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Why Philanthropy Is Good for Business?
Some small businesses and other corporate entities have figured out a great way to add more success to their portfolios, through charitable giving. While the heart of a business lies within building a customer base and making a profit, there are many unique benefits for businesses that support a charity. Philanthropy isn't just something that is good for the people or the planet. It also offers a company big bonuses that can support its mission and business plan. Here are the reasons why philanthropy is good for business.
The top reason to support philanthropy is that it's the right thing to do. Business leaders have the ability to support great charities and give back to their communities. While making money and achieving financial success does feel good, the act of regularly helping the poor, the vulnerable, and the downtrodden can make someone feel completely fulfilled. Making a difference in the world may give a business owner a greater sense of purpose in life. Repeated generosity, such as giving to charity periodically, makes people feel happy. This happiness is greater than the joy felt after receiving a gift.
Improves Company Recognition
Giving back and supporting a charity also helps a company improve its name recognition and brand awareness. Companies that regularly support different charitable organizations may be more well known than other ventures. In today's world of social media, stories about businesses offering philanthropic support to different causes tend to be shared more than other corporate news. As more people find out about a company's philanthropic work, the company's brand gets a big boost.
Boosts Reputation
Companies that are known to support their communities and the people in them also experience a boost in their reputation. At some point in a business's lifetime, it could get bad publicity or a negative review. The best way to fight negative feedback is to have plenty of positive, feel-good stories about the business. Getting out there and offering support to local charities and other philanthropies shows the company's human side. It also carves out a reputation of kindness and positivity for a business.
Rallies Employee Morale
Just like business owners and the community benefit from corporate philanthropy, the employees of an organization also experience positive feelings with charitable giving. Employees who work for a company that helps make the world a better place may experience increased morale. The benefits of venture capitalist Mark Stevens charity giving is also felt by the staff members of the companies he leads, such as Nvidia.
Attracts Potential Customers
Businesses that have established a reputation for charitable giving and helping the world in times of crisis also attract more potential customers. In some ways, supporting philanthropy feels like an investment in the company's future. It builds up the business' reputation so that customers can associate the company with kindness and doing the right thing. Companies that have made charitable giving a big part of their mission have experienced boosts in sales and the number of new customers.
Offers Tax Benefits
Corporate charity also offers a company tax benefits. One way to take advantage of the financial benefits of supporting philanthropy is to claim a tax deduction for a charitable donation. It's possible to get a deduction if a business gives to a qualifying organization. Businesses can claim the dollar amount of the donation if it's cash, or they can claim the fair market value of the goods donated if it's some other type of donation. Doing this helps a company save money on its taxes for the year due to lowering the overall taxable income of the corporation.
Allows for Free Advertising
Charity also offers an opportunity for a company to get free publicity for its good deeds. When an organization makes a big donation, there is often some sort of press release or news story accompanying it. The charity itself may create a publicity of the charitable donation for its own audiences. Instead of investing in a large advertising campaign, the company gets free, positive news stories on social media or television about its charitable work, which helps subtly spread the word about its products and services.
Supports the Community
Finally, the best reason to support a charity as a business is because it supports the community the company is part of. Doing business in a depressed community is a challenge, but a thriving business setting makes it easier to turn a profit. Companies should do whatever they can to ensure their local community has opportunities to thrive. There are many projects that businesses can support to improve the entrepreneurship and atmosphere in their town or city. Sometimes that means taking the lead and helping other organizations find their own successes.
Philanthropy and charitable giving are great ways to give a company a big boost in reputation, customer support, and employee satisfaction. Once a company is off to a good, successful start, it should begin considering how it will support its community in the form of philanthropy.
The post Why Philanthropy Is Good for Business? appeared first on Wall Street Survivor.
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Lots of people want to make a living doing what they love. Ashley McMakin made that dream a reality with her Ashley Mac's cafés, catering and gourmet-to-go business. It all started with her hobby of cooking for those she loves.
McMakin grew up in a large, food-loving family, and she learned to cook alongside her mother and grandmother. "I remember making the desserts when I was 12," she says.
Ashley Mac's started as a catering company in the couple's Homewood kitchen in 2005; it was called A Taste of Birmingham back then. And McMakin sold strawberry cake at a booth at Pepper Place Market the first few years. Today, there are four Ashley Mac's cafés around Birmingham, and the company employs more than 100 people.
I sat down with McMakin for a story for Alabama NewsCenter.
Ashley Mac's offers modern interpretations of traditional Southern recipes that call for fresh, simple ingredients–whether you eat at an Ashley Mac's cafe, pick something out of the grab-and-go freezers, order and pick up a fresh family dinner for four or hire the company for catering.
McMakin has grown her business right along with her family, and she often shares her inspirational, working-mom story with others.
"Every time we put in a store we've had another kid," she says. "So we have four kids right now. We went through infertility for several years when we were trying to start Ashley Mac's, and looking back, I'm just grateful that that was God's timing. I really don't think there would be an Ashley Mac's if I had gotten pregnant right away.
McMakin was pregnant when she and her husband opened their Cahaba Heights store. "Opening that first store, I had to take a step back and really trust people, which is a big learning curve for a business owner, to learn how to delegate," she says.
One reason for Ashley Mac's success is that McMakin knows what her customers need because she is one of them – a busy mom who wants to put good, healthy food on the dinner table each night.
There is a certain element of goodness at Ashley Mac's that goes far beyond the highly popular strawberry cake.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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<< Firm foundations | Home | Comparing solutions >>
Modularity and testability
Designing software requires conscious effort; let's not stop thinking.
I've been writing blog posts covering a number of topics over the past few months; from the conflict between software architecture and code and architecturally-evident coding styles through to representing a software architecture model as code and how microservice architectures can easily turn into distributed big balls of mud. The common theme running throughout all of them is structure, and this in turn has a relationship with testability.
The TL;DR version of this post is: think about modularity, think about how you structure your code, think about the options you have for testing your code and stop making everything public.
1. The conflict between software architecture and code
I've recently been talking a lot about the disconnect between software architecture and code. George Fairbanks calls this the "model-code gap". It basically says that the abstractions we consider at the architecture level (components, services, modules, layers, etc) are often not explicitly reflected in the code. A major cause is that we don't have those concepts in OO programming languages such as Java, C#, etc. You can't do public component X in Java, for example.
2. The "unit testing is wasteful" thing
Hopefully, we've all see the "unit testing is wasteful" thing, and all of the follow-up discussion. The unfortunate thing about much of the discussion is that "unit testing" has been used interchangeably with "TDD". In my mind, the debate is about unit testing rather than TDD as a practice. I'm not a TDDer, but I do write automated tests. I mostly write tests afterwards. But sometimes I write them beforehand, particularly if I want to test-drive my implementation of something before integrating it. If TDD works for you, that's great. If not, don't worry about it. Just make sure that you *do* write some tests. :-)
There are, of course, a number of sides to the debate, but in TDD is dead. Long live testing. (ignore the title), DHH makes some good points about the numbers and types of tests that a system should have. To quote (strikethrough mine):
I think that's the direction we're heading. Less emphasis on unit tests, because we're no longer doing test-first as a design practice, and more emphasis on, yes, slow, system tests. (Which btw do not need to be so slow any more, thanks to advances in parallelization and cloud runner infrastructure).
The type of software system you're building will also have an impact on the number and types of tests. I once worked on a system where we had a huge number of integration tests, but very few unit tests, primarily because the system actually did very little aside from get data from a Microsoft Dynamics CRM system (via web services) and display it on some web pages. I've also worked on systems that were completely the opposite, with lots of complex business logic.
There's another implicit assumption in all of this ... what's the "unit" in "unit testing"? For many it's an isolated class, but for others the word "unit" can be used to represent anything from a single class through to an entire sub-system.
3. The microservices hype
Microservices is the new, shiny kid in town. There *are* many genuine benefits from adopting this style of architecture, but I do worry that we're simply going to end up building the next wave of distributed big balls of mud if we're not careful. Technologies like Spring Boot make creating and deploying microservices relatively straightforward, but the design thinking behind partitioning a software system into services is still as hard as it's ever been. This is why I've been using this slide in my recent talks.
Uncle Bob Martin posted Microservices and Jars last month, which touches upon the topic of building monolithic applications that do have a clean internal structure, by using the concept of separately deployable units (e.g. JARs, DLLs, etc). Although he doesn't talk about the mechanisms needed to make this happen (e.g. plugin architectures, Java classloaders, etc), it's all achievable. I rarely see teams doing this though.
Structuring our code for modularity at the macro level, even in monolithic systems, provides a number of benefits, but it's a simple way to reduce the model-code gap. In other words, we structure our code to reflect the structural building blocks (e.g. components, services, modules) that we define at the architecture level. If there are "components" on the architecture diagrams, I want to see "components" in the code. This alignment of architecture and code has positive implications for explaining, understanding, maintaining, adapting and working with the system.
It's also about avoiding big balls of mud, and I want to do this by enforcing some useful boundaries in order to slice up my thousands of lines of code/classes into manageable chunks. Uncle Bob suggests that you can use JARs to do this. There are other modularity mechanisms available in Java too; including SPI, CDI and OSGi. But you don't even need a plugin architecture to build a structured monolith. Simply using the scoping modifiers built in to Java is sufficient to represent the concept of a lightweight in-process component/module.
Stop making everything public
We need to resist the temptation to make everything public though, because this is often why codebases turn into a sprawling mass of interconnected objects. I do wonder whether the keystrokes used to write public class are ingrained into our muscle memory as developers. As I said during my closing session at DevDay in Krakow last week, we should make a donation to charity every time we type public class without thinking about whether that class really needs to be public.
A simple way to create a lightweight component/module in Java is to create a public interface and keep all of the implementation (one or more classes) package protected, ensuring there is only one "component" per package. Here's an example of a such a component, which also happens to be a Spring Bean. This isn't a silver bullet and there are trade-offs that I have consciously made (e.g. shared domain classes and utility code), but it does at least illustrate that all code doesn't need to be public. Proponents of DDD and ports & adapters may disagree with the naming I've used but, that aside, I do like the stronger sense of modularity that such an approach provides.
And now you have some options for writing automated tests. In this particular example, I've chosen to write automated tests that treat the component as a single thing; going through the component API to the database and back again. You can still do class-level testing too (inside the package), but only if it makes sense and provides value. You can also do TDD; both at the component API and the component implementation level. Treating your components/modules as black boxes results in a slightly different testing pyramid, in that it changes the balance of class and component tests.
A microservice architecture will likely push you down this route too, with a balanced mix of low-level class and higher-level service tests. Of course there is no "typical" shape for the testing pyramid; the type of system you're building will determine what it looks like. There are many options for building testable software, but neither unit testing or TDD are dead.
In summary, I'm looking for ways in which it we can structure our code for modularity at the macro-level, to avoid the big ball of mud and to shrink the model-code gap. I also want to be able to automatically draw some useful architecture diagrams based upon the code. We shouldn't blindly be making everything public and writing automated tests at the class level. After all, there are a number of different approaches that we can take for all of this, and the modularity you choose has an implication on the number and types of tests that you write. As I said at the start; think about modularity, think about how you structure your code, think about the options you have for testing your code and stop making everything public. Designing software requires conscious effort. Let's not stop thinking.
Responses[4]
Posted by Simon Brown on 01 October 2014 22:21:26 BST #
Re: Modularity and testability
Comment from Ralf Westphal on 02 October 2014 15:58:24 BST #
I can empathize with you general message. However when I look at the details, I doubt, it will change much. Take this for example:
"It basically says that the abstractions we consider at the architecture level (components, services, modules, layers, etc) are often not explicitly reflected in the code."
Sure, where is the component, the layer etc. in code? How to systematically translate conceptual structures into code artifacts?
But then... What is a component, a service, a module, a layer anyway? Where´s the definition of these "abstractions"? How do they relate to each other? Does a component contain modules? Or is it the other way around? What is a component or service or module relevant for? Design time or runtime? What distinguishes a module from a service from a component? What´s the category these terms belong to? Or are some of them categories and other instances? When to choose which "abstraction"? When to break code up into two components or modules, when not?
That´s all questions which mostly go unanswered. And my guess is that´s also the reason why there are no programming language equivalents for those "abstractions", nor any clear translation rules.
Generation after generation of developers hears these terms being used by older developers. They get some kind of feeling for what they could be - but they actually never exchange their views. It stays nebulous at best.
So nothing will change as long as "modularization" is not put on a more systematic foundation. "Modularize!" has been the call for the past 40 years - and where are we with that? So something must be missing. And that´s not the consciousness about the importance of "modularization". It´s... well, I can´t help but say, it´s a clue as to how to go about it. A clear and simple method to lead from requirements to not only code delivering desired functionality, but also evolvability and quality.
Definitions of ubiquitous but fuzzy terms to me seems a prerequisite for that.
-Ralf
Comment from Simon Brown on 02 October 2014 21:22:36 BST #
Agreed ... the definition of "component", "module", etc aren't widely understood. I tend to use them as synonyms, but others apply very different semantics to each term. Software Architecture in Practice (Clements, Bass, Kazman) is one of the few resources that provides a definition for these terms, and they throw "component instance" into the mix too. And this is in chapter 1, if I recall correctly. The theory is nice, but applying it to real-world programming languages is another thing entirely. That, plus few developers seem to have read the book. How do we fix all of this? :-)
Thx for the hint to "Software Architecture in Practice". I checked out the first chapter: You´re right, they provide some pretty clear definitions of Module and Component. And I also like their "Architectural Structures".
Even their approach stands on its head, so to speak. It starts with structural elements, not with requirements. My experience is, if you put an analysis of requirement categories first (even though that sounds theoretical to most devs ;-) it´s much easier to get devs (and managers) to jump onto the "design bandwaggon". Because suddenly they can feel why it´s so important to look beyond technological challenges like scalability or deployment. Without tying evolvability to money and making crystal clear how different software is from hardware (in the most general sense), nobody will really feel an urge to invest into design.
How to fix all of this? I´d say we need at least to be equally specific. We should not perpetuate the vagueness of terms. So if you have clear definitions for "component", "module", "service" and maybe some categories etc. don´t get tired to repeat them over and over again. And maybe map them to/contrast them with definitions of others.
And then simplification is needed. In the end "architecture" is a huge topic. No, not "architecture", because it also is just a means to an end, which is "health". Yes, we´re talking about "software health", which to me means "capability to perform as required - now and in the future". The most important part of this definition being "and in the future".
Most managers/devs focus on the "here and now" of "capability to perform as required". They bang out behavior: functionality plus quality (e.g. performance, security). They are addicted, they are seeking the next kick. It´s like working in an ER: someone gets rolled in, work on the person for an hour or three, another life saved. Great!
To fix a bug, to quickly implement some feature is so much more rewarding in several ways than doing design and think about evolvability. Nobody will pad you on the back for so quickly getting the evolvability right.
Plus, how do you do that thing with the evolvability anyway? How to do design "correctly" or at least straightforwardly? How to move systematically from requirements to classes, components, modules, services, layers and the like?
That´s nowhere taught. But we are in terrible need for a simple method for everyday work, for average programmers.
We need to work on that. We need to provide guidance. It´s a blank spot on the map of software development. OOP has not delivered on that, nor UML. Agility is oblivious of this. SOLID is not of much help. Layered architecture, Onion Architecture, Hexagonal or Clean Architecture: that´s all nice and well - but still too simple. They are leaving too many dots unconnected - and also don´t solve fundamental problems. (Which then technology providers are trying to connect, which is bad. Technology is a tool, not a value, principle, or end.)
Maybe we find some time at Software Architect 2014 to talk about this.
Comment from E. Roberts on 03 October 2014 16:10:15 BST #
+1 to the point about not making everything public. In Java the language has mechanisms to enforce this. In languages like python though, this has to be enforced through convention and discipline. I suppose the discipline piece is the most important thing anyways.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Transformer Designer Desk Interviews! Superion, Menasor, and More!
Skully looks at CW Silverbolt.
Skullface looks at voyager combiner wars silverbolt. We look at the figure, modes accessories and get awkward.
skullface looks at combiner wars skydive. We look at the figure, accessories, and the ugly truth about sandwiches.
Perfect Effect Combiner Wars Add On Surprises!
Combiner Wars Add On Kits by Perfect Effect just moment ago Perfect Effect released these images and indicated they would be doing specialized kits for all the combiners. Cannot wait for these!


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WMAR- Baltimore Scripps
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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic found this trip to Australia far less complicated, and far more successful, than that of a year ago. Unable to enter his best event in 2022 after being deported from the country because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19, Djokovic accomplished all he could have wanted in his return: He resumed his winning ways at Melbourne Park and made it back to the top of tennis. Only briefly challenged in the final on Sunday night, Djokovic was simply better at
'Rishi looks weak' despite sacking chairman, says former minister
Rishi Sunak "looks weak" despite sacking Nadhim Zahawi from his role as Conservative Party chairman, a former minister has said.
KNXV - Phoenix Scripps
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We have one more nice day to enjoy in Arizona before our next storm system moves in. You can look for rain chances in the Valley and snow in the higher elevations Monday and Tuesday.
8x8 (NASDAQ:EGHT) adds US$59m to market cap in the past 7 days, though investors from three years ago are still down 74%
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Michelle Williams reveals motherhood made her feel 'no good at anything'
The Oscar-nominated actress admitted it has been 'confounding' caring for a newborn and toddler.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Middle East on Sunday, beginning a three-day visit as violence flares between Israelis and Palestinians, and with Iran and the war in Ukraine high on the agenda. After a stop in Cairo Blinken will head on Monday to Jerusalem, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new right-wing government has stirred concern at home and abroad over the future of Israel's secular values, frayed ethnic relations and stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
Liverpool XI vs Brighton: Starting lineup, confirmed team news, injury latest for FA Cup today
Confirmed team news ahead of this afternoon's fourth-round tie
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The U.S. has sent surfers to Papau New Guinea, Shaquille O'Neal to Cuba and organized sports camps around the world to forge better relationships.
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A cocktail created at Milan's fashionable Bar Basso is turning 50, and the Instagram generation is lapping it up. We took a stool


An exclusive Gaiam Life interview with co-authors don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz on their book The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery.
Since 1997, the Toltec teachings of don Miguel Ruiz have become known worldwide. His first book, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, became a New York Times best seller and has sold around 4 million copies. His son, don Jose Ruiz, has begun to teach with don Miguel, and their collaboration has led to the creation of The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery — a deeper and more intricate guide to finding your true self.
In this exclusive interview with Gaiam Life, don Miguel and don Ruiz describe the intention behind sharing the new agreement, as well as their experience of working together to spread their message of happiness, hope and truth.
GAIAM: Why do you think that The Four Agreements book was so well received, being that it was a New York Times best-seller for more than 7 years?
DON MIGUEL: The Four Agreements showed everybody how easy it is just to be happy. It's nothing but common sense. It's universal, not just from Mexico, really. It has come directly from the human intelligence.
Once you read it and start applying it, even later—months after—you will see that it's like you read another book, and it's not that the book changed, but you changed, because the limitations that you used to have before no longer exist. It's like you have a guide in your pocket.
How did creation of The Fifth Agreement come about?
DON JOSE: In 2002, when my dad had his heart attack, followed by a nine-week coma, I had the reflection and I had the inspiration that I was going to continue on with his teachings. Seven years have past and this book is the creation that came out of it.
The fifth agreement is to be skeptical, but learn to listen—to learn to listen from your heart. It's to be skeptical about the problems, about the drama, about all the negative emotions that are offered to us in this life, so that when we learn to listen, we know what is good for us.
DON MIGUEL: This agreement is the level of mastery, when you finally finish with yourself completely, and you can be in world and you no longer need any teacher, any guru, because you become your own teacher, your own guru.
DON MIGUEL: The first is to be impeccable with the word. Which means speaking with integrity and saying only what you mean. This also means avoiding gossip and using your word in favor of love and truth.
The second agreement is to not take anything personally because everybody creates their own reality, their own world, and whatever lives in their world is different than what lives in your world. We make the assumption that everybody around us lives the same way we do, and judges the same way we judge—and this is not true at all. By not taking anything personally, well, we have that immunity in our relationships with everybody around us.
And when we don't make assumptions, with the third agreement, that gives us immunity in the relationship that we have with ourselves.
I know that the first three agreements are a little difficult, but the fourth agreement is what makes a difference, because it's something that everyone can do, and it's always do your best—it's the only thing we can do.
Just by following these simple four agreements, we can break thousands and thousands of false agreements that we create and that rule our lives.
Speak with integrity. Say only whay you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
Find the courage to ask questions and express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just his one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
Why didn't you include the fifth agreement in this first book?
DON MIGUEL: As you see, this agreement comes from the other four agreements, and the reason that I didn't include it 13 years ago is because at that time the people that I tried to teach, they were not ready for this agreement, but Don Jose proved me wrong by teaching it.
What do you mean when you say we are all messengers?
DON MIGUEL: When we're children, we receive messages from everybody—from our parents, from the school, from everything—we hear all those opinions, we make all those opinions ours, and we learn a way to grow up and start sharing all those opinions with everybody. We are always giving and receiving information, giving messages, then, by nature we are all messengers. But we don't have the awareness, we just give the message without awareness, and we destroy many of the messages that we send and receive.
What kind of messenger are you? Are you delivering lies, or are you delivering truth?
DON JOSE: We are all messengers because we are all artists—Toltec means 'artist'. When you ask yourself what kind of messenger are you, it's like asking yourself what kind of life am I living? Do I love my life? Do I like the life I'm living? Well if you don't like it you can change your life, and if you don't like your message you can change your message. And this is the beautiful part to realize—that we are storytellers and we can create the most beautiful story.
Talk about the experience of the collaboration of working on a book together?
DON JOSE: The collaboration of this book is the message of me teaching with my father, and just the love between us. I am very grateful to him, for standing by me through all my stupidity while I was growing up. Now I have the opportunity to be with him and to share his message—this is the best gift that can be.
What would tell someone who was trying to follow the agreements everyday? Who wanted to wake up everyday be reminded of them and practice them?
DON JOSE: People should always remember to respect their world, to respect their body, to respect their mind, and do not let any dream of poison have them sacrifice their heaven away, because what could be more powerful—what heartbreak, what drama—could be more powerful that we would give our heaven away? Always remember, the faith is in ourselves and we can transform with action and love for ourselves.
Is there a sixth agreement?
DON JOSE: No, this is the last. But there is nothing else to explain. When you become your own teacher, and apprentice, that's basically when you learn respect, and you learn to live in a dream of gratitude—and gratitude is gratitude to be alive, gratitude to have a body.
And what do you hope people will take away from reading this book?
DON JOSE: Well, the most beautiful message that is in this book, is to help us to change the world—and we're not talking about the world outside of us, I mean the world inside our minds.
DON MIGUEL: We all came into this beautiful planet with a mission. The only mission, and it's the same for every single human that we have on this beautiful planet earth, is to make ourselves happy.
The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery is a sequel to The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book), published in 1997.
For nearly three decades, don Miguel Ruiz has shared his unique blend of ancient wisdom and modern day awareness through lectures, workshops and journeys to sacred sites around the world. Sales of his books have soared to more that seven million copies in the United States alone, and have been translated into more than 30 languages worldwide.
In the tradition of his ancestors, don Jose Ruiz has dedicated his life to sharing the teachings of the ancient Toltec. For the past seven years, he has been lecturing and leading classes across the United States, and at the sacred sites around the world.
Interview and book excerpts from The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery ©2010 by don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz printed with permission from Amber Allen Publishing, Inc. amberallen.com.


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I'm an American living in the UK for the last six years. When I lived in the United States, I was involved with Democratic politics on a state and national level. Reflecting on that experience has made me conclude that the Labour Party and the Democratic Party share many of the same traits.
In the USA, it's "vote blue no matter who", and in the UK, it's similar, "Anyone but the Tories". There's an undercurrent of thought that leftists can't win, so you should just support the most left party and try to move the party left. In real-time, that isn't the case. In Nevada, the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) won every seat in the Nevada Democratic Party's leadership positions. They did what their opposition in the leadership always told them to do, win elections. How did they react? They stripped the party of its financial resources and then quit. Here, you can read a complete takedown of the whole thing at the Intercept and their sister audio podcast version.
Labour has a similar version of this story. In 2015 Jeremy Corbyn was elected to be the leader of the Labour party. In 2017, Labour outperformed expectations (winning more of the popular vote than Blair in 2005) and brought the Labour party just shy of gaining power. Teresa May called this election to coalesce power around her Brexit deal. The loss of seats for the Conservatives was enough to oust Teresa May as Prime Minister. They had to find a "magic money tree" to stay in power.
During Corbyn's rein as the leader, the Forde Report found that there were forces within the party itself that were attacking Corbyn:
"The factions ended up in a cycle of attack and counterattack, with each side assuming that the other was acting in bad faith (sometimes justifiably, sometimes not) and responding in kind."
That there were Trotskyist witch hunts:
"I was advised that the bellringing was conducted by the 'compliance' unit and represented the successful suspension or expulsion of a member – often surrounded by the description of such members as 'trots'".
and that there were factional, racist messaging by senior party staff:
"We find that the messages on the SMT [senior management team] WhatsApp reveal deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes expressed by many of the party's most senior staff. The substance of the quoted messages is concerning – and totally inappropriate from senior staff of a purportedly progressive political party"
These factions were DESPONDENT at the idea of a Corbyn-led party taking power:
"WhatsApp transcripts included in the original 2020 dossier analysed by the inquiry had suggested that some staffers became despondent as Labour climbed in the polls during the election campaign despite their efforts."
Looking at both political parties through the lens of recent history shows their moderate base operates both when in and out of power. They're only focused on holding on to the reigns of power (at all costs) while not changing much while in power.
Right now, POTUS Joe Biden, who campaigned on being able to work with Republicans, cannot get legislation through Congress that the Democratic Party controls. As Peter Daou points this out at Direct Left:
This is Joe Biden's actual record:
NO minimum wage hike
NO serious student debt cancellation
NO effective pandemic strategy (more deaths than Trump)
NO medicare for all — or the promised public option
NO more Roe v. Wade
NO filibuster reform, just speeches
NO voting rights protection, just more speeches
NO court expansion, just a sham commission
NO end to racist policing
NO end to gun violence
NO end to deportations & abuse of asylum-seekers
NO end to cages for migrant children
NO end to brutalizing Afghanistan and Yemen
NO end to droning civilians without repercussions
NO end to huge military budgets (bigger than Trump's)
NO end to arming and coddling oppressive regimes
NO meaningful climate action
NO end to oil drilling and fossil fuel subsidies
NO end to poverty, hunger, and homelessness
NO end to billionaires pocketing trillions
That's just a partial list of Biden's broken promises — and broken moral compass. Corporate Democrats like Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi have always relied on performative opposition and theatrics to pacify their supporters while preserving the status quo.
UK Labour is now leading in the polls (even though they said they'd be leading by 20 points— and they aren't) and may win the next general election. That may sound great, but as Biden has shown, if you don't lead a party of change with ideas that you implement, you won't be able to get anything done and "nothing will fundamentally change."
Things might not be that bad if that was all that would happen. But the promise of "hope and change" and to "fundamentally transform" America by Barack Obama that didn't materialise led to the election of Donald Trump. This lack of political movement had consequences.
Saying that you "must vote blue, no matter who", if it were in the context of a personal relationship, would be considered gaslighting, DARVO-like abuse.
Performative opposition is the name of the game for both of these supposedly liberal political parties. They have nothing to offer except more of the same, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. This kind of do-nothing politics will eventually lead to radical change or hyper-nationalist fascism, resulting in much innocent bloodshed.
Tags: biden, Democratic Party, DNC, Labour Party, uk, usa
politics | Marti Abernathey August 1, 2022


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Joseph Carey Merrick (Leicester, Anglaterra, 5 d'agost de 1862 - Londres, 11 d'abril de 1890) va ser conegut popularment com a "l'home elefant" a causa de les severes malformacions que patí des dels 18 mesos d'edat. Els seus pares no patien cap mena de malformació ni tampoc els seus dos germans, William (mort als quatre anys) i Marion Eliza. Tampoc es va donar cap cas com el seu ni en els seus oncles ni cosins.

Metges especialitzats en malalties congènites i genetistes han aconseguit saber quin tipus de malaltia patia Joseph Merrick, gràcies al fet que es va conservar el seu esquelet i mostres orgàniques (cabell). Es tracta d'una malaltia anomenada síndrome de Proteu, que va ser descoberta l'any 1979. Aquesta síndrome és molt rara i només se n'han descrit 100 casos en tot el món. Se sospita també que Merrick patia també una neurofibromatosi de tipus I, ja que també presenta símptomes clars d'aquesta malaltia.

Vida
Joseph Merrick va créixer a la ciutat de Leicester. La seva malaltia va començar a manifestar-se en el seu aspecte deformant cap als 18 mesos d'edat en forma d'una protuberància sobre el llavi superior. Als dotze anys morí la seva mare que sempre l'havia cuidat amb devoció. Merrick a pesar de la seva malaltia que li dificultava caminar, va anar a escola dels 6 als 12 anys. Després de la mort de la seva mare el seu pare es va tornar a casar i la nova parella del seu pare no va acceptar Merrick. Joseph treballà dels 13 als 15 anys en una fàbrica de tabacs fins que la mà i el braç drets es van deformar tant que va quedar impedit per a treballar fent servir els dos braços. Tal va ser l'impediment, que essent Merrick dretà va haver d'aprendre a escriure de nou amb la mà esquerra. Després de perdre la feina el seu pare li va aconseguir una llicència per ser venedor ambulant. Merrick venia pels carrers alguns articles de la merceria del seu pare. A causa del seu aspecte no venia gairebé res i sovint la gent li feia rotllanes o l'increpaven. Durant aquest temps, Merrick va fugir un grapat de vegades de casa seva per estalviar-se el maltractament de la seva madrastra i la desatenció del seu pare vers ell. Un dia va marxar per sempre després de rebre una pallissa i el seu pare no es va tornar a preocupar mai més per ell. Merrick va perdre totalment el contacte amb ell i amb la seva germana petita, Marion Eliza que comptava en aquells dies uns sis anys. El seu oncle patern Charles Merrick el va acollir a casa seva durant un any. Durant aquest any Merrick va continuar treballant com a venedor ambulant però el seu aspecte ja molt deforme esfereïa la gent i provocava que no vengués res. El gremi de venedors ambulants va protestar per la presència de Merrick i quan la seva llicència per vendre va expirar, no li va ser renovada. Continuava sota la protecció del seu oncle, però sabent que no es podia guanyar la vida no va voler ser una càrrega per al seu oncle i a finals de desembre de 1879, als 17 anys va ingressar voluntàriament a la WorkHouse de Leicester. Les WorkHouses eren una xarxa d'asils estesa per tot el Regne Unit on anaven a parar gent sense recursos, fins i tot famílies senceres. Allà amb un règim penitenciari treballaven per guanyar-se l'estada. Les feines més comunes eren treballar pedres per fer carrers, fer maons, etc. Merrick sempre recordà la seva estada a la WorkHouse amb horror.

Allà hi romangué durant quatre anys. La seva deformitat continuava progressant. La protuberància del llavi superior va arribar a un punt que li impedia menjar i parlar amb claredat. El 1884 va ser traslladat a la Leicester Infirmary on li va operar la cara extraient-li la protuberància. Segons pròpies paraules de Merrick li van treure mig quilo de teixit malalt. Mentre es recuperava de la dolorosa operació va saber que un promotor de fires especialitzat en fenòmens (freaks) anomenat Sam Torr estava a la ciutat i li va escriure demanant-li feina. Torr el va anar a veure i el va contractar immediatament. D'aquesta manera Merrick va fer realitat el seu somni de marxar de la WorkHouse.

Sabent que l'única sortida per guanyar-se la vida a causa del seu sorprenent aspecte seria la d'exhibir-se en fires, es va unir a la fira de Sam Torr on treballà uns mesos fins que es va passar, per recomanació del mateix Torr, a la fira de Tom Norman. L'exhibició de Merrick era una atracció de molt èxit, però no estava exempta de problemes, ja que les autoritats trobaven que era massa degradant. Així que poble darrere poble, Merrick s'exhibia i al cap de pocs dies l'exhibició era clausurada. Com que la companyia era itinerant, la clausura no revestia problemes. Però va arribar un moment en què la fira ja no va tenir llocs on exhibir l'atracció de Merrick sense que gairebé immediatament fos clausurada. Cal senyalar tanmateix, que Merrick sempre va parlar bé de la seva etapa com a fenomen de fira, a pesar que li desagradava profundament exhibir-se, ja que es va sentir ben tractat pels seus companys i va poder fer una bona caixa de diners. Com a curiositat, va ser Tom Norman qui va confeccionar la gorra amb el vel que cobria totalment la cara i el cap de Merrick. El vel tenia un trau obert per a la visió de Merrick. Aquest estrany vel amb gorra es conserva, juntament amb altres efectes personals seus, al Royal London Hospital, Londres.

Tom Norman i Joseph Merrick van arribar a Londres a finals de 1884 i van instal·lar l'exhibició en una botiga davant del London Royal Hospital. Com que era tan a prop de l'hospital va cridar de seguida l'atenció dels estudiants que van informar el doctor Frederick Treves, home molt interessat en les malalties deformants, de l'existència de Joseph Merrick. Així, a finals de 1884 Treves i Merrick es van conèixer. Treves li va donar a Norman una targeta de visita perquè pogués portar Merrick a l'hospital, ja que li va voler fer un reconeixement exhaustiu. Norman hi va estar d'acord i va portar Merrick al London Royal Hospital. Allà, Treves va examinar Merrick i el va presentar a la comunitat científica com un cas de neurofibromatosi greu. Com que aquest hospital no acollia malalts crònics, un cop acabada la seva primera trobada amb la comunitat científica, Merrick va tornar a la seva vida d'exhibició. Va romandre a Londres fins a la primavera de 1885. Continuà treballant en diferents ciutats. Després que la seva exhibició fos clausurada definitivament, Norman va proposar Merrick que marxés al continent amb un promotor italià anomenat Ferrari, ja que al Regne Unit ja no podia fer carrera perquè les seves exhibicions eren constantment clausurades. Merrick va marxar amb Ferrari cap al continent el Juny de 1886.

Era costum que els promotors guardessin els diners dels seus treballadors i Torr li va confiar a Ferrari els estalvis de Merrick, unes 40 o 50 lliures. El que no comptaven ni Ferrari ni Merrick és que al continent europeu les lleis per a les exhibicions a les fires eren molt severes, i els dos homes van ser constantment perseguits per les autoritats. Les exhibicions de Merrick duraven tan poc que no donaven ni per menjar. Així veient Ferrari que no faria negoci amb Merrick, l'abandonà a la seva sort a Brussel·les a finals de 1886, emportant-se tots els estalvis que Merrick havia fet durant dos anys. Amb moltíssimes dificultats, Merrick aconseguí embarcar en un vaixell de tornada a Anglaterra. El bitllet incloïa el viatge en tren de Dover fins a l'estació Liverpool, a Londres. Després d'un dur viatge, Merrick va arribar a aquesta estació on la gent en veure'l li van fer rotllana fins a provocar un tumult. Com que li era impossible córrer per escapar i es trobava completament sol, Merrick va caure pres d'un atac de pànic fins que la policia el va atendre. Com que duia encara la targeta de visita del doctor Treves la policia el va fer cridar i aquest se'l va endur al Royal London Hospital.

Treves va exposar al director de l'hospital, el doctor Carr-Gomm el problema de consciència i responsabilitat que tenien vers Merrick, ja que la seva deformitat li impedia valer-se per si mateix i els intents perquè fos acollit en alguna institució per malalts crònics va ser infructuosa. El seu oncle Charles Merrick va voler fer-se'n càrrec però tant Treves com Carr-Gomm van estar d'acord que Merrick necessitava estar a l'hospital, ja que la seva malaltia requeria atencions mèdiques constants i una estrictíssima higiene. Merrick, per l'efecte de les seves deformacions sobre la pell, aquesta desprenia una desagradable olor que quedava eliminada amb un bany o dos diaris.

Treves i el director de l'hospital per poder justificar l'estada de Merrick a l'hospital, ja que no estava permesa l'estada a malalts crònics, van decidir fer una col·lecta posant un anunci al diari explicant la història de Merrick. L'objectiu era recaptar fons per pagar la seva estada i així justificar donar-li habitació i existència de per vida. La idea va ser un èxit i la resposta popular va sobrepassar les expectatives de Treves i Carr-Gomm, el director de l'hospital. Merrick va romandre al Royal Hospital fins a la seva mort, el 1890, als vint-i-set anys. Durant la seva estada va fer molta amistat amb Frederick Treves, que anys després a les seves memòries dedicaria un llarguíssim capítol a en Merrick, conscient que el seu nom quedaria per sempre lligat al de Merrick. En aquestes memòries escrites el 1923 poc abans de morir, la vellesa i la memòria van trair Treves, que va canviar el nom de Joseph Merrick pel de John. Treves es va sorprendre de la intel·ligència i sensibilitat de Merrick, del seu interès per la literatura i la seva increïble habilitat pels treballs manuals a pesar de la deformitat de la mà i el braç drets. Merrick va aprendre a fer treballs amb vímet i construccions arquitectòniques amb cartó. Destacava el seu caràcter educat, tranquil i la seva profunda religiositat. Merrick era de confessió Baptista. Treves també es va acostumar a la curiosa manera de parlar de Merrick, ja que aquest tenia el paladar i la mandíbula deformats i li impedien pronunciar correctament. La causa de la seva mort va ser que el pes del seu descomunal crani provocà un desnucament. En un principi es va especular que va morir d'asfíxia perquè s'havia adormit estirat. Merrick havia de dormir obligatòriament assegut i amb el cap recolzat als genolls. Si s'estirava, s'asfixiava. Però l'estudi de les seves vèrtebres cervicals demostren que va morir sobtadament desnucat i que la mort va ser tan ràpida que ni es va adonar.

Després de fer-li un funeral, Treves va practicar l'autòpsia al cadàver de Merrick i va separar l'esquelet per a conservar-lo a l'hospital per al seu estudi. També es van guardar mostres de teixit, però es van perdre durant un bombardeig a la Segona Guerra Mundial. A més de l'esquelet, s'ha conservat cabell de Merrick. La conservació d'aquestes restes han estat clau per descobrir què li passava. També han estat importants els estudis genètics a la família d'en Merrick, que han continuat fins avui en els descendents directes de l'oncle Charles Merrick.

Sobre la vida de Joseph Merrick es va fer un musical anomenat "The Elephant Man" guardonat amb un premi Tony i protagonitzat per David Bowie l'any 1979, i també una pel·lícula anomenada igualment "The Elephant Man", dirigida per David Lynch l'any 1980.

Bibliografia Selecta
  Aquest llibre inclou l'extens capítol que li dedicà el doctor Frederick Treves en el seu llibre de memòries.

Nota: Malauradament, aquests dos llibres no han estat traduïts al català. Es poden trobar i comprar a internet amb relativa facilitat.

Vegeu també
 L'home elefant (pel·lícula)

Enllaços externs

 Pàgina-Tribut a Joseph Merrick
 Breu biografia

Persones de Leicester
Morts a Anglaterra

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


El Sol Vida provides personalized full service destination management in the Caribbean. We provide arrange and provide ground and air transportation, accommodation and events. Our services are mainly for travel agents, leisure and business travelers, companies and other groups.
With over 20 years in tourism and management we always satisfy all our clients with our above and beyond motto.


Christopher Nolland - Mediator based in Dallas, Texas.
Please click your preferred available date to submit a request. Your Appointment Form will be sent to Christopher's assistant, Kristy H. Thompson.
After law school, Chris Nolland served as an appellate law clerk and thereafter practiced law in New York City and Dallas, Texas. He was a partner in a well-known national business litigation firm. His experience as a lawyer is in business litigation including contracts, franchise law, securities, intellectual property, partnerships, corporations, joint ventures, construction law, real estate, bankruptcy and insolvency litigation, banking and lender liability, and other complex business litigation, as well as significant probate, trust and estate litigation.
In 1993, Mr. Nolland began his own practice with an emphasis on complex business and commercial disputes, bankruptcy and debtor/creditor related matters and with an additional focus on the development of a mediation/arbitration practice. Since that time, Mr. Nolland has mediated or arbitrated over 2,400 cases and has earned a reputation as the "go to" guy for the resolution of complex disputes. In the last 15 years, he has also developed a practice in which he acts as special negotiation/settlement counsel to other law firms and clients in significant litigation matters. His current practice is divided roughly equally between acting as a neutral mediator/arbitrator and as non-neutral settlement counsel in complex, high stakes litigation. His practice both as a mediator/arbitrator and as special settlement counsel is national in scope.
Since 1997, Mr. Nolland has been an Adjunct Professor at Southern Methodist University s Dedman School of Law, teaching a course in Negotiation to second and third-year law students. He is a frequent speaker at ADR programs and training courses and has been profiled in legal and business publications. In 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010 – 2018 (all years the list has been published), Mr. Nolland was named by D Magazine as one of the Best Lawyers in Dallas; and in all years from 2003 - 2018 Texas Monthly selected him as a Texas Super Lawyer based upon the votes of his peers. He has also been selected by The Best Lawyers in America for all years from 2008 - 2018, and is ranked as a first tier mediator for 2013- 2018 by U.S. News and World Report. Mr. Nolland is one of only 5 Texas mediator finalists statewide for the 2012 Go-To Lawyers Guide published by Texas Lawyer every five years and in 2016 he was selected for its Lifetime Achievement Award. He was named a 2016 National ADR Champion by The National Law Journal. In 2016, Mr. Nolland was the recipient of the Steve Brutché Award from the national Association of Attorney Mediators (it's highest honor). In 2018, he received the Justice Frank Evans Award from the ADR Section of the State Bar of Texas for excellence in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution. He was named by Chambers as a leading Nationwide Mediator in 2017 and 2018.


Control crowds with ease with our yellow powdercoat temporary crowd control barriers, which are not only sturdy and safe but also eye-catching enough to stand out in a sea of people.
There are many benefits to opting for yellow powdercoat as opposed to standard galvanised steel. More visible barriers make a crowd more respectful of the need to stay behind them, and are also more easily identifiable by security.
Our temporary crowd barriers are made up of a series of panels that can be quickly and conveniently interlocked. They are durable and can hold up against abuse and jostling. Transportation and storage are easy, as these crowd barriers can be easily nested.
All panels pivot smoothly on joints and stand on feet that can be bolted directly into the ground. Feet are kept as low to the ground as possible to minimise the danger of pedestrians tripping over them. The feet can also be removed to facilitate storage and transportation.
Yellow powdercoat temporary crowd control barriers are particularly suitable for use in areas see enormous amounts of human traffic. If it's a crowd you think you'll have difficulty reining in, the yellow powdercoat option can help considerably.


CPC has been a turning point in my life. Apart from having competent faculties and good Infra to provide to its students, it helped me understand my potentials.
(c) 2007-2018- City Premier College,Nagpur. All Rights Reserved .


text:
York College Nursing student wants to be patients' 'light at the end of the tunnel'
Chemotherapy had left its calling card on 9-year-old Mia.
Her hairless head marked her as clear as a neon sign that flashed "cancer patient." Before she reached her 10th birthday, she'd seen more pain and hardship than many adults.
York College of Pennsylvania Nursing student Melissa Spear knew she couldn't cure Mia's disease, but she thought she could help her to forget it for one afternoon.
For one day, Melissa could help Mia to just be a regular kid.
Love Your Melon
When the weather is cool, you can spot Melissa by her beanie. It's light blue with a fluffy brown pom on top that bounces when she walks. "Love Your Melon" is written on a brown leather patch sewn on the front.
Love Your Melon is an apparel company with a mission to help raise awareness of pediatric cancer and raise funds to fight it. Half the profit of every item they make, like Melissa's hat, goes to one of their non-profit partners like the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Ronald McDonald Foundation.
Last year, Melissa helped form a Love Your Melon Campus Crew at York College. They ran a table at the Student Union, raised money, and hosted events to raise awareness of pediatric cancer. It was with the support of this campus crew at York College that Melissa and her classmates decided to find a child in their community they could help.
Volunteering for the joy of it
Mia wasn't the first kid with cancer Melissa had met.
For the past three summers, Melissa has volunteered at Camp Sunshine, a camp for families with children who have life-threatening illnesses.
Melissa is outgoing and goofy — just the kind of person who can cheer up a sick kid.
"I like being that person who can make their day in the worst of times," she says.
She didn't volunteer there because it would look good on resumes or advance her career — she did it because she genuinely enjoyed being there.
"That literally is the best part of my summer, going to this camp," Melissa says.
It was that camp that inspired her to pursue nursing at York College, with the hope to become an oncology nurse one day.
"I just want to be that light at the end of the tunnel for them," she says.
A day to just be a kid
Melissa reached out to her York College community to find someone she could help.
One of her professors sent her to a church, where she was introduced to Mia's mom. Together, they brainstormed ideas for a day that would help Mia forget about the cancer, and just let her be a kid and have fun.
Through donations and fundraising, Melissa and her campus crew were able to come through.
They brought Mia and about 25 of her friends to see "Paddington" at a movie theater near her home, then treated them to a pizza party and ice cream sundaes.
It was a small thing, but small things add up, Melissa says.
Raising money, bringing awareness to childhood cancer, writing cards for kids in the hospital, and giving Mia a day to just be a 9-year-old kid — those small things made a difference.
It's a lesson Melissa says she'll take with her after she graduates from York College in December and looks for a job as an oncology nurse.
At the end of the day, Mia gave Melissa a hand-made card thanking her for all that she'd done.
Melissa still has it tucked away in her house — a small thing that means so much her.
2018-2019 Cultural Series
Each year, York College hosts a series of cultural events that are designed to entertain and enlighten members of both the campus and regional communities.
View the Cultural Series
York Magazine
Published three times a year, the goal of the magazine is to encourage engagement, action and participation in York College from our alumni and friends of the school.
York College News Feed
Eisenhart Scholar at York College finds Generations of Hope work inspiring
York College student sparking kids' interest in science, one robot claw at a time
Growing up around diversity helps Spartan soccer player on and off the field


text:
"""
To simulate chaos using simple equations

The growth equation is
p(n)=r*p(n)*(1-p(n))
where p(n) is the fraction of maximum allowed population and r is the growth factor
"""

class Growth(object):
    def __init__(self,init_pop,growth_factor,number_of_years):
        self.pop=init_pop
        self.r=growth_factor
        self.max_years=number_of_years
        self.age=0

    def __iter__(self):
        return self

    def __next__(self):
        if self.age<self.max_years and self.pop>=0:
            current=self.pop
            self.pop=self.r*self.pop*(1-self.pop)
            self.age+=1
            return current
        else:
            raise StopIteration

def simulate_population(init_pop,growth_factor,max_years):
    pop=Growth(init_pop,growth_factor,max_years)
    r_list=[0 for i in range(max_years)]
    for index,population in enumerate(pop):
        r_list[index]=population
    return r_list


text:
› Central & South America
› Peru
› Peru's Pre-Incan Past: Gocta Falls, Kuelap Ruins & Revash
Peru's Pre-Incan Past: Gocta Falls, Kuelap Ruins & Revash
Head to Peru's north to explore lush rainforest and a pre-Incan world. On this Peru Vacation, you'll see the third-tallest waterfall in the world, Gocta Falls, explore the Chachapoyas citadel fortress of Kuelap, and visit the Leymebamba Museum to see mummies and other relics of a pre-Incan world.
This 5-day Peru vacation takes you to the pre-Incan sites in the north of the country.
If you're itching to get off the "Gringo Trail" of southern Peru, take a one-hour flight from Lima to Jaen in the north of the country and head on incredible rainforest excursions to archaeological sites predating the Incan Empire. First stop is Gocta Falls, the third-tallest waterfall system in the world. Only outstripped by Angel Falls and Victoria Falls, Gocta Falls stands 771 metres tall. Take an 11 kilometre hike (return included) through the Andean Cloud Forest to reach the falls. The moment you break through the rainforest and are met with a blast of fresh air at the base of the falls is magical.
After surveying this mighty waterfall, head to Kuelap Fortress, one of the oldest stone monuments in the Americas. Sitting on the top of a mountain plateau, Kuelap was built by the Chachapoyas but disappeared from history in the Middle Ages, only to be rediscovered in 1843. Hike up the mountain or ride the newly-built cable car to ascend its massive stone walls and enjoy breathtaking panoramas of the surrounding jungle. As you survey this citadel fortress, you'll marvel at the remarkable preservation of the ruins and learn about the legends that surround the fortress.
You'll continue an exploration of ruins at Revash, a cemetery town near Santo Tomas. Revash is remarkable for how its tombs appear to be red and white buildings decorating the cliff side. Explore the town and make a circuit of its tomb villages before heading to Leymebamba Museum, where you can see 200 mummies and burial offerings from the nearby region. Although these mummies used to be fodder for tomb robbers and desecration, the museum now preserves them and lets you learn more about pre-Incan societies like the Chachapoyas, as well as the modern peoples who inhabit the rainforest areas in Peru's north.
This Peru vacation exploring the North's pre-Incan past is an ideal add-on to longer explorations of Lima and the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Jaen Airport to Gocta Lodge
Gocta Lodge
Offering an outdoor pool and a restaurant, Gocta Andes Lodge is located in Chachapoyas. Guests can enjoy a buffet breakfast each morning at this lodge, just 3.7 miles from the Gocta waterfalls.
Gocta Falls Trek
The walk to the base of the falls begins at Cocachamba, the small town where the Gocta Lodge is located. It is here where you register for your trek and where you begin the 11km return trek to the base of the world's 3rd tallest waterfalls, after Angel Falls in Venezuela - the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 meters (3212 feet) and Victoria Falls - 885 meters (2900 feet) in Zimbabwe: Gocta Falls at 771 meters (2529 feet).
At 5.5km each way, the distance is not challenging but being in the Andean Cloud Forest at about 1200 meters (3937 feet), the temperature is surprisingly humid and that, combined with some extreme up and down tracks, makes the trek an achievable but challenging one.
The effort is well worth it! As you round a corner and come out of the cloud forest to stand the base of Gocta you are face to face with water plummeting from the secondary section of the falls. The water falling, displaces the air and after the humid trek you are met with a fresh spray of water blasted from the falls. For those that want to walk that little bit more, you can continue to the pool formed by the falling water but, be warned you will get very wet this close to the base of the falls.
Kuelap Fortress Visit
Kuelap Fortress, atop a mountain plateau and removed from all around it, was forgotten by the modern world until in 1843 when Juan Crisostomo Nieto rediscovered the site. Quickly it became an object for explorers, historians and archaeologists. Since then word has spread and more and more people have been enchanted by its mystical history and beautiful surroundings.
Built by the Chachapoyas, the fortified citadel of Kuelap was home to the Warriors of the Cloud in Peru, before they were conquered by invaders. Massive stone walls and hundreds of ruins stand as a reminder of a formidable culture lost to history. The purported site at which the Inca King Huayna Capac, was poisoned and killed, leading to the civil war that wracked the empire just before the Spanish Conquistadores landed, Kuelap is at the cross roads of ancient and modern Peruvian history.
Kuelap is one of the largest ancient stone monuments in the New World, and is located 3,000 meters (approximately 10,000 feet) above sea level on the slope of the Andes in northern Peru. Getting to the peak is easy as you take the newly built, and highly exhilarating cable car ride to the summit. For those wishing to escape the "gringo trail" of southern Peru and explore a region few have visited a visit to Kuelap - "father to Machu Picchu ruins" - is a moderate physical undertaking but highly rewarding.
Xalca Hotel Chachapoya
Offering a terrace and views of the mountain, La Xalca Hotel is situated in Chachapoyas. Free WiFi is offered throughout the property and free private parking is available on site.
Leymebamba Museum & Revash Day Tour
Revash is a collection of tombs near the town of Santo Tomás. The tombs look like houses and are set alongside the ledges of limestone cliffs. The tombs of Revash are built from mud-set stones and are painted in red and white hues. The buildings look like small houses and seem to form mini villages along the face of the cliff. A winding road up and into the Andes take you to a small town from where you begin a short 3k, trek to the ruins. It is an easy walk with a few up and downs.
Opened in June 2000, the Museo Leymebamba displays the more than 200 mummies and their burial offerings recovered in 1997 from the near-by Laguna de los Condores. Once at risk from looters and vandals, today this valuable collection is housed in the Museo Leymebamba. An initiative of The Bioanthropology Foundation Peru-Centro Mallqui, the Museo Leymebamba's construction was made possible by a donation from a group of Austrian citizens as well as by funds from private donors.
Literally built by hand, by the people of Leymebamba, the museum is an amazing insight into the pre Incan cultures that predominated what is modern day Peru and in particular the burial offerings indicateof the Chachapoya (ca. AD 800-1470), Chachapoya-Inca (ca. 1470-1532) and early Colonial (ca. 1532-1570) times.
In addition to the three museum halls dedicated to the archaeological finds from the Laguna de los Cóndores, an ethnographic hall presents the varied lifestyles of the region's modern inhabitants, and a fifth hall is designed to host cultural and scientific activities.
Xalca Hotel to Jaen Airport
4 nights' accommodation
All meals from lunch on day 1 to lunch on day 5 (lunches are boxed lunches)
Entrances to Gocta, Kuelap, Leymebamba Museum and Revash
Cable car to Kuelap Fortress
Guide and driver
DP JAETPK5DPE2
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text:
Q: Endianness and Socket Programming in C I'm making a program that communicate with certain patient monitor using C sockets. I'm using connection-less sockets (UDP) to communicate with the device. But there is endianness mis-match between my computer and device and so far I was doing this to get parse response from the patient monitor:
recvfrom(int socket, char *buffer, size_t length, int flags,
             struct sockaddr *address, socklen_t *address_len);

Then I was casting the buffer directly to structure and using the ntohs and ntohl to change the byte ordering, for example:
struct A * a = (struct A *)buffer;
Struct A b;
b.v1 = ntohs(a->v1);
b.v2 = ntohl(a->v2);

After reading few examples over internet, I figured out that this may be wrong approach due to compiler dependent padding. But I'm not sure about it. I need simple way to un-marshall a buffer to a C structure with correct endiannes. The structure that I'm receiving can be of unpredictable length and little complex as well. I need fast and easy approach to do the un-marshalling.
I don't control sender. Sender is in network byte order. My question is only that:-
Is is safe to cast a buffer to a structure and then use ntohs and ntohl on this casted structure to make host-byte order replica of this structure? Is it a fastest approach? If not, then what can be the fastest approach?

A: First of all, since a is apointer, your code should at minimum do this...
b.v1 = ntohs(a->v1);
b.v2 = ntohl(a->v2);

Second of all, the answer depends on circumstances and specification of the patient monitor.   Who writes the code for the patient monitor?  Is there a specification for it? What machine architecture is it using(in case you know),  are you dealing with just one model or  are there many versions of the monitor -- can you change the monitor, etc. etc.
Im going to assume that you cannot change the monitor, and that the byte order is documented somewhere -- and you may have to create your own unpack/pack routines, by doing byte addressing and bit manipulation -- that is unless you know that the format exactly matches that of "network" order -- and that padding of structs are the same in the network buffer.
So something like;
void unpack(struct *b, unsigned char *buffer)
{
   b->v1 = (buffer[0] <<8)|(buffer[1]);
   b->v2 = (buffer[2] <<24)|(buffer[3] <<16)|(buffer[4] <<8)|(buffer[5]);
   etc....
}

or like this if you prefer to you ntohX;
void unpack(struct *b, unsigned char *buffer)
{
   b->v1 = ntohs(buffer+0);
   b->v2 = ntohl(buffer+2);
   etc....
}

However if you do control the monitor code, then using a tool like protocol buffers would get rid of all the complexity of doing bit manipulation and worry about byte orders....

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home Opinion and Features 364 'Zuma Days'
Opinion and Features
364 'Zuma Days'
Murray Swart
As South Africans, we are so accustomed to corruption, incompetence and greed that when someone actually does what is expected of them, it almost seems noble.
The mere fact that our government officials feel that these acts of generosity, for an hour each year, count as paying homage to the great man, is absolutely despicable, disrespectful and disgusting. Doing your job to show just how charitable you can be, is symptomatic of a very sick society. Picture:Supplied
Tuesday would have marked President Nelson Mandela's 99th birthday and while our nation's favourite son may no longer be walking among us, his legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of many South Africans.
Madiba selflessly fought to ensure that all of us be treated with dignity and respect. His contribution is impossible to ignore and is unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon.
Considering what could have been, South Africa's transition, from prejudicial prison to the epitome of equality, is nothing short of miraculous and few will argue that the man who was convicted of treason and jailed for the better part of three decades, yet went on to be our first democratically elected president, was the miracle maker.
Looking at where we have come from, where we find ourselves today and where we are heading, dedicating 67 minutes a year towards enriching the lives of the less fortunate, in the name of Nelson Mandela, is the very least we can do.
Sadly, looking at various government departments, along with many businesses and private individuals, selflessly honouring the great man's legacy for an hour and seven minutes every 12 months seems a very tall order.
Firstly, when your primary mandate is putting a roof over the heads of the people, giving houses away for your 67 minutes cannot and should not be viewed as an act of kindness.
When you are responsible for providing young people with a bright future through education, dishing out school shoes, at taxpayers' expense, is not charitable.
When you are tasked with creating jobs, strengthening the economy and improving the lives of the needy, feeding the disabled, elderly and impoverished, with other people's money, is by no means a sign of compassion.
The mere fact that our government officials feel that these acts of "generosity", for an hour each year, count as paying homage to the great man, is absolutely despicable, disrespectful and disgusting. Doing your job to show just how charitable you can be, is symptomatic of a very sick society.
Truth be told, the positive impact of having one 'Mandela Day' a year gets completely lost among the 364 'Zuma Days', anyway.
Worse still is that these acts of nobility are perfectly timed for when the cameras are rolling so that the world can see that our leaders care.
There is nothing selfless about keeping the promises that got you elected in the first place, especially when you view doing so as a publicity stunt.
We have all heard that it is better to give than to receive but this is easier said than done when you are preoccupied with looking good rather than doing good.
It seems that narcissism has many convinced that kindness comes at a cost and that there is nothing to gain from giving.
We already have a surplus of annual celebrations that have lost their significance and meaning. We will take the day off work and forget what we are celebrating. At best, these days to honour greatness have become hallmark holidays.
The spirit of Mandela may be alive in the hearts of many South Africans but ego and greed keep it imprisoned.
When doing it for Madiba means watching government officials spend our tax money to do their jobs for 67 minutes a year, it seems that all meaning has been lost far sooner than anyone could have imagined.
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How much will the NHI cost SA?
Do you think Madiba would be proud?
Koloane and his ilk must be brought to book


text:
National Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise
Shipbuilding Plan
Shipbuilding College
National Approach
Modernising Australia's maritime capability is a top priority for the Government. Australia's Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise will be founded on four initial construction projects and then develop into further rolling acquisition and construction. This continuous build program will see the greatest regeneration of our naval capability since the Second World War.
Delivery of an enhanced naval capability on time and on budget is important in Australia's increasingly complex strategic environment. Enhanced naval capability will ensure protection of our maritime borders, secure our immediate northern approaches and proximate sea lines of communication, and enable us to project force in the maritime environment.
These initial construction programs will deliver new capabilities providing Australia technologically advanced, potent and capable vessels. Each of these projects are underway at different stages, and currently considered on track:
12 Arafura class offshore patrol vessels (SEA 1180) being delivered by Luerssen Australia.
Luersson has contracted ASC Shipbuilding to construct the first two offshore patrol vessels at Osborne Naval Shipbuilding Precinct. Steel was cut in November 2018.
Construction of the other 10 Offshore Patrol Vessels will move to Henderson Shipyard in Western Australia from 2020 and are to be delivered in partnership with CIVMEC.
Nine Hunter class frigates (SEA 5000) are being built by BAE Systems Australia, commencing in 2020 at Osborne Naval Shipbuilding Precinct in South Australia.
SAAB Australia is engaged to develop the tactical interface for the Hunter class frigates, facilitating greater systems integration and interoperability within the fleet.
12 Attack class submarines (SEA 1000) will be built by Naval Group Australia with construction likely to commence in 2022-23 at the Osborne Naval Shipbuilding Precinct.
The design phase is currently underway with Naval Group in France.
Lockheed Martin Australia has been contracted to provide the combat systems for the Hunter Class frigates and the future submarines.
In addition to bolstering Australia's naval fleet, the Government is also making strides to enhance maritime security in the South Pacific region through the Pacific Maritime Security Program. Under this program, 21 Guardian class pacific patrol boats will be gifted to 13 of our Pacific neighbors, replacing the existing Pacific Patrol Boats gifted in the 1990s.Austal Australia has commenced construction of the new Patrol Boats at Henderson Shipyard. The first vessel is complete and gifted to Papua New Guinea on 30 November 2018.
Sustaining our current and new fleet is essential to maintaining Australia's naval capability. Decisions regarding the long-term future arrangements for our current fleet of ships and submarines, as well as those for our future vessels, will be considered by Government in the coming years.


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Press Release | 21 Jan 2020
Vodafone first to offer unlimited data plans to large business and public sector
By Press Office
Vodafone's unlimited tariffs offer business customers unlimited data and 5G at the same price as 4G
Vodafone has today become the first network operator in the UK to offer unlimited data plans to large business and public sector customers, enabling them to provide employees with unlimited data, minutes and texts each month. The Vodafone Business Unlimited tariff will cater to the needs of large business clients; whilst the Public Sector Inclusive Unlimited tariff has been tailored for organisations in the public sector.
Vodafone's unlimited tariffs offer business customers unlimited data and 5G at the same price as 4G, enabling larger companies and public sector organisations to unlock the full potential of their workforce by removing limits on mobile data as a barrier to productivity. Mobile data usage is already increasing at a rate of 50% year-on-year; and this is predicted to grow as 5G brings WiFi-like speeds on the go, enabling people and applications to interact, seamlessly, over a mobile network with no lag or delay.
Vodafone's 5G network is now available in more than 100 locations across the UK and Europe. It will enable employees to upload and download large files, video conference and hold virtual meetings – all with fast connectivity and low latency. And unlimited data plans mean no concerns about data limits and simple, predictable costs.
Anne Sheehan, Director, Vodafone Business UK, commented: "Our large business and public sector customers tell us they don't want to have to predict how much data their employees will use. Today, we are making it simple for them with the flexibility and peace of mind that the Vodafone Business Unlimited tariffs provide. And we are committed to helping our customers take advantage of 5G by offering 5G for the same price as 4G. We want to help UK organisations become global leaders and believe 5G will play an important role in achieving this aim."
For more information on the Vodafone Business tariffs, visit our website or contact your Vodafone account manager.
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About Vodafone UK
Vodafone UK is a technology communications company that connects people, businesses and devices to help our customers benefit from digital innovation. Our services span mobile, fixed line connections, home and office broadband, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
We have a strong track record as a tech pioneer, making the UK's first mobile phone call, sending the first text message, and making the UK's first live holographic call using 5G in 2018. We were also the first to start carrying live 5G traffic from a site in Salford, Greater Manchester. As of October 2020, we have 5G in 57 locations in the UK and 193 across Germany, Spain, Italy and Ireland.
In September 2020, leading mobile benchmarking company, umlaut, named Vodafone as London's best network for 5G. Our 4G network coverage currently reaches over 99% of the UK population. And in October 2020, Vodafone was named Network Provider of the Year by readers of leading technology advice website, Trusted Reviews.
Today, Vodafone serves more than 18 million mobile and fixed-line customers in the UK. To help deliver Gigabit UK, our full-fibre broadband roll-out programme now covers 15 UK towns and cities through partnerships with CityFibre and Openreach.
For more information about Vodafone UK please visit: www.vodafone.co.uk.
Vodafone UK Media Relations
Email: ukmediarelations@vodafone.com
Twitter: @VodafoneUKNews
Website: https://newscentre.vodafone.co.uk
Vodafone Limited
Registered in England No: 1471587


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