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Data Driverby David Ramel
Silverlight Gets Some VS12 Love, Users Want More
It was just an inconspicuous little reference seemingly buried in the verbiage announcing all the new goodies in the Visual Studio 2012 Update 2, looking almost like an afterthought jammed in at the last minute:
"It includes support in Blend for SketchFlow, WPF 4.5, and Silverlight 5."
But it was like getting a note from an old, long-lost friend. "Oh yeah, Silverlight is still around."
Some 16 months since Silverlight 5 has been available for download, you can now use it with the latest Blend hooked up to the latest Visual Studio, just like you used to. It made me want to dive right in and play around with those 3D-like animations built with the storyboard. I had used it for weeks (months?) to build a cool blackjack game with all the bells and whistles, including playing cards flipping through the air onto the card table. I loved it.
But, for a while now, having sensed the winds of change, I've been plugging away at getting up to speed on apps built with HTML5, JavaScript and CSS. I hate it.
I know that's just me the hobbyist, and it means nothing. Maybe Silverlight is irrelevant to serious LOB devs. And even if that's not the case, after all, Microsoft has said it's not killing off Silverlight tomorrow or anything drastic like that. And it has been available as a preview download since last August. But still, it was nice to catch up with that old friend and see that others still cared about him, too, fitting him into their plans. I wondered what the user reaction would be, so I checked. It looks like Silverlight still has a loyal following.
There it was, No. 2 on the "Hot ideas" page of the Visual Studio UserVoice site--where you can present and vote on ideas for VS--with the simple title of "Silverlight 6." The OP had written, "Please do work on Silverlight next version. I feel Silverlight is great tool ... but as you guys stopped working on it; I feel that I wasted my time in learning Silverlight." The Jan. 13 post had 874 votes and 54 comments, mostly along the same lines.
But I don't want to give the impression that this is a landslide movement or anything. The most popular idea was to bring color back to VS, and it had more than 12,000 votes, which astounds me, right up there with the ALL CAPS menu fiasco. And Silverlight wasn't even mentioned in the comments section of the S. Somasegar blog post announcing the new update.
So maybe Silverlight is like Douglas MacArthur, an old soldier who doesn't die, but just fades away. An old friend with whom I'll stay in touch but won't meet at the pub for a couple of beers anymore. And that's cool. I know, it's only Silverlight and Blend ... but I like it.
Do you like Silverlight? Please comment here or drop me a line.
Posted by David Ramel on 04/05/2013 at 1:15 PM0 comments
Retro Database dBASE Making a Comeback?
Ok, that report is due soon, so I'm going to fire up dBASE to run some reports, export the data into Lotus 1-2-3 and summarize everything with WordPerfect--while listening to Wham! and Foreigner, of course.
Oops, my mind was momentarily transported back into the mid '80s.
Amazingly, though, one of those pioneering software products was just updated as of yesterday. Yup, dust off those old .dbf files, dBASE PLUS 8 has been released.
And, while the original Ashton-Tate version was developed for the CP/M operating system (remember those dual 5-1/4 in. floppies--one for the program, one for the data?), this new one runs on Windows 8 (yes, even the 64-bit version). My, how times have changed.
WordPerfect, of course, is still around under the stewardship of Corel Corp., but I hadn't heard anything about dBASE for quite a while. The new dBASE guardian, dBase LLC, claims it's still in use by "millions of software developers." The company was formed last year with the help of some people who formerly worked at dataBased Intelligence Inc., "the legal heir" to dBASE.
I'm not sure exactly what happened to dBASE after the astounding success of dBASE III, but, according to Wikipedia, the decline started with "the disastrous introduction of dBase IV, whose stability was so poor many users were forced to try other solutions. This was coincident with an industry-wide switch to SQL in the client-server market, and the rapid introduction of Microsoft Windows in the business market."
Anyway, the new version includes ADO support, a new UI and "enhanced developer features with support for callbacks and the ability to perform high precision math."
Pricing is $399 for the regular edition, $299 for an upgrade and $199 for a personal edition without ADO support. I wonder what those prices equate to in 1985 dollars?
UPDATE: Here's a pretty good history of dBASE by Jean-Pierre Martel, editor of The dBASE Developers Bulletin.
Any old-timers out there with a good memory? What did dBASE III sell for? And why did some of these pioneering products die or fade into obscurity, while others continue to thrive? Comment here or drop me a line.
BIDS Templates Come to Visual Studio 2012 in SSDT Update
"Does SSDT for Visual Studio 2012 support BI project templates?" asked James V. Serra in a TechNet forum last September.
Some six months later, the answer was yes: "Hi James, the download to add the BI Project Templates to the VS2012 shell is now available."
Microsoft last week announced the online release of "SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012" (SSDT BI), available for download here.
The release includes templates for Visual Studio 2012 BI projects, including Analysis Services, Integration Services and Reporting Services. These templates were part of the old Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS).
SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) encompasses a bunch of integrated services and enhancements to improve database development entirely from within the Visual Studio IDE, such as incorporating functionality found in BIDS and SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), among a host of other features.
Prior to this, the BI templates were available only in Visual Studio 2010, SSDT 2010 or SQL Server 2012. The new release will be installed through the SQL Server 2012 setup tool as a shared service and will install a Visual Studio 2012 integrated shell if you don't already have VS 2012.
This will hopefully relieve a lot of the frustration of data developers confused by different versions of SSDT, which was introduced with SQL Server 2012 but hosted in the VS 2010 shell, and inconsistencies in functionality as data development tools have evolved.
Apparently, though, there are still some frustrated users and more integration to be done. SQL DBA John Pertell welcomed the announcement. "That's great news as a lot of developers, myself included, have been waiting for this functionality," he said. However, he added, "the bad news is that it doesn't include the Database Projects templates released last year. You'll still need to install them separately. But they will work together."
He explained further:
So if you want just the BI templates for Visual Studio 2012 you only have to install the BI version of SSDT. If you also want the database projects you will need to install both the BI templates and the database templates. And if you want to use the test plans for your new database projects and create SSRS reports or SSIS packages you'll need a full edition of VS 2012, either Premium or Ultimate, plus the database templates plus the BI templates.
There were also some users frustrated by the install experience, especially on 64-bit machines running SQL Server 2012 (see comments on this blog post). Visual Studio and the SSDT integrated shell are 32-bit apps, and users reported errors, some of which were apparently caused by the installation tool trying to install the 32-bit version of SQL Server 2012, Service Pack 1. The solution seems to be to choose the "perform new install" option during installation and not the "add features to existing" option.
Still, many data devs are happy with the new capabilities. Those include Serra, who said on his blog, "It took 8 months, but at least it was quicker than being able to use BI in VS 2010, which took about two years."
Other enhancements to Visual Studio 2012 added last week include Office Developer Tools and a SQL Server Data-Tier Application Framework update.
What do you think of the new BI functionality in SSDT? Are we headed toward one big, comprehensive IDE that will include everything you need for SQL Server development in one place? Comment here or by e-mail.
SQL Encroaches on Big Data Turf
Remember when SQL developers felt threatened by Big Data? Relational database management systems were old-school relics that couldn't cope with the vast amounts of unstructured, disparate data. NoSQL was the future. You needed to get onboard with Hadoop and MapReduce, running on Linux.
Well, not anymore.
Maybe not ever, really. There is just too big of an installed base of SQL developers and systems for the two camps, Big Data and SQL, to have remained apart. Even four or five years ago the convergence was underway with Hive, a data warehouse system for Hadoop that uses "a SQL-like language called HiveQL."
That convergence seems to be rapidly accelerating. Microsoft has been helping out, of course, with PolyBase in its SQL Server 2012 Parallel Data Warehouse to enable SQL queries of Big Data and initiatives such as HDInsight and the Hortonworks Data Platform to get Big Data into the Windows ecosystem.
But Redmond has plenty of company. Just this week I had the opportunity to interview Web coding pioneer Lloyd Tabb about the subject when his new company, Looker Data Sciences Inc., announced a query-based business intelligence (BI) platform called Looker. "SQL and relational querying is the best way to ask questions of large related data sets," Tabb told me.
He should know what he's talking about. He was a database and languages architect at Borland in the earlier days of RDBMS and went on to build LiveWire, the first application server for the World Wide Web. He was later a principal engineer at Netscape where he was architect of Netscape Navigator Gold (later named Composer), the first WYSIWYG HTML editor, and the engineering lead for Netscape Communicator. He helped found Mozilla.org and later became a pioneer in crowdsourcing, just to name a few of his accomplishments.
Looker, according to the company, "uses a new modeling language, LookML, which enhances SQL for analytics so end-users can perform powerful analytics without needing to know how a query is written."
I asked Tabb about the use of SQL instead of NoSQL, Hadoop or other Big Data technologies associated with BI analytics, and he gave me a little history lesson.
"Back in the day conventional wisdom was that if you were going to create an application for a PC you had to write it in Assembly language," Tabb said. "Higher-level languages generated code that was too big and too slow. Later, conventional wisdom was that you couldn't build a 'real-applicaiton' in an agile language--it was too big and too slow.
"Hadoop was designed because at the time there were no SQL engines that could deal with data sets that large. Developers regressed to hand coding queries in MapReduce. Both SQL and C are still in use today because they are the best abstractions for the kinds of problems they solve."
Looking around, I see lots of other evidence pointing to the Borg-like assimilation of Big Data by SQL. A few weeks ago GigaOM explored the subject with an article titled "SQL is what's next for Hadoop: Here's who's doing it," and just yesterday a PluralSight course on the topic was announced, described as "An investigation into the convergence of relational SQL database technologies from several vendors and Big Data technologies like Apache Hadoop."
And there are plenty more similar things going on out there. So rest easy, SQL data developers, your future is still bright.
What do you think about the convergence of Big Data and SQL? Share your thoughts by commenting here or by e-mail.
Red Hat Goes All In On Big Data (Whatever That Is)
I tuned in to a Webcast earlier this week where Red Hat announced it was contributing its Hadoop plug-in to the open source Apache Hadoop community and totally embracing Big Data with an "open hybrid cloud" strategy. More on that later.
What I found really interesting was the response to an audience member who asked, "How do you define Big Data?"
Hmmm. Good question. It's one of the most over-hyped terms in the tech world today, but exactly what is it? Red Hat executive Ranga Rangachari provided the following:
So ... what we think of ... analysts have different ways to talk about this. You've heard some analysts talk about the four Vs, which is the volume, the velocity and a few other attributes to it. And, yes, that is one way to look at it, but I think our view of Big Data is, fundamentally I think, the underlying type of data, either semi-structured or unstructured. That's one way, at least, from a technology standpoint, which contrasts very much from your typical structured databases that people are used to over the last 20 years or so.
Obviously, it's not that easy to define Big Data.
John K. Waters addressed the question a year ago:
While there's lots of talk about big data these days (a lot of talk), there currently is no good, authoritative definition of big data, according to Microsoft Regional Director and Visual Studio Magazine columnist Andrew Brust.
"It's still working itself out," Brust says. "Like any product in a good hype cycle, the malleability of the term is being used by people to suit their agendas. And that's okay; there's a definition evolving."
Wikipedia defines it as "collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications."
In other words, no one knows.
Anyway, Red Hat will open source it's Hadoop plug-in and jump on the Big Data bandwagon with it's vision of an open hybrid cloud application platform and infrastructure. Rangachari said it was designed to give companies the ability to create Big Data workloads on a public cloud and move them back and forth between their own private clouds, "without having to reprogram those applications." Red Hat said in a news release that many companies use public clouds such as Amazon Web Services for developing software, proving concepts and pre-production phases of projects that use Big Data. "Workloads are then moved to their private clouds to scale up the analytics with the larger data set," the company said.
The Red Hat Hadoop plug-in is part of Red Hat Storage, running on Linux, which is based on the GlusterFS distributed file system. It's provided as an alternative to the Hadoop Distributed File System, known for some technical limitations that Apache and other organizations have also addressed.
Rangachari said the path to the open hyrbrid cloud Big Data application platform will eventually incorporate an Apache Hive connector (now in preview), NoSQL/MongoDB Java interoperability and RESTful OData Web protocol access, in addition to its existing JBoss middleware.
He emphasized that the new cloud strategy will be woven throughout every Red Hat project, noting that "Big Data could be one of the killer apps for the open hybrid cloud."
When asked why Red Hat was contributing its Hadoop plug-in to Apache, Rangachari said the Apache Hadoop community was the "center of gravity" in the Hadoop world and that the move will provide developers with easier access to the plug-in from the same ecosystem. He also said the company expects that, rather than stopping innovation of the technology, the move to open source will actually contribute to more innovation.
So what exactly is Big Data. Please explain here in a comment or via e-mail. We'll all appreciate it.
Bill Gates Says Biggest Product Regret Was WinFS Data Storage
Data developers were interested to learn this week that it was a futuristic data storage product called WinFS that Bill Gates identified as the Microsoft product he most regretted not making it to market.
In a live question-and-answer event on Reddit.com called Ask Me Anything, the legendary Microsoft co-founder answered dozens of questions from readers. While he was most concerned with the charitable work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, many questions inevitably focused on his Microsoft and programming days.
Here's the exchange about the database product:
Q: What one Microsoft program or product that was never fully developed or released do you wish had made it to market?
A: We had a rich database as the client/cloud store that was part of a Windows release that was before its time. This is an idea that will remerge since your cloud store will be rich with schema rather than just a bunch of files and the client will be a partial replica of it with rich schema understanding.
When another reader guessed that it might be WinFS, Gates answered in the affirmative. Another reader wondered if the OS mentioned was Vista, and Gates replied that: "Vista was what eventually shipped but Winfs had been dropped by then."
According to Wikipedia, WinFS is short for Windows Future Storage, described as:
the code name for a cancelled data storage and management system project based on relational databases, developed by Microsoft and first demonstrated in 2003 as an advanced storage subsystem for the Microsoft Windows operating system, designed for persistence and management of structured, semi-structured as well as unstructured data.
I found it interesting to learn that even way back then, Microsoft was thinking ahead to the cloud, and then, as now, it's all about the data.
What did you think about Gates' AMA session? Please comment here or send me an e-mail.
Programmers: Introverts or Extroverts?
"The icon of the shy geeky computer programmer is a mainstay of the technology landscape. But is it true?"
That's how a recent e-mail to me from Evans Data Corp. started out. At a previous company, as part of a class, I took a Myers-Briggs test that indicated I was introverted. And that my personality type (ISTP, one of 16 possible categories) tended to like motorcycles. I didn't need a standardized test to tell me either of those things, but I found it interesting.
I found the e-mail interesting, too. It said: "We asked over 400 software developers to rate themselves on a scale measuring introverted vs. extroverted. Only 2 percent thought they were completely introverted. So where do you think the other 98 percent saw themselves?"
Right off the bat, I thought, most of them probably thought themselves either partly introverted or extroverted. Duh. (Is there even such a thing as being "completely introverted?") But I was curious, so I asked for more information. Turns out this introvert/extrovert question was just a tiny part of a report to help companies market to developers. And they even provided me with a nice, customized quote to buy the report.
I'll have to pass on that, thanks, but the question still intrigued me. I know that good programmers tend to be good at math, so I've got a big strike against me for ever getting good. But what about being introverted? Does that help?
I would bet that most programmers are introverted. And, unfortunately, introversion comes with some negative baggage. Extroverts run things. They're the managers and supervisors. They're the ones you want to hang out with.
But I learned in the Myers-Briggs class that being introverted doesn't necessarily mean bad things, like being a weird loner who doesn't want to interact with people. From my understanding of that class, it has more to do with how people tend to recharge their batteries. Extroverts like being at parties and social occasions and can do it all day and come away refreshed. Introverts can socialize, but it leaves them tired. To recharge, they like to be alone for a while. Maybe reading a book or writing code. And being introverted doesn't mean you won't be a successful manager or supervisor. The class instructor said that former president Jimmy Carter is an introvert.
Well, I can't spring for report right now (I won't tell you the cost), but I'll do the next best thing: conduct my own survey. Are you introverted or extroverted? How do you see programmers in general? Does one or the other help or hinder good programming? Comment here or drop me a line. And I won't charge you.
EF Power Tools Bugs Fixed as Development Heads in New Direction
The Entity Framework Power Tools Beta 3 was released this week, but some data developers eager to get their hands on new features were disappointed to learn it mostly includes bug fixes because the product's functionality is shifting to the EF Designer in Visual Studio 2012.
With EF Power Tools, data developers get additional Visual Studio design-time tools for Entity Framework development.
The most important bug fix in Beta 3 is non-compatibility with Visual Studio 2012 Update 1. Several other issues were also addressed, but some developers wanted more.
"I was so happy when I saw the title ... but no new features," one reader commented.
Microsoft's Rowan Miller explained: "The reason we aren't adding a bunch of new features is that we're incorporating 'Reverse Engineer Code First' into the EF Designer workflow (which already has table selection, etc.)." He pointed to the Entity Framework CodePlex page for more information on that initiative.
In response to another reader, Miller expounded on his explanation:
When I say included as part of the EF Designer I really just mean that all the EF tooling (EF Designer, Reverse Engineer Code First, and the other Power Tools functionality) will be included in a single installer (which in turn is included 'in-the-box' in new versions of Visual Studio). We are going to use the same wizard that Database First uses for selecting tables etc. though.
The Beta 3 does add some context menu options to the "Entity Framework" sub-menu in Visual Studio. For example, you can right-click on a C# project for "Reverse Engineer Code First" functionality, which lets you generate Code First mappings for a database. "This option is useful if you want to use Code First to target an existing database as it takes care of a lot of the initial coding," Microsoft said.
Another project right-click option lets you add reverse engineering templates to your project.
You can also right-click on a code file that includes a derived DbContext class to display the entire Code First model in the EF designer, display Code First model Entity Data Model (EDMX) XML and generate pre-compiled views, along with other options.
And, instead of generating pre-compiled views, you can right-click on a EDMX file to generate views for a model created using the EF Designer.
Microsoft said that even though it won't be releasing a Power Tools RTM, it will continue Beta releases until the related functionality is incorporated into a pre-release version of the EF Designer.
What's your experience been when using EF Power Tools and the EF Designer? Please share your thoughts here or drop me a line.
Study: MongoDB Takes a Bite Out of MySQL
Some especially significant implications for Web developers can be found in a new study by research firm Ovum that measured the sentiment about Big Data vendors in 2012 Twitter posts.
While the study indicated that Big Data retained its popularity last year, data developers will be more interested in conclusions drawn by Ovum concerning the future of Web development.
"The Big Data buzz word even managed to transcend from the enterprise IT world to become a hot topic for business publications and journals in 2012, with MongoDB claiming considerable mindshare among Web developers who traditionally relied on MySQL," Ovum said in a news release.
Ovum principal analyst Tony Baer expounded upon that idea in a blog post. "To some extent, the results were surprising: while Hadoop garners much of the spotlight as a Big Data platform, the vendor 10gen, which develops MongoDB, came in second in mentions to Apache, which hosts the Hadoop project."
Ovum reported that Apache garnered 9.4 percent of Twitter posts, while MongoDB followed at 6.2 percent. "Although MongoDB is not known for storing high volumes of data, it is associated with variety, given its schemaless architecture," Baer said. "The popularity of the 10gen brand is attributable to the fact that MongoDB has become for Web developers the document equivalent of MySQL; it is open source, built in a language (JavaScript) that is highly popular among Web developers, and relatively simple to develop."
However, Baer said, "Ovum believes that the popularity of 10gen is more indicative of the future of Web development rather than Big Data, per se. We view 10gen as becoming the non-transactional database successor to MySQL in the world of Web developers."
I also found it interesting that a study about Big Data used the Big Data technique of culling information from social media to provide insights and conclusions not available through traditional database systems. I also found it interesting that DataSift, the company that conducted the study for Ovum, showed up in the very results it produced, coming in at 10th place in the ranking of Big Data companies mentioned in Twitter posts. All kinds of fascinating stuff here.
What do you think? Is MongoDB encroaching upon MySQL's turf? Please share your thoughts here or drop me a line.
Salary Survey Shows Data Devs Doing Well; Silverlight, Not So Much
Being a data development guy, I was interested in how data-related developers were faring when the recent Visual Studio Magazine Salary Survey came out, and the answer is pretty darn well, comparatively.
But, also being a Silverlight fan, I was most struck by one particular chart: "Salary by Microsoft Technology Expertise." More than 1,000 developers were asked: "What Is Your Primary Area of Technology Expertise (Have Product Knowledge and Work with on a Regular Basis)?" One line said it all:
Silverlight n/a
No one? Not one single developer was primarily using Silverlight?
It seems like only yesterday that Silverlight was the technology of choice for streaming Olympic Games, political conventions and Netflix movies.
There was a lot of angst among Silverlight developers when Microsoft emphasized new ways of developing apps for the Windows Store and Windows 8 ecosystems with the Windows Runtime, focusing on open technologies such as JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS. Silverlight developers were reassured that their skills would transfer to the new ecosystems and that they could continue to use XAML, C# and such to produce new-age apps with Silverlight's companion Expression Blend IDE. That may well be happening, but it looks like Silverlight itself is dying on the vine, judging from this salary survey. Too bad.
Anyway, back to the data devs. While the average salary for .NET developers was pegged at about $94,000, SQL Server developers reported an average salary of $97,840, taking second place in areas of expertise after SharePoint at $103,188.
SQL Server developers also ranked highly when it came to the best technologies for job security/retention, being chosen by about 65 percent of respondents, following Visual Studio/.NET Framework at 82 percent.
So, as I reported last year, data-related developers are doing all right. Congratulations, and keep up the good work!
Do you miss Silverlight? Do you feel good about your job prospects as a data developer? Please share your thoughts by commenting here or dropping me a line.
Data Access, Reimagined
"There are lots of discussions about using database[s] in Windows Store apps in MSDN forum[s]," reads a brand-new blog post by Microsoft's Robin Yang on MSDN.
Yes, developers are apparently still struggling with data access in the new Windows 8 ecosystem.
A quick check bears this out. In fact, just a week ago, a developer asked, "Is [it] possible to use 'LINQ to SQL' database in Windows 8 metro apps--or any other easy option is there to use local database?"
The answer was predictable: "It seems there is no official announcement of support for Linq to Sql or EF for database access in Windows 8 Metro Apps. You can try to use Web services to access the data."
Such questions have appeared on StackOverflow.com for well more than a year. A few examples:
Is LINQ-to-SQL available in metro style apps on Windows 8?
Will metro style windows 8 apps support local database access?
What should I use for a local database in a windows 8 metro app?
Local storage of structured data in Win8 Metro-style apps
Which local database is suitable for Windows 8 Store Apps?
Windows 8 store Apps -- which type of storage to use?
Many reader answers point to using SQLite, which is exactly what Yang's post did (the post indicates the author of the post's content is Aaron Xue, though it was posted by Robin Yang).
I earlier touched on and provided links for a few other options such as IndexedDB and Web services/the cloud.
But HTML5/JavaScript seems to be the popular programming model of choice for Windows Store apps, and Yang has also conveniently provided a three-part series on this (authored by Roy Tian), titled "Using HTML5/JavaScript in Windows Store apps: Data access and storage mechanism." You can find this series (along with other posts) on the Windows Store apps development suppport blog page.
So check out these latest posts to bone up on Windows Store app data access--and perhaps keep waiting for SQL Server CE support.
What do you think about data access in Windows Store apps? Please share your thoughts here or drop me a line.
Data Drives App Development Software Market
A recent report from research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) provides further proof that data is king when it comes to software development. The Application Development & Deployment (AD&D) market is expected to grow at a higher rate in 2013 after slow sales in late 2012, and some of the hottest segments of that market revolve around data-related development, IDC reported.
"Within the AD&D markets, the Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) market stands out with a 34% market share. It is by far the biggest individual market," IDC said. "Unlike other mature markets, RDMBS is forecast to outperform most AD&D markets with high single-digit growth in 2013 and beyond." Oracle dominates that market, IDC said, with nearly a 50 percent market share.
Also poised for revenue growth is Data Integration and Access Software, described by IDC as "a structured data management market with revenues of more than $4 billion . . . experiencing growth on par with the RDBMS market with which it has a close relationship." IBM dominates that market, the research firm said, and rules the overall AD&D market with Oracle and Microsoft.
No surprise, IDC said the highest market growth is expected in the predictable areas, "where markets are aligning with or supporting mobile, cloud, social and big data areas."
The information was released by IDC in conjunction with its Worldwide Semiannual Software Trackers project, a paid service.
What do you think about the growth prospects for data developers in the coming years compared to other app development? Please comment here or drop me a line.
Posted by David Ramel on 01/02/2013 at 12:19 PM0 comments


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"La Pulchra Nota" by Molly McNett – selection #12 of Deal Me In 2017
March 26, 2017 at 11:23 am	(Uncategorized)
Tags: Best American Short Stories 2014, Deal Me In 2017, Deal Me In Short Story Reading Challenge, La Pulchra Nota, La Pulchra Nota short story, Molly McNett author, Pushcart Prizewinners XXXIX, St. Jerome
The Card: ♠9♠ of Spades (image at left found here).
The Suit: For this year's Deal Me In, the suit of Spades is the domain of Clotho, one of the Fates from Greek Mythology who, according to Plato's Republic sings of "things that are."
The Selection: "La Pulchra Nota" from my hard copy of Pushcart Prize Winners anthology XXXIX "Best of the Small Presses." Originally published in issue 78 of the "Image" journal. I also just realized I own this story in two places, as it is included in the 2014 edition of Best American Short Stories. Read it online here.
The Author: Molly McNett– She says she wanted to write a story about a music teacher and student, but didn't want it to come out sounding like "Glee," and her solution was to set the story in another time and place. Read more about her and this story at http://northernpublicradio.org/post/niu-author-best-american-writer (where the picture above may also be found)
What is Deal Me In? I'm glad you asked! Full details maybe found here, but generally speaking it's a reading challenge where participants read one short story a week for the year, the reading order being determined by the luck of the draw. See here for a list of the stories/essays I'll be reading in 2017.
La Pulchra Nota
"La Pulchra Nota is the moment of beauty absolute, but what follows – a pause, however small – is the realization of its passing. Perhaps no perfection is without this silent realization."
Okay. Full disclosure. This story is my new leader for favorite Deal Me In story of 2017. I am rarely truly moved emotionally by a story and rarer still moved in multiple directions, e.g., from extreme empathy, to clear disgust, and back again, as I was in this story. I also did my traditional "drive by" online research of the story after reading, and was quite pleased to learn some of the details of its origins. (I also note with interest that, as Easter approaches, Deal Me In has dealt me up two stories in a row with a "religious" element…)
The story is the first person narration of John Fuller, who lives in the late Middle Ages – the late fourteenth century to be exact. It is a time when human life remains hard and mere survival – and accompanying happiness – likely involves healthy amounts of both faith and luck. Fuller, for example, is the youngest of twelve children of which only five survived childhood. The other seven being "called back to the fold" by the Lord.
Though Fuller lets us know that though, at the time of his narration, he "no longer has the use of his hands" and his pain "is not inconsiderable," and that he was born with a deformity of one eye, he initially enjoyed at least some good fortune, including a fortunate marriage to a nine-years older woman, Katherine. He and his wife are "blessed" with twins, though apparently in the Middle Ages many believed that twins "must be sired by two fathers" (something I was unaware of or have forgotten) and she faced condemnation as a harlot by many.
Fuller reveals that "divine providence was pleased to take the life of our dear twins two days apart from each other" – victims of a fever that the narrator himself contracts but survives. Though he notes that "every devout man knows the great mercy He shows us in taking a child out of the world" his wife never recovers from the loss, leaving him in – to the modern eye – a hellish existence with a half-mad wife, who goes on a sort of medieval hunger strike to coerce him into going to see the "anchoress" as a solution to their grief: "John, I have given you sorrow. But the Lord has a remedy. We must go to the anchoress, declare celibacy, and I will again wear white." John, hardly surprisingly, resists this request.
In the meantime, he continues to follow his vocation as a music teacher, which includes instruction of new young student, Olivia, who has talent far beyond what he normally sees among his pupils. Indeed, his regular lessons with this particular student serve as a kind of lifeline for some scant happiness in his life. He feels she may be capable of achieving the titular "La Pulchra Nota," the existence of which he reveals to her then quickly regrets. "…your voice at times comes close to a moment of perfection – what Jerome has called la pulchra nota. Let us begin to listen for it. Mostly it appears with no strain whatsoever. But be attentive, for when such a note comes, if you know it, you may ever after use its sound to guide you." He fears he may have given her false hopes, yet later, in a subsequent lesson, she does achieve la pulchra nota and knows it. This has serious consequences for both teacher and pupil…
I've "spoiled" the story enough already, but if you should like to read it, it's available online at https://www.imagejournal.org/article/la-pulchra-nota/
(I don't know if the "Jerome" referenced in the story is St. Jerome, but I though it was a safe enough assumption to include a picture of a famous painting 🙂 )
Anton Chekhov's short story, "The Darling"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Updated Apr 9, 2018 Expert Voices
Hungary's Viktor Orbán sails to victory, tightening his grip
Kristóf Szombati
Prime Minister Orban addresses supporters in Budapest after the announcement of partial election results on April 8, 2018. Photo: Laszlo Balogh/Getty Images
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party scored a resounding victory in yesterday's parliamentary elections, unexpectedly securing a two-thirds mandate for the third time in a row.
Why it matters: Since Orbán came to power in 2010, Hungary has moved progressively toward authoritarian rule. The high turnout (70%) and decisive victory will embolden his party to commandeer the remaining independent branches of government — the judiciary and local municipalities — and to further suppress civic opposition.
After its large electoral margin, Fidesz faces no major obstacles in remolding Hungary into a society ruled by clientelism, deference and fear. On the night of the election, governmental spokesperson Zoltán Kovács told reporters that legislation to allow the secret services to spy on critics will move forward and confirmed the government's intention to close down NGOs that meddle in domestic politics.
Fidesz's victory will also energize authoritarian and nationalist politicians across Europe, further threatening the preservation of democracy on the continent. Politicians in Poland will be particularly pleased to have Orbán on their side amid an ongoing battle with the European Commission over fundamental rights.
What's next: Hungary's political opposition is in tatters. Its leading figures have been weakened by the electoral fiasco in which the main opposition parties — the far-right Jobbik, the Socialist Party, the Democratic Coalition and the green Politics Can Be Different Party — received 250,000 fewer combined votes than Fidesz alone (2.34 million vs. 2.6 million). In parliament, these forces will be powerless in the face of the Fidesz supermajority, while Fidesz's grip on the media limits the opposition's visibility, especially in the rural provinces where elections are won and lost.
Kristóf Szombati is the Istvan Deak Visiting Professor of Political Science at Columbia University.


text:
Бензидиновая перегруппировка — превращение 1,2-диарилгидразинов в 4,4'-диаминодиарилы, протекает по [5,5]-сигматропному механизму. Открыта Н. Н. Зининым в 1845 г. (перегруппировка 1,2-дифенилгидразина в бензидин).

Бензидиновая и подобные перегруппировки
Бензидиновая перегруппировка осуществляется под действием сильных кислот, при этом основным продуктом являются 4,4'-диаминодиарилы (бензидины):

В реакции также образуются 2,2'- и 2,4'-диаминодифенилы (о-бензидины и дифенилины) и, при в случае наличия в исходных диарилгидразинов трудноотщепляемых заместителей в пара-положениях, 2- и 4-аминодифениламины.

На направление и скорость протекания бензидиновой группировки существенно влияет характер и положение заместителей в ароматическом кольце; в ходе реакции может также происходить отщепление заместителей, при этом легче всего отщепляются электронакцепторные заместители: легкость отщепления уменьшается в ряду SO3H, СО2Н > RC(O), Cl > OR; третичные N-амидные RC(O)NR, вторичные амино- NR2 и алкильные группы не отщепляются.

Бензидиновая перегруппировка может также идти и без кислотного катализа в инертных растворителях при 80-130°С (термическая бензидиновая перегруппировка), при этом увеличение полярности растворителя ведет к возрастанию скорости перегруппировки. Региоселективность термической бензидиновой перегруппировки ниже, чем катализируемой кислотами.

При наличии в двух пара-положениях бензольных колец гидразобензола неотщепляющихся заместителей, делающих невозможной классическую бензидиновую группировку, происходит семидиновая (полубензидиновая) перегруппировка, ведущая к образованию производных 2-аминодифениламинов (семидинов). В случае, когда в исходном 1,2-дифенилгидразине занято только одно из пара-положений, то продуктом перегруппировки, в зависимости от природы заместителя, может быть 2,4'-диаминодифенил или семидин:

 R= Hal, Alk, AlkO, NH2, NMe2

Механизм реакции
Реакция является внутримолекулярной: в экспериментах по перегруппировке смесей двух различных гидразобензолов продуктами реакции являются соответствующие исходным гидразобензолам бензидины, продукты перекрестной перегруппировки не образуются. Это также подтверждается данными исследований кинетики, показавших, что реакция имеет первый порядок по реагирующему 1,2-диарилгидразину и второй — по ионам водорода:
 V=k[1,2-диарилгидразин][H+]2
На начальной стадии реакции происходит протонирование обоих атомов азота гидразинового фрагмента 1,2-диарилгидразина, после чего интермедиат претерпевает [5,5]-сигматропную перегруппировку в промежуточно образующийся протонированный 4,4'-дииминодигексадиен, далее депротонирующийся в бензидин:

Применение в органическом синтезе
Благодаря доступности 1,2-диарилгидразинов, которые могут быть легко синтезированы восстановлением диарилазосоединений, получающихся в реакциях азосочетания, бензидиновая перегруппировка применяется в синтезе разнообразных ароматических диаминов.

См. также
 Гидразосоединения

Литература
 Бензидиновая перегруппировка // Реутов О. А., Курц А. Л., Бутин К. П. Органическая химия, т.2
 The Benzidine Rearrangements // Hydrazo, Azo and Azoxy Groups, Volume 1 and Volume 2 (1975), in Chemistry of Functional Groups Series, John Wiley & Sons, Print ISBN 978-0-471-66924-1 Online ISBN 978-0-470-02341-9

Перегруппировки в органической химии

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Today is the birthday (1332) of Abū Zayd 'Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Khaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī (بو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي) commonly known as Ibn Khaldoun, one of the greatest thinkers in the fields of history, economics, sociology, and anthropology of all times, and is now rightly considered by many experts in those fields to be their great-great grandfather. Yet most of his work remained unknown in the West for centuries until it was rediscovered in the nineteenth century when many of his fundamental ideas were reinvented by scholars. Even now in the social sciences his name is hardly a byword. I first learned about him in graduate school when I took a class on the pre-modern history of anthropology. Many of his ground breaking theories are current to this day.
Ibn Khaldoun (or Ibn Khaldūn) was an Arab Muslim born in Tunis into an upper-class Andalusian family of Arab descent, the Banu Khaldūn. His family, which held many high offices in Andalusia, had emigrated to Tunisia after the fall of Seville to Reconquista forces around the middle of the 13th century. After the fall of Tunis to the sultan of Constantinople in 1352, he relocated to Fez (Morocco) where he took up the position of writer of royal proclamations for the sultan, Abu Inan Fares I. However, he got himself in hot water fairly soon for scheming against the sultan and landed in prison for 22 months. He was released on the sultan's death but had mixed fortunes subsequently. He decided to move to Granada, capital of the province of Granada in Andalusia, where he expected to be well received because in his time at Fez he had assisted the sultan of Granada, Muhammad V, regain power following his exile. There he came into conflict with the sultan's vizier and so relocated to North Africa once again where he bounced around, because of his seemingly insatiable desire to cause trouble, finally ending up in Egypt, where he died in 1406. During his time in North Africa and Egypt he mostly devoted himself to writing and some teaching. These were the years that produced his greatest works.
His best known book is the Muqaddimah, commonly called the Prolegomena in English because it is the introductory volume in his proposed grand history of the world. In it he lays out his basic methods and theories to be applied in the body of the work. He starts out with a critique of previous methods in history pointing out that they are often unreliable because of 7 critical errors in method, such as writing with the purpose of currying favor with a ruler, failure to examine the reliability of sources, and bias towards a particular creed or cultural norm (what we now call ethnocentrism). My favorite of them all, the cornerstone of all cultural anthropology, is the error of failing to place events in their proper historical and cultural contexts and, hence, failing to interpret their true meaning — a principle I live by in my own writing.
You would be amazed at the breadth of his theorizing in diverse fields, and at how well his work continues to accord with contemporary theory. In economics he expounded on markets, laws of supply and demand, labor and human capital, exchange, and the effects of taxation on productivity. In sociology and anthropology he theorized on the nature of social cohesion, the effects of nomadic versus city life on culture, and the ways in which social bonds weaken as cultures move from a subsistence base to one of surpluses, and, eventually, luxury. He proposed that this progression was the ultimate cause of the cyclic downfall of empires. His political theory might best be summarized by his definition of government: "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself" which we must all ruefully admit is the case. He made major contributions to the philosophy and method of history which includes such sentiments as, "History is a science," "Myths have nothing to do with history and should be refuted," and "To build strong historical records, the historian should rely on necessary rules for the evaluation of truth." Those in the know believe that Ibn Khaldoun was one of the greatest thinkers of all time.
Few people nowadays realize that what is often referred to as the "Mediterranean Diet" has strong Arab influences dating back to the Middle Ages. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Ibn Khaldoun's ancestral, and actual, home of Andalusia in southern Spain. This recipe is my modern adaptation from the 13th century anonymous cookbook, Kitab al-tabikh fi al-Maghrib wal-Andalus (Book of Dishes from Morocco and Andalusia). It is for a raised dough (rather like egg bread) that is shaped into braids, shallow fried, and drizzled with scented honey then dusted with sugar. The original medieval recipe (which is typically vague about quantities and methods) calls for durum flour in preference OR plain wheat flour otherwise. You can choose your own proportions based on preference, experience with durum flour, and availability. I prefer a 50-50 split because in bread making this makes a lighter product. The original recipe calls for both cinnamon and Chinese cinnamon. What you buy in the stores today is Chinese cinnamon, also known as cassia. Cinnamon here means "true cinnamon" which is a different species and much more aromatic than cassia. However, you can use one or the other, or mix the two.
Put the yeast into a cup with 2 tablespoons of lukewarm water. Stir and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Put the flour and salt in a bowl and incorporate the water little by little. Then add the yeast. Knead until the dough is elastic.
Pour the saffron into a bowl with the two eggs and beat the mixture thoroughly. Then pour it over the dough, add the almonds and mix them well together. Knead the dough again for a few minutes to be sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Oil the surface of the dough and place it in a clean bowl. Cover with a moist towel and leave it to rise in a warm place.
It should take about an hour for the dough to double in size but you should check it periodically starting after 45 minutes. If a finger pressed into the dough springs back immediately it has not proofed enough. If a finger causes an indentation that remains it has proofed too long. You ought to be able to press in and have the dough spring back after about 5 seconds. Then it is ready.
While the dough is rising, gently heat the honey so that it is slightly more runny than when cold. Add the cinnamon, as much ground black pepper as suits your tastes, and the lavender. If you are using lavender oil, add one drop and check for flavor. Add one drop more if the flavor is too light. Keep warm.
Divide the dough into six portions. Sprinkle the worktop and your hands with flour. Take one portion of the dough and keep the rest covered with a towel. Roll and manipulate the dough until you have a thin sausage about 15 inches long. Cut this in three equal lengths and braid them together, pinching both ends when you are done. Repeat for the other five portions. Let the braids rest for 15 minutes.
While the braids are resting, pour vegetable oil into a heavy skillet to a depth of about ½ inch and heat until it reaches 340 F (170 C).
Place the braids gently into the skillet without overcrowding. You may need to do this in batches. Fry them to a golden brown on the bottom , then flip them and cook the other side in the same way.
Place the cooked braids on racks over trays to drain. Don't use paper towels because then they just continue to sit in the oil. You may pat them with paper towels though.
When the braids have drained, drizzle with the spiced honey, and sprinkle lightly with caster sugar.


Back, almost ten years ago, when I was still writing The Newsletter for the CEO of Cubicle 3-10, I was obsessed with Lurlene McDaniel. "Who is Lurlene McDaniel?" you might be asking. I'm so glad you asked in my imagination. Lurlene McDaniel is a writer of books for teens. You might know her by her books Six Months to Live; Mother, Please Don't Die; Too Young to Die; and Sixteen and Dying. In other words, ALL DEATH, ALL THE TIME.
"Wow, that sounds pretty morbid," you're definitely saying right now. "I only like to read books where baskets of kittens find homes or happy schoolchildren learn how to share." Well, then I don't know what you're doing at my blog. But I was going through my old newsletter files last night and found all of my Lurlene McDaniel fangirl posts and thought it was time I got them out again. Because if you're not part of the Lurlene McDaniel Appreciation Society, then it's time to remedy that real quick. Also, she has written so many additional jolly books and I wanted to add some of them to my list, along with a few title suggestions I came up with myself. My suggestions are marked with an asterisk. An asterisk OF DEATH.
Bonus. Here is an excerpt of some fan fiction I wrote.
"I also think it is probably a good time to tell you that you are allergic to seafood and peanuts," the doctor said, his eyes dripping with emotion.
Becky hurled herself off the examining table and pounded her fists on the floor.


text:
Los Adobes Formation is an Early Cretaceous (Aptian) geologic formation in Chubut Province, in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin of central Patagonia, Argentina. The formation belongs to the Chubut Group and represents the Early Cretaceous K1 megasequence in the basin, unconformably overlying the Late Jurassic Cañadón Calcáreo Formation and is overlain by the Albian Cerro Barcino Formation.

Los Adobes Formation was deposited in an alluvial to fluvial environment and the mudstones of the overall sandy and conglomeratic unit have provided fossils of a chelid turtle whose indeterminate remains were described by Sterli et al. in 2020.

Description

Los Adobes Formation, the lower unit in the Chubut Group was first described in 1970 by Tasch and Volkheimer. The formation underlies the Cerro Barcino Formation and unconformably overlies the Late Jurassic Cañadón Calcáreo Formation. The formation crops out in the southern Cañadón Asfalto Basin, south of the North Patagonian Massif until the Meseta de Canquel.

In the Sierra de Traquetrén, in the extreme northwest of the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, Los Adobes Formation has been thrusted onto the Maastrichtian Paso del Sapo Formation.

The formation is absent in the Cañadón del Zaino around Cerro Baya and Gastre, where the Early Jurassic Las Leoneras and Lonco Trapial Formations as well as the Middle Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation crop out. The oldest overlying formations in this area are the Neogene La Pava and Cráter Formations.

Geologic framework
During the late Early Cretaceous, the Cañadón Asfalto Basin was a back-arc basin with thinned underlying crust. The subduction of the Chasca and Catequil Plates, forerunners of the Farallones Plate, caused volcanic activity in the present Andean terrain represented by the Divisadero Group in Chile. Los Adobes Formation represents the K1 megasequence in the basin history, following the Jurassic megasequences when the depocenter of the basin was deeper.

Lithology and depositional environment
The formation comprises mudstones, sandstones and conglomerates, deposited in a terrestrial alluvial to fluvial environment. Paleocurrent analysis of the sediments suggest a transport direction towards the south and east. Los Adobes Formation is correlated with the Pozo D-129 Formation of the Golfo San Jorge Basin to the south. The basal part of Los Adobes Formation is irregular, covering the Jurassic sediments in small depocenters. The maximum noted thickness is . The formation shows progressive unconformities that show up in seismic sections as onlap structures.

Age
U-Pb dating of the formation has provided ages ranging from 118 to 114 Ma. At this time, during the Aptian extinction events (~117-116 Ma) and the opening of the South Atlantic, the Neuquén Basin to the northwest was experiencing the Middle Mirano unconformity, dated at 117 Ma and separating the contemporaneous Huitrín Formation.

Fossil content
The formation has provided fossils of an inderminate chelid turtle.

See also
 Aptian formations
 Paja Formation, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia
 Caiuá Formation, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of the Paraná Basin, Brazil
 Crato Formation, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of the Araripe Basin, Brazil
 Agrio and La Amarga and Lohan Cura Formations, contemporaneous fossiliferous formations of the Neuquén Basin
 Río Belgrano Formations, contemporaneous fossiliferous formation of the Magallanes or Austral Basin

References

Bibliography
Geology

Paleontology

Geologic formations of Argentina
Lower Cretaceous Series of South America
Cretaceous Argentina
Aptian Stage
Mudstone formations
Sandstone formations
Conglomerate formations
Alluvial deposits
Fluvial deposits
Formations
Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of South America
Paleontology in Argentina
Geology of Chubut Province
Geology of Patagonia


Ubisoft Forums > 1C:Maddox Games > IL2 Maddox General Discussion > Is anyone using Microsoft Sidewinder Presicion 2 Joystick?
View Full Version : Is anyone using Microsoft Sidewinder Presicion 2 Joystick?
As I understand it is just like Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 Joystick, but without force feedback http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif... Is it rugged, reliable? Is it suited well for IL-2? What about the deadzone?
I like mine quite well. Wish I could find another, just in case. Dead zone on mine is set to zero (the 30 meter torp run sucked when I sneezed oops). Only time I have problems is a static build up thing, & the computer wouldn't recognize the stick. Did an unplug/plug back in thing 20-30 times & it worked. The last time I put it in a different USB port. Asiede from that, very happy with the Precision 2.
Those are great sticks. My I got my first one in 1998, just in time to fly Janes WWII Fighters. I still have it, works real well.These days I use CH stuff.
icrash, you probably would have had quicker results if you'd taken a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol to your USB contacts on the jacks as well as your plug.
But, yeah the Sidewinder PP2 was a fine stick.
I have that stick too.
Funny, I had bought it a couple of years ago, never used it, and just started when I started playing IL2. I didnt realize that it is a "classic."
It had seemed to stop working, and I almost threw it out after being unable to get it to start for a long time. Then a couple of weeks ago, I plugged it in and voila! it worked. Must of been that static issue that you mentioned.
1 what is the "Dead zone" you mentioned?
2 is there some type of configuration profile optimized for IL2? I am currently using defaults.
I much prefer the old Precision Pro sticks, which i faithfully use now, and found them both on ebay like new for $20 bucks or cheaper!
Most of my flying buddies have been through untold numbers of Saiteks and Cougars while I have happily chugged along with my MSPP2. Been using it since 1999.
CH is the only other joystick I've heard being used so long.
http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gifBeen using it since I first bought it in about 2002 with no Problems.
But i ordered a new one off of ebay for 20$, well worth the money!!! It has a very nice grip.
Been using mine for two years now. Works the same as when it was new.
It's a bit loose when centered. But, I'm used to it. Kind of like driving a 1970's era Ford car or truck with a loose steering coupling.
I have thought about moving up to a set of pedals to go with another stick. Mostly because I find myself twisting the rudder when I shouldn't from time to time.
although those MS sticks tend to lose the connection with the PC from time to time.
I have a pile of broken ones in the basement, definately my favorite joystick. I even used it with the Cougar throttle, the cougar throttle was great but the stick needed an expensive mod to make it right. I'm currently using the X52, but the jury's still out on this one.
I have tried all new joysticks - Extreme 3D Pro, Cougar, X45, EVO and now X52 and they all seems somehow deficient compare to my old Saitek 3D Gold USB. The only other great joystick I have is CH Fighterstick, but just couldn't get used to pedals, so this stick is of no use to me either.
Afraid my 3D Gold will give up one day and I will be left with nothing to fly in IL-2, so I started to look for the replacement.


text:
Q: Android NDK / JNI - undefined reference to function defined in custom header file Using JNI, I am trying to write a native C++ method for the Android NDK that makes a call to a C function defined in a custom header file.  However, I am getting an undefined reference error for my C function call.
Here is my C++ code that makes a call to the C function and returns its result to Java as a jstring:
#include <jni.h>

#include "gesture_detector.h"

JNIEXPORT jstring JNICALL Java_com_example_bmtitest_JavaAbstractionLayer_callGestureAnalysis(JNIEnv *env, jobject obj, jfloat previousX, jfloat previousY, jfloat currentX, jfloat currentY) {
    return env->NewStringUTF(gestureAnalysis(previousX, previousY, currentX, currentY));
}

Here is my C function:
#include <stdio.h>

#include "gesture_detector.h"

//implemented from gesture_detector.h
const char* gestureAnalysis(float previousX, float previousY, float currentX, float currentY)
{
    float xOffset = currentX - previousX;
    float yOffset = currentY - previousY;

    if(xOffset == 0 && yOffset == 0)
    {
        return "TAP";
    }
    return "0";
}

Here is my Android.mk code:
LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)

include $(CLEAR_VARS)

LOCAL_MODULE    := gestureDetector
LOCAL_SRC_FILES := gestureDetector.c NativeAbstractionLayer.cpp
LOCAL_LDLIBS    := -landroid

include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)

Apparently, it seems the function definition defined in the custom header file (gesture_detector.h) isn't being found.  I think it may be a problem in my Android.mk file.
Could anyone tell me what am I doing wrong here?

A: An "undefined reference" error comes from the linker.  Your header file only satisfied the compiler.
However, since you are mixing C and C++ your problem is likely name mangling.  Basically, you need to tell the C++ compiler that the function you are trying to call was created by a C compiler rather than a C++ one, and so does not have argument type codes grafted onto its name.  Right now it doesn't know that, so is trying to call the function by a C++ style decorated name which differs from the plain C name of the function the linker actually has available.
Add this at the beginning of your gesture_detector.h file:
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

And this at the end
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

And do a clean rebuild.
If your real jni glue logic is as trivial as the version presented here, switching to a C version of that could also be an option - but beware that jni syntax is different in C and C++, so you can't just change the file extension.

A: Simply doing your native C++- code between
extern "C" {
    your code
}

Is something that not always will necessarily work - as you can check here.
Try adding to the Android.mk file:
LOCAL_ALLOW_UNDEFINED_SYMBOLS := true

Here you find further info about it.

A: In my case, my project was building properly but it started giving the 'undefined reference' error after I added two new files somefile.h and somefile.c. I added these files to the source directory of a existing library I built so no changes in cmake were required for referring to the new files. Cleaning and rebuilding project didn't work. However, I made some redundant changes in my CMakeLists.txt file and then did a clean rebuild. The build was successful. After that I removed this change (since it is redundant) and tried doing a clean rebuild again and the code was working. Maybe the build system was fetching some objects from cache, and changing CMakeLists.txt forced it to build the objects again from scratch. If anyone knows why such behaviour is observed please let me know. Thanks!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Map Object of Objects without knowing Object Key - React Native I need to get "primarySprayCanRGB" and "primarySprayCanHighLightRGB" from each individual object in the object and add them to the array.
But I don't know the individual object keys. => The paint names are different.
I'm working in React Native
for example get: [["#000000", "#131313"],["#292b2d", "#7b7d80"],["#6b0913", "#bc3038"],...]
The code I have so far, to get the data to add to the array, but the code returns only the first oibject because the id is not incremented :
//data == object.paints
//loadinga == false => when data is ready to use
{!loadinga && data.map((object,id) => console.log(object[id].primarySprayCan.primarySprayCanRGB))}

Link to JSON file:
https://cdn.imagin.studio/getPaintSwatches?customer=imagin&make=tesla&paints=pbsb,pmng,ppmr,ppsb,ppsw

A: You can map through the values of the paints objects using the Object.values() function. then select the values you want to extract from it.
Object.values(data).map({ primarySprayCan } => {
    return [ primarySprayCan['primarySprayCanRGB'], primarySprayCan['primarySprayCanHighLightRGB'] ]
});

A: you can do it like this

const extractData = data => Object.values(data.paints).map(({primarySprayCan}) => [primarySprayCan.primarySprayCanRGB, primarySprayCan.primarySprayCanHighLightRGB])

const data = {
  "make": "tesla",
  "paints": {
    "pbsb": {
      "paintId": "pspc0004",
      "paintDescription": "",
      "primarySprayCan": {
        "sprayCanId": "spc0004",
        "paintType": "uni",
        "primarySprayCanRGB": "#000000",
        "primarySprayCanHighLightRGB": "#131313",
        "colourCluster": "black"
      }
    },
    "pmng": {
      "paintId": "pspc0239",
      "paintDescription": "",
      "primarySprayCan": {
        "sprayCanId": "spc0239",
        "paintType": "mic",
        "primarySprayCanRGB": "#292b2d",
        "primarySprayCanHighLightRGB": "#7b7d80",
        "colourCluster": "grey"
      }
    },
    "ppmr": {
      "paintId": "pspc0107",
      "paintDescription": "",
      "primarySprayCan": {
        "sprayCanId": "spc0107",
        "paintType": "mic",
        "primarySprayCanRGB": "#6b0913",
        "primarySprayCanHighLightRGB": "#bc3038",
        "colourCluster": "red"
      }
    },
    "ppsb": {
      "paintId": "pspc0266",
      "paintDescription": "",
      "primarySprayCan": {
        "sprayCanId": "spc0266",
        "paintType": "mic",
        "primarySprayCanRGB": "#101b47",
        "primarySprayCanHighLightRGB": "#254e9d",
        "colourCluster": "blue"
      }
    },
    "ppsw": {
      "paintId": "pspc0109",
      "paintDescription": "",
      "primarySprayCan": {
        "sprayCanId": "spc0109",
        "paintType": "pearl",
        "primarySprayCanRGB": "#b4b4b4",
        "primarySprayCanHighLightRGB": "#b4b4b4",
        "colourCluster": "grey"
      }
    }
  }
}

console.log(extractData(data))


In stead of printing books in paper version, the university decides to release only online version of textbooks. Discuss at least an advantage and disadvantage of this change.
Some professors prefer to answer students'questions in the end of the lecture, and others stop at different points to answer students' questions. Which style do you think is better for learning?
原来学校只组织一次orientation, 现在打算在summer 的时候组织多次,1. 会使得学生在参与上有更多的flexibility 2. 使得每个团体更小,更加的intimate.


text:
Ambitious Climate-Protection Measures
WACKER has joined Race to Zero, the UN's carbon neutrality initiative. We want to pursue specific projects and measures to halve our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to ensure that how we work and make products achieves climate neutrality by 2045.
Munich / San Diego, Jan 17, 2022
PLASMITEC®: WACKER Introduces Its Plasmid DNA Production Platform
Munich / Copenhagen, Jan 11, 2022
WACKER and Biosyntia Develop Large-Scale Production Process for Sustainable Biotin
Munich, Dec 16, 2021
WACKER Sets New Corporate Sustainability Goals
Smuggling Curcumin into the Body
Dr. Natalie Vladi uses curcumin in her range of Foondiert® food supplements because she greatly appreciates its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This turmeric extract is not water-soluble, however, which hampers its bioavailability. WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS has come up with a solution that "smuggles" curcumin, so to speak, into the human body.
The Sun Is Heating Things Up in Industry
When used in solar thermal energy plants, high-performance heat transfer fluids like HELISOL® from WACKER play an important role in protecting the climate. The solar energy captured does more than just generate electricity – it can also be used directly as process heat for industry. Two model projects in Belgium show how it's done.
WACKER products serve many different sectors and offer you market-oriented solutions for the most diverse fields of application. Here you'll find the right product for your needs.
WACKER is beginning the work of decarbonizing its industrial production processes.
You will find detailed information on the 2020 business year in our latest Annual Report.
The WACKER Magazine
Fascinating stories, reporting and articles from the world of chemistry. Discover the people behind our products and services.
Wacker Chemie AG is listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange since 2006. The WACKER share is currently included in the MDAX.
Find out more Stock Chart Latest Documents
As a chemical-sector company, WACKER must ensure that it strikes a balance between economic, ecological and social responsibilities. The topic of sustainability has always been an essential part of our corporate culture and forms one of the five goals that make up our corporate strategy.
If you're looking for information about Wacker Chemie AG for your reporting, you've come to the right place. Here, you can find press releases and images, video material, publications, features, podcasts and much more. If you're a journalist with questions, our media contacts will be only too pleased to help.


Parkmobile is a pay by phone parking solution and certain information varies depending on your location. Note that the information in this article is ONLY for the areas in Santa Ana, CA where Parkmobile is offered.
Parkmobile payments do not integrate with the meters in this area. While your payment will not show on the meter, the officer will use your license plate number and zone number to view your Parkmobile payment on a handheld device.
Zone numbers are a critical part of your transaction and must be recorded correctly in order for your parking session to be identified correctly by the parking enforcement officers. Zone numbers can vary by street, area, or meter. You MUST identify your Parkmobile zone number from the green Parkmobile signage located in your parking area to ensure you start your session correctly.
In the parking areas in Santa Ana, CA zone numbers range from 3601 to 3682.
The Parkmobile toll-free phone number to reach the automated system to register and/or start or extend your parking sessions is: 877-727-5932 (877 PARK 932). If you are parking in the parking areas in Santa Ana, CA and call any other Parkmobile phone number you will be at risk parking in a zone in the wrong geographical area and the parking officers in your area wouldn't see your parking payment in that case.
To dispute a citation, follow the instructions on the ticket or to contact Parking Services at 888-300-9934. You can log on to your Personal Pages online at www.parkmobile.com to obtain a receipt for your parking session.
For boots or tow, contact 714-245-8600 or 714-245-8202.


We scoop at various markets and events, mostly but not exclusively in Cambridgeshire, including the Orwell Pannier Market, Great Shelford Farmers' Market, and Cambridge Market. See maps below. We also retail and wholesale containers in 280ml. and 500 ml. sizes and sell by subscription. If you're interested in our scooping at your party or other event or wholesaling our products, GREAT!! Please fill out our CONTACT US form as a start.


text:
Travel > See > The Ten Most Ridiculous Museums
The Ten Most Ridiculous Museums
By Gunaxin on May 8th, 2014
Museums are moving places when they house epic works of art, and they can be educational and awe-inspiring when they teach you about science and the world around you. But sometimes they're just mind-blowingly fucked up.
Frederick's of Hollywood Lingerie Museum
Victoria's Secret is all fine and good with its angels and boobies and warm feelings deep in the pits of our stomachs, but when we want to feel ashamed and slightly frightened, we turned to that stash of pictures we found in our sister's room Frederick's of Hollywood. The Frederick's lingerie museum is an excuse for any creepy perv to stare at not just underwear, but celebrity underwear, without facing those accusing glares or guard dogs that live around Jessica Biel's house. Though the real Frederick gave the world the push up bra, an item at once awesome yet infuriatingly deceptive, his lingerie museum, located at the back of a store in Los Angeles, merely offers a variety of scary celebrity paraphernalia, such as boxers worn by Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, an underwire bra signed by Cher and, brace yourselves, a training bra worn by Phyllis Diller. This Phyllis Diller.
Not pictured: Anything not obscene.
The Museum of Toilets
Studies have shown that the reasons large malls and stadiums and the like have several restrooms is not because of convenience, rather that if there was only one bathroom with enough toilets to accommodate all potential customers, people would never want to leave. Once a room hits toilet critical mass, the human mind reacts as though faced with the very image of God. We simply can't process it all and are left in rapturous awe. The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets is well aware of this and thus endeavored to satisfy mankind's otherworldly lust for knowledge of shitters. The website has no less than 5 lofty objectives listed for the existence of the museum and the page dealing with toilet history begins with this intense statement "Unlike body functions like dance, drama and songs, defecation is considered very lowly."
and here we have a shitter. And over here, another shitter. And over here…
Banana Museum
A tribute to the most phallic of all fruits, the Washington Banana museum contains more banana related shit (over 4,000 items) than any sane person should ever have or even know exist that relate to bananas. Posters, photos, ads, toys and godawful artwork all feature bananas. To what end? None at all, except that the curator is dangerously insane and found some bizarre way to quell their madness by putting effort into sharing this with the world.
This was considered normal once
The Spam Museum
Curiously more pathetic than most of these other museums, the Spam museum was not founded by a devoted lunatic who simply has a love for gelatinous, salty, vaguely edible meat-like substances. Instead, Hormel, the makers of Spam, figured their fearsome pork-based creation deserved its own museum and went ahead and made one. Some of the amazing facts you can learn at the museum include how Spam served its country by feeding Allied Forces during WWII, which, read another way, means that when you're in the trenches being shot at halfway across the world, surrounded by the corpses of your friends, Spam is the only thing your superiors may be able to offer you to keep you alive.
Creationist Museum
Finally, the idea of learning about anything whatsoever has been successfully removed from the museum concept, thus breaking it from its stodgy image as a place where knowledge of real things is shared with others. No offense to Creationists, but honestly, cut that shit out. At the Creationist museum, located just off I-50 in Fantasyland, you can hear how humans and dinosaurs used to live together at the same time and they were only killed off some time after the Flood. You can also see get all kinds of helpful info on building your own boat large enough to hold a male and female of the two million known species on Earth. Don't forget to visit the washrooms as rumor has it the urinals turn your whiz into Vanilla Coke but the stalls visit some of the lesser known Biblical plagues upon you, like pubic lice and gloryholes.
Recently, the museum faced some financial hardship and was struck by the Biblical plague of irony as it had to auction off a mastodon skull that the auction house says is about 40,000 years old but, according to the very premise of the museum, can't be more than 6,000 years old. Take that, faith!
And the Lord said "Thou shalt try to kill Jeff Goldblum"
Menstruation Museum
What is every museum you've ever been to missing? Period blood. Don't argue, it's the truth. The Louvre has like no period blood anywhere. So how do you get your fix of shit you never ever ever ever ever ever want to see? You go to the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health which, naturally, is in some guy's basement.
The website, a visual atrocity, even features hate mail from people who are horrified the museum exists and want God to shut it down. God gave the curator coronary angioplasty and he elected to close the real world museum but kept the virtual museum up and running until such time as he feels opening the doors again is a viable option
Great taste, less filling! Wait..what?
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum
At first glance this has to be an awesome museum as it states its own agenda right in the name. It's letting you know Dr. Frasier Crane wants you dead. You never see the Museum of Modern Art Made by Nancy Boys or the Museum of Science and Industry Designed to Keep the White Man Down. This museum is clearly a step ahead.
On the other hand, if you follow the bouncing ball back to the source you'll see this museum was founded by the Church of Scientology, meaning everything inside has been filtered through the brain of Tom Cruise and people who think Battlefield:Earth didn't suck huge, huge balls.
Like the Creationist museum, the Industry of Death museum relies more on you already agreeing with them and never, ever asking questions than anything that could be mistaken for science or worthwhile knowledge. Basically the point of the museum is to convince you Hitler wants your kids on drugs. It's all part of the master plan. Thank God a mediocre science fiction writer stumbled upon it in time to save us from anti-depressants!
I will jump on your sofa then take you to my home world!
Museum of Bad Art
Because far too many uptight museums are all "let's only display stuff that doesn't suck," the Museum of Bad Art exists to defy the norm by giving some appreciation to art that is just rancidly bad.
Surprisingly, the museum has a fairly distinct set of standards that exhibits must meet to qualify for inclusion. They can't be sucky on purpose, and nothing kitschy is to be included. They want to showcase art made by sincere artists who just failed so miserably that they stand head and shoulders above the rest of the world's mediocre artwork as something amazingly bad.
So powerful is the godawful collection of shit held at this museum that pieces have actually been stolen. Even offering almost $7 as a reward, the portrait called Eileen was not returned until 10 years later when the thief demanded $5,000. The museum refused and the thief gave the piece of shit back anyway.
Bunnies with tits? How is this bad?
Toilet Seat Art Museum
Probably there's some wise saying about art out there that justifies the kind of mentality that would turn a toilet seat into an art installation, but the fact is, by and large, toilet seats are one of the only things that get urine on them on a daily basis, along with hobos and German porn stars.
The merits of the medium aside, the Toilet Seat Art Museum exists and is chock full of toilet seats. Owner and artist Barney Smith is a retired plumber who apparently really found some beauty in his job and felt like taking that into retirement with him. The result is his Texas museum and its hundreds upon hundreds of toilet seats, all decorated by Barney, all lamenting their piss-free existence.
Buddy Holly thinks your shit stinks
The Icelandic Phallological Museum
This is basically a museum of Icelandic wang and, contrary to popular belief, is not Paris Hilton. The museum houses over 200 specimens, which means there are over 200 reasons for any man who inexplicably gets trapped in this building to feel uncomfortable. Lest you think you'd get bored by looking at hundreds of dicks, there is some variety present. Some of the units are dried, some are in formaldehyde and some are hunting trophies because what better trophy to take than a penis? The website proudly proclaims that it's probably the only museum in the world to contain a collection of phallic specimens belonging to all the various types of mammal found in a single country. Who knew de-dicking every animal in you country could lead to such fame?
The museum also has examples of units from things such as elves, trolls and sea monsters. Just because no one has confirmed the Loch Ness monster exists doesn't mean the curator, a man in his mid 90s, can't have its dick on his shelf.
Currently there are no human shlongs in the museum, so you'll have to go to the rest room to get your fill if you're really hankering to see one. However, they do have 4 "legally-certified gift tokens" for human specimens, to be collected when the owners no longer need them.
Just try to imagine how much ass this guy gets
BOLDMEN Adventures : Challenge Yourself and Get Outdoors!
Ring in the New Year Around the World
Christmas Lights Around the World


Our full-suite of human performance improvement tools will help you improve your total organizational performance through implementing and applying the tools which have helped the leading oil and gas, utilities, and pipeline companies create optimal safety cultures.
At our core, Knowledge Vine is committed to helping you and your workers on your "path to zero". We do this by helping you improve your total organizational performance through the implementation and application of human performance tools and techniques. As a result, our full suite of Human Performance Improvement services is called Total Organizational Performance Improvement (TOPI).
TOPI is designed to help improve the behaviors and decision-making at all levels of your organization. Companies that don't have strong systems in place to support employee behaviors experience cultural decay, become increasingly inefficient and error prone, lose contracts and bids due to poor safety metrics, and experience reduced profit margins due to rework, accidents, down-time, change orders etc.
If your organization is experiencing any of the above, we will be more than happy to provide you with a complimentary assessment to give you insight into why certain organizational weaknesses are becoming more prevalent. Please fill out the form below and we will provide you with the resources to conduct the assessment.
To give you a broad overview of TOPI and how we have been able to transform our clients' culture, worker behavior and decision-making processes please see "how we do it".
You don't know where to go if you don't know where you are. Performance improvement is not an "off the shelf, one-size-fits-all" process. The Foundation phase is designed to identify your current culture to lay out a custom plan for implementing human performance.
Vision, expectations, communication, roles, responsibilities, implementation, metrics, and accountability are unique to each organization; the Foundation is where this is assessed and defined. The Foundation includes communicating the intent of Knowledge Vine's engagement, evaluating current metrics, and the Culture+ survey of the organization. The information collected will help guide the Goal-Setting Executive Workshop in developing a customized plan for the implementation of TOPI within their organization.
The information phase starts the process of training your employees about the actionable behaviors they can use immediately to start reducing errors and injuries.
Employees will also learn about identifying system and process gaps called organizational weaknesses. Additionally, leadership personnel are trained on coaching techniques to help manage the cultural change.
During the Application phase, Knowledge Vine specialists will teach your team, at their jobs, how to recognize error likely situations and how to apply Human Performance tools to mitigate these hazards and reduce accidents and errors.
This phase is also designed to ensure all supervisory personnel can coach on the expected use and appropriate processes involved in the TOPI methodology.
The Transformation phase is the "jumping off point" that will enable your organization to continue TOPI on your own. We will train-the-trainer with your TOPI Champions, perform a closure survey to mark progress, and provide additional tools and processes to allow your organization to keep the momentum going. At this time, your organization will be achieving the goals previously set forth in the Foundation phase and using human performance improvement to make optimal decisions without the help of Knowledge Vine.
If you would like to discuss how TOPI has worked with other organizations and how it can help you, please fill out the form below to setup a brief introductory conference call.


focusable, that is, any renderable or event-receiving elements"
The drawFocusRing was the "stalking horse" that motivated support.
and I'm looking forward to seeing them catch up.
of screen magnifiers interacting with the data.
> support for auditory user interfaces.
> [more complex than a checkbox].
>> imagine it supporting a magnifier based on the existing spec.
>> They're implemented to the existing spec.
>> is intended to interoperate.
>>       "canDrawCustom" was dropped, as redundant and problematic.
>>       with the JAWS screen reader.
>>       Congratulations Microsoft IE Team!
Next message: Charles Pritchard: "Re: Agenda: January 24, 2011 Canvas Accessibility Working Group"


Airtel plans to continue its support towards the expansion of Broadband in Africa by expanding its product portfolio and becoming operator of choice for Home Broadband and SOHO segments.
This role is responsible for Driving and developing the Home Broadband Strategy across 14 markets for our Africa.
Managing the overall proposition and product roadmap for the Home Broadband portfolios from initial product to more comprehensive offerings.
Ensuring excellent execution of distribution plans across Opcos by coaching and performance management.


Our Webpage Monitoring (Content Monitoring) checks whether your website delivers the proper page content to the users, and whether your website's download speed and uptime are within the industry standards.
Webpage Monitoring looks for any unauthorized content changes, connectivity issues and/or website defacement, and verifies the website's content from up to three independent monitoring locations.
We will check your page and in case of any unauthorized content changes, connectivity issues and/or website defacement, we will verify it from up to three independent monitoring locations.
Performance Webpage Monitoring simulates repeat user experience - the monitoring agent performs a specified request and downloads the header and all HTML web page contents without images and other embedded objects. It simulates repeat-user to your website.
Advanced content monitoring - keywords, content size and md5 hash, compares content to previous versions, custom content verification plugins.
Bandwidth emulation - from dial-up to Full T3; Emulates different browsers in order to check how the website performs with different browsers and operating systems; Emulates third party headers when issuing requests; Supports client side certificates.
Supports HTTP, META refresh and JS location redirects; Allows customizable HTTP headers - user-agent, referer, language, cookies.
Monitors MD5, keywords and file size to prevent web page defacements.
Full-page Monitoring simulates first-time user experience - the monitoring agent performs a specified request and downloads the header, all HTML web page contents, all images and all other embedded objects, simulating first-time user of the website.


text:
Cryptodicranum armittii är en bladmossart som beskrevs av Edwin Bunting Bartram 1942. Cryptodicranum armittii ingår i släktet Cryptodicranum och familjen Dicranaceae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Egentliga bladmossor
armittii


Whеn patients nееd safe, rеliаblе and comfortable Critiсаl Care Transport (CCT), thеrе are several firѕt сlаѕѕ аmbulаnсе trаnѕроrtаtiоn thаt аrе rеаdу tо hеlр. Emergency vеhiсlеѕ аnd paramedics who are соntinuоuѕlу trаinеd оn аll оf thе most ѕеnѕitivе hеаlth ѕсеnаriоѕ possible mаking uѕе оf the аvаilаblе flееt оf аmbulаnсеѕ boasts the bеѕt with most rесеnt еԛuiрmеnt. The rеѕult in wоrld-сlаѕѕ critical саrе оn thе gо, along with the personal tоuсh it takes tо keep the раtiеnt аѕ соmfоrtаblе as роѕѕiblе. Aраrt frоm bеing соmреtеnt in thеir various аrеаѕ of ѕресiаlizаtiоnѕ, thе mеdiсаl ѕtаffѕ оn ground are trained tо be fast аnd uр аnd doing, for ambulance services are ѕuрроѕеd tо bе timely in order to ѕаvе lifе.
Evеn if thе transport ѕеrviсе уоu nееd iѕn't in thе 'еmеrgеnсу' саtеgоrу, it саn ѕtill be ѕtrеѕѕful аnd uрѕеtting еxреriеnсеѕ if hаndlеd рооrlу. That's nоt acceptable. The professionals givе juѕt as muсh саrе аnd attention to еvеrу person they need tо hеlр, with nо exceptions.
Has аnуоnе ever called аn аmbulаnсе for уоu? Did уоu fееl thаt you did not need thе ambulance trаnѕроrt аt that time? Did уоu fееl that уоu could hаvе bееn trаnѕроrtеd by private саr оr tаxi? Did уоu feel уоu were nоt rеѕроnѕiblе fоr the bill? If уоu answered уеѕ tо аnу оf thеѕе questions, read оn.
Whеn аn аmbulаnсе is саllеd fоr уоu by a family member оr a соmрlеtе ѕtrаngеr, уоu are thе реrѕоn thаt iѕ rеѕроnѕiblе fоr thе bill, thiѕ was thе mоѕt fought question.
If уоu аrе ѕuddеnlу tаkеn ill оr fall dоwn аnd саn't get uр аnd a friеnd оr ѕtrаngеr саllѕ аn аmbulаnсе fоr уоu, уоu can refuse the transport. Thеrе will be a сhаrgе ѕinсе the ambulance hаd bееn diѕреnѕеd аnd thе раrаmеdiсѕ were аlrеаdу оn thе scene.
What реорlе nееd to know iѕ thаt an ambulance transport tо thе hоѕрitаl iѕ not frее. Aѕ a mаttеr of fасt the transport соѕt vаriеѕ during thе twenty four hоur day реriоd. Thе соѕt is highеr аt night since thе inѕurаnсе соѕtѕ fоr the аmbulаnсе is highеr аt nightѕ.
Thе аmbulаnсе trаnѕроrt uѕuаllу tаkеѕ the раtiеnt to the closest hоѕрitаl. If the аmbulаnсе аrrivеѕ аt thе hоѕрitаl аnd thеу are wаvеd away fоr numеrоuѕ rеаѕоnѕ, mау be that thе раtiеnt need a specialist аttеntiоn whо iѕ nоt available in thе first hospital, then the аmbulаnсе transport will continue оn to another hоѕрitаl.
An ambulance trаnѕроrt iѕ соѕtlу and medical inѕurаnсе соmраniеѕ are vеrу сlеvеr in finding ways tо аvоid рауing thiѕ bill or making a раrtiаl рауmеnt.
If you do nоt hаvе аnу mеdiсаl inѕurаnсе this bill mау be over whеlming for уоu tо hаndlе. Yоur аmbulаnсе bill iѕ completely ѕераrаtе from the hospital bill.
If you nееd an ambulance bу all mеаnѕ call on. 911 in the United States it iѕ аn еаѕу рhоnе number to rеmеmbеr. An ambulance trаnѕроrt iѕ thеrе fоr уоu tо ѕаvе уоur lifе.


There have been other great alpine ski runs. More epic, difficult, or far more dangerous but this one, by the World Champion alpine skier Marcel Hirscher, is the prettiest and most colorful I've ever seen—and it's environmentally friendly. They claim they only used 100% natural materials to make the color effects.


There has been an overwhelming response to the invitation I sent out last Friday about MARGARET BYRNE'S TALK to the "Lawyers' Business Development Club".
On Friday , I received more than 100 RSVP's for this Special Event.
I am afraid, that Margaret's Talk is now SOLD OUT. There is now a "WAITING-LIST" in operation which will disappoint some of the football fans who were a bit slow off the mark in RSVP'ing !
I am still happy to hear from you. If you would like me to put your name on the Waiting-List, please drop me a line.
I am just including below the details I sent out about MARGARET'S TALK again for ease of reference.
I am delighted to announce that MARGARET BYRNE the CEO of SUNDERLAND FOOTBALL CLUB will be our Guest Speaker on Thursday 14 November in London.
Margaret Byrne was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Sunderland Football Club in 2011 making here one of the youngest Chief Executives of Premier League Football Club.
Margaret first joined Sunderland F.C. in 2007 as their in-house lawyer. Shortly afterwards, she was appointed as Company Secretary. Margaret became the Legal Director of the Club in 2009.
Margaret was voted onto the Council of the Football Association by her peers as a Premier League representative, making her the first woman on the Council. She also sits on the Premier League Advisory Board.
Margaret is from Dromintee in South Armagh.
If you or your firm/business would like to Sponsor this Special Breakfast Event, please drop me a line or give me a call to discuss.
My email is: colin[at]lawyersbdc.com or Tel: 0044 7917 301 070.
There are only limited places available for this Talk. If you would like to reserve a place, please drop me a line ( colin[at]lawyersbdc.com or Tel: 0044 7917 301 070 ).
I hope to see you at what promises to be a fascinating Talk from Margaret.


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 22 Harvard men's tennis team (11-3) swept St. John's, 4-0, and Boston University, 6-1, Saturday at the Murr Tennis Center.
In the first match of the day, the Crimson ran by the Red Storm, 4-0. Harvard earned the doubles point to start the day, winning at the No. 2 and 3 positions. Sophomore Sebastian Beltrame and junior Nicky Hu cruised by R.J. Del Nunzio and Erick Reyes, 6-3. Junior Conor Haughey and sophomore Andrew Ball grinded out a 7-5 win over Michael-John Every and Robert Livi.
All the singles matches were won in straight-sets, as senior captain Denis Nguyen set the pace with a 6-2, 7-5 win at the No. 1 position over Lucas Hejhal. Hu and sophomore Brian Yeung followed, earning wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 spots, respectively.
The Crimson cruised past the Terriers in match two, winning all of the matches completed. Beltrame and freshman Jean Thirouin teamed up to knock off William Kwok and Stefan Lemire (6-1), as did freshman Kenny Tao and senior captain Alex Steinroeder over Mario Sandoval and Lucas Bombonatti.
Yeung moved to the No. 1 position to knock off Kwok in three sets (3-6, 6-1, 1-0). Chaudhuri and Ball bested Lemire and Sandoval, respectively, in straight-sets. Junior Kelvin Lam and rookie Xavier Gonzalez rounded out the Crimson wins.
The Crimson will take next weekend off from competition before heading out on its Mission Valley Spring Break Classic trip.


How do you work with difficult materials?
QHow do you work with difficult materials?
Before a production batch is conducted, we evaluate the physical properties of the ingredients for parameters such as flowability and density as well as particle size and shape. Our team of technical experts makes a determination whether the ingredients can be mixed dry or whether wet granulation is required and in what type of blenders the ingredients will be mixed. We also consider other factors such as the time required for blending without causing particle separation or over mixing, the fill level of the blender, and the order of adding each ingredient.
When required, we employ various processes to prepare the ingredients for blending, compression or encapsulation.
Ideally, all materials would be received already in a free-flowing, production-ready state; however this is not always possible. When materials are difficult to work with, you can rely on Rhema's experience, quality and innovation to find the best manufacturing solution.


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Barbara Jackson
By Staff Writer on June 5, 2015
Ms. Barbara Jackson, 56, of 2578 McGlynn Drive Decatur, Ga., transitioned on Wednesday, June 3, 2015 in the Grady Memorial Hospital. Barbara is survived by four sisters: Ms. Catherine Whitman of Atlanta, Mrs. Ruby A. Goddard (Calvin), Ms. Deloris Jackson, and Ms. Dorothy Jackson, all of Barnesville; three brothers: Mr. Paul White of Atlanta, Mr. William Junior Jackson of Barnesville, and Mr. Anthony Jackson of Decatur, Ga.; one brother-in-law: Mr. Lee Collier of Barnesville, Ga.; a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and many dear friends whom all will miss her presence. Professional services will be held on Thursday, June 11, 2015 at the Sardis Baptist Church. Pastor Clarence Norris will officiate and interment will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, June 17, 2015 from 6-8 p.m. Trice Funeral Home Inc. of Barnesville has charge of arrangements. The family is receiving friends at 322 Sims Street.
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The Kwara State Signage and Advertisement Agency, KWASA, on Monday said it had removed over 50 campaign billboards across the state for non compliance with laid down rules.
KWASA General Manager, Ahmed Olufadi, disclosed this in llorin during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
According to Mr Olufadi most billboards and signposts were erected indiscriminately without due process especially in the state capital.
"Some of the billboards constitute nuisance to motorists and pedestrians especially those on the dual carriageway in some parts of the metropolis," he said.
He said some of the billboards were also erected under power line which constitute danger especially during rainy season.
"The removal of billboards and signposts illegally erected will be a continuous exercise by the agency.
"This is aimed at ensuring sanity and due process," Mr Olufadi said.
He advised politicians no matter how highly placed in the society to abide by laid down rules.
"Politicians should ensure payment of approved fees before erecting campaign billboards and signposts," he said.
Mr Olufadi also warned those whose billboards and signposts were removed not to replace them without consulting the agency.