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Philosophical Side of Investing
The Overton Bubble
The Overton Window and Political Control
by Neal Devers
The Overton Window is a concept in political sociology referring to the range of acceptable opinions that can be held by respectable people.
"Respectable" of course means that the subject can be integrated with polite society. Respectability is a strong precondition on ability to have open influence in the mainstream.
Thus the Overton window becomes a mechanism of political control. If you can define the coordinating ideologies of all enemy political coalitions as outside the Overton window, then respectable society, which is your own power base, will be free of their influence, and they will be fatally marginalized. It is difficult to get your people to play along just by fiat, but it can be done. This is the basic insight behind official ideologies and religions, inquisitions, political repression of speech, and so on. It is an indispensable system of power for any ruling coalition, and is thus present in all societies.
The trouble with the Overton window as a mechanism of political control, and with politicization of speech and thought in general, is that it causes significant collateral damage on the ability of your society to think clearly. If some thoughts are unthinkable and unspeakable, and the truth happens in some case to fall outside of polite consensus, then your ruling elite and their society will run into situations they simply can't handle.
Thus a wise elite uses the politicization of speech very sparingly, only in situations where immediate political security is threatened, and they use it in concert with other destructive but effective mechanisms like martial law, state seizure of assets, and such, to quickly and decisively return to a state of political security. Once political security is restored, the lawful freedom which is necessary for clear thought and prosperity can be reinstated.
There are two things that can go wrong with this:
The elite is not wise, and thus does unwise and destructive things despite not needing to.
The elite is permanently insecure, and is thus forced to do destructive things to maintain their position.
An unwise political elite is one incapable of thinking clearly about their strategic situation, acting in concert, or sticking to a plan. One source of lack of wisdom is lack of unity and coherence of the core elite, for example if it has become too large and informal instead of small and hierarchical. Another is that thought and speech have become so weaponized that the inability to think leaks into the core elite itself. This is a root problem much less often than most people realize. It's usually downstream of insecurity:
An insecure political elite is one which has either no sufficient mechanisms of political power short of the politicization of speech and thought, or is faced by such powerful but somehow never decisively powerful enemies that they need to permanently escalate to a state of vigorous politicization of speech and thought. We can compare this state to "intellectual martial law", for its structural similarity to the physical-security equivalent.
The Overton Window and Democracy
A permanent political opposition that is powerful enough to threaten, but never powerful enough to fully overthrow, and a lack of the more efficient power mechanisms like simply criminalizing political opposition, are of course key features of our old friend Democracy.
Democracy deprives the elite of the formal power to efficiently use official propaganda, the legal system, and security forces directly against their opposition, or in service of their own power. It also makes building a viable and threatening opposition as easy as credibly promising preferential treatment to a majority of the electorate, which is almost always possible through wealth redistribution at least, and usually other ways. This creates a state of politics with at least two serious political factions in conflict, none of which can ever fully lock down their power.
When hegemony, alliance, or understanding is reached between these factions by extra-democratic means, so that there are no immediate political threats, governance can focus on order and prosperity. But the democratic system makes such situations highly unstable, and too easy for part of the elite to defect, or for some counter-elite to emerge, and so more serious conflict between the factions emerges.
In the last half century of the 20th century in America, one of the most critical extra-democratic mechanisms of stability has been hegemonic control of the intellectual landscape by an elite-managed consensus in the media companies, publishers, and universities. This made it extremely difficult for anyone to organize a truly hostile and effective counter-coalition. Having some level of security, the elite only needed speech to be politicized to a certain extent. They were of course still too insecure to be able to openly explore less fashionable ideas like segregation and real anti-communism; they had a restrictive overton window, and still had to fight to keep it. But thanks to the hegemonic control of key intellectual spaces, it was relatively easy to keep more or less all intellectuals inside safe bounds.
New Media and the Overton Bubble
But with the rise of the Internet, self-publishing, and social media, it has become much easier to build intellectual conversations outside of the overton window of the universities. This blog and all of our co-intellectuals, for example, exist mostly outside the overton window. Donald Trump, another example, used the mainstream media, but was critically able to speak directly to his fans through social media and self-publishing, and exploit weaknesses in the media's information control system, and thus operate entirely outside of their control, and thus build a real existential opposition, as small and disorganized as it is. An older example, Hitler, likewise exploited emerging technologies like cheap publication, radio, voice amplification, and motor transportation to directly educate himself, reach people, and build his coalition through new uncontrolled channels.
At the same time as this recent breakdown of hegemonic intellectual control by the elite consensus, we have seen a radicalization of that consensus, a rapid shifting of the Overton window to require affirmation of ever-newer political correctness norms, and to require disavowal of opinions widespread among the elite even 10 years ago. Despite an increase in the power and availability of "right wing" and other unorthodox ideas, folks within the Overton window are less willing to hear and understand ideas outside the mainstream than ever before in Western history. Even at the height of religious persecution of heretics, top theologians were engaging more honestly and openly with the best heresies than Harvard does today. The Overton window has become an Overton bubble, with most respectable people trapped inside of it, unable to hear or think thoughts outside it.
We believe these two trends – breakdown of the intellectual power of the Overton window, and radicalization into the Overton bubble – are related.
If we interpret the actions of the consensus inside the bubble in the context of their old hegemony, they make perfect sense. When media and universities had hegemonic control over the intellectual space, an effective, if destructive, tactic was to radicalize the thing a bit to flush out the insufficiently loyal, and then purge everyone who doesn't step in line. The heretics, thus exiled, would be doomed to wander the intellectual wasteland outside of the universities, and would not be able to organize any kind of counter-thought. Thus the Overton window occasionally shifting and expelling the "bigots" was an effective means of political control.
Today, it is no longer effective; the expelled intellectuals go on thinking and publishing and working together, they just do it over the internet in an uncontrolled fashion. It's still weaker out here for the most part than inside the bubble, but that has been rapidly changing over the past few years, and we can expect the trend to continue. It is no longer effective because exclusion from the bubble, no matter how vigorous, is no longer intellectually fatal, and is even becoming liberating.
It is no longer effective, but almost by definition, those within the Overton bubble are unable to accurately perceive or understand what is happening outside the bubble, lest they be purged. And all this analysis is quite outside the bubble, so they have a hard time realizing that Overton radicalization and expulsion is no longer a viable mechanism of political control. That combined with institutional momentum holding them in the operating pattern that has worked for them for the past few hundred years, and they keep on with business as usual, responding to dissent with radicalization and exclusion, despite its impending failure.
The Impending Crisis of Democracy
And so now we are stuck with a really nasty situation: A closed bubble of mainstream left-wing thought unwilling and incapable of engaging with anything outside itself, which is rapidly shifting so that almost all principles of good governance and civilization are outside it. And on the other side an uncontrolled free-for-all outside the bubble, not mature enough to reliably settle on truth and the principles of civilization, but quite economical enough to organize effective and fully hostile challengers to the elite consensus.
The viability of a true opposition makes democracy much more dangerous. With two viable intellectual-political coalitions with no moderating ties to each other, the low-level conflict inherent in democracy can get much closer to total war. Civilian partisans, facts, social institutions, family ties, and conceptions of morality all become legitimate targets in the struggle for power. I know people in the trenches of this conflict on both sides, and that is how they think; everything is a legitimate target. The word-of-the-year for 2016 was "post-truth" for a reason.
If this trend continues, deepening sociopolitical division and developing maturity of the conflict will lead to a crisis of democracy, when we will face a fully developed clash of civilizations within one society. This will terminate in civil war, a military coup, revolution, and/or tyranny; it is hard to predict how said conflict will go, because the sides have very different strengths. Roughly, most of the guns on one side, and most of the brains on the other. We can't tell which will be the decisive dimension of conflict, but from the perspective of civilization, either outcome looks disastrous.
If two factions won't talk, war is inevitable. If the elite mainstream won't open to dialogue and understanding with the outside, and the outside doesn't make good-faith attempts to engage with the intellectual mainstream, the intellectual-political landscape will divide, and we will get civil war.
There are three major factors of this pessimistic prediction, which, if changed, could ameliorate the situation:
Uncontrolled new media will make truly hostile well-developed dissent and well-organized opposition possible.
The information channels between the mainstream and the opposition will remain closed, so that there is no responsiveness to good points on the other side.
Democracy will incentivize the deepening of this conflict. Your voters can be more effectively mobilized if they are radicalized. Enemy voters are less effective if you ruthlessly attack every aspect of their coalition.
So if we avoid a crisis of democracy, it will be because new media and the opposition it enables is somehow reined in by the elite, the Overton bubble pops and earnest honest and open dialogue occurs between the factions, or because we undergo an orderly transition away from democracy, or at least away from effective democracy; it is possible to retain democracy-in-name while not having it in substance, but this is less stable than formally getting rid of it.
Each of those is various shades of massively damaging, absurdly unrealistic, and politically impossible. I find the last option, transition to post-democratic politics in which tight control over the range of acceptable opinions is no longer necessary for the elite to maintain its position, to be the most promising, especially as such control is shaping up to become some combination of impossible and destructive.
But not just any post-democratic system will do. It will have to be quite well thought-out, and executed responsibly, to work. It's almost like someone should be studying and preparing for that transition full time…
Or maybe my whole hypothesis here is wrong. I hope so, but I don't think so.
In the mean time, the least we can do is to avoid bringing the political struggle to the dinner table with our families this thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving!
Source:The Future Primaeval
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Home/Anime List/Top 20: Best Ecchi Anime Shows to Watch This Year (2021)
Anime ListAnime
Top 20: Best Ecchi Anime Shows to Watch This Year (2021)
Arbaz KhanLast Updated: September 30, 2021
In my experience, many people consider ecchi anime shows as a sort of avenue to express the "male fantasy" associated with watching cute anime girls with exposed bodies. However, that is not entirely the case. Ecchi anime has long been a staple in the anime community, and I'm here to tell you why.
Before that, what exactly comes to mind when we hear the word "ecchi"? Ludicrous fan service, crazy clothing damage, and the main characters having the best luck in the world as they find themselves in erotic situations all the time. And there is a reason, apart from all the erotic hijinks, that the ecchi anime genre has become so popular and one of the reasons I can think of is the amazing art style, closely followed by an amazing plot; and of course there's also the large number of anime fans wanting to see a little spice in their anime shows!
Though we can all agree that there's a degree of attractiveness associated with watching bare-skinned girls and guys, that is not all ecchi anime have to offer. If that were the case, where do we draw the line between ecchi and more explicit media forms? Simple. We make that line with the plot presented. Ecchi is more than just busty girls with curvy bodies, and this list is here to prove that.
The Best Ecchi Anime of 2021
21. The Seven Deadly Sins
In a world of gods and demons reside the seven deadly sins, a group of seven all-powerful warriors of varying races and abilities tasked with defending the land from these higher powers. Of course, intertwined with the high-octane combat and extraordinary character moments, there's a bit of sensuality in there too.
Author Suzuki Nakaba can diffuse a heated situation instantly with a little groping skit between the lead protagonist-heroine couple Melodias & Elizabeth, for some very hilarious moments.
20. Rosario to Vampire
At Youkai High, everything seems quite normal. Students go to classes like History, P.E, Mathematics and then go back to their dorms at the end of the day. Oh, right. This school is also only for monsters! Our hopeless MC Tsukune Aono is a normal human being whose parents enroll him at this academia for the paranormal unknowingly, as a last-ditch effort for their academically inept son.
Join Tsukune as he dives into a world of vampires, werewolves, and a heap of other extraordinary encounters, including panty flashes.
19. Freezing
In a dystopian future where the world is plagued by interdimensional invaders known as the Nova, a young man named Kazuya Aoi has enrolled in the prestigious military school West Genetics. This facility is dedicated to nourishing promising candidates to fight these disasters.
Freezing chronicles the tales of Kazuya as he meets the infamous Satellizer El Bridget, a woman known to be untouchable by any man yet is not disturbed by Kazuya's touch. The two pair up as Pandora and Limiter to combat the impending doom and explore the depths of romance their mysterious powers bring with them.
18. Keijo!!!!!!!!
This entry truly captures the spirit of ecchi. Set in modern Japan, Keijo!!!!!!!! is an anime that revolves around a newly introduced sport that shares the same name as the show. This sport is strictly for women, and the premise involves these girls pitted against each other on platforms encircled by large swimming pools. They must knock each other off these platforms using… their breasts and butts!
MC Nozomi Kaminashi is a promising Keijo athlete who causes a storm on her debut. If you're a fan of unique and rather lewd situations, take a look at what Nozomi and the gang have in store.
17. Shokugeki no Souma
Souma Yukihira is the star of this culinary fable. As a gifted chef right from a young age under his father's tutelage, Souma must put his gourmet mastery to the test. When sent to Totsuki Culinary Academy, Souma's skills are put to the test against other students in a battle of delicacies known as Shokugeki or "food wars", clashes meant to test their mettle and talent.
Watch Souma knock his opponents' socks (and other clothing *wink wink*) right off with his delicious cuisine as he and his friends attempt to graduate from this prestigious establishment.
16. Strike The Blood
There's just something about vampires and ecchi anime that makes their combination so powerful! After a fateful encounter, Kojou Akatsuki discovers he's blessed with the abilities of the world's most powerful vampire. In response to this, an organization known as "Lion King" dispatches sword-shaman Yukina Himeragi to watch over this walking time bomb and ensure he's safely sent to the other side should he misbehave.
The two unknowingly find solace in each other as comrades, as they try their best to combat all forces threatening Itogami island while courting the attention of many interested women too.
15. So, I Can't Play H?
Don't let the title scare you, So I Can't Play H! is a tale of a … "passionate," or relatively erotically experienced teenager Ryosuke Kaga and his escapades with the Death Goddess or "Shinigami" Lisara Restole. After ignorantly allowing Lisara to take some of his "essence" to remain in the human world, Ryosuke discovers that this essence the goddess demands are his not-so-safe-for-work thoughts and fantasies!
Will Ryosuke be able to satiate this temperamental goddess who dines on his perverted imagination and send her back to her world? Watch and find out!
14. Trinity Seven
After his hometown is obliterated in the mysterious "Breakdown Phenomenon," Arata Kasuga is thrown into a world of magic and wonder as he attempts to unravel the secrets left behind for him by his childhood friend within a mystical grimoire. This grimoire can reconstruct the world Arata wishes to see again; his home. Immediately, this case is noticed by Lilith, a student of the top-secret magic school Royal Biblia Academy.
Arata enrolls here to unlock the secrets of the grimoire and dabbles in some ecchi hijinks along the way as a member of the "Trinity Seven," a group of seven gifted students with incredible and overwhelming abilities.
13. Date A Live
Date A Live occurs in a world plagued by a unique phenomenon known as "spatial quakes" – vibrations of an unknown origin with force capable of sending cities and even entire continents into havoc. When Shidou Itsuka gets caught in the middle of a spatial quake and attempts to rescue his little sister Kotori, he discovers the cause of these quakes; a spirit!
Thrust into a new miraculous perspective on the world, Shidou must calm down these spirits by getting them to fall in love with him. Join our casanova MC in the ranks of the mysterious group "Ratatoskr", an organization dedicated to saving spirits… which just so happens to be led by his sister!
12. Masou Gakuen HxH
The testosterone-inducing protagonist of Masou Gakuen HxH is Hida Kizuna, an HHG or Heart Hybrid Gear ability wielder. Though his strength is lacking, his sister sends him to Amaterasu, a group dedicated to combating enemies from another world.
Here, Kizuna discovers he can power up his female comrades, who are also users of HHG, through erotic experiences with them. Kizuna's everyday life is about to be flipped upside down, as he struggles to arouse his big-breasted allies and unlock their latent potential to save the world.
11. Kiss x Sis
This taboo tale of sibling love gone too far will surely arouse many viewers' thoughts. Keita Suminoe has been acquainted with his step-sisters Ako and Riko since kindergarten, resulting in a deep bond forming between the three.
Though innocent at first, the "love" these two have for him soon develops into something more… erotic. Those that watch Kiss x Sis will find themselves rolling on the floor laughing at the many ways with which Keita tries to dodge his sisters' advances, whether romantic or ecchi.
10. Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou
In a Japan where monster and man lawfully live hand-in-hand, Kimihito Kurusu finds his quiet life changed forever. Due to an interspecies exchange coordinator's incompetence, namely Agent Smith, Kimihito finds himself as the caretaker of a lamia (a half snake-half woman demi-human) indefinitely.
However, this is merely the beginning of a series of wacky interactions between races. With every passing day, Kimihito finds himself surrounded by more and more attractive, bodacious, and VERY lustful demi-human women who can't help but want his affection.
9. Yosuga no Sora
I mentioned earlier that there's more to ecchi anime than just naked girls and panty shots, and this anime is living proof of that. Siblings Haruka and Sora return to the countryside to live with their grandfather after their parents passed away in a car accident. They soon run into old friends and make new ones, and all is calm.
However, life for this brother and sister is about to change for good as they find themselves spiraling as suppressed emotions and memories begin haunting them. Yosuga no Sora is an anime that captures the depth of hidden memories and explores how morality is bent and broken.
8. Shinmai Maou no Testament
Don't you hate it when your dad brings back new step-sisters, and they turn out to be all-powerful demons? Basara Toujou can definitely agree with this statement. After discovering his newly acquainted step-sisters are forces of evil, Basara is forced to reveal his lineage as a descendant of a long line of heroes.
Unfortunately, Basara soon becomes attached to his new siblings Mio and Maria and finds himself going as far as making a master-servant contract to protect them from any forces that threaten to wreck this perverted family.
7. Highschool of the Dead
Late author Daisuke Sato's famous work HighSchool of The Dead is an anime that doesn't mince words about its premise; zombies & hot girls killing them. MC Takashi finds himself plagued by grief when he has to kill his best friend after he's caught by and transformed into a zombie. Takashi vows to protect his dead friend's lover, Rei, from the fiends of the afterlife.
Joining him is a calm kendo beauty, a beautiful nurse, a politician's daughter, and a trigger-happy otaku. Intense action of the bloody and sensual kind is all that awaits any that wish to watch this retelling of the zombie apocalypse.
6. Sekirei
Minato Sahashi is a brilliant yet insecure man whose self-esteem is ground into dust by those around him due to him struggling to enter college. One day, he encounters a blessing from the heavens… no, literally, a girl called Musubi falls from the sky into his arms, and his life is changed forever.
She is an extraterrestrial existence known as a Sekirei and can unlock latent and extraordinary powers by kissing a compatible partner. After bonding, these two are forced to fight against other Sekirei, with their lives and romance on the line. Watch Minato change the world of Sekirei, one kiss at a time!
5. Prison School
Hachimitsu Private Academy is a prestigious all-girls boarding school until a new decree is passed to enroll boys. Enter the unfortunate group of five, Gakuto, Jo, Andre, Shingo, and Kiyoshi, the only boys accepted to the school. The five are quickly thrown to the deep end, as the girls all brand them as lesser without even having the chance to make an impression.
In the act of defiance, the lads try and spy on the ladies' bath; with disastrous consequences. Now the quintet group is forced into the school's prison to reflect fully on their perverted schemes… or make new ones?
4. Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san
Our hero this time around is financially handicapped and mystical "expert" Kogarashi. He finds himself at Yuragi-sou, a cheap boarding house that has not attracted new customers in years due to rumors of it being haunted by a malicious evil spirit.
As a psychic, Kogarashi wishes to unravel the mystery behind this phenomenon. But it turns out that the evil spirit Yuuna is not only friendly but extremely attractive too. Kogarashi and the supernaturally and curvaceously endowed inhabitants of Yuragi-sou, work together to unravel Yuuna's past and free her from her mortal ties to prevent this sweet girl from being sent to a nasty place in the afterlife.
3. How NOT To Summon The Demon Lord
How NOT To Summon A Demon Lord starts in the MMORPG world of Cross Reverie. Takuma Sakamoto is the protagonist of this story and the most renowned player in Cross Reverie, Diablo. But he is simply a shut-in gaming addict with no social skills in real life.
One day, Takuma is forcefully summoned to another world by the demi-human Rem and bodacious Elf Shera. But he realizes he is in the body of his gaming avatar Diablo! This unlikely couple of ecchi and isekai genre manages to squeeze in those oh-so-sweet lewd moments amid high-octane action with this unlikely trio, giving viewers the best of both worlds.
2. Heaven's Lost Property
The ever eccentric sky enthusiast Eishirou Sugata is the trigger to this heavenly story. Our main character Tomoki has been constantly hounded by dreams of an angel ever since he was a child. His childhood friend Sohara enlists Eishirou's help in finding a remedy for this incident, to which the latter says Tomoki is connected to the floating anomaly known simply as "New World".
Tomoki and Sohara join Eishirou's newly founded club, the New World Discovery Club, only for them to be shocked when a large chested female angel falls from the sky (what is it with anime girls and falling from the sky?) and calls Tomoki master. Tomoki and the gang dive into a world of angeloids, with nothing but the sky as their limit.
1. Highschool DxD
The last entry on this list, and certainly the best, is the iconic ecchi anime series that arguably set the groundwork for modern ecchi titles to follow in its steps. Issei Hyoudo is as lustful as they come. He dreams of owning a harem and doing many… "questionable" things with women. He believes his prayers have been answered one day when he is asked out on a date by a hot girl, but she instead ends up killing him!
Now reincarnated as an underling of his senior Rias, a high-class devil, Hyoudo must now join his school's Occult Research Club and fight angels and demons to survive in his new role. Highschool DxD perfectly captures the desires of one person whose destiny has been tangled in a web of risqué, magical, and near-omnipotent women.
Did You Find Your Favorite Ecchi Anime Shows?
I'm sure that if you've made it this far, you know that ecchi anime are as vast as the oceans that cover our planet. Whether it's isekai, seinen, fantasy, or even drama, there's always a way to fit in a little bit of sensuality into your favorite show while still keeping the charm that all the anime we've consumed over the years present.
So don't be shy! Broaden your horizons, reach for the sky, and you might find a chest… I mean anime, that's just right for you. But if you are already an expert in the genre and have watched all sorts of ecchi shows, then I want to know which are the best ecchi anime shows according to you. Use the comments section below to share your recommendations!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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by Ally Free
© Copyright - Ally Free / Ally Free (194171206863)
The music in this album is a mixture of upbeat rhythms against a backdrop of sultry southern rock laced with soul.
Genre: Rock: Classic Rock
1. Fast Train
2. Maybe Possibly
3. Fine Wine
4. Fools Gold
5. Merry-Go-Round
6. Break the Mold
7. What You Do (To Me)
8. Who's Gonna Fight for Me
From the jazzy upbeat rhythms of Merry-Go-Round, Fine Wine, and Fast Train ; to the sultry, soulful rock sounds of Break the Mold, What You Do to Me, and Fool's Gold, this debut album has a little something for almost everyone. Maybe Possibly adds a bit of urban country to what may seem like an album filled with multiple personalities. What pulls the project together is the husky , from the gut vocals of Ally Free. Her voice travels over the notes as she strums them on her acoustic guitar and winds itself through the accompanying instruments. It's a voice filled with emotion from pain to joy from heartache to healing. All of the songs on the album come from a place in the heart; and you feel it from the moment the first note hits the ears.
The bonus track Who's Gonna Fight For Me was written for veteran's who suffer from PTSD, depression and other emotional problems. "Twenty Two Won't Do" and the song title says it all. "After all that I've been through, who's gonna fight for me"?This song is for all veterans and those who serve. It is dedicated especially to Marine Gunnery Sergeant Edwin Johnson who was killed in action in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. He believed in me and my music and encouraged me to pursue it.
A big thank you Aaron Stapler on bass and lead guitar and Corey Killough on drums. This album was produced and mastered by EQ Labs and Block Beattaz, album photography by Kobi Childers and artwork by JM Mullins. Drums were recorded with Billy Teichmiller.


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RAID 0 as main drives?
SSD or SSHD for my old Acer 5738Z laptop.
Storage array with 16x 8Tb SAS drives (ST8000NM0075)?


This plate was produced for the edition 'Obelisco', 1992. Porcelain in glazed blue relief print, verso signed and dated 'Richter '92' burnt in glaze. This piece comes from a series of 'everyday porcelain' produced in Kahla on behalf of the Cologne "Edition Obelisco" following the designs of contemporary artists and presented 1992 at Art Cologne.
This sign of a cross "X" drawn by hand with felt pen, in duplo on two discs of glass and put on top of each other is the basis for reproduction of a series of unlimited samples. For display Joëlle Tuerlinckx suggests in the accompanying certificate to use a furniture piece, a desk, a window sill, to hold it in one's hand or to put it on a shelf. The two discs are shown on top of each other with the crosses not necessarily perfectly fitting.
This edition comes together with a piece of wrapping paper and also called "Blockbuster or Avant garde?" as an insert in Cut magazine about art issue #19 – November 2018. Published by Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
This booklet is a catalogue with a feel of an artist's book filled with solely images + an ultra short CV. Anders Tornberg worked closely together with artists like Gerald Rockenschaub. Hence the design Rockenschaub made for this publication.
LILY VAN DER STOKKER, Decent, tidy, 2014. This edition is a series of unique pieces. The flowers changes colors from piece to piece.
The dinner plates of this edition were sold separately and published by Catherine Issert Editions, Saint Paul de Vence in France.
As a set this edition is difficult to find.


Hydrogen Sulfide (H 2S) is known as an insidious killer and goes by a number of unsavory names:sour gas, meadow gas, stink damp, Devil's Breath, and sulfureated hydrogen. It is a colorless gas that can be routinely found around decaying organic material and in some oil and gas operations. It smells like rotten eggs at extremely low concentrations, but it quickly, though temporarily, kills the sense of smell at higher concentrations. (This property gives a false sense of security to the unsuspecting.) H 2S is a highly-hazardous gas which rapidly renders its unfortunate victims unconscious, paralyzes the respiratory system, and then causes death in a matter of just a few minutes. However you can work safely in H 2S environments if you are properly trained, utilize appropriate engineering precautions, and are equipped with the proper personal protective equipment.
In the mid 1980s, several concerned safety professionals working in oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin area of west Texas gathered to discuss the consequences of some recent H 2S accidents that had occurred within their industry. As their discussions delved deeper into the root causes of these incidents, it became apparent that there were serious deficiencies in the content and conduct of the numerous H 2S training programs that were being conducted at that time.
A cursory examination of the proffered sessions at that time revealed that the required H 2S certificate could be obtained upon completion of a class which ranged from 15 minutes to up to 4 hours. The length of the course seemed to depend on the experience and professional integrity of the instructor, as well as the particular course curriculum. Not only did the course content vary radically from one organization to another, but it was even possible to purchase a training certificate without actually attending any of the training activities...providing you were willing and able to pay the asking price! As a result of their findings, one early goal of these safety pioneers was to establish an exemplary process to thoroughly prepare the instructors that were conducting this critical training.
The next logical step for this group was to brainstorm a curriculum for their visionary hydrogen sulfide safety training course. They examined literally dozens of industry-accepted H 2S certification training programs, past and present, to determine what criteria was relevant and critical to their project. They then compared those critical issues to the investigative results of numerous H 2S accidents. They needed to insure that proper training on those issues would have a irect bearing on the probable prevention of similar incidents.
inally they knew that they had the correct training concept, but how could they insure the transfer of this information to the many hydrogen sulfide safety instructors? And how could they insure that those instructors possessed the proper technical knowledge and training skills to adequately conduct the training? It soon became apparent that another critical piece of this puzzle would have to be the creation of a comprehensive H 2S safety training instructor development course.


Shiffrin Ends Dream Season With Fourth World Cup Crystal Globe, And Her First Giant Slalom Title.
Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) closed out her dream season with a fourth FIS Ski World Cup Crystal Globe - and her first giant slalom title - following her 17th victory of the season at Saturday's World Cup Finals giant slalom in Soldeu, Andorra.
"I've been dreaming about (winning the giant slalom Crystal Globe) for a really long time," Shiffrin said. "Since...before my first slalom Globe. And there have been a lot of moments in the past eight years where I thought I would never be able to achieve this goal.
The most World Cup victories in a season - 17.
And she did it all with gas left in the tank after 26 World Cup starts this season and racking up an impressive 70-percent win ratio - the highest winning record of any athlete in any major sport! Her worst finish of the season was ninth in downhill at Lake Louise, Canada, which is impressive in itself as it was only her seventh-ever World Cup downhill start.
But throughout the entire season, Shiffrin has not focused on the victories, the records, or the Globes. Her focus has remained on one thing, and one thing only - the quality of her skiing.
Despite having the GS globe secured by a guaranteed second or third-place finish by Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin still skied the second run with full intensity and was able to pick up her 17th win of the season. She was followed on the podium in second place by World Junior Champion Alice Robinson of New Zealand. The 17-year-old was sitting in third after the first run and maintained a podium position with a head-turning performance from bib 21 to finish 0.30 seconds behind Shiffrin in second place. Vlhova finished third in the race and second in the GS World Cup standings. Tessa Worley of France was fourth in the race and completed the standings' podium in third.
Robinson held on for second - her first career World Cup podium - and Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, the 2019 Giant Slalom World Champion, rounded out the podium in third.
With the season wrapped up, Shiffrin is off for a few days of rest and relaxation in Spain before heading back to the United States. But after being pushed by Robinson Sunday and Vlhova all season long, she knows that next season's prep has already started.


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SXSW Interactive Provides Valuable Lessons To Civic Organizations & Publishers
SXSW Interactive has officially wrapped up just a few miles from the Bar-Z office. The yearly tech conference, currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, always brings new technology and discussion how a variety of industries should adapt to technological change. In past years, there has always been a stand out app or start-up. A noticeable shift in the conference seemed to take place this year. There was no standout app or real buzzworthy news to come out of the conference. Instead, sessions seemed to revolve more around some big picture issues. We will break down the issues and trends for our two major audiences: Civic and Publishers.
For anyone on the government side, there were essentially a few major points that arose on the local level. First, President Obama's keynote gave a call to action to the technology community to help "take this democracy back in ways we have not seen in a long time." The President noted how culturally different technology and government are from each other. Technology is constantly growing, while the government is stuck with outdated technology.
This was also reflected in many of the 20 mayors that spoke on various panels on a variety of topics. There was a general consensus that governments on a local level needed to start considering new technology as a means to improve the livelihood of their cities. One example was the Mayor of Baltimore discussion how she was using mobile/digital solutions for food and grocery delivery in food deserts in Baltimore neighborhoods.
Transportation was also a major hot topic of the mayor's visits. Every one of the mayors in town got the chance to experience Google's self-driving cars. One panel featured Kasim Reed, Mayor of the City of Atlanta, and Muriel Bowser, Mayor of the District of Columbia. Reed mentioned that he didn't believe that people would be parking at his airport in 20 years due to ride-sharing, bikes and self-driving cars. Therefore, he let up on spending for that aspect.
While there wasn't an app, like Meerkat, that stood out at this year's conference. Virtual reality seemed to fill the void. It was the one technology that seemed impossible to escape. VR headsets were in pop-ups for McDonalds, Samsung, PlayStation and more. Virtual reality is not new to SXSW by any means appearing in pop-ups for Game of Thrones and Samsung in year's past.
However, due to the high volume of VR at the conference, there was discussion if this was the next medium publishers needed to invest in. The New York Times actually threw a party to show off their NYT VR content through Google Cardboard viewers. Some of this content included brands, like Mini and GE, who shelled out roughly $1.5 million for their campaigns. The only problem that arose was a lot of consumers aren't aware of VR just yet. Many headsets are scheduled to launch this year and at more affordable pricing. These releases and prices might finally bring VR into everyday consumer's life, as New York Times media columnist, Jim Rutenberg, mentioned during his session on Saturday. Regardless, it got legacy media talking on how they need to adapt and what this meant for this industry.
Overall, journlism sessions tried to direct focus to remembering your audience at the heart of content creation. This was stressed thruogh the importance of analytics. Speakers from Buzzfeed to Thrillest all spoke on quality content and experiences. However, the conversation did not stop there. Many referenced the importance of new technology and social media in growing a brand into new verticals. They also discussed how it was critical to understand the limits of that platform. Tasty from Buzzfeed was the most commonly used example of a media company creating a new vertical and understanding the limits that come from that platform. Others even took it a step further like, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff. Bankoff spoke on the growing company's brands beyond their websites and helping marketers do the same through Vox's technology platforms.
Even with the shift in conversations from new technology to hot topics, SXSW Interactive had a lot of valuable information to provide to attendees. We are already excited to see what SXSW 2017 might have in store.
Photo credit: SXSW Live
Tags:Community Inspiration


Here, experts explain this phenomenon and dispel other popular cheating myths. They're largely satisfied with all they have and aren't looking for a way out, yet they still find themselves in bed with other women—and in hot water with their wives.If your spouse has committed adultery and moved out, you might wonder whether you want him back or if your marriage is worth salvaging.A separation can give you time to objectively assess the relationship and determine if the strengths outweigh the weaknesses, according to the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center in "Can a Marriage Survive a Separation?
I wanted to share it: Stage 1: Attraction In the first stage of dating, we find ourselves attracted to a potential partner. It is our hope that the feeling is mutual, that the timing is right, and that we will have an opportunity to explore the possibilities.


Vegazi.com - This great name is for sale on Brandroot!
A smart and snappy name with green roots. Vegazi is strikingly modern, with unique qualities for a variety of healthcare and environmentally focused brands.


text:
Q: response body from restTemplate is getting truncated when downloading a file I am using spring RestTemplate to download a file. The file size is small.
I want to get base64 encoded String. but I see the base64 encoded string is truncated from what it is supposed to be.
Here is my code
RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
restTemplate.getMessageConverters().add(
                new ByteArrayHttpMessageConverter());

        StreamResourceReader reader = new StreamResourceReader();
        restTemplate.execute(uri, HttpMethod.POST, null,
                new StreamResponseExtractor(reader));
        return reader.getEncodedString();

StreamResourceReader.java
public class StreamResourceReader  {

    private String encodeString;

    public void read(InputStream content) {
        try {
            encodeString = Base64.encodeBase64String(IOUtils.toByteArray(content));
        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
        }
    }

    public ByteArrayOutputStream getOutputStream(){
        return outputStream;
    }

    public String getEncodedString() {
        return encodeString;
    }
}

StreamResponseExtractor.java
public class StreamResponseExtractor implements ResponseExtractor<InputStream> {

    private StreamResourceReader reader;

    public StreamResponseExtractor(StreamResourceReader resourceReader) {
        this.reader=resourceReader;
    }

    @Override
    public InputStream extractData(ClientHttpResponse response) throws IOException {
        reader.read(response.getBody());
        return null;
   }
}

EDIT
  just found out that inputStream is truncated. I dont know why and what the fix is. any help here would be appreciated.
Thanks

A: To confirm if your input stream is indeed truncated you can try few things. What IOUtils.toByteArray(content) does is buffers internally the content of input stream and returns the buffer. You can compare the length of buffer array with the byte array the file actually represents. You can do latter with below code
String filePath = "/test.txt";
byte[] fileByteArray= Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get(filePath));

Also ClientHttpResponse ( client view of http response) too has the inputstream available which you can check for content.
InputStream getBody() throws IOException;

As a test for this scenario , I created spring boot Rest client using Rest Template (using the code you shared) and a service for file download again using Spring Boot. On comparing the base encoded String from download vs direct file access, both return same content (compared using String equals method).
UPDATE: Another thing worth trying is just use  java.net.HttpURLConnection
in a simple program (for help see here)  and try to download the content and check whether this works properly because behind all the Spring abstractions, in this case the underlying object used is HttpURLConnection only
SimpleClientHttpResponse extends AbstractClientHttpResponse {

public InputStream getBody() throws IOException {
        InputStream errorStream = this.connection.getErrorStream();
        this.responseStream = (errorStream != null ? errorStream : this.connection.getInputStream());
        return this.responseStream;
    }

...........
...........
}

If this also gives you the same issue, then it's time to look at the server side. May be the server is not sending the complete data.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Tennis player Andy Roddick is officially off the market.
The athlete, 26, wed his longtime girlfriend, Sports Illustrated model Brooklyn Decker, 21, in an intimate ceremony Friday evening, Usmagazine.com has confirmed.
"It was really simple but beautiful," a source tells Us. "Just close friends and family."
Roddick and Decker exchanged platinum wedding bands by Tiffany & Co. during the ceremony, which included a performance by Elton John. The nuptials were intended to be low-key without "a big Hollywood crowd as [Andy and Brooklyn are] not like that," a source told Us prior to the event.
See celebs' intimate wedding photos.
News of the Friday ceremony was first reported last week by the New York Post, who said Decker celebrated her upcoming wedding with bridesmaids during "a big bachelorette weekend" on April 11 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
"They just bounced around and had a great time," added the paper.
The couple met in 2007 when Roddick asked his agent to contact Decker's agent after seeing her in SI. He proposed to Decker in March 2008 but said they weren't in any rush to walk down the aisle.
Check out which celebs won't wed.
"With their hectic travel schedules, Andy and Brooklyn plan to enjoy their engagement," said a statement posted on their Web site.


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Liverpool consider Marco Asensio as Mohamed Salah replacement
by Sankalp Srivastava
Home » transfer-news » Liverpool consider Marco Asensio as Mohamed Salah replacement
Liverpool have reportedly identified Real Madrid forward Marco Asensio as a potential replacement for Mohamed Salah.
According to Fichajes, Real Madrid star Marco Asensio is one of four names Liverpool have identified to replace Mohamed Salah should the Egyptian international decide to move on from Anfield. The other three players who the Reds could target are Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele, Bayern Munich's Serge Gnabry and Paris Saint-Germain's Angel Di Maria.
Salah will have a year remaining on his contract after the ongoing season. Talks over a possible extension haven't gone smoothly so far, with the player reluctant to accept the Reds' latest offer. However, the contract talks haven't affected his on-field performances, as he continues to lead the club's charge for a possible quadruple.
The 29-year-old has hit unforeseen heights at Anfield this season and has been one of the world's best players over the last year. He has scored 28 goals in 35 appearances for the club across all competitions this season and has provided 10 assists. Salah is currently leading the Premier League goalscoring charts with 20 goals and looks set to win the Golden Boot.
All in all, the forward has made 238 appearances for the Reds, scoring 153 goals since joining them in 2017 from AS Roma. With Salah leading the club's attack during their most successful period in recent memory, his departure could leave a big hole to fill at Liverpool. As a result, they have already started looking for potential replacements.
Could Asensio be donning the Red of Liverpool soon? (Photo by Oscar del Pozo/AFP/Getty Images)
Asensio, one of the players on their list, is having a great season with Los Blancos after a series of disappointing campaigns. Since being promoted to the club's first team in the 2016/17 season, the Spaniard is yet to score ten league goals in a season – a mark he looks set to breach this season.
The 26-year-old has scored ten goals across competitions for Real Madrid this term, including eight in La Liga. But he is at risk of falling down the pecking order ahead of Kylian Mbappe's impending move to Los Blancos.
Asensio's recent form has alerted Liverpool, and with just a year remaining on his contract after the current season, he could be a good option for the Reds and might come in a bit cheaper. But all of it depends on Salah's contract situation at Anfield.
Tags: Liverpool FCmarco asensiomohamed salahReal Madrid


Haciendo el Indio make quaint prints, textiles, dolls and jewellery, all featuring gorgeous pictures of little people. The water-ink printed fabrics are just delicious and are made into handy items such as clothing protectors called Maxibibs for babies and kids up to 3+, and bags great for taking to the pool or library.
Haciendo el Indio hails from Spain, the brainchild of Cristina Serrano, an illustrator and designer who swapped her urban life for a calmer one near the Mediterranean. The arrival of her own children inspired her to create pretty things for kids that captured the essence of their innocent life stories thus far.
Haciendo el Indio happily ships abroad. Dolls start at €26, Maxibibs are €18, artworks are €8 to €25 and jewellery from €16 to €36.


I finally completed my 21 day "This Is Me: Love Yourself Naked" challenge! The challenge included doing my home workout program, checking in with my online group, and drinking my superfoods shake daily. I had planned on following the Shift Shop program, which was 21 days with rest days on Sundays. The workouts increased from 25 minutes sessions in week one, to 35 minute sessions in week two, to 45 minute sessions in week three.
I actually really liked the workouts, but I quickly got bored doing the same moves all the time. I went to the 45 minute workouts almost immediately. I also continued to do my own workouts at the gym, so sometimes I was doubling up on workouts. I think I doubled up maybe 4 days total, just for reference. I took my first rest day on day 9 and had 4 total rest days during the challenge. I ended up switching and doing Shaun Week for the last week instead of Shift Shop (both workout programs), which was a lot of fun! Definitely my style of working out! But both programs had me working way harder than I thought I would at home! Towards the end, I would do either my own gym workouts or Shaun Week, but not both. With school back in session, I just didn't have the time to double up anymore.
I missed one day of my superfoods shake, which I was fine with. I planned on having it in the evening and felt nauseous by the evening. But I played around with recipes and can honestly say that now I love my shakes! They're so good! I have wanted to drink two every day because they're so good! I feel like my energy is a lot more consistent throughout the day. Instead of having a mid afternoon crash every afternoon and needing coffee, I felt pretty energetic! I only had coffee if I was in the mood for it and chose decaf most of the days.
The accountability group definitely kept me more active. During the 21 days, I went back and forth to Atlanta twice (both with Jackson), Jon had surgery on his elbow and couldn't take care of Jackson at all for two full weeks, we hosted family in town, and I started school again. I guarantee that had it not been for my accountability group, I would have taken way more rest days! I probably would have worked out only a handful of days that entire time. I am super consistent with my activity when I'm home, as I discussed before, but when life gets crazy, I take that time to just let my body rest.
My personal goal for the challenge was to give up grains. I didn't actually decide that on Day 1, so I had sushi and ice cream on Day 1. It was after that that I decided to cut grains out since I felt so horrible after that meal. Later on, I had part of a brownie one night at Kassie's birthday celebration, probably 1/3 pan of brownies in one day when we hosted Jon's family (go big or go home!), and ice cream another night. But anything I ate at home (other than the brownies that one day) was grain free. So, not perfect by any means because I still had dessert, but more in line with how I want to eat again.
While I actually enjoyed the accountability for working out, I didn't even try to stick to the meal plan for the program. I also feel like this far into my fitness journey, I just don't need an accountability group. I don't feel the need to go 21 days without dessert if I want it either. I took rest days when I wanted/needed them and was fine with it. I liked the accountability group and look forward to doing them in the future. Hopefully I'll find a person to join me each time! I like the energy of being in a group where women are trying to get in shape and want to live a healthier life. I liked checking in daily and feeling encouraged to stay active by other people.
This business has been so motivating, honestly. Although I have generally surrounded myself with other active people through CrossFit or ClassPass, my close friends aren't necessarily super active. They're not huge into fitness. That is totally fine, obviously, but becoming a health and wellness coach has opened me up to so many other likeminded people! I love chatting with them and I love our team calls, where I get to talk to people who are motivated about making health a huge part of their lives. I love that these women run these accountability groups (and I will too!) and genuinely care about the health of women that they have never even met! Being in this huge group of other health coaches makes me so excited about the lives that I'll be able to change in my future.
Now, on to the Before and After photos!
Unfortunately, I left my camera in Atlanta so the quality of my after photos is a little different. Also, I should have had Jon take full body photos, but it's a little too late to go back and redo them! My goal was obviously not to lose weight. I actually didn't have any specific goals for my body. My goals for this challenge were to cut out grains, to work out consistently, and to see how this program worked for my body.
I did cut back a bit on the bloating! Overall, I thought the challenge was great, I loved my shakes, and I am excited to help others reach their goals with this program!
You can see the difference in your stomach, you don't even look like you've had a baby! And you were scared of getting back but you look great!
I like the idea of online team groups, it's just much more helpful for motivation and keep you in track plus advice.
It definitely took awhile, but I feel like my body is much more back to normal! Although there are still some lasting things that I still notice, but oh well! The group is definitely fun! And I love the main coach in my group since I'm not running my own yet!
I thought you always looked great and even the before pictures are really good, but I can definitely see the difference in bloating and also in your quads, they look more defined in the after. I know you're not trying to lose weight but I feel like it is tough for us shorties, if we do gain weight (that isn't muscle from working out) it just seems to show up quicker. And you don't look like you had a baby! Glad you managed to get the workouts in even with traveling and with Jon's surgery and school starting up.
I wish I had gotten my legs in the after pics! It makes it hard to tell for me if they look any different! I actually think I lost about 3lbs overall from the start of the challenge to the end, but it was unintentional. Maybe it was all that bloat!


text:
Arco de Otávio () foi um arco romano construído no Palatino por Otaviano em honra a seu pai, Caio Otávio, em data desconhecida. Conjectura-se que formou a entrada do precinto sagrado do Templo de Apolo Palatino, porém tal afirmação é impossível de ser confirmada. É lembrado por sua edícula com uma estátua, ambos reconhecidos como sem paralelos no mundo romano. Alguns fragmentos encontrados em meados do  podem pertencente a este monumento.

Arcos triunfais romanos
Projetos de construção de Augusto

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
New Year greetings from BITC
In a few more days, we will be welcoming a brand-new year 2023.
Looking back at 2022, I must say that it has been a very successful year for BITC. I would like to thank all of you for your support and help to make 2022 a successful year.
I would also like to wish all of you Merry Christmas and a happy 2023.
BITC will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary in September 2023.
Over the last 30 years, BITC has established itself as one of the biggest baking colleges in Singapore. It has achieved well beyond its original objectives. A list of programmes is being planned and rolled out to commemorate its achievements over the past 30 years.
I look forward to your further support and contributions in 2023 and beyond.


text:
http://hig.diva-portal.org/smash/resultList.jsf?query=&language=no&searchType=SIMPLE&noOfRows=50&sortOrder=author_sort_asc&sortOrder2=title_sort_asc&onlyFullText=false&sf=all&aq=%5B%5B%7B%22journalId%22%3A%224235%22%7D%5D%5D&aqe=%5B%5D&aq2=%5B%5B%5D%5D&af=%5B%5D
Butler, Andrew
Faculty of Landscape and Society, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway.
Knez, Igor
Högskolan i Gävle, Akademin för hälsa och arbetsliv, Avdelningen för arbetshälsovetenskap och psykologi, Psykologi.
Åkerskog, Ann
Field Forest Research Institute, Uppsala, Sweden.
Sarlöv Herlin, Ingrid
Institutionen för landskapsarkitektur, planering och förvaltning, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden.
Ode Sang, Åsa
Ångman, Elin
Institutionen för Stad och Land, Swedish University of Agricultural Science, Uppsala, Sweden.
Foraging for identity: the relationships between landscape activities and landscape identity after catastrophic landscape change2019Inngår i: Landscape research, ISSN 0142-6397, E-ISSN 1469-9710, Vol. 44, nr 3, s. 303-319Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert)
In this article, we deal with landscape activities in relation to changing landscape identity after a major wildfire in Sweden in 2014. The aim was to investigate the relationships between 22 landscape activities (before the fire) and 2 components (emotion and cognition) of landscape identity (before and after the fire). A total of 656 respondents living nearby the fire area participated in this study. Before the fire, a positive association was found between the activities of enjoying nature and foraging, and both components of landscape identity. This suggests that the more participants enjoyed nature and picked berries and mushrooms, the stronger their attachment to the landscape (emotion), and the more they remembered and reasoned about the landscape (cognition). Post fire, these relationships were found only between the two components of landscape identity and foraging. This implies a significant role of this type of activity for keeping alive' landscape identity.
Institutionen för Stad och Land, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden; Faculty of Landscape and Society, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway.
Sarlöv-Herlin, Ingrid
Institutionen för landskapsarkitektur, planering och förvaltning, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Högskolan i Gävle, Akademin för hälsa och arbetsliv, Avdelningen för socialt arbete och psykologi, Psykologi.
Institutionen för Stad och Land, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
FieldForest Research Institute, Uppsala, Sweden.
Landscape identity, before and after a forest fire2018Inngår i: Landscape research, ISSN 0142-6397, E-ISSN 1469-9710, Vol. 43, nr 6, s. 878-889Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert)
Our identity is tied to where we are and how we engage with the landscapes in which we find ourselves. But what happens if the landscape which we use for our everyday life is drastically altered by a catastrophic upheaval, for example, when forest fires ravage the landscape? In this paper, interviews with individuals affected by the largest forest fire in modern Swedish history are used to exemplify our conceptualisation of how landscape identity is impacted by dramatic change. We address the phases of stability, change and progression in relation to the case. Finally, we propose that landscape identity can be utilised as a central concept for engaging with the social aspects of the impact of forest fires.
Fredholm, Susanne
Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Eliasson, Ingegärd
Conservation of historical landscapes: What signifies 'successful' management?2018Inngår i: Landscape research, ISSN 0142-6397, E-ISSN 1469-9710, Vol. 43, nr 5, s. 735-748Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert)
This paper focuses on the management of an industrial heritage site in Sweden, which local stakeholders and heritage planners have claimed to be successful. This status of excellence is investigated in relation to the general, county-wide applied heritage planning. The results show that key factors for successful management of the industrial heritage site are not related only to conservation work, but also to personal engagement, sense of responsibility, and well-being among participants. However, heritage planners generally lack methods to address immaterial values and socio-economic benefits of engaging in heritage activities, resulting in a separation between physical and communal aspects of heritage planning. The results highlight the issue of professional legitimacy and the challenges for heritage planners to address regional policy objectives, such as finding ways to utilise historic landscapes in destination-driven strategies and to simultaneously support civil engagement in heritage-related issues. © 2017 Landscape Research Group Ltd
Hedblom, M.
Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden; Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Hedenås, H.
Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.
Blicharska, M.
Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Swedish Biodiversity Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Adler, S.
Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden; Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden; Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang, Singapore .
Mikusiński, G.
Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Riddarhyttan, Sweden; School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skinnskatteberg, Sweden .
Svensson, J.
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden.
Sandström, S.
Sandström, P.
Wardle, D. A.
Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden; Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang, Singapore.
Landscape perception: linking physical monitoring data to perceived landscape properties2019Inngår i: Landscape research, ISSN 0142-6397, E-ISSN 1469-9710Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert)
Changes in the landscape affect not only people's well-being but also how people perceive and use the landscape. An increasing number of policies have highlighted the importance of conserving a landscape's recreational and aesthetical values. This study develops and evaluates a model that links people's perceptions of a mountain landscape to physical monitoring data. Using a questionnaire, we revealed how respondents working with the Swedish mountains characterise the Magnificent Mountain landscape (as defined by Swedish policy objectives) and translated these characteristics into data from the National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden (NILS). We found 14 potential indicators that could be derived from the existing NILS physical monitoring data and which could be used to monitor changes in the landscape values as perceived by people. Based on the results, we suggest how to simultaneously utilise field sampling of physical data and field photos to provide temporal information about landscape perception.


If you use Firefox and you have problem to see icons, go to Options > Advenced > General > Browsing and uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
You asked, Micon delivers with new icons in new version. Want to request new icons? No we can't! because Micon icon's extracted of segmdl2.ttf font. Need vectors or want to use on the desktop? Check the Cheatsheet.
After you get up and running, you can place Micon icons just about anywhere with the <i> tag. Some examples appreciatively re-used from the Bootstrap documentation.


Wash the tomatoes, cucumber and bell peppers under cold running water.
Peel the cucumber, and remove the seeds from the cucumber and both peppers.
blender and add the V8 juice. Blend.
Reduce the speed and add the Tabasco sauce, olive oil, bread, and pepper.
Place the mixture in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours before serving.


There is a growing class of software that allows you to manage your social network online and to use this network to make new contacts. Different implementations of this idea have different focus on why you would want to make new contacts, and we will review some of them over the next days and weeks.
Social networks are different from both communities and directories. Communities are based on a shared interest; social networks on shared contacts. Directories invite anybody to contact you while social networks typically enforce a friend-of-a-friend recommendation, thereby virtually eliminating spam and providing a context and recommendation for each contact.
Key players include LinkedIn, Ryze, Friendster, and Tacit. More about these over the next weeks.


For anyone looking for a high interest paying investment option the Abbey National has just launched a one year fixed rate bond that offers a 7.01 percent interest rate.
The minimum investment amount is GBP30,000, with a maximum of GBP2 million, enough for most people. The Abbey National bond is a one year term, with an expiry date of 1 July 2009. This means that investors will have to act smartly to get their funds in within the deadline.
An Abbey National spokesman confirmed that the current market for savings and investments is the best it has been for many years and is urging consumers to take advantage of the situation while it is available.
Good advice comes from Sainsburys Bank as they advise consumers to look at the different savings accounts available and choosing the one that best suits their needs. Sainsburys Bank looked at the top 50 savings accounts currently on the market, specifically the instant and easy access ones to see how they worked out for customers. A dozen of them restricted the number of withdrawals available, 4 of them had penalties for withdrawals and 9 were for specific age groups. Considering these factors and understanding how well they fit into your existing lifestyle is key to getting the most out of savings accounts said Sainsburys Bank and they are correct.
The Halifax has so far reunited holders of accounts that have been forgotten about with over GBP16.5 million of their savings since starting its campaign earlier this year. Over 7,200 people have had money paid to them by the Halifax since February this year, working out at an average of over GBP2,300 per person. The process began by looking at 25,000 dormant savings accounts, some of which had considerable sums in them. A spokesman from the Halifax said that over two thirds of the accounts that held more than GBP50,000 had been accounted for and the funds passed on to the owners. The Halifax will continue with the remainder of the accounts but also introduce another 150,000 into the mix, worth another GBP30 million. Customers do not have to do anything, since the Halifax are searching for the owners. However it could speed up the process to get in touch with them should you have an account like this.


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InfoTracker
DataMontage
Space Applications
Knowledge Management & Discovery
Machine Learning & Classification
Using Artificial Intelligence
InfoTracker allows for the rapid comparison of a document against a potentially large collection of writings in order to identify non-chance overlaps in the text. Additionally, the data structure employed by InfoTracker provides a powerful and efficient means for identifying and ranking multi-word key terms in the text corpus.
The InfoTracker C++ API has been applied in many applications including: plagiarism detection, difference detection, classified document redaction support, automated information retrieval, and multi-word feature selection for text mining. If you are interested in evaluating the InfoTracker API or a specialized application, or in purchasing source code please contact us.
Competing plagiarism detection tools employ a variety of techniques in an effort to detect document content that may have been reproduced without consent. Some of these systems utilize poorly scaling pair-wise text comparison methods. Other approaches build indices of text samples (e.g., eight word sequences) in order to detect co-derived documents. While these techniques can perform well when content is reused in large chunks, they perform inadequately when plagiarism is more subtle.
Data structures such as suffix trees which allow documents to be comprehensively compared with a stored corpus are recognized as the gold standard with regards to accuracy and speed of comparison. These approaches, however, have largely been dismissed for use in very large scale applications due to the fact that they were previously limited to in-memory operation or involved unreasonable index update costs. InfoTracker breaks new ground in two ways:
It indexes the text corpus utilizing a data structure based on the String B-Tree which is an attractive cross between traditional external-memory indices (such as those used in search engines) and the main-memory string-matching data structures such as suffix trees and suffix arrays.
InfoTracker's indexing scheme goes beyond previous full-text analysis approaches by allowing for the efficient contrasting or corpora. In particular, our approach utilizes a large collection of common word sequences to screen out false positives due to common phrases or corporate boilerplate. This new approach allows InfoTracker to accurately detect plagiarism based on shorter sequences of overlapping words than competing techniques, thus allowing detection even when an author employs synonym replacement and other simple rewriting techniques.
In addition there are distinct advantages to using a client based plagiarism detection tool over one of the many Web based services. The most critical of these is the protection of Intellectual Property. It is widely recognized (see www.EssayScam.org) that an increasing number of Web sites offering plagiarism detection services are simply fronts used to unscrupulously collect essays that are resold through paper mills. Other services, such as TurnItIn, have been criticized for archiving and profiting from submitted works without the knowledge or permission of the authors. A desktop client based solution such as that provided by InfoTracker avoids these concerns.
Difference Finding
Often there are identical passages in User Agreement, Terms of Use, and other legal documents. InfoTracker can be used to compare a new agreement a user is asked to accept against those they have previously consented to – highlighting all meaningful differences. For example, many Websites employ very similar Privacy Statements, so one might expect that if the user once agreed to a particular clause they will be willing to again. Given this, it is useful to be able to simply highlight the areas of difference or similarity so that users may make informed decisions more rapidly. In the below image, the black text represents differences between the current document and previously reviewed Privacy Statements.
Key Term Identification
It is often valuable to identify a set of terms that characterize or summarize a collection of documents. For instance one might wish to establish useful metadata tags or a topic hierarchy by analyzing a corpus of text. Similarly, key terms form the critical foundation of features used in a variety of text mining / machine learning tasks. InfoTracker presents a unique opportunity to identify and rank multi-word terms that are particularly important to a corpus of text. These multi-word key terms can hold substantially more discriminative power than individual words because they capture the context vital to their meaning. Further, unlike more naïve approaches, InfoTracker is not limited to identifying phrases of a fixed length (bi-grams or any specific n-gram) or based on a defined grammar. Rather, it will identify sequences of words based on their ability to characterize a corpus, regardless of length.
Consider the following list of the top terms extracted from a small collection of product and service reviews. The ranking of the terms is based on the relative frequency of occurrence of the term within and outside these reviews. This key term identification strategy can be used to summarize document collection or as a preprocessing step for text mining.
Document Redaction Support
InfoTracker provides two primary capabilities that can assist document sanitization. First, it maintains a "redaction" memory that captures editing decisions and exploits this knowledge to support future sanitization efforts. Second, it utilizes novel context understanding techniques to reduce the false alarm rates associated with typical 'dirty word' checks. Consider the scenario where InfoTracker is being applied to the problem of sanitizing documents related to the 2002 missile strike on a car carrying terrorists in Yemen. An analyst might be told to remove all specific mention of US capabilities and operations in Yemen, including any text that might be used to infer the nature of the attack or potential US-Yemen collaboration in the strike.
The user may begin with a simple 'dirty words' list that InfoTracker uses to identify portions of the document requiring attention. The analyst could then highlight regions to be redacted from within the document's native application (Microsoft Word in this case). Once the redactions are committed, by the user or a quality control officer, this text is added to the system's knowledge base and can be used to annotate future documents – providing awareness of previous redaction decisions. In most applications very effective guidance can be provided even after just a couple of documents are processed. As shown in the figure below, InfoTracker highlights meaningful text fragments that occurred in previous redactions (rather than highlighting all, potentially chance, occurrences of common terms and phrases). Similarly, InfoTracker can successfully exploit the redaction memory to understand the contexts in which 'dirty words' appear so as to filter out benign instances (such as the final occurrence of 'CIA' in this figure). Finally, InfoTracker can provide users with details regarding past redaction decisions through a simple point and click operation.
InfoTracker's text indexing scheme allows it to efficiently compare all sequences of words (regardless of length) within a document with those stored in a potentially very large document index. By detecting the unique characteristics of shared content (e.g., unusual word sequences or misspellings) InfoTracker can reliably detect meaningful overlaps with the stored text. Some of InfoTracker's more important attributes and capabilities include:
Utilizing a large body of background knowledge, InfoTracker is able to recognize when text overlaps are due to common language use or institutional boilerplate, thus reducing false alarms
InfoTracker can reliably conduct text matching in the face of distortions caused by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and speech recognition software
The implementation of InfoTracker is highly scalable
The size of the constructed document index is roughly linear in the size of the raw text corpus
Text may be incrementally added to the index at a cost (measured in I/O) that is linear in the size of the text input
The algorithm can use as little or as much RAM as desired with the primary structure being disk resident
Text comparison processes can be done in parallel across multiple processors
The InfoTracker prototype has been developed for Windows XP and heavily tested. InfoTracker's built-in viewer includes document converters that cover PDF, HTML, and Microsoft Office. Users may also utilize InfoTracker through a Microsoft Word toolbar. We continue to extend the capabilities of InfoTracker and are actively seeking Beta users. Please contact TJ Goan at goan@stottlerhenke.com for additional information.
This work was supported by the ARDAAdvanced Information Assurance program under contract NBCHC030077.
Goan, T., Fujioka, E., Kaneshiro, R., and Gasch, L., 2006 "Identifying Information Provenance in Support of Intelligence Analysis, Sharing, and Protection," IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics, ISI 2006, San Diego, CA, USA, May 23-24, 2006, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3975 Springer 2006.
Goan, T and Broadhead, M, 2004 Detecting the Misappropriation of Sensitive Information through Bottleneck Monitoring, Workshop on Secure Knowledge Management (SKM 2004).
Bernstein, Y. and Zobel, J., 2004 A Scalable System for Identifying Co-Derivative Documents, SPIRE 2004: The Eleventh Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval, Padova, Italy, pp. 55-67
Falkenberg, H.C. and Grimsmo, N., 2004 Introduction to string searching and comparison of suffix structures and inverted files. Technical report, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Ferragina, P. and Grossi, R., 1999 The String B-tree: a new data structure for string search in external memory and its applications. Journal of the ACM 46 (1999) 236-280.
Gusfield, D., 1997 Algorithms on Strings, Trees, and Sequences. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Metzler, D., Bernstein, Y., Croft, W.B., Moffat, A., and Zobel, J., 2005 "Similarity Measures for Tracking Information Flow," ACM 14th Conference on Information and Knowledge Management
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