, a father of an 11-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter, an avid outdoorsman, a fan of the TV series "Ted Lasso" and a photographer of random objects staged in natural settings, to name a few.
As the Issaquah resident prepares to start as agency CFO on Sept. 1, some other attributes stand out. He says he's committed to financial transparency and being a good listener.
"Building trust is paramount for a finance team, and that means giving people a sense of inclusion," he said. "Transparency is a function of inclusion. We don't want to be the only ones who know the answer to a given question."
It's also clear that his personal values align with the LCSNW mission of health, justice and hope. He served more than four years on the board of the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank. And for over a month, his family has hosted an asylum-seeking Ukrainian family who fled the war with Russia. His wife Elena is originally from Kyiv.
"We went from a household of four to seven," Nicholas said. "For me personally it gives a sense of grace, of what it's like to give up your life and identity and to start over again." It conjures thoughts of how his grandparents moved from North Dakota to the Renton Highlands of Washington state in 1952 – "except this must be light years more difficult because of the language and cultural barrier."
"It's definitely been worth it for us," he said. "We didn't know what to do when the war broke out – we made financial contributions to organizations – but hosting a family is a great way to connect with humanity at a different level. We are committed to their success."
Prior to joining the King County Library System, Nicholas served two years as CFO for the City of Snoqualmie. Before that, he was Finance Manager for King County and Senior Budget Analyst for the City of Bellevue.
His higher education record is Pac-12 Conference, through and through – a bachelor's degree in finance and international business from Washington State University and a master's in agribusiness from Arizona State University.
He said he's very happy to join a nonprofit organization that makes a difference for marginalized communities. LCSNW leaders are pleased, as well.
"I am excited to welcome Nicholas as our next CFO," said David Duea, agency President and CEO. "He has the right experience and focus to help guide the agency to be fiscally sound while we invest in being an employer of choice."
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Ventnor and Undercliff Heritage Partnership Menu
Town Heritage Trail
St Lawrence Trail
The St Lawrence Trails
Our first heritage trails to be published describe two walks around St Lawrence, along the coast to the west of Ventnor.
St Lawrence is situated under the spectacular inland 300 feet high Undercliff, which gives rise to unique flora and fauna. The village is dotted with a fine variety of buildings including pretty cottages and ornate country houses. The coast is rugged and was once the domain of smugglers and the cat and mouse game with the excise man.
These heritage trails relate some of the history of St. Lawrence through its remaining buildings. In Norman times the area was used as a hunting park and Old Park dates back to the 14th Century. The old church dates to the 12th Century and may have some earlier Saxon elements. Home Farm could be the site of the Norman manor house.
The first of our trails covers the village and can be downloaded here.
The second trail take you along the coast and can be downloaded here.


R-Link is a body composition analyser which calculates your weight, BMI and your body composition : body fat, muscle mass, body water and bone mass. Especially useful when you follow your weight in order to lose the bad kilos (fat) while maintaining muscle mass. Thanks to the Slim technology, R-Link is the thinnest scale in the world with only 12.5mm height. It connects to the Wellness Coach - Health app. Set your goals and get free advice scientifically validated to reach them.
R-Link can be connected with 8 smartphones and / or tablets simultaneously. Handy if each member of the family has his own smartphone. Appreciate Its nice design, with a large metallic platform for a better weighing comfort and its backlit LCD screen with high readability.
R-Link analyses your weight, your Body Mass Index and your body composition : body fat, muscle mass, body water and bone mass. Especially useful when you follow your weight in order to lose the bad kilos (fat) while maintaining muscle mass.
Terraillon innove with the Slim technology: thanks to the feet directly integrated in the platform and the fusion of the glass and the metal, R-Link presents a height of only 12.5 mm. You can now store more easily the thinnest scale in the world.
R-Link connects to the Wellness Coach - Health app available on iOS and Android. Set your goals and get free advice scientifically validated to reach them.
R-Link can be connected with 8 smartphones and / or tablets simultaneously. Handy if each member of the family has his own smartphone.
Get a better weighing comfort thanks to the large metallic platform. The large backlit LCD screen provides you a better readability.


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Q: Error Link2005 in visual 2005 I wrote a c program in Visual C++.
test2.cpp
    #pragma startup pragmaEgFun1
    void pragmaEgFun1(){
    printf("Hello 1");
    }

test1.cpp
    #include "test2.cpp"
    int main{
    printf("Hello 2");
    }

This program was to test pragma preprocessor directive. But i am getting an error Error

error LNK2005: "void __cdecl pragmaEgFun1(void)"
  (?pragmaEgFun1@@YAXXZ) already defined in test1.obj

A: There are three ways to solve this:

*

*Simply remove the #include line from test1.cpp. Since you are not calling that function, you don't need to include it anyway. The pragma startup should take care that the function is called and it will be available because VC will link it.

*Rename test2.cpp to test2.h and include that one in test1.cpp. This would be not a best practice though, because functions are normally not supposed to be in header files, even though it is allowed by the compiler.

*You can place the function from test2.cpp directly into test1.cpp, as you don't really need it anyway.
To answer your comment - normally you put functions into .c/.cpp files and declarations, prototypes, definitions, macros etc. into the .h files. This is not dictated by the compiler though, but good coding practices help to avoid such problems as you posted in your question.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Congratulations Barrie Margetts on delivering a great platform address, at Labour Party Conference 2018, speaking passionately on the 'tackling inequalities debate'.
Professor Barrie Margetts, Southampton Test CLP, making a great intervention during the Debate on Tackling Inequalities on Wednesday morning of the Labour Party Conference.
As I do regularly, I attended the Conservative and Labour Party conferences this year.
The Tory conference was in Birmingham and was dominated by Brexit talks. I attended many side events including several with John Redwood and Jacob Rees-Mogg as speakers.
John Redwood was Secretary of State for Wales in 2005 when the earlier UK legislation was passed and he succeeded in weakening the advertising of infant formula section (article 17). So, in addition to Follow-on Formula advertising, the law allowed advertising of infant formula in baby care publications distributed through the health care system.
At another side event, (recording 87) John Redwood and others gave examples of how governments interfere and get in the way of business progress and privatisation. I asked why they presented government always as a negative force. Surely its essential that the state does step in – after all it has a responsibility/obligation/ duty to protect human rights and ensure that business don't harm health. It seems to me that we are being encouraged to become a nation of manic shoppers.
Professor Barrie Margetts, Southampton Test CLP, made a great intervention during the Debate on Tackling Inequalities on Wednesday morning.
Barrie welcomed the call for a fully funded Public Health Services and went further, calling for future Public Health Policy to have a clear plan for dealing with Conflicts of Interest and protecting policy setting from Private Sector influence. Far too much in the past the Private Sector has been allowed to influence policy not for the Public Good but for private profit. Barrie also highlighted that breastfeeding is one of the most effective interventions to reduce inequalities and we need to support it and stop the unethical practices the bottle feeding companies pursue. He ended by calling for food systems that provide affordable healthy food for everybody in a way that is produced ethically in a way that does not affect the environment.