The winner and third place finisher of the AFC North will face off in the Divisional round of the AFC Playoffs. The Baltimore Ravens finished the season 10-6 and needed some help to get in the playoffs, but did during week 17. The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in primetime to win the division. The two division rivals, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, split the season series. The Ravens won in week 2, in a blowout game 26-6. There were six field goals and only two touchdowns. The second time these two teams met, Ben Roethlisberger threw for 340 yards and 6 touchdowns in a 43-23 Steelers victory. This rivalry has been very evenly matched in recent years. Since the turn of the century, they have split the regular season head-to-head matchup with each team winning 14 games.
This rivalry has always been defined by tough defense and hard hits from the likes of Troy Polamalu, Ray Lewis, James Harrison, Ed Reed, Joey Porter and Terrell Suggs but that's starting to change. Polamalu has been plagued by injuries and has only started all 16 games in two of the past five seasons. Lewis retired after winning his second Super Bowl. Harrison spent last season with the Cincinnati Bengals before rejoining the Steelers midway through the season. Reed and Porter both retired a couple of years ago. Suggs is still on the Ravens and could be the most dominant player left.
The days of low scoring hard-hitting games are pretty much in the past four this rivalry. Both defenses are good at stopping the run. The Ravens rank fourth in opposing team's rushing yards per game, the Steelers rank sixth. Baltimore's defensive end Haloti Ngata will play his first game coming off of a four game suspension for violating the league's drug policy. Ngata could prove to be a difference maker. But both secondaries are a mess. Neither defense tackles well and they both allow big plays down the field. The Steelers average to give up over 250 passing yards a game, ranking 27th in the league, while the Ravens rank 23rd. These teams are now, like the rest of the league, focused more on putting points on the board, then keeping them off.
Each team has a number of playmakers that can change the dynamics of the game in a single play but it starts behind center. Ben Roethlisberger is having arguably the best season of his career. He has completed 67.1% of his passes this season, which is good for third in the league behind Tony Romo and Drew Brees. Roethlisberger and Brees each threw for 4,952 yards this season leading the league, which is a high for the Steelers' signal caller. The Miami (of Ohio) graduate finished the year with 32 touchdown passes, an average of two a game. Six of the seven quarterbacks who threw for more TDs are also in the playoffs.
On the other hand, Baltimore's Joe Flacco hasn't had a great season, but has had great postseason success. When he led the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory, he completed 57.9% of his passes: mediocre. However, Flacco threw 11 touchdown passes and not a single interception during that postseason. The Ravens' success will require more from Flacco, than the Steelers' success rests on Big Ben's shoulders.
The Steelers will go into this game shorthanded. Second year running back Le'Veon Bell will not play after hyper-extending his knee last week. Bell is without a doubt one of the most versatile players in the league and the Steelers' recent success is correlated to how he's been playing. Bell totaled 1,361 rushing yards, finishing second in the league. He also had 854 receiving yards, the highest total of any running back, which is good for second on the team. The Michigan State grad had 11 total touchdowns, 8 of which were scored in the last six weeks. He has been a workhorse for the team. He has accumulated 78% of the team's total rushing yards this season. Bell has accounted for approximately a third of the team's total yards from scrimmage. That percentage rises to 40% since Week 11, which is the most in the NFL. It will be extremely difficult to replace Le'Veon Bell. It might actually prove beneficial for him to get some rest if the team can advance to the next round.
The Steelers' second leading rusher is LeGarrette Blount, but he was cut and is now playing for the Patriots. The third and fourth running backs to start the season are now the top two. Rookie Dri Archer and rookie Josh Harris have combined for 19 carries 56 yards for an average of less than 3 yards per carry. The Steelers also signed veteran running back Ben Tate. This is Tate's third team this season and he has rushed for only 371 yards. Archer, Harris and Tate need to step up for the Steelers to get a win this week.
The Ravens' run game has also been a big key for the team's success. Going into the season, they knew their running back Ray Rice would be suspended for two games. So, Baltimore signed Justin Forsett as a replacement. Well Rice hasn't played all season, and Forsett has been better than anyone could've expected. He has rushed for 1,266 yards this season. That's more than double any of his other seasons total. He finished fifth in rushing yards this season. Forsett leads the league with 17 carries of twenty or more yards. He has been the team's biggest surprise and now has to keep it up if the Ravens' want to make a deep playoff run.
The best player on either of these teams is Steelers' receiver Antonio Brown. He was a 6th round pick, 195th overall, out of Central Michigan University. Brown has had a career year, one for the record books. He had 129 receptions this season. Not only did that lead the league, but also it is second in history behind Marvin Harrison who had 143 catches in 2002. Brown's receptions went for 1,698 yards, which is good for sixth all time. Harrison in 2002 and Calvin Johnson in 2012 are the only two players to have more receiving yards than Antonio Brown since 1995. He is arguably the best receiver in the NFL. No team has been able to stop him and the Baltimore secondary will be no exception.
My Prediction: This game will be high scoring. Both quarterbacks will throw a ton of deep balls down the field. None of the running backs will have great games. Ben Roethlisberger will throw for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. Joe Flacco will throw for about 250 yards and 2 touchdowns. Antonio Brown will have over 150 receiving yards, a season high, with a touchdown or two. Steve Smith Sr. will have his first 100 receiving yard game since October. The Steelers will win 34-24.


text:
Q: How to use Google Properties Service to store data and refer them for various purpose? I need help with Google Properties Service. Actually, I have created a sidebar in google sheet to store the data into the sheet and used that data to send an email and set up a trigger, but now I want to store that multiple data directly into the Properties Service and refer them to send an email (with stored data) and set up the trigger.
For reference, I am attaching my code. If there is any easy way to code then kindly suggest it.
Any help is highly appreciated.
Code.js
function onOpen() {
  var ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
  ui.createMenu('Sidebar')
    .addItem('Show sidebar', 'showSidebar')
    .addToUi();
}

var SHEET = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var emailFrom = Session.getActiveUser().getEmail();
var fullName = SHEET.getRange('B1').getValue();
var emailAddress = SHEET.getRange('B2').getValue();
var mobileNumber = SHEET.getRange('B3').getValue();
var city = SHEET.getRange('B4').getValue();
var weekDay = SHEET.getRange('B5').getValue();
var triggerTime = SHEET.getRange('B6').getValue();

function showSidebar() {
  var ui = SpreadsheetApp.getUi();
  var tmp = HtmlService.createTemplateFromFile('index');
  tmp.fullNameValue = fullNameValue();
  tmp.emailAddressValue = emailAddressValue();
  tmp.mobileNumberValue = mobileNumberValue();
  tmp.cityValue = cityValue();
  tmp.dayValue = dayValue();
  tmp.timeValue = timeValue();

  var html = tmp.evaluate();
  html.setTitle('Sidebar');
  ui.showSidebar(html);
}

function include(File) {
  return HtmlService.createHtmlOutputFromFile(File).getContent();
};

function fullNameValue() { return SHEET.getRange(1, 2).getValue(); }
function setfullName(inputfullName) { return SHEET.getRange(1, 2).setValue(inputfullName); }

function emailAddressValue() { return SHEET.getRange(2, 2).getValue(); }
function setEmailAddress(inputEmailAddress) { return SHEET.getRange(2, 2).setValue(inputEmailAddress); }

function mobileNumberValue() { return SHEET.getRange(3, 2).getValue(); }
function setmobileNumber(imputmobileNumber) { return SHEET.getRange(3, 2).setValue(imputmobileNumber); }

function cityValue() { return SHEET.getRange(4, 2).getValue(); }
function setCity(inputCity) { return SHEET.getRange(4, 2).setValue(inputCity); }

function dayValue() { return SHEET.getRange(5, 2).getValue(); }
function setDay(inputDay) { return SHEET.getRange(5, 2).setValue(inputDay); }

function timeValue() { return SHEET.getRange(6, 2).getValue(); }
function setTime(inputTime) { return SHEET.getRange(6, 2).setValue(inputTime); }

function sendEmail() {
  var subject = 'Your request has been received.';
  var body = 'Dear ' + fullName + ', We have received your request. Your details are, name: ' + fullName + ', email address: ' + emailAddress + ', mobile number: ' + mobileNumber + ', city: ' + city;

  GmailApp.sendEmail(emailAddress, subject, body, {
    from: emailFrom,
    htmlBody: body
  });
};

function setTrigger() {
  ScriptApp.newTrigger('sendEmail').timeBased().everyDays(1).atHour(triggerTime).create();
  ScriptApp.newTrigger('sendEmail').timeBased().onWeekDay(ScriptApp.WeekDay.MONDAY).atHour(triggerTime).create();
};

index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>

  <base target="_top">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
  <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons" rel="stylesheet">
  <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons" rel="stylesheet">
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/materialize/1.0.0/css/materialize.min.css">

        <input id="fullName" type="text" class="validate">
        Full Name

        <input id="emailAddress" type="text" class="validate">
        Email Address

        <input id="mobileNumber" type="number" class="validate">
        Mobile Number

        <input id="city" type="text" class="validate">
        City

        <select id="day">
<option value="">Choose</option>
<option value="MONDAY">MONDAY</option>
<option value="TUESDAY">TUESDAY</option>
<option value="WEDNESDAY">WEDNESDAY</option>
<option value="THURSDAY">THURSDAY</option>
<option value="FRIDAY">FRIDAY</option>
<option value="SATURDAY">SATURDAY</option>
<option value="SUNDAY">SUNDAY</option>
</select>
        Select Day

        <select id="time">
<option value="">Choose</option>
<option value="1">1</option>
<option value="2">2</option>
<option value="3">3</option>
<option value="4">4</option>
<option value="5">5</option>
<option value="6">6</option>
<option value="7">7</option>
<option value="8">8</option>
<option value="9">9</option>
<option value="10">10</option>
<option value="11">11</option>
<option value="12">12</option>
<option value="13">13</option>
<option value="14">14</option>
<option value="15">15</option>
<option value="16">16</option>
<option value="17">17</option>
<option value="18">18</option>
<option value="19">19</option>
<option value="20">20</option>
<option value="21">21</option>
<option value="22">22</option>
<option value="23">23</option>
</select>
        Select Time

      <button id="btn" class="btn waves-effect waves-light" type="submit" name="action">Submit</button>

      <button class="btn waves-effect waves-light" onClick="google.script.host.close()">Close</button>

A: *

*There are 3 types of PropertiesService, for the general purpose, probably scriptPorperties will be the most suitable ones

*To store values in the script properties, you need to use the method setProperty(key, value) or setProperties(properties)

*To retrieve values, use getProperty(key) or getProperties()
Sample for getting properties
From
var SHEET = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
var emailFrom = Session.getActiveUser().getEmail();
var fullName = SHEET.getRange('B1').getValue();
var emailAddress = SHEET.getRange('B2').getValue();
var mobileNumber = SHEET.getRange('B3').getValue();
var city = SHEET.getRange('B4').getValue();
var weekDay = SHEET.getRange('B5').getValue();
var triggerTime = SHEET.getRange('B6').getValue();

modify to
var scriptProperties = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
var emailFrom = Session.getActiveUser().getEmail();
var fullName = scriptProperties.getProperty('fullName');
var emailAddress = scriptProperties.getProperty('emailAddress');
var mobileNumber = scriptProperties.getProperty('mobileNumber');
var city = scriptProperties.getProperty('city');
var weekDay = scriptProperties.getProperty('weekDay');
var triggerTime = scriptProperties.getProperty('triggerTime');

and from
function fullNameValue() { return SHEET.getRange(1, 2).getValue(); }

to
// make sure scriptProperties is a global variable
function fullNameValue() {
  return scriptProperties.getProperty('fullName');
}

Same for your other functions.
Sample for setting properties
From
function setfullName(inputfullName) { return SHEET.getRange(1, 2).setValue(inputfullName); }

modify to
//skip the first line if scriptProperties is already defined as a global vairiable
function setfullName(inputfullName) {
  var scriptProperties = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
  scriptProperties.setProperty("inputfullName", inputfullName);
}

NOTE:

*

*Curently, a big part of your code (the one to get values) is located outside of a function and runs globally

*If you try to access a script property that does not exist - it will be undefined. Make sure to out the code block accessing values into (a) function(s) that will only be called after you have set the properties frist.

*PropertiesService converts all dat to strings. If you need to process data as numbers (e.g. mobileNumber), it's best practive to use JSON.stringify() and JSON.parse() when wroking with script properties.

Sample:
function setmobileNumber(mobileNumber) {
  var scriptProperties = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties();
  scriptProperties.setProperty("mobileNumber",
  JSON.stringify(mobileNumber));
}
function mobileNumberValue() {
  var mobileNumber = scriptProperties.getProperty('mobileNumber');
  //check if defined
  if(mobileNumber){
    mobileNumber = JSON.parse(mobileNumber);
    return scriptProperties.getProperty('mobileNumber');
   }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
/ GAMING
Is a Child's Play Video Game in the Works?
By Matthew Hayes - September 5, 2017 05:14 pm EDT
(Photo: Universal)
A Child's Play video game may be in the works to coincide with the promotion of the new Universal film Cult of Chucky, the seventh film in the Child's Play series set to release this October. The film is pacing to generate some serious fanfare since Child's Play's original creator Don Mancini will be directing the film, and Brad Dourif will be returning to reprise his role as the voice of Chucky.
As for the game, the folks over at BloodyDisgusting noticed a pretty encouraging Twitter poll go up on a hugely popular Cult of Chucky Twitter account, asking whether fans would be interested in a "Child's Play Video Game on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC." The results were pretty much unanimous, as you can see:
Child's Play Video Game on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC?
— Cult of Chucky (@curseofchucky_) April 12, 2017
It's hard to tell whether the poll is coming from an official source or not, but the results are indisputable. If a Child's Play game is made, the fans are there and ready to snatch it up. We've learned first-hand that old-school horror franchises tend to make for incredible exciting video game concepts, and Friday the 13th has been driving incredible amounts of interest and hype (see some gameplay here). We expect a Child's Play video game would do just as well, if not better, depending on the concept.
But what kind of concept would fit a game starring Chucky? Using Friday the 13th as a model seems perfectly viable to us. In other words, a game where you have two sides facing off against each other with Chucky on one side, hunting and slashing, and a family attempting to escape the end of his blade on the other.
This could make for some extremely creative team-based gameplay opportunities. Four or five players could band together and start off in a random room of different houses, knowing that Chucky has spawned in another room, controlled by another player. Using teamwork and stealth mechanics, every member of your team or family would have to escape the house before Chucky finds and kills you, or else work together to destroy Chucky by some magical means.
We don't know, we're shooting in the dark here, but we know that it could be a lot of fun. Hopefully this poll reaches someone important and we'll have something much more solid to report in the near future. If they do end up making one, would you buy it? Weigh in on the poll below:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
JoEE/JENI
Seeing the Hot Cloud around Jupiter
Building on instrument designs used on missions such as NASA's Cassini, the Jovian Energetic Neutrals and Ions (JENI) instrument and the Jovian Energetic Electrons (JoEE) detectors will reveal the rich, superheated cloud of particles around Jupiter and help deduce what makes this planet the solar system's largest particle accelerator.
About the Instrument
The space environment around Jupiter is unlike any other in the solar system: It has the fastest rotation, the strongest magnetic field, and the most powerful aurora and radiation belts. Embedded within this space environment are peculiar moons, including Ganymede — the solar system's largest moon and the only one that has a magnetic field — and the volcanic moon Io, which, with its sibling ocean moon Europa, is the source of oxygen and sulfur ions found in Jupiter's magnetosphere — the largest cohesive structure in the solar system.
A detailed, 3D rendering of the JoEE instrument (left) and JENI instrument (right) that will ride on the European Space Agency's JUICE mission to Jupiter and its moons.
APL is building two state-of-the-art instruments for the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, mission to explore this exciting system: the Jovian Energetic Neutrals and Ions (JENI) instrument and the Jovian Energetic Electrons (JoEE) instrument. JENI will use a technique pioneered at APL to image neutral atoms that form from interactions between the plasma and neutral gases from the moons with Jupiter's intense radiation environment. JoEE is an innovative electron particle spectrometer that will use 3D-printed collimators to map the processes responsible for making Jupiter the solar system's largest particle accelerator.
JoEE's high-resolution measurements of electrons moving at near lightspeed around Jupiter (depicted in thermal colors above) are possible because of nine collimators (center, in hand) of unprecedented precision. These precise collimators are made by a 3D-printing process on metal pioneered at APL. This innovative process enables new designs that require extreme tolerances and is projected to revolutionize what is mechanically possible in space.
Jupiter's magnetosphere propels electrons to nearly the speed of light and creates a fierce radiation environment around the planet. By simultaneously measuring the electron energy spectra over many directions around the moon Ganymede, JoEE will uncover the missing link needed to understand how Jupiter accelerates electrons to such speeds. JoEE will also help with understanding the interior structure of Ganymede's subsurface ocean by pinpointing the latitudinal location of Ganymede's auroras and how they rock back and forth in the Jovian magnetic field.
JoEE's high-resolution measurements are enabled by nine collimators of unprecedented precision, which is made possible by a 3D-printing process on metal pioneered at APL. This innovative process enables new designs that require extreme tolerances and is projected to revolutionize what is mechanically possible in space.
Europa and Io leave behind a trail of gas and plasma in their orbits around Jupiter, depicted here as colors (warmer colors being higher concentrations of energetic neutral atoms or ENAs). No one has been able to image these trails in detail or in their entirety, but the JENI instrument (image on left) will be the first dedicated instrument to reveal and take images of the fast-moving atoms in this trail. It will fly through and measure the energetic ions responsible for the ENA emissions, which in turn will also allow researchers to learn how plasma that's rushed in from Jupiter's magnetotail is heated to tens of millions of degrees.
Planned to launch in 2022, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission will be the European Space Agency's first large-class mission in the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program, spending at least three years making detailed observations of the giant planet Jupiter and three of its largest moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
Outer Moons
Magnetospheres


Fibroids and Infertility – New Information!
It is generally agreed the while uterine fibroids are very common; they are usually not associated with infertility. Size and location are the two main characteristics, which determine if fibroids may be implicated in infertility or increased risk of miscarriage. These benign tumors have long been classified according to their location. Fibroids located within the uterine cavity are referred as submucous fibroids. If located within the uterine wall fibroids are classified as intramural, and when these tumors are positioned on the outer surface of the uterus, they are termed subserous.
When fibroids are located within the uterine cavity (submucous) most agree that they interfere with normal embryo implantation and are associated with both infertility and increased risks of miscarriage. Sub-serous fibroids and have traditionally not been associated with infertility. The impact of intra-mural fibroids on fertility is more complicated and is dictated by size and location of fibroids with respect to the uterine cavity. Fibroids that have reached a diameter of 5 centimeters or greater and are located within the uterine wall (intramural) are associated with infertility and premature labor. In addition, fibroids smaller than 5 centimeters in diameter that distort the uterine cavity are implicated in decreased fertility, increased miscarriage rates, and increased incidence of pre-term labor. Although many patients conceive and carry successfully with fibroids of this size, studies have demonstrated that infertility and obstetrical complications such as pre-term labor are more common in this group of patients.
Many have questioned smaller intramural fibroids might be problematic, especially if they are numerous, above a certain size threshold, or located close to the uterine cavity and there are few well designed large studies looking at this question. A recent study published by Yan et al. in Fertility and Sterility, March 2014, addressed this question in patients who had fibroids and underwent in-vitro-fertilization. The study was retrospective and looked at a large number of patients (249) with uterine fibroids of various sizes and locations. One of the findings of their study was that when the single largest intramural fibroid was 2.85cm or larger, the delivery rate was significantly lower than matched controls who had no fibroids. It is important to point out that this study did not address the question of whether removal of the fibroids in this group of patients would improve the delivery rate. A prospective study looking at patients whose largest intramural fibroid is greater than 2.85 cm. in diameter, comparing a surgically treated group versus a non-treated group is needed.
The Yan et al. study also looked at outcomes in patients with multiple intramural fibroids and found that clinical pregnancy rates and delivery rates were similar for patients with multiple intra-mural fibroids compared with matched patients with no fibroids.
An additional finding of this study was that intramural fibroids near the uterine lining but not distorting it did not have a statistically significant impact on pregnancy rates.
Importantly, these authors studied results of IVF with intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in 249 patients with fibroids and compared their outcomes to a group of carefully matched controls that did not have fibroids, and found very little differences in terms of clinical pregnancy rates, delivery rates, and miscarriage rates.
This study, while not answering all of our questions concerning fibroids and reproduction, does provide valuable information for patients with fibroids who are preparing for IVF.


You don't want to forget…that's why!
Scheduling your donations works like scheduling your bills. Between September 10th and September 19th go to www.NorthTexasGivingDay.org and schedule your donation to Shiloh Place McKinney. The donation will be processed on the morning of September 20th.


text:
Home/Features/Why should businesses invest in e-cargo bikes?
Why should businesses invest in e-cargo bikes?
Rebecca Morley 13th December 2021	Features
Fully Charged's Dan Parsons tells Rebecca Morley why e-cargo bikes are growing in interest and how they are helping businesses become more efficient
E-cargo bikes have a host of benefits that make them perfect for city deliveries, taking up less road space than vans, easing congestion and improving a company's efficiency. And with many businesses looking for more sustainable methods of transporting goods, the rising popularity of electric comes as no surprise.
Earlier this year Fully Charged opened its new e-bike service centre in central London, which, in addition to the workshop's six e-bike stands and two e-cargo bays, also houses an e-cargo showroom, showcasing offerings from the likes of Urban Arrow, Butchers & Bicycles, Tern Bicycles and Riese and Müller.
"Our focus has always been on the service and support of our customers," says Dan Parsons, founding partner and head of business at Fully Charged. "Our workshop is ten times bigger than the showroom, and we're all about looking after the client. Anyone can sell you an e-bike – it's the ongoing service and support that's so incredibly important.
"A proportion of it is actually an electric cargo showroom. And these are big machines, far bigger than you might imagine, and so you need a lot of space to be able to not only show and allow budding businesses to see, learn and try them, but also service them.
"The electric cargo bike side of things has come from nowhere, over the last probably three years. We might have [previously] got two calls every couple of months, it's now multiple calls a day about electric cargo."
eCargo Bike Grant Fund
September saw Fully Charged host an event showcasing the Energy Saving Trust's eCargo Bike Grant Fund at the central London e-cargo showroom, with opportunities to see and trial a range of e-cargo bikes and learn from businesses already reaping the benefits.
The DfT and its delivery partner Energy Saving Trust recently announced a £400,000 funding round to help and support small businesses investing in e-cargo bikes. Funding covers up to 40% of the total cost of an e-cargo bike, up to a maximum of £2,500 for two-wheel models and £4,500 for three-wheel models, with applications capped at five bikes per organisation.
"It's come about really because of a response to the rise in interest in electric cargo bikes in the UK now," explains Parsons. "If the stats are correct, about 2,000 electric cargo bikes were reportedly sold in the UK last year, and that number is about 80,000 in Germany.
"It's an enormous potential sector for growth. And we have a very big percentage of that 2,000 units in the UK. That's really fun and exciting but it requires the service centre backing to be able to effectively service and support those clients because that is their business, and keeping those bikes on the road is absolutely prudent for them. It's not like hobbyists being without their bike for a week between rides, these guys rely on it day to day."
Parsons says there are a number of reasons for the rise in interest in e-cargo bikes, but it's mostly come out of necessity through infrastructure changes, and also policy and legislation, certainly in the city. "We'll take London as an example because it's our local city," says Parsons. "You have the congestion charge, which has risen, you've got ULEZ, which has risen in cost and also increasing in its diameter around London, so any highly emitting vehicles are being taxed considerably through those two things.
"You've got rising fuel costs and you've got an increase in congestion. The pandemic has meant that e-commerce has boomed – you've got the likes of Amazon needing more delivery methods, and they've mostly gone into white vans, but then those white vans have restricted access into areas of the city which they literally can't get to.
"The e-cargo bike has allowed these businesses to continue delivering the same number of parcels, or more, to areas which the vans now can't get to, or can get to, but take longer and it's incredibly expensive. E-cargo bikes can park right outside the customer, right outside the pick-up place, and not have to go round and pay exhaustive parking fees.
"There's also been an increase in awareness now – we're seeing more of them on the road. Stats by the Active Travel Academy, which is part of the University of Westminster, quote electric cargo bikes as being 60% more efficient than vans. A European study said that 51% of freight deliveries services in urban centres could be replaced by electric cargo bikes. That's a very big number – so the rise in electric cargo bikes is enormous."
Part of the struggle though, Parsons continues, is trying to sell businesses a new, not yet understood technology. Delivery companies know how a white van works, but to offer a new technology and a new way of doing business is something that takes some education in order to prove it can work.
"What typically happens is they're going '£8,000 for a bike, are you mental?' They don't understand that the cargo bike at £8,000 is a direct replacement of their white van, which actually costs them considerably more, not only to buy, but to run and maintain, and you need tax, MOT and insurance etc.
"Once you've convinced them that it might be a good idea, they then dip their toes in and buy one or two, and the decision is made easier by the grant, and they're going 'oh my God, why have we never done this before?'"
Upward trajectory
The rising numbers of people walking and cycling have been well reported since COVID-related restrictions began, with the pandemic causing enormous gains across the board. But e-bikes were on an upward trajectory already, says Parsons.
"I think what the pandemic did is just accelerated the change. It also brought a lot of change in infrastructure, so we had COVID cycle lanes coming in. There were a lot fewer cars on the road – a lot of people felt safer to go on and cycle, and therefore there was an uptick through that as well.
"There has also been a perfect storm the other way because we've had the most shocking of supply periods. In my nearly 15 years in the industry, in electric bikes, I've never had a period like it. It's been devastating and the growth could have been significantly higher if there hadn't been all the issues that the industry experienced through lack of availability and lack of supply. COVID has increased it and throttled it at the same time."
Speaking to the suppliers, most of them are saying that they need another year to recover, Parsons says, and then we're not going to get to any form of normality until at least the end of next year.
"The suppliers' suppliers are struggling. They've already put their pre-orders in and they're designing stuff for this next year.
"And many of our suppliers are capping us with the number of e-bikes that we can buy, which is incredibly frustrating because as a business we obviously want to continue to grow but the stock clearly isn't there, or certainly of the bike that we want to be marketing, promoting and selling."
But many businesses across different industries are also having the same issues – and at least it's better this way than the other way round, Parsons says.
"It's a nice problem to have but it's a problem nonetheless, and it's a very costly problem because when our phone rings 300 times a day, a large proportion of those are 'any news on my bike?' You're paying for staff to be sitting answering calls on behalf of the suppliers. It's very difficult and very costly, but it is what it is."
But one good thing about working with commercial businesses is that their bikes are on the road nearly 24/7, so more e-bikes being seen on the road is a good thing for everybody, including consumers, Parsons concludes.
"We're fully invested in this side of the business and I cannot wait to see what the next 12-18 months has to offer."
Tags e-cargo Fully Charged
Previous Private e-scooters banned from TfL network due to fire risks
Next HumanForest named in top-10 most innovative transport companies
Fully Charged e-bike retailer launches new store in Cornwall
Michelin unveils prototype airless tyre for e-cargo trikes
Where should the market expect to see growth in 2022?
How AI will shape the future of micromobility
By Steve Pyer, Country Manager UK&I, Spin Now established in many UK communities, e-scooter rental …


text:
Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:PRAN) Investor Investigation over Possible Securities Laws Violations
An investigation for investors in Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:PRAN) shares over potential securities laws violations by Prana Biotechnology was announced and NASDAQ:PRAN stockholders should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com
San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/07/2014 -- An investigation on behalf of investors of Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:PRAN) shares over potential securities laws violations by Prana Biotechnology and certain of its directors and officers in connection certain financial statements was announced .
If you purchased shares of Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:PRAN), you have certain options and you should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.
The investigation by a law firm focuses on possible claims on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:PRAN) concerning whether a series of statements by Prana Biotechnology Limited regarding its business, its prospects and its operations were materially false and misleading at the time they were made.
Prana Biotechnology Limited reported that its Total Revenue declined from $0.19 million for the 12 months period that ended on June 30, 2012 to $0.15 million for the 12 months period that ended on June 30, 2013 and that its respective Net Loss increased from $5.24 million to $7.79 million. Shares of Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:PRAN) grew from $2.19 per share on February 22, 2013 to as high as $12.33 per share on January 30, 2014.
Then on March 31, 2014, Prana Biotechnology Limited announced results of Phase 2 IMAGINE trial of PBT2 in Alzheimer's disease. Among other things, Prana Biotechnology Limited said that its PBT2 did not meet its primary endpoint of a statistically significant reduction in the levels of beta-amyloid plaques in the brains of prodromal/mild Alzheimer's disease patients, as measured using PiB-PET Standardized Uptake Value Ratio (SUVR). Shares of Prana Biotechnology Limited dropped from $10.11 per share on March 28, 2014 to $3.05 per share on March 31, 2014 and continued to decline to as low as $1.68 per share on April 15, 2014.
On May 5, 2014, NASDAD:PRAN shares closed at $1.63 per share.
Those who purchased shares of Prana Biotechnology Limited (ADR) have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.
Trevor Allen
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92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
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mail@shareholdersfoundation.com
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Posted Wednesday, May 07, 2014 at 7:00 AM CDT - Permalink


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What is the alpha male look?
It's hard to describe. Sometimes the most alpha man in a room is someone you would have labeled the least likely candidate before. Maybe he's… short. Only 5′7″ and not particularly well-built. Maybe he's… not traditionally masculine, and maybe he once pranced around in high heels and tight leather pants on national TV.
Maybe he's a joker. And a comedian. Someone people like to laugh at, and laugh with. Maybe his approval ratings are low and dwindling. And he's the shortest guy in the room, in most rooms, and with most crowds. You never look at him twice. He largely goes unnoticed, and if he is noticed, it's not necessarily in a good way.
And then that little guy, when all hell breaks loose and many implore him to flee… stays. And risks death. And turns out to have the biggest balls. Isn't that funny? You don't know, what an alpha male looks like. Not until he's in a life-or-death situation. That's when he shows you the material from which he's built. When push comes to shove. When it's sink, or swim. Do or die.
That's when he rallies his people, rallies his troops, and shows that looks are deceiving. The jokes come to an end. The laughter is no more. The funny little guy isn't so funny anymore… he carries a nation on his shoulders now. I'm glad he's still alive today.
Tags: alpha-male, alpha-male-comedian, alpha-male-reconsidered, anti-alpha-male, comedian, volodymyr-zelensky
Rogan, The Right's Masculinity Obsession and "Muscular Christianity"
What is muscular christianity and what does it have to do with Joe Rogan? We were joined by Derek Beres & Julian Walker of the Conspirituality podcast who are working on this very issue.
Christian nationalism has always been extremely obsessed with masculinity and extremely "muscular" for over two centuries. How prevalent it is in mainstream American culture ebbs and flows as times change, but especially during periods of crises (say a pandemic) it has historically tended to reemerge as a dominant political force. A lot of folks truly want to take us back to the Dark Ages.
Joe Rogan, in all of his 5'8" glory, is apparently the archetype of the kind of figure prized by this political and cultural movement. He professes self reliance, is already extremely wealthy, juices all the supplements all wrapped up in the American flag. If Flat Tummy Tea influencers are the people who attract women to these conservative cultish ideologies, Joe Rogan and folks who model themselves after him are the male equivalent. And while he used to have more left leaning guests on, lately under Covid-19 he's made a hard and sad right turn.
Derek Beres is a fitness and yoga instructor and author based in Los Angeles. He is the Senior Editor at Eco & co-host of the Conspirituality podcast. Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekberes
Julian Walker has been teaching yoga in and around LA since 1994 . He is co-host of the Conspirituality Podcast. Julian also writes extensively on the intersections of cults, trauma, new ageism and yoga. Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/embodiedsacred
Recorded January 02nd, 2021
Tags: alpha-grift, alpha-male, american-conservative-masculinity, fascism, fascism-gender, fascism-gender-studies, fascism-muscular-christianity, fitness, fitness-grifters, fransesca-fiorentini, gender, joe-rogan, joe-rogan-muscular-christianity, maga, maga-muscular-christianity, masculinity, masculinity-fitness, muscular-christianity
Nike's End of Men
Why Nike no longer wants us to Be Like Mike
"Hey bro! Check out this Nike ad!" This was my entry point into a new world.
I transferred dorms because a clerical quirk sent me to the "Substance Free" building, not that there's anything wrong with being substance free. It's just that the choice is its own selection bias of people who opted out of college as we commonly know it. The people in my hall were nice but … different. On Day 1, the effusively odd RA had nicknamed me "Ethanol." Both my roommates spent weekends with their families, as did so many in the building. This was, perhaps, all commendably wholesome behavior, and should be more of a mainstream practice, but it made for an eerily silent atmosphere during the time when the rest of campus was partying. One day, the friendly RA changed my nickname from Ethanol to "Chuh-Chuh-Oh," a reference to ethanol's chemical formula script of CH3−CH2−OH. That night, I filled out the transfer form for a different dorm and a new life.
My new roommate was named Carlos and he'd split his time growing up between San Francisco and Guatemala before landing here as a transfer student at age 21. Within the first hour of meeting, he asked me, "Do you drink?" and pulled a rum bottle out of the minifridge. Carlos could get booze. Legally. Like a grownup. So naturally I assumed this worldly individual knew everything and I needed to learn. He certainly was game to teach, imposing harsh lessons when I came up short over the course of our friendship. There was that one morning, after I got too drunk to ask out my future wife, when I awoke to his getting me off the couch with the painful crack whip of a belt. But I digress.
Since Carlos had lived mostly outside the United States, he was able to follow soccer on a level I'd never encountered in my hometown. Back then, before social media and the advent of scarf-wearing Northwestern fútbol hipsters, big-time European soccer was like the metric system: Known to almost all but ourselves. But Carlos knew, and immediately used LimeWire to curate me a massive archive of 1990s through early 2000s soccer highlights. What was I doing in the world without them?
Oddly enough, in trying to inculcate me in soccer fandom, he started not with game highlights, but with the advertisements. Yes, Carlos was an educator and a voluntary footsoldier for Big Apparel. Going in, I had no clue about high-quality, internationally popular Nike soccer ads. The ads, written by the legendary Wieden+Kennedy firm, were miniature movies, films that were often creatively daring but also quite funny. The most popular of these ads might be "Good vs. Evil," from 1996, where Nike's best soccer players team up to play Satan's literal army. The blending of sacrilege, theology and comedy just worked, like a more ambitious version of Space Jam that somehow took itself less seriously than Space Jam.
Action movies of this era usually featured a hero who coolly tagged his kills with a catchphrase and this ad was no exception. Extremely French superstar Eric Cantona pops his collar, his trademark look, and calmly intones, "Au revoir," before literally killing Satan with a fiery screamer of a goal, right through Beelzebub's belly. This ad rules. 10 out of 10. It's no wonder it ascended to the level of college dude-bonding material. I must have watched it dozens of times that year.
Yes, I know ads aren't supposed to be high art. I understand that they are the purest distillation of manipulative greed. And yet, they sometimes are culturally relevant generational touchstones. While Nike was weaving soccer into enduring pop culture abroad, it was having a similar kind of success with basketball and baseball stateside. These ads weren't just pure ephemera. Michael Jordan's commercials were so good that, as he nears age 60, his sneaker still outsells any modern athlete's. "Chicks dig the long ball" is a phrase (a) that can get you sent to the modern HR department and b) whose origins are fondly remembered by most American men over the age of 35.
Modern Nike ads will never be so remembered. It's not because we're so inundated with information these days, though we are. And it's not because today's overexposed athletes lack the mystique of the 1990s superstars, though they do. It's because the modern Nike ads are beyond fucking terrible.
Existence Dissonance and Its Discontents
They're bad for many causes, but one in particular is an incongruity at the company's heart. Nike, like so many major institutions, is suffering from what I'll call Existence Dissonance. It's happening in a particular way, for a particular reason and the result is that what Nike is happens to be at cross-purposes from what Nike aspires to be.
From Sara Germano's excellent Financial Times article on Nike's civil war:
"It's been a tumultuous period for Nike," says Trevor Edwards, the former brand president of the company who left in 2018. "It is so based on passion for sport, passion for the Nike brand, and that passion is starting to dissipate internally." The result is one of the most challenging moments in the company's history. It must contend not only with a radical shift in retail strategies but also the wider cultural reckoning with the intersection of race, gender and power. In interviews with current and former employees, industry executives, consumers and retail partners, divisions emerge over how to tackle such issues while remaining true to the spirit that has set the brand apart from other sportswear manufacturers. One question looms above the rest: is it the end of an era for Nike?
For all the talk of a racial reckoning within major industries, Nike's main problem is this: It's a company built on masculinity, most specifically Michael Jordan's alpha dog brand of it. Now, due to its own ambitions, scandals, and intellectual trends, Nike finds masculinity problematic enough to loudly reject.
This rejection is part of the broader culture war, but it's accelerating due to an arcane quirk in the apparel giant's strange restructuring plan, announced in June. Under the leadership of new CEO John Donahoe, Nike is moving away from its classic discrete sports categories (Nike Basketball, Nike Soccer, etc.) in favor of a system where all products are shoveled into one of three divisions: men's, women's and kids'. Obviously Nike made clothing tailored to the specificities of all these groups before, but now, Nike is emphasizing gender over sport. Gone is the model of the product appealing to basketball fans because they are basketball fans. It's now replaced by a model of, say, the product appealing to women because they are women.
And hey, women buy sneakers too. Actually, women buy the lion's share of clothing in the United States. While women shoppers are market dominant in nearly every aspect of American apparel, the clothing multinational named after a Greek goddess happens to be a major exception. At Nike, according to its own records, men account for roughly twice as much revenue as women do.
You might see that stat and think, "Well, this means that Nike will prioritize men over women in its new, odd, gendered segmentation of the company." That's not necessarily how this all works, thanks to a phenomenon I'll call Undecided Whale. The idea is that a company, as its aims grow more expansive, starts catering less to the locked-in core customer and more to a potential whale which demonstrates some interest. Sure, you can just keep doing what's made you rich, but how can you even focus on your primary business with that whale out there, swimming so tantalizingly close? The whale, should you bring it in, has the potential to enrich you far more than your core customers ever did. And yeah yeah yeah, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but those were birds. This is a damned whale! And so you start forgetting about your base.
You can see this dynamic in other places. For the NBA, China is its Undecided Whale. It could be argued that the NBA fixates more on China than on America, even if the vast majority of TV money comes from U.S. viewership. The league figures it has more or less hit its ceiling in its home country, so China becomes an obsession as this massive, theoretical growth engine.
Similarly at Nike, male purchasing power is taken as given. They are the Decided Dolphins or whatever extended animal metaphor you wish to use. So, it's the Undecided Whale of women who present as that glorious bridge to the future and thus drive company strategy. Nike is one of the world's biggest apparel companies despite lagging with women? Imagine if it didn't lag?! That's the thinking, anyway. On to wooing the whale!
Here's the main issue for Nike in this endeavor: The company, as a raison d'être, promotes athletic excellence. While women are among Nike's major sports stars, the core of high-level performance, in the overwhelming majority of sports, is male. Every sane person knows that, though nobody in professional class life seems rude enough to say so. Obviously, there's the observable reality of who tends to set records and there's also the pervasive understanding that testosterone, the main male sex hormone, happens to give unfair advantages to the athletes who inject it.
Speaking of which, there's a famous This American Life episode from 2002 where the public radio journos actually test their own testosterone levels. The big joke of the episode is just how comically low their T levels are. Sure, you would stereotype bookish public radio men in this way, and yet the results are on the nose enough to shock.
As a nerdy media-weakling type, I can relate to the stunning realization that you've been largely living apart from T. Before working in the NBA setting, I was an intern in the cubicles of Salon.com's San Francisco office, around the time it was shifting from respectable online magazine into inane outrage content mill. Going from that setting to the NBA locker room was some jarring whiplash, like leaving the faculty lounge for a pirate ship. To quote Charles Barkley on the latter culture, "The locker room is sexist, racist, and homophobic … and it's fun and I miss it."
The NBA world conversations were loud, rude and hilarious, without regard to sensitivities, absent the competing empathies that obsessed Salon's writers. After big games, you could sense that cathartic release of adrenaline in the air, as large men bellowed and talked their shit. You could get bullied out of nowhere. What are you wearing? Did your mom pick that out? A buddy who worked for a team told me that Shaquille O'Neal had a tendency to get naked, tackle the team trainer and mock hump the poor guy. And that was fine because it was funny to everyone present and whatever was funny could be allowed. In this world of physical competition, there are no rules, only codes. It's how the sausage gets made, so to speak, before the public is served a sanitized version of giant dudes fighting a simulated battle.
If you're committed to marketing sports overall, you're marketing, at the very least, a brand of masculinity. Dominating your opponents isn't the only way to be a man and doing so isn't exclusively the province of men, but the act itself is a disproportionately male endeavor, and also something that really appeals to male audiences. The nation that contains more female than male sports fans … doesn't exist.
Nike sold the public this rented masculinity, year after year, and the public bought it, including the many women who found Nike's pitchmen and products to be charismatic. Michael Jordan was a hypercompetitive alpha male asshole who viciously humiliated not just his opponents, but his teammates as well. The millions who tuned in for the Last Dance documentary found these dark impulses of his to be highly captivating.
What the viewers were drawn to in Jordan, what the ensuing memes drew off of, was what Jennifer Lawrence's character in American Hustle theorized about a good perfume scent: "Historically, the best perfumes in the world, they're all laced with something nasty." So yes, masculinity is toxic. And that's also what people love about it, similar to how they're addicted to the rotten rinds in cheese. All that striving for greatness is indivisible from the selfish need to inflict cruelty on your dominated foe. Take away the latter and there is no sports. It's just exercise.
Now we have Nike producing ads directly against the kind of "toxic masculinity" that made The Last Dance a runaway hit. In an article titled, "Marcus Rashford boots toxic masculinity out of frame in Nike ad," a writer describes a talking soccer ball whose spiel seems to be right out of the MJ mindset, if not the Black Mamba's:
"First of all, you've got to be greedy! I'm looking for that nasty streak. You don't ask, you take. You're either the star of the show or a loser," the tough Cockney football growls his outdated advice, exemplifying the nasty side of the sport.
With a kick, the toxic football is booted out of frame before he can voice any more of old-school spiel. Heralding in a new era of sport, the nasty football has been punted out by Marcus Rashford MBE, who has made a name as a formidable voice for social justice.
A nasty streak is bad? It's awful to "take" in the realm of competition? Soccer is a bit different from basketball culturally, but if Nike's depiction of an "old-school" soccer mentality is real, it's not that much different. It's all about crushing your enemies, mercilessly, be they perfectly nice gentlemen or the devil himself. Au revoir.
The "Good vs. Evil" ad boasts a "Like" to "Dislike" ratio of 20-to-1 on YouTube. On June 17th of 2021, Nike put out an ad ahead of the Euro Cup that referenced "Good vs. Evil" as briefly as it could. In this case, a little child popped his collar and used Cantona's catchphrase. As of this writing, the new ad has earned a thousand more punches of the Dislike than of the Like button.
When you see it, it's no surprise that the latest Euro Cup ad is disliked. I mean, you have to look at this shit. I know we're so numb to the ever-escalating emanations of radical chic from our largest corporations, but sometimes it's worth pausing just to take stock and gawk.
The Wieden+Kennedy Euro Cup spot begins with a zaftig girl yelling, "We celebrate the birth of a new land! The land of new football." And look, I didn't want to draw attention to a real-life kid's appearance, but I'm not mentioning any names and this is Substack, not Twitter, so perhaps we can assume some containment of unflattering descriptions. It's worth mentioning the choice because typically Nike uses an athletic demigod to sell its product. It's a tried-and-true model. You want to be like a great-looking athletic superstar with 0% body fat, right? You want to transform yourself into something more similar to peak human performance, correct? Well, you can start by wearing these shoes.
But today we are in the land of new football, where we take dictatorial direction from less-than-athletic minors. After her announcement, we are treated to a montage of different people who offer tolerance bromides.
"There are no borders here!"
"Here, you can be whoever you want. Be with whoever you want."
(Two men kiss following that line, because subtlety isn't part of this new world order.)
Then, a woman who appears to be breastfeeding under a soccer shirt, threatens, in French, "And if you disagree …"
And this is when the little boy gives us Cantona's "au revoir" line before kicking a ball out of a soccer stadium, presumably because that's what happens to the ignorant soccer hooligan. He gets kicked out for raging against gay men kissing or French ladies breastfeeding or somesuch. Later, a referee wearing a hijab instructs us, "Leave the hate," before narrator girl explains, "You might as well join us because no one can stop us."
Is that last line supposed to be … inspiring? That's what a movie villain says, like if Bane took the form of Stan Marsh's sister. Speaking of which, was this ad actually written by the creators of South Park as an elaborate prank? It's certainly more convincing as an aggressive parody of liberals than as a sales pitch. Why, in anything other than a comedic setup, is a woman breastfeeding in a big-budget Euro Cup ad?
It's tempting to fall into the pro-vanguardism template the boomers have handed down to us and sheepishly say, "I must be getting old, because this seems weird to me," but let's get real. You dislike this ad because it sucks. You are having a natural, human response to shitty art. This a hollow sermon from a priest whose sins were in the papers. Nobody is impressed by what Nike's doing here. Nobody thinks Nike, a multinational famous for its sweatshops, is ushering us into an enlightened utopia. Sure, most media types are afraid to criticize the ad publicly. You might inspire suspicion that what you're secretly against is men kissing and women breastfeeding, but nobody actually likes the stupid ad. No college kid would show it to a new friend he's trying to impress, and it's hard to envision a massive cohort of Gen Z women giving a shit about this ad either.
Now juxtapose that ad not just against the classics of the 1990s but also the 2000s products that preceded the Great Awokening. Compare it to another Nike Euro Cup advertisement, Guy Ritchie's "Take It to the Next Level."
Now this is a hell of a soccer ad. It slickly transports you to a realistic POV of what life is like at the absolute height of competition. Not only do you follow a story arc, but you bounce around to different aspects of a stardom journey. People love it, as evidenced by this ad reaping 22,000 Likes to a mere 301 Dislikes as of this writing.
Here's the problem, insofar as problems are pretended into existence by our media class: The ad is very, very male. Really, what we are watching here is a boyhood fantasy. Our protagonist gets called up to the big show, and next thing you know he's cavorting with multiple ladies, and autographing titties to the chagrin of his date. He can be seen buying a luxury sports car and arriving at his childhood home in it as his father beams with pride. Training sessions show him either puking from exhaustion or playing grab-ass with his fellow soccer bros. This is jock life, distilled. Art works when it's true and it's true that this is a vivid depiction of a common fantasy realized.
Nike's highly successful "Write the Future" ad (16,000 Likes, 257 Dislikes) works along similar themes.
The 2010 World Cup spot plays on the idea of how history might revere the tournament's winner or scorn the loser. Ah, a history fixation. So dorkily, stereotypically male, as Mark Corrigan might attest.
It is not a politically correct ad, in part because it features cultural stereotypes of the nations involved. The stereotypes just happen to be dead on, and funny, especially in the section that covers angsty England. Again, art works when it's true. That's perhaps not exactly why the ad would be wrongthink at today's Nike, though. It wouldn't be made at today's Nike because it depicts winning as glorious and losing as humiliating. The former can be tolerated, but the latter is just too damn mean. Toxic, even. The new Nike spin on "Just Do It," is basically, "At Least You Tried."
Nike's basketball ads are garbage now as well. Quick, think of the last one that was great. You've an impressive memory or remarkably low standards if you instantly called up something from the past five years that wasn't this Kobe retirement ad from 2016. Team USA basketball should have provided a nice launching pad for some Nike spots, but no.
The recent Olympic ads were especially heavy on cringe radical chic, and might have stood out less in this respect if the athletes themselves mirrored that tone on the big stage. Not so much in these Olympics. It seems as though Nike made the commercials in preparation for an explosion of telegenic activism, only to see American athletes mostly, quietly accept their medals, chomp down on the gold, and praise God or country. Perhaps you could consider Simone Biles bowing out of events due to mental health as a form of activism, but overall, the athletes basically behaved in the manner they would have back in 1996.
But Nike forged onwards anyway. This ad in celebration of the U.S. women's basketball team made some waves, getting ripped in conservative media as the latest offense by woke capital.
Nike @Nike
Raising the bar at the highest level is what they do. They've done it consistently for over 25 years. Congratulations to the USAB WNT for bringing home their 7th straight 🥇 and continuing to rep the best of us.
August 8th 2021
1,764 Retweets10,164 Likes
"Today I have a presentation on dynasties," a pink-haired teenage girl tells us. "But I refuse to talk about the ancient history and drama. That's just the patriarchy. Instead, I'm going to talk about a dynasty that I actually look up to. An all-women dynasty. Women of color. Gay women. Women who fight for social justice. Women with a jump shot. A dynasty that makes your favorite men's basketball, football, and baseball teams look like amateurs."
When she says, "That's just the patriarchy," the camera pans to a bust of (I think) Julius Caesar. At another point, the girl says, "A dynasty that makes Alexander the Great look like Alexander the Okay." Fuck you, Classical Antiquity. Fuck you, fans of teams. You're all just the patriarchy. Or something.
Nike could easily sell the successful American women's basketball team without denigrating other teams, genders and ancient Mediterranean empires that have nothing to do with this. Could but won't. The company now conveys an almost visceral need for women to triumph over men because … well, nobody really explains why, even if it has something to do with Undecided Whaling. In Nike's tentpole Olympics ad titled "Best Day Ever," the narrator fantasizes about the future, declaring, "The WNBA will surpass the NBA in popularity!"
By comparison, the scornful U.S. women's basketball team ad makes some sense. While it's perhaps poor form that the ad's star denigrates men so as to appeal to women, at least the ad is about celebrating a women's team specifically. In that context, I guess you can understand some battle of the sexes shit-talking, even if the content gets fairly insane. But the general Nike ad, the one featuring all the main sports, wishing for a future in which the WNBA surpasses the NBA? Doesn't equal but surpasses?
The NBA built Nike into a behemoth and now Nike tells the world it wants the WNBA to surpass it. If that reality is even possible, it probably includes broke Nike executives jumping out of windows. Hilariously, Nike also tells the world, "The only problem with the WNBA is you're not watching it". They aren't marketing greatness anymore. They're marketing resentful insecurity. But why?
Middle-Up Revolution
There are theories on the emergence of woke capital, with many having observed that, following Occupy Wall Street, media institutions ramped up on census category grievance. The thinking goes that, in response to the threat of a real economic revolution, the power players in our society pushed identity politics to undermine group solidarity. Well, that was a fiendishly brilliant plan, if anyone actually hatched it.
I'm not so convinced, though, as I'm more inclined to believe that a lot of history happens by happenstance. If we're to specifically analyze the Nike Awokening, there is a recent top-down element of a mandate for Undecided Whaling, but that mandate was preceded by a socially conscious middle class campaign within the company.
This isn't unique to Nike, either. Given my past life covering the team that tech moguls root for, I've run into such people. They aren't, by and large, ideological. Very few are messianically devoted to seeing the world through the intersectionality lens. They are, however, terrified of their employees who feel this way. The mid-tier labor force, this cohort who actually internalized their university teachings, are full of fervor and willing to risk burned bridges in favor of causes they deem righteous. The big bosses just don't want a headline-making walkout on their hands, so they placate and mollify, eventually bending the company's voice into language of righteousness.
In 2018, a New York Times article detailed the middle-up "revolt" within Nike, driven by women who had enough of an "environment that had turned toxic." According to the report, the Nike company culture wasn't so far from that of the locker room, which will run you into some problems when your locker room employs 75,000 people, with both sexes included. Even if Nike had thrived over the decades, its ways didn't seem sustainable in the modern world. Finally, a concerted push from middle class female employees led to multiple high-profile male ousters, including the aforementioned Trevor Edwards. From the NYT:
Finally, fed up, a group of women inside Nike's Beaverton, Ore., headquarters started a small revolt. Covertly, they surveyed their female peers, inquiring whether they had been the victim of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Their findings set off an upheaval in the executive ranks of the world's largest sports footwear and apparel company. On March 5, the packet of completed questionnaires landed on the desk of Mark Parker, Nike's chief executive. Over the next several weeks, at least six top male executives left or said they were planning to leave the company, including Trevor Edwards, president of the Nike brand, who was widely viewed as a leading candidate to succeed Mr. Parker, and Jayme Martin, Mr. Edwards's lieutenant, who oversaw much of Nike's global business.
In the aftermath, the company has externalized the turmoil within through the ads mentioned above, blasting out self-conscious lectures towards the blameless masses. It reminds of how, with the advent of #MeToo, we were treated to sermonizing awards show speech after sermonizing awards show speech from actors blaming broader society, as though Hollywood wasn't especially depraved. Yes, Joe in Iowa, our grotesque behavior means it's time for YOU to start treating women better. Got it??
All the guilt and atonement transference make for bad art. And so the ads suck. There's no Machiavellian conspiracy behind the production. It's just a combination of desperately wanting female market share and desperately wanting to move on from the publicized sins of a masculine past. So, to message its ambitions, the exhausted corporation leans on the employees with the loudest answers.
There's a lot of interplay between Nike and Wieden+Kennedy when the former asks the latter for a type of ad, but the through line from both sides is a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Based on conversations with people who've worked in both environments, there's a dearth of personnel who are deeply connected to sports. In place of a grounding in a subculture, you're getting ideas from folks who went to nice colleges and trendy ad schools, the type of people who throw words like "patriarchy" at the screen to celebrate a gold medal victory. The older leaders, uneasy in their station and thus obsessed with looking cutting edge, lean on the younger types because the youth are confident. Unfortunately, that confidence is rooted in an ability to regurgitate liturgy, rather than generative genius. They've a mandate to replace a marred past, which they leap at, but they're incapable of inventing a better future.
Meanwhile, Nike's growth has sputtered. From Germano, again:
By the end of the decade, the company's succession planning — and its numbers — were in turmoil. Nike had told investors it planned to hit $16bn in sales directly to consumers by 2020; at the end of fiscal 2019, the figure was barely $12bn.
Nike's existential dissonance has derailed its journey. Still, the megacorp should be fine, at least in the near term. The issue with a phrase like, "Get Woke, Go Broke," is that some corporations have a near-monopolistic grip on a market. Nike's next 10 ads could just be Megan Rapinoe solemnly humming "Fight Song," and they'll still be profitable, mostly because those scorned men will keep buying the product.
Ironically, Nike mattered a lot more in the days when its position was less dominant. Back when it had to really fight for market share, it made bold, genre-altering art. The ads were synonymous with masculine victory, plus they were cheekily irreverent. And so the dudes loved them. Today, Nike is something else. It LARPs as a grandiose feminist nonprofit as it floats aimlessly on the vessel Michael Jordan built long ago. Like Jordan himself, Nike is rich forever off what it can replicate never. Unlike Jordan, it now wishes to be known for anything but its triumphs. Nike once told a story and that story resonated with its audience. Now it's decided that its audience is the problem. It wouldn't shock you to learn that Carlos hated the new Nike ads I texted to him. His exact words were, "I don't want fucking activism from a sweatshop monopoly." He'll still buy the gear, though, just not the narrative. Nike remains, but the story about itself has run out. Au revoir.
Source: houseofstrauss.substack.com
Tags: alpha-male, apha-male, killer-loser, male, micheal-jordan-apha-male, mikeal-jordan-hyper-competitive, nasty, nba-china, nike, nike-culture, potential-market, toxic-masculinity, undecided-whale, winner, winner-nasty
Beta males won: How violence is responsible for evolution of modern humans | Richard Wrangham
Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJF01…
Tags: aggression, alpha-male, alpha-male-decline, anti-alpha-male, anti-dominance, beta-males, beta-males-coallition, cow-tow, dmitri-belyaev, domesticate, dominance, lex-fridman, reactive-aggression, reactive-violence, richard-wrangham, violence
Sigma Male vs Alpha: Puppies, Dogs and Owners: a Practical Guide to Men
Tags: alpha-male, dominance, masculinity, masculinity-dominance, self-aware, sigma-male, toxic-masculinity
"Fake Alpha" Narcissists vs True Alphas
Authority vs Competence
Force an Agenda vs Gives Time to Buy into an Agenda
Unearned Loyalty vs Earned Byproduct of Relationship
Thin-skinned vs Understanding Difference. Thick Skinned
Cult based on their Personal Preference vs Solid Ideas
Insistence vs Patient Planning & Process, dealing with problems that come up
Demand Obedience vs Creativity & Diversity
Desperate for Agreement vs Confident
Bullying, Threats, Name Calling, Derision vs Assertiveness with decency. Allows others Dignity
Has to be on top, Concerned with Rank vs Common Good
Self-impressed vs Humble
Exploitative vs Lifting Others Up
Appearance of Success vs Essence, Lets my Inner Being Speak
Angry Under Pressure vs Calm under Pressure
Short-term Brute Force
Life isn't all about me. Life is about Us
DRC: dignity, respect, civility
Tags: alpha-male, anti-narcissism, civility, dignity, dignity-respect-civility, fake-alpha, influence, leadership, les-carter, narcissism, respect, surviving-narcissism, true-alpha
Let's talk about alphas, wolves, Trump, and myths….
The myth of the "alpha wolf" is derived from the study of wolves in captivity.
Tags: alpha-male, alpha-male-cooperation, alpha-male-fear, alpha-male-nurturing, alpha-male-protect-vulnerable, alpha-male-thinking, alpha-male-wolves, cooperation, fear, hyper-masculinity, leadership, masculinity, mens-rights, nurture, protect-vulnerable, toxic-masculinity, trump-anti-accountability, wolves


text:
Q: Mongodb lookup array of elements with combined result So these are my two documents
Order document:
{
   "_id":"02a33b9a-284c-4869-885e-d46981fdd679",
   "context":{
      "products":[
         {
         "id": "e68fc86a-b4ad-4588-b182-ae9ee3db25e4",
         "version": "2020-03-14T13:18:41.296+00:00"
         }
      ],
   },
}

Product document:
{
   "_id":"e68fc86a-b4ad-4588-b182-ae9ee3db25e4",
   "context":{
      "name": "My Product",
      "image": "someimage"
   },
}

So I'm trying to do a lookup for a products in order document, but the result should contain combined fields, like so:
"products":[
             {
             "_id": "e68fc86a-b4ad-4588-b182-ae9ee3db25e4",
             "version": "2020-03-14T13:18:41.296+00:00",
             "name": "My Product",
             "image": "someimage"
             }
          ],

Not sure how to do this, should I do it outside of the lookup, or inside? This is my aggregation
Orders.aggregate([
{
   "$lookup":{
      "from":"products",
      "let":{
         "products":"$context.products"
      },
      "pipeline":[
         {
            "$match":{
               "$expr":{
                  "$in":[
                     "$_id",
                     "$$products.id"
                  ]
               }
            }
         },
         {
            "$project":{
               "_id":0,
               "id":1,
               "name":"$context.name"
            }
         }
      ],
      "as":"mergedProducts"
   }
},
{
   "$project":{
      "context":"$context",
      "mergedProducts":"$mergedProducts"
   }
},
]);

A: You need to run that mapping outside of $lookup by running $map along with $arrayElemAt to get single pair from both arrays and then apply $mergeObjects to get one object as a result:
db.Order.aggregate([
    {
        $lookup: {
            from: "products",
            localField: "context.products.id",
            foreignField: "_id",
            as: "productDetails"
        }
    },
    {
        $addFields: {
            productDetails: {
                $map: {
                    input: "$productDetails",
                    in: {
                        _id: "$$this._id",
                        name: "$$this.context.name"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    {
        $project: {
            _id: 1,
            "context.products": {
                $map: {
                    input: "$context.products",
                    as: "prod",
                    in: {
                        $mergeObjects: [
                            "$$prod",
                            { $arrayElemAt: [ { $filter: { input: "$productDetails", cond: { $eq: [ "$$this._id", "$$prod.id" ] } } }, 0 ] }
                        ]
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
])

Mongo Playground
The goals of the last step is to take take two arrays: products and productDetails (the output of $lookup) and find matches between them. We know there's always one match so we can get only one item $arrayElemAt 0. As an output of $map there will be single array containing "merged" documents.


The Radiology Review Courses Heart of England FRCR 2B Revision course is organised by the authors of Radiology MCQS for the New FRCR 2a and Rapid Review of Radiology: a revision guide for FRCR 2B. The course offers intensive preparation for the FRCR 2B exam with 4 rapid reporting and 4 long case sets completed under exam conditions (digital images) with subsequent thorough discussion/analysis sessions. All papers will be fully marked and scored.


Taking the overlooked area of Indian influences upon Western decorative arts and architecture, Head discusses and illustrates 114 examples produced between the 18th and 20th centuries. The primary focus is on English examples, although others are discussed. Unfortunately, lasting influences are rare and in the 20th century Indian themes have been used primarily in movie houses and world's fair pavilions. A fascinating American interludewhich deserves further studyis the joint project between Louis Comfort Tiffany and an Ahmedabad woodworking manufacturer to provide elaborate carvings for American houses. While this well-written work is in fact groundbreaking, unfortunately, few of the examples presented are very memorable. For larger collections. Donald Clay Johnson, Coll. of William & Mary Lib., Williamsburg, Va.


text:
Hugh Bonneville to narrate Peter James' ABSOLUTE PROOF
August 24, 2018 Intern BlakeFriedmann
We're thrilled that actor Hugh Bonneville will be narrating the audiobook of Peter James's upcoming thriller ABSOLUTE PROOF, to be published by Pan Macmillan on 4 October in hardback, ebook and audiobook. Audio rights have also been snapped up by Audible in the US for an exclusive audio first edition.
The novel is inspired by a phone call James received from a man claiming to have proof of the existence of God – an incident which James has developed into a "breathless race against time" as investigative reporter Ross Hunter searches for the truth.
Hugh Bonneville is no stranger to the topic of religion: he holds a theology degree from Cambridge University where he was taught by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Earlier this year, Bonneville presented the standalone documentary Jesus: Countdown to Calvary, a historical examination of the events leading up to the execution of Jesus of Nazareth by the Roman government.
Peter James and Hugh Bonneville first met in 2008 when they discussed the possibility of Bonneville playing James's character Detective Superintendent Grace in a TV adaptation. Although the adaptation did not move forward, the two have remained close friends. The audiobook will be their first official collaboration.
Bonneville said: "When you pick up a Peter James book you know it's going to be impossible to put down. ABSOLUTE PROOF is a thriller that grips from the outset but it's also incredibly thought-provoking, asking some of life's biggest questions about science and faith, setting big pharma and high church on a collision course that could change the world. I was thrilled when Peter asked me to provide the narration for his latest, most compelling book."
James said: "From the moment I met Hugh I knew that I wanted to work with him, so when I was asked who I thought would make an exciting narrator for ABSOLUTE PROOF he was the natural choice. Hugh is an incredible actor and his reading really captures the suspense and excitement in the book. I'm delighted with how it's turned out."
Visit Peter's website
Follow Peter on Twitter
Subscribe to Peter's Youtube channel
Praise for Peter James
'Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business' — Lee Child
'One of the most consistently readable crime writers.' — Daily Mail
'Peter James, Britain's closest equivalent to Stephen King' — Sunday Times
Rights for ABSOLUTE PROOF have so far been sold in 7 territories, including: Russia (Eksmo), Poland (Albatros), Finland (Minerva), Lithuania (Jotema), Holland (De Fontein), Germany (Scherz), and France (Fleuve Noir).
← THE GHOST TREE by Barbara Erskine is number 2 in the Sunday Times Bestseller list in its first week.Bookouture Acquire Two New Romantic Comedies by Debut Author Drew Davies →


Collection of textual input data – sources include news articles, web sources and social media posts.
Processing of textual data – we use NLP algorithms to calculate sentiment, article tone, Goldstein scale, perform entity recognition.
Predicting indicators – we train artificial neural networks to predict social, market and financial indicators such as price volatility, Goldstein scale collaboration or conflict metrics, etc.


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A population cannot increase exponentially and infinitely. The size of a population naturally fluctuates but is usually within a certain range, which is determined by a few limiting factors.
Consider which population limiting factors are dependent and independent of the size of the existing population. For example, cold temperatures can decrease the size of a population irrespective of its size. On the other hand, the availability of nesting sites for birds will only become a limiting factor when the population becomes dense enough.
Conservation = Maintenance of existing biodiversity, including interspecies, genetic, intraspecies, habitat and ecosystem diversity. Often involves management of succession.
Preservation = Maintenance of habitats and ecosystems in their present condition by minimising human impact.


I'm going to wear this funny and cool Santa cat hoodie to wish all my family a Meowy Christmas! HA! clever. I know. This comfy ugly sweater is just what I need to make everyone when they open their presents.


text:
Electron launch put a very visible surprise into orbit
Humanity Star is designed to be visible to everyone on Earth
Humanity Star is made of 64 highly reflective panels
Peter Beck and his creation
When Rocket Lab's Electron rocket lifted off from its New Zealand launch complex on January 21, it carried a surprise payload. Along with its three commercial satellites, the launcher deployed a passive geodesic sphere called Humanity Star. The orbiting mirror ball is designed to reflect the Sun's rays and be visible to everyone on Earth as a way to create a "shared experience for all humanity."
When the Electron "It's Still a Test" evaluation payload reached Earth orbit on Sunday, it was already flying into the history books. It was not only the first successful orbital launch to be sent up by New Zealand, it was also the first commercial space mission to lift off in the Southern Hemisphere. But Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck wanted to add something extra to the mission and that was Humanity Star, which is meant to act as symbol of inspiration to the people of the world.
The technology behind Humanity Star is very simple. It rode in the Electron second stage folded up and when deployed it unraveled into a carbon-fiber geodesic sphere a little over a meter (3.3 ft) in diameter covered in 65 highly reflective panels. These reflect sunlight using what is known as the Iridium flare phenomenon, named after the flashes of light produced by the flat panels on Iridium satellites, which are regarded as the brightest man-made objects in the night sky.
The difference is that the flashes from the Iridium satellites are accidental, while those of Humanity Star will be deliberate. To make sure the Star is visible to everyone on Earth, Rocket Lab set it in a 90-minute polar orbit. It will remain aloft for about nine months before its orbit starts to decay and it burns up in the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the Humanity Star website offers a tracking window to help people find out when and where the satellite will be visible in their neck of the woods.
"No matter where you are in the world, or what is happening in your life, everyone will be able to see the Humanity Star in the night sky," says Beck. "My hope is that all those looking up at it will look past it to the vast expanse of the universe and think a little differently about their lives, actions and what is important for humanity.
"For us to thrive and survive, we need to make big decisions in the context of humanity as a whole, not in the context of individuals, organizations or even nations. The Humanity Star is a way of looking beyond our immediate situation, whatever that may be, and understanding we are all in this together as one species, collectively responsible for innovating and solving the challenges facing us all. We must come together as a species to solve the really big issues like climate change and resource shortages."
Whatever Mr Beck's intentions, let's hope advertisers don't take the idea and run with it.
Source: Rocket Lab
SpaceSatelliteNew Zealand
Readout Noise January 25, 2018 08:27 AM
"No matter where you are in the world, or what is happening in your life, everyone will be able to see the Humanity Star in the night sky," says Beck. "We must come together as a species to solve the really big issues like climate change and resource shortages."
This unwanted light-bomb is vandalism and hypocracy! It is undermining the efforts of real environmentalists (e.g. www.darksky.org) to preserve the darkness of the night sky.
Brian M January 25, 2018 11:04 AM
@Readout noise 100% with you - nothing more than space vandalism to satisfy someone's own feeling of self importance.
Ianspeed January 25, 2018 11:26 AM
@Readout Noise Totally agree with you.
" And if you look to the sky my daughter you'll see a message for humanity", "yes mum, but when can I have something to eat, it's been days...and we haven't had fresh water for weeks"...Planet wasteful strikes again.
Kpar January 25, 2018 01:35 PM
Sorry, folks, I happen to disagree. The article states that this satellite's orbit will degrade over time and burn up upon re-entry- a self-correcting problem.
Furthermore, the loss of clear (read: dark) night skies in virtually EVERY developed country means that fewer and fewer people bother to look up anymore- we are further and further disconnected from the universe.
Kudos to this team- giving folks a reason to look to the sky, and, incidentally, providing a "teaching moment" about orbital mechanics.
c2cam January 25, 2018 01:49 PM
@Readout Noise, @Brian M, @Ianspeed - Really?
You don't see the potential that for one brief moment people across the planet can look up and see this little shining light and not help but feel connected with fellow earthlings doing the same thing? One way for the globe to look up for once instead of buried in their smart phones. To look up and see the awe that is the universe?
Light pollution from this little guy....meh, it's designed to burn up in 9 months. Move on.
Ruppert January 25, 2018 03:26 PM
Sorry but Argentina space program started in the 1950s and has been launching commercial and N.A.S.A. satellites even today. New Zealand, it was not the first commercial space mission to lift off in the Southern Hemisphere.
Dr-Zin January 25, 2018 03:33 PM
Shot it down NOW. Now all the bad aliens will know where we are and invade us.
Opps, I meant "shoot" not shot.....smh
Bruce H. Anderson January 25, 2018 04:00 PM
Selfies in Spa-a-a-a-ace. More like a Kardashian Star, or Paris Hilton Star. Neither is a star BTW.
Meryl January 25, 2018 04:24 PM
" We must come together as a species to solve the really big issues". The cascade effect of de-orbiting space trash( such as this half-baked idea) colliding with important stuff and setting off a chain reaction of damage seems like an issue to me. Mr Beck might not think this was one of his better ideas when his mobile phone ceases to work and his sat nav fails because his space junk knocked out a real satellite or two.


Thomas Tufte is a professor in Communication at the Department of Communication Studies of Roskilde University, Denmark, since 2004. He has an MA in cultural sociology (1989) and Ph.D. in communication from the University of Copenhagen (1995).
From 2009 and until 2013 he is principal investigator of the collaborative research program Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa (MEDIeA). He is also the co-director of Ørecomm, an international network originated at Malmö University (MAH) and Roskilde University (RUC) for research in the field of communication for development and social change.
Professor Tufte has lectured at universities, and worked with communication consultancy, in more than 25 countries. He has written/edited 10 books and numerous peer-reviewed articles. In 2003, he served as the UNESCO Chair of Communication at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain (2003). For many years, his media and communication research concentrated in Latin America. His current research focuses primarily on Southern and Eastern Africa.
Professor Tufte serves on the council of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). He also serves on the advisory and/or editorial boards of a series of international journals in culture and communication, including Communication, Culture and Critique (ICA Journal), Journal of Health Communication, Revista de Estudios Contemporáneos de la Comunicación y la Cultura (Universidad de Colima, México), Intercom (Brazil) and Revista ALAIC (edited by the Latin America Association on Information and Communication).
Thomas Tufte and Florencia Enghel (eds.) (2009) Youth Engaging with the World: Media, Communication for Social Change. Yearbook of The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. Göteborg: NORDICOM.
Thomas Tufte and Paolo Mefalopulos (2009) Participatory Communication: A Practical Guide. World Bank Working Paper No. 170. Washington DC: World Bank.
Gumucio Dagron, Alfonso and Thomas Tufte (eds.) (2008) Comunicación para el Cambio Social. New Jersey: Communication for Social Change Consortium.
Gumucio Dagron, Alfonso and Thomas Tufte (eds.) (2006) Communication for Social Change Anthology: Historical and Contemporary Readings. New Jersey: Communication for Social Change Consortium.
Hemer, Oscar and Thomas Tufte (eds.) (2005) Media and Glocal Change. Rethinking Communication for Development. Buenos Aires and Göteborg: CLACSO/NORDICOM.
Stald, Gitte and Thomas Tufte (eds.) (2002) Global Encounters-Media and Cultural Transformation. Luton: University of Luton Press.
Tufte, Thomas (2000) Living with the Rubbish Queen: Telenovelas, Culture and Modernity in Brazil. Luton: University of Luton Press.
For more information see departmental homepage.


text:
Acadiana vs New Iberia – Game Preview
(photo by Benjamin Massey)
(The following is an Acadiana Wreckin' Ram Football game preview, written by the voice of the Wreckin' Rams, James P. Bitterman)
The Acadiana Wreckin' Rams (3-0) continued playing good football last Friday as they defeated the Carencro Golden Bears 48-13. The Rams tried and true formula of a powerful running game paid off as the Rams rushed for 426 yards and 5 touchdowns. The going was tough, but the Rams were led by Dillon Monette with 162 yards and 1 touchdown, while Ziggy Francis added 144 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jaylon Borel got in on the Veer action as well, scoring 2 rushing touchdowns and 2 passing touchdowns for good measure.
The Terrible Turk defense continued its stingy play as it held it's third straight opponent to less than 300 yards of total offense and only allowed the Bears a touchdown on a 40 yard drive and a 79 yard touchdown run. The defense has only given up one scoring drive of over 50 yards this year (Week 2 vs Ruston).
District play starts tonight as the Wreckin' Rams host the New Iberia Yellow Jackets (1-2). This week will also see Acadiana celebrate homecoming. New Iberia is led by their quarterback, Austin Norris, who has passed for 658 yards and 4 touchdowns on the year. New Iberia has four wide receivers with over one hundred yards receiving on the season, so the Ram defense will not only have to cover well, but pressure from the front four would not hurt either.
The game can be heard over the air in the Acadiana area on the am dial at ESPN1420, on the internet at espn1420.com and on the free smart phone app RadioPup. The pre-game show starts at 6:02 p.m. with kickoff at 7:00 p.m.
Source: Acadiana vs New Iberia – Game Preview
Filed Under: Acadiana Wreckin' Rams, New Iberia Senior High, NISH


text:
Edgecam Wins Business for STDU, Increasing Turnover by 12.5%
STDU company from France, manufacturer of parts for agriculture, medicine and aerospace industries, was able to increase its turnover for 12.5% and significantly increased part machining speed after investing in CAD/CAM Edgecam software for milling, turning, multi-axis and mill turn metal machining.
"Edgecam means shorter machining cycle times. And shorter machining cycles increase our productivity."
Those are the words of Cyril Gloriant, Technical Director of a company producing complex components for a variety of industry sectors, including agriculture, medical, aeronautics and gas.
As Société Toulousaine d'Etude et d'Usinage (STDU) manufactures parts with extremely tight tolerances, down to 0.01mm, he says they need a perfect working combination of operator, machine tool and software.
Around 80 per cent of their components are machined using Edgecam to drive a number of CNC lathes and mill-turn machining centres, including Mori Seiki, Haas, Manurhin and Hardinge. "It's important for Edgecam to be able to pilot all our machines…we can't accept a two-tier production system. As all the necessary machining information is contained within the postprocessors, all our operators can use it, while only a few are now capable of manually programming the machines."
And he says Edgecam offers real flexibility to their pool of CNC machinery. "If we suddenly need to move a job from one machine to another, production can be switched rapidly with the same kinematic characteristics and a different postprocessor."
Operating from 1000-square-metre premises in Pinsaguel, France, with ten employees, STDU invested in Edgecam in 2017, and progressed to using it daily in the workshop early this year, as part of a planned development. Cyril Gloriant, who will take over as CEO in September, says they currently use both Edgecam's milling and turning modules, incorporating all its machining strategies including Waveform turning and milling.
The company currently finds Edgecam's features recognition capability to be particularly valuable. "With a single click Edgecam analyses the part, and determines the operations to be carried out, along with recognised function properties such as depth, minimum radius and angles. It prepares machining sequences which can easily be modified according to our specific requirements. Once Edgecam has defined the functions according to part topology, machining runs smoothly every time, and we no longer have to worry about aspects such as tool depth and drills. Edgecam automatically machines the features."
He says reduced programming and cycle times, as well as acquiring new skills and knowledge from Edgecam, has opened up new markets for STDU in serial production and more complex parts. "As customers know we can now produce parts that previously we didn't have the skills or capacity for, they're designing more innovative and complex components, and we've risen to the challenge every time.
"We're saving up to three hours by programming the machines offline, while they're running with other jobs.
"When we receive the CAD model from our customer we determine which production method we're using – either turning or milling – along with the appropriate machine tool. We then open the 3D CAD model in Edgecam and run the feature recognition module, which analyses the part and prepares the machining sequence." When parts are to be milled, with long machining cycle time, the company also uses Edgecam to establish a quote, as it provides them with accurate timings.
He says the company has already seen turnover rise from 1.2-million Euro in 2016, to 1.35-million last year – a rise of 12.5 per cent – thanks to winning contracts that they couldn't have undertaken without Edgecam. "Between 20 and 30 per cent of our machining is on new products, for customers.
Name: STDU (Société Toulousaine d'Etude et d'Usinage)
Business: Agricultural, medical & aeronautics components manufacturer
Web: stdu.fr
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