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SciTechBlog
Clear skies abound for Election Day
Posted: 02:03 PM ET
Whomever you support, there's some good news for Election Day: With very little rainfall forecast across the U.S., it'll be harder for the candidates to make more last-minute mud to throw at each other.
Forecasts from CNN and the National Weather Service call for sunny skies and mild November temperatures for most of the US. But there are a few areas where a chance of bad weather could impact key election states:
The Southeast Atlantic Coast could see some rain on Tuesday, potentially putting a slight dent in turnout in three hotly-contested states for McCain and Obama: Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia. The latter two also have tight US Senate races.
Rain in the Pacific Northwest might be a factor in the re-match between Democratic incumbent Christine Gregoire and challenger Dino Rossi. The two faced off in 2004, and after a flurry of lawsuits and recounts, Gregoire won by only 129 votes. This year's race is also expected to be tight.
One more region that's trending wet for Election Day is the Upper Midwest, where portions of Minnesota could see some chilly rain as voters choose between Republican incumbent Senator Norm Coleman and his challenger, the former Saturday Night Live writer/performer Al Franken.
But for most of you, the good weather is one less excuse not to vote - unless you've already done so. The runaway popularity of early voting in many states may also mean that the weather, whether fair or foul, will impact elections less than in the past.
Peter Dykstra Executive Producer, CNN Science, Tech & Weather
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On cancer warnings and MIDI-making
Have you ever seen a small label on electronic devices, glassware, or other products that warns you about chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and reproductive harm?
A warning label says you should wash your hands after using this MIDI device, but the company says don't worry.
I recently discovered this warning on my MIDI interface, a small device that has cables connecting my keyboard to my laptop so I can record and edit the music that I play.
(Side note: MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and refers to the protocol that allows instruments and computers to communicate. If you own a computer and a musical keyboard, I highly recommend you try connecting them and playing with a program such as Apple's GarageBand. The program, coupled with the keyboard, allows your keyboard to take on the sounds of dozens of instruments, from "orchestral strings" to "Fiji afterglow.")
Great, but I didn't want playing "Falling Slowly" using "tula bass" sounds to give me cancer. So, I called the maker of the MIDI interface device, and found out that the warning is required by California law for products sold in California that contain more than a minimum amount of particular substances, such as lead. But, according to the company, M-Audio, I shouldn't worry about getting toxic chemicals on my hands.
What's inside a product with a warning label? Read more on "Paging Dr. Gupta."
–Elizabeth Landau, Health Writer/Producer, CNN.com
Posted by: Elizabeth Landau -- CNN.com Writer/Producer
Filed under: computers • Materials
Microsoft "hacking" computers in China?
An anti-piracy campaign by Microsoft is having a difficult time in China. The company may face an investigation from local authorities who allege Microsoft is trying to "hack" consumer computers.
Microsoft started a global plan in August to upgrade one of its anti-piracy tools, to make a stand against bogus copies of Windows XP Professional. PCs running either genuine or counterfeit XP Pro will automatically update themselves with an authorization evaluation program. Computers installed with the phony software will thereafter display a black desktop at start-up and revert to black again in an hour even if the background is changed. A permanent notice will also appear at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen warning users to purchase genuine XP copies. However, all programs will run normally.
The campaign expanded to China last week, and induced scares and firestorms among the large PC population, which exceeds 135 million.
More than 80% of the 60,000 Internet users participating in an online survey conducted by Tencent, one of the largest Internet service portals in China, protested the campaign. They complained that it was the high price of a legitimate copy of XP that had forced them to turn to counterfeits. A genuine copy of XP Pro is priced at $376 (2,578 yuan) in the Chinese market.
A lawsuit followed. On the second day of the campaign's landing, Dong Zhengwei, a lawyer specialized in consumer rights protection, charged Microsoft with potentially sabotaging private computers. He suggested a billion-dollar fine for Microsoft.
Dong said that the anti-piracy program would "pose a threat to personal information security" and could be defined as a "crime." "It is equivalent to illegal invasion, or hacking," he said on Sina, the largest Chinese news portal. Many of the country's computer societies, IT critics and scholars also stated their agreement with Dong.
In response, Microsoft China's Intellectual Property Rights Supervisor Yu Weidong explained that this was a global campaign that aimed to educate consumers and keep them from harmful counterfeits.
The program would not affect normal functions of a PC and the company would not collect any personal information through it, he said.
On October 27, a week after the debate began, Chinese authorities made a statement that it supports any legal campaigns to protect intellectual property rights. But, "the companies should weigh their approaches and consider the affordability of Chinese consumers," said Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of China's National Copyright Administration.
Although more than 80% of surveyed Internet users in China told Sina that they would not purchase legitimate XP copies, Microsoft's campaign, in combination with promotions on Office and Vista, did push up the company's overall sales by roughly 60%. But, some free open-source software also witnessed a huge increase in sales, apparently thanks to Microsoft's crackdown.
And more experienced PC users said they had simply shut down the "automatic update" function to avoid the "black screen" desktop and additional costs.
Chong Wu, CNN Science and Technology
Filed under: computers • consumer tech • Windows
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Real-life Tony Starks?
Posted: 11:31 AM ET
Could the days of becoming half-man, half-machine be getting closer? Cyberdyne, a company just outside of Tokyo, has manufactured a robotic suit designed to help the elderly and disabled walk and go up stairs. Cyberdyne says even partially-paralyzed individuals are able to move around slowly with this device.
YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images
The "hybrid assistive limb," HAL for short, attaches to a user's waist, thigh, and calf. Cyberdyne says brain signals that tell HAL to help a person walk are captured through the skin. HAL calculates how much energy the person will give towards the movement then it compensates with the right amount of assistance.
Even though HAL weighs 22lbs, the user does not have to carry around that weight as HAL is supported through its exoskeleton. The battery charge should last five hours under normal use.
HAL is currently available only in Japan. Users can choose between three different sizes. It can be rented monthly for $2,200.00 for two legs or $1,500.00 for one leg.
Cyberdyne has also designed a full robotic suit that includes assistance for the arms, allowing users to lift and hold objects they normally wouldn't be able to. A release date for this has not been announced.
One question - can't help but wonder why the company chose the names "Cyberdyne" and "HAL" - names that have less-than-stellar reputations from the Terminator movies and 2001, A Space Odyssey.
Christopher Piatt, CNN Sci-Tech Unit
Filed under: consumer tech
Rolling out Endeavour
Workers at the Kennedy Space Center will roll the space shuttle Endeavour from launch pad 39B to 39A Thursday in advance of a mission to the International Space Station targeted for November 14.
Space shuttles Atlantis, left, and Endeavour on their launch pads last month.
Endeavour has been undergoing preparations for launch on pad 39B for the past month. For a time, it was second in line for launch behind Atlantis on pad 39A, which had been scheduled to fly the fifth and final Hubble Servicing Mission this month.
A Hubble mission carries additional risk because astronauts cannot take refuge in the space station in the event of Columbia-style catastrophic damage to the orbiter on lift-off. So before the final Hubble mission was approved, NASA managers decided it would only be safe to fly if a rescue vehicle was prepared and ready to launch on very short notice. Endeavour was to have been that rescue vehicle.
The Hubble launch was postponed in late September due to a computer failure on the telescope. Mission managers now want to replace that computer - but the spare needs to be prepared for flight, and the astronauts need time to train on how to do the replacement. The Hubble mission is now scheduled to fly no earlier than February. Workers rolled Atlantis back from pad 39A to the vehicle-assembly building on Monday.
Launch pad 39B, where Endeavour is currently located, it being modified to launch NASA's next generation of manned spacecraft called Orion. While it is still technically possible to launch a space shuttle off 39B, NASA would prefer to keep the modification work underway – which is not possible when there is a shuttle parked there. So the launch team has opted to move Endeavour from 39B to the now empty 39A, and allow the construction work on 39B to resume.
Endeavour's crew, led by Commander Chris Ferguson, will carry up additional equipment and supplies to the space station that will make it possible to expand the station crew from three to six people next year.
Spacewalkers will also work on a malfunctioning rotator joint on the left side of the station that is designed to rotate and track the sun. It has been out of commission for the last year, and complete repairs will continue into 2010. But station engineers hope the Endeavour astronauts can make it functional again.
–Kate Tobin, Sr. Producer, CNN Science & Technology
Filed under: NASA • Space
Nuclear power: seeing less political fission these days
From the Society of Environmental Journalists' annual conference in Roanoke, Virginia:
Is nuclear power making a comeback?
After being battered by its own missteps, near-calamities, strong opposition and financial overruns, the nuclear power industry is showing increased signs of emerging from a three-decade coma in the U.S.
Many are giving a second look to the U.S.. nuke industry, including longtime skeptics on the lookout for alternatives to fossil fuels. Here at SEJ's annual conference, there's a livelier-than-usual discussion about nuclear power as a part of the solution to America's energy woes. One of the most prominent voices here calling for a nuclear power revival was R.K. Pachauri, who as Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore last year.
Right now, the U.S. gets just under 20% of its electricity from nukes, and about half from coal. Natural gas is good for nearly another 20% of energy generation, with oil, hydro, wind, and solar contributing most of the last 10%. To listen to the rosy projections a half century ago, nuclear would have provided power "too cheap to meter" from over 400 reactors by the year 2000.
We topped out at just beyond 100 reactors total when Wall Street got cold feet from the risk, the opposition, and the above-average costs of boiling water by splitting atoms. The 1979 near-meltdown at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania put the chill on the industry, and the disaster at the Soviet reactor in Chernobyl, Ukraine seven years later brought on the deep freeze. Nuclear advocates didn't help their cause by acting like the shark-denying mayor of Amity Island in the movie "Jaws." No new reactor orders were placed in the U.S. for three decades.
But the permit requests are trickling in, and in this election season, the candidates are hopping aboard the nukewagon: Obamas cautiously supports new licensing (his home state of Illinois hosts eleven reactors, more than any other state). McCain gets more specific, targeting 45 new reactors by the year 2030 - a goal many say is unrealistic. With the industry in cold shutdown and steel manufacturing pulling up stakes in the U.S., we don't make reactors any more, and would have to wait in a long, long line to order reactor vessels from the steelworks in Japan.
The nuke industry's arguments are piling up: Thirty years of relatively safe operation with no major incidents; improving technology; and a measure of liberation from fossil fuels, imports, and greenhouse-gas emissions. Its public front is now a lot more polished than back in the Mayor-from-"Jaws" days, and they're much better positioned to argue against nuclear opponents, some of whom are falling back on hidebound, reactionary, dubious arguments.
But the questions haven't gone away:
The industry still has no answers to ensure safe storage of nuclear waste, potentially dangerous for thousands of years. Britain and France reprocess spent fuel and re-use the recoverable material, but the reprocessing facilities at Sellafield, UK and La Hague, France have left a messy environmental legacy. For the U.S., the designated site is Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Overruns at the Yucca Mountain site are measured in the billions, and the delays are into the decades, with commercial nukes continuing to store their own waste on site across the country. And the desert site north of Las Vegas has a powerful home-state foe in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, so there's little chance of action there soon.
The world is a more dangerous place than it was 30 years ago. Spreading nuclear fuel always leaves the risk of spreading nuclear weapons to those who would be eager to use them.
Also, many nuclear arguments overlook the continuing, shameful legacy of uranium mining. Los Angeles Times reporter Judy Pasternak did a remarkable series of stories last year on the widespread damage to human health and the environment in the US Southwest last year.
So what's your take? Is it a fair trade to swap the risks for a weapon against global warming and an increase in electrical capacity? Or are nukes still too hot and costly to revive?
–Peter Dykstra Executive Producer, CNN Science, Tech, & Weather
Filed under: Energy • environment
McCain, Obama both AWOL on environmental votes
The non-profit, non-partisan League of Conservation Voters has released its updated National Environmental Scorecard, which ranks each Senate and House member on key environmental votes. The LCV awarded presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama rock-bottom scores for skipping Senate votes for the campaign trail.
Both Barack Obama and John McCain missed a lot of Senate votes on environmental issues this year.
The LCV scored the Senate on 11 key votes in the current session covering global warming, energy policy, oil drilling, public lands, and hurricane insurance. But here's the catch: An "absent" vote counts as a "no" vote in LCV's scorekeeping. That gave John McCain, consistently among the highest-scoring GOP Senators on the 30-year-old LCV scorecard, a perfect zero.
Obama scarcely did better, siding with the environmentalists twice while missing the other nine votes for an 18% score. Running mate Joe Biden scored a 64% for the session by LCV's standards. Biden has an 81% LCV score for his Senate career. Both Obama (72% lifetime) and McCain (24% lifetime) saw their career averages plummet after a year on the campaign trail and away from the Senate.
This year, 27 Senators and 67 House members got a perfect 100% score from LCV; Two Senators and 70 Representatives received a perfect 0%.
Though the LCV maintains its non-partisan status – retired GOP Congressman Sherwood Boehlert is a Board member, and former Kansas Governor John Carlin is a former LCV Chair – the group's numbers consistently score Democrats higher on key environmental votes. Senate Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Dick Durbin both received 100% scores, while their Republican counterparts, Mitch McConnell and John Kyl, scored 9% and 18% respectively.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Democratic Whip James Clyburn both scored 92%; their GOP counterparts, John Boehner and Roy Blunt, both received a 0% from LCV. Nancy Pelosi received no rating, as the Speaker of the House traditionally does not vote.
The American Land Rights Association is a national property owners' group that produces a scorecard offering a near mirror-image opposite of the LCV scorecard. Last updated in February, the ALRA scorecard gave a 20% approval rating to Obama and his VP candidate, Joe Biden, and and 30% score to McCain.
ALRA's scorecard gauges votes on environmental and land-use issues, as well as other property-related votes like those on the inheritance tax. The group designates any Congressman or Senator with a score of 80% or better as a "Champion" of property rights; a 20% or lower score is a property rights "enemy" by ALRA's standard.
Thirty Senators and 103 House members, all Republicans, scored the "Champion" label. Six Senators and 208 House members were labeled "Enemies" by the property rights group – all Democrats save for GOP congressmen Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland and Chris Shays of Connecticut.
- Peter Dykstra, Executive Producer CNN Science, Technology & Weather
Filed under: environment
Nobel laureate offers hope, and a warning
"The British Empire got its standard of living by consuming half the world's resources. How many planets will it take for India to do the same?"
Nobel Laureate R.K. Pachauri
Thus did R.K. Pachauri, last year's Nobel Peace Prize co-Laureate, quote his most famous countryman, Gandhi. And so did he underscore how the problem of Gandhi's time has gotten much, much bigger and more immediate.
Pachauri delivered the keynote address to the Society of Environmental Journalists' Annual Conference in Roanoke, Virginia, last week. WIth nearly all the world's governments, relevant science organizations, and a torrent of peer-reviewed research converging on a picture of climate change already taking hold, Pachauri delivered a mixed message of alarm and hope.
There's still time, he said, but not much. The whirlwind of financial news - nearly all of it bad - in the past few weeks could mean a sharp turn away from the potential investments needed to alter our energy economy, he said. Even a two-year stall in reversing greenhouse emissions could threaten our ability to pull the world out of a worsening greenhouse situation within the next decade - the critical time for action, he said.
Pachauri welcomed the U.S. presidential candidates' attention to climate. John McCain was one of the first U.S. Senators, along with Joe Lieberman, to introduce legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions (the legislation never passed, however). McCain has called for a 60% cut in U.S. greenhouse emissions by mid-century; Barack Obama has set a target of 80% by 2050.
With a diplomatic phrase and a bit of a smirk, Pachauri insisted that he didn't "want to name countries" that had slowed progress in reaching global climate agreements, but it was clear to all in the room that he was fingering the U.S. and the Bush Administration. He acknowledged that even if the Developed World made strides in reining in greenhouse emissions, the aspirations of China, India, and much of the Developing World could more than offset the gains as those countries increase their standard of living via a fossil fuel economy.
Pachauri also offered a glimpse of his day job as Director General of the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi. It's a non-profit dedicated to bringing solar and other non-fossil forms of energy to some of the hundreds of millions of Indians desperate to improve their standard of living without impacting their - and our - climate further.
More Hubble trouble
Engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland have hit a snag in their efforts to bring the Hubble Space Telescope back on-line after a major equipment failure in space last month.
The Hubble Space Telescope. Image: NASA
Hubble's Science Instrument Control and Data Handling (SIC&DH) system went down September 27. This is the telescope's on-board computer that coordinates commands to the various instruments and then downlinks the scientific data to the ground.
While that computer is off-line, most science observations are at a standstill.
The good news is that the computer was built with a fully redundant back-up channel called "Side B" designed to come on-line in the event "Side A" ever failed. Hubble team members at Goddard began a complicated process to switch over to "Side B" on Wednesday. This involved sending comprehensive software commands up to the telescope to essentially take control of Hubble's suite of telescopes and other sensors through "Side B," recalibrate all those instruments which went into safe-mode when the computer went down, start and stop gyroscopes, downlink data, and then check the data quality against some older "Side A" samples to make sure all is square.
Problems cropped up somewhere in that process Thursday night. We haven't been told yet exactly what happened. The team is meeting today to discuss a further troubleshooting plan. We may get additional details later when that meeting ends. I am told they don't expect the issue to be resolved today.
As noted, the switch-over process is extremely complicated, and it is probably to be expected that they would hit some sort of snag. Hopefully, they will work through it in the coming days and science operations can resume soon.
Even if the switch-over to "Side B" fails (and it is far too soon to go there), the Hubble design team had the foresight 20 years ago to build a spare SIC&DH system, which has been warehoused at Goddard all this time while the original instrument perked along just fine. Astronauts are scheduled to conduct a fifth and and final Hubble servicing mission in the February time frame, and will almost certainly remove and replace the malfunctioning computer with the spare. That mission was supposed to fly this month, but was postponed when the failure occurred to give the ground teams time to check out the spare and astronauts time to train on the removal and replacement procedure (which is apparently a relatively straightforward, two-hour spacewalk task).
If there is any silver lining to this whole thing, it's that the failure happened before the servicing mission - while there is still the opportunity to fix it. Imagine the disappointment if it had happened right after the astronauts returned!
I'll update later today if and when I get more information.
Filed under: Hubble Space Telescope • NASA • Space
Stock trading meets fantasy football
The recent financial crisis has sent the stock market careening up and down like a ride at Coney Island, unnerving brokers and casual investors alike. It's also boosted membership on UpDown.com, a Web site that gives people $1 million in imaginary money to invest in the market risk-free and compete against others' virtual portfolios.
Stock market freaking you out? You can "invest" $1 million in virtual money online.
"We've seen a huge spike in traffic," says UpDown CEO Michael Reich, who founded the Boston-based site last year with two other fellow Harvard entrepreneurs. "Times have really changed. It's really important now to understand what's going on with your money."
UpDown's 90,000 members are mostly young and overwhelmingly male. About half of them are real-life investors.
"There are definitely people who use the suite as a practicing environment alongside their real portfolio," Reich says. "They use it to test strategies they might not feel comfortable doing in the real world."
UpDown is similar to other sites like Marketocracy.com that recruit investors to manage virtual stocks. What makes UpDown.com different, however, are its social-networking components – there's an UpDown page on Facebook – and the fact that the site pays prize money weekly and monthly to its top-performing investors. No wonder CNBC has described the site as "fantasy football meets the trading floor."
Membership on UpDown is free; the top prize to date has been $3,701, although most winners earn much smaller amounts. The site so far has paid out more than $100,000 to its members, says Reich, who hopes to turn a profit through advertising and eventually create a hedge fund that outperforms the S&P 500.
So far the site has produced its share of savvy and not-so-savvy investors. Some UpDown members have lost their virtual shirts. One parlayed his initial $1 million into almost $60 million, while another has earned more than $51 million so far.
Of course, it's easier to be bold when you're playing with Monopoly money instead of watching your real-life retirement fund shrivel before your eyes.
"If you're doing that great [on UpDown], you probably took fantastic risks," Reich says. "We don't necessarily consider those people the best investors."
- Brandon Griggs, Tech Section Producer, CNN.com
Filed under: Internet
Are you a gadgethead? Do you spend hours a day online? Or are you just curious about how technology impacts your life? In this digital age, it's increasingly important to be fluent, or at least familiar, with the big tech trends. From gadgets to Google, smartphones to social media, this blog will help keep you informed.
We've moved to CNN.com/TECH!
Geek Out!: Getting my con on, TimeGate style
Geek Out!: Who will be the next Spider-Man?
Nintendo goes old-school with new Wii controller
Third-grader wins Google doodle contest
Geek Out!: 'Hornet's Nest' rounds out trilogy
Fake BP Twitter feed mocks company over oil spill
Geek Out!: Happy Geek Pride, Towel, etc. Day!
Google Pac-Man eats 4.8 million hours
Facebook to simplify privacy controls Wednesday
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The Completely Unnecessary Guide to E3 2014 – Part 3: Microsoft
June 4, 2014Mark Cope3 Comments
Filed UnderNews
We're trying a new format out here at Expansive; our Completely Unnecessary Guides are massive, serialised articles intended as a off-beat and irreverent source of all the information you to need about a subject to pass off as being vaguely knowledgeable. Yesterday we looked at the history of the conference, and learned nothing useful.
Phil Harrison mid-embarrassment circa 2013
The Microsoft Press Conference
Monday 9th June, 9:30am Pacific Time (5:30pm UK Time) at the Galen Center.
The State of Play
Despite the 360 having ended the previous generation in a comfortable and profitable third place worldwide, the somewhat disappointing launch of the Xbox One has sent Microsoft's black monstrosity spiralling into a dismal and money haemorrhaging third place (yes, I know, video game rankings make no sense okay). While scepticism about the Xbox One began before E3 2013, Microsoft cemented the unrest with a series of poor business decisions, including a ludicrously high price for the base unit, the decision to pack in a second generation Kinect with every console and a bizarre hybrid physical and digital distribution system that would have wiped out the second hand games market. Whilst all of these problems have been dealt with in some fashion, the Xbox One still suffers branding issues related to these early mis-steps.
Meanwhile, a reshuffle further up in the chain at MS has placed Satya Nadella, a known critic of the Xbox division, in charge of the corporation as a whole, putting the longer term future of the Xbox brand in some doubt.
As a result, this year, Microsoft will be in damage control mode, undoing the mistakes of last year in a desperate effort to win back their fanbase and to rescue their fledgling console from the jaws of irrelevancy, proving to Microsoft's board and shareholders that the Entertainment division is an integral part of the corporation.
If what Microsoft are claiming is true, expect a press release tightly focused upon games, with plenty of information about new exclusive partnerships, lots and lots of trailers and live demonstrations of upcoming games. Having seen the last half-decade or so of Xbox presentations, however, I suspect that it would be a miracle if those oh-so-tantalising details weren't interrupted by endless fluff, some sort of performance by a completely irrelevant music nonentity to go along with a new rhythm game, a long and boring presentation about a US-Only media deal and some of the most awkward pre-written banter known to man. Still, I would expect them to at least have screened the script for rape jokes this year, which will be an improvement over 2013.
Chief, why are you upside down?
Whilst Microsoft is keeping admirably schtum over what exactly they have under their sleeves, we do know for a fact that there's a new Halo title due (Halo 5: Guardians) that we will probably be seeing in some form or another, but as it's still a year and a half away, I doubt it'll be playable. Aside from that, the traditional Xbox mainstays of Fable Legends (which Lionhead studio head John Needham claims will have a 'huge presence') and Forza Horizon 2 should help to fill out the ranks. Quantum Break has been confirmed as a no-show and has been pushed into Gamescom, later this year.
There's some rumours about Ryse 2, Fallout 4 and a new Crackdown making an appearance, but take any supposed claims of the event's lineup with a pinch of salt. Regardless, unless Microsoft have something super-secret to reveal, it'll also more than likely end with our first decent look at Call of Spacey: Advanced Warfare, or whatever they're calling it.
Notable Faces
Between Microsoft's tendency to hire interchangeable middle aged white men to important roles and the ongoing overhaul of the company's corporate structure, Microsoft's spokespeople lack the… longevity and iconography of certain other companies. Still, there's a couple of easily identifiable faces left in the company;
Phil Spencer: The chap with the utterly fascinating jawline and the rather casual attire is Phil Spencer. He's the new head of Xbox, possibly due to the fact that everyone else eligible for the job has fled the corporation. Still, it's been a long time coming; Phil is a real company man, having been developing products for Microsoft since 1988. His credits include Microsoft Works, Microsoft Money and Microsoft Encarta; the mere mention of which make me feel old.
Phil Harrison: The English bloke with the shiny head. Phil Harrison used to be a bigwig at Sony UK, giving him the dubious honour of being part of the rather laboured launches of both the Playstation 3 and Xbox One. Phil was actually a game designer back in the early nineties for the now very defunct Mindscape International. In more recent years (aside from being a highup at two of the big three) he has also spent a good amount of time at Atari (formerly Infogrames), and some time at David Perry's game streaming service Gaikai.
Things to Tweet
"GET ON WITH IT!", "Xbox, off.", "Where's Crackdown III?" "Oi, Spencer! Bring back Mindmaze!"
Tomorrow: Electronic Arts
Mark Cope
A sort of gaming jack of all trades, Mark is a lifelong enthusiast who has more recently directed his interests towards the PC and indie gaming scenes. He once wrote about a different game every day for a whole year, but nobody is entirely sure why.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Cool Shop would like to wish you and your family a safe and happy Easter break.
Even though the weather has cooled down now, don't forget Daikin's reverse cycle air conditioners keep you comfortable all year round, not just when it's hot.
Daikin hav just released their new Zena range. Designed with energy efficiency in mind, aesthetic appeal and compact form factor, as well as built-in WiFi connectivity, so you can control your temperature from a smartphone no matter where you are. Available in White Hair Line or Black Wood finish, it's sure to suit any decor in your home.
If you are renovating or redecorating and don't really like the look of the current split system indoor units then the new Daikin Zena reverse cycle air conditioner may be just the one for you. After the Easter break, why not think about upgrading your air conditioner to something super stylish, slim line and modern.


We arrive in the Victoria Falls area as a full moon is approaching and decide to take advantage of the timing to visit the falls for the first time under moonlight. If we were lucky, we'd see a moonbow, just like a rainbow, but created by moonlight passing through spray that's created by the waterfall.
The kids are incredibly excited. They were already ecstatic to be visiting Vic Falls, but to see a moonbow as well is proving too much.
"I didn't even know there was such a thing," exclaims Luca. "Wait until I tell my friends back home."
We arrive at the park entrance just as it's getting dark. Our guide explains that lunar rainbows, or moonbows, are exceedingly rare. The moon needs to be nearest its brightest fullmoon phase and low in the sky, under 42 degrees.
"Vic Falls is one of the few places in the world where you can see one," he says.
Apparently, Yosemite National Park in California, Cumberland Falls in Kentucky and Plitvice Lakes in Croatia are some of the others.
The paths within the park are rough and it is easy to stumble, but under the bright moonlight we find our way easily enough. We see a plume of spray pass in front of the moon and our daughter, Maddalena, can hardly hold her excitement in. She yelps with delight at the magic that lies ahead.
She doesn't have to wait long. We are rewarded with a lunar rainbow at the very first viewpoint. Combined with the shimmering water cascading over the falls, it is a truly magical sight. We stumble from viewpoint to viewpoint, rewarded each time with a moonbeam, just from a different angle.
I must admit I had worried that visiting the Falls for the first time at night may have been underwhelming, and it's true that we never truly get our bearings on the darkness visit. But the sense of disorientation only makes the experience more mystical and other-worldly.
The next day, we visit the Falls again. We start at the upper end, at a point with spectacular views down into the gorge where the water falls. Water levels are high, so the volume of water plunging over the Falls is immense. There is a lot of spray and it isn't long before the kids are soaking wet. It is their favourite part of the visit.
My wife, Edwina, spots a rainbow, brighter and more intense than the ones we'd seen at night, and points it out to the kids.


California's local governments have put in place approval processes for housing so slow that the bear much of the blame for the state's housing crisis, not the California Environmental Quality Act, a new study from UC Berkeley has found.
While plans for a 417-unit development to rise up to 8 stories in height on the vacant 3-acre Caltrans lot bounded by Kirkham, 7th, Union and 5th Streets, a block from the West Oakland BART station and across from The Crucible, were approved back in 2016, the ground was never broken.
Oakland Councilmember Desley Brooks' actions have made her appear vulnerable at election time before, especially in 2014, after she was accused of illegal political interference and was nearly censured by the Oakland City Council. Brooks rebounded and topped a field of four challengers that year.
HOPE SF, San Francisco's program to rebuild blighted public housing while creating new mixed-income neighborhoods, has been in the works for more than a decade. Last week, the city's ambitious initiative took a step forward with a ground-breaking at the Sunnydale public housing project in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley.
Last week, I had the privilege of attending a residents' meeting at Oakland's first "Tuff Shed shelter." About 25 people gathered under a canvas tent in the common area for their weekly meeting where they share concerns and celebrate accomplishments.
One of Oakland's largest housing proposals with 1,032 apartments and zero parking for residents is facing pushback from the city.
Even as they look for a new home in Oakland, the A's are erecting a party deck in the Coliseum's left field stands — looking to add a bit of pizzazz to the old stadium in hopes of drawing more fans.
Mark Borsuk had tall ambitions to transform a parking garage in downtown Oakland into a 37-story, 395-foot residential tower dubbed the Alice StreetEnergy Harvester.
December 2nd, 2018 marked one year since 36 young artists and musicians were killed in the Oakland Ghost Ship warehouse fire. The art space, like many underground venues, was a beacon in its community and provided modest housing for its artists, some of whom would otherwise be homeless or struggling to find temporary squats in an increasingly exclusive market. On the night of the fire, a house music show held by the label 100% Silk attracted an unfortunately large crowd and during the show, the entire building quickly went up in flames. It was the deadliest building fire in Oakland's recent history and the events leading up to the tragedy led to criticism of DIY venues all over the country.
Some falsely portray California's housing crisis — which poses a huge threat to our state's economy, environment, diversity, health and quality of life — as an either-or between market-rate housing and below-market-rate affordable housing.


End the corporatocracy! Shelter is a human right, and these banks had no right to take it from a woman who was caring for her injured son.
Wow do I hate facebook. However, it seems to be a necessary evil. Talk to me via other means and we'll see how life goes.


text:
Q: Cannot deploy to heroku because cannot find file I use heroku to deploy my react app. It used to work fine but now when I run the command

git push heroku master

I see the following error:
remote: Browserslist: caniuse-lite is outdated. Please run next command `npm update`
remote:        Failed to compile.
remote:
remote:        ./src/service/TodoService.js
remote:        Cannot find file './constants' in './src/service'.

I spent more than an hour trying to figure out the cause. Tried answers from this and this. They did not help me.
I decided to check the file that caused the build fail in my github repository and I found that its name was different from the name on my computer.
Here is the github:

And this is the file on my computer:

Seems like Github did not notice that I renamed this file

A: It's case sensitive. Make sure to keep your naming consistent.

A: Finally I found a solution. I used the answer from here.
Basically you need to rename the file that causes build failure so git can track it.

git mv Constants.js constants.js

Then commit, push and make sure that the name on github is corrent. After that you should be able to successfully deploy to heroku

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Zorocrates aemulus es una especie de araña del género Zorocrates, familia Zoropsidae. Fue descrita científicamente por Gertsch en 1935.

Habita en México y los Estados Unidos.

Referencias

Enlaces externos
 Zorocrates aemulus Planetary Biodiversity Inventories (PBI).

aemulus
Arácnidos descritos en 1935

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


In this manuscript we study individual variation in the interpretation of conditionals by establishing individual profiles of the participants based on their behavioral responses and reflective attitudes. To investigate the participants' reflective attitudes we introduce a new experimental paradigm called the Scorekeeping Task, and a Bayesian mixture model tailored to analyze the data. The goal is thereby to identify the participants who follow the Suppositional Theory of conditionals and Inferentialism and to investigate their performance on the uncertain and-to-if inference task.


text:
About the South Boston Branch
Many World languages, including a unique collection of adult and children's books in Irish
A set of historical Boston maps on select tables and on the floor of the branch
Walled courtyard with a garden space
The South Boston Branch first opened in April 1872 in the Masonic building at 372 West Broadway, the second branch library established in the United States.
In 1948, the branch closed when the Masonic building was sold and was reopened in June 1950 in a storefront at 385-8 West Broadway until it was destroyed by fire in May 1957.
The present location opened on October 31, 1957, consolidating the City Point Branch and the South Boston Branch.
View the South Boston Facebook page
Friends of the South Boston Branch
Events at South Boston
Kids' Book Group
Jan 30th | 4:00pm - 5:00pm
South Boston Branch Story Time
Jan 31st | 10:30am - 11:00am
The Films of Dana Andrews Series: Three Hours to Kill (1954)
Jan 31st | 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Feb 3rd | 10:30am - 11:00am
Hygge at the Library
Feb 4th | 11:00am - 1:00pm


text:
UAC Home > Communications and Marketing Home > Feature Stories > 2021 > Inspiring Leadership Forum: Virtual Edition presented by TD brings together 1,200 attendees from around the world
Inspiring Leadership Forum: Virtual Edition presented by TD brings together 1,200 attendees from around the world
By University Advancement and Communications Posted: March 5, 2021 10:00 a.m.
Investigative journalist and award-winning author Suki Kim Photo: Screenshot of the 2021 Inspiring Leadership Forum: Virtual Edition presented by TD
The world abruptly changed after the 2020 Inspiring Leadership Forum last March, and event organizers soon realized that an in-person event in 2021 was no longer a possibility. Disappointed but determined, the committee decided to embrace the challenge and completely reimagine the event to deliver a virtual experience to attendees in 2021. On Wednesday, March 3, over 1,200 people from around the world gathered online for the first ever Inspiring Leadership Forum: Virtual Edition, presented by TD.
Emcee Lisa Mitchell, Associate Vice-President of Advancement and Communications, joined host Pam Klein, Chancellor and the Chair of the Inspiring Leadership Forum, to welcome attendees to the virtual event. Pam shared what this year's theme, "The Courage Within", means to her.
"For me, courage is demonstrating the mental or moral strength to do what's right," said Klein. "Personally, one of my greatest tests of embracing the courage within came with a cancer diagnosis. Facing my children and family. In the prime of my career not letting cancer define me or diminish my dreams. Balancing the fears, hope, and practicalities."
Holly Austin Gibbs shared her story of being sex trafficked at the age of 14 by a man that she met at a local mall in south New Jersey. After being recovered by law enforcement, she began to blame herself for what had happened. After struggling with depression and drug addiction, she decided to begin sharing her story to help other victims of sex trafficking.
"I carried shame and blame of this past experience. I was fearful of people finding out," said Austin Gibbs. "Socially, I struggled for a long time. What really helped me to overcome was meeting other survivors of labour and sex trafficking."
Survivor of child sex trafficking
and advocate against all forms
of human trafficking, Holly Austin Gibbs. Photos: Screenshots of the 2021 Inspiring Leadership Forum: Virtual Edition presented by TD
Dr. Jen Welter, the first female coach in the National Football League
Emcee Lisa Mitchell, Associate Vice-President of Advancement and Communications, joined host Pam Klein, Chancellor, to welcome event attendees
Award-winning novelist and investigative journalist Suki Kim spoke about her experience working undercover in North Korea. In disguise as a Christian missionary, Kim spent her days working as a teacher at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. She chronicled her experience in her bestselling book Without You, There Is No Us.
"My findings were incredibly difficult because I lived in a compound, and my classroom was being recorded. I was being watched 24/7, I was never alone," said Kim, reflecting on her time in North Korea. "I would put all of my information on a USB stick, and I wore it around my neck. I was terrified of losing it, because it held all of my notes. The fact that this had never been done before is because it is nearly impossible to do without getting caught."
Closing keynote speaker Dr. Jen Welter spoke about her glass ceiling-shattering career in men's football, what she has learned about leadership, and the value of being a different voice in the room. Welter was the first woman to play running back in a men's professional football league with the Texas Revolution, and was named the Revolution's linebackers and special teams coach the following year. In the summer of 2015, Welter was a linebackers coach for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, making her the first female coach in the NFL.
"Leadership comes from the experiences we go through, and how we take those experiences into the next level," said Welter, looking back at the time in her life when she was first entering the NFL. "One of my mentors told me that his best advice was to be 100 per cent authentic. If you're that same person every day when you're in the NFL, the same person that you are here, those guys will absolutely love you. But, if you're fake in any way, they will sense it, and they will eat you alive. At any moment I wasn't sure what to do, I kept those words with me."
Proceeds from individual ticket sales at this year's event helped to support the new Inspiring Leadership Academic Entrance Award, worth a total of $30,000. This four-year undergraduate scholarship recognizes students who, through their commitment to academic success, volunteer activities, and community leadership, have demonstrated the potential to lead. The first scholarship winner will be introduced at the 2022 Inspiring Leadership Forum.
Mitchell and Klein wrapped up the event by announcing the theme and speakers for the 2022 Inspiring Leadership Forum. Recognizing that the past year has been difficult for many people, event organizers wanted to focus on an uplifting, positive theme, and chose Happy on Purpose.
The keynote speakers for next year's event are:
Colette Carlson is a human behavior expert, and Founder of Speak Your Truth, Inc. As an acclaimed author and keynote speaker, Colette inspires leaders and teams worldwide to change behaviors that impact their relationships, revenue, and results, and shares her insights on successful leadership.
Jenn Harper is a Social Entrepreneur, and Founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty. As an Indigenous woman, she wants to show young people in Indigenous communities that when you have an idea and you do the work – despite life experience – you can create your future based on how much work you put into something and what you're willing to sacrifice.
Serena Ryder is a Juno Award-Winning Musician and Mental Health Advocate. For Serena, music is medicine. Her raw and earnest song writing, and beautifully electric live performances, have made her a favourite amongst fans, peers, and critics alike.
The 13th annual Inspiring Leadership Forum will take place on Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Tickets will be on sale soon at www.uofrinspiringleadership.com.
Inspiring Leadership Forum 2021: Virtual Edition, presented by TD Speaker Spotlight on Dr. Jen Welter
Inspiring Leadership Forum 2021: Virtual Edition, presented by TD Speaker Spotlight on Holly Austin Gibbs
Inspiring Leadership Forum 2021: Virtual Edition, presented by TD Speaker Spotlight on Suki Kim


A Program Analyst, GS-2003-09, Develops sampling plans and procedures for validating unit/activity accountability and inventory certifications. Independently evaluates the effectiveness of substantive unit programs and processes in meeting their established goals and objectives. Evaluates unit and organizational effectiveness. Develops and administers a system of reviews, management controls, evaluations, and checklists designed to ensure conformance with laws and regulations. Collectively evaluates management effectiveness of property management functions and informing management of their programs. Applies statistical analysis techniques to measure progress, efficiency, and trends impacting the readiness of the organization and the effectives of management controls regarding logistics discipline to meet organizational goals and objectives. Interprets a variety of requirements making independent judgments to determine organizational compliance with applicable regulations, procedures and practices. Recommends internal reporting and status tracking procedures to ensure adequate control. Responsible for on the spot corrective assistance and guidance to unit/activity personnel during the conduct of the evaluation/review. Performs other duties as assigned.
Experience, education, or training which has provided the applicant with a general knowledge of one or more aspects of the supply field. Experience using computer and automation systems.
GS-09 requires at least 24 months experience, education, or training dealing with cost estimates, budgets or funding management. Experience conducting extensive searches for required information, reconstruct records for complex supply transactions, and/or provide supply operations support.
Job Information: Vacancy Identification Number (19-320), title (Program Analyst) and grade (GS-09) for which you are applying.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/527752300. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
This position is located in the J4 Distribution Management Division. Its purpose is to establish supply discipline as regulatory guidance; standardize supply discipline requirements provide responsible personnel with a single listing of supply policy requirements; make the ARNG more efficient with respect o time spent monitoring subordinates actions; eliminate repeat findings of noncompliance with policy; serve as a monitor for the CSDP management controls.


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text:
Hotter than hell: the Spicy Food World Championship
Contestants from around the world compete for the top prize at the 'Spicy Food World Championship' in Berlin. Video: Reuters
There is a saying that goes, 'Big boys don't cry', but in Berlin on Saturday at the 'Spicy Food World Championship', there were more than one or two men with a tear in their eye.
The challenge of the competition is simple; competitors are set the task to eat all 14 dishes of a specially prepared menu that increased in spiciness with every dish consumed.
The genesis of the Berlin competition started out a joke amongst a group of friends who set themselves the challenge to see who amongst them could eat the hottest chillies.
The madcap idea took hold and grew in popularity till it became a serious contest.
The event organiser, Frank Spiess, is the gatekeeper to the competition's secret spicy recipe. He prepares special batches of the super hot sauce that is served onto the local dish of sausage called 'currywurst' for competitors to eat.
The challenge starts out well enough with the first dish being served up with a fiery peppery sauce registers at a heat quotient of 10,000 Scoville, a unit of measurement used to determine the heat of a chilli.
As the competition heats up and more rounds are completed, competitors who last the distance could be expected to be served a chilli covered currywurst dish whit a heat quotient of up to seven million Scoville, which is supposed to be hotter than pepper spray.
As the competition ploughed on and the field of tough guys dwindled, it was left to just one extraordinary competitor who was able to last the distance.
Stephan Kuehne a super human chilli consumer from Macedonia out-burned them all and with the help of ice packs cooling him down, Kuehne survived - not always relaxed but still - an unbelievable 7.7 million Scoville. "The heat in your mouth, that's tolerable," Stephan Kuehne told Reuters after the competition. "It is the stomach that closes up very fast. And the heat and combination with the stomach cramps - that is the hard thing."
And for those who didn't go the distance this time, there is always next year.
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text:
Daryl's Top 100, May 4 2015
Top 100 May 4, 2015
LW TW Wks Song, Artist, Peak
01 01 12 Congregation, Foo Fighters (#1 x2wks)
02 02 11 Love Me Like You Do, Ellie Goulding 2
03 03 15 Shut Up and Dance, WALK THE MOON (#1 x1wk)
10 04 11 Coming for You, The Offspring 4
06 05 15 Say You Do, Dierks Bentley 4
04 06 15 Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf), AWOLNATION (#1 x2wks)
11 07 12 Absolution Calling, Incubus 7
05 08 15 Black Sun, Death Cab for Cutie (#1 x1wk)
15 09 10 Take Your Time, Sam Hunt 9
12 10 15 Lay Low, Josh Turner 6
08 11 15 Lampshades On Fire, Modest Mouse (#1 x2wks)
16 12 11 Homegrown, Zac Brown Band 12
09 13 10 Long Way Down, Robert DeLong 9
13 14 15 She Don't Love You, Eric Paslay 7
07 15 13 Sugar, Maroon 5 5
18 16 15 Mess Is Mine, Vance Joy 11
14 17 08 Believe, Mumford & Sons 8
17 18 15 Lonely Eyes, Chris Young (#1 x1wk)
21 19 06 Failure, Breaking Benjamin 19
27 20 06 Dead Inside, Muse 20
25 21 07 King Kunta, Kendrick Lamar 21
20 22 10 What Kind of Man, Florence + The Machine 20
23 23 15 Uptown Funk, Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars 4
24 24 15 Under the Pressure, The War on Drugs 24
30 25 10 Diamond Rings and Old Barstools, Tim McGraw with Catherine Dunn 25
34 26 09 Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey), The Weeknd 26
28 27 10 Honey, I'm Good., Andy Grammer 27
29 28 10 Somebody New, Joywave 28
19 29 15 Kathleen, Catfish and the Bottlemen 5
26 30 15 Style, Taylor Swift 5
35 31 09 Somebody, Natalie La Rose featuring Jeremih 31
31 32 10 I Want Out, Young Guns 31
39 33 10 One Last Time, Ariana Grande 33
41 34 13 Little Toy Guns, Carrie Underwood 34
40 35 06 Biscuits, Kacey Musgraves 35
22 36 15 What We Ain't Got, Jake Owen 17
44 37 10 Angel, Theory of a Deadman 37
45 38 03 See You Again, Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth 38
32 39 15 Something from Nothing, Foo Fighters (#1 x1wk)
48 40 10 Cecilia and the Satellite, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness 40
38 41 15 I Am Machine, Three Days Grace (#1 x1wk)
50 42 09 Raise 'Em Up, Keith Urban featuring Eric Church 42
46 43 10 Budapest, George Ezra 43
47 44 10 Drown, Bring Me the Horizon 44
42 45 15 Cigarette Daydreams, Cage the Elephant (#1 x1wk)
58 46 08 A Guy Walks Into a Bar, Tyler Farr 46
54 47 10 Chains, Nick Jonas 47
53 48 08 I Want You to Know, Zedd featuring Selena Gomez 48
64 49 05 Heavy Is the Head, Zac Brown Band featuring Chris Cornell 49
43 50 12 Time of Our Lives, Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo 30
52 51 07 Baby Be My Love Song, Easton Corbin 51
59 52 10 Talking Body, Tove Lo 52
60 53 03 Sippin' On Fire, Florida Georgia Line 53
66 54 05 Want to Want Me, Jason Derulo 54
36 55 10 Ain't Worth the Whiskey, Cole Swindell 23
33 56 15 Lonely Tonight, Blake Shelton featuring Ashley Monroe 5
37 57 11 Just Gettin' Started, Jason Aldean 12
51 58 15 Every Breaking Wave, U2 12
62 59 08 GDFR, Flo Rida featuring Sage the Gemini & Lookas 59
61 60 08 Deep Six, Marilyn Manson 60
63 61 07 Little Monster, Royal Blood 61
71 62 06 Don't It, Billy Currington 62
69 63 06 Carnivore, Starset 63
74 64 10 Don't Wanna Fight, Alabama Shakes 64
49 65 15 Thinking Out Loud, Ed Sheeran (#1 x1wk)
79 66 07 Smoke, A Thousand Horses 66
77 67 04 Wet Dreamz, J. Cole 67
75 68 05 Girl Crush, Little Big Town 68
80 69 06 First Kiss, Kid Rock 69
65 70 15 I Am a River, Foo Fighters 13
81 71 06 My Type, Saint Motel 71
73 72 10 Turtles All the Way Down, Sturgill Simpson 66
57 73 15 Figure It Out, Royal Blood 3
84 74 05 Can't Deny My Love, Brandon Flowers 74
76 75 07 Psycho, Muse 74
56 76 15 Tragedy + Time, Rise Against 6
55 77 15 Weight of Love, The Black Keys 20
83 78 09 Hurricane, Lifehouse 73
87 79 05 Take It Back, The Temperance Movement 79
90 80 02 Hey Mama, David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj & Afrojack 80
88 81 03 The Wrong Year, The Decemberists 81
92 82 05 Dear Future Husband, Meghan Trainor 82
91 83 04 The Business of Emotion, Big Data featuring White Sea 83
89 84 05 Shots, Imagine Dragons 84
96 85 02 Human Race, Three Days Grace 85
95 86 04 Wild Child, Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter 86
97 87 02 Love You Like That, Canaan Smith 87
94 88 03 Lifted Up (1985), Passion Pit 88
93 89 03 Crushin' It, Brad Paisley 89
100 90 02 The Wolf, Mumford & Sons 90
98 91 02 The Blacker the Berry, Kendrick Lamar 91
NEW 92 01 Sangria, Blake Shelton
NEW 93 01 Pray to God, Calvin Harris featuring HAIM
NEW 94 01 Hold Back the River, James Bay 94
82 95 15 Same Damn Life, Seether (#1 x2wks)
NEW 96 01 One Hell of an Amen, Brantley Gilbert 96
NEW 97 01 Billion, Mat Kearney 97
99 98 02 Untraveled Road, Thousand Foot Krutch 98
NEW 99 01 Trap Queen, Fetty Wap 99
NEW 100 01 Crystals, Of Monsters and Men 100
R U Mine?, Arctic Monkeys
Take It On Back, Chase Bryant
I Bet My Life, Imagine Dragons
Lay Me Down, Sam Smith
Drinking Class, Lee Brice
Bills, LunchMoney Lewis
Outside, Calvin Harris featuring Ellie Goulding
This Week's Debuts:
Sangria: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoQrH6EMnas
Pray to God: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FOBxcluXdk
Hold Back the River: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqiH0ZSkM9I
One Hell of an Amen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IMn4c4MwM0
Billion: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rOVVakVqx4
Trap Queen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_kF4zLNKio
Crystals: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUClIslXKZo
Bubbling Under:
alt-J – "Hunger of the Pine"
Banks, "Beggin for Thread"
Big Sean featuring Drake, "Blessings"
Bleachers, "Like a River Runs"
Carly Rae Jepsen, "I Really Like You"
Chris Brown X Tyga "Ayo"
Ciara, "I Bet"
Cold War Kids, "First"
Cole Swindell, "Let Me See Ya Girl"
Death from Above 1979, "Virgins"
DJ Snake & Dillon Francis, "Get Low"
DJ Snake & AlunaGeorge, "You Know You Like It"
Dustin Lynch, "Hell of a Night"
Echosmith, "Bright"
Ed Sheeran, "Photograph"
Fall Out Boy, "Immortals"
Fall Out Boy, "Uma Thurman"
Fifth Harmony featuring Kid Ink, "Worth It"
George Ezra, "Blame It on Me"
George Strait, "Let It Go"
Gloriana, "Trouble"
Hozier, "Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene"
Hozier, "Jackie and Wilson"
Houndmouth, "Sedona"
In The Valley Below, "Peaches"
Interpol, "Everything Is Wrong"
Jason Aldean, "Tonight Looks Good On You
Joywave, "Now"
Kanye West featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney, "All Day"
Kelsea Ballerini, "Love Me Like You Mean It"
Kendrick Lamar, "Alright"
Kendrick Lamar featuring Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat, "These Walls"
Life In Film, "Get Closer"
Lord Huron, "Fool for Love"
Major Lazer featuring MØ & DJ Snake, "Lean On"
Marilyn Manson, "Third Day of a Second Day Binge"
MisterWives, "Reflections"
Modest Mouse , "Strangers to Ourselves"
Modest Mouse, "The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box"
Modest Mouse, "Of Course We Know"
Nate Ruess, "Nothing Without Love"
NEEDTOBREATHE featuring Gavin DeGraw, "Brother"
Night Riots, "Contagious"
Nothing More, "Jenny"
Omarion featuring Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko, "Post to Be"
Panic! At the Disco "Hallelujah"
Rascal Flatts, "Riot"
Sam Hunt, "House Party"
Sam Smith, "Like I Can"
Seether, "Nobody Praying For Me"
Sheppard, "Geronimo"
Sia, "Elastic Heart"
Skrillex & Diplo featuring Justin Bieber, "Where Are Ü Now"
Thomas Rhett, "Crash and Burn"
Trey Songz, "Slow Motion"
twenty one pilots, "Tear In My Heart"
WALK THE MOON, "Different Colors"
The War on Drugs, "Red Eyes"
We Are Harlot, "Dancing On Nails"
Wolf Alice, "Moaning Lisa Smile"
X Ambassadors, "Ambassadors"
Years & Years, "King"
Yelawolf, "American You"
From the album: Sonic Highways
From the album: Delirium, Fifty Shades of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
From the album: Talking Is Hard
Coming for You
Say You Do
From the album: Riser
Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)
From the album: Run
Absolution Calling
From the album: Trust Fall (Side A) - EP
Black Sun
From the album: Kintsugi
Sam Hunt
From the album: Montevallo
From the album: Deep South
Lampshades On Fire
From the album: Strangers To Ourselves
From the album: Jekyll + Hyde
From the album: In the Cards
She Don't Love You
Eric Paslay
From the album: Eric Paslay
From the album: V
Mess Is Mine
From the album: Dream Your Life Away
From the album: Wilder Mind
Lonely Eyes
From the album: A.M.
From the album: Dark Before Dawn
From the album: Drones
King Kunta
From the album: To Pimp a Butterfly
What Kind of Man
From the album: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Under the Pressure
From the album: Lost in the Dream
Diamond Rings And Old Barstools
Tim McGraw ft. featuring Catherine Dunn
From the album: Sundown Heaven Town
Earned It
From the album: Beauty Behind the Madness, Fifty Shades of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Honey, I'm Good.
From the album: Magazines or Novels
Somebody New
From the album: How Do You Feel Now?
From the album: The Balcony
From the album: 1989
Natalie La Rose ft. featuring Jeremih
I Want Out
From the album: Ones and Zeroes
One Last Time
From the album: My Everything
From the album: Greatest Hits: Decade #1
From the album: Pageant Material
What We Ain't Got
From the album: Days of Gold
From the album: Savages
Wiz Khalifa ft. featuring Charlie Puth
From the album: Nine Track Mind, Furious 7: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Something from Nothing
Cecilia and the Satellite
From the album: Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
I Am Machine
Raise 'Em Up
Keith Urban ft. featuring Eric Church
From the album: Fuse
From the album: Wanted On Voyage
From the album: That's the Spirit
Cigarette Daydreams
From the album: Melophobia
A Guy Walks Into a Bar
Tyler Farr
From the album: Suffer In Peace
From the album: Nick Jonas
Zedd ft. featuring Selena Gomez
From the album: True Colors
Heavy Is the Head
Zac Brown Band ft. featuring Chris Cornell
Time of Our Lives
Pitbull & Ne-Yo
From the album: Globalization, Non-Fiction
Baby Be My Love Song
Easton Corbin
From the album: About To Get Real
From the album: Queen of the Clouds
Sippin' On Fire
From the album: Anything Goes
Want to Want Me
From the album: Everything Is 4
Ain't Worth The Whiskey
Cole Swindell
From the album: Cole Swindell
Lonely Tonight
Blake Shelton ft. featuring Ashley Monroe
From the album: Bringing Back the Sunshine
Just Gettin' Started
From the album: Old Boots, New Dirt
Every Breaking Wave
From the album: Songs of Innocence
G.D.F.R.
Flo Rida ft. featuring Sage the Gemini & Lookas
From the album: My House
From the album: The Pale Emperor
From the album: Royal Blood
Don't It
From the album: Summer Forever
From the album: Transmissions
Don't Wanna Fight
From the album: Sound & Color
From the album: ×
From the album: Southernality
Wet Dreamz
From the album: 2014 Forest Hills Drive
Little Big Town
From the album: Pain Killer
From the album: First Kiss
I Am A River
My Type
From the album: My Type - EP
From the album: Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
Can't Deny My Love
From the album: The Desired Effect
Tragedy + Time
From the album: The Black Market
Weight Of Love
From the album: Turn Blue
From the album: Out of the Wasteland
From the album: The Temperance Movement
Hey Mama
David Guetta ft. featuring Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha, & Afrojack
From the album: Listen
The Wrong Year
From the album: What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
From the album: Title
The Business Of Emotion
Big Data ft. featuring White Sea
From the album: 2.0
From the album: Smoke + Mirrors
Kenny Chesney ft. featuring Grace Potter
From the album: The Big Revival
Love You Like That
Canaan Smith
From the album: Bronco
Lifted Up (1985)
From the album: Kindred
Crushin' It
From the album: Moonshine in the Trunk
Calvin Harris ft. featuring HAIM
From the album: Motion
Hold Back the River
From the album: Chaos and the Calm
Same Damn Life
From the album: Isolate and Medicate
One Hell of an Amen
From the album: Just As I Am
From the album: Just Kids
Untraveled Road
From the album: Oxygen: Inhale
Trap Queen
From the album: Fetty Wap
100 Debut
From the album: Beneath the Skin
R U Mine?
From the album: AM
Take It on Back
Chase Bryant
From the album: Chase Bryant - EP
I Bet My Life
Lay Me Down
From the album: In the Lonely Hour
Drinking Class
Lee Brice
From the album: I Don't Dance
From the album: Bills - EP
Calvin Harris ft. featuring Ellie Goulding
From the album: Motion, Delirium
DarylPulse
https://www.crownnote.com/charts/darylpulse/daryls-top-100-may-4-2015
1 1 Foo Fighters – "Congregation" 1(×2) 12
2 2 Ellie Goulding – "Love Me Like You Do" 2 11
3 3 WALK THE MOON – "Shut Up and Dance" 1(×1) 15
10 4 The Offspring – "Coming for You" 4 11
6 5 Dierks Bentley – "Say You Do" 4 15
4 6 AWOLNATION – "Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)" 1(×2) 15
11 7 Incubus – "Absolution Calling" 7 12
5 8 Death Cab for Cutie – "Black Sun" 1(×1) 15
15 9 Sam Hunt – "Take Your Time" 9 10
12 10 Josh Turner – "Lay Low" 6 15
8 11 Modest Mouse – "Lampshades On Fire" 1(×2) 15
16 12 Zac Brown Band – "Homegrown" 12 11
9 13 Robert DeLong – "Long Way Down" 9 10
13 14 Eric Paslay – "She Don't Love You" 7 15
7 15 Maroon 5 – "Sugar" 5 13
18 16 Vance Joy – "Mess Is Mine" 11 15
14 17 Mumford & Sons – "Believe" 8 8
17 18 Chris Young – "Lonely Eyes" 1(×1) 15
21 19 Breaking Benjamin – "Failure" 19 6
27 20 Muse – "Dead Inside" 20 6
25 21 Kendrick Lamar – "King Kunta" 21 7
20 22 Florence + The Machine – "What Kind of Man" 20 10
23 23 Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – "Uptown Funk" 4 15
24 24 The War On Drugs – "Under the Pressure" 24 15
30 25 Tim McGraw ft. Catherine Dunn – "Diamond Rings And Old Barstools" 25 10
34 26 The Weeknd – "Earned It" 26 9
28 27 Andy Grammer – "Honey, I'm Good." 27 10
29 28 Joywave – "Somebody New" 28 10
19 29 Catfish and the Bottlemen – "Kathleen" 5 15
26 30 Taylor Swift – "Style" 5 15
35 31 Natalie La Rose ft. Jeremih – "Somebody" 31 9
31 32 Young Guns – "I Want Out" 31 10
39 33 Ariana Grande – "One Last Time" 33 10
41 34 Carrie Underwood – "Little Toy Guns" 34 13
40 35 Kacey Musgraves – "Biscuits" 35 6
22 36 Jake Owen – "What We Ain't Got" 17 15
44 37 Theory of a Deadman – "Angel" 37 10
45 38 Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – "See You Again" 38 3
32 39 Foo Fighters – "Something from Nothing" 1(×1) 15
48 40 Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness – "Cecilia and the Satellite" 40 10
38 41 Three Days Grace – "I Am Machine" 1(×1) 15
50 42 Keith Urban ft. Eric Church – "Raise 'Em Up" 42 10
46 43 George Ezra – "Budapest" 43 10
47 44 Bring Me The Horizon – "Drown" 44 10
42 45 Cage the Elephant – "Cigarette Daydreams" 1(×1) 15
58 46 Tyler Farr – "A Guy Walks Into a Bar" 46 8
54 47 Nick Jonas – "Chains" 47 10
53 48 Zedd ft. Selena Gomez – "I Want You to Know" 48 8
64 49 Zac Brown Band ft. Chris Cornell – "Heavy Is the Head" 49 5
43 50 Pitbull & Ne-Yo – "Time of Our Lives" 30 12
52 51 Easton Corbin – "Baby Be My Love Song" 51 7
59 52 Tove Lo – "Talking Body" 52 10
60 53 Florida Georgia Line – "Sippin' On Fire" 53 3
66 54 Jason Derulo – "Want to Want Me" 54 5
36 55 Cole Swindell – "Ain't Worth The Whiskey" 23 10
33 56 Blake Shelton ft. Ashley Monroe – "Lonely Tonight" 5 15
37 57 Jason Aldean – "Just Gettin' Started" 12 11
51 58 U2 – "Every Breaking Wave" 12 15
62 59 Flo Rida ft. Sage the Gemini & Lookas – "G.D.F.R." 59 8
61 60 Marilyn Manson – "Deep Six" 60 8
63 61 Royal Blood – "Little Monster" 61 7
71 62 Billy Currington – "Don't It" 62 6
69 63 Starset – "Carnivore" 63 6
74 64 Alabama Shakes – "Don't Wanna Fight" 64 10
49 65 Ed Sheeran – "Thinking out Loud" 1(×1) 15
79 66 A Thousand Horses – "Smoke" 66 7
77 67 J. Cole – "Wet Dreamz" 67 4
75 68 Little Big Town – "Girl Crush" 68 5
80 69 Kid Rock – "First Kiss" 69 6
65 70 Foo Fighters – "I Am A River" 13 15
81 71 Saint Motel – "My Type" 71 6
73 72 Sturgill Simpson – "Turtles All The Way Down" 66 10
57 73 Royal Blood – "Figure It Out" 3 15
84 74 Brandon Flowers – "Can't Deny My Love" 74 5
76 75 Muse – "Psycho" 74 7
56 76 Rise Against – "Tragedy + Time" 6 15
55 77 The Black Keys – "Weight Of Love" 20 15
83 78 Lifehouse – "Hurricane" 73 9
87 79 The Temperance Movement – "Take It Back" 79 5
90 80 David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha, & Afrojack – "Hey Mama" 80 2
88 81 The Decemberists – "The Wrong Year" 81 3
92 82 Meghan Trainor – "Dear Future Husband" 82 5
91 83 Big Data ft. White Sea – "The Business Of Emotion" 83 4
89 84 Imagine Dragons – "Shots" 84 5
96 85 Three Days Grace – "Human Race" 85 2
95 86 Kenny Chesney ft. Grace Potter – "Wild Child" 86 4
97 87 Canaan Smith – "Love You Like That" 87 2
94 88 Passion Pit – "Lifted Up (1985)" 88 3
93 89 Brad Paisley – "Crushin' It" 89 3
100 90 Mumford & Sons – "The Wolf" 90 2
98 91 Kendrick Lamar – "The Blacker the Berry" 91 2
NE 92 Blake Shelton – "Sangria" 92 1
NE 93 Calvin Harris ft. HAIM – "Pray To God" 93 1
NE 94 James Bay – "Hold Back the River" 94 1
82 95 Seether – "Same Damn Life" 1(×2) 15
NE 96 Brantley Gilbert – "One Hell of an Amen" 96 1
NE 97 Mat Kearney – "Billion" 97 1
99 98 Thousand Foot Krutch – "Untraveled Road" 98 2
NE 99 Fetty Wap – "Trap Queen" 99 1
NE 100 Of Monsters and Men – "Crystals" 100 1
67 -- Arctic Monkeys – "R U Mine?" 5 14
68 -- Chase Bryant – "Take It on Back" 10 14
70 -- Imagine Dragons – "I Bet My Life" 17 14
72 -- Sam Smith – "Lay Me Down" 45 12
78 -- Lee Brice – "Drinking Class" 69 9
85 -- LunchMoney Lewis – "Bills" 84 5
86 -- Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding – "Outside" 36 14


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Big Issue: Should Uber lose its licence to operate in North Staffordshire?
After private hire giant Uber lost its licence to operate in London, Jack Furness asks should Stoke-on-Trent follow suit…
Jack Furness
Transport for London's decision to strip Uber of its licence to operate in the capital city has provoked a huge backlash.
Officials claimed it was no longer 'fit and proper' to hold a private hire licence due to 'public safety and security implications'.
But last Friday's announcement could have wider implications if other authorities follow suit. With 47 Uber drivers in Stoke-on-Trent, should the same thing happen here?
Sharaz Yaqub, chairman of Stoke-on-Trent Private Hire Association welcomed TFL's decision because he believes it should be a 'fair playing field' for all private hire companies.
He said: "They should have the same stringent checks that other companies have to go through.
"I think Stoke-on-Trent City Council should do the same here. I see Uber drivers that aren't licensed to Stoke-on-Trent, so the council don't know their background.
Stoke-on-Trent cabbie hit with fine - after picking up passengers in Stafford
"It gives local drivers a bad name and it tarnishes us all with the same brush."
But he believes the company hasn't had a 'massive impact' locally.
"We have firms in Stoke-on-Trent who have been established for 30 years and the drivers are doing a great job," he said.
"Private hire firms locally are cheaper than Uber anyway. Customers are well aware of this and I am delighted about that."
Uber has lost its licence to operate in London
Asmann Ul-Haq, proprietor of Autocabs Private Hire, described it as a 'good decision' by TFL.
He said: "There has been issues with cross-border hiring and conditions for drivers. They should never have been granted the licence in the first place.
"I think the city council should get rid of them as well. I don't see how they can justify charging the prices that they do - they are taking advantage of customers.
"I think the cross-border hiring should be stopped. It's a serious security issue."
Why has the price of petrol been so high?
Hackney carriage driver Jahngir Hussain also believes that Stoke-on-Trent should follow London's example.
The 61-year-old, from Longton, said: "It's a good idea that their licence was revoked. You can't do proper check-ups on them. They are from all over the country. If something goes wrong, they can't find out where the driver is from.
"If you go outside the train station, you can see Uber drivers sitting there. They are taking our livelihood away because they are not booked. If you go up to the bus station, you see the same.
"I think they have had a big impact locally. People just jump in their cabs."
Councillor Randy Conteh, Stoke-on-Trent's cabinet member for housing, communities and a safer city, said: "We currently have around 1,400 taxis operating in Stoke-on-Trent and we carry out background checks on all drivers, as well making them pass a knowledge test which covers a host of issues from road signage to the law.
All your driving laws explained - from double yellow lines and zig-zags to bus stops
"Uber holds a three-year private hire operator licence in the city, which is due to expire next August. And, at the moment, we have no specific issues with them in Stoke-on-Trent."
Councillor Sandra Hambleton, chairman of the public protection committee for Newcastle Borough Council, said: "Three separate licenses are required to operate a private hire in Newcastle and each is considered independently against the council's policy before they are granted.
"People's suitability and fitness to drive – including Disclosure and Barring Service checks – are vetted through individual applications before a driver's licence is approved. Other safety considerations are also addressed during this process. This is the case regardless of the operator.
"A total of 16 drivers are registered with Uber in Newcastle and the council is not investigating any complaints."
Taxi driver caught dealing drugs – from his cab
An Uber spokesman maintained that Uber drivers go through the exact same checks as any other licensed private hire drivers and the enhanced DBS is exactly the same as other drivers and black cabs.
She said: "The recent decision taken by Transport for London only applies to Uber in the capital and does not impact Uber's licence in any other city.
"Across the UK, millions of people use our app to get from A to B and thousands of licensed drivers rely on Uber to make a living.
"We plan to appeal the decision in London and can continue operating while we await the outcome of our appeal.
"We are, of course, keen to sit down with TfL to understand what changes they want us to make so we can get things back on track for the millions of Londoners who rely on Uber."


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Nursing home staff failed to follow end-of-life directives of patient to administer CPR, spurring state's largest fine of year and raising questions about policies regarding elder care.
When the heart and lungs of Resident 11 stopped working, no one at the nursing home Dexter Health Care attempted revival with CPR.
State and federal regulations, however, say CPR should have been attempted. The death led to the largest state fine against a nursing home in Maine in 2013.
For the last couple of years, nursing home compliance information has been available online.
Medicare offers consumers who have Internet access an easy way to check out nursing homes at its Nursing Home Compare website, medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare.
On that site, people can enter a location or nursing home name, and get information including overall rating, which is measured by one to five stars.
Those who want to dig a bit deeper can read the star ratings in three specific categories — health inspections, quality measures and staffing levels.
They can also access the most recent health inspection reports themselves, which document every deficiency found over the past three years.
Across the nation, there have been dozens of cases recently documented in which nursing home staff failed to give CPR to those who needed and wanted it.
This time it happened in Maine, even though the state statistically performs better than most others.
"It's a serious problem," said Toby Edelman, senior policy attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a national organization based in Willimantic, Conn.
Edelman, who has devoted much of her 40-year career to improving nursing home conditions around the country, said the number of serious abuses documented in nursing homes is always just a small fraction of the abuses that are actually occurring.
Only six states have fewer serious documented deficiencies per nursing home than Maine. In Kentucky, with the worst ratio in the nation, there were 1.35 serious deficiencies per nursing home over the past three years, 22 times Maine's average of 0.06.
Maine may do a good job, but when it comes to caring for a vulnerable population like the state's elderly, a good job may not be good enough, she said. Edelman said advocacy groups are pushing for more improvements, for the sake of Resident 11 and thousands of other nursing home residents across the nation.
Resident 11 lived at Dexter Health Care, a 53-bed, for-profit nursing home in Dexter, a former mill town of fewer than 4,000 people halfway between Waterville and Bangor on the banks of the Sebasticook River. Resident 11's personal information — name, health problems, age, even gender — were not published in the inspection report, but one important detail is included.
In the event of an emergency — if Resident 11's heart stopped beating and lungs stopped breathing — Resident 11 wanted staff to attempt revival with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.
But when that moment came, no one attempted to administer CPR to Resident 11.
After Resident 11's death, Dexter Health Care was fined $5,850, the second largest such fine in the state in at least three years, for violating federal law that prohibits the mistreatment, neglect or abuse of nursing home patients.
In a statement given Friday, the nursing home's health management team did not admit fault in the case of Resident 11's death and said instead that it disagreed with the state's findings.
What happened in Dexter happens with surprising regularity at nursing homes across the nation. Every year, people in nursing homes who should have received CPR die without getting it, according to an analysis by ProPublica, a watchdog journalism group that provides a searchable database of nursing home deficiencies.
Over the past three years, there have been 161 inspection reports that have included serious deficiencies related to CPR. Some are for unrelated issues, but just a sampling of the records uncovered many instances in which people with clear directives to be revived by CPR have died without receiving it.
Such elder care issues are particularly pressing in Maine, which has more elders per capita than almost any other state.
It didn't take long for the state to identify what happened in Dexter as a serious problem. An outline of the incident is given in the state's four-page inspection report.
On July 2 at 2:11 a.m. at Dexter Health Care, a certified nursing assistant and at least one other staff member rolled Resident 11 over on a bed, an action that is part of many routine procedures, such as dressing or cleaning people who can't do it themselves. The nursing assistant noticed that the resident's arm stayed on the bed, something she had never seen before.
The nursing assistant asked if the resident was OK, she later told inspectors, and Resident 11 said yes.
Twelve minutes later, the charge nurse and the nursing assistant both went to the room, where they found Resident 11 unresponsive, with no pulse or other vital signs.
At this point, the charge nurse should have administered CPR, an instruction that was spelled out in the advance directives for that patient. A physician had signed an order Jan. 15, 2013, directing that CPR should be given to the patient. Furthermore, if a patient doesn't have an advance directive, the default directive is to give CPR.
Resident 11 was declared dead, with no further efforts made to resuscitate.
Not every patient in Resident 11's position would choose to be revived with CPR.
Deciding how far one wants to go in extending one's life in difficult circumstances can be an intensely personal decision, according to administrators at other area nursing homes.
Because many patients can't communicate when the time for medical intervention comes, federal regulations require that every nursing home resident be given a chance to create a set of advance directives, written instructions used to guide health care decisions when a person is incapacitated.
Nursing homes routinely create advance directives for their patients, and review them every three months with patients and families to make sure they are up to date.
The directives are important, not just for nursing home residents, but for everyone, according to Carol Timberlake, administrator for both the Orchard Park and Edgewood rehabilitation and living centers in Farmington.
Another nursing home administrator, Carolyn Sawyer, said she understands why CPR is not always desirable.
"The chances of CPR working run low and it hurts," she said.
She has seen it add unnecessary pain to the end of someone's life at Somerset Rehabilitation and Living Center in Bingham and Heritage Rehab and Living Center in Winthrop, the two homes she oversees.
The right to fill out an advance directive is protected by federal law, according to John Martins, spokesman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Maine's nursing homes on behalf of the state.
Not every resident chooses to fill out an advance directive, but Resident 11 did, according to the state's inspection report.
The advance directive of Resident 11 was clear.
In life-threatening situations, Resident 11 wanted to be taken to a hospital for treatment. Infections were to be treated with antibiotics.
Most importantly, if the resident's heart stopped beating or lungs stopped breathing, the advance directive told staff that CPR should be used in an attempt at revival.
In January 2013, a doctor read and approved the advance directives, issuing Resident 11 a code status, which tells staff whether CPR should be given. Some patients are under a "do not resuscitate" order from a doctor, while others are full code, meaning they should be revived with CPR and other methods.
Resident 11 was given full code status.
A sampling of about 30 inspection reports from around the country show that many people, like Resident 11, have asked for CPR but died in a nursing home without it in recent years.
In 2013, for which only partial data has been published, similar cases resulted in deaths, not only in Dexter, but in Hornell Gardens in Hornell, N.Y., and Kenilworth Care and Rehabilitation Center in Florida, among others.
In another case, at Rockdale Resident and Rehabilitation Center in Texas in 2011, a resident requested CPR but when the time came, staff deferred to his wife, who told them not to attempt resuscitation.
In that same year, two residents at Parks Methodist Retirement Village In Odessa, Texas; two more at Woodley Manor Health and Rehabilitation in Montgomery, Ala.; and a woman at Andrus on Hudson in New York were all among those who died without receiving CPR, despite having full code status.
In 2012, similar cases resulted in deaths at Graceland Care Center of Oxford in Mississippi, Casa Morra Rehabilitation and Extended Care in Bradentown, Fla.; and Sunrise Care Center in Milwaukee, Wis.
A 2006 study from the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association found that 33 percent of nursing home residents who wanted CPR did not receive it prior to the arrival of emergency medical services.
In Maine, such elder care issues are increasingly important and will become more so in the years to come. Maine's median age, 42.7 years, is highest in the nation, and it also has the third-highest percentage of people aged 65 or older, with 15.9 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
A first-in-the-nation 30.9 percent of Mainers are between 45 and 64 years old, which means that the next generation of those needing elder care will be even bigger.
With this in mind, a team of inspectors visits every nursing home in the state annually, or when a complaint or incident is reported. Within a week after Resident 11's death, two complaints at Dexter Health Care prompted an inspection.
The inspectors are registered nurses, licensed social workers and health facility specialists who have all been certified to inspect long term care homes in the state. They are employees of the state, but inspect on behalf of both the state and federal governments.
Before Resident 11 died at Dexter Health Care, the home didn't have a bad track record. During four previous state inspections, in 2011 and 2012, a handful of deficiencies, most of them minor and none resulting in fines, were found.
In its Friday statement, the Dexter nursing home touted its ratings, which include an excellence award from a national research company based on feedback ratings from patients and families.
But when the inspectors interviewed staff in July, the initial responses suggested that there was confusion, not just about Resident 11, but about the nursing home's resuscitation policies in general.
In July, when inspectors asked the charge nurse why she didn't attempt to revive Resident 11, she said she didn't know the resident's code status.
When they talked to the nursing director, the director said staff at Dexter Health Care weren't required to give CPR unless the cardiac or respiratory failure was witnessed.
That drove the inspection team to look at Dexter Health Care's policies, where they uncovered a second problem.
"The policy did not address what staff were to do in the event they discovered a unwitnessed cardiac or respiratory arrest on a resident with advanced directives indicating (the desire to have CPR)," according to the inspection report.
That means if a person's heart or lungs failed while no one is in the room, then the staff didn't have to give CPR when they discovered the body, even if the patient's advance directives asked that they do so.
The state inspectors asked for more information. They checked a list of CPR-certified staff against payroll sheets and worker schedules.
That led to the discovery of a third problem.
They found that, just two days after Resident 11 died, seven other residents who also had asked to receive CPR in their advance directives were at risk of not getting it.
Why? Because no one that night at the nursing home was certified to administer CPR.
In response to information requests from the Morning Sentinel, Dexter Health Care's management team issued a three-paragraph statement on the death of Resident 11 that expressed sympathy for the family, but admitted no fault.
The nursing home would not discuss Resident 11's death or its policies any further.
But Edelman said that by not being prepared to follow the advance directives, Dexter failed to honor an agreement with its residents.
"If you have residents who want CPR and no one is qualified to do it, that's a really serious problem," Edelman said.
Edelman said enforcement of nursing homes can be too lax and that fines are assessed too infrequently to make much of a difference. She said federal laws only allow fines to be imposed when actual harm has occurred and that many inspectors wrongly classify serious cases as not having caused harm.
"If we read the statements of deficiency, would we agree that these are the only six with serious deficiencies?" she asked.
Most nursing homes would have responded to Resident 11's death differently.
If a resident had a full code status and was discovered without vital signs, the resident would have been given CPR at their nursing homes in Farmington, Bingham and Winthrop, Sawyer and Timberlake said.
That's not just good elder care, officials say. It's also the law.
Federal regulations also require that nursing homes have CPR-certified staff available at all times, a requirement both Timberlake and Sawyer said they comply with.
In Farmington, Orchard Park and Edgewood nurses all have up to date certification, Timberlake said.
She knows this because the date of certification of each of the two homes' 70 staff members is tracked in a computerized system that lets administrators know when someone's certification is nearly expired.
On a regular basis, "we bring someone from the outside in and provide training for all the folks," Timberlake said.
Both Timberlake and Sawyer said they also encourage their certified nursing assistants to be CPR certified.
During their most recent inspections, the four nursing homes overseen by Timberlake and Sawyer had no, or minor, deficiencies.
As a group, Maine's nursing homes have fewer serious deficiencies than most states in the country.
"I think Maine overall does a pretty good job, but then once in a while you hear about something that's horrendous," said Linda Weare, who works as the elder abuse manager at Maine's Elder Abuse Institute.
Weare said that, while abuses do happen in nursing homes, the institute's focus is on residential situations, where elders who suffer abuse are often isolated from help, sometimes by the design of their abusers.
"In a nursing home, there are more people around, so the chances of people finding out are greater," she said.
The financial penalties for violations in Maine are also less severe than those of other states. According to an analysis of the data performed by ProPublica, Maine fined its nursing homes a total of about $55,000 over three years, with an average fine of about $6,100, far below the national average of $11,300. The highest fines in the nation are assessed in Tennessee, which saw more than $5.6 million in fines, with an average amount of $72,327.
Phyllis Powell, assistant director for the Medical Facilities Unit at the state's nursing home administrators licensing board, said it is rare for a nursing home to actually lose its license.
In fact, in the six years she's been working in the department, she said, it hasn't happened once.
Instead, documented deficiencies are handled with an eye toward bringing the offending business into compliance.
"If they are found in violation they have an opportunity to remedy that," she said.
Would CPR have made a difference in the case of Resident 11? There's no way to know.
CPR doesn't guarantee survival, but it does have a chance of success. The idea is to use chest compressions and, sometimes, forced breaths into the lungs to keep oxygen-bearing blood moving through the body and into the brain until the heart can be restarted, often with a defibrillator. A 2009 study of nearly half a million patients published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 18 percent of those who received CPR while in the hospital survived long enough to be discharged.
The 2006 study from the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association found survival rates for nursing home residents were lower, between 2 and 11 percent.
What's often critical is how quickly CPR is administered.
In the event of cardiac arrest, the chances of survival decrease by 5 to 10 percent for every minute that CPR is not administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Without a supply of oxygen, brain damage can happen in just a few minutes, and a person can die in eight to 10 minutes, according to the Mayo Clinic.
In this case, Resident 11 was alive and answering questions 12 minutes before the charge nurse entered the room and found no pulse or other vital signs.
Dexter Health Care's statement said the state inspectors were in error when they cited the nursing home.
Dexter Health Care appealed the report's findings to the state, and the state did modify some of the wording on the statement of deficiencies — it withdrew a sentence that said the resident died during the event and another that said two certified nursing assistants on duty were not CPR-certified. It also revised the number of nights it found without any CPR coverage from a higher number down to just one of 25 nights, July 4.
But, the main thrust of the report — that the nursing home had violated federal regulations and would be fined $5,850 — remained intact. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reviewed and upheld the state's findings.
In the wake of the state inspection, things have changed at Dexter Health Care.
While it disagreed with the state findings, the nursing home did respond to the report by making changes.
"We met or exceeded the recommended corrective plan of action. We were pleased that when investigators revisited, they found Dexter to be in compliance and ruled that any deficiencies were properly corrected," according to the statement.
Edelman said elderly residents all across the nation suffer the consequences when nursing homes fail to take care of them properly.
However, she said, the fault rarely lies with the staff members themselves.
Instead, she said, advocates for better care focus on management decisions, particularly staffing levels, that are often made with too much of an emphasis on cost-cutting. It's not enough to have the right policies on the books, she said. Adequate numbers of staff with proper training have to be in place to carry those policies out.


text:
News review | May 03 2016
Posted on May 4th, 2016 by Editor Comments Off on News review | May 03 2016 | 3441 Views
USAA's latest catastrophe bond, Residential Reinsurance 2016 Limited (Series 2016-1), is set to achieve the upsized target of $250m of collateralised reinsurance cover, with all three tranches expected to price at the lowest end of the already reduced guidance. The bond will provide USAA with a four-year source of collateralised reinsurance for losses from tropical cyclone risks, earthquake, severe thunderstorm, wildfire, winter storm, volcanic eruption, meteorite impact and other perils on an indemnity trigger and annual aggregate basis.
Global investment bank Credit Suisse is using a Bermudian-based special purpose insurer as a vehicle for an innovative bond that would offload risk from events including rogue trading and cybercrime. The vehicle being used for the bond is Operational Re Ltd, an insurer licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority with its address listed as that of ILS specialist Horseshoe Group.
The Royal Gazette
The London insurance linked securities (ILS) market is perfectly positioned to become the global centre for cyber risk insurance, according to a new report from BNY Mellon. "The capital markets can help nascent classes of insurance flourish," said Paul Traynor, Pensions and Insurance Segments Leader, International, BNY Mellon. "There's huge potential for cyber risk to be transferred to the capital markets using ILS, in a similar way to how cat bonds underwrite hurricane and earthquake risks."
Warren Buffett, who built Berkshire Hathaway by reinvesting premiums from insurance units, said low bond yields have hurt the prospects of that strategy. "That game has been over for a while," Buffett said during Berkshire's annual meeting. "It looks like it will be at least unattractive, if not terrible, for a considerable period in the future... It is no fun running a traditional reinsurance company and having money come in, particularly in Europe [when] many of the things you were buying a few years ago have negative yields."
Lloyd's chairman John Nelson said the Corporation's mooted insurance index remained a work in progress, but admitted that its development was taking longer than expected. Speaking at an Insurance Institute of London lecture, Nelson told the audience that Lloyd's was "on the case" with developing the index but that it was "taking a bit longer than we thought".
Trading Risk
AM Best considers the different approaches to catastrophe insurance in some of the largest European Union member states in a new report, and finds that natural catastrophe schemes have risen up the agenda as a result of a perceived increase in the frequency of natural disasters and growing awareness of the potential effects of climate change. It also notes that catastrophe pools "often make use of the reinsurance and capital markets to transfer their peak risks".
In a series of solvency stress tests on insurers, the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority found a "significant reliance" on reinsurance, but added that recovery was "well-diversified". Firms were asked to identify an extreme scenario for this firm that would make their business plans unviable. Events included natural and mandmade catastrophes as well as counterparty reinsurance credit risk.
The Actuary
US re/insurer Prudential Financial has completed a third longevity reinsurance deal with the UK's Legal & General (L&G). Terms of this deal were not revealed, but L&G transferred $2.9bn of longevity liabilities in 2015 and $2.2bn in 2014.
InsuranceERM
Posted: Monday, May 9th, 2016