In an effort to ensure all of our brides receive the most personal attention we work by appointment only. Semi-private bridal appointments in our petite boutique last for one and a half hours. Your appointment will secure for you a fitting room and bridal stylist. In order to make the most of your appointment and to comfortably accommodate your party we ask that you bring no more that four guests. Bring only those who will support you in making your decision to your first appointment.
You've booked your appointment, now what?
Tell us everything! We want to hear all about your wedding, vision and personal style so that we can help you select gowns to try. You will have plenty of time to try on the gowns you've selected, and to re-try your favorites. In order to keep things moving we ask that you only take pictures of yourself in the gowns you decide to re-try. If you don't love it enough to try it back on then you don't need a picture. Once you've made your choice we will pop the bubbly and raise a glass to you! Cheers!


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Landlords, don't skimp on a cheap, generic lease
Personal Finance / 4 November 2019, 3:00pm / Georgina Crouth
BOTH parties could open themselves up to financial hardship and even legal trouble if the lease isn't drafted correctly. And once the Rental Housing Amendment Act comes into play, being a landlord will become even more onerous. African News Agency (ANA)
With a shrinking pool of quality tenants, a steady decline in the percentage of residential tenants considered to be in "good standing", and the law skewed in favour of tenants, being a landlord is no piece of cake.
It's not only about finding and vetting tenants - it's also about keeping a "good" tenant.
And if your lease, which is the cornerstone of the relationship between the landlord and tenant, isn't drafted correctly, both parties could open themselves up to financial hardship and even legal trouble.
In the latest TPN quarterly survey, which is due for release this week, vacancy rates are shown to be increasing nationally.
Theo Swanepoel, the head of analytics at the rental market credit bureau, says that in the second quarter there appeared to be a slight recovery. But the third quarter isn't positive: it showed a 9.42% vacancy average across the country - "the highest we've seen since the beginning of 2016, which is when we first started conducting the surveys".
He says: "There appears to be an oversupply and a weakening market, but Gauteng has had massive amounts of building, which may be adding to the oversupply."
The tenants in good standing segment has been drifting downwards slightly, at 81.76%. And while there isn't as much demand as before, landlords haven't been placing poorer quality tenants, nor do they appear to becoming desperate.
Still, it's a tough market to be in: tenants seem to have all the rights and once the Rental Housing Amendment Act comes into play, being a landlord will become even more onerous.
For now, leases don't have to be in writing to be binding until the Rental Housing Amendment Act comes into effect, but once a date has been set, it will become a legal requirement.
Under the amendment, there will be even stricter penalties for landlords, who could be fined - or even imprisoned for up to two years - if they fail to provide tenants with written leases; don't repay deposits with interest accrued; lock or drive out tenants; fail to ensure tenants have access to basic services such as water, electricity and refuse collection; provide a dwelling that is uninhabitable; or don't maintain the premises.
Tenants may also not be barred from entering the rental property, without a court order.
Most of these are already required in the RHA but the amendment is more punitive and onerous on the landlord.
Why the CPA matters
The Consumer Protection Act, which applies to every transaction in South Africa, is also applicable to residential leases and the relationship between landlords and tenants - especially in terms of unfair contract terms and market practices. It's aimed at protecting consumers against exploitation, unfair treatment and unscrupulous business practices - but not to empower them to act deceitfully or exploit suppliers.
The Act provides tenants with better protection than before. Section 14 has important implications for landlords: While a tenant may cancel a lease on 20 business days' notice, the landlord is entitled to charge a reasonable cancellation penalty; a landlord ("supplier") who wants to renew the lease must send a tenant ("consumer") an offer to renew not more than 80 and not less than 40 business days before the lease will expire; and a fixed-term contract/ lease may not be longer than 24 months, unless both expressly agree to a longer term - and the tenant can be shown to benefit from the extended term.
Section four of the CPA states that if a lease contains an ambiguously worded clause, that could be interpreted to favour either landlord or tenant, the clause must be interpreted to benefit the latter.
Section 48 outlaws contract terms that are "unfair, unreasonable and unjust".
Terms can be deemed to be unfair if they exclude or restrict a consumer's rights or remedies when a supplier breaches any of its obligations under the agreement.
Leases may also not, under section 51, include clauses that are counter to the CPA.
They cannot contain clauses that waive or deprive tenants of their rights under the Act, set aside or override the "effect" of any of its provisions, or void landlords' obligations.
And Sections 54 and 55 govern a consumer's rights to quality service and to safe, good-quality goods.
These provisions mean landlords must provide the property to the tenant in the state that was agreed upon, and maintain it to that standard throughout the lease's duration.
Lock it down
It's a relationship that needs to be clearly and legally defined - and it doesn't fit comfortably into a template.
Top rental property lawyer, Marlon Shevelew has raised concern about generic leases, saying they are problematic - for both landlords and tenants.
"My blood curdles when I read some of the leases that you buy online or in retail outlets," Shevelew says, noting that they're often outdated, formulaic and "hugely problematic" legally.
"The CPA almost always will trump whatever the lease says about the contractual relationships but the lease is the first port to call to deal with landlord-tenant disputes.
If a tenant feels aggrieved by the terms, they need to look at the CPA, in particular sections 48 and 51, which says that you can't force a tenant to waive their rights."
He says while these generic leases might be less costly than having a lease drafted by a professional, it really matters when it comes to litigation, which is when the real costs begin.
"These companies are providing consumers with leases that are potentially problematic but they are much cheaper.
"They don't have the necessary protective clauses in them. The lease needs to embody all the salient terms and conditions.
"And it needs to consider who the landlord and tenants are, type of property etc. If I was presented with such leases, I would rip it apart."
Shevelew says while no lease is infallible, you have less chance of exposure if you have one drafted by a specialist rental property lawyer.
Inside PERSONAL FINANCE

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Kenneth Hugdahl
Kenneth Hugdahl is Professor of Biological and Medical Psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is coeditor of Brain Asymmetry and The Asymmetrical Brain (2002), both published by the MIT Press.
The Asymmetrical Brain
Edited By Richard J. Davidson, Kenneth Hugdahl
The folk belief that the left brain hemisphere is dominant for language and the right for visuospatial functions is incomplete and even misleading. Research shows that asymmetries exist at all levels of the nervous system and apply to emotional as well as to higher cognitive processes. Going beyond the authors' previous book, Brain Asymmetry, this book reflects the most recent thinking on...
The Two Halves of the Brain
Information Processing in the Cerebral Hemispheres
Edited By Kenneth Hugdahl, René Westerhausen
Hemispheric asymmetry is one of the basic aspects of perception and cognitive processing. The different functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain have been studied with renewed interest in recent years, as scholars explore applications to new areas, new measuring techniques, and new theoretical approaches. This volume provides a comprehensive view of the latest research in brain...
Multimodal Imaging of Incidental Retrieval: The Low Route to Memory
By Kristiina Kompus, Tom Eichele, Kenneth Hugdahl, Lars Nyberg


Grab 'em while you can! We have a small set of our show posters signed by guest star and legendary comic actor Phil Proctor along the entire cast. These incredible posters — created to commemorate our 2018 "War of the World" shows in Portland, Oregon —were designed by the immensely talented Tanya Borman-Voit of Design Five Seven in Philadelphia.
We have only ten posters available for sale.
Shipping and handling are $5.00. Posters will be shipped lightly rolled up and placed inside of a protective cardboard shell for safekeeping during transit.


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Archive for Nemo: Heart of Ice
Kane Caught in Love Nest with "Dinosaur"
Posted in FILM with tags Alan Moore, Citizen Kane, From Hell, Kevin O'Neill, Larry Cohen, Max Klinger, Nemo: Heart of Ice, Orson Welles, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Lost World, The Maltese Falcon, William Randolph Hearst, Willis H O'Brien on June 15, 2013 by dcairns
Panels from Nemo: Heart of Ice, the latest installment of the adventures of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Ignore the terrible movie with which Sean Connery ended his career, the comic is quite good.
In The League's universe, all the characters from sensational fiction inhabit the same world and interact, thus there's a superhero team (though Moore denies they're that) composed of Captain Nemo, Allan Quartermain, Mina Murray, the Invisible Man and Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde. The movie throws in Dorian Gray too, which was enough to get them sued by none other than Larry Cohen, who had written a screenplay called CAST OF CHARACTERS which brought Gray together with several of the above characters. Moore, who hates the film business (can't blame him after FROM HELL) was not pleased at being dragged into a movie lawsuit.
The creators somehow evade copyright law and drag in all sorts of famous fictional figures — the newspaper magnate here is clearly Charles Foster Kane, and his Everglades retreat is decorated with a pic of a nude woman on a sled, referencing both versions of the origin of "Rosebud" (an innocent snow vehicle, or William Randolph Hearst's nickname for Marion Davies' genitals), the Maltese Falcon, and a stuffed pterodactyl head mounted on the wall.
The latter strikes me as a singularly witty trope. It refers chiefly to the supposed flying lizards in the scene discussed here, which are in fact cel-animated flamingos, we think, and not off-cuts from KING KONG or SON OF KONG as is all too often claimed. Since the Moore comic is set in 1925, the dino also fits neatly with the first movie of THE LOST WORLD released that year, and one remembers that in the Conan Doyle novel, Professor Challenger and his team bring back from the remote South American plateau an egg, which hatches and provokes consternation.
I always felt this was the inspiration for Max Klinger's print.
However, in the movie of THE LOST WORLD, Willis O'Brien animates a brontosaurus rampaging through London — how the team brought THAT home is as unexplained as Kong's trip to New York eight years later. So the Moore reference doesn't make absolute cross-textual sense, but it ties together a number of disparate things in a pleasing if irrational way. Which is just the kind of thing I like.
Moore & O'Neill's series is enjoyable for this kind of attention to background detail — every image has some in-joke or reference, which is why one likes to have the Annotations to hand when perusing.
Nemo: Heart of Ice
The Lost World [1925] [DVD]
Citizen Kane [Blu-ray] [1941]
"I'm afraid you would not find me suitable."


This publisher´s session invites all attendees to discuss how and why to publish their research work with Springer Nature. Charles Glaser, Editorial Director for Springer, will present his advice for collaboration in research dissemination. He will be available in this session, as well as the entire exhibition, to discuss the publication of your next book.


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Wacken Open Air 2019 new bands confirmed and announced!
In the course of the Hamburg Metal Dayz an event parallel to the current Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Wacken Open Air has announced a string of new bands for the roster of the already sold out 30th-anniversary edition of the festival. Next year's billing will feature more rock and metal classics such as Hammerfall, Queensryche, and Sweet.
Fans of a more progressive approach are bound to celebrate the edition of Opeth, while adherents of darker sounds will look forward to Primordial and Hamferð as well as Eisbrecher for those inclined towards the gothic scene.
Fans of the deadly and crushing style of music are being served with Thy Art Is Murder and Critical Mess. Even old-school punk finds its place among the newly added as represented by The Adicts, while Life Of Agony and The Night Flight Orchestra are tossing in rocking undertones to underscore the wide range of stylistic variety offered at the next Wacken Open Air.
Festival promoter Holger Hübner states this about the festival:
"As previously promised, we will, of course, offer an exciting billing next year and also a captivating supporting programme such as the ESL Arena for eSports again. Our ambition to deliver an even better festival to the fans each year is not reduced by already selling all tickets, on the contrary, this gives us an extra incitement to do even more."
The festival promoters have previously announced the following bands for the anniversary edition of the Wacken Open Air:
1.Sabaton
2.Parkway Drive
3.Demons & Wizards
4.Powerwolf
5.Airbourne
6.Rose Tattoo
7.Within Temptation
8.Meshuggah
9.Krokus
10.Dark Funeral
11.Avatar
12. Дvдтдr
The 30th-anniversary edition of the Wacken Open Air, which takes place from the August 1st to the August 3rd, 2019 is already sold out. Pre-sale of the 75,000 festival tickets in total started at midnight in the night from Sunday 5th to Monday, August 6th and ended after only 4 days.
Check out the first trailer called "Wacken Open Air 2019 – Official Trailer (Early Version) – The Crew Is Brilliant!" with impressions of the Wacken Open Air 2018 here, enjoy it:
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/WackenOpenAir.official/?ref=br_rs
Website: https://www.wacken.com/
Tags30th-anniversary metal bands metal festival metal festivals wacken open air 2019
Beyond Creation release third new song "Entre Suffrage et Mirage" of forthcoming release "Algorythm"!
Revocation released the new song called "Blood Atonement"!


Economic development for social welfare is urgent for any state. Clarifying these thoughts and research, ALM Fazlur Rahman published a book on economic success of Asian Tigers in 2006 from Bangla Academy. The author dedicates the book to sustainable economic change and collective development of Bangladesh.
The book deals with the economic perspectives of South Korea, Hongkong, Taiwan and Singapore; role of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in socio-cultural exchange, regional economic cooperation and development; role of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in regional business, trade and socio-economic development; Japan- Bangladesh relations for economic enrichment; politico-strategic concept; and development strategies of 'tiger' countries.
The writer analyses how pragmatic resources allocation links to macroeconomic development, essence of growth, savings and interest rate, labour markets, foreign technology and capital allocation. Rahman clarifies the importance of Asian Tigers' success through regional economic cooperation and how it facilitates industry, agriculture, transport, trade and foreign exchange and export promotion.
The researcher mentions Bangladesh is a small country, it has a number of natural resources. Economic development, urbanisation, industrialisation, transportation and communication systems are the result of a proper utilisation and management of natural resources. It is common that the presence or absence of natural resources need not stop a country from getting rich, whereas it influences the process of getting rich both negatively and positively.
Countries lagging behind in growth _ Nigeria, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Angola _ are all resource-rich, while countries like Japan, the Netherlands and known Asian Tigers _ South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore _ are all resource-poor, but growth smart.
Despite the poor amount of natural resources, the four Asian Tigers are committed to economic development through exploration, extraction and management of natural resources by their own national agencies and capacity. Regarding the resource-curse model, extended hand of rent-seekers, influences of international companies, gap between policy formation and implementation, Bangladesh is still struggling to explore, utilise and manage her natural resources by its own national agencies and capacity. But natural resources may boost economic trends in Bangladesh if proper homegrown development strategy can be formed and implemented.
The context of economic development in Southeast Asian countries, known as 'tiger' countries, has been a success story and that has become an example for developing countries. The outcome of their strategic decision ensured a rapid and steady growth rate in their economic field. The growth pattern of their economic boom may some as a lesson for other countries, particularly for Bangladesh.
The book is very fundamental in contemporary context as we are going to be a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041. We have to adapt society, people and environment-oriented strategies for economically enriched, socially acceptable, environmental sustainable and humane Bangladesh.
Akter is an urban planner.


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Technical Assistance to the Ministries of Economy and Finance, Education and Health - "Economic Reforms Support Programme"
The Technical Assistance (TA) intervened in the wider context of the strategy to combat poverty and the commitments made by the Government and donors to implement the necessary economic and social reforms. The project assisted the Government to improve, in a sustainable manner, public finance management, as an essential condition to ensure the proper implementation of economic policy and to improve the provision of basic services in priority social sectors (education and health).
The work involved the improvement of the budgetary circuit, the preparation of texts on public finances according to the UEMOA's guidelines, the adaptation of budgetary circuits to the rules and UEMOA procedures, the training of staff in the new procedures, or the implementation of an information system on the status of budget execution and its link to results for the improvement of basic services.
Macro Economy, Statistics & Public Finance Management
February 2002 / December 2003
Ministry of Economy and Finance - Office of the National Authorising Officer
EDF (European Development Fund)
Other Projects Of Guinea-Bissau See All
Other Projects Of Macro Economy, Statistics & Public Finance Management See All
Study for the re-launching of the textile cotton chain
Evaluation and Support for the Review of the EU intervention strategy in the rural development sector: AGIR II
Non State Actores Support Program
Malange Province Territorial Development Project
Technical Assistance to Manage and Implement the Financial Management Improvement Programme II
Training Needs Assessment for Sector Planning and Budgeting in Government of Lesotho


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re: Language Features: Best and Worst VIEW POST
Gavin Fernandes
Imagine, for instance, that instead of calculating x = 1/9 and truncating the result at some point to store it in the variable x, you instead keep a record of the formula which was used to construct x. If you then declare a variable y = x * 3, you could either store the formula in memory as y = (1/9) * 3 or, recognize that the user entered 3 and 9 as integers, and simplify the formulaic representation of y internally to 1/3.
I think Wolfram Alpha does something similar to this, and iirc most Computer Algebra Systems do this as well, or at least they achieve the same goal, possibly with a different implementation.
Also are you going to be using flex and bison for the language? Or is it going to be a PEG parser?
Andrew (he/him) Author
I don't know what any of this means. (Sorry, I'm new to language design.) Can you elaborate?
Alright, as far as I know, there are two general types of parsers, top down, and bottom up. Bottom up is more performant iirc, but is harder to get used to, while top down is less performant (O(n3) if you know what I mean, and iirc), but I hear that they're much simpler to work with.
Ohh before I elaborate further, I'll need to know what sorts of systems and tools you're used to working with. What language, OS, compiler?
In grad school I programmed in C/C++ for 5 years, now I'm mostly Java and R, but I'm teaching myself Haskell, as well. I work on Windows, Ubuntu, and macOS. If you're asking which compiler I use to compile my own code, just gcc or whatever's available. I haven't yet looked into anything for my language project.
I found this article while researching this and it mentions yacc, which I have heard of. I wasn't aware that bison is its successor. I don't know how yacc works, though, I just recognise the name.
Isaac Yonemoto
Before you move forward with your project I strongly suggest you study Julia (as a replacement for R) and Elixir (as a replacement for Java). They're more modern languages so they've worked through a lot of issues in their recent, early pre 1.0 phases and have thought, hard and heatedly, about a lot of things you're looking at. Both are functional, and both are dynamic (I think strict adherence to staticity is a bit of a religion: Julia kills the idea that static = performance, because of its amazing compiler strategy, and Elixir + dialyzer kills the idea that static = correctness - I basically have no runtime errors with static typechecking engine, and the rock solid dynamic stability of OTP makes it way worth it - I'm a a relatively inexperienced dev, they just promoted me from junior directly to senior =) with a lot of freedom and in elixir I wrote a testing harness in three days for a senior coworker's go program (6 months in the making) that triggered both linux and go program panics/errors, while my harness (living on the same node and dispatching and monitoring tens of thousands of concurrent processes) was fine.
Moreover, both PLs focus on developer productivity and joy. I don't know if that's what you're optimizing for, but I suggest learning from some of the best!
Thanks, Isaac! I'll have to explore a few more languages before I make a decision one way or the other. I'll definitely check out Julia and Elixir.
Validark
A PEG is a parsing expression grammar. It is a way of specifying all valid strings in a language. It looks kinda like this
Statement <- FunctionCall
FunctionCall <- Identifier ( Arguments )
These would be converted into a Finite State Automata that can parse a string in LL(1) or O(n). It's basically a program that takes one character after another and changes state depending on the character. Each state can accept different characters leading to different states. This way, a state can encompass multiple non-terminals.
Let's say you define a language as having members "hero" and "hello".
MyLang <- hello | hero
The way to parse a given string without backtracking or lookahead is to construct this finite state machine. Opening state accepts an h, leading to state 1. State 1 accepts e, leading to state 2. State 2 accepts l, leading to state 3, or r leading to state 4. State 3 accepts l, leading to state 5, which accepts o, leading to a state which it is valid to end on. State 4 also accepts an o and is valid to end on. In this case you could reuse state 4 for 5 if desired.
Bison and Yaac are tools that allow you to write a grammar and it will spit out a finite state machine like I described.


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This week in Philippine basketball: Ricci Rivero and Zavier Lucero redeemed themselves in the endgame and put UP on the brink of an elusive UAAP title
PHOTO CREDIT: UAAP FACEBOOK
Keepin' It Real vol. 30: The Irrational Confidence Guy championship belt, the one thing the Suns can't do, and the Bucks' endgame strategy
Gio Gloria
For much of Game 1 of the UAAP Season 84 Finals between the UP Fighting Maroons and the Ateneo Blue Eagles, Ricci Rivero and Zavier Lucero were a mess.
Sure, Rivero still put points on the board, but if not for his stellar free throw shooting, the clamor for his head would've been as loud as the chants heard from Ayala Avenue last night.
We've now reached the "bench ricci rivero" part of the game
— Mike Saulo (@mikesaulo) May 8, 2022
Lucero had it worse as he could not convert any of his field goal attempts until the second half. The rebounding was there and the activity was always welcome, but what's an extra possession if it won't lead to points on the board for the Fighting Maroons?
As such, the struggles certainly gave the UP faithful worries and as Game 1 entered the fourth quarter, the Blue Eagles seemed poised to be a win away from their fourth straight UAAP championship. But then, with less than a minute left in the game, the script flipped.
Lucero came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points and grabbing four offensive rebounds. This time, those second chances mattered as Lucero helped cut the Ateneo lead bit-by-bit, with his effort generating momentum that led to crucial stops and a game-tying 3-pointer from James Spencer.
Overtime ideally brought both the Fighting Maroons and the Blue Eagles back to square one, but Malick Diouf fouling out just as the extra period began seemed to spell doom for UP. Thankfully, Rivero set out to atone for all the head-scratching decisions he made earlier. The former DLSU Green Archer's five points were the most by any player in overtime (and were more than what Ateneo scored in the extra period) although none were as important as his big three-point play that gave the Fighting Maroons the lead for good with 2:30 left in the game.
Thanks to the efforts of Lucero and Rivero, UP not only handed the Blue Eagles their first finals loss since 2017, but they also put themselves in the driver's seat in this series. It wasn't an easy game nor was it an efficient one for both teams, but big shots made the difference in the end. Normally the more poised team, Ateneo could not execute in the end. Among other things, lead guard SJ Belangel went down with an injury late in the game and they were unable to maximize the absence of Diouf, which should have made it easier for Ange Kouame to feast inside.
Of course, the Fighting Maroons weren't completely absolved from execution woes, as questionable shot selection and some errant passes prevented them from creating separation when Kouame was in foul trouble. That Kouame was absent in certain stretches of the game certainly helped Lucero and Diouf get more rebounds, but those missed chances for more points could have hurt them in the end.
Rivero and Lucero brought UP to the brink of their first title in more than three decades, but getting the job done in Game 2 will require even better execution especially in the earlier stages of the game. The Blue Eagles won't go down without a fight and will not miss 14 of their 25 free throw attempts in Game 2. Moreover, Rivero and Lucero will now be marked men for Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin's defensive counters.
As close as the game went down to in the final minutes and in overtime, maximizing possessions will be crucial. Rebounding will then be key especially when efficiency remains subpar and while the 29 offensive rebounds, 26 Blue Eagle turnovers, and 16 steals should be areas to build on, the Fighting Maroons do need to cut down on their 19 turnovers and the 27 perimeter points they gave up.
It's been said that the stars come out to play especially in the highest stakes and despite their early struggles, Ricci Rivero and Zavier Lucero did not shy away from the big stage. Game 2 will likely require more for them and the rest of the UP Fighting Maroons and they should take to heart the lessons from Game 1 if they want to close things out on Wednesday.
In true #UPFight spirit, we rise to the moment when it matters most. Congratulations to the UP Men's Basketball Team for this win! And props to Ateneo for an exciting match. Well wishes to both teams. Excited na kami sa susunod na laban! https://t.co/s2g3c1g1Kt
— Leni Robredo (@lenirobredo) May 8, 2022
ricci rivero
zavier lucero


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var status = function (req, res, next) {
  res.status(200).send('OK')
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module.exports = status

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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La Soufriere eruption: Authorities investigate steaming river
By Demion McTair. Updated 10:27 p.m., Sunday, April 11, 2021, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
Kingstown, St. Vincent: The National Emergency Management Organization – NEMO says an investigation has been launched into steaming in the upper parts of the Rabacca Valley.
The steaming was observed at about midday on Sunday.
In a 9:00 p.m. bulletin issued on Sunday, NEMO said the cause of the phenomenon is currently being investigated.
Reports emerged today that the Rabacca Dry River on the northeastern side of St. Vincent was steaming.
The event is one in a series of events since the La Soufriere volcano started erupting explosively on April 9, 2021.
Other events include the raining of stones associated with ashfall and reported pyroclastic near the volcano.
Lead Scientist monitoring the La Soufriere volcano, Professor Richard Robertson said that the current eruption at La Soufriere is shaping up to look like the events of the volcano's deadly 1902 eruption which was characterized by deadly pyroclastic flows.
According to UNESCO, over 1,500 people died in the aftermath of the eruption. The event happened hours before the eruption of Mount Pelee in Martinique which killed over 1,600 people.
Local sources say most of the victims of the 1902 eruption were Kalinago people living in
Wallibou Estate, a thriving commercial hub at the time.
Previous PostSt. Vincent's southern volcanoes not likely to erupt – Scientist
Next PostPyroclastic flows could wipe out northern villages


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Q: OpenGL Non-exclusive Fullscreen Mode (A.K.A. Fullscreen Borderless Window) I'm trying to get support for a fullscreen borderless window working but none of the information I've found helps.
Regardless of whether or not the window is set as WS_EX_TOPMOST, the window will always be in exclusive fullscreen mode. I've checked the window styles in games using fullscreen borderless window mode with WinSpy++ and the styles I'm using are identical.
I know it's in exclusive fullscreen mode because WDM stops rendering the little aero preview thing for my window. I also get that desktop flicker from focusing and unfocusing the window.
The only way I've been able to get a behaviour similar to what I want is by tricking windows into thinking I don't want fullscreen mode. The way I do that is by adjusting the window position by 1px so that it doesn't match the position and size of the screen. This stops Windows from automatically turning on exclusive fullscreen mode.
I know in DirectX the solution to this is simply to create the device with the windowed flag set to true. However, I have never seen anything like that in OpenGL.
Edit as per first comment:
I'm not using any third party library for my windowing, just Win32 and OpenGL.
Edit:
I am using WS_POPUP as the window style. With this same window style in some DirectX tests I did, I can properly create a fullscreen borderless window or a fullscreen exclusive window by changing the 'windowed' property.
For hardware I'm using a GTX690 with the latest drivers on Win7 x64.

A: Use PFD_SUPPORT_COMPOSITION in the PIXELFORMATDESCRIPTOR of ChoosePixelFormat/SetPixelFormat.
See The OpenGL Pipeline Newsletter - Volume 003

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The first tipi we put up in the woods is located in the center of our forest, and it was dedicated to Sitting Bull, chief of the Lakota. The floor of this tipi is made of Lakota limestone – and to complete your Lakota experience, you will sleep in a cozy, king-size bed under a warm down comforter, covered with a buffalo hide.
The Lakota were part of a confederation of seven related Sioux tribes, located in both North and South Dakota. After adoption of the horse, their society centered around the buffalo hunt.
The Lakota with their allies, the Arapaho and the Northern Cheyenne, became most famous for their part in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Their victory over the U.S. Army would not last, however. Fourteen years later, on Dec. 15, 1890, their conflict culminated in the killing of Sitting Bull at Standing Rock. Fourteen days after that was the Massacre of Wounded Knee at Pine Ridge, where 153 Lakota Sioux and 25 U.S. soldiers died.
The photo here was taken onJanuary 17, 1891 at the camp of Oglala tribe of Lakota at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, three weeks after the Wounded Knee incident.
but we want to train our children right.
Riches would do us no good.
We could not take them with us to the other world.
we want peace and love."


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At a corner table, in an expensive restaurant, somewhere in Greenwich, Republican heavyweights Tom Foley and Linda McMahon share a light lunch.
McMahon: What are you going to have, Tom?
Foley: Not sure, do they have crow?
McMahon: You gave it your best shot, Tom. At least you didn't self fund the second time.
Foley: Yeah, well, maybe I should have. What else am I going to do with all that money?
McMahon: I know how you feel. Did you ever see the WWE bit Vince did after my first loss where he comes out of a coma and finds out I spent $25 million running for the Senate?
Foley: That's pretty funny. How did he feel about the second $25 million?
McMahon: I'll let you know as soon as he comes out of this coma.
Foley: What do you think your biggest mistake was?
McMahon: I guess there were two. The first one is I probably should have boned up more.
Foley: I hear you, there. Issues are big with the media who don't seem to understand that we would have people to deal with all that policy stuff.
McMahon: They really don't get us. Look at all the grief you got over not paying any federal income taxes for a few years.
Foley: Oh, I know. It's like voters think people like us go to H&R Block to have 1040W forms filled out.
McMahon: Right, and then we sit around waiting around for the refund check to come in the mail.
Foley: So what was your other big mistake?
McMahon: That old WWE bit I was in where I kicked a guy in the groin. Cost me a lot of male votes.
Foley: Well, water under the bridge now.
McMahon: In retrospect, what is the one thing you would have done differently?
Foley: That's easy, after 2010 I would have moved to Waterbury.
Noises: Besides scurrying sounds, listen for high-pitched, off-key singing (mice love karaoke).
Gnaw marks: Hint, sprinkling little soup bones around will usually solve this problem.
Burrows: Keep an eye on areas that are dark and secluded (like the bottom of your pocketbook).
OK, Hartford's Registrars of Voters screwed up on Election Day preventing a number of people who had arrived at the polls early to cast their ballots. The upside of this is that it drew such widespread attention and outrage across the social and political spectrum. While we need to fix the system (I'd like to see running totals in real time on a gigantic scoreboard with fireworks and videos) we should be proud of our reaction. There are states in this country, which as a matter of public policy, go out of their way to keep people from voting.
They never shut the signal light off from last change.
They don't want to tip other drivers off as to their intentions.
They feel it's none of your business.
Have definitely crossed off high-rise window washer from my Plan B list.
McConnell slams China climate deal -- well, of course he does.
Jim Calhoun will have a lot to say as ESPN analyst, but will anyone be able to understand him?
Incredible tension as we await the arrival of the polar vortex.
Who will you be better off with regulating the Internet, the government or Comcast?


Posted by Ian Sigalow on October 17th, 2013 .
I recently realized that I have given a lot of entrepreneurs bad advice when it comes to software sales. Unfortunately I have been doing it for many years as an investor.
I used to think that the goal of a Series A software investor was to build a great team, build a great product, and prove that customers were willing to pay for your product. I thought that if I could de-risk the sales cycle and get some proof points, that would be adequate to get other investors to follow on later with capital for scaling.
Almost all my companies are in greenfield market opportunities, where there is no incumbent and the sales cycle is completely unknown, so I put a lot of emphasis on figuring out how to sell early. I have nothing against brownfield markets, but I find it more interesting to build something for the first time.
Since my companies are evangelizing new areas, I used to tell CEOs that they should price high enough to recoup sales and marketing costs. With a field sales team that is inevitably a six figure price point. Customer payments also defer operating costs in the early days, which is helpful because we are a smaller fund.
The mistake I made, which is painfully clear to me now, is that many SAAS markets have a winner-take-all dynamic. This is especially true if your products are sticky, or if they have network effects. There is a new trend called "consumerization of the enterprise" that takes this a step further, with software companies that don't use sales teams at all. Instead they market like consumer companies and grow virally.
When a company is in a winner-take-all market there will typically be one major outcome, worth billions in enterprise value at exit. Other companies in the sector either survive as a tuck-in acquisition or go bankrupt. This is radically different from "non-winner-take-all" markets where there could be a half dozen reasonable exits. If you are investing in a winner-take-all market the only thing that matters is making sure your money is in the winner.
This "winner take all" strategy thrives in Silicon Valley, where there are a lot of smart programmers who can replicate and improve upon any product. Moreover, these programmers are not motivated by revenues – they only want the world to use their tools.
This trend arrived at the right time, because we are currently in a market with infinite growth capital. If you look at the IPO class of 2013, which is heavily weighted towards west coast software companies, the average paid-in capital prior to IPO was $103MM. That is not a typo. To reinforce the point, almost all of these companies are still losing money, and some are losing more money as they get larger. All that matters today is growth.
My companies, which were focused on revenues, would go to market and build up a base of $5 to $10 million per year in recurring revenue. Once that success became known competitors swarmed in, offering a similar product for free. Some customers would churn and others would renew at 25-50% of the initial contract value. It is impossible to maintain high pricing against free alternatives. The net result is that for a period of 1-2 years my companies would struggle to stay afloat as the existing book of business became an anchor to growth. This is a death spiral for venture-backed companies because nobody funds flat growth.
I have now seen this happen twice, and I have vowed to never let it happen again.
The right strategy in winner-take-all markets is to get as many customers as you can, as fast as you can. Instead of proving early on that customers will pay, prove that the market for your product is vast and that customer acquisition scales quickly.
My new view is that early pricing is irrelevant. If anything, pricing high in the near term is a hindrance. It is better to under-price initially and raise prices over time – increasing dollar renewal rates will amplify future growth. If you are lucky this will coincide with the exact time that you are looking to exit or raise capital. That is a recipe for success.
Posted on 11:43 am October 18, 2013.
Given the priority about getting as many customers as you can, what role does marketing play? Should it have a higher and earlier profile to drive brand awareness and customer acquisition?
Posted on 4:27 pm October 18, 2013.
Quick counter-point: I've seen a bunch of SaaS companies that were crippled by early decisions to not charge enough or to charge on the wrong model. So while you shouldn't be profit maximizing, you should be fully cognizant of the true value of the product being offered.
Posted on 4:29 pm October 18, 2013.
aripap It is a good counter point. In a way it completely depends on the market environment. Right now the world is focused on growth and in this environment early revenues are less material than early users.
Posted on 4:30 pm October 18, 2013.
markevans The winner take all model is unusual because people are hiring marketing (or customer acquisition) people before they are hiring sales people. The CEOs are doing the initial sales and outreach to heavy users.
Posted on 2:52 am October 19, 2013.
Interesting post. However, I would argue that enterprise SaaS doesn't exhibit the same winner-take-all dynamics that consumer does. None of the recent IPOs (with possible exception of Veeva which is vertically focused) are really dominating their markets.
Also, I think it's important to price enterprise SaaS sufficiently high to signal quality.
Posted on 8:53 am October 19, 2013.
fengtality The SAAS category leaders like Salesforce (CRM), Workday (HR), Marketo (Marketing Automation) have large market share (25%-50% among SAAS implementations) and are growing 3-4x faster than the headline growth in their respective markets. In my view that looks like a consolidating market with winner-take-all dynamics. It doesn't happen overnight, but over a 7-10 year start-up investment cycle this appears to be the case.
Posted on 9:12 am October 19, 2013.
There are two kinds of b2b saas products, the cheap (per seat) and cheerful products like e-signature or online storage and the more complex ones that require some setup and integration. If you are selling the latter, a too low price point will scare away many of your best prospects.
Posted on 4:41 pm October 19, 2013.
Ian, I can feel your frustration in this post. But I think that a strategy of winning as many customers as possible, as quickly as possible, is not a wise one and may be just as ill-fated as your advice to recoup sales and marketing expense from early customers.
Your earlier belief that the goals for the series A company is to build a great team, product and price that customers value the service is fundamentally sound. To that I would add to build as many advocates as possible – people at companies who are generating value greatly in excess of the cost. This requires careful market entry strategy, identifying the right segments of the market that are going to generate ridiculous ROI. And it also requires careful pricing strategy .
This does not mean free, although having a free component somewhere in the offering can help shorten the time to advocacy somewhat. I think that the right price is that which causes the buying company to take the project seriously and put their best people on it. If the product is under-priced , you might get a temp intern on the assignment and that is not conducive to advocacy.
I like your point about undercharging and then increasing upon renewal. That has been the pattern for me both at Eloqua and Influitive. A reasonable goal is to increase pricing by 50% in year 1, 25% in year 2, tapering to 10% increase in year 4+. We had lots of free competitors at Eloqua and they were not the problem.
That said, I see your point on consumerization of the enterprise and overfunding of cheap, design-led alternatives in the Valley. The way to beat them is by developing network effects in the business and deep domain expertise, fuelling relevant innovation in the target segments. I think the pure-play SaaS companies have had their day in the sun and the players who will be the next big stories in B2B combine deep domain expertise and network effects. LinkedIn is a great example of what I think the dominant enterprise software vendors of the future are going to look like.
Posted on 5:21 pm October 19, 2013.
markorgan This is a great comment. I spoke a number of times with Joe Payne after you left Eloqua, and they had the same problem I described above about declining prices on renewal business because Marketo's entry strategy was to win at any price. In a market with a surplus of capital it is often better to be a fast follower. I agree that network effects are great if you can get them.
Posted on 12:08 pm October 24, 2013.
Ian, Nice post. Given the 'winner take all' philosophy, it seems as if the capital each of your investments will consume should go up appreciably. If that's so will you be changing your capital allocation model? Also, the Greycroft approach previously was predicated on anticipated exits of $100mm. Has this changed too?
Posted on 10:39 pm October 24, 2013.
CFederman Charlie, I will answer the second question first. Our model is predicated on the idea that if you plot the expected exits of our investments at the time of a Series A that they should have a similar distribution as other venture-backed companies at the same stage of investment. We call this the base rate.
The base rate in our industry over the past few years has been an average successful outcome of $120MM (via M&A), and a median outcome in the 50s. At the time of our first investment, when revenues are small and the risk is large, that seems like a fair set of assumptions.
I would like to think that we do a better job picking winners and growing companies than the industry average, but it is unrealistic to assume that every company we fund at the A round will be a 99th percentile outcome.
A lot of VCs are putting big dollars at risk, at high valuations, in very early stage companies. We would normally call these deals $3-4MM Series A rounds, but the dollars coming in look like a $15-$20MM growth financing. When VCs make that sort of investment in pre-revenue, pre-traction companies they are making the implicit assumption that the return profile will somehow defy the odds over time. That strategy has not done so well historically. It is one thing we try to avoid.
Once companies get past the Series A and Series B rounds and have demonstrated revenue then they get into a different set of outcomes. It is the same as life expectancy – if you are 90 years old your life expectancy is higher by virtue of the fact that you have already passed the average. We are much more comfortable writing bigger checks at this point and adjust our expected outcomes proportionately. We have funded companies at $300MM pre-money valuations before and still made a 3x+.
On to your first question, which is harder to answer. It is true that our successful companies will consume a lot more capital than we initially anticipated when we set off to build greycroft. The good news is that there are a lot of investors who want to write growth equity checks for later stage companies. That means we don't have to reserve all the way to the end.
Our model suggests that the additional dollars are better put to work by making more A and B investments than by being a "lifecycle VC" and reserving 10MM for a potential growth round five years from now for every 1MM series A investment we make today. Plus it is hard to forecast these rounds in an early stage fund, so we would likely end up with either too much reserved or too little reserved.
The bad news is that we will likely get diluted in later rounds as companies raise more money. Ideally the valuations are high enough that it won't create a significant damper on our returns. It is also an opportunity for us some day if we want to do a growth vehicle because we have accumulated a lot of pro-rata rights.
Posted on 11:53 am October 25, 2013.
Great post. Just finished some historical analysis of exactly that point in our industry. I think it is shaping up to happen again with a new round of innovative players. Seems that the most important question is "how do you know you are in a winner-take-all market?" I hear your point about "sticky" and "network effects". Are there any other indicators?
Posted on 2:03 pm October 25, 2013.
dcoppins I think a handful of factors determine what the final market share allocation will be among the top players in a specific software category. The big factors that come to mind are switching costs, barriers to entry, customization, speed of on-boarding, amt of required integration, and cost of support. The best companies are trying to maximize the first two factors above and minimize the next four.


The horticultural LED XMAX V4 range has improved spectrum to have a higher PPF ( photosynthetic photon flux ) than previous models to give better yields. They also have new housings for better airflow. The lights are equipped with high-end fans for durable and silent cooling.


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Hoor Al Qasimi heads Sharjah's 'Alliance Française' meeting
The Board of Directors of Sharjah's 'Alliance Française' held its first meeting, at the House of Wisdom (HoW). The meeting was conducted in the presence of Shaikha Hoor Al Qasimi, President of the Alliance Française of Sharjah; Sheikh Fahim Al Qasimi, Vice President of the Alliance Française of Sharjah; Hugo Henry Ceylan, Cultural Counselor and President of Institut Français in UAE, who represented the Embassy of France in the UAE; Emery Kalema, Assistant Professor of History at the Africa Institute; and Audrey Leseigneur, Director of the Alliance Française of Sharjah.
Audrey Leseigneur opened the meeting with a presentation on existing and future projects of Sharjah's Alliance Française, including the partnership agreement signed between the French embassy and Alliance Française's branches of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, at the headquarters of the Department of Government Relations (DGR); memorandums of understanding to be signed in the future; collaborating with the Sharjah Art Foundation; as well as partnerships with Sharjah's schools and universities. Alliance Française is the official centre for French language in the UAE and offers activities for students to help them with homework assigned by French schools.
Welcoming the attendees and introducing the members of Sharjah's Alliance Française, HE Sheikh Fahim AlQasimi said: "Today, we held the first meeting for the Board of Directors of the Alliance Française of Sharjah, chaired by HE Shaikha Hoor AlQasimi. We discussed the strategic and executive plan for 2023 in order to create more opportunities for learning the French language in Sharjah, as well as serving as a hub for future exchanges between French and Emirati cultures. We are pleased that our emirate has become the home for a new centre within the UAE's vibrant Alliance Française network.'
Hugo Henry Ceylan, Cultural Counselor and President of Institut Français in the UAE and representing the French Embassy, said, "We are proud to establish the Alliance Française of Sharjah, enhancing the relationships between France and the French-speaking people that reside in the emirate of Sharjah. The Alliance Française serves as a French hub in Sharjah, and alongside Lycée Français International Georges Pompidou, an educational institution for teaching French in UAE public and private schools, they will represent France at our major cultural events such as book fairs, Sharjah Biennial and many other important occasions."
He added: "We extend our sincere thanks to the Government of Sharjah and to HE Shaikha Hoor AlQasimi, President of the Alliance Française of Sharjah, HE Sheikh Fahim AlQasimi, Vice President of the Alliance Francaise of Sharjah, for their efforts to establish this alliance, and we at the Embassy of France in the UAE will continue to conduct more projects, in cooperation with Alliance Française's Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah branches, as well as the Institut Français in the UAE.'
In September 2022, the Alliance Française was established in Sharjah, adding to the UAE's vibrant Alliance Française network. The expansion of the alliance falls in line with the agreement signed between the DGR and the French embassy to advance expertise and knowledge exchange, enable French schools and cultural institutions in the UAE to benefit from the leadership of the alliance, and supporting their directives to teach the French language with the latest methods and tools in aid to help students achieve mastery over the langage.
By launching the new branch of Alliance Française, DGR aims to enable French language learning opportunities, promote distinguished French-speaking authors, intellectuals and cultural achievements, increase access to renowned literary works, and provide another valuable platform for cultural exchange within Sharjah.
Source: Sharjah24


Four NHRA drivers know how to get their kicks at Route 66.
Brittany Force (Top Fuel) and Ron Capps (Funny Car) both established track records en route to provisional No. 1 qualifying positions at the NHRA K&N Filters Route 66 Nationals outside of Chicago.
Also securing monumental No. 1 through two sessions were Shane Gray (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
Force, daughter of 16-time NHRA champion John Force and driver of the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster, drove her way to the fourth quickest ET in 1000-foot history at 3.692 seconds at 325.69 mph in her Monster Energy dragster.
Running a blistering pass the likes of what she did on Friday wasn't a bad 30th birthday present for Force.
"Running a 3.69, I got out and was shocked we ran that just because it was such a big jump from our first run (3.785)," Force said. "It felt good, I got out and thanked my team and my crew chief and Alan Johnson, they are the ones who make it happen. It really is a team effort, and every single guy puts everything into that car. Being No. 1 is exactly where we want to be and is absolute best birthday present ever.
"This was awesome, and (Friday) was very special. My whole team decorated my whole lounge with balloons and streamers, and that just made the day so special. Then to come out here and end the day as the No. 1 qualifier, I couldn't have written it any better."
The NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored Capps continued his laid-back, but torrid, pace, scoring at least provisionally his fourth No. 1 in the last five events.
"To do what we've done with No. 1 qualifiers and win three out of those four races is just so above and beyond," said Capps, a four-time winner this season. "There are too many good teams, and it ain't going to last, but as long as we're one of the top cars and we can just keep doing what we are doing, we can have fun until the end of the year. All its doing is making these other crew chiefs go back to the drawing board, and that's what made Rahn Tobler go back to the drawing board in Topeka.
"It's fun right now in Funny Car, and it's great to run as we're running, and we will keep trying to chug away at it."
Capps has made 29 out of the last 34 runs in the three-second zone.
"That gives me confidence," Capps said.
Pro Stock's Gray entered where only one driver outside of the three-car KB Racing team has been all season.
The Valvoline-sponsored Gray gained Friday's No. 1 spot with a 6.578 at 209.43 to pace the 16-car field.
"I think we are catching up we just need to find the consistency to go and repeat what we did tonight, tomorrow," Gray said. "It showed tonight that we've got it. We're capable. I've got a wonderful group of guys from [crew chief] Dave Connolly on down and great guys in the engine shop. My dad [retired Funny Car driver Johnny Gray] has supported this deal for seven years and we couldn't do it without him for sure. Everything is starting to come around, and it's actually fun to be at the racetrack."
KB Racing teammates Bo Butner, Jason Line and Greg Anderson were second through fourth.
Matt Smith also stopped the Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson's stranglehold on qualifying at least provisionally.
Smith, a second-generation drag racer, scored a Route 66 Raceway track record with a 6.842 ET at 195.51 mph.
"Our Victory Gunner is running strong," Smith said. "We've done a lot of work and did a lot of testing. We've had a lot of gremlins and bugs that have bit us this year. When we qualify, we are fast. We've been very, very good when we've gone down the track, and hopefully, it will stand up and be No. 1 tomorrow. I know it is supposed to be cooler, but we are going to swap motors tomorrow. We have a good piece here, and we will put it back in on Sunday if we need to."


text:
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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (often abbreviated to Law & Order: SVU or just SVU) is an American police procedural, legal, crime drama television series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced.
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Law & Order: SVU. LAW & ORDER: SVU is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Television. This hard-hitting and emotional series from NBC's "Law & Order" brand chronicles the life and crimes of the Special Victims Unit of the New York City Police Department, an elite squad of detectives who investigate sexually based crimes. The...
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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 9, Episode 18
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Christopher Meloni Det. Elliot Stabler Mariska Hargitay Det. Olivia Benson Richard Belzer Sgt. John Munch Dann Florek Capt. Don Cragen Ice-T Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola BD Wong Dr. George Huang...
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Season 9 - IMDb
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A grisly murder scene at the bottom of an elevator shaft leads SVU detectives to a group of individuals who are under the spell of a charismatic, imprisoned serial killer. S9, Ep7. 13 Nov. 2007. Blinded. 8.4 (669) 0. Rate. 1.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 9) - Wikipedia
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39 rows · The ninth season of the police procedural/legal drama, Law & Order: Special … No. of episodes: 19 Country of origin: United States Original release: September 25, 2007 –, May 13, 2008
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"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Sanctuary (TV Episode
May 24, 2017 · Photos 18 Top cast Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson Kelli Giddish as Amanda Rollins Ice-T as Odafin Tutuola Peter Scanavino as Dominick Carisi Jr. Raúl Esparza as Rafael Barba Poorna Jagannathan as Maya Samra Massiel Mordan as Soledad Ramirez Shari Abdul as Shala Samra Kirk Acevedo as Det. Ray Lopez Billy Beyrer as Protester #3 Tyler Elliot Burke Director: Michael Pressman Actors: Mariska Hargitay, Kelli Giddish, Ice-T Content Rating: TV-14
Director: Michael Pressman
Actors: Mariska Hargitay, Kelli Giddish, Ice-T
Content Rating: TV-14
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Trade (TV Episode …
May 06, 2008 · 9 User reviews Photos Add Image Top cast Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson Richard Belzer as John Munch Diane Neal as Casey Novak Ice-T as Odafin Tutuola Adam Beach as Chester Lake BD Wong as Dr. George Huang (as B.D. Wong) (credit only) Tamara Tunie as Dr. Melinda Warner Dann Florek as Donald Cragen Content Rating: TV-14 Director: Peter Leto
Director: Peter Leto
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Season 18 - IMDb
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203259/episodes?season=18
While identifying a young boy left alone in Central Park, SVU uncovers a possible terrorist plot that leads to several casualties. The DA needs a slam-dunk conviction, but the defendant's history as an abuse victim complicates matters. S18, Ep2. 28 Sep. 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_and_Order_SVU
http://www.usanetwork.com/svu/cast


We are Michelle and Mark, a pair of 'Middle Age' Travellers having a bit of an adventure before we have to grow up and thus grow old. Join us and our beloved Cocker Spaniel, Dylan, on our mid-life crisis journey through Europe in our Motorhome, Dolly ( Dolly's Tour Bus). Share the amazing places we see and the fabulous people we meet along the way. It's a laugh a minute (when I'm not crying because the Sat Nav's had a meltdown and sent us on a wild goose chase). Remember, life is just a journey. See you on the road chums.
PS. We also do house/pet sitting on our travels so if you can get all 9 meters of Dolly on your drive and need a hand, give us a shout. We have references and up to date CRB checks. We are very nice people, honestly!!
PPS. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like more info on any of the places we've visited or for anything else at all really. We're always happy to help as indeed we have been helped many times by our fellow travellers.


Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic (EM) waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A transmitter emits radio waves, which are reflected by the target and detected by a receiver, typically in the same location as the transmitter. Although the radio signal returned is usually very weak, radio signals can easily be amplified. This enables radar to detect objects at ranges where other emissions, such as sound or visible light, would be too weak to detect.
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. This non-destructive method uses electromagnetic (EM) radiation in the microwave band (UHF/VHF frequencies) of the radio spectrum, and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures.
GPR uses transmitting and receiving antennae. The transmitting antenna radiates short pulses of the high-frequency (usually polarized) radio waves into the ground. The radio wave hits a buried object or a boundary with different dielectric constants, the receiving antenna records variations in the reflected return signal.
The depth range of GPR is limited by the electrical conductivity of the concrete, and the transmitting frequency. Higher frequencies do not penetrate as far as lower frequencies, but give better resolution. Optimal depth penetration is achieved in massive dry materials such as granite, limestone, and concrete. In moist conditions with high electrical conductivity, penetration is limited.
The waves travel from the transmitting antenna into the concrete where they are reflected by inconsistencies in the concrete. The receiver records the electric field returning from the subsurface as a function of time. Such a recording is known as a trace. A set of traces collected along a line is known as a profile. A plot of a profile is known as a radargram and resembles a vertical slice through the concrete. There are several methods to transform the profile to a true depth section. The basic principle is, however, always the same. If we know the radar wave velocity and the time it takes for the radar wave to travel along the path transmitter – reflecting point – receiver, it is possible to calculate the depth to the reflecting point in the concrete.


Providing aggressive, high-quality and caring representation to each of their clients.
Intelligent, compassionate, tenacious, and creative are words Yvonne Kafor's colleagues use to describe her. Yvonne's impressive ambition is a result of her effectiveness and unique ability to understand the challenges faced by people dealing with complex legal problems.
As a formidable courtroom advocate and an aggressive negotiator, Yvonne has extensive experience navigating the ins and outs of the legal system. She worked as a paralegal at an elite real estate firm, interned with the Association of School Board legal department, and clerked for The Honorable Judge Mary Noble, Fifth Circuit Judge in Kentucky. Yvonne's experience also includes working for a civil and criminal litigation boutique firm in Dallas, Texas and on some high profile cases in the litigation department of two of the nation's largest law firms.
Yvonne was born in Charleston, Illinois. She attended the Washburn University of Topeka, where she earned her Juris Doctor. She was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 2007.
2 years ago I was working out at my apt. gym when I was attacked by one of the residents that lived there too. I had to defend myself against her attack. We both called the police and despite my physical evidence that I showed to the Dallas police that proved what happened, they sited her and I both for misdemeanor assault. They ignored my evidence that showed me innocent from anything that happened and her guilty for the assault. I had the whole thing on audio recording where she admitted to the police that she attacked me trying to nock my recorder out of my hands. She was breaking into the gym temperature control box that was under lock and key and I got pictures of her doing it to give to the property management when she attacked me trying to nock my recorder out of my hands and hitting me in the process. Yvonne went to court with me as my attorney. She cleverly got the opposing party to verify that she attacked me first and that she tried to nock my media recorder out of my hands there by hitting me in the process. It was pure self defense on my part any she proved that. She never once had to use my physical evidence. She discredited the opposing wittiness and proved that I was defending myself against her attack. I was found not guilty. I never new what happened to her because I never got a summons to appear in court to testify against her with my evidence.


text:
UNITED PHOTO PRESS 30 YEARS
UPP ARTISTS
IYB 2010
Facebook: About 83 million accounts are fake
Posted on August 04, 2012 by UNITED PHOTO PRESS MAGAZINE
About 83 million Facebook accounts are fake, the embattled social network stated in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Last week, the company reported in its first quarterly earnings report that it had 955 million active users. However, in Facebook's 10-Q filing published Wednesday night, the company admitted that about 8.7 percent of these accounts were fake.
That translates to 83.09 million fake accounts.
In March, Facebook stated in an SEC filing that it estimated about 5 to 6 percent of user accounts were fake, which at the time meant that between 42 million to over 50 million user profiles were not real.
"While we recently refined and improved our methodology for recognizing what we call duplicate or false accounts, we believe this does not change the return on investments we deliver to advertisers," a Facebook spokerspon said in a statement to CNBC.
Facebook has dedicated teams that are constantly monitoring and removing false accounts, the spokesperson said.
"Authentic identity is important to the Facebook experience, and our goal is that every account on Facebook should represent a real person," the spokesperson said.
In the recent filing, Facebook broke down their estimates of fake accounts into three categories.
According to the company, about 4.8 percent of monthly active users were "duplicate accounts," which is an account that a user maintains in addition to their primary account; about 2.4 percent of the monthly active user accounts were "misclassified accounts," or accounts that represent an entity besides the user, such as a business or a pet; and about 1.5 percent of the accounts were "undesirable accounts," or accounts that purposely violate Facebook's terms of service, such as spamming.
Facebook does allow profiles for businesses, organizations and other entities. However, users are supposed to use a Facebook Page instead of a personal profile for these purposes, according to the filing.
"We are continually seeking to improve our ability to identify duplicate or false accounts and estimate the total number of such accounts, and such estimates may be affected by improvements or changes in our methodology," the company stated in the filing.
Facebook estimates that duplicate or false accounts are lower in developed markets like the United States or Australia, and higher in developing markets that include Indonesia and Turkey, according to the filing.
The social network, which went public in May pricing at $38 per share, has lost almost half its value since its IPO.
Investor doubts about Facebook's growth prospects, and concerns about the August 16 expiration of a lock-up period, helped pushed the stock to a new low Thursday, just under $20.
United Photo Press Facebook: About 83 million accounts are fake.
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text:
package me.panavtec.cleancontacts.ui.activity;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;

public abstract class BaseActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

  private ActivityInjector activityInjector;
  private ActivityViewInjector viewInjector = new ActivityViewInjector();

  @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    createActivityModule();
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    viewInjector.inject(this, onCreateViewId());
  }

  protected int onCreateViewId() {
    return 0;
  }

  private void createActivityModule() {
    activityInjector = (ActivityInjector) getLastCustomNonConfigurationInstance();
    if (activityInjector == null) {
      activityInjector = new ActivityInjector();
      activityInjector.createGraph(this, newDiModule());
    }
    activityInjector.inject(this);
  }

  @Override public Object onRetainCustomNonConfigurationInstance() {
    return activityInjector;
  }

  protected abstract Object newDiModule();
}


text:
The school at night
Lyceum Artistik
Valentina Bonizzi
In January 2021 a performance was announced to happen at the courtyard to the Lyceum Artistik in Tirana, Albania. The school was established in 1946 – just at the fall of the fascist occupation and the rise of the communist regime – and was named after WWII hero Jordan Misja, who was also a painter. In the early 1970s the former communist dictator of the country, Enver Hoxha, expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of attention the school was paying to the posters portraying big characters which filled the walls of the school's architecture. After the fall of the regime in 1991, it is said that many protests happened in front of the school.
A visual artist, who is not from Tirana or Albania, has lived since 2016 in a building constructed in the 1990s, her 7th floor balcony directly overlooking the school courtyard. Every day the artist hears the voices and the music of the school's students, who are aged between 6 and 18 and are taught music, choreography and the visual arts. The artist hears every day the sound of the school mixed with that of the bulldozers who are rapidly swallowing many buildings around the neighbourhood, to be replaced by neat architectural plans for the future new and shining self-portrait of the city. Every night from her balcony, the artist smokes cigarettes, while she dreams of switching off the lights of the school and working with the children to figure out another picture, other posters portraying an imaginary site for the many pieces swallowed by the bulldozers. She wishes for these new images to be accompanied by a single sound that everyone could feel part of. She dreams for many nights to see that happening from above, from her balcony.
On the night of the performance, all the lights were off, the DJ was ready with the sound piece and the children with their drawings. It is said that it was the coldest night of the year in the city, and the artist experienced the ground floor of the courtyard together with the children, whilst the vision of her dream remained frozen, up on the 7th floor.
{ narration } →
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text:
Library War, Dennō Coil, 20th Century Boys Win Seiun Awards (Updated)
posted on 2008-08-24 23:40 EDT by Egan Loo
Awards also given to Miku Hatsune , Rocket Girls author, artist Naoyuki Katō
The 46th Japan Science Fiction Convention (Nihon SF Taikai or Japan SF Con) gave Seiun Awards to Hiro Arikawa 's Library War novels, Mitsuo Iso 's Dennō Coil anime series, Naoki Urasawa 's 20th Century Boys manga, and other recipients on Sunday in Osaka, Japan. Production I.G adapted the Library War novels, which won the Japanese Long Fiction category, into a television anime series that aired earlier this year. Housuke Nojiri , the author of the Rocket Girls novels that inspired the anime of the same name, won the Japanese Short Fiction award for the second year in a row with his "Chinmoku no Flyby" ("Silent Flyby") short story. It is his third Seiun Award. The Brightness Falls from the Air novel by James Tiptree, Jr. and the "Weather" short story by Alastair Reynolds earned honors in the Translated Fiction categories.
The Madhouse anime studio's Dennō Coil won in the Media category against Gurren Lagann , Darker than Black , Transformers , Oh! Edo Rocket , Pan's Labyrinth , and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS . Previous winners of the category have included The Girl Who Leapt Through Time , Planetes , and Cowboy Bebop . The 20th Century Boys manga and its 21st Century Boys follow-up won the Comic category, which also included Natsumi Itsuki 's Demon Sacred , Natsuki Takaya 's Fruits Basket , Kazuhiro Fujita 's Jagan wa Gachirin ni Tobu , Miki Tori 's Jiji Neta , and Kazutaka Akiyoshi's Sōgetsu Miko .
Naoyuki Katō won a Seiun Award for his art work; as a member of the veteran design house Studio Nue , he had previously drawn many science-fiction novel covers, including Robert A. Heinlein 's Starship Troopers with the powered suits that became Kato's signature designs in other media. He also co-designed the ships in Legend of the Galactic Heroes . Hazuki Saishō earned the Nonfiction award for Shinichi Hoshi : 1001 Wa o Tsukutta Hito (Hoshi Shinichi: The Man Who Created 1,001 Tales), his book profile on the creator of Kimagure Robot and other classic Japanese science fiction stories.
Crypton Future Media won the award in the Free Entry category for Miku Hatsune , the first popular Japanese idol singer whose "voice" is generated on-the-fly by computer software. Hatsune was created to showcase Crypton's Vocaloid Character Voice Series vocal song synthesizer. Kouichiroh Noda, the birth name of Masahiro Noda , won the Special Award for his efforts to promote science fiction in Japan with his novels, essays, and translations.
"Seiun Shō" literally translates to "nebula awards," but the Japan SF Con's Seiun Awards are more akin to Worldcon's Hugo Awards, in that the attendees of each respective convention vote on the winners. There is another set of awards, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan's Nihon SF Taishō honors, that are the rough Japanese equivalent of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Awards.
This year's Japan Science Fiction Convention is nicknamed Daicon 7; when the convention is held in Osaka, it is nicknamed after a wordplay on the Japanese white radish, daikon . It was at 1981's Daicon III and 1983's Daicon IV that a local group of artists showcased their talents with two intricate opening animation shorts — most of those artists later became the studio Gainax .
Japanese Long Fiction
Library War
Japanese Short Fiction
"Chinmoku no Flyby" ("Silent Flyby")
Housuke Nojiri
Translated Long Fiction
Brightness Falls from the Air
James Tiptree, Jr.
Translated Short Fiction
"Weather"
Alastair Reynolds
Dennō Coil
Director Mitsuo Iso / Dennō Coil Production Committee
20th Century Boys , 21st Century Boys
Naoyuki Katō
Hoshi Shinichi: 1001 Wa o Tsukutta Hito ( Shinichi Hoshi : The Man Who Created 1,001 Tales)
Hazuki Saishō
Miku Hatsune
Crypton Future Media
Kōichirō Noda ( Masahiro Noda )
Source: animeanime.jp
Image © Hiro Arikawa /ASCI MediaWorks / Library War Production Committee
Update: A list of last year's award winners from Nippon2007 are available here.
discuss this in the forum (5 posts) |
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history


text:
Climate change has altered winter precipitation across the Northern Hemisphere
New research distinguishes between natural variability and influence of greenhouse gases
Aug 26, 2019 - by David Hosansky
High-resolution image
This map shows the influence of human-caused climate change on wintertime precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere from 1921 to 2015. The warming climate has spurred significant increases in precipitation across much of northeastern North America and northern Eurasia. The stippled regions show precipitation trends that are statistically insignificant. (©UCAR. Image: Simmi Sinha, UCAR, redrawn from map by Ruixia Guo of Lanzhou University and NCAR. This image is freely available for media and nonprofit use.)
A team of scientists has successfully teased out the influence of human-caused climate change on wintertime precipitation over the last century, showing that the warming climate altered wintertime rainfall and snowfall across the Northern Hemisphere.
The study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), used an innovative approach that relied on observations of precipitation and large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns, along with statistical techniques and computer climate simulations. This enabled the research team to identify the amount of average monthly precipitation in specific regions of North American and Eurasia that fell as a result of human impacts on the climate, rather than natural variability.
"I thought this was quite revealing," said NCAR senior scientist Clara Deser, a co-author of the study. "Our research demonstrates that human-caused climate change has clearly affected precipitation over the past 100 years."
The results show that warming temperatures associated with societal emissions of greenhouse gases spurred a noticeable increase in wintertime precipitation across widespread regions of northern Eurasia and eastern North America since 1920.
The work may point the way to more detailed studies into the influence of climate change on precipitation changes year-round. Precipitation globally is projected to increase by an average of 1-2% per additional degree Celsius because a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor. But local changes may be highly variable, with some regions becoming dryer and others far wetter.
The study, by scientists at NCAR, Lanzhou University in China, and the University of Toulouse in France, was published in Geophysical Research Letters. It was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, which is NCAR's sponsor.
Subtracting the influence of natural variability
Scientists for years have conducted attribution studies to determine the extent to which changes in weather patterns can be attributed to human influence on climate. Using computer models and observations, national and international teams of researchers have repeatedly demonstrated that globally warming temperatures since the 1950s are largely due to societal emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
But determining the role of greenhouse gases in century-long precipitation trends across continents is highly challenging, because precipitation is affected by localized and variable weather conditions, making it difficult to discern the long-term changes amid the noise of day-to-day and year-to-year changes in weather. Scientists have previously relied on large numbers of climate model simulations to try to detect the signal of long-term precipitation trends.
In the new study, the researchers used observations, rather than climate models, to determine the influence of a changing climate on precipitation. They essentially reduced the question to a subtraction problem: if you take away the amount of precipitation that's caused by natural variability, then the difference between that and what actually fell can likely be attributed to society's impact on climate.
The scientists turned to an innovative approach known as dynamical adjustment. This consisted of applying statistical techniques to observations of large-scale circulation patterns in the atmosphere for every winter month from 1920 to 2015. These circulation patterns, such as the location of high- and low-pressure systems over North America and Eurasia, occur independently of the build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
By aggregating all the circulation patterns, the researchers could estimate the typical amount of precipitation that would fall when a particular circulation pattern occurs. The team then compared the results to measurements of the precipitation that actually fell. The difference between the two — the amount of precipitation that would be associated with the large-scale circulation patterns under natural conditions and the actual precipitation trends — revealed the influence of climate change.
The results showed that the warming climate has led to increased wintertime precipitation across northeastern North America, as well as a small region of northwestern North America. Climate change also has contributed to an increase in precipitation across much of northwestern and north central Eurasia.
In contrast, the study indicated that climate change may have had had a drying influence on parts of central and southwestern North America — although not enough to offset natural variability — and on much of southern Eurasia. However, the authors cautioned that the results for those regions were less pronounced and not statistically significant.
Deser and her colleagues focused on winter because precipitation during that time of year is driven by broad atmospheric patterns that are easier to see in the data than localized conditions that affect summer precipitation, such as soil moisture and individual thunderstorms. They concentrated on the Northern Hemisphere because it contains far more measurements of precipitation than the Southern Hemisphere.
The results were in good agreement with climate model simulations of human-induced changes in precipitation, providing an independent verification of the models.
"Scientists previously turned to climate models for answers. Here, the climate models come in only at the end to confirm what we teased out of observations independently," said NCAR scientist Flavio Lehner, a co-author of the study. "I think this is the major scientific breakthrough of this work."
Lehner and Deser used the same technique in a separate study, published in Geophysical Research Letters last year, to show that recent drying in the U.S. Southwest is largely attributable to natural variability.
Supporting evidence from international studies
The new study relied on detailed, international datasets of historic precipitation measurements and atmospheric circulation patterns. It also drew on two datasets of global climate simulations. One, known as the Large Ensemble, used the NCAR-based Community Earth System Model (CESM) to create 40 simulations of global climate beginning in 1920 — each one with slightly different starting conditions. The other consisted of simulations from 37 world-leading climate models, including the CESM, that were used for an international climate research project known as the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5).
The findings lend support to international studies that have used powerful climate models to try to discern the influence of greenhouse gases. For example, the CMIP5 project showed a similar pattern of precipitation trends due to climate change. That research relied entirely on computer simulations, and its results were less detailed than the new study.
"When we saw how well our approach, which is based entirely on observational data, agreed with the climate models, we were surprised because these are two independent ways of looking at climate change," Deser said. "The degree of agreement with both the amplitude and the spatial patterns of precipitation change was really impressive."
About the article
Title: Human Influence on Winter Precipitation Trends (1921–2015) over North America and Eurasia Revealed by Dynamical Adjustment
Authors: Ruixia Guo, Clara Deser, Laurent Terray, and Flavio Lehner
Journal: Geophysical Research Letters


Full list of the individual dice below the cut.
I'm not looking to sell individual pieces, only the whole set; best offer. Dice have already been sold, sorry!
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