The Invisible Hand Won't Solve the Climate Crisis. Capitalism Must Evolve.
I read this article and found it very interesting, thought it might be something for you. The article is called The Invisible Hand Won't Solve the Climate Crisis. Capitalism Must Evolve. and is located at http://evonomics.com/the-invisible-hand-wont-solve-the-climate-crisis-capitalism-must-evolve/.
There are two extremes in the debate over capitalism's role in our present climate change problem. On the one hand, some people see climate change as the outcome of a consumerist market system run rampant. In the end, the result will be a call to replace capitalism with a new system that will correct our present ills with regulations to curb market excesses.
On the other hand, some people have faith in a free market to yield the needed solutions to our social problems. In the more extreme case, some see climate policy as a covert way for bigger government to interfere in the market and diminish citizens' personal freedom.
Between these two extremes, the public debate takes on its usual binary, black-and-white, conflict-oriented, unproductive and basically incorrect form. Such a debate feeds into a growing distrust many have for capitalism.
A 2013 survey found that only 54% of Americans had a positive view of the term, and in many ways both the Occupy and Tea Party movements share similar distrust in the macro-institutions of our society to serve everyone fairly; one focuses its ire at government, the other at big business, and both distrust what they see as a cozy relationship between the two.
This polar framing also feeds into culture wars that are taking place in our country. Studies have shown that conservative-leaning people are more likely to be skeptical of climate change, due in part to a belief that this would necessitate controls on industry and commerce, a future they do not want. Indeed, research has shown a strong correlation between support for free-market ideology and rejection of climate science. Conversely, liberal-leaning people are more likely to believe in climate change because, in part, solutions are consistent with resentment toward commerce and industry and the damage they cause to society.
This binary framing masks the real questions we face, both what we need to do and how we are going to get there. Yet there are serious conversations within management education, research and practice about the next steps in the evolution of capitalism. The goal is to develop a more sophisticated notion of the role of the corporation within society. These discussions are being driven not only by climate change, but concerns raised by the financial crisis, growing income inequality and other serious social issues.
And, it is worth noting, capitalism has been quite successful. Over the past century, the world's population increased by a factor of four, the world economy increased by a factor of 14 and global per capita income tripled. In that time, average life expectancy increased by almost two-thirds due in large part to advances in medicine, shelter, food production and other amenities provided by the market economy.
Capitalism is, in fact, quite malleable to meet the needs of society as they emerge. Over time, regulation has evolved to address emergent issues such as monopoly power, collusion, price-fixing and a host of other impediments to the needs of society. Today, one of those needs is responding to climate change.
These rough edges need be considered with the theories we use to understand and teach the market. In addition, we need to reconsider the metrics we use to measure its outcomes, and the ways in which the market has deviated from its intended form.
To begin, there are growing questions around the underlying theories and models used to understand, explain and set policies for the market. Two that have received significant attention are neoclassical economics and principal-agent theory. Both theories form the foundation of management education and practice and are built on extreme and rather dismal simplifications of human beings as largely untrustworthy and driven by avarice, greed and selfishness.
Behavioral economists have accumulated a mountain of evidence showing that real humans don't behave as a rational homo economicus would. Experimental economists have raised awkward questions about the very existence of utility; and that is problematic because it has long been the device economists use to show that markets maximize social welfare. Empirical economists have identified anomalies suggesting that financial markets aren't always efficient.
The most pernicious outcome of these models is the idea that the purpose of the corporation is to "make money for its shareholders." This is a rather recent idea that began to take hold within business only in the 1970s and 1980s and has now become a taken-for-granted assumption.
If I asked any business school student (and perhaps any American) to complete the sentence, "the purpose of the corporation is to…" they would parrot "make money for the shareholder." But that is not what a company does, and most executives would tell you so. Companies transform ideas and innovation into products and services that serve the needs of some segment of the market. In the words of Paul Pollman, CEO of Unilever, "business is here to serve society." Profit is the metric for how well they do that.
Going beyond our understanding of what motivates people and organizations within the market, there is growing attention to the metrics that guide the outcomes of that action. One of those metrics is the discount rate. Economist Nicholas Stern stirred a healthy controversy when he used an unusually low discount rate when calculating the future costs and benefits of climate change mitigation and adaptation, arguing that there is a ethical component to this metric's use. For example, a common discount rate of 5% leads to a conclusion that everything 20 years out and beyond is worthless. When gauging the response to climate change, is that an outcome that anyone – particularly anyone with children or grandchildren – would consider ethical?
Another metric is gross domestic product (GDP), the foremost economic indicator of national economic progress. It is a measure of all financial transactions for products and services. But one problem is that it does not acknowledge (nor value) a distinction between those transactions that add to the well-being of a country and those that diminish it. Any activity in which money changes hands will register as GDP growth. GDP treats the recovery from natural disasters as economic gain; GDP increases with polluting activities and then again with pollution cleanup; and it treats all depletion of natural capital as income, even when the depreciation of that capital asset can limit future growth.
A second problem with GDP is that it is not a metric dealing with true human well-being at all. Instead, it is based on the tacit assumption that the more money and wealth we have, the better off we are. But that's been challenged by numerous studies.
As a result, French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy created a commission, headed by Joseph Stieglitz and Amartya Sen (both Nobel laureates), to examine alternatives to GDP. Their report recommended a shift in economic emphasis from simply the production of goods to a broader measure of overall well-being that would include measures for categories like health, education and security. It also called for greater focus on the societal effects of income inequality, new ways to measure the economic impact of sustainability and ways to include the value of wealth to be passed on to the next generation. Similarly, the king of Bhutan has developed a GDP alternative called gross national happiness, which is a composite of indicators that are much more directly related to human well-being than monetary measures.
But the nature of social change never allows us the clean slate that makes sweeping statements for radical change attractive. Every set of institutions by which society is structured evolved from some set of structures that preceded it. Stephen Jay Gould made this point quite powerfully in his essay "The Creation Myths of Cooperstown," where he pointed out that baseball was not invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown New York in 1839. In fact, he points out, "no one invented baseball at any moment or in any spot." It evolved from games that came before it. In a similar way, Adam Smith did not invent capitalism in 1776 with his book The Wealth of Nations. He was writing about changes that he was observing and had been taking place for centuries in European economies; most notably the division of labor and the improvements in efficiency and quality of production that were the result.
In the same way, we cannot simply invent a new system to replace capitalism. Whatever form of commerce and interchange we adopt must evolve out of the form we have at the present. There is simply no other way.
But one particularly difficult challenge of climate change is that, unlike Adam Smith's proverbial butcher, brewer or baker who provide our dinner out of the clear alignment of their self-interest and our needs, climate change breaks the link between action and outcome in profound ways. A person or corporation cannot learn about climate change through direct experience. We cannot feel an increase in global mean temperature; we cannot see, smell or taste greenhouse gases; and we cannot link an individual weather anomaly with global climate shifts.
A real appreciation of the issue requires an understanding of large-scale systems through "big data" models. Moreover, both the knowledge of these models and an appreciation for how they work require deep scientific knowledge about complex dynamic systems and the ways in which feedback loops in the climate system, time delays, accumulations and nonlinearities operate within them. Therefore, the evolution of capitalism to address climate change must, in many ways, be based on trust, belief and faith in stakeholders outside the normal exchange of commerce. To get to the next iteration of this centuries-old institution, we must envision the market through all components that help to establish the rules; corporations, government, civil society, scientists and others.
At the end of the day, the solutions to climate change must come from the market and more specifically, from business. The market is the most powerful institution on earth, and business is the most powerful entity within it. Business makes the goods and services we rely upon: the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the forms of mobility we use and the buildings we live and work in.
Businesses can transcend national boundaries and possess resources that exceed that of many countries. You can lament that fact, but it is a fact. If business does not lead the way toward solutions for a carbon-neutral world, there will be no solutions.
Capitalism can, indeed it must, evolve to address our current climate crisis. This cannot happen through either wiping clean the institutions that presently exist or relying on the benevolence of a laissez faire market. It will require thoughtful leaders creating a thoughtfully structured market.
Originally published at the Conversation here.
For all of Andrew Hoffman's previous articles and columns, click here.
Was the Rise of Neoliberalism the Root Cause of Extreme Inequality?


text:
Brian Barr, Director of Horticulture at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens
Brian manages the 25 acres of greenspaces on the former estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post.
Originally designed by prominent architects such as Umbreto Innocenti and Richard Webel, Brian and his team now allow Marjorie to "inspire them." They maintain the grounds, making slight alterations only when they speak to or improve upon the original design. One example, the center of the motor court, once just a grassy knoll, now houses a geometric arrangement of seasonal flowers.
Barr, who holds a Master's Degree in horticulture from the Longwood Gardens Graduate Program, first visited Hillwood 33 years ago. Now he oversees the 8 full-time garden staff and a troupe of volunteers. This autumn he added another accomplishment to his accolades—he is officially the co-curator of Hillwood's special exhibition Four Seasons, which brings the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo to three-dimensional life on Hillwood's grounds.
Want to take a walkabout with a gardener? Hillwood offers tours of the formal gardens beginning in April. A great way to catch up with Brian is on the weekly Dog Walks, which are open to Hillwood members. Brian and his dog, Hershey Barr, are often in attendance.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: A webplayer that does not reload (re-stream/re-cache) previously cached video after skipping backwards? I have sifted through several HTML5 javascript players (i.e. all listed on http://videosws.praegnanz.de/), to select one to use on client's site. All of them are ineffective in the sense that when skipping the video backwards a few minutes/seconds to a segment which has already been played (thus cached in the browser/player), this part gets reloaded from the server, instead just replayed from the cache.
So, is there a webplayer that does not reload previously cached video segment after skipping? I understand this is undoable for 2 hour movies, but I am looking for a player, which can (at least) load a 2 minute long clip, cache it and re-play any part of it from cache (and even if the device goes offline).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


There have been quite a few reports on Slickdeals (read the comments) of people buying 3 $75 staples gift cards from eBay (through PayPal) yesterday and today and only receiving 2 out of 3. This happened to me as well.
I have also previously bought discount eBay gift cards and not received them in my email at all.
First of all, always keep track of your purchases. Easier said than done.
Second, what should you do now?
The gift cards aren't late until 24 hrs after you bought them so be a little patient. If 24 hrs pass, you can log into your eBay account and contact the seller. Let them know what happened and hopefully they will resend the email. PayPal was really good about resending the email to me previously.


text:
ABO Blood Group Essay
Prior to WWII many anthropologists maintained that race was a biological phenomenon best ascertained through the use of anthropometric measurements. After the war, however, a growing number of anthropologists along with geneticists and serologists began to rethink the race concept and its attendant methodologies. Prompted by political and social events as well as empirical shifts brought on by the modern synthesis, these scientists sought more "objective" and "scientifically valid" methods for the study of race. The ABO blood groups emerged in the mid-century as an exciting new avenue for racial research. Discovered in 1901 by Austrian biochemist Karl Landsteiner, the ABO groups are a classificatory system of blood based on the expression of antigenic molecules on the surface of red blood cells. Proponents of blood group studies touted their superiority over phenotypic traits because their inheritance was unknown and they were not by environmental changes.
Blood group genetics began in the 1920s, when immunologists Ludwig and …show more content…
The willingness of physical anthropologists to confront the empirical challenges posed by racial studies was particularly influential to new thinking about race. Not only were physical anthropologists splintered on what constituted race, they also debated the number of races and how to delineate them. Secondly, the discovery of Nazi atrocities and the burgeoning Civil Rights movement prompted many physical anthropologists to rethink the race concept as they sought to distance their field from the scientific racism of the first last century. And finally, the emergence of the modern synthesis changed the way that many geneticists thought about race. The shift towards populations as the basis for analysis, many argued, was no longer compatible with the essentialist notions underpinning
The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism
Historiography Stefan Kühl explores this relationship between German and American eugenicists in his book, The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism. He states, "Attempts to separate eugenics from the Nazi program of race improvement were only partially successful. The personal and ideological links between eugenics and mass sterilization and extermination were too obvious to be overlooked." Indeed, the two movements were linked, and this relationship influenced the racial policies of Nazi Germany. He concludes that "Nevertheless, the involvement of American eugenicists with Nazi policies reveals that the ideology of race improvement that was at the root of the massacres was by no means limited to German…
Relationship Between Nazism And German Eugenics
The relationship between the Germany and American Eugenics movement was unique and dynamic at the time. How closely linked were they? This relationship was particularly dynamic and close but after World War II was severed due to the outcome of the Holocaust and death toll. Stefan Kühl explores this relationship between German and American eugenicists in his book, The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism. He states, "Attempts to separate eugenics from the Nazi program of race improvement were only partially successful.…
ABO Blood Grouping System Essay
It categorises a person's blood type according to the antigens found on the surfaces of their red blood cells. This blood grouping system was discovered in 1901 by Austrian scientist Karl Landsteiner (Durand & Willis, 2010) and is a system of classification that still exists today. The ABO blood grouping system is controlled by the ABO gene, which is found on chromosome 9 and has three alleles A, B and O (Farhud & Yeganeh, 2013). Further research undertaken in 1940 by Landsteiner and Alexander Wiener produced the discovery of the Rhesus blood group. In 1946 Coombs discovered the Kell system by using his anti-globulin test (Coombs et al, 1946).…
The Eugenics Movement In The 1920's
This 1923 publication offered an overview of civilizations Cox believed to have perished because of miscegenation. In writing White America, Cox aimed chiefly to advocate for a strong eugenics program that would preserve the biological fitness of native-born white Americans. The "ideal of eugenics," according to Cox, was the absolute maintenance of white purity. The book received the endorsement of many notable eugenicists, including Madison Grant and Harry Laughlin, and even became part of the University of Virginia's biology…
Galton And Spencers Influence On Eugenics
The science of biology and applied psychology were affected by the progression and impact of the science of Eugenics. Eugenics remained under the consideration of a communal faction in the late nineteenth century; asserting to perfect the genetic attributes of human populations via prudent propagation and sterilization, grounded by the idea of Francis Galton; who supposed that it was within the realm of science to extricate inferior elements of society and replace them with superior elements. An analysis of this concept will include Cattell's, Galton's, Darwin's, and Spencer's contributions whether direct or indirect, and due to the zeitgeist of the time. Towards the end of the nineteenth century Wundt's psychology and Titchener's structuralism…
The Evolution Of John Herschel And Lyell And Charles Darwin
The Evolution of Darwin It is difficult to argue against the magnitude of the impact Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection had on the world. It has revolutionized biology as we know it and given an exact definition of the term 'species'. During his journey to develop this theory, a great number of people had influenced Darwin's thinking and actions which eventually led to his elucidation of the mechanisms of evolution. This essay will examine some of these individuals in greater detail to examine how they had affected Darwin, either through modifying his thinking or a more direct form of assistance. Two such examples are the economist Thomas Malthus and the lawyer Charles Lyell.…
Reticular Theory Essay
One year after Forel and Nansen published their results, Cajal first articulated the neuron doctrine, and disseminated the theory to the German Anatomical Society the year thereafter (7). In 1891, Heinrich Waldeyer gave an extensive review of the evidence for the neuron doctrine, coining the term 'neuron' in the process (12). Not to be outdone, Forel made the first claim to priority for the idea that nerve cells exist as discrete entities that same year (2, pp 15). Current authors, such as R.W. Guillery, reject this claim, arguing that Forel overextended his conclusions based on degeneration alone…
Buck V. Jail Case Analysis
This Immigration Act in 1924 was an attempt that scientist and others alike wanted to use in the hopes that by sterilizing numerous American citizens was a way for them to improve the genetic quality of the American population. Author Adam Cohen who wrote Im⸱be⸱ciles The Supreme Court, American Eugenics and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck appeared in the Buck v. Bail video where he spoke in details about Carrie Buck background story and the steps that lead to the reason why Carrie was sterilized. According to Cohen he stated: Carrie was a young woman who was growing up in Charlottesville Virginia being raised by a single mother, back then there was a belief that it was better off to take poor children away from their parents and put them into middle-class homes; Carrie was treated very badly in the foster family she wasn't allow to call her parents and she did a lot of housekeeping for the family, Carrie was rented out to the neighbors and one summer she was raped by the nephew of her foster mother; Carrie became pregnant out of wedlock and rather than helping her with the pregnancy, they decide to get her declared epileptic and feeble-minded though she was neither and she was shipped off to the colony for epileptic and feeble-minded outside Lynchburg Virginia (Democracy…
The Role Of Racism In Propaganda
Thus far, the vast majority of examples of racist propaganda I have found were created by America against the Japanese. As my paper will cover racism in propaganda in a broader sense, I need to find examples of propaganda created against other nations or by other nations against Allied forces. Also, many prime examples of racist propaganda have been either lost through the years, or pulled from the public making finding some sources difficult. Another issue will be keeping the paper specific enough which will be challenging due to the fact that I will be looking at many examples, nations, and cultures. The only solution to this problem will be through careful organization of my essay and thorough planning.…
Racial Prejudice In American History
America may be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but is it a country that has overcome hate and racism? Forms of racism have existed for a long time, especially in American history. The idea of race, however, is a modern concept that was formed and changed over time, and fueled by preconceived notions of inferiority and superiority. Scientists validated the concept of racial differences to show natural hierarchy of certain groups ("Race Timeline- Go Deeper"). The ideology that one's racial or ethnic group is innately superior to others in humanity formed; now racism continues to exist as certain groups exclude, dominate, or seek to eliminate another group based on differences that are unalterable and hereditary.…
ABO blood group system
Carleton S. Coon
Red blood cell


1) Why is a value obtained by measuring something considered inexact?
A) Manufactured tools for measuring objects are all invalid.
B) Measured objects are likely to change over time.
C) The process of measuring can only be accurately performed by machines.
D) There is an inherent uncertainty involved in making measurements.
2) Which of the following is true about exact numbers and inexact numbers?
A) Exact numbers are imprecise, and inexact numbers are precise.
B) Exact numbers are those measured by machines, and inexact numbers are measured by humans.
C) Exact numbers have been confirmed by repeated measurements, and inexact numbers are from a single measurement.
D) Exact numbers result from counting things, and inexact numbers result from measuring things.
3) A scientist measures the volume of a liquid and determines it to be 324 mL. However, for the purposes of her experiment, the value must be rounded to the nearest hundred. Which of the following value should she use?
4) Absolute uncertainty represents the raw amount of uncertainty in a measurement. How does relative uncertainty relate to this?
A) Relative uncertainty indicates how much uncertainty is present relative to how much absolute uncertainty could exist.
B) Relative uncertainty is a measure of how accurate the value of the absolute uncertainty is.
C) Relative uncertainty represents the fraction of absolute uncertainty that could impact scientific conclusions.
D) Relative uncertainty tells how large the absolute uncertainty is in relation to the measurement.
5) Two samples are weighed. In which of the following sets of weights would the two results round to the same whole number?
6) What should be done to the rounding digit if the number to the right of it is less than 5?
A) The digit is decreased by 1.
B) The digit is increased by 1.
C) The digit is rounded up.
D) The digit is not changed.
7) You are given the number 62,359 and asked to round it to the nearest ten. What number would the "5" currently located in the tens column be after rounding?
8) Which statement is accurate regarding the total number of significant figures a number contains?
A) As the number of significant figures increases, the precision of the value increases.
B) In science, a measurement is only considered valid if it contains at least four significant digits.
C) As the number of significant digits increases, so does the margin of error in a measurement.
D) The number of uncertain digits increases as the number of significant digits increases.
9) What is a trailing zero?
10) Which of the following statements is true regarding the use of significant figures in science?
A) All numbers must be rounded so that all digits are considered significant.
B) Any uncertain digits must be clearly documented alongside the measurement.
C) It is customary to report measurements such that only the last digit is uncertain.
D) Measurements must be repeated until no uncertain digits remain.
11) Which of the following zero types is always significant?
12) Consider the following measurement.
Is the number above the arrow a significant digit?
A) No, because it is an embedded zero.
C) Yes, because it is a precise zero.
D) Yes, because it is a trailing zero.
13) What does the exponential term in an exponential expression tell us about the number of significant figures?
A) The exponential term has no information about the number of significant digits in an exponential expression.
B) The number in the exponential term indicates how many zeros must be added to the number of significant figures in the significand.
C) The number in the exponential term must be added to the number of significant figures in the significand.
D) The number of significant figures in the significand must be multiplied by the number in the exponential term.
14) Which of the following numbers contains an embedded zero?
15) A laboratory technician dissolves 5.255 grams of sucrose in water and brings the final volume to 1.0 liter. Which of the following expresses the resulting concentration with the correct number of significant figures?
16) How should the answer for the following calculation based on three measurements be written to account for the number with the highest degree of uncertainty?
17) What is the rule for determining the number of significant figures to include in the product of a calculation that combines multiplication and subtraction?
A) Apply the rules for figure significance before and after every step involving subtraction.
B) Complete the entire calculation and then round the final answer to have the same number of significant digits as the measurement with the most significant digits.
C) Match the number of significant digits in the operations involving multiplication and division to those involving addition or subtraction after performing the calculation.
D) Round each of the measurements in the calculation to have the same number of significant digits as the measurement with the least before beginning the calculation.


Each resident has a personal safety alert call pendant or bracelet.
Assisted Living Residents are free to come and go as they are able and are given assistance as needed.
Living at Sunshine Christian Home can mean different things to different people. For some, it is simply the security of knowing that a helpful and caring staff member is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For others, it is a matter of having someone around to help with activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, preparing meals and getting from place to place. Always, it is providing assistance when needed in an environment that promotes dignity and independence. We offer a wide range of services, below are just a few.


text:
The gamma-ray data for digital soil mapping in Thailand
Ruamporn Moonjun (Creator)
Ruamporn Moonjun (Rights Holder)
Department of Earth Systems Analysis
UT-I-ITC-4DEarth
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation
The gammaA geo-referenced airborne gamma-ray image of the study area at nominal scale 1:250,000, produced for the Thai Department of Mineral Resources (Kenting Earth Science International limited (KESIL), 1982; Wisedsind et al., 1994) was acquired. The AGRI data was collected at the beginning of the winter season in November 1985 by aircraft with flight line spacing of 2 km, terrain clearance of 400 m and a flight line direction west to east, flown at a constant height above the ground of 400 ft (MTC). The production of radiation and ternary radiation maps of Thailand were produced using IAEA method (Angsuwathana and Chotikanatis, 1997; IAEA, 2003), which resulted in an image with 400 x 400 m pixels. The gamma-ray spectrometer, developed by KESIL, contained 12 crystals in a 50.34 litre Harshaw NaI (Tl) crystal scintillator and recorded gamma-rays in 256 channels. The measured energy spectrum ranges from 0 to 3 MeV (wavelengths between 0.03 x 10-4 to 4.13 x 10-4 nanometres). The sensor measures the natural radiation from decay series of potassium (K), thorium (Th) and uranium (U) in the upper 45 cm of the Earth's surface. The following energy windows were used to measure the total count (TC) and three radioelements: TC = 0.40-2.82 Mev., K = 1.36-1.56 Mev., U = 1.66-1.86 Mev., and Th = 2.42-2.82Mev. Potassium is measured directly from the decay of 40K and is expressed as a percentage. Thorium and Uranium are inferred from daughter elements associated with distinctive isotopic emissions from 208Tl and 214Bi in their respective decay chains and are expressed in equivalent parts per million and coded as eU and eTh. A complication is that 214Bi is also a decay product of radon gas, 222Rn, itself a decay product of radium, 226Ra. Radon concentration is highly dependent on soil moisture, being practically absent near the surface in dry soil and abundant in saturated soil (Grasty, 1997). Another complication is that the signals for 40K and 208Tl (i.e., eU) are attenuated in wet soil; this has been used to map soil moisture in homogeneous soil materials using K/eTh ratios (Carroll 1981). Atmospheric Rd is also affected by changes in air density due to temperature and pressure, thus data acquired in cool high-pressure conditions may have up to 30% enhanced Rd compared to warm low-pressure, thereby distorting the eU signal (IAEA, 2003). For these reasons the eU signal is considered less reliable than those for K and eTh.-ray imagery
application of gamma-ray for soil survey
University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC)
10.17026/dans-28f-qycc
Moonjun, R. (Creator), Moonjun, R. (Rights Holder) (8 Apr 2020). The gamma-ray data for digital soil mapping in Thailand. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). 10.17026/dans-28f-qycc


text:
New Strategies To Reduce Housing Insecurity In Our Area
By Maryanne Zeleznik • Apr 16, 2018
In "Evicted," Matthew Desmond tells the story of eight families on the edge, providing a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today.
On any given night, there are more than 600,000 people in America living on the streets or in shelters. Nearly a quarter of them are children. Others are living with a relative or friend. Or in cars.
Northern Kentucky leaders have recently established a task force to identity the extent of the problem in our region, and have developed strategies to reduce housing insecurity and create a path for individuals to become self-sufficient.
Joining "Cincinnati Edition" to discuss housing insecurity in Greater Cincinnati are Northern Kentucky University Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Sue Ott Rowlands; Newport Independent Schools Homeless Coordinator Kristy McNally; and Director of United Way of Greater Cincinnati's Northern Kentucky Area Center, Amanda Greenwell.
Tune in to "Cincinnati Edition" April 16 starting at 1 p.m. to hear this segment.
Plus, Matthew Desmond, sociologist and Pulitzer Prize winning author of "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City," will speak at NKU this week as part of series hosted by NKU's Institute for Health Innovation. Click here for information on "Community in Crisis: Understanding Housing Insecurity." For more information on Health Innovation Week events, click here.
And, listen to the interview Terry Gross of "Fresh Air" recently did with Desmond.
A Homeless Man's Truck Is His Home, Judge Rules In Seattle
By Laurel Wamsley • Mar 6, 2018
In a case that may have a significant implications for Seattle's fast-growing homeless population, a King County Superior Court judge ruled on Friday that the pickup truck a man was living in was his home.
A Look At Programs Designed To Help Families Avoid Homelessness
By Mark Heyne • Oct 22, 2015
We continue our discussion of the homeless situation in Greater Cincinnati by looking at homelessness prevention programs designed to help families avoid entering shelters, with Jewish Family Service Director of Vital Services Fran Gafvert; executive director of St. Vincent DePaul, Mike Dunn; and, Strategies to End Homelessness Executive Director Kevin Finn.


"Each day between December 1st thru December 12th, the Where Women Create Blog will feature three fabulous artists. They will be sharing their cherished holiday traditions, plus giving away a fantastic prize. All you have to do for a chance to win is to leave a comment on each of the 12 posts. (Limit - one comment on each post please) You can comment on any of the posts at any time during the 12 day event."
On the 3rd Day of Christmas, I am offering the very last of my limited edition Sweet Vintage Wreath Kit to one lucky winner. For a chance to win be sure to leave your comment on the Where Women Create Blog by clicking here.
so fun to be part of this! enjoyed your post and the prize is so sweet.
I love sharing Christmas traditions and crafts. What a great thing WWC is doing! How fun!
Jeanne, this is so pretty!
What a fabulous and fun idea! And I love your glittery wreath...it's very generous of you to offer it as a giveaway.
This is so fun. I love all the inspiration and the tiny wreath is so darn cute!


Another show stopper! South Bend Baby Pike Oreno 956 in another Gantron Fireplug finish New with Tag. G956 SFO Saturn Finish 1951 ONLY. These lures will not be upgraded upon. Neon Orange Shadow-O-Wave Stripe. It is NEW Unfished! No Upgrade EVER! White areas are light reflection only.


Discover the universe of fashion designer Gaspard Yurkievich, through her Modem Web Profile: portrait, biography, origins, images, marketing campaign and contacts.
Gaspard Yurkievich created his company in 1998 when, after winning the "Festival de Hyères" in 1997, his first Prêt-à-Porter Women's collection was unveiled in Paris.
The company GASPARD YURKIEVICH has since then an uninterrupted presence in the Parisian Fashion scene and has expanded with the launch of the Men's Prêt-à-Porter in 2003 and its first Women's shoes collection in 2004. His sensibility has its deep origin in the history of Parisian elegance as he designs sophisticated clothes and accessories referring to the Couture heritage of Paris, and his style reflects together a cosmopolitan and a modern spirit.
The Men's collection presents a re-interpretation of classic tailoring with a twist of modernity and covers all functions, casual or business, of the modern gentleman's garde robe.


text:
Mindaviews
Marawi Crisis
Home Top Stories Tech-voc school in GenSan engaging in 'ghost trainings and trainees' – TESDA
Tech-voc school in GenSan engaging in 'ghost trainings and trainees' – TESDA
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 20 Dec) – The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has revoked the registration of a technical-vocational (tech-voc) school here and ordered its perpetual disqualification from the government's scholarship programs due to alleged cases of "ghost trainings and trainees."
Rafael Abrogar II, TESDA-Region 12 director, said they received an order from their central office directing the immediate implementation of multiple sanctions against the school in connection with the uncovered irregularities.
He said the order was issued by TESDA Director General Isidro Lapeña, as recommended by their national inspectorate for scholarship programs.
Abrogar declined to name the erring tech-voc school and the other specific details of the case, noting that the agency has yet to formally inform those concerned about the order.
"This is final and executory. We will communicate with the [TESDA] provincial director then start with the proceedings," he said in a press conference in Koronadal City on Thursday.
The official explained that the uncovered cases of "ghost trainees" involved the reporting to the agency of non-existent trainees and scholars, and even issuing them with training certificates.
He said another case is the reporting of trainees as graduates even though they only enrolled and were not able to complete the training.
The "ghost trainings" were also reported to TESDA but they never happened and the erring schools just forged the attendance sheets of the supposed trainees, he said.
Aside from the revocation of the school's registration and disqualification from the scholarship programs, Abrogar said they will also revoke its tech-voc programs and the accreditation certificates of the involved trainers and assessors.
"[TESDA] will not pay for the scholarship grants previously allotted to the school and we will delist them from our national, regional and provincial list of registered programs," he said.
Aside from the erring school here, Abrogar said three other institutions under the jurisdiction of the Sarangani/General Santos provincial office are being investigated for similar violations.
He said they were still awaiting the results of the random assessment conducted by the agency among schools in other areas in Region 12.
The region covers the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and North Cotabato, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong and Kidapawan.
Abrogar said the uncovering of the violations and the ongoing investigation shows that TESDA, including the regional office, is serious in cleansing the irregularities in its scholarship programs.
"This should serve as warning to the other public and private training institutions that are possibly engaged in similar activities," he added. (MindaNews)
tesda
DPWH completes PHP150-M road projects in South Cotabato
DSWD-12 intensifies drive against human trafficking
2,400 tons of waste from South Korea to be shipped back
Mindanews - January 20, 2020 5:41 pm
Froilan Gallardo - January 19, 2020 7:02 pm
22% poverty level in Mindanao by 2022 – MinDA
Antonio L. Colina IV - January 19, 2020 5:55 pm
3 towns in NorthCot with 'zero open defecation'
Malu Cadelina-Manar - January 19, 2020 3:47 pm
RIVERMAN'S VISTA: Layman's guide to understanding the Ampatuan Massacre verdict (1st of a series)
Antonio G. M. La Viña - January 20, 2020 6:20 pm
Oratio Imperata Tungod Sa Pag-Ulbo Sa Bulkan Sa Taal
Bishop Edwin de la Peña - January 16, 2020 1:36 pm
REVIEW: 'Mindanao' the movie: A narrative juxtaposed with narratives of other tribes can be...
Sharifa Pearlsia P. Ali-Dans - January 12, 2020 10:52 pm
PEACETALK: A conflict in the Middle East means heightened vulnerability for our people
Zia Alonto Adiong - January 7, 2020 10:28 pm
REVIEW: "Mindanao" the movie: the script reduces an island so full of cultural and...
Amir Mawallil - January 5, 2020 10:23 pm
6.9 quake hits Mindanao; shoppers, employees feared trapped as shopping center in Padada collapses
Mindanews - December 15, 2019 5:35 pm
14 investment firms offering Ponzi schemes closed; 39 more under probe
Antonio L. Colina IV - June 2, 2019 5:49 pm
Meet Pete Maverick Nicole Estudillo, 1st Summa Cum Laude to graduate from UP Mindanao
Renz Ybañez - June 19, 2019 11:31 am
Initial list of quake-related damages in Davao City released
Antonio L. Colina IV - December 16, 2019 9:06 am
Winners even before May 13 polls: 133 unopposed candidates in Mindanao
Carolyn O. Arguillas - May 11, 2019 8:53 pm
Jesuit volunteer stabbed to death in Bukidnon; another wounded
Carolyn O. Arguillas - August 24, 2019 4:53 pm
Butuan historians ask CBCP to resolve first mass controversy in city's favor
Erwin Mascariñas - April 4, 2012 7:51 am
Suspect in killing of Jesuit volunteer arrested
Froilan Gallardo - August 24, 2019 5:12 pm
Camiguin's Mt. Hibok-hibok eruption gave birth to today's Phivolcs
Carolyn O. Arguillas - January 17, 2020 11:34 pm
PACQUIAO WATCH: Thurman is hittable, beatable
Edwin G. Espejo - June 2, 2019 1:38 pm
MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism. It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media.
23C Saturn St. GSIS Subdivision, Davao City Philippines Tel. No.: 082 297 4360 editor [at] mindanews.com
MindaTweets
Tweets by @mindanews2010
Mindanews on Facebook
© Mindanews 2016 | All Rights Reserved


text:
WhatsOnDisneyPlus.NZ Conan The Barbarian
Conan The Barbarian (1982)
R16 Violence & sex scenes
From the pages of Weird Tales magazine springs Robert E. Howard's pulp fiction hero, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan. Melding a mixture of Howard's fantasy and sword-and-sorcery stories with the fertile imaginations of writer/director John Milius and Oliver Stone, CONAN THE BARBARIAN begins with young Conan losing his parents to the raiding party of the evil warlord Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones). Young Conan is sold off to slave traders where, as he grows in size and strength, his masters train and condition him for the barbaric games in the arena, where the winners walk away with their honor and the losers pay with their lives. Conan soon becomes so powerful that his masters realize that they will not be able to control him for much longer and release him into the wild. There, he lives by his wits as a thief and adventurer, until he inadvertently steals a gemstone from Thulsa Doom. Vowing to avenge his parents, Conan wages war against Doom and his cult of snake worshipers. Joined by his friend, Subotai (Gerry Lopez), and woman warrior and love of his life, Valeria (Sandahl Bergman), CONAN THE BARBARIAN will have his revenge at any cost.
6.9/10 stars from 137568
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Conan)
James Earl Jones (Thulsa Doom)
Max Von Sydow (King Osric)
Sandahl Bergman (Valeria)
Ben Davidson (Rexor)
Cassandra Gaviola (The Witch)
John Milius
Raffaella De Laurentiis
Buzz Feitshans


text:
Insurance giant reports unexpected fourth-quarter increase
February 11, 2011 Nordstrom
Zurich Financial Services AG, the largest insurer in Switzerland, has reported that its fourth-quarter profit showed little change despite major catastrophes in Australia. Analysts estimated that the net income for the insurer would come in at $1.02 billion, but Zurich is reporting an income of $1.04 billion. Zurich is planning to save more than $500 million over the next three years by making cuts to its general insurance business.
The Australian floods have taken a heavy toll on the insurer, raising the combined ratio, a key measure of profitability, to 98.3%. A ratio of over 100% means that the insurer's costs outstrip income from premiums. The rise in ratio is attributed to Zurich lowering its premiums on coverage the year before. The large amount of claims coming from Australia was almost too much for the insurer.
Chief Executive Officer, Martin Senn, said that the company is focused on protecting its profit margins through carefully targeted re-underwriting actions.
The earthquake in Chile last February prompted Zurich to revise its estimated pretax losses from $200 million to $175 million. The Australian floods are likely to push the insurer to again revise its estimates for its 2010 pretax loss as the flooding is likely more severe than previous events in Australia.
Zurich finds itself in a precarious position as it finds itself embroiled in a general insurance price war in the UK, Italy and Germany as well as just having settled a $455 million class action suit in the U.S. relating to its Farmers Group.
Zurich reports that both net income and operating profit fell by 13%.
Insurance News Articles, International Insurance News, News for AgentsAustralian floods, Chile earthquake, financial news, insurance industry, insurance news, Switzerland insurance company, Zurich Financial Services, Zurich Insurance, Zurich reports 4th quarter 2011
Major group insurer slims down on coverage for Massachusetts employees
Insurance companies ask for more time
How to Get Insurance to Pay for Water Damage Restoration
FacebookTwitterLinkedinRedditStumbleUponTumblrPinterestWater can cause a lot of damage to your home. Whether it's a flood, sewer backup,...
Homeowners Insurance Insurance News Articles Latest Insurance News Articles News for Consumers


We hope you'll join us as we celebrate the gift of the Gospel this Easter season. We're one church with two locations, and this Easter Sunday we'll have services at both of our campuses!
Yorktown location for services at 8, 9:30, & 11 a.m.
Gloucester location for services at 9:30 & 11 a.m.
Will Easter be your first time visiting Coastal?
Check out our Attend a Service page to get an idea of what to expect. Please remember, we'll only be hosting services at our Yorktown Campus this Easter. We are so excited to have you joining us!
All elementary–aged students will be joining their families in the main services of both campuses as we gather together to celebrate baptisms and family dedication and to partake in communion. Regular service times.
The women from both of our campuses are coming together to learn about the Jewish customs surrounding Easter by sharing in a Seder meal. We will review Jesus' actions throughout the whole week of Easter and reflect on His ultimate sacrifice for us. This event will be held at the Yorktown Campus from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
April 18th | 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
On Thursday, we'll be joining together for prayer and praise, and we'll also have an opportunity for foot washing as we celebrate Christ's sacrifice and service to us. Both campuses will host this service and childcare will be provided.
Our doors will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for prayer at both campuses. This is a great time for families and small groups to come together and reflect on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
April 19th - 20th | 7 p.m–7 p.m.
Our prayer team will be continuing in prayer for hour-long shifts in the Prayer Chapel. All are welcome to join and encouraged to sign up for a time today in the Prayer Chapel.
Services to celebrate our Risen King as we explore how Resurrection's Reflection, join us at either our Yorktown or Gloucester campus. Service times are listed above.


We keep your data safe, so you do not lose data to office floods or fires and our cloud suppliers will protect you from hackers or a malware infection.
Client information, payment information, personal files, bank account details - all of this information can be hard to replace and potentially dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. Data security is the 'virtual world padlock' to your airline door keeping your data safe and your passenger information safe and secure.
What size airline is Takeflite suitable for?
Takeflite is suitable for airlines flying Part 135, Part 121 and Part 145 aircraft. Our software has been developed with Cargo, Scheduled RPT, Charter and Fleet management for Corporate Organizations in mind.
What do I need to run Takeflite?
Does Takeflite integrate with other software?
Takeflite provides standard interfaces to accounting packages for Accounts Receivable, Satnav companies for tracking, Flightstats, Amadeus, DOT, E-APIS, and PCIDSS etc.
What support services does Takeflite offer?
The support queue (both automated and customer initiated) is monitored by teams in 3 time-zones for maximum coverage. Takeflite takes customer service seriously and is continually investing to ensure that all departments are coordinated to investigate and resolve issues as soon as possible.
We are an online Corporate Travel Booking Company; how do we connect to content/inventory for Takeflite hosted airlines?
Note: The commercial negotiation for rates/discounts is undertaken direct with the airline.
Can I link information in Takeflite to other services?
How reliable and secure is Takeflite?
There have been no serious outages and no data lost in the 15 years of online operation. All production systems are High Availability for 24/7 operations and Takeflite uses latest version and legitimate Microsoft Licences. Some of the largest and most security conscious companies in the world manage their fleets using Takeflite.


May | 2009 | .one too many.
srinagar is 75º and i live on a houseboat surrounded by mountains.
do neon green chicks ever really get old??
i didn't even know they used pictures.
i hope i get one of those stiple-hedcut drawings of my face.
first find a chair made entirely of wood and metal.
then put it directly on top of the oldest diesel generator you can find.
then put it out in the sun in the middle of the hottest day of summer.
then place two of the cheapest speakers you can find behind each of your ears.
then eat a sloppy joe sandwich with chili cheese fries.
then guzzle a pint of vodka.
then put on your least favorite type of music as loud as possible.
then spin in a circle until you almost collapse.
then wrap yourself in a burlap sack.
then invite over two of your most obnoxious friends and tell them to blow cigarette smoke in your face.
then eat a hot chili.
then turn the generator on.
then sit in your chair.
and then stay there on and off for the next 5 days.
that's what it feels like riding in a long distance truck in India.
hope you got a strong stomach.
this has been my job for the last two weeks.
what was your job the last 2 weeks??


I sincerely hope, for your sake, that you're strapped in tight for this week's guest mix for PURPLE SNEAKERS ON FBI CLICK – because it's a real heater. And yes, don't worry – I will refrain from making banana puns throughout this article.
SAMMY BANANAS is a household name among house DJ's. Let's just say he's been around the block once or twice. If you've heard of FOOL'S GOLD, you've certainly heard of the talented producer/DJ/Brooklyn-native, SAMMY BANANAS. An FG OG, SAMMY is known for his thumping brand of house music that sits somewhere between the realms of eclectic and throwback, whilst still remaining wholly tasteful.
With us here at PURPLE SNEAKERS being longtime friends and fans of all things BANANAS we thought it be high-time to get our mate in for a bit of a spin behind the decks – and spin he did. Delivering a red-hot slice of pure, unadulterated house music, SAMMY put his best foot forward with this mix. Kicking the party vibes into overdrive, you can expect to hear – among retro gems and current underground dance-floor killers – a slab of original content, including his latest single 'Money Time'.
Featuring vocal/producer duo ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, 'Money Time' is a testament to all things nouveau house. Silken vocals, riveting basslines and rave-inspired piano riffs all interlope into one another as the beat effortlessly carries everything onwards and upwards.
If that doesn't want to make you take all your clothes off and party hard, then I'm afraid you've got problems dude.
So, without much further adieu, let Mr. SAMMY BANANAS give you your daily dose of potassium (I couldn't make it all the way through, I'm sorry) with his absolutely killer edition of the PURPLE SNEAKERS guest mix for FBI CLICK. C u next week!


text:
energy transformation 11 August 2016
Coal closure is inevitable and necessary, so let's get the transition right
New reports emphasise the need for the federal government to manage the transition carefully.
The Australian Energy Market Operator's 2016 'electricity statement', released today, confirms the importance of a well-managed transition to cleaner energy in Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation said.
AEMO's statement emphasises the "growing importance of network and non-network developments to securely manage an evolving, lower carbon electricity generation future".
A similar conclusion is drawn in a new research report by the Melbourne Energy Institute (MEI), commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, that examines the reasons behind the recent spikes in electricity prices in South Australia.
The MEI report notes that coordinated planning during the transition period will help avoid the disruption of energy supplies.
"The closure of coal-fired power plants is inevitable, absolutely necessarily and a number of plants are already past their use by dates," said ACF's CEO Kelly O'Shanassy.
"Coal is an energy source of past centuries – it is polluting our atmosphere, damaging human health and bleaching the Great Barrier Reef – so the transition to clean energy is absolutely necessarily and urgent.
"The AEMO statement and the Melbourne Energy Institute research both show the need for the federal government to manage the transition carefully.
"Australia can close coal-fired power stations in an orderly way, build renewables with storage to power a clean economy and help affected communities through the transition.
"We currently have an excess of capacity, so one or two big coal plants can close without affecting supply. We need to replace them with renewable energy with storage.
"The federal government needs to manage this transition in the interests of all Australians, not just the big electricity generators," Ms O'Shanassy said.
Read Melbourne Energy Institute report
Read ACF's brief on energy prices in South Australia
ACF Media Enquiries
Journalists with enquiries may contact Josh Meadows on 0439 342 992. For all other enquiries please call 1800 223 669 or email action@mail.acf.org.au
Coal or gas plus carbon capture costs six times more than wind plus battery storage: new report
Reality check: Why CCS has no role in Australia's energy system
Bipartisan support to make NSW a renewable energy superpower
MPs who care about climate change should not be voting to support new coal-fired power
New research shows how schools, pools, prisons and libraries can power Queensland's renewable future
Sunny side up: how schools, prisons and libraries can power Queensland's renewable future


This is the fifth article in the series "Managing the Enterprise Customer Relationship," where we discuss how managed service providers (MSPs) can effectively manage complex customer relationships while delivering solutions to the enterprise customer. In this article, we will expand on the role of the "Operations Supervisor", introduced in the prior newsletter edition.
Clearly understands the value delivered, and has a ready answer to the question "what have you done for me lately?"
The operations supervisor is a role that actually goes by many names (Premier Care Representative, Customer Service Manager, Technical Account Manager, etc.). In a nutshell, this person orchestrates ALL operational activities for a specific account / customer. This role is typically filled by personnel assigned to the success of a handful of "key" or "major" accounts. Alternatively, various aspects of what is discussed below can be provided to all customers if the appropriate processes and tools are in place to effectively "bubble-up" information on a proactive basis.
A key responsibility of the operations supervisor role is that of conducting a periodic operations review process for each of their assigned accounts, in which all members of the account team participate, along with the customer. The frequency of this process and depth of the reporting that is reviewed should be commensurate with the complexity (both technical and business-wise), strategic importance and volume of activity associated with the customer. Following is a template of an operations review report.
In the next article in this series, we will provide an in-depth overview of the operations review process.
If you would like to learn more about overcoming the common challenges that managed service providers face with their enterprise customers, feel free to contact us.
Today's most successful organizations have instituted flexible processes to enable cross-functional teams to achieve business objectives. The customer service organization is often the business sponsor of those initiatives that directly touch the customer. It is often the responsibility of the sponsor to own or delegate initiative or project oversight responsibility. A substantial piece of this oversight is developing an effective relationship with the matrix project team.
Depending on the size and functional breadth of the project team, there may be a number of relationships that the project manager must develop and manage. Relationship management best practices can help to ensure effectiveness and comfort in this role.
Our article this week offers some relationship management practices to consider when faced with the challenge of managing a large, matrix project team. These practices may be intuitive and common sense to many, but those who are newer to the project manager role may find them useful.
It's important that everyone on the team knows who is on the team and that an opportunity to develop a shared understanding of goals and expectations exists. A project kick-off meeting is an effective forum to achieve this step. Team introductions followed by a review of project goals, organization, and communication channels will enable a common understanding of deliverables and role expectations.
Project communications encompass one-on-one, small group and mass communication. All three are critical to sustaining effective relationships. Defining a communication strategy prior to the kick-off meeting and refining it as the project progresses is a proactive way to ensure the necessary communication channels are in place. The communication strategy may include a communication recipient list and what they "need to know when", a status report template, the schedule of team and sub-team meetings, an issue tracking and resolution template, etc.
Demonstrating active listening helps to establish an environment where team members feel their input and concerns are being heard. Project team members need to know where they can go to express concerns and the appropriate approach to reporting issues. Identifying and communicating these processes to the team will help to sustain effective relationships across the team.
There are many courses and books devoted to this topic so we will just touch upon it here. It's important to recognize that there are different types of project meetings, (e.g., status, design, issue resolution, etc.) and the approach taken to manage each meeting is dependent its objective. The communication strategy may offer guidelines to team members on how to conduct the various types of meetings.
Excessive meetings or improperly managed meetings may negatively impact the relationships among the team members. The project oversight leader can help set the example by running meetings according to the agenda and within the allotted time, being prepared, and demonstrating active listening.
To meet project objectives, commitments made by all team members must be met. This expectation must be established up front as an operating principle. This should be established initially at the kick-off meeting and then monitored as part of the status reporting and communication process. Again, the project oversight manager can set the example by delivering on her/his commitments to the team and other project stakeholders.
In summary, the relationships among project team members are shaped by a spectrum of individual experience levels, skill sets, and personality types. The project manager should take advantage of identified best practices to help establish project structure and approaches to work within the organization's culture to help facilitate positive, constructive relationships within the project team. We touched upon only a subset of these practices in this article but it may help to guide those new to the role to seek out additional practices that may work within their organization.
For those of you in the metro-Boston area, we invite you to join leading technology executives for a fast paced discussion focused on strategies for transforming your technology into a sustainable and successful business. The forum, entitled Strategies for Successful Growth: Building the Emerging Technology Company, is being presented by Gadsby & Hannah, LLP. Customer Centricity president Craig Bailey, along with senior executives from some of Massachusetts' greatest technology companies (EMC, Teradyne, Sonus Networks, Kewill), will present their perspectives and strategies for leveraging assets for maximum profit.
The event will be Friday, May 7, 2004, from 8:00am–10:45am, at Babson College's Center for Executive Education, in Wellesley, MA. To register, contact Dianne Willens at 617-345-6968 or dwillens@ghlaw.com, or click here for more information.
A hot topic these days is the outsourcing of customer call centers. David Myron's article Hot Spots in the February 2004 issue of CRM Magazine provides a comprehensive evaluation of nearshore and offshore options, including a comparison chart of providers by geographical region.
See the Additional Resources section of the Customer Centricity website for more recommended reading selections.


text:
Q: How to Monitor Uptime of 20 Websites (Ping or HTTP) in Node.js/RoR What's the best way to ping a list of 20 websites every 5 minutes (for example) in order to know if the site responds with HTTP 202 or not?
The no brainer idea is to save the 20 URLS in a database and just run the database and ping each one. However, what happen when one doesn't answers? What happens to the ones after that?
Also, is there better but no-brainer solution for this? I'm afraid the list can grow to 20000 websites and then there's not enough time to ping them all in the 5 minutes I need to be pinging.
Basically, I'm describing how PingDom, UptimeRobot, and the likes work.
I'm building this system using node.js and Ruby on Rails.
I'm also inclined to use MongoDB to save the history of all the pings and monitoring results.
Suggestions?
Thanks a bunch!

A: Github
I really like node.js and I would like to tackle this problem and hopefully soon share some code on github to achieve this. Keep in mind that I only have a veryy basic setup right now hosted at https://github.com/alfredwesterveld/freakinping

What's the best way to ping a list of
  20 websites every 5 minutes (for
  example) in order to know if the site
  responds with HTTP 202 or not?

PING(ICMP)
First I would like to know if you want to really do a ping(ICMP) or if you just want to know if the website returns with code 200(OK) and measure the time it takes. I believe from the context that you don't really want to do a ping, but just an http request and measure the time. I ask this because(I believe) pinging from node.js/ruby/python can't be done from normal user because we need raw sockets(root user) to do the pinging(ICMP) from programming language. I for example found this ping script in python(I also believe I saw a simple ruby script somewhere although I am not a really big ruby programmer) but requires root access. I don't believe there is even yet a ping module out there for node.js.
Message Queue

Also, is there better but no-brainer
  solution for this? I'm afraid the list
  can grow to 20000 websites and then
  there's not enough time to ping them
  all in the 5 minutes I need to be
  pinging.
Basically, I'm describing how PingDom,
  UptimeRobot, and the likes work.

What you need to achieve this kind of scale is to use a message queue like for example redis, beanstalkd or gearmand. At the scale of PingDom one worker process is not going to cut it, but in your case it(I assume) one worker will do. I think(assume) redis will be the fastest message queue because of the C(node.js) extension but then again I should benchmark it against beanstalkd, which is another popular message queue(but does not yet have a C extension).

I'm afraid the list can grow to 20000
  websites

If you get at that scale you might have to have host multiple boxes(a lot of worker threads/processes) to handle the load but you aren't at that scale yet and node.js is insane fast. It might even be able to handle that load with even one single box, although I don't know for sure(you need to do/run some benchmarks).
Datastore/Redis
I think this could be achieved pretty easily in node.js(I really like node.js). The way I would do this is use redis as my datastore because it is INSANE FAST!
PING: 20000 ops 46189.38 ops/sec 1/4/1.082
SET: 20000 ops 41237.11 ops/sec 0/6/1.210
GET: 20000 ops 39682.54 ops/sec 1/7/1.257
INCR: 20000 ops 40080.16 ops/sec 0/8/1.242
LPUSH: 20000 ops 41152.26 ops/sec 0/3/1.212
LRANGE (10 elements): 20000 ops 36563.07 ops/sec 1/8/1.363
LRANGE (100 elements): 20000 ops 21834.06 ops/sec 0/9/2.287

using node_redis(with hredis(node.js) c library). I would Add the URLs to redis using sadd.
Run tasks every 5 minutes
This could be achieved without barely any effort. I would use the setInterval(callback, delay, [arg], [...]) to repeatedly test response time of servers. Get all URLs on callback from redis using smembers. I would put all the URLs(messages) on the message queue using rpush.
Checking Response (Time)

However, what happen when one doesn't
  answers? What happens to the ones
  after that?

I might not completely understand this sentence but here it goes. If one fails it just fails. You could try to check response(time) again in 5 seconds or something to see if it is online. A precise algorithm for this should be devised. The ones after that should not have anything to do with previous URLs unless the are to the same server. Also something you clearly think about I guess because then you should not ping all those URLs to the same server at the same time but queue them up or something.
Processing URL
From the worker process(for now just one would be suffice) fetch message(URL) from redis using brpop command. check response time for URL(message) and fetch next URL(message) from the list. I would probably do a couple of request simultaneous to speed up the process.

A: There is no "basic way", since you must handle a lot of use cases:

*

*http redirects,

*https pages,

*request timeouts,

*the cpu load of the server you use for pinging,

*the type of report you need (availability? Uptime? Responsiveness? Downtime?)

*how to aggregate qos measurements by time

*lifetime of the data you collect (pinging dozens of targets every five minutes quickly produces a lot of data)

*realtime alerts

*etc.

Pingdom and the like are not "basic" tools, and if you want something similar you may want to pay for it or rely on an existing open-source alternative. I know it for sure because I built a remote monitoring application myself. It's called Uptime, it's written in Node.js and MongoDB, and it's hosted on GitHub (https://github.com/fzaninotto/uptime). It took several weeks of hard work to develop it, so believe me: it is NOT a no-brainer.

A: use monitoring tools like zabbix, nagios, blah blah which can metric various parameters of your servers in mass numbers.
if u would like to implement it in js, u can do a time interval-ed http request, then to determine http return status code, and use xpath or regex to validate certain element is correct
for ruby, a daemon process and use a thread pool (multithreading idea) and URI open to view the http code and the content, use xpath to validate if the content is behave correctly.

A: If you're curious, I've created an app called Pinger that does this. It's built on Ruby on Rails and Resque:
https://github.com/austinthecoder/pinger

A: There are some free quality services what provide us a very stable website up time check and notification. You can check this instruction and review http://fastjoomlahost.com/how-to-monitor-website-up-time

A: You can also do this in Node.js using the node-ping-monitor package.


One day when I was living in London as a struggling musician, I came across an ad looking for a French wine specialist. While far from being a "specialist", I informed the gentleman during the interview that I spoke fluent French and consumed large quantities of wine. This, along with the in-house Wine & Spirit Education Trust training programme offered by the company, was apparently enough for me to find myself working in the Clapham branch of Oddbins wine merchants.
In 2008 I moved back to France (where I'd lived previously for 15 years) with my wife and first child. We settled in the Minervois region, and gradually built a now-thriving gallery and wine bar business, Inspiré Azille.
After a brush with cancer shortly after our move, I decided that life was too short to work in a job for no other reason than to earn money, and that sure than to earn money, and that surely the experience accrued whilst living here for so long and my knowledge of local wine must have some value.
The gallery/bar went from strength to strength, combining an ongoing programme of exhibitions and live jazz, infused with regional dishes and great local wines. A number of holidaymakers started asking about wine tasting at the gallery, and specifically about tours and the possibility of visiting local producers. I'd been working very closely with the vignerons whose wines we stocked at the bar, and the majority were extremely open to the idea of receiving visitors.
For some time too, I'd been wanting to continue my wine education, and so a friend introduced me to Matthew Stubbs (Master of Wine and founder of Vinécole at the Domaine Gayda near Limoux), who runs wine education courses using the WSET syllabus that I'd studied in the UK. After gaining my Advanced Certificate, I felt re-energised, and thus the decision to purchase a minibus and jump feet-first into oenotourisme, or wine tourism, was made. Taste du Languedoc was born!
We offer a glimpse of the hidden gems of our beautiful region, with a range of set tours and tastings, or bespoke programmes on request.
Sharing my know-how from 25 years of living here amongst some great French friends has enabled me to introduce visitors to the region's wine, food and culture in a way that offers a unique, informative and fun wine experience. We also feature child-friendly family days, creative art and wine tours. Santé!


My Great Pumpkin is the day when we are given the tools to do our jobs, when students are told that education is the priority by our society and by their families, when politicians behave as though education, culture, and civic virtue are the most important priorities that society can bestow upon its citizens. I don't need all kids to speak English, I don't need all kids to be angels or geniuses-- I'll take all comers if we just had these three things.
That's certainly a lot more hopeful than the equally apt (on some days, at least) Charlie-Brown-kicking-the-football metaphor.


Spinal cord stimulation: Spinal cord stimulation delivers an electrical current to the spinal cord for the management of chronic back pain. Your physician places a stimulation device under your skin in either the abdominal or buttock area. Leads from the device are routed to your spinal cord. At the end of the leads are the electrodes that deliver electrical signals to the spinal cord. The electrical current interrupts the pain signal from reaching your brain. Thus, instead of pain you may now feel a tingling sensation in your back problem.
Peripheral nerve stimulation: Peripheral nerve stimulation involves placement of a stimulating electrode near peripheral nerves to control pain. Very similar to spinal cord stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation works by introducing an electrical current to the source of chronic pain. Peripheral nerve stimulation is used in the treatment of a variety of disorders.
An implantable drug delivery system involves implanting a small pump that delivers pain medication directly to the spinal cord where pain signals travel. As the medication is delivered directly to the targeted area, smaller doses of medication are required to provide relief. An implantable drug delivery system is considered a last option when other methods of pain control are ineffective. Implanted drug pumps are effective in treating cancer pain, severe back pain, neuropathic pain, muscle spasticity and post-operative pain.


text:
Q: Improving a boosted regression model or change? I am looking at a data set that contains multiple predictors and a continuous response. Using dismo along with gbm I built (a terrible one?) model.
Using the package sROC, I got an AUC or 0.48 - so my model is actually quite worthless.  Can anyone suggest any general ways to improve a model?
I can post an example but ultimately, I am just wondering how experienced modelers tweak there models, etc.

A: You should figure if you model is doing poorly because it is learning too few or too much - if it is underfitting or overfitting. Once you know that, you can tweak the relevant parameters of your model to improve it.
If it still does not give you anything useful, then either there is no information in the data, or your model is especially bad at finding the pattern. Only then should switch to another model, but only after you have found a reason why model 1 was bad and model 2 will be better.
To learn how to diagnose this kind of problem, look for the following keywords and know their meaning: Bias/Variance tradeoff, Overfitting/Underfitting, Learning Curve.
Here are some starting ressources:

*

*CV: Question about bias variance tradeoff

*CV: Intuitive explaination of the bias variance tradeoff

*Andrew NG MOOC: The problem of overfitting

*Andrew NG MOOC: The complete serie in the chapter "What to try next"


Why is the Obama administration reading up on its Vietnam history?
In the spring of 1995, McGeorge Bundy asked me to collaborate with him on a retrospective analysis of the American presidency and the Vietnam War during his tenure as national security advisor to presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. We envisioned the book to be both a memoir of Bundy's experience with Kennedy and Johnson as well as a reconstruction of the pivotal presidential decisions about American strategy in Vietnam between 1961 and 1965. But the project was fatefully interrupted. Bundy died of a heart attack a year and half into our collaboration. A front-page obituary in the New York Times called Bundy "the very personification of what the journalist David Halberstam … labeled 'The Best and the Brightest': the well-born, confident intellectuals who led the nation into the quagmire of Vietnam."
Although the McGeorge Bundy who reigned as a legend of the establishment was reputed to be brisk, quick, calculating, and overconfident, the retrospective Bundy of 30 years later — the one with whom I spoke so many times — was in many ways the opposite: patient, reflective, curious, and humble. In fact, on the question of Vietnam Bundy appeared tentative and unsure — maybe on some level even mystified. Although he never said so explicitly, he seemed to be as perplexed by the disaster of Vietnam as any of the historians who studied the decisions in which he had been a central participant.
Three decades after his own role in the war ended — he left the White House in 1966 to head the Ford Foundation — he was still asking himself questions about its lessons. "What can we say is the most surprising?" Bundy wondered in a fragment he composed on February 3, 1996, as he and his wife Mary returned from a holiday in the Caribbean. His answer: "The endurance of the enemy." It was a dynamic of the war that fascinated him. Bundy marveled at the leadership of the insurgency, its political strength inside South Vietnam, the stamina of the armed forces of the Vietnamese communists, and the social cohesion that bound these variables together into an equation that allowed a small power, among the poorest countries in the world, to triumph over the United States.
When I began working with him on our book project, Bundy was still struggling to understand how the Johnson administration had committed itself to a strategy that would devolve into a contest of endurance Americans were destined to lose. Beginning in 1965 the United States deployed considerable and escalating numbers of ground combat forces in a protracted effort to grind down the enemy — depleting its numbers, breaking its will, and compelling its surrender or negotiated settlement on terms favorable to the United States. That strategy was, of course, a great failure. And Bundy later asked himself, "Do we discuss whether we are in fact well-equipped to conduct a war of attrition? I don't think that question is ever presented to Lyndon Johnson in the whole of the year in which that strategy is adopted."
It was June 14, 1965, and Johnson reached out to former President Eisenhower for his counsel on the Vietnam War. A decision was looming over whether to expand the U.S. troop commitment to the conflict. Eisenhower advised not only supporting South Vietnamese forces in action but also urged direct offensive action by American troops. "We have got to win," he said.
Meanwhile, the debate among Johnson's advisors was growing. "In raising our commitment from 50,000 to 100,000 or more men and deploying most of the increment in combat roles we are beginning a new war — the United States directly against the Viet Cong," Under Secretary of State George Ball warned President Johnson. "Perhaps the large-scale introduction of American forces with their concentrated fire power will force Hanoi and the Viet Cong to the decision we are seeking. On the other hand," he presciently cautioned, "we may not be able to fight the war successfully enough — even with 500,000 Americans in South Vietnam — to achieve this purpose." Ball confronted President Johnson with lessons from recent history. "The French fought a war in Viet-Nam, and were finally defeated — after seven years of bloody struggle and when they still had 250,000 combat-hardened veterans in the field, supported by an army of 205,000 Vietnamese."
Ball's dissent was aggressively countered by the administration's hawks. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara strenuously argued that if South Vietnam fell, Thailand would be lost, too. Rusk envisioned a wave of falling dominoes — even India would collapse under the control of the Chinese communists.
The top U.S. commander in Vietnam, Gen. William Westmoreland, delivered a bleak report from the front. "The struggle has become a war of attrition," he declared on June 24. "Short of decision to introduce nuclear weapons against sources and channels of enemy power, I see no likelihood of achieving a quick, favorable end to the war. … I am becoming more convinced every day that U.S. forces in appropriate numbers must be deployed to permit the Vietnamese with our help to carry the war to the enemy." The next day, guerrilla fighters launched one of their most spectacular terrorist acts yet, exploding a bomb in the My Canh floating restaurant and killing 44.
Against this backdrop of gathering anxiety, McNamara circulated a draft memorandum that would set the terms of debate over further escalation. He formally joined the Joint Chiefs in urging the president to approve General Westmoreland's proposed expansion to a 44-battalion force in South Vietnam — 34 U.S. maneuver battalions and 10 third-country maneuver battalions totaling approximately 175,000 men. A major escalation of U.S. forces, he argued, would force the insurgents "to accept a situation in the war in the South which offers them no prospect of an early victory and no grounds for hope they can simply outlast the US."
Gen. Earle Wheeler, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked General Westmoreland directly if the escalation would be sufficient to break the insurgency. The "direct answer to your basic question is 'no,' " he replied, admitting that the 44 battalions would not "provide reasonable assurance of attaining the objective." Thus on the eve of the largest and most fateful expansion of the U.S. ground force commitment to Vietnam, the architect of that troop surge told the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that it simply would not be sufficient to achieve the stated American goal of persuading the insurgency that its victory was impossible.
The stage was set for what should have been the seminal debate of the Vietnam War. Ball seized on the inherent uncertainty surrounding the 44-battalion deployment and its implicit strategic assumptions. McNamara had thrown his support behind an enormous expansion of the American commitment. And General Westmoreland, the principal advocate of the 44-battalion strategy, clearly conceded that the new American combat commitment could not assure the achievement of its stated objective.
Where was Bundy positioned at this juncture? Frustrated by a deteriorating relationship with President Johnson, he was on the precipice of resigning as national security advisor. Ironically, the national security adviser's differences with Johnson had little to do with the substance of Vietnam policy.
For Bundy, icon of the establishment and the administration's fiercest debater, silence in response to criticism of the White House policy in Vietnam and Southeast Asia was untenable. The critics of the war, Bundy recalled, "were feeling deliberately cut off from and rejected by an administration with whom they were trying to communicate in good faith." So although he knew that Johnson would be infuriated, Bundy agreed to appear on a one-hour primetime television debate to be broadcast without commercial interruption by CBS News on the evening of June 21. "I informed him after the decision had been made and told him I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't do it," Bundy explained in a 1969 oral history.
What Bundy never said but should have retrospectively acknowledged was that his decision to go around Johnson's back to appear on the CBS Vietnam debate was tantamount to submitting his letter of resignation. When he read in the press that Bundy had agreed to the CBS debate, Johnson was enraged. LBJ told his aide, Bill Moyers, that he should inform Bundy that the president would be "pleased — mighty pleased," to accept his resignation. Moyers did not act on the president's instruction.
Johnson's resistance to explaining and defending the administration's policy exasperated Bundy. If the new offensive were not "more quickly decisive than we had any clear reason to expect," Bundy said, there would be disturbing consequences when the public "looked back and asked themselves if they had been led openly into this war or somehow bamboozled into it." Bundy acknowledged that every president, including giants like Lincoln and Roosevelt, sought to communicate in a way that achieved the greatest political impact. Yet Johnson aspired for more. The president had "this really quite funny internal belief " that he could reshape facts to serve his interests. Johnson believed that "if he could get it stated his way in the papers it would be that way."
Although the national security advisor had reached the breaking point in his relationship with President Johnson, neither man could afford a public dustup, particularly as a major escalation decision loomed. Just six days after appearing on CBS, Bundy was back advising the president. "The commitment" to Saigon, Bundy explained on June 27, "is primarily political and any decision to enlarge or reduce it will be political. My own further view is that if and when we wish to shift our course and cut our losses in Vietnam we should do so because of a finding that the Vietnamese themselves are not meeting their obligations to themselves or to us."
Bundy's support for the war was balanced with nuanced skepticism. On the one hand, he dismissed critics who believed the United States was now emulating the disastrous course France followed in Vietnam. Still, on June 30, Bundy confided his concerns about the Westmoreland plan to Secretary of Defense McNamara. Bundy challenged the assumption that conventional combat forces would be effective in containing the insurgency. "I see no reason to suppose that the Viet Cong will accommodate us by fighting the kind of war we desire." Moving to "a 200 thousand-man level" of support, Bundy warned, was "a slippery slope toward total US responsibility and corresponding fecklessness on the Vietnamese side."
The impact of Bundy's critique, however, was largely vitiated by the fact that it was directed toward McNamara rather than the president or the broader team of advisors responsible for strategy in Vietnam.
So as the two stark choices confronting Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam crystallized — the 44-battalion plan advocated by Westmoreland and McNamara or the withdrawal option espoused by Ball — a third course was proposed. It was the so-called middle way envisioned by Bill Bundy, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and McGeorge's brother, who proposed a force level of 18 battalions and 85,000 men. "In essence," he explained, "this is a program to hold on for the next two months, and to test the military effectiveness of US combat forces and the reaction of the Vietnamese Army and people to the increasing US role."
Anticipating Johnson's response to the three options, McGeorge Bundy wrote to the president, advising him to choose between the two levels of escalation, rejecting Ball's suggested pullout. Bundy had a reputation for skillfully aborting dissent when he deemed it necessary, and he was a practiced expert at maneuvering for advantage among competing bureaucracies. Bundy had, for example, previously undermined the secretary of state. "He is not a manager," Bundy advised the president about Rusk in early 1965. "He has never been a good judge of men. His instincts are cautious and negative. … the Secretary has little sense of effective operation."
Johnson, meanwhile, continued to reach out to key constituencies, probing where the balance of opinion could be found. Just minutes before meeting with his senior Vietnam advisors on July 2, the president consulted Eisenhower. "Do you really think we can beat the Vietcong?" Johnson asked. Eisenhower advised Johnson to proceed with a troop buildup as soon as possible. "We are not going to be run out of a free country we helped to establish," Eisenhower declared.
By July 14, with a decision yet to be made, McNamara departed for South Vietnam. His mission, Bundy retrospectively concluded, was to negotiate a deal with the U.S. military commander in Saigon on the minimum size of the forthcoming escalation. Johnson's overarching priority was to achieve agreement, absent a fractious debate, on a course of action that would sustain South Vietnam from collapse but not disrupt his legislative agenda in Congress.
Political stagecraft — creating the appearance of deliberation when a decision had already been made — was the presumptive purpose of a White House meeting Johnson convened on the morning of July 21. Addressing the administration's war council, McNamara concluded that the United States had only three strategic options, two of which would leave the United States in a deplorable geopolitical position. President Johnson could choose to "cut our losses and withdraw under the best conditions that can be arranged — almost certainly conditions humiliating the United States and very damaging to our future effectiveness on the world scene." Alternatively, Johnson could hold steady at roughly the current level of 75,000 troops, but that would leave the United States terminally weakened and "almost certainly would confront us later with a choice between withdrawal and an emergency expansion of forces, perhaps too late to do any good." The only viable choice, McNamara argued, was a substantial expansion of offensive U.S. military pressure against the Vietcong and Hanoi — supplemented by vigorous diplomacy. Such an approach, he predicted, "would stave off defeat in the short run and offer a good chance of producing a favorable settlement in the longer run," although it would also render "any later decision to withdraw even more difficult and even more costly than would be the case today."
McNamara was vague, however, in delineating the causal logic of his proposed strategy, positing the escalation not as the military means to a military objective but simply as an end in itself. Preliminary discussion among the president's advisors seemed to anticipate that McNamara's recommendation would be accepted.
President Johnson, eager to project a ruminative state of mind, arrived after 40 minutes of discussion and unleashed a wave of questions ranging from the existential to the logistical. Then he asked, "Is anyone of the opinion we should not do what the memo says?"
This was Ball's cue to register his dissent. "I can foresee a perilous voyage," he said, "very dangerous — great apprehensions that we can win under these circumstances. But let me be clear, if the decision is to go ahead, I'm committed."
Rusk regretted the failure to act earlier. "We should have probably committed ourselves heavier in 1961," he said.
Henry Cabot Lodge, who would return as the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam at the end of the summer, bemoaned the dysfunctional nature of the regime. "There is no tradition of a national government in Saigon," he said. "I don't think we ought to take this government seriously."
When discussion resumed that afternoon, Ball was given the floor to present his challenge to the Pentagon escalation plan. "We can't win," he contended. "The most we can hope for is a messy conclusion." Continuing to prop up the Saigon regime, he also warned, was tantamount to "giving cobalt treatment to a terminal cancer case." Ball proposed that the United States devise a political strategy to stimulate a withdrawal of its military forces from South Vietnam. "The worst blow," Ball replied, "would be that the mightiest power in the world is unable to defeat guerrillas."
Bundy refused to engage Ball's counterargument, once more invoking the credibility imperative. "The world, the country, and the Vietnamese would have alarming reactions if we got out," he said. Achieving victory was apparently less important than the perception of pursuing it. "There will be time to decide our policy won't work after we have given it a good try," Bundy insisted.
"We won't get out," Ball retorted. "We'll double our bet and get lost in the rice paddies." Reviewing Ball's prediction three decades later, Bundy conceded: "He's right."
What struck Bundy most in looking back on the discussion of July 21, 1965, he told me, was a quality of unreality to the deliberations, because Johnson had already communicated his approval of Westmoreland's 44-battalion strategy to McNamara on July 17. The essential decision had already been sealed. Johnson "wants to be seen having careful discussions," said Bundy.
One of the consistent themes of Bundy's Vietnam counsel as national security advisor was his support for deploying military means in pursuit of indeterminate and primarily political ends. Bundy wanted a military commitment that evinced U.S. credibility even if it did not hold real promise of winning the war.
The adoption of attrition as the de facto U.S. military strategy was determined, in part, by the absence of other viable options. And by that metric, U.S. forces did in fact succeed in imposing severe losses on the insurgency. The United States presumed that a crossover point would be reached, when the accumulated pain of war would compel the insurgents to relent. But in practice this coercion strategy simply created an endurance contest. In that competition it was not the will of the Vietnamese communists that was broken. For each year of combat from 1965 to 1973, Bundy observed, the United States inflicted far greater casualties on the enemy than it absorbed. Yet despite this dramatic disparity, it was the United States that withdrew its forces "home without victory." As Bundy starkly confessed, "We had followed a losing strategy — one that led us not to success but to the acceptance of failure. Attrition is a brutal measuring stick," he affirmed. "Its use is not advertised and its authorship not eagerly claimed."
How far would Bundy have gone in holding himself accountable for the lack of rigor that characterized the evaluation of military strategy? Bundy was often bluntly critical of himself, and he was equally critical of Johnson for authorizing a muddled military mission. He proclaimed his "deep conviction" that in the pursuit of a flawed strategy in Vietnam, "the decisive errors were those made or approved by the president as commander-in-chief."
When in 1995 he finally decided to address the unresolved questions of the Vietnam War, Bundy registered a starkly different point of view from his years in power. He called Vietnam "a war we should not have fought" and conceded that "on the overall issue — are you for the war or against it, in 1965 and after, the doves were right." Bundy would therefore try to explain "the ways in which the executive branch continuously got that great choice wrong — not because it wanted the long, hard war it got, but because it would repeatedly reject the hard alternative of 'losing to the Reds.'" Bundy in retrospect had embraced a quality he had lacked when in high office three decades earlier. He had finally learned humility.


Penguin Pools prides itself on being the best pool builder and building the premiere inground swimming pools in Southeastern Wisconsin and Minneapolis. Below you'll find our completed inground pool projects for our Waukesha, Milwaukee, and Racine County customers. Penguin Pool Builders know that our work stands for itself. And, the results? Well, they're impeccable. See for yourself and feel free to call us your pool builder.
If you have any questions or would like to schedule a consultation with our designer, please contact us or call us.
Not every pool builder is created equal, so make sure you know what you are getting.
20′ x 50′ Rectangle with Auto Cover, Automation System, Retaining Walls and Stone Decking.
20′ x 40′ Inground Swimming Pool with Auto Cover & Automation.


text:
Q: Find dates with Regex I am trying to write code that clean up dates in different date formats (such as 3/14/2015, 03-14-2015, and 2015/3/14) by replacing them with dates in a single, standard format. So far I have wrote my regex expression but it's not working the way I would like.
import pyperclip,re

dateRegex = re.compile(r'''
    (\d|\d{2}|\d{4})  # match 1 digit, or two digits, or four digits
    (\s|-|\.|\/) # match either a space or a dash or a period or a backslash
    (\d{2}|\d) # match either 2 digits or one
    (\s|-|\.\/) # match either a space or a dash or a period or a backslash
    (\d{4}|\d{2}) # match either 4 or 2 digits.
    ''',)

text = "12/25/0000, 10.21.1955, 10-21-1985 6-5-1995 2004/2/21 5/25/2111 4999.2.21 "
a = dateRegex.findall(text):

Any idea why this isn't working?

A: This code works (see live):
import re
p = re.compile(ur'''(\d|\d{2}|\d{4})  # match 1 didget, or two didgets, or four didgets
                    ([-\s./]) # match either a space or a dash or a period or a backslash
                    (\d{1,2}) # match either 2 digets or one
                    ([-\s./]) # match either a space or a dash or a period or a backslash
                    (\d{4}|\d{2}) # match either 4 or 2 didgets.''', re.VERBOSE)
test_str = u"12/25/0000, 10.21.1955, 10-21-1985 6-5-1995 2004/2/21 5/25/2111 4999.2.21 "

print(p.findall(test_str))

You forget the option re.VERBOSE which means:

Spaces and text after a # in the pattern are ignored


How do you successfully build a culture of innovation through idea management?
This guide is designed to give a clear understanding of how to make idea management work for your business and why it's so important.
Why do you need to collect and manage ideas and why are they so valuable?
Who has asked for ideas and how will you measure success?
Who will you invite to your crowd?
How will you capture and manage ideas to ensure an efficient and sustainable process?
How will you foster a culture of innovation?