Exotic Wings & Pet Things - Great little site based out of St. Clements Ontario. Looks like they have a lot of good stock. Definately worth a look if you live in Ontario and are looking for a bird!
National Finch & Softbill Society - Pretty self-explanatory of what the page is in the title. Great page with tons of information.
The Avicultural Advancement Council of Canada - A national Canadian organization consisting of avicultural societies, individual aviculturists and pet bird owners.
North American Cockatiel Society - Tons of information about cockatiels.
Parrots Ontario - Great site for Ontario Parrot Owners. Good forums and an excellent Classified section, as well as a plethora of links to other good bird sites as well as other bird clubs in Ontario and abroad, including ours! This is a must see for any Ontario parrot owner!
North American Parrot Society - Self-explanatory.
Parrot Club of Southwestern Ontario - In development, but looks promising.
Parrot Association of Canada - Breeding parrots for the preservation of the species.
Bird Hobbyist - This is a great site full of information, including great message boards.
My 'Toos - This is one of the best Cockatoo sitess out there. If you are thinking of getting a Cockatoo this site is a MUST SEE!
Bird Board - This is an excellent message board sitte.
Bird Recipes - A great little webpage with tonnes of recipes for healthy bird snacks and treats, your bird(s) will be glad you visited this page!
H.A.R.I. - (Hagen Avicultural Research Institute) Website dealing with the study of captive breeding of companion birds. Research fields include disease control, pair bonding, nutrition and the influence of temperature, humidity and light cycles on breeding.
Hagen - Supplier of bird products as well as many other pet products (fish, cats, dogs, reptiles and other small animals).
Zupreem - Supplier of bird food as well as many other exotics (ferrets, and zoo animals).
Hamilton & District Budgerigar Society Inc. - Budgie society in Hamilton. Lots of information!
Sylvester Aviaries - Club members site. Sells love birds, cockatiels, budgies and parrotlets.


text:
Amrop Expands in Istanbul
January 12, 2023 – Amrop, a global leadership advisory and executive search partnership, has assembled a new team in Istanbul, marking its reentry to the Turkish market. With headquarters in Istanbul, Amrop Turkiye offers executive search and leadership advisory services across C-suite, board, and senior management functions. The firm will focus on a broad range of sectors including industrial, consumer, retail, life sciences, healthcare, digital, and technology.
İrem Göğüş, who leads the organization, has specialized in working with major global brands in the consumer goods sector, built from her previous experience in European and MEA marketing and brand management roles at Reckitt Benckiser. Ms. Göğüş was previously with Boyden, where she spent almost eights years, most recently as a managing partner.
"Amrop's vision and values are an exact match to what we, as a team, dreamed to build in Turkey," she said. "Amrop's strong brand reputation, its global management structure, and its agile, dynamic international team motivated us with regard to this collaboration. I firmly believe that our team's experience of 25 years, our strong orientation towards business development, and our reputation as a trusted, quality-focused business partner will elevate Amrop's brand value even further in Turkey. With Amrop, we will begin to support our clients in new areas and will transition into a structure that provides end-to-end succession, recruitment, and leadership advisory services at C-suite and board levels."
"In today's business ecosystem, where there is constant change and transformation in the global arena and where individuals and companies can succeed as far as they are able to adapt to the above, the Amrop Turkiye team is excited to help our clients prepare for that future," said Annika Farin, chair of the global Amrop Partnership. "The Turkish economy has a strong potential to grow, gaining competitive ground in various sectors and building a vibrant economic climate trusted by international investors. Currently the 18th largest economy in the world, it aims to improve its ranking year by year. We see many opportunities and it is therefore the right moment for Amrop to re-enter the market. Now that we are on the ground again, growing and globalizing, businesses in Turkey and Azerbaijan can tap into Amrop's strong capabilities in senior talent acquisition and assessment. Having met Irem and her team, we saw in them the entrepreneurial drive and ambition, and commitment to our shared values – which made our decision very easy. We are delighted to welcome them to our global partnership."
Related: Amrop Elects New Board Members
Founded in 1977, Amrop advises organizations in executive search, board, and leadership services. The organization has 65 offices in 53 countries.
New Vienna Office
Amrop recently added Gabriele Gradnitzer and Sandra Schrögenauer to represent the Amrop brand and business in Austria. The executive search and leadership veterans will operate the new company under the global Amrop brand, with offices located at Karlsplatz in Vienna's first district. They are joined by a team of six consultants and researchers offering executive search and leadership advisory services with a focus on top management functions. The firm's clients include multinational corporations as well as medium-sized, owner-managed companies and private foundations.
Ms. Gradnitzer and Ms. Schrögenauer take over Amrop's Austrian business from Günther Tengel, who will take on the role of international senior advisor to the firm and will accompany the business transition with selected longstanding clients.
"We are excited about this positive evolution of the Amrop brand in Austria, building on previous decades of market-leading success," said Annika Farin, chair of the Amrop Partnership. "The new team brings a proven track record and an energized outlook to the group, as we continue to build 'what's next' across Amrop's global business. We are very pleased to be able to realize our philosophy in the best possible way with this new partnership: customized consulting at the highest level, with a personal touch, based on many years of experience and industry know-how so that our clients and candidates can continue to take center stage."
Related: Amrop Names Global Practice Leaders
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
Kingsley Gate Partners Acquires The Omerta Group
Russell Reynolds Associates Called in by Penn State to Find Provost
Bespoke Partners Opens Office in San Francisco
Jensen Partners Opens New Office in Miami
Solomon Page Expands Accounting and Finance Division

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Photo: BAYADA's Marketing and Government Affairs Offices show their support for MS Awareness by wearing orange. From left to right: Nicole Onofrio, Lee Dobson, Pete Cellini, Mike Fassino, Anita Weinberg, Louise Lindenmeier, Emma Straub, Tracy Sideris, Dave Totaro, Stephanie Finnel, Laura Ness, Adam Krushinskie Elizabeth Oberer, Angelo Terrana, and Katie Durkin.
BAYADA Home Health Care is partnering with the National MS Society's Greater Delaware Valley, New Jersey Metro, and Keystone (Western PA) Chapters. As a proud partner, BAYADA supports the MS Society's mission to raise awareness about MS and to help improve the quality of life for people living with MS by providing quality home health care with comfort, independence, and dignity.


More than a fashion option, what you're wearing could be a matter of life or death.
That's because apparel designers also create high-performance uniforms for doctors, firefighters, the military and athletes. Working with high-tech materials like Kevlar, for bulletproof vests, they also design spacesuits for astronauts and parachutes for pilots.


text:
Q: Delete all elements between two elements I have about 2500 html-files of different standards. I need to remove the footer part of them. The HTML-code below is one of my files footer, and I need to remove the two hr-elements and the elements between the two.
So far I have only tried targeting the hr-element with xpath (and HTML Agility Pack) selectSingleNode and DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//hr");. And then try to iterate with a foreach.
But I am too much of a noob to use XPath properly, and don't know how to select the node and its siblings(?) to delete them.
This is what I've got so far, with the help of this community. :)
private static void RemoveHR(IEnumerable<string> files)
{
    var document = new HtmlDocument();
    List<string> hr = new List<string>();
    List<string> errors = new List<string>();
    int i = 0;
    foreach (var file in files)
    {
        try
        {
            document.Load(@file);
            i++;
            var hrs = document.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//hr");
            foreach (var hr in hrs) hr.Remove();
            document.Save(@file);

        }
        catch (Exception Ex)
        {
            errors.Add(file + "|" + Ex.Message);
        }
    }
    using (StreamWriter logger = File.CreateText(@"D:\websites\dev.openjournal.tld\public\arkivet\ErrorLogs\hr_error_log.txt"))
    {
        foreach (var file in errors)
        {
            logger.WriteLine(file);
        }
    }
    int nrOfHr = hr.Count();
    int nrOfErrors = errors.Count();
    Console.WriteLine("Number of hr elements collected: {0}", nrOfHr);
    Console.WriteLine("Number of files missing hr element: {0}", nrOfErrors);
}

HTML-source:

 //start element

How to cite this paper:

Ekmekçioglu, F. Çuna, Lynch, Michael F. & Willett, Peter   (1996)  "Stemming and N-gram matching for term conflation in Turkish texts" Information Research, 1(1) Available at: http://informationr.net/ir/2-2/paper13.html

© the authors, 1996.

Check for citations, using Google Scholar

Contents

Web Counter
Counting only since 13 December 2002

Home

 //end element

EDIT
I experimented a bit with preceding-sibling and following-sibling to target nodes. Unfortunately it does not include the targeted nodes in the list.
var footerTags = document.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//*[preceding-sibling::p[contains(text(),'How to cite this')] and following-sibling::hr[@color = '#ff00ff']]");

It finds the paragraph with the text "How to cite this", then selects all node between it and down to the hr with color "ff00ff". But does not include the actual selected nodes in list to remove, and they need to be removed along with the selected nodes.

A: I think, you expect this ,
Code
string content = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(@"D:\New Text Document.txt");
string html = Regex.Replace(content, "
", "", RegexOptions.Singleline);

Result
//start element

How to cite this paper:

Ekmekçioglu, F. Çuna, Lynch, Michael F. & Willett, Peter   (1996)  "Stemming and N-gram matching for term conflation in Turkish texts" Information Research, 1(1) Available at: http://informationr.net/ir/2-2/paper13.html

© the authors, 1996.

Check for citations, using Google Scholar

Contents

Web Counter
Counting only since 13 December 2002

Home

 //end element

A: Assuming the start and end nodes are truly the same (same tag name, attributes, and attribute values) as you mentioned in the comments above, it's not too hard:

*

*Select the start node.

*Iterate over and remove each sibling up to and including the end node.

*Remove the start node.

Sample HTML:
var html =
@"<!doctype html system 'html.dtd'>

DO NOT DELETE

 //start element

How to cite this paper:

Ekmekçioglu, F. Çuna, Lynch, Michael F. & Willett, Peter   (1996)  "Stemming and N-gram matching for term conflation in Turkish texts" Information Research, 1(1) Available at: http://informationr.net/ir/2-2/paper13.html

© the authors, 1996.

Check for citations, using Google Scholar

Contents

Web Counter
Counting only since 13 December 2002

Home

 //end element

DO NOT DELETE

";

Parse it:
var document = new HtmlDocument();
document.LoadHtml(html);
var startNode = document.DocumentNode.SelectSingleNode("//hr[@size='3'][@color='#ff00ff']");
// account for mismatched quotes in HTML source
var quotesRegex = new Regex("[\"']");
var startNodeNoQuotes = quotesRegex.Replace(startNode.OuterHtml, "");
HtmlNode siblingNode;

while ( (siblingNode = startNode.NextSibling) != null)
{
    siblingNode.Remove();
    if (quotesRegex.Replace(siblingNode.OuterHtml, "") == startNodeNoQuotes)
    {
        break;  // end node
    }
}

startNode.Remove();

Resulting output:
<!doctype html system 'html.dtd'>

DO NOT DELETE

 //end element

DO NOT DELETE

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
package org.asynchttpclient.providers.grizzly;

import org.asynchttpclient.AsyncHttpClient;
import org.asynchttpclient.AsyncHttpClientConfig;
import org.asynchttpclient.async.ProxyTunnellingTest;

public class GrizzlyProxyTunnelingTest extends ProxyTunnellingTest {

    @Override
    public AsyncHttpClient getAsyncHttpClient(AsyncHttpClientConfig config) {
        return GrizzlyProviderUtil.grizzlyProvider(config);
    }

    @Override
    public String getProviderClass() {
        return GrizzlyAsyncHttpProvider.class.getName();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
\section{Introduction}

Online social networks are powerful platforms for personal communication, community building, and free expression. Unfortunately, they can also be powerful platforms for harassment, disinformation, and perpetration of criminal and terrorist activities. Organizations hosting social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and others, have deployed a range of techniques to counteract these threats and maintain a safe and respectful environment for their users.%

One such approach is content moderation: removal (hard moderation) or demoting (soft moderation) of policy-violating posts~\cite{duarte2018mixed, gallo2021congress-report}.
Despite recent progress in machine learning, online content moderation still heavily relies on human reviews~\cite{ruckenstein2019re}.
Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that language nuances could get lost when relying on automated detection approaches, emphasizing the necessities for human judgments.~\footnote{\url{https://www.businessinsider.com/zuckerberg-nuances-content-moderation-ai-misinformation-hearing-2021-3}} Ongoing changes in what is considered inappropriate content complicates the use of machine learning~\cite{cambridge-report}. Policy experts have argued that complete automation of content moderation is socially undesirable regardless of algorithmic accuracy~\cite{gorwa2020algorithmic}.

It is thus widely believed that both human moderation and automated classification will be required for online content moderation for the foreseeable future~\cite{duarte2018mixed, gorwa2020algorithmic, gillespie2018custodians}. This has meant not just capital investments in machine learning tools for moderation, but also massive ongoing personnel expenses for teams of human reviewers~\cite{fact.mr2020market}.

Surprisingly, the challenge of reducing costs when both machine learning and manual review are necessary has been an active area of interest for almost two decades, but in a completely different area: civil litigation. Electronic discovery (eDiscovery) projects involve teams of attorneys, sometimes billing the equivalent of hundreds of euros per person-hour, seeking to find documents responsive to a legal matter \cite{surguy2018international}. As the volume of electronically produced documents grew, machine learning began to be integrated in eDiscovery workflows in the early 2000s, a history we review elsewhere~\cite{cost-structure-paper}.

The result in the legal world has been \textit{technology-assisted review} (TAR): human-in-the-loop active learning workflows that prioritize the most important documents for review~\cite{grossman2017TAR, baron2016perspectives}.
One-phase (continuous model refinement) and two-phase (with separate training and deployment phases) TAR workflows are both in use~\cite{cost-structure-paper, tredennick2015tar}. %

Because of the need to find most or all relevant documents, eDiscovery has been referred to as a \textit{high recall review} (HRR) problem~\cite{oard2010evaluation, totalrecall2015, totalrecall2016}. HRR problems also arise in systematic reviews in medicine, sunshine law requests, and other tasks \cite{baron2017dark,marshall2019toward,wallace2010semi}.  Online content moderation is an HRR problem as well, in that a very high proportion of inappropriate content should be identified and removed.

Our contributions in this paper are two-fold. First, we describe how to adapt TAR and its cost-based evaluation framework to the content moderation problem. Second, we test this approach using two publicly available content moderation datasets. Our experiments show substantial cost reductions using the proposed TAR framework over both manual review of unprioritized documents and training of prioritized models on random samples.

\section{Background}

Content moderation on online platforms is a necessity~\cite{bekkers2013social, veglis2014moderation} and has been argued by some to be the defining feature of an online platform~\cite{gillespie2018custodians}. Despite terms of service and community rules on each platform, users produce inappropriate content, particularly
when anonymous~\cite{langvardt2017regulating}. Inappropriate content includes toxic content such as hate speech~\cite{macavaney2019hate}, offensive content~\cite{toxccin-paper}, and mis / disinformation~\cite{cambridge-report, toxccin-paper}. It also includes content that is inappropriate for legal or commercial reasons, such as potential copyright violations~\cite{gorwa2020algorithmic, holland2014intermediary}.

The identification of toxic content can require subtle human insight~\cite{ cambridge-report, macavaney2019hate}, both due to attempts at obfuscation by posters, and because the inappropriateness of the content is often tied to its
cultural, regional, and temporal context~\cite{duarte2018mixed, ruckenstein2019re}. Mis- and disinformation often consists of subtle mixtures of truthful and misleading content that require human common sense inferences and other background knowledge~\cite{cambridge-report, toxccin-paper}.

Social media organizations have deployed numerous techniques for implementing community policies, including graph- and time-based analyses of communication patterns, user profile information, and others~\cite{halevy2020preserving}. Our focus here, however, is on methods that use the content of a post.

Content monitoring falls into three categories: manual moderation, text classification, and human-in-the-loop methods.
The latter two approaches leverage machine learning models and are sometimes collectively referred to as \textit{algorithmic content moderation} in policy research~\cite{gorwa2020algorithmic}.

Manual moderation is the oldest approach, dating back to email mailing lists. It is, however, extremely expensive at the scale of large social networks and suffers potential human biases. Additionally, mental health concerns are an issue for moderators exposed to large volumes of toxic content~\cite{halevy2020preserving, akhtar2020modeling, sap2019risk}.

The simplest text classification approaches are keyword filters, but these are susceptible to embarrassing mistakes\footnote{\url{https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200912/11133045288/paypal-blocks-purchases-tardigrade-merchandise-potentially-violating-us-sanctions-laws.shtml}} and countermeasures by content creators. More effective text classification approaches to content moderation are based on supervised machine learning~\cite{pavlopoulos2017deeper, van2018automatic}. Content types that have been addressed include cyberbullying~\cite{van2018automatic, reynolds2011using, schmidt2017survey, wulczyn2017ex}, hate speech \cite{macavaney2019hate, schmidt2017survey, davidson2017automated, djuric2015hate, fortuna2018survey, nobata2016abusive} or offensive language in general \cite{toxccin-paper, zampieri2019predicting, kumar2018aggression, pitsilis2018detecting, sotudeh2020guir, zampieri2019semeval, zampieri2020semeval}.

However, some moderation judgments are inevitably too subtle for purely automated methods\footnote{\url{https://venturebeat.com/2020/05/23/ai-proves-its-a-poor-substitute-for-human-content-checkers-during-lockdown/}}, particularly when content is generated with the intent of fooling automated systems \cite{duarte2018mixed, halevy2020preserving, binns2017like}. Content that is  recontextualized from the original problematic context, for example, through reposting, screenshotting, and embedding in new contexts  complicates moderation~\cite{gallo2021congress-report}.  Additionally, bias in automated systems can also arise both by  learning from biased labels and from numerous other choices in data preparation and algorithmic settings~\cite{sap2019risk,dixon2018measuring,mehrabi2019survey}.
Biased models risk further marginalizing and disproportionately censoring groups that already face discrimination~\cite{duarte2018mixed}.
Differences in cultural and regulatory contexts further complicate the  definition of appropriateness, creating another dimension of complexity when deploying automated content moderation~\cite{cambridge-report}.

Human-in-the-loop approaches, where AI systems actively manage which materials are brought to the attention of human moderators, attempt to address the weaknesses of both approaches while gathering training data to support supervised learning components \cite{halevy2020preserving, link2016human}.
Filtering mechanisms that proactively present only approved content (pre-moderation) and/or removal mechanisms that passively take down inappropriate ones are used by platforms depending on the intensity~\cite{cambridge-report}. Reviewing protocols could shift from one to the other based on the frequency of violations or during a specific event, such as elections\footnote{\url{https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/07/facebook-groups-election/}}. Regardless of the workflows, the core and arguably the most critical components is reviews. However, the primary research focus of human-in-the-loop content moderation has been on classification algorithm design and bias mitigation, rarely on the investigation of the overall workflow.

Like content moderation, eDiscovery is a high recall retrieval task applied to large bodies of primarily textual content (typically enterprise documents, email, and chat)~\cite{baron2016perspectives, tredennick2015tar}.  Both fixed data set and streaming task structures have been explored, though the streaming context tends to bursty (e.g., all data from a single person arriving at once) rather than continuous. Since cost minimization is a primary rationale for TAR~\cite{pace2012where}, research on TAR has focused on training regimens and workflows for minimizing the number, or more generally the cost, of documents reviewed~\cite{cost-structure-paper, tredennick2015tar}.  A new TAR approach is typically evaluated for its ability to meet an effectiveness target while minimizing cost or a cost target while maximizing effectiveness~\cite{wallace2010semi, bagdouri2013towards, cormack2015autonomy}. This makes approaches developed for TAR natural to consider for content moderation.

\section{Applying TAR to Content Moderation}
\label{sec:apply-tar}

In most TAR applications, at least a few documents of the (usually rare) category of interest are available at the start of
the workflow.  These are used to initialize an iterative pool-based active learning workflow~\cite{settles2009active}.  Reviewed documents are used to train a predictive model, which in turn is used to select further documents based on predicted relevance~\cite{rocchio1971relevance}, uncertainty~\cite{lewis1994sequential}, or composite factors. Workflows may be batch-oriented (mimicking pre-machine learning manual workflows common in the law) or a stream of documents may be presented through an interactive interface with training done in the background.  These active learning workflows have almost completely displaced training from random examples when supervised learning is used in eDiscovery.

Two workflow styles can be distinguished~\cite{cost-structure-paper}.  In a \textit{one-phase workflow}, iterative review and training simply continues until a stopping rule is triggered~\cite{cormack2015autonomy, cormack2016engineering, qbcb-paper}.
Stopping may be conditioned on estimated effectiveness (usually recall), cost limits, and other factors~\cite{cormack2016engineering, quantstop-paper, li2020stop}.
\textit{Two-phase workflows} stop training before review is finished, and deploy the final trained classifier to rank the remaining documents for review. The reviewed documents are typically drawn from the top of the ranking, with the depth in the ranking chosen so that an estimated effectiveness target is reached~\cite{wallace2010semi, bagdouri2013towards}.  Two-phase workflows are favored when labeling of training data needs to be done by more expensive personnel than are necessary for routine review.

The cost of both one- and two-phase TAR workflows can be captured by in a common cost model~\cite{cost-structure-paper}. The model defines the total cost of a one-phase review terminated at a particular point as the cost incurred in reviewing documents to that point, plus a penalty if the desired effectiveness target (e.g.,  a minimum recall value) has not been met. The penalty is simply the cost of continuing on to an optimal second-phase review from that point, i.e. the minimum number of prioritized documents is reviewed to hit the effectiveness target.  For a two-phase workflow, we similarly define total cost to be the cost of the training phase plus the cost of an optimal second phase using the final trained model.

These costs in both cases are idealizations in that there may be additional cost (e.g. a labeled random sample) to choose a phase two cutoff~cite{cikmpaper}. However, the model allows a wide range of workflows to be compared on a common basis, as well as allowing differential costs for review of positive vs. negative documents, or phase one vs. phase two documents.

While developed for eDiscovery, the above cost model is also a good fit for content moderation. As discussed in the previous section, the human-in-the-loop moderation approaches used in social media are complex, but in the end reduce to some combination of machine-assisted manual decisions (phase one) and automated decisions based on deploying a trained model (phase two). Operational decisions such as flagging and screening all posts from an account or massive reviewing of posts related to certain events~\cite{cambridge-report, gillespie2018custodians} are all results of applying previously trained models, which is also a form of deployment. Also, broadly applying the model to filter the content vastly reduces moderation burden when similar content is rapidly being published on the platform with the risk of falsely removal~\cite{cambridge-report}.
We claim no optimal for this specific simplified model in evaluating content moderation, but an initial effort for modeling the human-in-the-loop moderation process.

When applying the model to content moderation, however, we assume uniform review costs for all documents. This seems the best assumption given the short length of texts reviewed and what is known publicly about the cost structure of moderation~\cite{gillespie2018custodians}.

In the next section, we describe our experimental setting for adapting and evaluating TAR for content moderation.

\section{Experiment Design}

Here we review the data sets, evaluation metric, and implementation details for our experiment.

\subsection{Data Sets}

\begin{figure}[t!]

    \begin{subfigure}{\linewidth}
        \begin{framed}
\begin{flushleft}
shut up mind your own business and go f*** some one else over
\end{flushleft}
	    \end{framed}
	    \vspace{-1mm}
  	    \caption{Wikipedia collection. \\}
    \end{subfigure}
    \hfill \\ \hfill \\
    \begin{subfigure}{\linewidth}
        \begin{framed}
\begin{flushleft}
: being in love with a girl you dont even know yours is sadder\\
: f*** off you f***ing c***!
\end{flushleft}
	    \end{framed}
	    \vspace{-1mm}
  	    \caption{ASKfm collection}
    \end{subfigure}
    \caption{Example content in the collections}
    \label{fig:example_doc}
\end{figure}

We used two fully labeled and publicly available content moderation data sets with a focus on inappropriate user-generated content. The Wikipedia personal attack data set~\cite{wulczyn2017ex}
consists of 115,737 Wikipedia discussion comments with labels obtained via crowdsourcing. An example of the comment is presented in Figure~\ref{fig:example_doc}(a) Eight annotators assigned one of five mutually exclusive labels to each document: Recipient Target, Third Party Target, Quotation Attack, Other Attack, and No Attack (our names). We defined three binary classification tasks corresponding to distinguishing Recipient Target, Third Party Target, or Other Attack from all other classes. (Quotation Attack had too low a prevalence.) A fourth binary classification task distinguished the union of all attacks from No Attack. A document was a positive example if 5 or more annotators put it in the positive class. Proportion of the positive class ranged from 13.44\% to 0.18\%.

The ASKfm cyberbullying dataset~\cite{van2018automatic}
contains 61,232 English utterance/response pairs, each of which we treated as a single document. An example of the conversation is presented in Figure~\ref{fig:example_doc}(b). Linguists annotated both the poster and responder with zero or one of four mutually exclusive cyberbullying roles, as well as annotating the pair as a whole for any combination of 15 types of textual expressions related to cyberbullying. We treated these annotations as defining 23 binary classifications for a pair, with prevalence of the positive examples ranging from 4.63\% to 0.04\%.

For both data sets we refer to the binary classification tasks as \textit{topics} and the units being classified as \textit{documents}.
Documents were tokenized by separating at punctuation and whitespace. Each distinct term became a feature. We used \textit{log tf} weighting as the features for the underlying classification model. The value of a feature was 0 if not present, and else $1+log(tf)$, where $tf$ is the number of occurrences of that term in the document.

\subsection{Algorithms and Workflow}

Our experiments simulated a typical TAR workflow. The first training round is a seed set consisting of one random positive example (simulating manual input) and one random negative example. At the end of each round, a logistic regression model was trained and applied to the unlabeled documents. The training batch for the next round was then selected by one of three methods: a random sampling baseline, uncertainty sampling~\cite{lewis1994sequential}, or relevance feedback (top scoring documents) \cite{rocchio1971relevance}. Variants of the latter two are widely used in eDiscovery \cite{cormack2014evaluation}. Labels for the training batch were looked up, the batch was added to the training set, and a new model trained to repeat the cycle. Batches of size 100 and 200 were used and training continued for 80 and 40 iterations respectively, resulting in 8002 coded training documents at the end.

We implemented the TAR workflow in  \texttt{libact}\footnote{\url{https://github.com/ntucllab/libact}}~\cite{libact}, an open-source framework for active learning experiments. We fit logistic regression models using Vowpal Wabbit\footnote{\url{https://vowpalwabbit.org/}} with default parameter settings.
Our experiment framework is available on GitHub\footnote{\url{https://github.com/eugene-yang/TAR-Content-Moderation}}.

\subsection{Evaluation}
Our metric was total cost to reach 80\% recall as described in Section~\ref{sec:apply-tar}. This was computed at the end of each training round as the sum of the number of training documents, plus the ideal second phase review cost as a penalty, which is the number of additional top-ranked documents (if any) needed to bring recall up to 80\%. Ranking was based on sorting the non-training documents by probability of relevance using the most recent trained model. Note that we experimented with 80\% recall as an example. However, the TAR workflow is capable of running with arbitrary recall target, such as 95\% for systematic review~\cite{wallace2010semi, li2020stop}.

In actual TAR workflows, recall would be estimated from a labeled random sample. Since the cost of this sample would be constant across our experimental conditions we used an oracle for recall instead.

\section{Results and Analysis}

Our core finding was that, as in eDiscovery, active selection of which documents to review reduces costs over random selection. Figure~\ref{fig:line_cost} shows mean cost to reach 80\% recall over 20 replications (different seed sets and random samples) for six representative categories. On all six categories, all TAR workflows within a few iterations beat the baseline of reviewing a random 80\% of the data set (horizontal line labeled Manual Review).

The Wikipedia \textit{Attack} category is typical of low to moderate prevalence categories ($p=0.1344$). Uncertainty sampling strongly dominates both random sampling (too few positives chosen) and relevance feedback (too many redundant positives chosen for good training). Costs decrease uniformly with additional training.
We plot 99\% confidence intervals under the assumption that costs are normally distributed across replicates. Costs are not only higher for relevance feedback, but less predictable.

The ASKfm \textit{Curse Exclusion} ($p=0.0169$) and Wikipedia \textit{Other attack} ($p=0.0019$) category are typical low prevalence categories. Uncertainty sampling and relevance feedback act similarly in such circumstances: even top scoring documents are at best uncertainly positive. Average cost across replicates levels off and starts to increase after 44 iterations for uncertainty sampling and 45 iterations for relevance feedback. This is the point at which additional training no longer pays for itself by improving the ranking of documents. For this category (and typically) this occurs shortly before 80\% recall is reached on the training data alone (iteration 48 for uncertainty sampling and iteration 52 for relevance feedback).

Task such as the ASKfm \textit{Sexism} category ($p=0.0030$) that deals with nuances in human languages requires more training data to produce a stable classifier. While obtaining training data by random sampling stops reducing the cost after the first iteration, uncertainty sampling and relevance feedback continue to take advantage of additional training data to minimize the cost and become more predictable.

Note that the general relationship between the prevalence of the task and the cost of reaching a certain recall target using TAR workflows is discussed \citet{cost-structure-paper}.

\begin{table*}
\caption{Total review cost to reach 80\% recall. Values are averaged over all topics for a data set and 20 replicates. Percentages show relative cost reduction over the random sample training baseline. A * indicates that the difference is statistically significant over the random sample training baseline with 99\% confidence by conducting paired t-test with Bonferroni correction. }
\label{tab:total_cost}
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{5pt}
\newcommand{\phantom{0}}{\phantom{0}}
\renewcommand{\-}{\texttt{-}}
\begin{tabular}{ll|rrr|rrr}
\toprule
      &  {}  & \multicolumn{3}{c|}{ASKfm} &  \multicolumn{3}{c}{Wikipedia}  \\
batch & \# Train & Random  & Relevance & Uncertainty & Random & Relevance & Uncertainty\\
\midrule
100 & 202  &  47685.53 & *49833.73 (\-4.50) & *50273.21 (\-5.43) &  52948.45 &   *60751.69 (\-14.74) &  52210.00 (\z1.39) \\
    & 1002 &  46327.93 & *43329.31 (\z6.47) & *42723.12 (\z7.78) &  49010.71 &   52931.28 (\phantom{0}\-8.00) &  *39879.78 (18.63) \\
    & 2002 &  45139.15 &  *38179.79 (15.42) &  *37938.19 (15.95) &  47805.25 &   46673.34 (\phantom{0}\z2.37) &  *29387.06 (38.53) \\
    & 3002 &  44148.28 &  *34909.72 (20.93) &  *34719.50 (21.36) &  47065.66 &   *38964.91 (\z17.21) &  *25676.82 (45.44) \\
    & 4002 &  43731.25 &  *33439.69 (23.53) &  *32795.05 (25.01) &  47234.75 &   *34408.14 (\z27.16) &  *24202.29 (48.76) \\
    & 5002 &  43469.91 &  *32261.33 (25.78) &  *31957.57 (26.48) &  47125.79 &   *31267.88 (\z33.65) &  *22746.94 (51.73) \\
    & 6002 &  42973.85 &  *31767.73 (26.08) &  *31384.51 (26.97) &  47300.02 &   *28945.59 (\z38.80) &  *21922.42 (53.65) \\
    & 7002 &  42563.09 &  *30567.00 (28.18) &  *30502.95 (28.33) &  47086.42 &   *27356.89 (\z41.90) &  *21301.92 (54.76) \\
    & 8002 &  42385.43 &  *30708.85 (27.55) &  *30441.77 (28.18) &  47106.34 &   *25949.51 (\z44.91) &  *21144.28 (55.11) \\
\midrule
200 & 202  &  47685.53 & *49302.36 (\-3.39) & *49339.93 (\-3.47) &  52948.45 &   *58866.41 (\-11.18) &  55747.35 (\-5.29) \\
    & 1002 &  46327.93 &  45014.51 (\z2.84) &  44733.10 (\z3.44) &  49010.71 &   *55302.14 (\-12.84) &  *42896.71 (12.47) \\
    & 2002 &  45139.15 &  *40473.12 (10.34) &  *39894.98 (11.62) &  47805.25 &   49968.88 (\phantom{0}\-4.53) &  *33981.56 (28.92) \\
    & 3002 &  44148.28 &  *37050.02 (16.08) &  *36902.63 (16.41) &  47065.66 &   42521.55 (\phantom{0}\z9.65) &  *28332.55 (39.80) \\
    & 4002 &  43731.25 &  *35310.13 (19.26) &  *34888.22 (20.22) &  47234.75 &   *37492.98 (\z20.62) &  *25667.95 (45.66) \\
    & 5002 &  43469.91 &  *33690.33 (22.50) &  *33519.15 (22.89) &  47125.79 &   *34933.90 (\z25.87) &  *24070.44 (48.92) \\
    & 6002 &  42973.85 &  *32425.25 (24.55) &  *32612.13 (24.11) &  47300.02 &   *33004.90 (\z30.22) &  *22839.39 (51.71) \\
    & 7002 &  42563.09 &  *31488.77 (26.02) &  *31813.08 (25.26) &  47086.42 &   *31664.04 (\z32.75) &  *22084.88 (53.10) \\
    & 8002 &  42385.43 &  *31198.75 (26.39) &  *31171.80 (26.46) &  47106.34 &   *29346.76 (\z37.70) &  *21837.84 (53.64) \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

\end{table*}

Table~\ref{tab:total_cost} looks more broadly at the two datasets, averaging costs both over all topics and over 20 replicate runs for each topic for batch sizes of both 100 and 200 . By 20 iterations with batch size of 100 (2002 training documents), TAR workflows with both relevance feedback and uncertainty sampling significantly reduce costs versus TAR with random sampling.
(Significance is based on paired t-tests assuming non-identical variances and making a Bonferroni correction for 72 tests.)
All three TAR methods in turn dominate reviewing a random 80\% of the dataset, which costs 92,590 for Wikipedia and 90,958 for ASKfm.

The improvement over cost plateaued after the training sets reached 5000 documents for ASKfm but continue for Wikipedia. Categories in Wikipedia~($p=0.1344$ to $0.0018$) are generally more frequent comparing to ASKfm~($p=0.0463$ to $0.001$), providing more advantage for training to identify more positive documents. Larger batch size slightly reduce the improvement as the underlying classifiers are retrained less frequently. In practice, the sizes are depending on the cost structure of reviewing and specific workflows in each organization. However, as the classifiers are frequently updated with more coded documents, the total cost would be reduced over the iterations.

\begin{figure*}
  \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{bar.png}
   \caption{Precision in each batch for TAR workflows on Wikipedia \textit{Attack}($p=0.1344$) and ASKfm \textit{Curse Exclusion}($p=0.0169$) classifications. The x-axis shows the iteration number. A lighter color in an iteration block indicates higher precision.}
  \label{fig:heatmaps}

\end{figure*}

Besides the overall cost reduction, Figure~\ref{fig:heatmaps} shows a heatmap of mean precision across 20 replicates for batches 1 to 81 with batch size of 100, to give insight into the moderator experience of TAR workflows. Precision for relevance feedback starts high and declines very gradually. Uncertainty sampling maintains relatively constant precision. For the very low prevalence category Curse Exclusion we cut off the heatmap at 52 iterations for relevance feedback and 48 iterations for uncertainty sampling since on average 80\% recall is obtained on training data alone by those iterations. For both categories, even applying uncertainty sampling that is intended to improve the quality of the classifier improves the batch precision over the random sampling be a significant amount.

\section{Summary and Future Work}

Our results suggest that TAR workflows developed for legal review tasks may substantially reduce costs for content moderation tasks. Other legal workflow techniques, such as routing near duplicates and conversational threads in batches to the same reviewer, may be worth testing as well.

This preliminary experiment omitted complexities that should be explored in more detailed studies. Both content moderation and legal cases involve (at different time scales) streaming collection of data, and concomitant constraints on the time available to make a review decision. Batching and prioritization must reflect these constraints. Moderation in addition must deal with temporal variation in both textual content and the definitions of sensitive content, as well as scaling across many languages and cultures. As litigation and investigations become more international, these challenges may be faced in the law as well, providing opportunity for the legal and moderation fields to learn from each other.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Meet First Lady Melania Trump's Parents – Viktor and Amalija Knavs
By Rebelander Basilan
https://news.amomama.com/144321-meet-first-lady-melania-trumps-parents-v.html
Here's what you should know about Donald Trump's in-laws, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, who met in 1966.
Melania's father, Viktor, was from the nearby town of Radeče, a small town in the Lower Sava Valley in eastern Slovenia. He managed car and motorcycle dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer.
Amalija Knavas and Viktor Knavas at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on March 31, 2019 | Photo: Getty Images
Melania is currently busy with her campaign called Be Best, which centers around the prosperity of youth while supporting against cyberbullying and drug use.
Meanwhile, Amalija, Melania's mother, came from the village of Raka, a village in the Municipality of Krško in eastern Slovenia. She worked as a patternmaker at the children's clothing manufacturer Jutranjka in Sevnica.
Melania has an older sister, Ines, who is an artist, and an older half-brother from her father's past relationship.
A year ago, Viktor and Amalija swore an oath of citizenship in a naturalization ceremony in New York. The couple had previously lived on green cards sponsored by Melania.
Viktor and Amalija frequently travel with the first family, and they also attend events in the White House regularly.
The couple, who are apparently close to their grandchild, Barron Trump, still maintain close ties to their hometown in Slovenia.
Amalija Knavas and Viktor Knavas at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on June 11, 2017 | Photo: Getty Images
Much the same as Melania, Amalija also has perfect styling, great makeup, fashionable, and marvelous garments. The two often wear similar glasses. Another thing in common is their love of heels.
The First Lady of the United States turned into a fashion icon after Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017.
Amalija Knavas at the White House in Washington, D.C. | Photo: Getty Images
A lot of news outlets were providing details regarding her fashion choices at the time. The fashion and lifestyle magazine, Vogue, even compared her wardrobe as First Lady to that of Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan.
Here's how Melania's childhood predetermined the person she is today
True Story behind First Lady Melania Trump's Higher Education
Never-before-seen photo of little Melania Trump revealed by her sister
In March 2017, she hosted her first White House event, a luncheon for International Women's Day. Amid the occasion, she opened up about her life as a female immigrant, and about working towards gender equality both locally and abroad.
Mother-In-Law Wears a Wedding Dress to Her Son's Wedding
Martha Stewart, Once Married for 29 Years, Dated Anthony Hopkins until She Saw Him in 'Silence of the Lambs'
Pastor and Wife Who Lost Two Sons in a Tragic Car Crash Welcome Twin Boys


Until this year, a small bird called Ross's goose had a unique distinction: it was the only North American goose or duck whose breeding ground was not known.
Hardly larger than a duck, Ross's goose is the smallest and rarest of American species. It is white, with black wing tips. Northmen call it the "galoot" or "scabby-nosed wavey" (its bill has rough bumps at the base). Its official name came from Bernard R. Ross, a Hudson's Bay Co. factor at Fort Resolution. In autumn the birds migrate south and west to spend the winter in California valleys.


Our full service studio is in NW Austin, Texas. All studio sessions are by appointment only.
From 183, exit on Duval (head West), and then right on Jollyville (heading NW) to 11740 Jollyville. We're in the building that has a stone sign in front for "eFueling". (At night, the most visible sign is the "eFueling" sign.) You'll also see the Arbor Montessori Academy next door. Drive around to the side of the building and you'll see us. We're in Suite 400.
This is the entrance, viewed heading North on Jollyville.
Drive into the entrance on the left side of the building and you'll find us on the side of the building, halfway back.


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The following is the newsletter article from the July 2014 Grace and Truth.
Isn't the summer warmth a huge contrast to the long winter this year? Personally, I enjoy each season, because there are blessings and disadvantages to enjoy and overcome in each. What do you enjoy the most about summer?
An advocate is someone who comes alongside of you while you are seeking help. Everyone has an Advocate and He is Jesus Christ! John wrote, "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."2 Yes, Jesus stands as your support, and defense against any accusation that the enemy throws at you. Practically, what does that look like?
When Grace provides counseling, the counselee is requested to bring an advocate with him/her. The counselee chooses this person, because it must be someone who already has credibility and a loving relationship with him/her. What does an advocate do? And is an advocate really necessary? I'm glad you asked!
An advocate should reflect the character qualities of a growing Christian and have a sincere love for the Lord Jesus. He/she will submit to the counseling/discipleship process and support the counselor in follow-up and accountability. He/she should have a growing knowledge of the Word, a willingness to attend counseling sessions and a desire to grow and change with the counselee. Additionally we ask that advocates commit to humbly walk alongside the counselee for 3-6 months during and following counseling.
The purpose of counseling is not to feel better or "get over" the difficulty. The purpose is to continue the process of bringing each person into conformity to the image of Jesus and become a disciple-maker of others. The purpose of the advocate is to be a Proverbs 17:17 kind of friend right now, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." An advocate does not have to be a Bible expert, just willing to be used by God to love and help another believer.
Therefore, the advocate plays a key role in the counseling/discipleship process. They encourage the counselee, help with the homework given, and assist in accountability to the counselor. Also providing support in the integration or re-integration into the local Body, he/she ensures that the counseled one has reinforcement throughout the week, and support during this transformation process. The advocate often becomes the "glove" on God's hand of mercy thathealstheheart. The advocate may be one who admonishes, because of the close trusted relationship with the counseled one.
In the past, I have used a team approach, especially in requesting that a woman join me in counseling another woman. However, I have not been intentional totrain the assistant on the advocate role. Through our "soul care'' approach, the advocate will again have specific responsibilities.
We all face difficulties in life and opportunities to grow in Grace. What a blessing that the community of the local church is designed to support and encourage one another!
May God richly bless His ministry as His people continue to seek His holiness in a community that worships only Him! May your summer continue to be warm and carry you through the rest of the year!
This entry was posted in Family, Insights and tagged Advocate, Counseling, Discipleship by shepherdbryan. Bookmark the permalink.


The Lacrosse Portrait is a one of a kind original art executed from your photograph. A watercolor or acrylic painting from 14x16" to an eye catching 30x40" image is sure to make an impression. The Lacrosse Portrait is a visual reminder of the passion and engagement with lacrosse.
Don't you think art is the aesthetically best means to capture lifetime memories?
Dimensions to fit a 14x18" image area, watercolor on archival paper from your photo (approved for reproduction from the photographer).


text:
Myanmar's Forgotten Victims: The Kachin State's Struggle Against Government Atrocities
28 Jan, 2019 in Asia / Current Events by Sean H (updated 168 days ago)
As home to the world's longest running civil war, Myanmar's history of ethnic conflict and population displacement is as long and tragic as it is complex. However, amid significant media coverage of the atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslims in the northern state of Rakhine by the Tatmadaw or Burmese military, the equally dire plight of the Kachin State people has gone under-reported. Violent military tactics targeting Kachin civilians have left more than 100,000 living in refugee camps along the Chinese border and aid agencies have alleged that they are being blocked from providing critical aid such as food and medical supplies. This amounts to a direct violation of global humanitarian laws, which may constitute a war under international law, according to United Nations Human Rights expert for Myanmar, Yanghee Lee.
The approximately 1.6 million Kachin people, many of whom are a Christian minority, have lived in the mountainous areas of Myanmar near the Chinese border for centuries. When Myanmar gained independence in 1948, Kachin and many other ethnic minorities people were promised independence, and the ability that they would soon be able to form their own self-governing states. However, after the formation of a military government in 1962, this promise was quickly rescinded, causing the Kachin people to withdraw their support for the government and form the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in order to both protect themselves and further their drive for independence. Ongoing conflict between the KIA and the Burmese military continued for decades until the signing of a ceasefire in 1994. However, this ceasefire broke down in 2011, and fighting has occurred with violent regularity since this time.
While Prime Minister Suu Kyi has repeatedly implored the Kachin people to sign the 2015 National Ceasefire Agreement, the KIA have asserted that they will not sign the agreement while Burmese military bombs continue to fall on their villages and atrocities are levelled at their people. Fighting seen throughout 2018 was described as the fiercest since the 1960's, with a KIA Captain telling ABC "We will keep fighting for as long as the Burmese keep coming at us." Zhu Tawng, a senior member of the Kachin Independence Army alleged to Al Jazeera that Burmese military soldiers were blatantly committing atrocities against Kachin civilians including murder, rape and arson of villagers houses. These have haunting similarities to those which have been independently proven to be happening in Rakhine toward the Rohingya Muslims, at the hands of the same army. It is these attacks and atrocities which are causing numbers of the KIA to grow, as an apparent means of protecting their family and livelihood and thereby feeding an endless loop of violence in the region.
Kachin State is rich in resources, including jade, gold, copper, iron ore and gems, which is widely regarded as one clear reason why the Myanmar government are attempting to take control of the state. Amid allegations of a slow genocide and ethnic cleansing, it beggars belief that the plight of the Kachin people does not garner more international media attention. While the world turns its eyes to the atrocities being meted out against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, credible testimony of murder, rape and destruction from Kachin State victims makes for equally harrowing reading. Just as concerning, are the allegations that child soldiers form a large part of not only the Burmese military, but also the Kachin Independence Army. Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi promised peace in ethnic minority areas as her utmost priority after coming to power, however her continued acceptance and support of atrocities being carried out by her government's army against both the Kachin State people and Rohingya people have clearly shown this to be an empty promise. Numerous shallow attempts at ceasefires are also simply paying lip-service to international outrage, with many of the largest ethnic groups, including the KIA refusing to take part. David Baulk, a rights expert from Fortify Rights took a cynical view of the Burmese peace process, saying it is "dictated by the Myanmar military down the barrel of a gun."
There is no doubt that violence is being committed by both parties, and the problem persists due to a lack of meaningful attempts at peace talks and ceasefires, caused by mistrust and general unwillingness from both parties. While international governments and IGOs have weighed in on the matter, there have been minimal international sanctions to punish the Myanmar government for the actions of their army in either Rakhine or Kachin States. Nor has there been condemnation or even acceptance from anyone in the Myanmar government that the actions of the army are excessive, illegal and unwarranted.
Given how far apart both sides are on a potential peaceful resolution, it should come as no surprise that there is no easy path to peace. A meaningful ceasefire with the backing of international governments would be the first logical step in trying to resolve the conflict. This would, at the very least allow Kachin people to begin moving back to their villages and forging a way of life, and allow aid agencies to tend to the basic human needs of the enormous amount of displaced people. Every citizen should be afforded the right to live in peace, and this is impossible in many parts of the Kachin state due to continued attacks by the Myanmar government.
It is also crucial that the Myanmar government reign in its army and hold to account those who, after a full and impartial investigation have been found to have committed the alleged atrocities. This is important to show the Kachin people that the deaths, suffering and destruction of their communities at the hands of their country's military has not gone unnoticed or unpunished. It is equally important for Myanmar to show the international community that they will not ignore or justify what potentially amounts to war crimes committed flagrantly by their soldiers, both in Kachin and Rakhine.
Finally, a long term and sustainable solution needs to be agreed upon with regards to either a fully or partially self-governing state which was promised to the Kachin people when Burmese independence was declared in the mid-20th century. This should include equal rights for the Kachin people to share in the lucrative profits of the mining of their precious resources – profits which are currently hoarded amongst a few elite parties and foreign companies, while the Kachin people live in poverty. This would allow the Kachin to bring their communities above the poverty line and benefit from the abundance of resources and employment opportunities which are available in their communities, leading to a very real prospect of long-lasting peace in the region.
Sean H
Latest posts by Sean H (see all)
Displaced Kachin State Victims Trafficked To China For Forced Marriage - April 15, 2019
Thai Prosecutors Ignore International Outcry, Move To Extradite Refugee Footballer - February 4, 2019
Myanmar's Forgotten Victims: The Kachin State's Struggle Against Government Atrocities - January 28, 2019
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Turkish Acceptance Of Russian Missile System Threatens Ties To NATO
Media Censorship In Pakistan Continues Unabated


I do not stammer, but some of my earliest memories of speaking at school ('What are eight sevens, Wilson?') are of not being able to get my words out. What I wanted to say (in the case of the above sum: 'I don't know, Sir') merged with the knowledge, then terror, that the same was simultaneously forbidden. I felt just as clumsy when the answer came more easily (it never did). My thoughts, racing ahead to the end of the sentence, and the one after that, hurtled on, leaving my syntax in their garbled wake. In sight of my teachers' frowns and to the sound of my peers' giggling I would just peter out, exhausted. How I envied the boys who could just make answers up on the hoof, as though they had been waiting all their lives to say '56', or 'the Battle of Flodden Field'.
I was told on the Friday that I would read first, on the Monday. I knew if I could make it through the first two verses, especially the word 'Quirinius', I would be fine. I spent the whole weekend going round saying Quirinius under my breath, trying out different pronunciations, from Kir-inous to Krin-ius, to Kir-neeoos to Kwee-rin-ee-oos, for effect, no matter what it said in the text. In the end I settled on Kwee-rin-ee-oos, but knew that when the moment came it would be a gamble as to what my lips and tongue would remember of my whispered practice. In the end I plumped for something halfway between Krinius and Kweein-eeus, deciding as I spoke it to just keep going (my teacher's advice) and get it over with.
The name of that governor safely vaulted, the most amazing thing happened, invisible to everyone in the room but me. Though my tongue clung to the roof of my mouth and my throat threatened to spasm in embarrassment, as they had done so often before, I grew suddenly calm, aware of a kind of energy passing through me that only made me stiller. Young though I was, I understood that nothing more could happen until I had finished reading this lesson. No one would speak, or interrupt, or shout, or dismiss me for getting the answer wrong. I found new power in that moment, and am certain I have been seeking it ever since, not for my sake (each time I speak in a meeting or in front of more than six people, and always at poetry readings, I am certain I will ambush myself as of old), but so that I can remain for as long as possible in that calm and tidy space, with the words all lined up in front of me, full of possibility, safe (safe!) in the knowledge that nothing and everything is just about to happen, but not until I say so.
I really love this. More than seems entirely logical.
Impertinent question. When you stumbled (as I did at the age of 18 or so) across 'I Claudius', did you cheer?
Like you, I was a shy and tongue-tied child. But I could already read when I started school, having been taught by my mother with those wonderful books, the Beacon Readers. This meant that I was asked, the youngest child in the school, to read one of the Lessons at the Nativity assembly, simply because I could read the word 'knowledge (as in Tree of). This experience gave me a new-found confidence, and I have loved reading aloud ever since.
I will try to hold this in my head to help me on Thursday evening when I read at the launch of Cora Greenhill's new collection, 'Far from Kind'!


text:
Temperance, Prohibition and Bootlegging
Part 1: Public Demonstrations
Ratification of the 18th Amendment, ushered in one of the most romanticized but violent periods in our nation's history. Americans readily broke what they saw as a ridiculous law with the overflow of rebellious action pulling down established social conventions regarding gender and station. Emancipated "Flapper Girls" danced the Lindy with "West Eggs" in dingy speakeasies while white knuckled bootleggers raced against the police and hijackers to deliver illegal booze. It was the time of G-men, gangsters and moonshiners. For those modeling the Victorian 1890s, roaring twenties or depression years adding this bit of color to your layout is an easy way to show that you "know your onions…yowza, yowza and how!"
Part 1 of this article covers the activities of the various "Dry" movements from public marches to saloon busting. Load up your "smashers" and grab your axe, it is time to chase demon rum from our lives and join Carrie Nation for a "hatchetation".
Prohibition movements leveraging political action had existed since the early 1800's but did not get nationally organized until 1873 with the creation of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Formed under the broad mission statement of "A sober and pure world" it invested its efforts first in temperance through abstinence then under the direction of it second president, Frances Willard, quickly added a number of social reforms including suffrage, labor rights, sanitation, public health and world peace.
As evidenced by its name the WCTU was designed for women. This led to it being criticized as gender-biased despite the many male supporters. The name also alienated women of other faiths such as Jews, Hindus and Buddhists who held the same moral view on abstinence.
Public demonstrations by the WCTU took two forms which reflected the groups divided opinion on how to achieve reform. Part of the membership felt that their goals could be reached by personal interaction with their fellow citizens while the rest were convinced that legislation should be the focus of their efforts.
The first and most common action was a holdover from the defunct pre-civil war American Temperance Society (ATS). The ATS had thought to solve the problem of drunkenness by convincing tavern owners to close their shops or switch to non-alcohol based drinks such as lemonade and tea. They also sought to proselytize their religious views to the customer base. In this effort groups of women would kneel outside of the saloons in their town often enduring verbal and physical abuse from the crowd. It was not uncommon to be soaked with a fire hose or buckets of stale beer while being mocked. In extreme cases they were physically assaulted.
The second form of demonstration was the picket march or parade. This was especially common in larger cities where hundreds of members could be brought in from the surrounding area and the goal was to influence politicians and civic leaders. Counter demonstration by "Wets" might also be an unwelcome part of the event.
Not every gathering was organized or supported by the WCTU. Many small town churches and civic groups promoted abstinence from alcohol on a personal level. Any group of citizens could gather outside of a saloon or brewery to proclaim their oath of sobriety. Most of these were led and attended only by men but could be mixed. They commonly carried an American flag but would not include banners or signs promoting other social issues. Women's church groups also existed, especially in the south, but had little interest in partisan politics as they considered the WCTU's interest in suffrage to be radical. They contented themselves with saving the poor immigrant from his hellish ways or bringing drunks to salvation.
It was from such humble roots that the most dramatic superstar of the early prohibition movement hailed, Carrie Nation of Kansas. Having lost her first husband to alcoholism she became a devout proponent of total abstinence. She was a member of the WCTU and later the Anti-Saloon League. Out spoken and possessed of radical zeal she would confront tavern owners with the greeting, "Good morning, destroyer of men's souls", and then proceed to smash their business with rocks and bricks she carried in a sack. She called these "smashers" but quickly adopted a small axe because it was easier to handle. Although most active in Kansas she traveled the southwest leading protests and performing "Hatchetations" on any saloon she came across. Nation was sometimes accompanied by an organ player and a small choir but often worked alone. Standing six foot at 175 pounds there were few men willing to confront her once she started swinging.
Modeling ideas 1870s to 1920:
Modeling a confrontation scene in front of a saloon should feature WCTU members holding signs bearing their logo and cloth banners extolling the advice "Moderation in all things healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful", "God Wills It", or "Lips that Touch Liquor Shall Not Touch Ours". An era appropriate (43 star) American flag would also be prevalent. Some of the ladies might be holding Bibles, hymnals or flowers. I think it could be represented with as few as three women figures and equal number of men although a larger group will certainly increase the visual impact.
Modeling a march or parade scene should feature WCTU members carrying the same sorts of signs listed above as well as those promoting suffrage or other reform issues such as anti-tobacco or gambling slogans. Members might wear a sash proclaiming their hometown membership location. In some cases a wagon or carriage with leaders of the WCTU riding in it would be part of the procession. It would need quite q few figures. Preiser has a large selection of Victorian era men and women in 1/22.5 but the other scales will be hard to come by.
Since I model the 1930s I will not be building one of these scenes. If you add such a scene to your layout please share some pictures with me and I will post them here.
Part 2: Scofflaws and Revenuers (coming in June)
Part 3: Rise of the Gangsters (coming in July)
If you are going to travel you are going to need something to put your clothes in for the trip out and your souvenirs in for the trip back. These containers in their crudest forms were cloth sacks and wood boxes but as commercial travel matured to carry the masses so did the style and construction of baggage.
For centuries wooden chests had served to carry personnel possessions, household goods and valuables on long trips. The design was fairly simple; a wooden box with a hinged lid reinforced by leather or metal banding. Most had a hasp for securing the lid closed with a lock; more elaborate versions had latches and locks built in. The construction was sturdy as most of the journeys were one way. Intended for travel as freight the items were too heavy to be convenient for leisure travel. Trunks crossing the ocean in a ships hold or the prairie in the back of a wagon would finish their days as a hope chest or strong box.
One of the most common versions of the chest is the army footlocker. These began as plain wooden crates made of pine or some other cheap wood. By WWI they were made of oak, hickory or other hardwoods. The edges were reinforced with brass strips and most had a single or double removable tray in the top. Constructed primarily by furniture companies a lacquered wood stain protected it from the elements. In preparation for WWII the brass was upgraded to steel and the wood to birch plywood. The lift out tray remained. Made in mass by a wide variety of companies the finish was a healthy coat of olive drab green paint. Vietnam veterans found their familiar green footlockers now had a plastic tray inside but otherwise looked unchanged from the forties. These old standbys were phased out in the 1990s in favor of commercially available containers like those made by Pelican and Hardigg.
Crude wooden chests were not going to suit the wealthy world travelers of the nineteenth century. They wanted style and versatility. Most importantly they needed something that could be used in the stateroom of a steam ship or hotel suite in an exotic location that might not have the comforts of home….like a wardrobe or chest of drawers. Enter the steamer trunk.
Intended as upscale storage for clothing and personal items these portable closets boasted elaborate interiors. Features included sets of drawers, pigeon holes for shoes and a rack for clothes on hangers. Travelers would stand the trunk on end next to a wall and open it like a book on edge. Some designs included matching separate pieces that attached to the top as extra drawers or a jewelry box. Other companion pieces included hat and jewelry boxes even a wet bar or wine cabinet. Such baggage was a major investment with an elaborate set of trunks costing more than a small house.
Early manufacturers included the Shwayder Trunk Company of Denver, Colorado (which became Samsonite in 1910) and Rhino Trunk and Case which is still in business today. They were later joined by iconic makers such as H.J. Crave, Noble and Graff and Louis Vuitton. Regardless of the maker or model most steamer trunks have a few things in common. The basic trunk was still a wooden box. These could be made of hardwoods if the exterior was stained and finished but most had a leather or cloth cover with brass rails and decorations. The interior was often covered in embossed paper or some kind of cloth. Built in locks and hasps were common. Heavy leather handles provided a place for the porters to handle it. None of this would matter in the era of mass transit though.
By the mid 1920's the automobile (and soon the airplane) had made travel for travels sake popular and affordable. The demand for smaller lighter bags, holding only a few days of clothes brought about a new design that could be easily carried by their owners. Baggage became luggage and the suitcase was born.
While trunks and chests needed to be stout and weather resistant to survive the hold of a ship or railroad baggage car; suitcases were usually found strapped to the back of a car remaining under the control of their owners during the trip. The need for heavy wood construction gave way to cardboard and cloth. The first suitcases were literally designed to hold a suit. One side had a flap which held shirts and undergarments in place while the other had straps or bands to hold suit coats and pants flat during travel. Exterior closure was by either straps or clasps; both would later be replaced by zippers.
Suitcase function did not change much from the 1910's to the 2000's but materials did, leather exterior coverings replaced the cloth covers of the 1930's which were replaced themselves by man-made materials in the 1950's. Cardboard construction became plastic and eventually metal frame. By the 21st century air travel has driven yet another change in design. Restrictions on both weight and dimension have returned baggage to the short stout designs of the early wooden chests. What's next? I would say spray on clothing but we all know you are not allowed to take aerosols in your carry on.
To model baggage for my train I wanted items that reflected all kinds of travelers, immigrants, vacationers, business men, what have you. This meant everything from old wooden chests to cloth and leather suitcases and even steamer trunks were needed. Once again working in 1/20.3 meant there was little to nothing available so I would have to make masters and cast baggage. Unlike my steel drum project I would need more than one master item. I set down and looked at what would make up a good mix of bags and chests. I came up with 10 which later expanded to 16 unique items. These included three different hat boxes, a pet carrier and a steamer trunk. Ugh! The construction of each is basically the same; a wooden or plastic shape that supports the details made of paper and styrene. Molds were made and items cast.
After painting I found a very easy detail to add, the tourist label. These were very common from the 1880's to the 1960s. The subjects were famous hotels, steamer lines, railroads and national parks. These sorts of things are still around but people tend to put them on the bumper of the car. I found about thirty such vintage stickers on line and copied them onto a power point slide. A little tweaking to get the size right and they were ready to print. Since they did not have to withstand the weather I printed them on plain paper and glued them to the trunks and bags using TB3.As always a clear coat of Treehouse Matte sealed the deal.
I now have a large selection of baggage to place around the layout on platforms, vehicles and baggage carts.
More information on the making and casting of the luggage as well as the baggage cart and handler can be found in the People section.
Motorcycles and Riders
When it comes to adding scenery to the layout the most expedient is by far vehicles. Whether die-cast or plastic, models are readily available in almost every scale across the entire history of the automobile. Most model railroaders practice a very basic form of selective scenery compression in the absence of drivers and or passengers. Just place the vehicles on the roads of the layout and let the observers add the people in their minds. Unfortunately this practice does not hold up very well for motorcycles. A riderless bike defying gravity is too much for the imagination to compensate for.
You could choose to forgo placing motorcycles on the layout except as parked models but that would ignore the fact that motorcycles outnumbered cars in the US until the latter part of 1910 when Henry Ford's 1908 "Tin Lizzy" model T finally made the car affordable for the general populace. It seemed that every bicycle shop in the nation had fabricated a motorized version of the common pedal bike but only two brands would survive the Great Depression, Harley Davidson and Indian, with the rest going down in the first few months owing to a small market share and lack of operating capitol.
The creators of an American legend.
Indian Motorcycles made it past World War two before finally going bankrupt in 1953 but Harley Davidson endures to the present. Lucky for us model railroaders their motorcycles are well represented and readily available. If you want motorcycles on your layout then HD is your best option.
The effort to build a powered bicycle began in 1901 in a tool shed behind the home of Henry Melk, a longtime friend of Arthur Davidson. The next summer they were joined by Arthur's brothers, Walter and William. Like most early motorcycle builders the HD brand was an attempt to bolt a small combustion engine into a pedal-bicycle frame. The motor, designed by William Harley, boasted a meager 7.07 cubic inches of displacement. It was severely undersized and failed to produce reliable horsepower but did provide the friends with valuable experience.
The original HD. One was built in 1903 and a second in 1904.
The group's next offering was a new single cylinder engine designed with help from Ole Evinrude (of outboard motor fame) and made available as a do it yourself kit for converting bicycles. It was well received and within a year HD was building and selling complete bikes. Financial success arrived in 1907 when HD introduced the first V-twin two cylinder engine attached to a beefed up new frame that could withstand the rough roads of the time. Their first large orders came from police departments who saw the motorcycle as an inexpensive and reliable form of mounting their officers. Harley continued to design bikes for law enforcement for the next 80 years.
1909 Model 5 V-twin, the first HD production motorcycle. It had the unique claim to fame of having spare parts available from the factory for repairs.
Harley Davidson made many improvements to the frames and features of their motorcycles over the first three decades of its existence but engines were what built the brand. In 1911 the company introduced the F head. This engine would be the mainstay through World War one until 1929 when it was phased out by the flat-head. This 45 cubic inch V-twin design would prove so reliable that variations of it would continue in production into the early 1970s. Joining the line in 1936 a 61 cubic inch engine was introduced and dubbed the knuckle-head in reference to the rocker boxes on the cylinder tops.
1917 Model 17T featuring the F head engine. This was the first motorcycle
adopted by the US Army.
1936 Model EL featuring the knuckle-head engine.
Military need in World War Two sucked up all of HD's production in the form of the model WLA. The designation reflected Army specifications which favored the smaller and more reliable flathead engine which could operate on poor quality fuel as low as 73 octane.
Left: 1942 WLA. The bike was used extensively by armored units for scouting and messenger service.
Right: Army scout riders in training circa 1943. Still missing most of their combat accessories riders like these were trained in many of the skills that would be common in motor-cross racing during the 1960s and 70s as well as road hazard avoidance techniques taught in modern riding classes.
Manufacturing over 90,000 of the motorcycles during the war there was no production capability left on the factory floor for civilian bikes. Fate had intervened on engine design so while the flathead went to combat the knuckle-head went on life support before dying an early death in 1947. The following year HD introduced the pan-head as its top of the line engine. It lasted only slightly longer than its predecessor before being replaced in 1965 by the shovel-head engine ushering in the modern big twin era.
The Harley Davidson legacy of engine design. The distinctive V-twin has been copied around the world.
Developing alongside of motorcycle technology was the riding culture. Early interest in bikes was as a novelty but as reliability increased so did the population of the riding public. Harley Davidson had jumped into the motor sport scene with both feet for both the promotion and the development opportunities. Company sponsored teams competed on, board and flat tracks, hill climbs and endurance races. Young men and women soon wanted a taste of the excitement. Riding clubs sprang up all over the East coast and throughout the Midwest. As America's love affair with motor vehicles grew recreational riding quickly caught up to recreational driving. By the 1930s riders were regularly traveling cross country from coast to coast. A common site in any small town could be dusty riders alone or in groups out to see the country.
Sales boomed in the 1920s but it was not all leisure riding. Police departments, delivery companies and the military all used motorcycles or their three wheeled cousins the servi- car. A common site on many a lonely highway was the State Police Officer on his bike. In 1933 New Mexico's motor patrol (forerunner of the State Police) began with 10 officers mounted on Harley Davidson motorcycles. Their job was primarily enforcement of traffic law on the highways.
New Mexico Motor Patrol Cadets.
Regardless of why they were on a motorcycle early riders soon found a need for some protection from road hazards such as grit, rocks, bugs and the occasional low flying bird. In the 1910's riders borrowed clothing from the automobile enthusiasts, long coats, driving glasses and gloves were common gear along with sweaters and driving caps. Post World War 1 riders quickly adopted surplus pilot garb including leather gauntlets and flyers caps. As bikes became heavier and more powerful leather equestrian coats and pants became popular. The most iconic look of all was the black leather coat as worn by Marlon Brando in "The Wild One". Styled after the army uniform "Ike" jacket this apparel was not available until post World War Two when HD introduced it in 1947.
1915 an early group of riding enthusiasts shows off their "Hogs".
1920 with the weight and speed of motorcycles increasing, clothing choices became heavier and stronger to protect riders.
1930 with the end of World War One a surplus of high quality pilot apparel drives another change in riding gear.
Marlon Brandon answers the question of "What are you rebelling against Johnny?" with "Whaddaya got?"
Those of you using 1/24th or 1/32nd will find a large selection of figures and bikes available. Since I am working in 1/20.3 scale I have to settle for 1/20th details. I have only been able to find one motorcycle model suitable for the 1930s. It is made by Matchbox and is a passable version of the single seat 1937 knuckle-head. These come two to a package so I decided to model one figure riding and one figure standing with the bike parked nearby
Left: A cherry 1937 knuckle-head in turquoise blue. This is the bike I based my project on.
Right: The rider body, made from a Tamiya pit crew figure, is fitted to the seat and handlebars of the Matchbox motorcycle.
Paper, styrene and model bits used for the details made this my most complicated figure so far. The Motor Patrol became the New Mexico State Police in 1935. The uniform has remained virtually unchanged in appearance with the distinctive black and grey still used today.
The Completed figures.
It is 1938 on the Cibola Railroad. Route 66 is still a dirt road across the desert running from Chicago to Los Angeles as this rider, decked out in period garb, is ready for a warm bath and a cold beer in the town of Broken Wheel.
"Okay pal, where's the fire?" One of New Mexico's finest stops a speeder outside of Albuquerque in the late 1930's. Many a rancher got their first look at a V-twin while being issued a citation for speeding.
Full build-logs for both figures, including detailed notes on their design, can be found on the main page of the vehicles section.


Style is a part of everyday life in everything we do, it's all around us! My name is Maribel and as long as I can remember fashion has been a big part of my heart and dreams. My love for fashion and styling began with my Barbie dolls. My favorite thing was to dress them up and experiment with different colors, patterns, and textures.
Fashion was not a big focus growing up in a small town farming community where all we wore were jeans and boots. So, I started buying magazines and looking on the internet and made fashion a focus because I was very passionate about it.
Dressing up outside of the norm was never okay but a free pass to get picked on because I was trying to 'color block.' No one ever understood this term; it was more like 'you're not matching'. This was a challenge growing up because no one really understood fashion, it was more of a logo t-shirt and jeans. My parents were a big influence in my fashion dreams. They always pushed me to dream as high as I could. One day I asked my mom if I could subscribe to magazines, little did she know I was going to subscribe to all the fashion magazines I could get my hands on.
I found that I could get lost in magazines and spend all my free time analyzing and thinking how I could make it my own. One day I grabbed and old binder, computer paper, scissors, and some glue and started cutting and recreating my own outfits. Before I knew it I had multiple binders filled with different styles and ideas. This gave me so much inspiration that I knew I wanted to be surrounded by fashion and working in the field when I graduated high school. Stylist was going to be my definition and recreating my styling binder was going to become a reality.
Now, fashion is not only a passion but my life. I am now a personal and lead stylist to a modeling agency. I have the honor of styling babies from four months old to adults over the age of 60 years. My styling range from a portfolio shoot to full fashion shows. I can safely say that this is always the best part of my day because I am doing what I love and once dreamed about.
When it comes to styling, I like to make bold decisions on the pieces I choose and take risks on the accessories because they are always a statement to any outfit. I would rather be overdressed than underdressed. It is always better to regret the things that you wear rather than regretting the things that you don't wear. Taking chances is the best part about fashion and failing is what makes it a trend, you don't fail in fashion you just make it your own. The best part about styling is that you can do it anywhere and it doesn't need to be a big city like New York. I can achieve and recreate my own looks in a town where fashion isn't a focus just like the little town I grew up in.


By knowledgemasti in Crime/Mystery/Paranormal on March 29, 2018 .
Mount Shasta is situated in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of California and is a place covered by puzzles and legends. The clans who lived on the mountain once thought of it as the focal point of creation and all life, while New Age adherents consider it to be the Earth's fundamental purpose of profound energy.In 1931, a gigantic woods fire cleared over the mountain, just to be ceased by an interesting haze that emerged all of a sudden.
It was later understood that the haze had ceased the fire specifically in accordance with the Central Time Zone. This event has never been clarified scientifically. The mountain is additionally said to be a section point to the fifth measurement and a vitality supply base for extraterrestrial art, with nearby towns revealing expansive humanoid figures watching them from a separation. Individuals additionally connect these sightings to the Karuk legend of the "enormous individuals," a race of superhuman people who fled their pulverized city of Lemuria and are in charge of the puzzling events on the mountain.
On the night of September 19, 2002, a bizarre plate showed up in the sky over Yosemite National Park. Various individuals caught the as far as anyone knows outsider specialty on video, and it is presently broadly viewed as a portion of the best UFO film to date. Minutes after this abnormal question was found in the sky, flying corps planes arrived and circumnavigated the territory. In any case, the pilots were not able discover anything.
This episode is one of numerous that have happened in Yosemite National Park, with various guests guaranteeing to have seen peculiar lights in the sky.However, numerous specialists have expelled the sightings as meteors or essentially optical hallucinations. To the extent the general population knows, this claim has never been legitimately researched, so despite everything we don't recognize what was seen over Yosemite that night.
The Smoky Mountains sit along the Tennessee and North Carolina fringe, with the national stop covering more than 187,000 sections of land of land. The site has been known for some vanishings throughout the years. Maybe the most unusual was the situation of Dennis Martin in 1969.The six-year-old kid and his family were on a climbing trip in the Smoky Mountains. Dennis and his three siblings chose to hop out at their folks when they strolled past.
The three siblings went one way, while Dennis went the other way since his splendid red best made him more self-evident. At the point when the time came, the three siblings hopped out at their folks, yet Dennis did not. They assumed that he had missed his sign and called his name while sitting tight for him to turn out. All things considered, he did not.They went searching for Dennis and found no hint of him. So they required the hunt and-save unit to help with discovering him.
Dennis was not found by evening or in the numerous long stretches of looking through that took after. A few people announced seeing a little kid strolling through the forested areas, while others detailed finding different little things of garments. In any case, Dennis was never found.Many conjecture that he was captured or dragged off by a wild creature, however there is no confirmation to help these speculations. He cleared out positively no follow. Right up 'til today, nobody comprehends what precisely happened to Dennis, however he is assumed dead by specialists. Sadly, his case was just a single of numerous to occur in the Smoky Mountains.
In 1946, Katherine Van Alst, an eight-year-old young lady who was with her family at Devil's Den State Park, vanished from their camp and got lost. After six days, she was discovered sitting in a surrender around 48 kilometers (30 mi) away and 183 meters (600 ft) higher than the spot from which she had disappeared.The thing that puzzled the inquiry party was Katherine's noteworthy serenity when they discovered her.
She was accounted for to have strolled gently out of the surrender and reported, "Here I am." How an eight-year-old young lady wearing just a swimming outfit figured out how to movement such a separation and hint at no damage is as yet a riddle. Numerous recommend that something pursued Katherine, which was the reason she strayed so distant from the camp. While it likely wasn't an ambling, radioactive Bigfoot, it can't be denied that it was undoubtedly baffling and that something vile could be sneaking in the Devil's Den stop.
Grand Canyon National Park is maybe a standout amongst the most acclaimed stops on the planet. With just shy of 5,000 square kilometers (1,930 mi2), the gully is filled with puzzles and folklore.One of the clans that occupied the gorge was the Hopi, involved older folks, specialists, and seekers. They flourished there, with a few authors estimating that the clan had constructed an underground stronghold inside the canyon.
The Hopi had confidence in the god Maasaw, the gathered attendant of death. Maasaw is said to live in a particular locale of the gorge. On the off chance that you see weird lights coming toward you from inside the ravine during the evening or you hear a swoon tapping of rocks, Maasaw is after you. While this sounds like superstitious jabber, numerous have encountered sickness and tension in the locale soon after hearing the stones clanking. In spite of the fact that the territory is level and not thought to be unsafe, an extensive number of mischances have happened there.
On January 27, 2018, in Olympic National Park, a monstrously effective power thumped down more than 100 trees. Specialists instantly expected that solid breezes or another meteorological marvel was dependable. In any case, no climate information recommended that anything strange had occurred.The night prior, stop guests had revealed hearing a colossal thundering sound. This persuaded some sort of avalanche or minor tremor had occurred, yet there was no proof indicating that, either.
In a few regions, trees were thumped the distance down. In others, the trees were simply broken and inclining extremely. It is as yet obscure what made such a significant number of trees fall, yet numerous individuals swing to additional "out-there" clarifications. In spite of the fact that we can securely say that it wasn't Bigfoot out on a night frenzy, we can't reach a last determination with respect to what occurred in the Washington woods.


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This peel and stick paper looks like quarter scale wood flooring. This premium product is actually made from fabric with a peel and stick adhesive backing. The tiny grain in the fabric helps to give the impression of wood grain.
No more glue spots, smudges, tears and messy fingers! Pastes and water are not needed.
Also available in walnut color.


text:
Camino de los chilenos () or Rastrillada de los chilenos were a group of routes in Patagonia used by Mapuches and related araucanized tribes to head cattle stolen during malones from Argentina to Chile across the Andes. Camino de los chilenos ran a length of about 1000 km from the Buenos Aires Province to the mountain passes of Neuquén Province. The cattle were traded in Chile for weapons, food and alcoholic beverages. This trade has been pointed out as one of the most important causes of the war that affected the southern provinces of Argentina during large parts of the 19th century. Therefore, the demand for cattle by Chilean merchants was fueling the conflict in Argentina. To counter the cattle raids a trench called Zanja de Alsina was built by Argentina in the pampas in the 1870s. The use of this trade route effectively ended with the Conquest of the Desert (1876-1878) carried out by the Argentine Army.

Sources
Richard O. Perry, "Argentina and Chile: The Struggle for Patagonia 1843-1881", The Americas, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jan., 1980), pp. 347–363, published by Academy of American Franciscan History

Conquest of the Desert
Argentina–Chile border crossings
19th century in Chile
Trade routes
Mapuche history

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia