text:
\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:intro}

End-to-end neural models have greatly pushed the frontiers of the area of text-to-speech (TTS) \cite{DBLP:conf/icassp/ShenPWSJYCZWRSA18}. However, these models still suffer from high data demands.
As a machine learning method, a large amount of data is generally required to cover all knowledge necessary to produce speech: pronunciation of each grapheme under different contexts, semantic meanings of words to produce natural prosody, etc. The cost to collect such a complete dataset can be unbearable, and knowledge learned from limited data may fail to extrapolate to all cases, not to say that to internalize (i.e. learn) all these knowledges can be challenging for a single neural model.

Acquisition of pronunciation knowledge is a noticeable aspect, and its failure could be the root of TTS errors in end-to-end models like reading "chaos" as "CH-AW-S" or "San Jose" as "S-AA-N JH-OW-S". It is because not only the data may be unable to cover these edge cases, but also the model may fail to learn such outliers sparsely distributed in the data. These two might be solved by a simple lexicon look-up, but how about "desert" in "get their just desert" versus "lost in a desert"? It can be even more severe: Thousands of Chinese characters are used in Japanese, each has multiple readings depending on the context. Chinese uses more characters that take native speakers years to memorize. Arabic and Hebrew scripts typically omit vowels, leaving the reader to decide the meaning and pronunciation.
On these languages without phonemic orthography, fully end-to-end TTS models are often less reliable, needing an extra manually-built complicated grapheme-to-phoneme (G2P) pipeline based on a combination of hand-crafted rules, structured G2P-oriented lexicons, and machine learning models \cite{DBLP:journals/csl/YasudaWY21,fong2019comparison,DBLP:conf/interspeech/TaylorR19}. In this way, additional knowledge and labor from language experts are introduced, which take considerable costs on every single language, unscalable to be extended to countless languages in the real world.

Following research on scalability-centered low-resource TTS \cite{DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2103-03541}, we aim at scaling end-to-end TTS to various languages using minimal per-language human efforts. Given the difficulty both to directly internalize all the knowledge from data and to leverage external knowledge through language expertise, we consider it desirable if external knowledge could be \textbf{automatically} extracted and utilized.
This is inspired by machine reading comprehension (MRC) and question answering (QA): With rich knowledge learned, BERT may answer questions like "The capital city of Italy is [MASK]" by themselves \cite{DBLP:conf/emnlp/PetroniRRLBWM19}. But the answers are often imprecise as it is difficult and inefficient for a neural network to memorize countless definite or "hard" answers (like the capital of Italy) sporadically appeared in training data. Instead, open-domain QA models are more reliable on this task. They do not store such knowledge inside themselves, but develop a "soft" ability to read and understand related external texts (like Wikipedia articles), and then find the correct answer to the question from the article \cite{DBLP:conf/iclr/SeoKFH17,DBLP:conf/acl/ChenFWB17}.

\begin{figure}[t]
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{fig/framework.pdf}}
\caption{Neural Lexicon Reader under the framework, in which raw lexicon text of each character is used as external knowledge. The lexicon contains readings as well as meanings and usages for each reading. The character "\includegraphics[height=0.8em]{symbols/dei.pdf}" takes the second reading děi here, since it means "need" in the sentence. English translations are indicated.}
\label{Fig:framework}
\end{figure}

TTS resembles QA in that both the hard knowledge (e.g. pronunciations and semantics of each word) and soft ability (e.g. to choose the exact reading) are required.
Therefore, we design a general framework with novel Token2Knowledge attention to automatically extract relevant knowledge from external texts. To exemplify, we propose Neural Lexicon Reader (NLR) shown in Figure~\ref{Fig:framework}, which extracts pronunciations of words in the input script from raw lexicon texts without a G2P pipeline using structured rules hand-crafted on the language.
It mimics humans that when a child doesn't know how to read "chaos", the child will look it up in a dictionary. More, general-purpose dictionaries are available in most languages, hence the framework can be easily extended to new languages.

Moreover, it is more flexible, controllable, and interpretable: The model is targeted to develop a more general lexicon-reading capability to be used in runtime that is less dependent on the exact content of scripts and lexicons seen during training. Hence even for a trained model, pronunciations can be manipulated and new words can be actively added by updating the lexicon. Empirical studies on Mandarin Chinese show that NLR produces better intelligibility than character-based models, particularly with limited data. It also helps to resolve heteronyms or polyphones, and generalizes to rare and even unseen characters well, which are effectively zero-shot learning. Furthermore, the lexicon-reading capability is less language-specific and can be better transferred to related languages like Cantonese and Japanese with much less data.

To conclude, our contributions are three-fold:

1. We propose a general framework to leverage external knowledge in neural TTS using Token2Knowledge attention;

2. We apply the framework to achieve fully end-to-end TTS on non-phonemic scripts without the need of particular language expertise for building G2P;

3. We demonstrate its general lexicon-reading ability using low-resource and cross-language transfer scenarios.

Code, audio samples, and the model using open data are available at \url{mutiann.github.io/papers/nlr}.

\section{Methods}
\label{sec:methods}
\begin{figure}[t]
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{fig/model_detail_2.pdf}}
\caption{Model architecture, using an English sentence and a dictionary with ARPABET pronunciation notation as an example.  \raisebox{.5pt}{\textcircled{\raisebox{-.9pt} {1}}} is computed upon an element in the encoded sequence that corresponds to "I" in "It", while \raisebox{.5pt}{\textcircled{\raisebox{-.9pt} {2}}} corresponds to "d" and \raisebox{.5pt}{\textcircled{\raisebox{-.9pt} {3}}} to "t" in "desert". Therefore \raisebox{.5pt}{\textcircled{\raisebox{-.9pt} {2}}} and \raisebox{.5pt}{\textcircled{\raisebox{-.9pt} {3}}} use the same dictionary entry for "desert" for the Token2Knowledge Attention. The Token2Knowledge Attention modules are identical using shared parameters, but lexicon texts and input elements from the encoded sequence are different.}
\label{Fig:model}
\end{figure}

We follow \cite{DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2103-03541} to use a transformer model, but with character inputs and 4 decoder layers, and Token2Knowledge attention introduced in the encoder, as illustrated in Figure~\ref{Fig:model}: For each token $c_j$, possibly a character, its relevant textual knowledge $T_{j,1}, T_{j,2}, ..., T_{j,m}$ (possibly the lexicon entry of the word it belongs to) is passed through a \textbf{knowledge encoder} to create two sequences of hidden representations: \textbf{keys} $k_{j,1}, k_{j,2}, ..., k_{j,m}$ and \textbf{values} $v_{j,1}, v_{j,2}, ..., v_{j,m}$. Then, for the hidden state $h_{i,j}$ at encoder layer $i$, we compute a context vector of
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
    c_{i,j} = \text{attention}(h_{i,j}, [k_{j,1}, ..., k_{j,m}],
    [v_{j,1}, ..., v_{j,m}])
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}

by the standard multi-head attention layer that extracts relevant values according to the matchness between $h_{i,j}$ and the key,
followed by $h'_{i,j} = \text{Layernorm}(c_{i,j} + h_{i,j})$. This is similar to the transformer decoder, in which the decoder states perform not only self-attention but also attention with encoder states. The difference is that, in the decoder, all elements in the sequence of decoder states attend to the same sequence of encoder states. While in Token2Knowledge Attention, different elements attend to different encoded external knowledge.

The framework is flexible: the form of knowledge, the knowledge encoder, and the way to select relevant knowledge can be decided according to the scenario. As for NLR to extract pronunciation knowledge in our experiments, raw texts from the corresponding lexicon entry are used as knowledge, and the pretrained multilingual language model XLM-R \cite{DBLP:conf/acl/ConneauKGCWGGOZ20} is used as the knowledge encoder. Final-layer embeddings from XLM-R are used as  \textbf{keys} to capture the semantics of the lexicon texts, so as to match the semantics between input texts and lexicon texts. While to represent pronunciations, exact identities of characters (such as those in the phonemic notations) in the lexicon are valuable to present in attention outputs. Therefore, \textbf{values} are built by a concatenation of final-layer and first-layer embeddings of XLM-R, covering both deep (semantic) and shallow (identity) information. For unknown tokens and punctuation without lexicon entries, keys and values are both zero vectors. Token2Knowledge layers are used in all except the first encoder layers. Lexicon texts are from online dictionary websites. \footnote{~\url{dictionary.goo.ne.jp} for Japanese, \url{humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can} for Cantonese, and \url{zdic.net} for Mandarin.}

\section{Experiments}
\label{sec:experiments}

We experimented on internal data of multiple East Asian languages, which exemplify the challenges we try to handle, as capturing their pronunciation is difficult, particularly in low-resource cases: There are no general rules, requiring case-by-case memorization; Readings are context-dependent, so a simple lexicon-lookup is not enough. They are also widely spoken but rather diverse, many of them (like various Sinitic dialects) under-resourced, making the scenario realistic. Nevertheless, our method is applicable beyond them, as many other languages such as Arabic and Indic ones share similar challenges.

To evaluate the method's capability to leverage external knowledge when training data fail to cover necessary knowledge, we experimented on simulated low-resource cases with a single speaker Mandarin dataset of 18K samples downsampled to different sizes, without speaker or language embeddings. Besides, to evaluate the transferability of the lexicon-reading capability, we train a base model on a larger Mandarin dataset with 93k samples from 11 speakers, and adapt it to single-speaker Cantonese or Japanese data. The base model uses only speaker embeddings, so language embeddings are added to input embeddings and trained. All data are without word segmentation. Results are evaluated in comparison with baselines under the same setting but without Token2Knowledge layers. Other settings follow the prior work \cite{DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2103-03541}. Waveforms are reconstructed from synthesized mel-spectrograms of a 100-sample held-out set on each language using the Griffin-Lim algorithm, quality from which sufficient for intelligibility evaluation. They are then sent to Azure Speech-to-Text to report objective character error rate (CER). Although the black-box recognizer has errors, it is generally reliable for comparing prevalence of pronunciation errors between systems \cite{DBLP:conf/interspeech/TaylorR21}. A pretrained WaveNet is used to generate waveforms for subjective evaluations.

\subsection{Mandarin experiments}

\begin{table}[t]
\caption{Objective CER(\%) for Mandarin systems}
\label{Table:mandarin}
\vskip 0.1in
\begin{center}
\begin{small}
\begin{sc}
\begin{tabular}{lllll}
\toprule
Dataset size & 18K  & 10K  & 7.5K  & 5K    \\
\midrule
Baseline                    & 4.65 & 9.40  & 18.33 & Fail  \\
NLR                         & 4.82 & 5.86 & \textbf{7.14}  & \textbf{13.64} \\
\midrule
+Word Query & \textbf{4.39} & \textbf{4.71} & 7.28  & 14.78 \\
w/o XLM-R                   & 4.84 & 6.11 & 10.50  & 15.13 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{sc}
\end{small}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.2in
\end{table}

\begin{table}[t]
\caption{Subjective error rate (\%) on different test sets}
\vskip 0.1in
\label{Table:domain}
\begin{center}
\begin{small}
\begin{sc}
\begin{tabular}{lllll}
\toprule
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{Rare} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Heteronyms} \\
\cmidrule(l{2pt}r{2pt}){2-3} \cmidrule(l{2pt}r{2pt}){4-5}
Dataset size & 18K & 10K & 18K & 10K \\
\midrule
Baseline & 8.0 & 62.0 & 75.5 & 80.9 \\
NLR & 2.0 & 4.0 & 72.6 & 76.4 \\

\midrule

& \multicolumn{4}{c}{General} \\
\cmidrule(l{2pt}r{2pt}){2-5}

Dataset size & 18K & 10K & 7.5K & 5K \\
\midrule

Baseline & 0.9 & 5.4 & 10.9 & Fail \\
NLR & 0.3 & 1.9 & 4.1 & 8.5 \\

\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{sc}
\end{small}
\end{center}

\vskip -0.2in
\end{table}

Objective CERs are given in Table~\ref{Table:mandarin}: when using the complete 18K-sample data, baseline and NLR models produce similar results, with CER both close to the ground truth one of 4.35\%. But with fewer samples, NLR models are more resistant to reduced data and constantly outperform the baseline (which fails to converge at 5K data), showing that NLR successfully leverages pronunciation knowledge from lexicon texts when knowledge from data is insufficient. +Word Query and w/o XLM-R models will be discussed in Section~\ref{Sec:ablation}.

Beside the general cases, we create test sets focused on scenarios with special challenges. First, for the capability to generalize to rare and even unseen characters (i.e. few-shot or zero-shot cases), we create a 100-utterance \textsc{Rare} test set. Each of the utterances contains an uncommon character. They only appear once in the full 18K data, and 50 of them unseen in the 10K subset. To avoid interference, other used characters are simple to handle. 18K and 10K-data baseline and NLR models with the lowest objective CERs are used to synthesize the speeches to be inspected by a language expert. As shown in Table~\ref{Table:domain}, both NLR models give correct pronunciations in most cases regardless of dataset sizes. Baselines show more errors to internalize the knowledge that is sparse in the training data, not to say the 10K case when such knowledge is unavailable. It also shows the extensibility of the framework that new knowledge (like pronunciations of unseen characters) can be directly introduced to a trained model. An experiment further supports this: we train a model with 10K data but remove lexicon entries for characters unseen in the 2K subset to simulate an incomplete lexicon, and the best CER can only reach 6.38\%. But if the full lexicon is additionally given on evaluation, the CER reaches 5.91\%, indicating that the model leverages and generalizes to new lexicon entries unseen during training.

Similarly, we create a rather challenging \textsc{Heteronym} test set. We choose 115 characters with multiple readings. For each character, utterances are created using each reading except the most frequent one in training, hence a baseline that simply uses the most frequent reading will have 100\% error rate.
Total 292 utterances are used, and the error rates averaged by each reading of each character are reported. As shown in Table~\ref{Table:domain}, NLR obtain improved ability regarding resolving heteronyms, showing an increased "soft" ability to decide the pronunciation according to the context, although the test remains challenging.

Furthermore, we evaluate subjective CERs on synthetic speech used to report Table~\ref{Table:mandarin}. Given in Table~\ref{Table:domain} as the \textsc{General} CER, NLR constantly outperforms the baseline. We also find that low-resource cases errors in NLR are more due to misalignments, not mispronunciations. Besides, the curve is consistent with the objective metrics, showing the reliability to compare intelligibility with objective CER.

\begin{table}[t]
\caption{CER(\%) for low-resource adaptation to a different language, with different dataset size for each column}
\label{Table:adapt}
\begin{center}
\begin{small}
\begin{sc}
\begin{tabular}{llllll}
\toprule
Cantonese       & 2K    & 1K    & 750   & 500   & 250   \\
\midrule
Baseline & 12.32 & 14.89 & 17.64 & 22.27 & 35.08 \\
NLR      & 8.79  & 10.04 & 10.26 & 10.73 & 12.85 \\
\midrule
Japanese       & 5K    & 3K    & 2K    & 1K    & 750   \\
\midrule
Baseline & 12.46 & 15.99 & 18.66 & 26.85 & 33.76 \\
NLR      & 10.50 & 12.48 & 13.95 & 19.29 & 21.81 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{sc}
\end{small}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.2in
\end{table}

\begin{figure*}[t]
\centerline{\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{fig/align.pdf}}
\caption{An alignment heatmap from Token2Knowledge attention with input tokens labelled on y-axis, and corresponding lexicon texts in the grid along x-axis, plus the row of the heatmap for "\includegraphics[height=0.8em]{symbols/xiang.pdf}" in another head. Lexicon texts that are too long are omitted.}
\label{Fig:align}
\end{figure*}

\subsection{Cross-language transfer learning}

Cantonese is a Chinese variant with systematic phonetic differences from Mandarin, making them mutually unintelligible. However, as shown by the results in Table~\ref{Table:adapt}, with only 2K Cantonese samples the CER of an adapted NLR is close to the ground truth (8.45\%), and CERs increase slowly when using fewer samples. Japanese is more difficult: unlike Chinese, almost all characters have multiple readings. The native \textit{kun-yomi} readings are not of Chinese origin, and are often multisyllabic which adds to the modeling difficulty. As a result, the CER gap between the 5K model and the ground truth (7.20\%) is large. Nevertheless, the results are constantly improved with NLR, showing that the lexicon-reading capability is not fully language-dependent, and models trained on one language can be transferred to a distant language with fewer data.

\subsection{Comparative study}
\label{Sec:ablation}
 We attempt to perform word segmentation on the texts and query the lexicon on a word-level granularity. In this way, the intonation and heteronym resolution might be easier. As shown by the \textsc{+Word Query} model in Table~\ref{Table:mandarin}, the performance is slightly improved with relatively rich data. However, it harms the performance with few data, possibly because representing readings of words but not monosyllabic characters is more difficult. Hence, word segmentation is generally not essential for NLR. We also tried to remove pretrained XLM-R, but use the same set of character embeddings to encode both inputs and lexicon text values. To capture higher-level semantic information, an additional transformer encoder layer is applied upon the embeddings to produce the keys. As shown in \textsc{w/o XLM-R}, limited regression can be observed in the results, particularly with fewer data, which shows that our method might be also applied to languages without such a pretrained model.

\subsection{Case study}

Figure~\ref{Fig:align} shows an alignment heatmap from the 18K-data Mandarin model synthesizing the given utterance. Pinyins of the correct pronunciations have a high alignment weight, indicating that the model extracts the correct pinyin from the lexicon entry, while irrelevant pinyins (like column 19 "cáng" in row 0 "\includegraphics[height=0.8em]{symbols/kuang.pdf}") are ignored. While the character "\includegraphics[height=0.8em]{symbols/xiang.pdf}" is a heteronym, and under this context the character should be pronounced with an infrequent reading "hàng" which is only used in mining terms. The model produces the correct reading, which can be interpreted by the larger alignment weight assigned to "hàng" instead of "xiàng" in the lexicon entry. This is possibly because another head of attention for "\includegraphics[height=0.8em]{symbols/xiang.pdf}" extracts context vectors from tokens "\includegraphics[height=0.8em]{symbols/kuang.pdf}" ("mine") in the lexicon entry, as shown in the lower half of the figure. More, the pronunciation can be directly manipulated by changing lexicon texts fed to the model for each character, such as by adding, modifying, or removing pronunciations in the text, as given in our audio samples, showing better controllability than ordinary end-to-end TTS or G2P models.

\begin{table}[t]
\caption{Mean opinion score of different voices, with 95\% confidence interval}
\label{Table:mos}
\begin{center}
\begin{small}
\begin{sc}
\begin{tabular}{lll}
\toprule
         Dataset size & 18K & 10K \\
         \midrule
        Baseline & 3.84$\pm$0.06 & 3.65$\pm$0.07 \\
        NLR & \textbf{3.85$\pm$0.06} & \textbf{3.80$\pm$0.06} \\
         \midrule
         Ground Truth & \multicolumn{2}{c}{3.98$\pm$0.07} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{sc}
\end{small}
\end{center}

\vskip -0.2in
\end{table}

\subsection{Naturalness evaluation}
 To evaluate the naturalness, we randomly sampled 50 utterances from the Mandarin held-out set. Mean opinion scores (MOS) are given by 20 judges per utterance. As shown in Table~\ref{Table:mos}, our NLR model shows good naturalness, on par with the baseline with rich resources and better under lower resources.

\section{Related work}
\label{sec:related}
Our work is closely related to Byte2Speech \cite{DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2103-03541}, as we follow their transformer-based model and scalability-centered goal, while their performances on non-phonemic scripts are unsatisfying. The framework is inspired by models that extract textual knowledge \cite{DBLP:conf/iclr/SeoKFH17,DBLP:conf/acl/ChenFWB17}, possibly from lexicon, for commonsense reasoning \cite{DBLP:conf/emnlp/BauerWB18}, QA \cite{DBLP:conf/acl/WangJ19}, and Chinese sequence labelling \cite{DBLP:conf/acl/LiuFZX20}. Lexicon texts have been used in word sense disambiguation \cite{DBLP:conf/emnlp/HuangSQH19} and machine translation (MT) \cite{DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2010-05997}, while we apply the idea to TTS. The particular task we apply to is closely related to G2P and polyphone disambiguation with rich prior work, particularly on Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic \cite{DBLP:conf/interspeech/NiSK18,DBLP:conf/icassp/YuNSLSCMK20,DBLP:conf/interspeech/ZhangPL20,DBLP:conf/wanlp/AlqahtaniAD19}, possibly enhanced by explicit rules \cite{DBLP:conf/lrec/GormanMN18} or implicit external knowledge \cite{DBLP:conf/interspeech/DaiWKW0S0M19}, and lexicons have been used during training \cite{DBLP:conf/interspeech/ZouD019,shi21d_interspeech}. While the flexibility of using external knowledge has been discussed in MT \cite{DBLP:conf/emnlp/FengZZWA17} and G2P \cite{DBLP:conf/interspeech/BruguierBS18}, though knowledge from raw lexicon texts were not leveraged. Representations from pretrained language models introduce additional knowledge and enhance TTS and G2P performances \cite{DBLP:conf/interspeech/HayashiWTTTL19,DBLP:conf/icassp/XiaoHMS20,pngbert,nicolis21_ssw,DBLP:conf/icassp/HidaHKTSK22}, but in most cases, the training data contain limited phonemic information, making these models less useful for capturing pronunciations. Also, knowledge from the neural models is lack of explicit representation and control.

\section{Conclusion and future work}
\label{sec:conclusion}
We demonstrate that knowledge can be extracted from external raw texts in end-to-end TTS models, with the application of Neural Lexicon Reader that obtains pronunciations from lexicon entries. Future work may include improving the extraction capability and applying it to other types of knowledge such as semantic meanings to improve speech prosody and naturalness.

\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}

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text:
The 1920 Washington & Jefferson Presidents football team was an American football team that represented Washington & Jefferson College as an independent during the 1920 college football season. Led by sixth-year head coach David C. Morrow, the team compiled a record of 6–3–1.

Schedule

References

Washington and Jefferson
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q&A with outgoing Ossining police Chief Joseph Burton
After 48 years with the department, 24 of them as chief, Burton is retiring.
Matt Coyne
mcoyne@lohud.com
OSSINING - In 1967, Joseph Burton walked into village police headquarters.
The Yonkers native was a year out of the Army, had taken the police and fire exams and was told to set up an interview with the department. To make sure he wasn't late when the time arrived, he wanted to scope the place out.
"They said, well, wait a second. They intercommed the chief," recalled Burton, 69, who interviewed on the spot. "Fifteen minutes later, I walked out with a job."
That interview kicked off Burton's 48-year long career in law enforcement, all of it in Ossining, working his way up from beat cop to police chief. In his 24 years leading the village's police department, he helped it move into its current headquarters on Spring Street.
Now, he's retiring. We spoke with Burton on Dec. 30, as he looked back on his time with the 50-plus member department with a $9 million budget.
Lt. Kevin Sylvester will take over in 2016.
(This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
Question: How has policing changed over your time in Ossining?
Answer: You've got to consider that I worked in six different decades. When I first started, you didn't go out with a portable radio. You survived between call box to call box. You had to call in every hour on the hour at a different call box to make sure you were out there. The police department consisted of three marked police cars, two of them that worked and one of them was a maybe. ... Most of it was a walking post, 24 hours.
Q: How has the community changed?
A: When I came in in the 60's, it was a turbulent time. We went through the 70's, it was a very turbulent time. Police officers were getting killed left and right. It seemed we were going to New York City for a funeral every month or two through the 70's. You've just got to go back through history and watch downtown become urban renewal, where they took buildings down and nothing was replaced, and things slowly started building up.
I've seen it make it's turn, and Ossining has always been on the cusp of making the turn, it just hasn't made the complete turn yet.
Q: Is it ready to do that, you think?
A: Yes. I live in Ossining. When I started the job here, I moved here and I never moved out. I've never lived more than a mile from police headquarters.
Q: Are you going to stay in Ossining?
A: I have no plans on moving from Ossining. I just became president of the Ossining Historical Society, so I have things to do there.
Q: When you look back on your time, is there anything you're particularly proud of?
A: People say, putting this building down here (Birdsall-Fagan Police/Court Facility on Spring Street) is the big highlight of your life. That's just one thing. It's just the community itself, working with the community and feeling like you did something in the community and made an impact in the community and hopefully made the community better.
I wouldn't say every day, but most of the days I go out and take a walk. Some days, it's just to let the wind blow through your ears and some days, it's to go out and pick up a sandwich or go to the bank or go to the cleaners. But I go take a walk out there and you meet people. That's what the whole job is, to go out there and meet and communicate with people.
Twitter: @coynereports

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What does a yoga and other types of ancient spirituality blog, have to do with angels, you may well ask.
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The Ancient Maori Lore is very much involved with The Ancestors, both in our DNA line plus The Great Ones who have walked before us; angels; archangels, and The Gods and Goddesses. The teachings are involving the Highest forms of Divinity.
I had an experience a few years ago in deep meditation, of infinity. There was a portal that I could take my Higher Consciousness through, to get into that realm. I did not do it. Mainly because I did not feel that I would return from it, in this lifetime. It did teach me that anything we can understand about creation, is nothing compared to the knowledge within that realm. I realised that trying to understand it, was beyond silly. So, I just accepted it.
I became acquainted with angels at one of the darkest and most heartbroken times of my life. I felt that I could barely continue, due to all of the grief and other deep emotions inside of me. I had my head in my hands at at a table, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small, fluffy, white feather. I realised that I had been seeing quite a few of them, and recalled how they were supposed to be a sign from angels. In that instant, I saw a shimmering gold figure to the right of me, as I felt Divine Love coming down through my crown chakra. For sure, it was an angel. I had never really given much thought to angels prior to this, but later came to have quite a few encounters with them in my healing work.
More recently, I was in a meditation group, at Anahera Crystals and Healing where we we using crystals specifically for angel work. Myself and another person who was also doing the meditation, had a very disjointed visual experience to start with. I experienced this not long ago, to do with a Godly encounter. I am sure that it was like rapid 'freeze-framing' moving quickly through realms. I then heard a voice say: 'we can be anywhere'. (of course!) This was referring, of course, to angels.
I heard a voice telling me that 'We are in the Blue Realm', and also telling me NOT to go into that angel tunnel. I never would have, for I recognised it instantly. It was the Infinity Realm entrance, mentioned above. The one where I knew I should not enter. The portal was actually a tunnel-type portal.
So, to recap, angels can come to our realm. But we cannot go to theirs.


YTN series vibration proof pressure gauge concept: to rely on internal filled with glycerol (or oil), a buffering screws and other measures. In order to overcome the strong vibration and medium environment of strong pulse to the pressure gauge damage, ensure the measurement accuracy, so the utility model is suitable to the intense pulse of the medium pressure places and mechanical vibration, measurement of various liquid and gas pressure.
In addition to ordinary other vibration proof pressure gauge, the factory also produces anti-corrosion type vibration resistant pressure meter, vibration proof pressure gauge diaphragm flange.
4, connected to the diaphragm body filled with working fluid (1) glycerin (2) silicon (3) filled according to user needs.
L, JB81-59 "standard of Ministry of machinery industry welding steel flanges"


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Brooklyn Bridge Park faces funding deadline
Work on Brooklyn Bridge Park could soon grind to a halt if the committee charged with finding funding sources to complete and maintain the 85-acre space doesn't reach a consensus by a deadline next month, according to Crain's. The non-profit Brooklyn Bridge Park Corp., which is overseeing the park's planning, still isn't sure how to come up with the roughly $16 million per year it will need to maintain the property. The city has said it would pony up around $50 million to help finish the park, but that funding is contingent on the BPPC finding a self-sustaining maintenance plan. The organization's initial proposal includes 1,300 units of housing, whose residents would contribute to the park's upkeep, but that plan has met with opposition from key elected officials who are threatening to veto any additional building development within the park. Maintenance surcharges at the 438-unit One Brooklyn Bridge Park condominium are currently enough to cover the upkeep of the existing parkland — less than one-half of the total space that the park is supposed to ultimately cover. One alternate possibility is the conversion of the nearby 17 Watchtower properties owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses be purchased and converted into housing that would have similar surcharges, but the city does not yet own those buildings. "If we don't have a financial model, we won't be able to proceed with construction," said Regina Myer, president of the BBPC. [Crain's]
1 Brooklyn Bridge Parkbrooklyn bridge parkjehovah's witnesses
Here's how much Fortis paid for its Jehovah's Witnesses site
Here's what Fortis is planning at former Jehovah's Witnesses site
Kayne Anderson lands $200M loan for former Jehovah's Witnesses building
Judge tosses lawsuit seeking to block development at Pier 6
These were the biggest Q4 deals in Brooklyn
The top 10 biggest real estate projects coming to NYC
So long, Watchtower: Famed 70-year-old Brooklyn sign comes down
Jeffrey Gershon closes on Jehovah's Witnesses Dumbo building


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miss A releases close up version of dance practice for "Only You"
With fans showing much love for miss A's recent dance practice videos for "Only You," the group released a close up version of the choreography for fans to enjoy.
A mix of the traditional dance practice video and the individual dance videos, the close up version gives fans a chance to learn the choreography for miss A's newest hit while also feeling up close and personal with the members of the JYP Entertainment group.
Throughout the song, the members constantly kept eye contact with the camera, showing that they knew the choreography so well that they could focus on entertaining fans by making cute faces, and at the same time perform the dance flawlessly.
So far, "Only You" has reached over 6 million views on YouTube, and has also recorded an all-kill for the group by topping every music chart in South Korea. Fans have been thoroughly enjoying the track since its release, and will surely enjoy the new dance practice video as well. Make sure to check out the close-up version of the dance practice for "Only You" below!


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category : Museums
The Historical Barn was constructed in and dedicated in 1989. It is constructed of native brown sandstone, limestone and wood. Stone materials for this building came from two area homes which were over one hundred years old. The building houses a variety of historical items ranging from agricultural to household from the mid 1800's to the mid 1950's.
Address: Located next to the Indian Pay Station Museum on Hwy 24, 102 E. Mission St.
Come visit us in St. Marys, Kansas
Attractions and Upcoming Events
Indian Pay Station Museum
The Indian Pay Station, the oldest building in Pottawatomie County, was built in 1857
St. Marys, KS Museums
"Presence of Three"
This unique sculpture depicts the Pottawatomie Indians, the Mission and the Oregon Trail. It can be seen on the north side of Highway 24 in the center of town.
St. Marys, KS Arts
The Historical Barn was constructed in and dedicated in 1989
St. Mary's College (Originally St. Mary's Mission)
A Brief History of St. Mary's Mission St. Marys, Kansas Following their removal from the Great Lakes area, Pottawatomie Indians were moved to Kansas. Admission was set up for them on Sugar Creek near present day Osawatomie in March of 1839. In1846
St. Marys, KS Historic Churches
Historical Essays written by local historian, Dorothy Hoobler, are reprinted from the St. Marys Star. Thanks to Dorothy for taking the time and interest to write these essays that give us a glimpse into the life and times of St. Marys, Kansas.
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Visit the authentic 1800's, Dobbs School, a one-room rural schoolhouse originally from Marion, Kansas. The inside furnishings...
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text:
Q: Why this TensorFlow graph doesn't match with the code? Below is some hello world level tf code:
import tensorflow as tf
import numpy as np

def model():
    layer1 = layer('layer1', None)
    output_layer = layer('output_layer', layer1)
    print(tf.get_variable_scope().name) # print 1
    return output_layer

def layer(scope_name, x):
    with tf.variable_scope(scope_name):
        print(tf.get_variable_scope().name) # print 2
        w = tf.get_variable('w', shape=(1,), dtype=tf.float32,
                            initializer=tf.truncated_normal_initializer(mean=0, stddev=1))
        if x is not None:
            return w + x
        else:
            return w

with tf.Graph().as_default():
    with tf.variable_scope('model') as scope:
        prediction_1 = model()
        scope.reuse_variables()
        prediction_2 = model()
    with tf.Session() as sess:
        summary_writer = tf.train.SummaryWriter('log', graph=sess.graph)
        init_op = tf.initialize_all_variables()
        sess.run(init_op)
        [p1, p2] = sess.run([prediction_1, prediction_2])
        print('p1={} p2={}'.format(p1, p2))
        summary_writer.close()

The print 1 and print 2 in the above code produces:
model/layer1
model/output_layer
model
model/layer1
model/output_layer
model

which is what I expected, but the graph it produced:
model's graph
has two output_layer in it, why there is a output_layer_1?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home » Spicejet Feb 2022 » Maran, KAL Airways reject SpiceJet's Rs 600-cr offer to end share dispute
Maran, KAL Airways reject SpiceJet's Rs 600-cr offer to end share dispute
Chennai: In a fresh twist to the long-drawn share dispute between SpiceJet's Ajay Singh and the airline's former promoter Kalanithi Maran, Maran and his KAL Airways rejected a new settlement offer by SpiceJet in Supreme Court on Monday.
Maninder Singh, a senior advocate from Karanjawala & Co, who appeared on behalf of KAL Airways said that as per the arbitral award, Spicejet will have to pay them Rs 920 crore and the settlement offer proposed by the airline is not acceptable for his client. The court, after hearing the submissions, listed the matter for arguments on March 2. Last week, the Supreme Court had asked Maran and KAL Airways to consider the offer by Spicejet.
SpiceJet had said in a statement that it offered to pay Rs 600 crore in cash in the share transfer case with its former promoter Kalanithi Maran and his firm KAL Airways for a full and final settlement of all disputes. The airline had claimed that of the principal amount of Rs 578 crore awarded in arbitration, it had already paid Rs 308 crore in cash and deposited a bank guarantee of Rs 270 crore.
According to Karanjawala & Co, "The offer proposed by Spicejet was that the airline is willing to give Rs 300 crore towards a full and final settlement of the dispute and the matter finally gets settled with no further litigation, or; Out of the Bank Guarantee of Rs 270 crore deposited with High Court, Spicejet will give Rs 100 crore for now "
The controversy kicked off in 2015 when Maran sold his 58.46 per cent stake, or 50.4 million shares, in SpiceJet to Singh for a nominal Rs 2 after the airline was hit by financial trouble. In 2016, Maran approached the court, citing a breach of the agreement by Singh for not issuing him 189 million share warrants and preference shares, despite his Rs 679-crore infusion. He claimed Rs 1,300 crore from SpiceJet and Singh. In July 2016, the high court (HC) asked Maran and Singh to set up an arbitration tribunal.
The arbitration tribunal consisting of three retired judges from the SC - Arijit Pasayat, Hemant Laxman Gokhale, and K S P Radhakrishnan - had rejected the damages claim of Maran and KAL Airways against SpiceJet in 2018. In 2020, the HC asked the airline to submit Rs 243 crore to Maran on the issue and the airline got a stay from the SC in November 2020. Maran went before the apex court to lift the stay on a Delhi HC order.
14/02/22 Shine Jacob/Business Standard
Categories: Spicejet Feb 2022


The 2020 Jeep Gladiator is here and it's everything you ever wanted in a Wrangler-based pickup truck. Much like the Wrangler, the Gladiator has an affinity for adventure, with removable doors and a fold-back roof. It even looks like the Wrangler, albeit with a truck bed attached to the back. More than merely looking the part, though, the Gladiator is equipped with the hardware you need to haul heavy gear and move through the wilderness in style. This all-new pickup truck is available in four different trim levels: the Sport, Sport S, Overland, and Rubicon. The base Sport gives you the lowest price tag, but it never shorts you on utility. Under the hood, you'll find a 3.6-liter V6 engine that's good for 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. The 2020 Jeep Gladiator delivers best-in-class towing and hauling capabilities. Properly equipped, this Jeep truck can tow up to 7,650 pounds. You can load up the bed with up to 1,600 pounds' worth of payload.
Besides giving you best-in-class towing and hauling capabilities, the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport sets you up with some serious utility. The durable steel bed is ready to haul your heavy supplies, and Jeep's Easy Lower three-position tailgate gives you quick access to said supplies. The base Gladiator Sport also comes standard with a removable top and doors, so you can make the most of an outdoor adventure. The base model is trail rated, with four-wheel drive to help you navigate mud, sand, and snow. Inside, the Gladiator Sport features roomy, supportive seating. Cloth-upholstered front bucket seats offer impressive comfort, even on long trips. It also keeps you nice and cool, thanks to its standard air conditioning system. Throughout the cabin, you'll find plenty of storage spaces, including a locking compartment behind the rear seats and a full-length floor console.
When you upgrade to the Sport S, you add to the base Sport features with some high-tech conveniences and cutting-edge infotainment gear. The Sport S also features 17-inch silver aluminum wheels for a shiny exterior finish. Power accessories – including power windows, heated mirrors, and locking doors and tailgate – save you plenty of time getting situated. Remote keyless entry is another big timesaver. Inside, the Sport S treats you to Uconnect infotainment features. These include a 7-inch touchscreen for easy access to infotainment options. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto make it easy to use smartphone apps, like Maps and Music, via this central touchscreen. You can even press a button on the steering wheel to access your phone's voice controls. Should you choose, you can add a 115-volt power outlet to the truck bed. That way, you can charge power tools or camping gadgets from the road.
The Gladiator Overland is much like the Wrangler Sahara, adding to the Sport S lineup with a long list of upgrades. Its 18-inch granite crystal aluminum wheels add to the Gladiator's rugged style. Side steps make it easier to get in and out of the cabin. When you're traveling off the grid, the Overland's optional LED headlamps and taillights help you see and be seen. This trim even bolsters safety, compliments of its optional forward collision warning system with automatic braking. When it senses an oncoming crash, it hits the brakes to mitigate damages. Inside the Overland, you can upgrade the Uconnect infotainment system with a bigger, 8.4-inch touchscreen. It, too, includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capabilities, making it easy to use your smartphone without lifting a finger from the wheel. Other Overland options include leather-trimmed seats and cabin trim, which will both impress your friends and give your ride to work a tint of luxury.
Like its infamous Wrangler counterpart, the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is ready for some serious off-road action. It builds on the Sport S equipment with a long list of hardware designed to help you navigate difficult terrain. This starts with a special four-wheel-drive system with crawl capabilities, giving you extra precision when you need it. The Gladiator Rubicon comes standard with special off-road tires and high-clearance fender flares, both of which will come in handy on your favorite trail. An electronic disconnecting sway bar, locking front and rear differentials, and FOX shocks are also standard, all of which take off-road capabilities to an entirely new level. Inside, you'll find roomy comfort and lots of high-tech options. As with the Overland, the Rubicon lets you upgrade to the upgraded Uconnect system, which features a bigger, 8.4-inch touchscreen and navigation. It also includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for hands-free access to your smartphone as you cruise the countryside.
Visit our friendly Denver dealership to test-drive the 2020 Kia Gladiator. There's nothing quite like the Gladiator on the road today, so you're going to have to see it to believe it.


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Ward-Prowse: Southampton aiming for top six finish
Anton Stanley
Updated: 30th May 2018, 6:22 am
Southampton starlet James Ward-Prowse has revealed the club is aiming for a top six finish this season.
The Saints impressed at the start of the campaign under Mauricio Pochettino, but just one win in eight Premier League games means they now sit ninth in the table.
But the England Under-21 midfielder believes they can use their early season form as a base to step up a level and compete with the division's elite sides.
"Ninth is a good place to be," said Ward-Prowse. "We've pushed on from where we were last year. Now it's a good time to push on into the top six. Hopefully we can edge our way in."
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text:
AKA: ドラゴンクライシス!
Genre: Action / fantasy / light romance
Distributor: Currently available streaming on crunchyroll, even internationally to a certain degree.
Content Rating: PG-13 (light fanservice, some mature elements)
Also Recommended: Toradora (for that Rie fix), Elemental Gelade (better offering for the human/nonhuman weapon being relationship issue), Strike Witches (for some relatively mindless action that won't make you want to dig your brain out of your skull)
Notes: Based on the light novel series by Kaya Kizaki, with illustrations by Itsuki Akata. It currently runs in Shueisha's Super Dash Bunko imprint.
After being dragged out of class and made to take part in a Black Broker deal intervention by his cousin, Ryuji Kisaragi finds himself irreversibly tied to Rose, a young dragon child in the form of a little girl. Through her, he gets involved with the dealings of other draconic beings, as well as the business of the Lost Precious hunter society.
Stig: It's often hard to judge light entertainment, because you have to figure out just how far you're willing to stretch your suspense of disbelief, or even try to decide what you are willing to forgive or not. It's the main reason why I'm grateful for having found my core of what I can consider good -- or even just decent -- light entertainment in shows like Sacred Blacksmith, the Koihime Musou series, or Strike Witches and Ninja Nonsense if you want something a little more up to date era wise.
Tim: I believe in second chances. When I told (more like warned) Stig that Dragon Crisis! was being directed by Hideki Tachibana of H20 - Footprints in the Sand fame, I was more than a little hesitant to watch it. I eventually agreed to watch the show provided we did a synchro session of it with two other people from the forum. I normally like cute, light entertainment, such as Galaxy Angel. I figured that at worst Dragon Crisis! would serve as an excuse to hear Rie Kugimiya voicing a cute little girl, and her acting not unlike a dragon-girl Chi from Chobits.
Pardon our pun, but unfortunately Dragon Crisis! just doesn't fly. One can only hope that the anime is simply a shoddy conversion of the novels, because it's fraught with the kind of stuff that just drive us up the walls.
As manipulative as her type of character is to any viewers, there is nothing particularly wrong with the character of Rose. We're more than willing to assume she's largely the reason why most people watch(ed) this show (her and the actress responsible for giving her a voice). It's typecasting as usual for Rie Kugimiya, who has a tendency to be pigeonholed into roles involving small, adorable, and occasionally cranky girls prone to variable levels of violence. Thankfully, aside from her setting several city blocks on fire in the opening episode, Rose is NOT prone to violence or even any kind of verbal abuse. At least not towards the male lead, the somewhat ironically named Ryuji. ("Ironic" in that people who have seen Toradora! might be prone to a whole lot of double takes before this show is through.)
Rose is also easily recognizable thanks to her super-saiyajin-colored hair, which stands as somewhat of a contrast to the other dragons being color-coded by their hair. She has gems embedded in the dorsal area of her hand, though, which signifies her draconic origin despite her human form, and it doesn't take her a lot of episodes before she gains the ability to sprout wings. Unlike human beings, or, indeed, most biological beings, these dragons emerge from their eggs right into their humanoid preteen form. They don't gain the ability to assume their dragon forms until.... well, an unspecified amount of time.
And you don't have to go far into this show to start realizing that the creators didn't put much thought into explanations, much less making the whole show believable. Ryuji is basically attending school -- the first year of high school even, as he's just 15 -- and yet he's living alone and taking care of himself. And there is also apparently nothing wrong about a 19 year old barging in and taking him out of the middle of class to attend a criminal item exchange that leads them into a car chase and a gunfire situation. It's in this scene Dragon Crisis! introduces us to Ryuji's exceptionally irresponsible cousin Eriko, who wants to be a part of an organization so secretive that you need to prove yourself worthy of entry by locating their website and providing proof of your lost precious hunting abilities. Further examples of this show's insensibilities come in the first episode, where there's a scene involving someone hovering right outside Ryuji's apartment complex in a helicopter, early in the morning, shouting, "Good morning! Is there a dragon here?" in a bullhorn.
Argh... just... are these people SERIOUS?! And that's not even CLOSE to the worst levels of exceptionally bad judgement this show has in store for you.
Dragon Crisis! doesn't even have much in the way of compelling characters to make up for that. Rose aside, Ryuji is just a generally uninteresting male lead getting pushed around by all the girls around him. We'll admit that his relationship with Rose is pretty innocent and cute and, if the show centered more around this, it would've been more enjoyable. Instead, the show is dead set in trying to thrown in some kind of supernatural Indiana Jones action mystery crap, which quite frankly hurts to watch. And of course Ryuji has to have a timid classmate who secretly pines for him, because shows like these are required by law to include them. In this series, her name is Misaki, and she serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever. She spends most of her screentime being unintentionally ignored by the hapless, clueless male lead who already has his hands full with the trouble his cousin keep getting him and Rose into. The show later introduces us to Maruga and George, who quickly become the kind of characters we would've liked to see more often. Frustratingly, after her debut episode, Maruga only appears in the final episode, and just briefly at that. As for George...well, we never see him again after his arc is over, not even in the final episodes! Thank you very much for that, Dragon Crisis!
In episodes six and seven we meet Ai, a wolf-girl who offers a temporary reprieve from all the "fun" antics in the series, if only for being one of the only characters other than George and Maruga with her head on straight. And while the setup centered around her arc could have been better, the two episodes we see her in can easily be considered the best in the whole show, predictable -- and eventually preachy -- as it were.
If that's not good enough for you, there's always episode eight, where we go back to cringeworthy comic relief scientist #2, Bianca. She's portrayed in her introduction as a capable member of whichever organisation Eriko wants to be a member of, but spends the next couple of minutes (as well as her later appearances) convincing us just how incompetent she really is. And with her comes the decision to enroll Rose into Ryuji's school, where she's passed off as a 14 year old cousin of his. Then we have a filler episode where the entire female cast (save Bianca) get sucked inside a painting, which is really an artifact... sorry, we mean LOST PRECIOUS... dropped off by someone and stored in Ryuji's apartment. The episode tries playing the "facing your feelings" card, but doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already hear in the earlier episodes.
After that crap we meet another dragon-girl in the last third: Sapphi. Her gimmick is that she can't control her water abilities, more often than not soaking herself. (Because we really needed more comic relief in this series.) She's there to be a friend around Rose's age, but since we find out very quickly that she's in love with Onyx, you soon know she can't be trusted. Also, remember how earlier we talked about the gems embedded into Rose's hand? Well, the series actually does explain later what happens when someone kisses it. You might think that sounds romantic, but put together with the other things that happen during said scene just makes it marginally less boneheaded than the method of which you propose to Devilukean girls if you go by the anime version of To Love-Ru. Again, we can only hope the light novel isn't this bad.
But as bad as the show was up until that point, it just completely falls apart at the end. When we get to that point, naturally, something bad happens to Rose, and Ryuji immediately blames himself. Which would have been fine, if not for the scene where he hands her over to Onyx, one of the least trustworthy and dependable characters we have ever seen in any anime bar none. He's a character who has shown himself willing to resort to lies and deceit to get what he wants, and also have absolutely no concern for anyone but himself and his lust for power. He had already kidnapped Rose once before, explained that the collar she wore in the beginning was a symbol of their "engagement" and proceeded to manipulate her into lying and betraying the people she cared about. He also turned into a huge dragon in the first story/rescue arc and wrecks a huge tower (which for some reason, they managed to explain away in the news, because apparently nobody noticed the gargantuan dragon raising hell in the middle of town.) To add insult to injury, Maruga's aforementioned token role near the end was to literally reiterate our thoughts.
See? This is what we all furiously keyed in during our synchro/MST session of the show. All four of us. And while we all welcomed Maruga knocking some sense into this show, it eventually lead to the dumbest, most contrived ending nonsense we've seen in a long, loooong time. This included, but wasn't limited to, planes doing handbrake turns on the runway, cars jumping on top of said plane, and Rose getting temporary amnesia. Why? Because if they're going to just let her be placed under captivity based on unproven statements from a notoriously untrustworthy villain, they might as well just go the full mile of stupid, right? (Here's a hint: Ice cream snaps her out of it. Instantly, even.) I mean, they're living in a huge city where the inhabitants don't find it the least bit suspicious when it gets partially wrecked every week or so. I wonder if the rent is cheap? Maybe they offer some sweet deals on health care? There's got to be SOMETHING to balance out random appearances by out-of-control golems, tower-sized black dragons, or several city blocks spontaneously bursting into huge walls of flame. (Or even the possible curfew that just has to be in place to have saved the general populace from being immolated by Rose's stray inferno.)
Stig: I've bitched about this kind of thing in my reviews of Akikan and Angel Beats!; shows like these need to stop including elements that have nothing to do with anything simply because they can. And Dragon Crisis! really wants to come across as a deep, inter-species romance drama with some action elements to spice things up. And while the cute preteen romance works to some degree, this show can't present secret organizations or mysterious plot twists to save its life. If you plan to watch this, I really, REALLY hope you like hearing Rie Kugimiya voice cute preteen girls, because that's about the only thing of actual value that I can think of within this show.
Tim: Ditto. I'm glad this series bombed in Japan, because it definitely deserved to.
Episodes four to seven are actually alright, but the entire rest of the show and its penchant for mix-n-match story elements taken completely at random just drags this show kicking and screaming into the abyss with the rest of the one star shows. If you absolutely HAVE to go by averages, just go on and add that second star. — Stig Høgset and Tim Jones
Recommended Audience: Light fanservice does not an inappropriate show make, though some of the actions and the portrayal of the shadier sides of this world does raise the bar some. But honestly, apart from the mass amounts of stupid in this show, there's nothing otherwise bad to say about it.
Version(s) Viewed: crunchyroll stream, Japanese with English subtitles
Dragon Crisis! © 2011 Kaya Kizaki / Itsuki Akata / Shuiesha / Dragon Crisis! Production Committee


Discussion in 'Trainee and student teachers' started by Bettalinz, Feb 14, 2010.
Well they've now put a Stop on my application on Track, and the uni have said that it's to give them more time to process the application as they've a bit of a back log (although letter said it's because they're waiting for my second reference which apparently is the only way they can hold the application because they don't ask for second ref til after interview). They're apparently also waiting for more interview dates.
And now it's half term! ARGH!
I did read about someone who'd got an interview at one uni, but not til May and I'm really concerned that something similar will happen with BG Lincoln as that's very late and doesn't give much time for finding another option afterwards if it doesn't go well. I'll have missed Extra!
how are you getting on with the flexi pgce course? I unfortunately did not get onto gtp and then by the time I found out the full time pgce course was full. I have just applied for the flexi pgce as there are still spaces and feel that it would actually be better for me as I am currently working at a specialist school for children with autism and would very much like to continue there on a part time basis. I was just wondering when you applied and when you had your interview? Also, I wondered if you could tell me what sort of questions you were asked in your interview. If I am lucky enough to get an interview at this late stage that is the part that I am most nervous about.
I studied at bg for my undergrad. Loved it there, I hope you get on!
I'm loving the course. It's hard work, as we're still expected to do the same amount of work as full timers, and all of the teaching is done in the first 3 terms, you just have longer to do your placements (including assessed ones) as you can take up to 9 terms to complete that aspect, although 4 or 5 is the usual. A lot of self directed study hours are also required but if you're organised and fairly disciplined (traits you'll need to survive as a teacher anyway ) then you'll be fine.
I didn't find out about the Flexi course til quite late, so I applied around about this time last year. Then my interview was on 22nd March, got an offer on 25th March, then started on 30th April, with first placement starting first week in June.
The interviews were fine... very relaxed and casual, but a lot of waiting around. There was a presentation and Q&A about the course, then we were put into a room to do various tests whilst we were then picked out in small groups of 4/5 to do presentations and then later individually for interviews. Literacy test was a short written piece about good teaching practice we had observed (handwriting and spelling/punctuation/grammar all assessed), numeracy was a couple of pages of fairly basic stuff. For the actual interview, they only asked a couple of questions, what were my strengths and why, and what were my weaknesses and why. They're very big on self-development, so acknowledging your weaknesses and how you intend to address them always goes down well... especially since the course requires a lot of self-direction.
Basically though I spent almost the whole day in the same room with the other candidates, doing our tests around being pulled out for presentations and interviews, and lunch was a bit rubbish so take snacks lol.
Although the course is fairly flexible to allow for work/parenting commitments, you are in Uni every Friday for the taught part of the course, and then have two days per week in a placement school for the first term and a half.. So June til Christmas. This is ongoing placement to allow you to develop skills before assessed placement starts. If you're on 4 term model, first assessed placement is Spring term (usually a week or two before half term and the rest after - 5 weeks in total Mon-Thurs with Fri in uni), then final assessed placement is Summer term, again around half term and 6 weeks this time Mon-Fri. So those blocks of time can interfere with work commitments.
The Flexi PGCE is considered a full time course due to the level of study involved as well as the teaching hours as there is a fairly high proportion of self-study involved on the course. SFE have a separate code for the course. There are potential changes that may mean that Post-Grad ITT will no longer receive any funding, but that won't affect anyone this year, and may take a couple of years to implement if it does go through.


Dan, one of the founding partners of Element, is responsible for the growth, stability and direction of our services. Dan's technical background stands out as you notice his ability to draw you in and shift a conversation between technical jargon to casual talk without skipping a beat. He's a natural at building strong business relationships and responding to our clients' needs as they arise. He ensures Element's projects are carried out efficiently and on time. Quickly after meeting Dan, you'll realize he's someone you want on your team. Clients trust that he'll get the job done right every time. He's responsive and great at bringing out the best in his team. He's an industry professional with over twenty-five years of experience in environmental health, specializing in Indoor Air Quality and Hazardous Materials Consulting. He has successfully managed complex multidisciplined projects to include developing asbestos abatement strategies, managing hazardous materials, remediation projects and implementing sound control measures designed to protect the public's health. Outside of work, Dan is a hard man to track down as he loyally cheers for his daughter at West Chester University Lacrosse games. When he's in town, you might find Dan perfecting his swing out on the green or reliving his power lifting days at the gym.


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Board index Growing Marijuana Growing Guides
Ultimate Plant Sexing Guide
Helpful guides for beginner and advanced marijuana cultivators.
Weedguru Higher
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Post by Weedguru Higher » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:45 pm
By Rellikbuzz from Breedbay
When compared to most plants on Earth, Cannabis plants are quite unusual but not unique in respect to the fact that there are seperate male and female plants within the species. They are Dioecious plants. Meaning that the male and female sexes are expressed in seperate plants. The largest percentage of fruit or flower bearing plants contain both sexes in the same plant. Therefore, they self-pollenate with the assistance of insects carrying the pollen to the female pistillate (ie, tomatoes, peppers, flowers, etc.). There are anomolies within the genus of Cannabis plants, called Hermaphrodites, that also contain both the male and the female organ but we'll address this more indepth in a moment.
Outdoors in nature, female Cannabis plants are pollenated by male pollen carried by the wind. Most all other plants are pollenated by insects that are drawn to plants by brightly colored flowers. Not the case with Cannabis. Upon release of the pollen by the male plants, the wind can spread the pollen for miles. One male can produce enough pollen to pollenate thousands of female plants within several hundred feet of the male's proximity.
Why is it important to know the sex of my plants?
Good question! Male plants, while crucial in the natural reproductive process, are only useful in breeding Cannabis plants (by harvesting pollen from choice, select male plants) and for it's fiber. On the other hand, female plants produce the euphoria enducing THC resins (Delta 9 Tetrahydracanabinol) sought after by Cannabis enthusiasts and for medical patients seeking it's pain-killing and healing properties.
Unpollenated females will produce prolific amounts of flowers that form into elongated spears known as "colas" that contain copious amounts of the aforementioned THC cannabinoids. These unpollnated females are known as Sensimilla (pronouned "Sin-Se-Mee-Ya", a spanish term meaning "seedless" or without seed) and are the most potent, desired and valued form of Cannabis. If allowed to remain unpollenated for their entire life cycle, these plants are able to focus their growth hormones and energies toward the production of female Pistillate (the female organ) and toward the production of trichome glands (which contain the THC layden resins). Once pollenated, the female plant focuses it's energies on producing seed. Therefore, the yield of consummable cannabis is signficantly decreased in a pollenated female and the potency is lessened by comparison. By culling the males from your garden prior to pollenation, the resulting females will blossom into the highly coveted Sensimilla.
To fully understand the process of sexing your plants, we must first look into how cannabis sexually matures and procreates.
The Reproductive Process
Just like all annual fruit bearing plants, Cannabis plants are genetically programmed to reproduce to carry on it's own genetic lineage through it's off-spring, the seed. This dire need to reproduce can be seen in some strains of female plants that late in flower will, even in the absence of male pollen, produce it's own male preflowers in a desperate attempt at self-pollenation to continue it's lineage. These plants are not deemed Hermaphoditic (possesing both male and female sexuality) but do show that a plant will go to all measures to reach it's goal of being pollenated and developing seed. Even by developing it's own pollen sacs.
There are three major phases of growth for all fruit bearing Dioecious plants (having seperate male and female plants). They are:
* Seedling Phase
* Vegetative Phase
* Flower or Bloom Phase
It is inbetween the latter part of the Vegetative Phase and/or the early part of Flower/Bloom phase that Cannabis plants mature sexually. This most often occurs after the onset of Alternating Phyllotaxy. In early stages of vegetative growth, new leaf sets at every node will be parallel to each other. Meaning that the leaf stems (petioles) attach at the same point on the main stem (meristem) when compared to the nodes just above and below. When the plant begins to sexually mature, these leaf sets at one node will be perpendicular (90 degree angle) to the one's just above and below that node. When you begin to see this alternation of leafsets (Alternating Phyllotaxy) from one node to the next, you're plants will be showing preflowers very soon!
Most books and general grow literature you will read will state that you cannot tell the sex of a plant until you are one to two weeks into the Flower/Bloom phase. This is simply NOT true! While not categorically the case, most seed plants will show their Preflowers in the late Vegetative Phase at about 4 to 6 weeks from seed. Even prior to implementing a flowering light schedule. Having said that, this is certainly a strain specific topic. As an example, while an Indica or Indica/Sativa hybrid might show preflowers prior to actual flowering, it may take a long-term Sativa like a Thai or a Haze three to four weeks into a 12/12 light schedule before preflowers are at all detectable. Although rare, you will find the stubborn strain that simply will not show preflowers until the 12/12 flower lighting regime is implemented.
What are Preflowers?
Upon reaching sexual maturity, Cannabis plants will display their "Preflowers" which, essentially, are the first showing of their respective sexual organs. In the earliest stages, these preflowers are almost indetectable to the naked eye and therefore it won't be easy to tell the difference between a male and a female early on.
How do I find these Preflowers?
Initially, the top two or three nodes near the top of the plant, BELOW the highest node (the point where the leaf stems attach to the main stem/meristem), is where preflowers typically appear first. You will need the aid of a magnifying glass or jeweler's loop to actually see them. A 30x magnifier like this one from Radio Shack will do just fine to bring them into sight. They sell for only $8.95.
Focus your attention in the "crotch" of the leaf stem (petiole) and the stalk (meristem). When the plant develops it's preflowers, this is where you will find them. The next diagram gives a good breakdown of this area of the plant.
The Staminate Primordia indicates the male preflower and the Calyx represents the Pistillate Primordia of the female plant. However, note that both the male and female preflowers appear in the same location at the "crotch" area located on the top side of where the Petiole meets the Meristem. Also note that the spear-shaped leaves called the Stipules are NOT the preflowers. This is a common misconception that some have about sexing plants. Some people mistakingly believe that if the Stipules "cross" or point towards each other that this indicates a female and if they point away from each other that would be a male. This is a fallacy. Only the actual preflowers will indicate the sexuality of your plants. The following chart shows the male and female preflowers in a side by side comparison from earliest form to fully maturity.
Note that upon maturity, after the release of pollen, the male staminate literally resembles a flower.
It is important when growing Cannabis to evaluate what your goals are in growing. Are you growing for euphoric or medicinal needs or are you planning on breeding Cannabis? Only in the latter instance will male plants have any usefulness in your garden. Further, it is important to realize that when growing Sinsemilla (seedless female plants) that we are interrupting the reproductive process of the plants for our benefit. We are denying the females the procreating pollen that they desperately seek in order to reproduce. The genetic goal of these plants is to reproduce and further their species but we must prevent this in order to assure ourselves of having those female bud clusters we all desire.
The Male Plant
In general, male plants will be the first to show their preflowers in advance of their female couterparts. This should be a sign to to the grower to watch these plants closely as you will want to cull these plants from your grow if, indeed, they do end up being males. Another notable trait amongst male plants is their tendency to "stretch" and have a general overall taller stature when compared to female plants at the same stage of growth. They will most always be amongst the tallest plants in the garden at any given stage of growth. So, this should also serve as another warning flag to pay particular attention to these plants as they may, indeed, be male.
It is prudent to mention here that what at first might appear to be a male, can and does often end up being female. So, the bottom line is, don't rush to judgement. You have some time before the males will release their pollen and it can pay to be certain before jerking a plant out.
Additionally, male plants will tend to grow "spindly" and sparce in comparison to their female counterparts. The internodal spacing (distance between set of leaves on the main stem) will generally be much wider while the female will have lush growth with much tighter internodal spacings. Here's a full plant shot of a typical male plant. Note the spindly growth and the wide internodal spacings.
At the first signs of preflowers, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a male and a female plant. Initally, it will just appear like an indiscernable lump or growth in the "crotch" between the petiole and the meristem.
At this point, the preflower hasn't developed enough to identify the sex of this plant. Here's another that also shows an undetectable preflower.
Photo Courtesy of Small Potatoes
Within a few days to a week or so after the first emergence of preflowers, you will see the Primordia of both the male and the female plants start to change and become more individualistic. As such, this is the time you will be able to recognize the differences between the male and female plants.
In an attempt to describe the sexual organs of plants more vividly, you will hear terms like "Balls" and "Hairs" meant to describe the preflowers of the male and female plant, respectively. In the case of male Primordia, this is fairly descriptive. At the point where male preflowers take on their eventual appearance, they do look like little balls. However, in some cases, they look like a ball on a stick. Here's a shot of a male that really illustrates the "ball on a stick" appearance of the male preflower. However, not all strains will exhibit this trait clearly.
You can see how the ball is "raised" up out of the "crotch" a bit. By comparison, the female calyx will sit down in the "crotch". This can be a fairly discernable difference between the male and female preflowers. So, growers should look for this characterisitic early on.
Photos Courtesy of Small Potatoes
Another descriptive term for the male preflower would be like the shape of a Crab's Claw. As the male preflower begins to open a bit, it will look much like a Crab's Claw. This is another characteristic of the male plant to look for to discover these early on before they can fully open and pollenate your garden.
From this point on, male and female preflowers will begin to look distinctly different. Further, the males will become more apparent as the "balls" will begin to multiply with many balls developing at each node. The balls form in "grape-like" bunches. The next pictures will give you an idea of how this looks.
The clusters of balls on the male plant also closely resemble the budding growth of the Hops plant (used in the production of beer).
The Female Plant
As their sexuality suggests, Female Plants are the "Goddesses of the Garden"! Even during the Vegetative Phase, just their mere shape and lush nature suggest they would be more shapely and elegant when compare to their male couterparts. Tight internodal spacings, symnetry of plant structure and generally shorter stature (when compared to males at the same point of growth) are characteristics of the female plant.
As noted earlier, most often male plants will display their preflowers prior to that of the female. This is an important point to keep in mind as those stubborn plants that are driving you crazy because they won't show just might be female. So, be patient with these plants! You may be rewarded with a dank, lovely female as a result. With most strains you run across, the females will still sprout preflowers during the vegetative phase if left to vegetatively grow long enough. Typically, five or six weeks from seed. Within a week or two after males begin to show, you will see the ladies chiming in with their sexuality as well.
We've already discussed how difficult it is to recognize the difference between male and female preflowers early on after their first emergence. However, shortly after, the differences are easily recognizable. With the female preflower, you will often hear folks describe it as a "Tulip-shaped pod with two hairs coming out the top it", which wouldn't be an inaccurate description. The female preflower, in fact, does look much like the bulb of a Tulip with two white hair-like follicles protruding from the top.
This next pic shows a single female preflower (Calyx) with two hairs (Pistils) poking out of the top. The pencil tip gives you an idea of how small the female Calyx really is.
Here's some more pics of the Female Preflower:
Notice in the last pic how the Calyx (the green tulip-shaped pod with the two white hairs) sits right down in the "crotch" between the leaf stem (Petiole) and the main stem (Meristem)? This is a notable difference compared to the male staminate which has the "ball on a stick" structure which raises the ball up out of the "crotch" a bit.
Once you learned to recognize the distinctly different shapes of the male and female primordia, sexing your plants will become second nature. You'll learn to instinctly tell which plants are most likely male or female just by their growth patterns and overall structure. Even before they show preflowers!
The hairs that protrude from the Calyx (otherwise known as Pistils) will grow and mulitply prolifically once placed into flower to become the frosty, resinous buds that we all know and love. Once exposed to a 12 hours on/12 hours off light schedule, the flowering hormones kick in thus causing budsites appear all over the plant.
The Hermaphrodite Plant
What is an Hermaphroditic plant?
An Hermaphrodite, or hermie, is a Marijuana plant of one sex that develops the sexual organs of the other sex. Most commonly, a flowering female Marijuana plant will develop staminate flowers, though the reverse is also true (more on this in a moment). Primarily male hermaphrodites are not as well recognized only because few growers let their males reach a point of flowering where the pistillate would be expressed.
Hermaphrodites are generally viewed with disfavor. First, they will release pollen and ruin a sinsemilla crop, pollinating themselves and all of the other females in the room. Second, the resulting seeds are worthless, because hermaphrodite parents tend to pass on the tendency to their offspring. Occassionally specious staminate flowers (aka Bananas or "Nanners") will appear in the last days of flowering of a female Marijuana plant. These typically do not drop pollen or, if they do, the pollen is often not viable and/or it's so late in flower that seeds don't have time to develop. Late appearing Staminate flowers is not considered evidence of deleterious hermaphroditism.
It is widely accepted that cannabis plants become Hermaphroditic for one of two reasons:
1. The strain is genetically pre-disposed to Hermaphroditism. OR
2. Hermaphroditism was triggered by environmental stress such as: irregular light schedule, light leaks in flower chamber during dark period, nutrient shock or toxicity, wildly vasilating pH, etc.
Ed Rosenthal on Hermaphrodite Plants: (From Cannabis Culture article)
Plants turn hermaphroditic in two ways. Some plants are programmed genetically as hermaphrodites. These plants will produce male flowers on female plants no matter what environmental situations they face. Other plants are induced to grow male flowers under stress conditions. Some plants may be more genetically predisposed to hermaphroditism under stress, but all plants may exhibit male flowers as a sign of stress created by growing conditions. This hermaphroditism is not genetic and does not affect the plant's progeny. Sometimes plants that aren't hermaphroditic outdoors will grow male flowers when grown indoors as a stress response. Stresses can include lighting regimen irregularities, low light conditions or response to hormones.
If a genetic hermaphrodite is crossed to a non-hermaphroditic female, about half of the resulting plants will be hermaphroditic. If the hermaphroditism was caused by environmental factors, then none, some or all of the progeny will exhibit male flowers depending on whether the plants have inherited a tendency towards hermaphroditism under stress conditions and whether the plants face those conditions.
If you have only a few plants and are willing to spend the time making daily inspections for male flowers, you can produce a sinsemilla crop. It's important to remove the male flowers before they open and release pollen.
Here are some shots of Hermaphrodite Plants:
As mentioned earlier, when "hermies" occur it is by far more common to see a female plant produce male Staminate flowers. However, though it is rare, the opposite does occur. It is possible for a male plant to produce female Pistillate. This anamoly is far more intriguing and compelling as it actually may have profound value in the breeding arena.
Highly respected and noted breeder DJ Short on Backwards Hermaphrodites:
A quick word on "backward" hermaphrodites – declared males that eventually sport female flowers – as opposed to the usual female-to-male hermaphrodites. These are semi-rare occurrences, usually sterile but sometimes viable, that I have found at times to be valuable in their genetic contributions. Some of the most resinous and desirable males I have encountered exhibited this trait. This trait almost seems to guarantee against unwanted hermaphroditism in subsequent generations as it also increases the female to male ratio in its progeny.
So, it appears that these "freak" plants may, in fact, be potential "jewels" in the breeding process. Reports of highly potent hybrids being created with these "hermie" male plants that sport unusually resinous offspring are being heard of more and more. The breeding potential of these Backwards Hermaphrodites may just be beginning to be understood and certainly merits further exploration.
It is important to be aware of Hermaphrodism so that you will be able to recognize the early warning signals. Removal of these plants is essential to keeping your garden seedless and without genetic imperfection. Unless you come across the exceptionally rare Backwards Hermie, Hermaphroditic plants have no value in your garden.
The topic of sexing your plants need not be so mysterious or intimidating. It's simply a matter of knowing what to look, where to look for it and when. It is our hope that Breedbay's "Ultimate Plant Sexing Guide" has helped you remove much of this mystery and now can serve as a resource you can return to often to answer any questions you may have.
Thanks to all who have allowed us the use of their wonderful photos to help make this tutorial. All content for this guide was obtained through internet searches and compiled here. No copy and paste of any info was done unless credited to the original author. Any photo used that are uncredited have remained so as photo credits were unavailable for these photos.
http://www.breedbay.co.uk/forums/breedb ... guide.html
(weedguru)scarf
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Re: Ultimate Plant Sexing Guide
Post by (weedguru)scarf » Sun Sep 26, 2010 12:55 pm
im waiting on my magnifying glass...
hopefully there will be good news when i inspect them
baklazanek
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Post by baklazanek » Wed Jun 12, 2013 3:40 pm
Weedguru Higher wrote: Ultimate Plant Sexing Guide
as a freshman,thanks for best guide ever
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North Korea's Secret Productivity Trick? Meth
"Ice" is somewhere between MDMA and meth, and apparently great for "completing projects."
Flickr / Jen Morgan
Joe Carmichael
In North Korea, where pressure to complete ambitious construction projects is high, there's reportedly an unsettling logic to productivity. First, set expectations so high that they're impossible to meet. Then, allow workers to exhaust themselves in their attempts to meet said impossible expectations. Finally, give workers methamphetamines or other shady stimulants to make them ignore said exhaustion.
In Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, there are over 60 buildings and high-rises under construction, and "hundreds of thousands" of workers toiling to complete them before winter. Failure, it seems, is not an option, so project managers are apparently supplying their workers with stimulants. These rumors gained credence with the discovery of graffiti in an unfinished building: One such scrawl read "Pyongyang speed is drug speed." Fast is not fast enough.
Amphetamines and other stimulants are known to be good for productivity, but consumption is, of course, dangerous. Tired workers are not attentive workers, and bone-weary workers in incomplete, exposed high rises on stimulants is not exactly par for the worker safety course. According to reports, construction officials reported the graffiti themselves, which, given the predictable backlash, seems audacious. North Korea, though, with its regime, seems more worried about graffiti than it does about crank-fueled workers. "Investigators are warning construction workers that they will be severely punished for further incidents of this kind," an undisclosed source told Radio Free Asia.
In Pyongyang, there are evidently not enough hideous tall things. Wikimedia Commons
The drug in question is reportedly "ice," which any Breaking Bad aficionado might think means crystal meth. It's probably not that, though: "Ice" is an epithet for 4-methylaminorex, a stimulant with similar but not identical effects to that of methamphetamine. Crystal meth is normally called "glass" due to the crystals' clarity. "Ice" is likewise crystalline, but its crystals are translucent, not transparent. Ice — also known as "Euphoria" and "Intellex" — never gained much traction in the United States, and so it's not common. It's considered a Schedule I drug like marijuana, meaning it is unsafe, has high abuse potential, and has no medical uses. But its appearance in North Korea is not implausible.
The high from 4-methylaminorex lasts around 12 hours; it produces euphoria, increases attention, and boosts cognition. Users have reported that it's somewhere between MDMA and run-of-the-mill meth. An Erowid entry states that it is "used for completing projects," which may have been enough justification for these unethical project managers. It's not a stretch to imagine that any worker who refused to ingest the drug was simply let go, and speaking out in such an oppressive state would not be very prudent. In North Korea, the evident priority is project completion, not human well-being. It's dystopia or bust.


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