text:
Currently browsing: Guest Blogs
CAC2 Member Blog–Celebrating the Introduction of The Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act
December 19, 2022 CAC2
Community News, Guest Blogs No comments yet
By CAC2 Member Jess Kean, Children's Cancer Cause. The Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act was introduced in Congress on December 14, 2022. As the only childhood cancer organization involved in the drafting of this legislation, CAC2 Member Children's Cancer Cause is pleased to share the details of this bill with other CAC2 members in the hopes that the community will join us as we work toward its passage. The Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act addresses care planning, transition, navigation, reimbursement, quality, and so much more. It aims to address gaps in survivorship care and develop desperately needed standards to improve the overall [...] Read more
Save the Date! Action Days 2023 Returns to Washington, D.C.
December 8, 2022 CAC2
Blog Posts, Community News, Guest Blogs No comments yet
By Guest Blogger Sarah Milberg, Co-Chair of the Alliance for Childhood Cancer and Director of Government Relations and Advocacy for the St. Baldrick's Foundation Thanks to advocates like you, we have been able to make great progress on important childhood cancer issues before Congress. The Alliance for Childhood Cancer is excited to announce that Action Days 2023 will return back to Washington, D.C. from April 24-25, 2023. Registration will open in early 2023. Action Days gives you an opportunity to speak with your members of Congress and their staff to advocate for important childhood cancer issues before Congress. Sharing your story next […]
Childhood Cancer Data Initiative Welcomes Dr. Gregory Reaman as Its New Scientific Director
This month, Dr. Gregory Reaman was named by the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) as the new Scientific Director. In this role, Dr. Reaman will develop, direct, and coordinate CCDI programs and initiatives, as well as provide scientific oversight and recommendations to drive CCDI's vision and progress. He comes to NCI most recently from the US Food and Drug Administration, with a career dedicated to caring for children with cancer and decades of leadership experience improving childhood cancer research. The CCDI team isn't the only part of CCDI that expanded. NCI released initial data from the CCDI Molecular Characterization Initiative, [...] Read more
Guest Blog–New FDA Draft Guidance Aims to Protect Children who Participate in Clinical Trials
November 5, 2022 CAC2
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a draft guidance that, when finalized, will provide the agency's perspective on the ethical considerations for including and protecting children in clinical trials. The draft guidance is intended to assist industry, sponsors and institutional review boards (IRBs) when considering the enrollment of children in clinical investigations of drugs, biological products and medical devices. "Children need access to safe and effective medical products and health care professionals need data to make evidence-based decisions when treating children. However, children are a vulnerable population who can't provide consent for themselves and are afforded additional safeguards when participating in […]
Guest Blog–National Cancer Institute's CCDI Molecular Characterization Initiative Adds Rare Tumors
September 12, 2022 CAC2
Children, adolescents, and young adults (AYAs) with newly diagnosed rare tumors are now eligible to enroll in the CCDI Molecular Characterization Initiative. Rare tumors are childhood cancers that have a low number of patients, which have been hard to study and understand. Potential participants must also be receiving care from a Children's Oncology Group-affiliated hospital. Enrollment is still also open to children and AYAs with central nervous system tumors and soft tissue sarcomas. The initiative will continue to expand to children and AYAs outside of Children's Oncology Group–affiliated hospitals, those with other childhood cancers, and those whose cancer has returned. […]
Guest Blog–If No One Knows, No One Cares: An Urgent Message for President Biden
February 28, 2022 CAC2
Blog Posts, Guest Blogs No comments yet
By CAC2 Member Janet Demeter, Jack's Angels "This is the wake up call of #Moonshot4Kids: medical research investment into cures for children is one area where our priorities as Americans are completely upside-down."–Janet Demeter This is the story of Moonshot4Kids meets the White House Moonshot! I visited the White House on Feb. 2, 2022 to witness President Biden's announcement to reignite the Cancer Moonshot. I never expected an invitation to this event. At the end of last year, I had been involved in a White House OSTP roundtable of stakeholders in the childhood cancer community at the end of last […]


"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy" (Psalm 96:11-12 NIV).
Thank you for loving us. Thank you for creating us with the purpose of one day joining your heavenly family and for creating this beautiful world for us to inhabit while we learn from you and strive to conform to the image of your first born Son. Your creations reveal who you are—majestic, powerful, sovereign and peaceful.
I pray that as we walk joyfully through life we are able to feel the love that pours out from your beautiful creations and natural masterpieces, and that we understand your presence is with us wherever we go.
To God we owe all of the glory, as all good things come from God.


text:
import { take } from 'lodash'
import { ref } from 'vue'
import { expect, it } from 'vitest'
import factory from '@/__tests__/factory'
import { fireEvent } from '@testing-library/vue'
import UnitTestCase from '@/__tests__/UnitTestCase'
import { SelectedSongsKey, SongsKey } from '@/symbols'
import SongListControls from './SongListControls.vue'

new class extends UnitTestCase {
  private renderComponent (selectedSongCount = 1, config: Partial<SongListControlsConfig> = {}) {
    const songs = factory<Song>('song', 5)

    return this.render(SongListControls, {
      props: {
        config
      },
      global: {
        provide: {
          [<symbol>SongsKey]: [ref(songs)],
          [<symbol>SelectedSongsKey]: [ref(take(songs, selectedSongCount))]
        }
      }
    })
  }

  protected test () {
    it.each([[0], [1]])('shuffles all if %s songs are selected', async (selectedCount: number) => {
      const { emitted, getByTitle } = this.renderComponent(selectedCount)

      await fireEvent.click(getByTitle('Shuffle all songs'))

      expect(emitted().playAll[0]).toEqual([true])
    })

    it.each([[0], [1]])('plays all if %s songs are selected with Alt pressed', async (selectedCount: number) => {
      const { emitted, getByTitle } = this.renderComponent(selectedCount)

      await fireEvent.keyDown(window, { key: 'Alt' })
      await fireEvent.click(getByTitle('Play all songs'))

      expect(emitted().playAll[0]).toEqual([false])
    })

    it('shuffles selected if more than one song are selected', async () => {
      const { emitted, getByTitle } = this.renderComponent(2)

      await fireEvent.click(getByTitle('Shuffle selected songs'))

      expect(emitted().playSelected[0]).toEqual([true])
    })

    it('plays selected if more than one song are selected with Alt pressed', async () => {
      const { emitted, getByTitle } = this.renderComponent(2)

      await fireEvent.keyDown(window, { key: 'Alt' })
      await fireEvent.click(getByTitle('Play selected songs'))

      expect(emitted().playSelected[0]).toEqual([false])
    })

    it('toggles Add To menu', async () => {
      const { getByTitle, getByTestId } = this.renderComponent()

      await fireEvent.click(getByTitle('Add selected songs to…'))
      expect(getByTestId('add-to-menu').style.display).toBe('')

      await fireEvent.click(getByTitle('Cancel'))
      expect(getByTestId('add-to-menu').style.display).toBe('none')
    })

    it('clears queue', async () => {
      const { emitted, getByTitle } = this.renderComponent(0, { clearQueue: true })

      await fireEvent.click(getByTitle('Clear current queue'))

      expect(emitted().clearQueue).toBeTruthy()
    })

    it('deletes current playlist', async () => {
      const { emitted, getByTitle } = this.renderComponent(0, { deletePlaylist: true })

      await fireEvent.click(getByTitle('Delete this playlist'))

      expect(emitted().deletePlaylist).toBeTruthy()
    })
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
2 critically injured in Walworth Co. crash
Crash remains under investigation
Posted: October 1, 2012 8:28 PM
TOWN OF WALWORTH, Wis. — Two people suffered critical injuries in a two-vehicle crash Sunday in Walworth County.
The Walworth County Sheriff's Office said the crash occurred at about 5 p.m. at the intersection of U.S. Highway 14/67 and Lakeville Road in the Town of Walworth.
Sheriff's officials said the preliminary investigation revealed that a Chevy van towing a Smokercraft fishing boat and trailer was traveling southbound on Highway 14.
A Chevy Cavalier was eastbound on Highway 67 and failed to yield after stopping at the stop sign, sheriff's officials said.
Sheriff's officials said the van was unable to avoid the collision and struck the driver's side of the Cavalier.
A passenger in the van was transported by ambulance with minor injuries. The driver of the van wasn't injured.
The driver of the Cavalier, Shawn E. Cummings, 29, of Crystal Lake, Ill., was flown by Flight for Life to Janesville Hospital with critical injuries.
A passenger in the Cavalier, Lia M. Cummings, 7, of Crystal Lake, Ill., was flown by Flight for Life to Children's Hospital in Milwaukee with critical injuries.
Another passenger in the Cavalier, a 22-year-old woman from Glendale Heights, Ill., was transported by ambulance with minor injuries.
Authorities said all the occupants of both vehicles were wearing seat belts.
The road was shut down for three hours after the crash.
The Walworth County Crash Investigation Team was called to the scene. The crash remains under investigation.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Failed to initiate one-to-many relationships (Call to a member function toArray() on a non-object) I'm to prepare a classical 1:n relation in order to list szervezets (~organizations) and kapcsolats (~contacts) below. These are the entities (relevant part only).
Szervezet:
namespace AppBundle\Entity;

use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;

/**
 * Szervezet
 *
 * @ORM\Table(name="szervezet")
 * @ORM\Entity
 */
class Szervezet
{

...

    /**
     * @ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="AppBundle\Entity\Kapcsolat", mappedBy="szervezet")
     */
     private $kapcsolats;

    public function __construct() {
        $this->kapcsolats = new ArrayCollection();
    }

    public function getKapcsolats() {
        return $this->kapcsolats->toArray();
    }
}

Kapcsolat:
namespace AppBundle\Entity;

use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;

/**
 * Kapcsolat
 *
 * @ORM\Table(name="kapcsolat")
 * @ORM\Entity
 */
class Kapcsolat
{

...

    /**
     * @var \AppBundle\Entity\Szervezet
     *
     * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="AppBundle\Entity\Szervezet", inversedBy="kapcsolats")
     * @ORM\JoinColumns({
     *   @ORM\JoinColumn(name="szervezet_id", referencedColumnName="id")
     * })
     */
    private $szervezet;

    /**
     * Get szervezet
     *
     * @return \AppBundle\Entity\Szervezet
     */
    public function getSzervezet()
    {
        return $this->szervezet;
    }
}

Now if I want to list them via this controller and template I get an error:
Error: Call to a member function toArray() on a non-object
Controller:
/**
 *
 * @Route("/show/{id}", name="szervezet_show")
 * @Method("GET")
 * @Template("admin/szervezet/show.html.twig")
 */
public function showAction($id) {
    $repository = $this->getDoctrine()-> getRepository('AppBundle:Szervezet');
    $szervezet = $repository->findOneById($id);

...

    $kapcsolats = $szervezet->getKapcsolats();

    return array(
        'szervezet' => $szervezet,
        'kapcsolats' => $kapcsolats,
    );
}

Template:
{% for kapcsolat in kapcsolats %}

{{ kapcsolat.kapcsolatTipus }}

{{ kapcsolat.id }}

{% endfor %}

Database filled, I can list them with a normal query, but not via annotations. Any idea what I've missed?

A: Szervezet Entity to like this (Note: delete toArray()):
    public function __construct() {
       $this->kapcsolats = new ArrayCollection();
    }

    public function getKapcsolats() {
        return $this->kapcsolats;
    }

Kapcsolat Entitiy:
/**
     * @var \AppBundle\Entity\Szervezet
     *
     * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="AppBundle\Entity\Szervezet", inversedBy="kapcsolats")
     * @ORM\JoinColumns({
     *   @ORM\JoinColumn(name="szervezet_id", referencedColumnName="id")
     * })
*/

to
/**
* @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Szervezet", inversedBy="kapcsolats")
* @ORM\JoinColumn(name="szervezet_id", referencedColumnName="id")
*/
private $szervezet;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
O squash nos Jogos da Commonwealth de 2014 foi realizado em Glasgow, na Escócia, entre 24 de julho e 3 de agosto. Cinco eventos foram disputados no Scotstoun Stadium: simples masculino e feminino, duplas masculinas e femininas e duplas mistas.

Medalhistas
Masculino

Feminino

Misto

Quadro de medalhas

Ligações externas

Jogos da Commonwealth de 2014
2014
Commonwealth

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Emily Yoshida
in: Star Wars Sequels, Episode Summary
Return Of The Podcast
The Star Wars Sequels
The Podcast Strikes Back Return Of The Podcast The Podcast Awakens
Return Of The Podcast (also known as Griffin and David Present: Return of the Podcast) is episode 36, focusing on Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi as part of the podcast's continuing coverage of the Star Wars Sequels. Posted 16 Dec 2015.
Griffin and David return with an episode examining the 1983 conclusion to the 'second' trilogy Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Together, they discuss George Lucas' former marriage, Princess Leia's golden bikini, those lovable Ewoks, telling a dying Yoda to just get on with it already and more! [1]
It's the third movie of the Star Wars "Sequel Trilogy." Can Griffin and David be objective in evaluating this movie, which was exactly their favorite kind of movie as children? (As they gradually recover their memories, of course - no bits!)
So they come at it sideways. The new effects and scenes in the Special Editions. The secret weapon of Marcia Lucas, Editor and collaborator. Ben's favorite, The Max Rebo Band.
Here's where things get dicey. To get all the Star Wars sequel episodes done in keeping with the podcast's tight schedule before they see The Force Awakens, Griffin and David had to record several episodes in quick succession. The Marcia Lucas digression, combined with the anxiety inherent in waiting for The Force Awakens to come out, led to some tense moments in the broom-closet-sized studio. What producer magic does Ben have up his sleeve to corral #TheTwoFriends?
Back on track. Much discussion of the famous Leia metal bikini and whether pop culture's obsession with it has corrupted the movie's intentions, which on their own seem relatively benign and unsexualized. Boba Fett, Ewoks, the Emperor... and Darth Vader. Does his big moment equal redemption? Did Kathleen Kennedy at Disney discover what George Lucas' true inspirations for Star Wars were?
Spoiler alert: the Rebels win! Hurrah, Star Wars!
And as always, we love you George Lucas.
Number of scenes without special effects: like, two
Rancor Keeper: sad
Seasonal nickname for Ben Hosley: Santa Hoz
Droopy McCool's real name: a series of unpronounceable flute-like whistles
↑ Return of the Podcast on Audioboom.
Star Wars Sequels


text:
Poonamallee
Korattur - Thiruvallur
Korattur Population - Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu
Korattur is a large village located in Poonamallee Taluka of Thiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu with total 1693 families residing. The Korattur village has population of 6528 of which 3269 are males while 3259 are females as per Population Census 2011.
In Korattur village population of children with age 0-6 is 733 which makes up 11.23 % of total population of village. Average Sex Ratio of Korattur village is 997 which is higher than Tamil Nadu state average of 996. Child Sex Ratio for the Korattur as per census is 986, higher than Tamil Nadu average of 943.
Korattur village has higher literacy rate compared to Tamil Nadu. In 2011, literacy rate of Korattur village was 82.62 % compared to 80.09 % of Tamil Nadu. In Korattur Male literacy stands at 89.76 % while female literacy rate was 75.47 %.
As per constitution of India and Panchyati Raaj Act, Korattur village is administrated by Sarpanch (Head of Village) who is elected representative of village. Our website, don't have information about schools and hospital in Korattur village.
Korattur Data
Total No. of Houses 1,693 - -
Population 6,528 3,269 3,259
Child (0-6) 733 369 364
Schedule Caste 3,025 1,493 1,532
Total Workers 2,690 1,900 790
Main Worker 2,351 - -
Marginal Worker 339 143 196
In Korattur village, most of the villagers are from Schedule Caste (SC). Schedule Caste (SC) constitutes 46.34 % while Schedule Tribe (ST) were 3.26 % of total population in Korattur village.
In Korattur village out of total population, 2690 were engaged in work activities. 87.40 % of workers describe their work as Main Work (Employment or Earning more than 6 Months) while 12.60 % were involved in Marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6 months. Of 2690 workers engaged in Main Work, 103 were cultivators (owner or co-owner) while 272 were Agricultural labourer.


Portable pallet carrier - WILLITS; MICHAEL B.
A portable pallet rack is described and includes a horizontally disposed frame having supporting wheels provided thereon. The rack is designed to accommodate either four or six stacks of pallets thereon. The pallet rack is moved beneath the underside of the trailer floor and is vertically movably mounted with respect to the trailer by means of a pair of winch assemblies. The winch assemblies are quickly and easily adjustably mounted at the underside of the floor without any welding or drilling being required. The fact that the winch assemblies are quickly and easily adjustably mounted at the underside of the floor permits the pallet rack to be longitudinally shifted to place the weight thereof either on the rear axle of the trailer or on the truck.
a winch means operatively secured to said second bracket means adapted to engage the other end of said strap means whereby said strap means may be selectively rolled upon said winch means to raise said pallet support means or selectively unrolled therefrom to lower said pallet support means.
2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said pallet support means is provided with at least one roller means at each side thereof which has said strap in engagement therewith.
3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said first and second bracket means are removably secured to said trailer.
4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said trailer includes a floor support means having a plurality of spaced apart stringers, each of said first and second bracket means being removably clamped to one of said stringers.
5. The combination of claim 4 wherein each of said second brackets comprises first and second clamps secured to spaced apart stringers and extending downwardly therefrom, a shaft, removably secured to and extending between said clamps, said winch means being operatively secured to said shaft.
a winch means operatively secured to said second bracket means adapted to engage the other end of, said strap means whereby said strap means may be selectively rolled upon said winch means to raise said pallet support means or selectively unrolled therefrom to lower said pallet support means.
said means for removably clamping said belt and winch means comprising first and second clamps secured to spaced-apart stringers and extending downwardly therefrom, and a shaft removably secured to and extending between said clamps.
This invention relates to a pallet carrier and more particularly to a portable pallet carrier which may be positioned beneath the underside of a trailer or the like to support a plurality of pallets thereon in a stacked condition.
Pallets are used in the transportation of freight from one location to another and usually consist of spaced apart upper and lower surfaces defining a space therebetween adapted to receive the tines of a fork lift truck or the like so that the pallets may be moved. It is sometimes necessary to transport the empty pallets from one location to another and the truck operator frequently does not have any available cargo space for the transportation of the empty pallets. Frequently, the trucker is forced to abandon the pallets which obviously is costly.
Certain types of pallet racks have been devised in an attempt to relieve the problem but have not been entirely satisfactory. The pallet racks of the prior art are not easily moved and normally require that some sort of supporting structure be welded or bolted to the underside of the trailer therefore requiring considerable modification of the trailer. Additionally, the prior art pallet racks are not easily longitudinally movably mounted with respect to the trailer. Further, the conventional pallet racks are not conveniently vertically movable with respect to the trailer.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved pallet rack.
A further object of the invention is to provide a portable pallet carrier or rack.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a pallet rack which may be adjustably mounted on the underside of a trailer without the necessity of welding, drilling, etc.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a pallet rack which may be quickly and easily removed from the underside of the trailer to permit the trailer to cross over a curb, embankment, ditch or other irregularity that would otherwise restrict movability.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a portable pallet rack which is vertically movably mounted beneath the floor of a trailer by means of a winch assembly, thereby permitting the operator to adjust the height of the rack depending upon the number of pallets stacked upon it.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a portable pallet rack which is economical of manufacture, durable in use and refined in appearance.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
A portable pallet rack is described and includes a horizontally disposed frame means having supporting wheels provided thereon. The rack is designed to accommodate either four or six stacks of pallets thereon. The pallet rack is moved beneath the underside of the trailer floor and is vertically movably mounted with respect to the trailer by means of a pair of winch assemblies. The winch assemblies are quickly and easily adjustably mounted at the underside of the trailer floor without any welding or drilling being required. The fact that the winch assemblies are quickly and easily adjustably mounted at the underside of the floor permits the pallet rack to be longitudinally shifted to place the weight thereof either on the rear axle of the trailer or on the truck.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of the pallet rack.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken at lines 7--7 in FIG. 2.
The pallet rack or carrier of this invention is referred to generally by the reference numeral 24 and generally includes a wheeled frame means 26. Frame means 26 includes front frame member 28, rear frame member 30, side frame members 32 and 34, intermediate frame member 36 which extends between frame members 28 and 30, transversely extending frame member 38 which extends between side frame member 32 and intermediate frame member 36, and transversely extending frame member 40 which extends between intermediate frame member 36 and side frame member 34 as illustrated in FIG. 2. Frame members 28, 30, 32 and 34 are each of the angle iron configuration having a vertically disposed portion 42 and a horizontally disposed portion 44. Each of the frame members 36, 38 and 40 are of the double angle iron configuration as illustrated in FIG. 7 which include a vertically disposed portion 46 and a horizontally disposed portion 48. Supporting frame members 50 and 52 are secured to the undersides of frame members 32 and 34 and extend therebetween as illustrated in FIG. 2. The frame means is provided with a plurality of gusset plates 54 at the corners thereof as seen in FIG. 2. A plurality of wheels 56 are secured to the underside of the frame means 26 to provide the necessary maneuverability of the carrier. A plurality of safety chains 58 are secured to frame means 26 for purpose to be discussed hereinafter. A pair of roller assemblies 60 are secured to the underside of frame member 34 while a pair of roller assemblies 62 are secured to the underside of frame member 32.
A pair of winch assemblies 64 and 64' are selectively removably secured to the underside of the trailer as will now be described. Inasmuch as each of the winch assemblies 64 and 64' are identical, only winch assembly 64 will be described in detail with "'" indicating like structure on winch assembly 64'.
Winch assembly 64 includes a horizontally disposed shaft having an inverted U-shaped bracket 68 positioned therebelow. A conventional ratchet-type winch or belt tightener is mounted on bracket 68 in conventional fashion as seen in the drawings. Shaft 66 is quickly and easily secured to a pair of the supporting beams 16 by a pair of clamp assemblies 72 and 74. Clamp assembly 72 is comprised of a pair of opposing clamps 76 and 78 while clamp assembly 74 is comprised of a pair of opposing clamps 80 and 82. As seen in the drawings, the opposite ends of the shaft 66 extend through openings 84 formed in the clamps with the clamps being secured together as seen in FIG. 4 by a plurality of bolts 86. Shaft 66 is maintained in the clamp assemblies by pins 88 and 90.
A pair of supports 92 and 94 (not shown) are also secured to the underside of the trailer opposite to the winch assemblies and are secured to the supporting beams 16 in the same fashion as that described for the winch assemblies. The ends of straps 96 and 98 are secured to the assemblies 92 and 94 respectively and extend downwardly therefrom.
FIG. 6 illustrates a modified form of the carrier with the only difference being that the carrier of FIG. 6 is designed to carry six stacks of pallets rather than the embodiment of FIG. 2 which is designed to carry four stacks of pallets.
The carrier of this invention is utilized as follows. When it is desired to support a plurality of pallets 100 at the underside of the trailer, the pallets 100 are positioned on the carrier 24 with the horizontal flanges of the various angle irons and the gusset plates preventing the pallets from falling downwardly through the carrier. The vertically disposed portions of the various angle members limit the longitudinal and lateral movement of the pallets.
When the pallets have been arranged on the carrier 24 in a stacked condition, the carrier 24 is rolled beneath the underside of the trailer. The ends of the straps 96 and 98 are secured to the assemblies 92 and 94 respectively and the straps are extended beneath the rollers 62 as illustrated. The ends of the straps 96 and 98 are then conventionally secured to the winch assemblies 64 and 64' and the winch assemblies are actuated to tighten or shorten the straps 96 and 98 which causes the carrier 24 to be vertically moved upwardly from the ground so that the uppermost pallets 100 in each of the stacks engage the underside of the trailer. The safety chains 58 are then secured to the underside of the trailer purely as a safety means in the event that one of the winch assemblies or the straps should break.
The winch assemblies 64 and 64' as well as the bracket assemblies 92 and 94 may be easily longitudinally moved on the underside of the trailer and secured to the proper supporting beams without modification of the supporting beams due to the means by which the assemblies 64, 64', 92 and 94 are clamped onto the lower webs of the supporting beams. Such a feature permits the weight of the carrier, and the pallets thereon, to be shifted longitudinally with respect to the trailer so that the weight of the carrier and the pallets may either be imposed on the rear axle or on the truck.
The ease by which the carrier 24 is mounted at the underside of the trailer permits the carrier to be easily removed therefrom should it be necessary for the trailer to negotiate curbs, obstructions, ditches, etc.


text:
Angela Nagle – Kill All Normies | Review
Angela Nagle – Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right (zero Books 2017)
Angela Nagle has written a rather important book on the rise of the so-called "alt-right" and its online origins and activities, including its ascendancy in more conventional corporate mass media (termed the "alt-light"). First, let me state a few of my reservations about the book. It is short. I would call it a "hot take" on the topic, meant to be a topical history of recent and still ongoing events. As such, the book's brevity and concision sometimes lead to prose that can feel a bit cluttered. Passing references to terms like "Gramscian" and "Overton window", plus cursory references to any number of theorists and academics by name, might not be immediately understandable to some. And, of course, her minimal descriptions of various online forums and the companies operating them might baffle readers who have never spent time on those sites (or any like them), especially reading the book in hindsight. Being so short, the book also doesn't touch on certain related topics like the law enforcement response — or lack thereof — to the extremist (if not outright terroristic) tactics of the alt-right. As others have noted, better copyediting, sourcing, and the addition of an index would help too. But all these are minor complaints. Nagle's analysis is pretty much spot-on. Even if her references/sources are passing ones in the text, rather than explicit citations, she is pretty well-versed in theory and late 20th Century history and that comes through in the book. She relies on the likes of Walter Benn Michaels, Adolph Reed, Jr., Mark Fisher, Pierre Bourdieu, and others to ground her analysis. If there is a crux to her overall argument, it is probably this:
"It is sometimes said that the right won the economic war and the left won the culture war. And as political theorist Walter Benn Michaels has argued, it is the recognition of identity that has triumphed over economic equality as the organizing principle of the Anglo-American liberal left and of mainstream discourse more broadly.
"In full agreement with him, I would also argue that the most recent rise of the online right is evidence of the triumph of the identity politics of the right and of the co-opting (but nevertheless the triumph) of 60s left styles of transgression and counterculture. The libertinism, individualism, bourgeois bohemianism, postmodernism, irony and ultimately the nihilism that the left was once accused of by the right actually characterized the movement [of the alt-light]." (p. 57)
This explanation of how the political right co-opted the "transgressive" style of the political left is perhaps the central achievement of the book. She explains how the alt-right try to create an isolated community through the use of elitist insider knowledge plus cruelty and bullying — she wonderfully analogizes this to exclusionary musical subcultures (another unmentioned example might be the tactics of "hoarders", which, surprisingly, have parallels with the ideas of leftists like Jean Genet, who wrote in Journal du voleur [The Thief's Journal]: "Repudiating the virtues of your world, criminals hopelessly agree to organize a forbidden universe. They agree to live in it. The air there is nauseating: they can breathe it."). But here it is worth paying close attention to her terminology because "Anglo-American liberal left" is really a reference to "left neoliberals" or "progressive neoliberals" (or even the "pseudo-left" or "Fukuyama left"), which is to say the left-ish wing of center-right liberalism, not the "left" as in communists, anarchists, and anarcho-syndicalists. At points in the book she draws out this distinction by differentiating the "materialist" left from the "liberal" left — though this could have been made more consistently clear.
The book astutely notes how Judith Butler's style of politically correct (historicist) identity politics (which Nagle associates with the web site Tumblr) has been a principal target of the alt-right in this culture war (which she associates with sites like 4chan). Nagle points out how contemporary identity politics tends to involve a classic neoliberal maneuver of creating "scarcity" of virtue, as a way of making virtue signaling (trigger warnings, no-platforming anti-free speech crusades, call-out culture, public demonstrations of sensitivity, etc.) a commodity of sorts; specifically, making signs of virtue into "cultural capital" — adopting a term derived from Bourdieu. She makes a case for how the identity politics crowd are basically a bunch of ineffectual narcissists, unwilling or unable to actually fight the political right because they are both committed to depoliticized passivity and are overwhelmed by constantly striving to distinguish themselves from the historical left. Here she is more or less tacitly in line with Domenico Losurdo's critique of liberalism as a politics of exclusion as well as Alain Badiou's views about the fate of contemporary girls (and boys). Of course, she is also quite clear on the alt-right's more explicit desire to annihilate its opponents and its rejection of liberal depoliticalization (following Carl Schmitt). There is an old saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight, and Nagle contextualizes how, metaphorically, the (neo)liberal left is (irrationally and stupidly) bringing only a white handkerchief to waive in a political gunfight.
In a later interview she said, "Ruthless competitive individualism is being applied to the romantic and private realm and it's deeply anti-social." Describing the "manosphere" (online anti-feminist subcultures) in this book, she echoes the French concept of ressentiment. She writes:
"I think [F. Roger Devlin (the alt-right writer, white nationalist, men's rights activist, and anti-feminist)] is getting to the central issue driving this kind of reactionary sexual politics, perhaps even the central personal motivation behind the entire turn to the far right among young men. The sexual revolution that started the decline of lifelong marriage has produced great freedom from the shackles of loveless marriage and selfless duty to the family for both men and women. But this ever-extended adolescence has also brought with it the rise of adult childlessness and a steep sexual hierarchy. Sexual patterns that have emerged as a result of the decline of monogamy have seen a greater level of sexual choice for an elite of men and a growing celibacy among a large male population at the bottom of the pecking order. Their own anxiety and anger about their low-ranking status in this hierarchy is precisely what has produced their hard-line rhetoric about asserting hierarchy in the world politically when it comes to women and non-whites. The pain of relentless rejection has festered in these forums and allowed them to be the masters of the cruel natural hierarchies that bring them so much humiliation." (pp. 97-98).
Lest the import of the last quoted sentence be lost, she is saying that the (male) alt-right are masters of experiencing pain and rejection and humiliation and they turn that mastery into a cudgel to batter other groups with — in a profoundly regressive and loathsome way. It is these sorts of observations that make the book so worthwhile. The most direct parallel to Nagle's position is probably Jean-Paul Sartre's line of argument in Réflexions sur la question juive [The Anti-Semite and The Jew], where he argued:
"Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. ***
"The anti-Semite has no illusions about what he is. He considers himself an average man, modestly average, basically mediocre. There is no example of an anti-Semite's claiming individual superiority over the Jews. But you must not think that he is ashamed of his mediocrity; he takes pleasure in it; I will even assert that he has chosen it. This man fears every kind of solitariness, that of the genius as much as that of the murderer; he is the man of the crowd. However small his stature, he takes every precaution to make it smaller, lest he stand out from the herd and find himself face to face with himself. He has made himself an anti-Semite because that is something one cannot be alone. The phrase, 'I hate the Jews,' is one that is uttered in chorus; in pronouncing it, one attaches himself to a tradition and community –- the tradition and community of the mediocre.
"We must remember that a man is not necessarily humble or even modest because he has consented to mediocrity. On the contrary, there is a passionate pride among the mediocre, and anti-Semitism is an attempt to give value to mediocrity as such, to create an elite of the ordinary."
Ultimately, Nagle is willing to recognize numerous problems with identity politics and is willing to concede that certain strains of feminism became co-opted by neoliberalism and/or have lost sight of egalitarian ideals of fairness and (at lest occasionally) succumbed to reductionist antagonism, intolerance, and dogmatism (or perhaps what has been called "gyno-pessimism"). She still considers herself a feminist, though the term "post-feminist" might fit her position better. If I were to sum up what makes her insights so significant, it is that she completely avoids the sort of "beautiful soul" grandstanding that seeks to merely use the loathsome cruelty of the alt-right to make a case for its own moral superiority, something that characterizes the Standard Liberal Response to this cultural/historical phenomenon. Rather, she makes a genuine effort to try to understand the underlying grievances and motivations (e.g., desire for solidarity/community/a stable sense of place) that have fostered resentments, as well as to point out how the genuine ("materialist") political left has been hollowed out leaving a kind of vacuum that has allowed obscene far-right characters to posit troubling "solutions" to these grievances without real opposition — something like the truism attributed to Walter Benjamin: behind every rise of fascism lies a failed (left) revolution. And this is an incredible important thesis. Nagle is partly here a sympathetic critic of the political ("materialist") left, recognizing that it has lost many key battles, is lacking in headcount, and has made some tactical and theoretical blunders, but she still believes that there is something worth saving and fighting for on the left that is fundamentally opposed to both the political right and the (left-liberal) political center — which too often bears responsibility for the conditions that have provoked the alt-right's backlash.
Her conclusion seems like an important one:
"When we've reached a point where the idea of being edgy/countercultural/transgressive can place fascists in a position of moral superiority to regular people, we may seriously want to rethink the value of these stale and outworn countercultural ideals." (p. 108).
Does this mean that even the intentionally crude (lo-fi) cultural tactics embodied in, say, musical artifacts like Alex Chilton's 1979 album Like Flies on Sherbert, and scores of punk-era recordings, or later albums like Flipper's Public Flipper Limited, Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted or the grungy nihilism of Nirvana's Nevermind or their song "Rape Me" plotted the wrong course? Or that Jean Genet's writing and activism has some problematic limitations? Perhaps. In any event this is Nagle's profound suggestion for the political left to reconsider (and improve) its tactics, which might not mean abandoning them completely so much as refining them to try to prevent misuse and misappropriation.
It does seem like the world needs more books like this that intervene in ongoing events from a left perspective before all the stakes are entirely clear and the dust has already settled. Parts of her analysis won't be easy to take but that is precisely because that analysis is so incisive. Nagle has really highlighted key aspects of how the political left can and should win over people who would otherwise support, now or in the future, the political right, rather than simply labeling them a "basket of deplorables" or making simplistic and hypocritical criticisms of "toxic masculinity" (etc.) and then pursuing an exclusionary politics of toxic identitarianism that relies on constructing a huge portion of the population as an enemy.
Author Syd FabloPosted on June 8, 2018 July 26, 2020 Categories BooksTags Angela Nagle, History, Non-Fiction, Politics, Sociology, Technology
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Q: Kubuntu 22.10 Konsole shortcut CTRL+INS not working, get "5~" I'm using Kubuntu 22.10, and when using Konsole, if I use the Ctrl+Ins shortcut, the selected text isn't copied, I get a 5~. Shift+Ins is working (i.e. pasting works). I've already checked:

*

*KDE configuration has Ctrl+Ins as a shortcut for copy

*Using Ctrl+Ins to copy works in Kate

How to make Ctrl+Ins work as the copy shortcut in Konsole? Thanks!

A: I'm dumb (or the Konsole default config is). By default, Konsole defines the copy shortcut as Ctrl+Shift+C, which overwrites the global KDE one. Manually changing the shortcut to Ctrl+Ins fixes the problem.


Description: WX-037 is an oral small-molecule phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/proteine-kinase-(PI3K) signalling pathway inhibitor.
Deal Structure: In January 2009, UCB Pharma WILEX announced that they agreed to enter into a strategic partnership. WILEX will acquire world-wide rights to develop UCB's entire preclinical oncology portfolio, comprising two small-molecule programmes and three antibody programmes, of which WX-037 is included.


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Federal charges filed against man who killed officer in Indiana
WRTV
By: WRTV Staff
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — A 44-year-old man faces federal charges after police say he shot and killed a detective at the FBI Resident Agency building in Terre Haute, Indiana.
According to court documents, Shane Meehan drove his pickup truck to the gate of the FBI Resident Building, got out, and then threw a Molotov cocktail at the building.
When Terre Haute Police Department Detective and FBI Task Force Officer Gregory Ferency walked out of the building, Meehan confronted him and shot him.
Ferency was able to return fire at Meehan but died from his injuries.
Court documents say an FBI Special Agent ran out of the building after the shots were exchanged and "engaged Meehan in a gun battle." After being shot twice, Meehan was able to get into his truck and drove from the scene.
Meehan was later located at the Vigo County Regional Hospital, where he was treated for his gunshot wounds.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, a firearm was recovered in his truck, along with three additional Molotov cocktails and additional ammunition.
Detective Greg Ferency was a 30-year veteran of the department, according to Terre Haute police.
Ferency had also been a member of an FBI Task Force since 2010.
Photo Provided/Officer Down Memorial Page
Terre Haute Police Department Detective Greg Ferency
"An attack on law enforcement is an attack on us all, said Acting U.S. Attorney John E. Childress. "As citizens of this county, we enjoy on a daily basis the security and protection provided by the men and women of law enforcement. That security and protection are all the more precious because it is at times paid for with the lives of those who have chosen to protect us. The selfless dedication exhibited by Detective Ferency throughout his career and his tragic death yesterday is yet another example of why we all owe our respect and gratitude to the members of law enforcement. On behalf of the Department of Justice, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Detective Ferency's family and his many colleagues."
Meehan is charged with the murder of a federal agent. If convicted, Meehan faces up to life in prison.
"I want to offer the deepest sympathy of the FBI to the family, friends, and colleagues of Detective Ferency. Greg was a valued member of our FBI family and had worked side by side with us as a Task Force Officer since 2010 in our Terre Haute office," said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan. "We will work day and night to carefully examine the circumstances of the shooting, and we are dedicated to honoring Greg's memory through a meticulous investigation."
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case.
Katie Cox at WRTV first reported this story.


Welcome to Episode 10 of the Tejon Ranch History Podcast! This episode focuses on Edward Fitzgerald Beale and the behind-the-scenes action he took at Tejon Ranch to purchase the land. You might be surprised to learn that he and his family mostly resided in the nation's capital while the care of the Ranch was assigned to others. Regardless, when he purchased four Mexican land grants that totaled 270,000 acres—real estate roughly equivalent in size to metropolitan Los Angeles— the price for an acre was a whopping 11 cents! Listen to learn more.


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A leading resource for engineers involved in photonics business, technology and applications
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More than fibres ...
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Michael Stevenson, director of marketing, Breault Research Organisation, says the optics industry has much to be proud of
As insiders, we understand the broad applications of optical technologies, the multi-disciplinary research approach that fosters innovation, and the industry intersections where new products in disparate fields are enabled by optical technologies. But if you think industry outsiders share this perspective with us, think again.
Ask a passerby to tell you what optical engineers do and you will invariably hear all about 'fibres and eyeglasses'. Ask a venture capitalist and you will either hear a screed on the meltdown of the telecommunications industry, or witness a sly grin form on the face of somebody who went short.
The fact is most people outside of the optics industry have only an inkling about what optical engineers do and remain unaware that optical technologies are all around them - from the headlights and dashboard illumination in their cars to the charging lights in their electric toothbrushes.
Moreover, few have recognised the optics industry for producing the core technology behind many of today's hottest investments. Just a few years ago, this was underscored by several otherwise reputable financial management companies pushing optics and photonics funds consisting entirely of telecom companies. Today, you have to look hard to even find an optics fund, let alone one that's well balanced. That's a problem.
Optical engineers, molecular biologists and doctors have teamed up to produce clinical diagnostic devices, surgical instruments, and drug-discovery techniques that will make medical diagnoses and treatments easier, faster, cheaper, less painful, and altogether more effective.
Optics is the core enabling technology behind next-generation military and defence innovations that promise to keep our troops and borders safer, and to minimise collateral damage when battles must be fought - innovations such as non-lethal crowd-control systems, more accurate munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles, directed energy (laser) weapons, missile defence systems, and biological and chemical weapons sensing.
On the lighter side, product developers the world over are working on gadgets that promise to make information handling more convenient, more colorful and, ultimately, more fun. You can bet the all-in-one PDA-MP3 player-video projector-camera-phone of tomorrow will give the James Bond in all of us a case of techno-lust.
The optics industry is burgeoning with activity and new applications that make up a long list of hot topics. These topics should come to mind when anyone - technical background and investor savvy aside - hears the word 'optics'. But they're not and the industry's undeveloped branding and public relations strategy is to blame.
We do a fantastic job of keeping one another informed with industry trade magazines and journals. In fact, these publications break optics news three to five years ahead of mainstream publications. But industry outsiders don't read our trade publications for pleasure. They get their fill of the news from newspapers, radio, and television.
We have sophisticated processes and awards to recognise breakthroughs and the lifetime achievements of optical scientists. But without an equally sophisticated process for helping the public to take notice of these awards and understand why they are given, we only show that we have a penchant for self-aggrandising.
Optics industry leaders, including CEOs and society presidents, have a highly developed understanding of our industry and its brand essence. They are doing their best to increase knowledge and awareness of our industry. However, they get far fewer media inquiries than the thousands of engineers working on the next generation of optics-enabled products, and a lot of these engineers aren't prepared to field media inquiries.
Engineers can be a shy bunch and fast-talking reporters with notepads and tape recorders are intimidating to anyone. However, to really break out as a noteworthy industry, we've got to get everyone - from top-executives to engineers - onto the same page and excited about working with the media.
Strategic positioning, or branding, is one of the hallmarks of commodity products - laundry detergent, toothpaste, cleaning products, ad nauseam. But it is also applicable to niche products, services, and - as it pertains to us - entire industries.
Positioning is a statement about what you want stakeholders to think about you. It is about finding aspirational, yet ownable space, and voicing a powerful claim and compelling promise that the space is yours and you will maintain it - all the while differentiating your claim from your competition, maintaining relevance to your target audience, and remaining credible.
To best position the optics industry, we've got to understand its brand essence. Lucky for us, it's staring us in the face. The optics industry is the premier 'enabler'. No other industry has produced so many breakthroughs materialising as 'black boxes' inside of products that become the flagships of other industries. No other industry has gone unnoticed to the degree and duration the optics industry has.
Optics is the underpinning of an increasing number of devices that enrich our lives. When mainstream publications start hearing this message from all of us, consistently, we'll see public perception of the optics industry turn around. Aligning on a common message will make a common view of our industry possible, and bring visibility to the far-reaching applications of optics.
Please send any comments/feedback to the editor at editor.electro@europascience.com
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Wherever you're from, you'll agree that weddings are a momentous occasion. In Indonesia, it's no exception. But given the rich diversity in this archipelago, wedding traditions are celebrated in literally thousands of ways. There are, to begin with, approximately 1,340 ethnic groups spread accross more than 17,000 islands, from Sabang in the West to Merauke in the East. The wedding rituals may be different, but one thing for sure, all of them are full of sparks and colours. Read on to find out more about some of the most unique wedding traditions in this country, to give you an insight into its remarkable diversity.
It starts from Ngledengin, a process in which a man and/or his family scout for the right woman to marry. Once the woman has been found, the man's family will then send someone called Mak Comblang to her house to express interest. If the answer is yes, there will be some sort of token given to the woman's family, also regularly known as uang sembe. Now that the initial work is done, Mak Comblang will then start preparing for the next step, which is the wedding proposal or Nglamar.
During Nglamar, parents of the groom-to-be will visit the house of bride-to-be and officially propose. Along with the entourage, it's common to bring along presentations of plantains, betel leaves, plain bread and other gifts. Family and relatives are often invited to the procession. If all goes well, parents of the bride-to-be will then announce the terms and conditions.
To seal the deal, the bride-to-be will be presented with a ring called cincin belah rotan, money and some traditional cakes as a symbol that she – and her groom-to-be – are now taken. This step is known as Bawa Tande Putus.
The woman then will go through a series of health and beauty treatments prior to the wedding, which include rites of Masa Dipiare, Acara Mandiin, Acara Tangas, and lastly, Acara Ngerik or Malam Pacar.
Finally, the big day arrives! The groom and his family would then proceed to the residence of his bride, bringing along betel leaves, dowry, a miniature of a mosque containing money for groceries, as well as other goods and food that include the popular roti buaya – an enormous bread shaped like a crocodile. Betawi people believe that since crocodiles only mate once in a lifetime, they represent fidelity.
By the time the groom's entourage arrives though, the woman's family will have put up a symbolic block (called Palang Pintu) at the entrance to keep them from entering. The only way to get in is by proving the man's worthiness to marry her, through three tests. First, the woman's family will recite some funny, short poems known as pantun to the man's family asking about their intention of coming, to which they must reply accordingly. Next is adu silat (Betawi traditional martial art), where representatives from both families will have a friendly and safe duel to show off their skills. This proceeding symbolizes the man's fight for her. Lastly, the man himself must read the Moslem holy Koran flawlessly to symbolize his ability as imam (leader) of his future family. Once all tests are complete, the entrance will be opened and the Akad Nikah (Islamic wedding vows) can begin. Once that ritual has been completed, the couple will be officially pronounced as man and wife.
Lombok may be known for its heavenly beaches, but really, the island possesses more than natural beauty. It's also home to a highly unique wedding ritual that sees the bride-to-be, errr, kidnapped by her groom-to-be. Here, kidnapping of the bride isn't just recommended, it's a must.
Before you freak out, read more. Ladies, if it's a heroic, adrenaline-pumping romance you're looking for, the nuptial ritual performed by the indigenous Sasak Tribe should fit the bill!
Here's how it works. The man will quietly sneak into the house of the woman he intends to marry, take her and bring her to the house of one of his relatives. While doing so, he must not attract any attention or make any noise or else her family will find out. In short, no one else but the man, the woman and a few of the man's relatives – not even their parents – should have knowledge about the "kidnapping". The reason is to ensure the man's success in "winning" and eventually marrying her.
If, during the secretive process, the groom-to-be gets caught, he is required to pay a penalty. There are four categories: Denda Pati, literally for the crime of making noises during the kidnapping, Denda Ngurayang, if he kidnaps a woman against her will or without any prior agreement, Denda Ngeberayang, if the kidnapping fails due to external intervention such as interruption by a rivaling party, and Denda Ngabesaken, if the kidnapping takes place during the day.
In a perfect scenario, the bride-to-be will spend a few days at the house of the groom-to-be's relatives. Upon learning about the kidnapping, his family will then pay a courtesy call to her family and ask for her hand. If the feeling reciprocates, the parents of the woman will then wash their future son-in-law's feet with syrup or coconut water. If not, they will use tajin (water used to wash rice) instead.
Say all goes well, both families will move to the next phase and start planning for the wedding. The meeting, known as Masejatik or Nyelabar, also allows the two families to get to know each other better.
On the big day, after the man and woman have officially tied the knot at akad nikah, then it's time for the Sorong Doe ritual, in which the groom's family will return to the bride's house to hand over some money called kepeng tagih.
In the matrilineal society of West Sumatra, it's the woman who asks for the man's hand in marriage.
During Maresek, the woman's family visits the man's house to introduce themselves and make their intention known, bringing along traditional cakes and fruits. Next, and this might be the coolest part, the woman will propose to the man during a ritual called Maminang or Batimbang Tando. Once approved, both families will begin exchange traditional goods such as the indigenous sharp weapon keris and traditional fabrics. The bride's family will also bring cakes, fruits and betel leaves as gifts.
Both the man and the woman will then ask for permission and blessing from their parents and respected elders during Mahanta Siriah. He will bring nipah leaves and tobacco – cigarettes are more common these days – while she will bring a complete package of betel leaves.
Days before the wedding, the family of the woman's father will usually present to the bride-to-be a complete package of betel leaves, traditional rice-and-chicken dish called nasi kuning singgang ayam, clothes and a set of gold jewelry. This rite, called Babako Babaki, symbolizes their love and financial support.
The Minang people also have their own bachelorette night, known as Malam Bainai. To celebrate the bride's last night as a single woman, her family and close relatives will spray her with floral water. Some leaves called daun sitawa sidingin are also commonly used to sprinkle the water. The number of the people spraying the water must be odd – five, seven or nine. Later, they'd colour her nails, fingers and hands up to the wrists using inai leaves that have been ground to smooth consistency. While doing this, they would whisper to her ears marriage-related advice.
During Manjapuik Marapulai, the bride's family will come to the groom's house to pick him up and bring him to her house. While doing so, they will present as gifts betel leaves, traditional wedding outfit, nasi kuning singgang ayam and more. Here too he will be awarded with a traditional honorary title representing adulthood.
By the time the group arrives back at the bride's residence, they will be greeted with Minang traditional music and dance called Tari Gelombang Adat Timbal Balik, with yellow rice being thrown at the groom-to-be. This greeting is called Penyambutan di Rumah Anak Daro. Before entering the house, the groom's feet will be sprayed with water and he's required to walk on a white cloth to the table for the akad nikah or Islamic wedding vows.
One week following their vows, the newly married couple will then visit the groom's parents, as well as his mother's male elders (known as ninik mamak), to pay respect. This rite is called Manikam Jajak.


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Process Algebra Diary
Papers I find interesting---mostly, but not solely, in Process Algebra---, and some fun stuff in Mathematics and Computer Science at large and on general issues related to research, teaching and academic life.
Interview with Rajeev Alur and David Dill, recipients of the 2016 Alonzo Church Award
As announced earlier today, Rajeev Alur (University of Pennsylvania USA) and David L. Dill (Stanford University, USA) are the recipients of the 2016 Alonzo Church Award for Outstanding Contributions to Logic and Computation for their work on timed automata, a decidable model of real-time systems that combines beautiful, new and deep theory with widespread practical impact.
In order to celebrate the award of the Alonzo Church Award to this hugely
influential work and to give the theoretical computer science community at large a glimpse of the history of the ideas that led to it, I interviewed Rajeev Alur
(abbreviated to RA in what follows) and David Dill (referred to as DD in the text
below) via email. The interview will also appear in the June issue of the Bulletin of the EATCS.
LA: You are receiving the 2016 Alonzo Church Award for Outstanding Contributions to Logic and Computation for your invention of timed automata, which, as far as I know, was the first decidable formalism for reasoning about the ubiquitous class of real-time systems. Could you briefly describe the history of the ideas that led to the development of the formalism of timed automata, what were the main inspirations and motivations for its invention and how timed automata advanced the state of the art?
DD: The interesting part of the story for me is the inspiration that led to the question in the first place and the initial results. Things worked out so magically that I'm still amazed, so I hope that the story will be interesting to others. I also learned a lot of lessons about research, which I hope I can convey here.
I am not a logician and don't consider myself a theorist. I generally want to do research that has practical impact, but I like being able to apply theory to help with that. And, in this case, I ended up creating some theory as part of that process.
My PhD research under Ed Clarke at CMU was on using finite automata for formal verification of speed independent circuits. I started working on them using CTL model checking, and then decided during my thesis work to abandon model checking and used finite automata (I am grateful that Ed accepted this change in direction, since his primary research agenda was CTL model checking). Speed-independent circuits are digital circuits with no clocks, which are supposed to meet their specifications for all possible gate delays. Ed had recently co-invented CTL model checking and was exploring speed-independent circuits as an application, because speed-independent circuits are among the simplest concurrent systems with bugs. But speed independence is a very conservative model, because engineers often know some constraints on delays, even if they can't specify exact values for the delays. A circuit designer (Prof. Chuck Seitz of CalTech) had some ways of designing speed-independent circuits that relied on timing constraints without precisely specified delays, and asked me whether I could prove such circuits correct.
I looked at the literature, and there were a number of people who had used finite automata with a special alphabet symbol representing clock ticks, and they would simply count the clock ticks using the states of the automaton (what was later called a discrete time model). But I wasn't comfortable with that, because asynchronous circuits don't have clocks! I felt that events in circuits happened in continuous time, which might be different from discrete time -- but I didn't know.
While I was working on my PhD, I sat down to try to work out a method to verify timed asynchronous circuits. The research was painless compared to a lot of my other PhD work. I imagined that each gate had a timer that was set to a real value between constant delay bounds, and that these timers decreased continually with time until the reached 0, at which point the gate output would change. Very quickly, I came up with an algorithm that kept track of the set of all possible timer values for various discrete states, and, magically, the analysis of the regions could be easily solved using the all-pairs shortest paths problem. I think I just got lucky and happened to think about it the right way, so it was easy to do. (Later, I learned that Vaughan Pratt had observed that certain systems of linear inequalities could be solved using shortest paths, and that a similar algorithm was used in a kind of timed Petri nets -- but I didn't know that at the time).
I left this method out of my PhD thesis, because my thesis seemed coherent and the timed model didn't seem to mesh with the other material. Then, in my first few years at Stanford, I pulled it out again and tried to prove that it was actually sound. Getting the details right was harder than working out the original idea. It took several weeks. The paper eventually appeared in CAV '89.
Verification with linear time (as opposed to branching time) models seemed beautiful to me because all the problems reduced to standard closure properties and decision properties that had been solved for finite automata: Closure under intersection, complementation, and projection, and the decidability of language emptiness. Implicit in my CAV paper were were closure under intersection, projection, and the decidability of emptiness for timed regular languages, but I couldn't prove closure under complementation. I felt very strongly that timed regular languages were closed under complementation and would work the same way as conventional finite automata.
Then Rajeev Alur walked into my office. He was a second year student who was ready to do some research, and his research advisor, Zohar Manna, was out of the country for a while. I explained timed automata to Rajeev and asked whether he could resolve the question of whether they were closed under complementation. Rajeev very quickly came up with a nicer definition of timed automata, with clocks that counted up and predicates, and an "untiming" construction for deciding language emptiness that had lower complexity than mine. I remember it took him several months to prove that, in fact, timed automata were not closed under complementation and that, surprisingly, the universality problem was undecidable. He proved several other amazing results, and then we wrote the "Timed Automata" paper. The paper was rejected twice from conferences with pretty harsh reviews (I think FOCS was one conference -- I don't remember the other one) and was eventually accepted at ICALP.
I'm not sure why it was so poorly received. I don't remember changing it much when we resubmitted it. I think there is a problem when you formulate a new problem and solve it, but reviewers don't understand why the problem is important. If the solution is a bit difficult, they look for reasons to reject the paper. If you attack a well-known problem so everyone knows why you want to solve it, it's sometimes easier to sell the paper (but maybe it won't have as much impact). Or maybe we just had some bad luck -- everyone gets bad reviews, and I've unfortunately written some bad reviews myself.
RA: I joined Stanford University in 1987 as a graduate student primarily interested in logic and theory of computation. Topics such as model checking, temporal logics, and automata over infinite strings were hot topics then, and extending these formalisms to reasoning about real-time systems was a natural research direction.
For me, the key starting point was Dave's wonderful paper titled "Timing assumptions and verification of finite-state concurrent systems" that appeared in CAV 1989. Dave has already explained how he arrived at the idea of difference bounds matrices that appeared originally in his paper, and I will explain two new ideas in our follow-up work aimed at generalizing the results. Dave's original paper modeled timing constraints by introducing timers each of which could be set to a value chosen nondeterministically from a bounded interval, decreased with time, and triggered an event upon hitting 0. We changed the model by introducing clock variables each of which could be reset to 0, increased with time, and could be tested on guards of transitions. In retrospect, this led to a simpler model, and more importantly, led naturally to many generalizations such as hybrid automata. The second idea was the definition of region equivalence that defines a finite quotient over the infinite set of clock values. This proved to be a versatile tool and forms the basis of many decidability results, and in particular, algorithms for model checking of branching-time temporal logics.
LA: According to Google Scholar, the journal paper for which you receive the Alonzo Church Award, which was published in 1994, has so far received over 6,500 citations, whereas the ICALP 1990 on which it was based has been cited over 1,250 times. A Google Scholar query also reveals that at least 135 publications citing your landmark TCS paper have more than 135 citations themselves. Moreover, the most successful and widely used tools for modelling and verification of real-time systems are based on timed automata. When did it dawn on you that you had succeeded in finding a very good model for real-time systems and one that would have a lot of impact? Did you imagine that your model would generate such a large amount of follow-up work?
DD: It will be really interesting to hear what Rajeev says about this.
At the time, I just felt happy that we had a nice theory. I was looking around for other uses besides asynchronous circuits to which timed automata would be applicable, and, based on the name, "real-time systems" seemed like a good candidate. But I didn't know much about the practical side of that area, and timed automata didn't seem to be directly applicable to many of the problems they worried about (there were a *lot* of papers on scheduling!).
It took a very long time before I was confident that timed automata were useful for anything, including real-time systems. So, for me, it was based on feedback from other people. I got some grant money to work on the problem, which was a good sign. People from control theory and real-time systems invited me to come and talk to them about it. It may be that timed model checking (which is very closely related) has had more practical impact than timed automata themselves. Other people built tools that were better than anything I created.
After a few years, the area got too hard for me. Others, especially Rajeev, were doing such a good job that I didn't feel that my efforts were needed. So, I moved on to new topics in formal verification and asynchronous circuit design. Now I only have a fuzzy idea about the impact of timed automata, embarrassingly.
RA: The initial reception to our work was not enthusiastic. In fact, the
paper was rejected twice, once from FOCS and once from STACS, before it
was accepted in ICALP 1990. There was also a vigorous argument
advocated by a number of prominent researchers that modeling time
as a discrete and bounded counter was sufficient. By mid 1990s though
the model started gaining acceptance: in theory conferences such as
CONCUR, ICALP,and LICS a steady stream of papers studying complexity
of various decision problems on timed automata and extensions started,
and a number of implementations such as KRONOS and UPPAAL were
developed. However, I could have never imagined so much follow-up work,
and I feel very grateful to all the researchers who have contributed to
this effort.
LA: What is the result of yours on timed automata you are most proud of? And what are your favourite results amongst those achieved by others on timed automata?
DD: I'm most proud of coming up with the question and the initial (not so hard) results. To me, the question seemed so completely obvious that I couldn't believe it hadn't been answered. I contributed to some of the later results, but Rajeev took off like a rocket and I couldn't keep up with him. At some point, there was so much work in the area that I didn't feel I had much to add. I know there are a lot of amazing results that I haven't studied.
I like the fact that timed automata formed a paradigm that others followed with hybrid automata and so on. The idea of extending finite automata with other gadgets, like clocks, and analyzing the resulting state space seems to have influenced people as much as the results on timed automata.
RA: There are lots of strong and unexpected results that I like and it is hard to choose. But since you asked, let me point out two which are closely related to our original paper. The paper by Henzinger et al titled "Symbolic model checking of real-time systems" (LICS 1992) introduced the idea of associating invariants with states. I think this is a much cleaner way of expressing upper bounds on delays, and in fact, is now part of the standard definition of timed automata. In our original paper, we had proved undecidability of timed language equivalence. Cerans showed in 1992 decidability of timed bisimulation which I did not expect and involves a clever use of region equivalence on product of two timed automata.
LA: Twenty five years have passed since the invention of timed automata and the literature on variations on timed automata as well as logics and analysis techniques for them is huge. Do you expect any further development related to theory and application of time automata in the coming years? What advice would you give to a PhD student who is interested in working on topics related to timed automata today?
DD: I'm sorry, but I haven't actively pursued the area and I just don't know. If I were giving advice to a younger version of me, knowing my strengths and weaknesses, I would actually advise that person to go and find a new problem that hasn't been worked on much. Maybe you'll start a new field, and you'll get to solve the first problems in the area before it gets too hard. What has worked for me was looking at an application problem, trying to find a clean way to formalize it, and then looking at the problems stemming from that formalization. It's an amazing fact that there are fundamental questions that haven't been addressed at all. Starting with a practical problem and then thinking about what theory would be helpful to solve it is a good way to come up with those questions. Also, watch for cases where existing theory doesn't exactly fit. Instead of trying to pound nails with a wrench, imagine a more appropriate, but simple, theory and invent that.
RA: I feel that theoretical problems as well as verification tools have been extensively investigated. Given that, my advice would be to first focus on an application. When one tries to apply an existing technique/tool to a real-world problem, there is invariably a mismatch and that insight can suggest a research idea. The emerging area of cyber-physical systems is a rich source of applications. For instance, formal modeling and analysis of medical devices can be a fruitful direction.
LA: You have both been involved in inter-disciplinary research with colleagues from biology and control theory. What general lessons have you learned from those experiences? What advice would you give a young researcher who'd like to pursue that kind of research?
DD: On reflection, my research in formal verification was not as collaborative as it could have been. But in computational biology, if you don't have a wet lab, you really have to collaborate with other people! Collaboration can be rewarding but also frustrating. My advice would be: learn as much about the other area as you can, so you can at least talk the same language as your collaborators. And prepare to invest lots of time communicating and understanding what motivates them -- and make sure they're willing to do the same, otherwise, it's a collaboration that is not going to work out. What keeps you working together is mutual benefit.
Most collaborations don't work out. If you have a good collaborator, be grateful. And, sometimes, you may want to choose among research directions based on which ones have the best collaborators.
LA: David, Rajeev, many thanks for taking the time to share your views with the members of the TCS community and congratulations for receiving the first Alonzo Church Award!
Posted by Luca Aceto at 3:02 pm
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