Welcome to The Macomb Group! We're proud to be a leading wholesale distributor of pipe, valves, and fittings for the Midwest region and beyond.
With headquarters in Sterling Heights, Michigan, we have a total of 16 branches located throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. These operations are strategically located to provide the best inter-branch support possible, meaning our customers in most major urban markets receive same- or next-day access to materials. This high level of accessibility and customer service has landed us in the top 10 nationally as a distributor of industrial PVF and has made us a leading PVF participant in our geographic market.
Our customers come from a diverse mix of end markets, including automotive (OEMs and suppliers), food and beverage, general manufacturing, hospitals, schools and universities, pharmaceutical, utilities, power plants, steel, pulp and paper, refineries, general industry, gas distribution, and the shale/fracking industries. In order to serve such a wide variety of customers, we've spent the past 25 years focusing on organic and acquisitive growth. Founded in 1977 and acquired by the current owners in 1991, The Macomb Group has differentiated itself from competitors by continually expanding our operations to provide unbeatable specialty services, a huge inventory, energy-efficient solutions, and exceptional customer service.
For every need, the driving philosophy at The Macomb Group is to provide superior customer service. We're committed to being a value-added distributor to our customers, not just another company selling PVF products. Our staff prides itself on finding cost-effective solutions for every customer in any industry or application. This principle enhances customer-satisfaction and supports strong long-term relationships with our clients - which is why we're here. At The Macomb Group, we want to be the one-stop source for all of your PVF, plumbing, hydronics, instrumentation, actuated valve, boiler, hot water heater, fire protection, insulation, wastewater, and hose assembly needs!


Roger Hannah & Co has been appointed to act for a substantial landowner with regard to the construction of a section of the A556 trunk road between Knutsford and Bowdon to create a dual carriageway road. The existing A556 will be made into a single carriageway road with facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.
The new dual carriageway section will dissect the land belonging to a Grade II Listed country house and will reduce the size of the estate by approximately 25%. Part of the retained land will be on the opposite side of the new road and the proximity of the road will have a detrimental effect on the value of the property.
It is imperative that a CPO does not undermine a claimant's occupation of their property and that any disturbance is kept to a minimum. Roger Hannah & Co is acting for their client to obtain the best possible compensation which, in this case, can be broken down into two elements. The first area of compensation relates to the Market Value of the land taken and the second element relates to additional compensation referred to as disturbance. This covers matters not associated with Market Value, such as injurious affection, severance, loss payment and professional fees. In this particular case, injurious affection will form the largest head of claim as the proposed road will inevitably have a major detrimental impact on the value of the retained property.
If you are affected by this scheme or any other Compulsory Purchase Order please do not hesitate to get in touch.


Take your standard Land Rover Range Rover Velar and throw in a set of performance upgrades to both the motor and chassis bits, along with aesthetic tweaks and what do yu get? The result is the new Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition.
The new range-topper in the Velar lineup boasts of a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 that puts out 542hp and 680Nm of torque. All that added power is set to all four wheels via 8-speed automatic gearbox, allowing the midsize SUV to scoot from 0-100kph in just 4.5 seconds before going on to a 274kph top speed.
Matching the added thrust are uprated brakes with a larger diameter and red or gloss black calipers, as well as an upgraded all-wheel drive transfer case. This allows the SUV to handle better, with quicker responses, and likewise stop on a dime despite being able to go faster.
Apart from the mechanical tweaks, the SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition gets a redesigned front bumper with more prominent air intakes up front, and quad exhaust tips out back. The cosmetic changes continue on the inside with a sportier steering wheel and an overall vibe that is more dynamic, courtesy of the optional carbon fiber pack.
Want one? Better hurry as Land Rover is only offering the Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition for only a year.


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Q: Rearrange row elements using numpy in Python I'm very new to python so i would appreciate any help I can get.  How can I rearrange A to look like B?
A=([3,5,6,9,0,0,0,0,0])
B=([0,0,3,0,5,6,0,0,9])

Specifically, I want to rearrange A using the the entries as an index.  So I want the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 9th elements of B to be the value of that index.

A: Since this is tagged numpy, here's a numpy solution:
In [11]: A = np.array([3,5,6,9,0,0,0,0,0])

Extract the poisition of the nonzero elements in A:
In [12]: np.nonzero(A)[0]
Out[12]: array([0, 1, 2, 3])

In [13]: ind = A[np.nonzero(A)[0]]

Trimming the zeroes may be equivalent (depending on the rules of the game):
In [14]: np.trim_zeros(A)
Out[14]: array([3, 5, 6, 9])

Create a B of zeroes and then fill with ind:
In [15]: B = np.zeros(A.max() + 1)

In [16]: B[ind] = ind

In [17]: B
Out[17]: array([ 0.,  0.,  0.,  3.,  0.,  5.,  6.,  0.,  0.,  9.])

A: I assume that you don't have any duplicate element in A or the element that is larger than the length of the list A. Then, using list comprehension,
B = [ i if i in A else 0 for i in range(1,10) ]

would work.

Explanation:
First, a list comprehension
[i for i in range(1,10)]

gives [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. You want to put 0 if an element in this list does not belong to the list A. Thus, you replace the first i in the list comprehension to i if i in A else 0. It means that i is left alone if it belongs to A, orelse substitute 0.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
President Chavez Announces Construction of 15 New Hospitals in Venezuela
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the construction of 15 new hospitals across the country at an event in Caracas yesterday. The new hospitals, along with the remodeling of existing hospitals, make up the third and fourth phases of the Barrio Adentro (Inside the Barrio) health program.
By Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com
Jul 26th 2007 at 8.51pm
chavez_perez_carreno.jpg
Mérida, July 26, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the construction of 15 new hospitals across the country at an event in Caracas yesterday. The new hospitals, along with the remodeling of existing hospitals, make up the third and fourth phases of the Barrio Adentro (Inside the Barrio) health program. The Chavez government's social programs, such as Barrio Adentro, have benefited nearly 50 percent of Venezuelan households according to a recent survey.
Chavez announced the new hospitals yesterday at the inauguration of the remodeled and reequipped Pérez Carreño hospital in Caracas. The 15 new hospitals will be general care hospitals, but each will have a specialization, according to Chavez. The president gave as examples the hospital to be built in El Vigia, in the state of Merida, which will specialize in Gastroenterology, and the hospital in Guarenas, in the state of Miranda, which will specialize in cancer treatment. Hospitals will also be built in the states of Barinas, Apure, Anzoátegui, Cojedes, Aragua, Carabobo, Guarico, and Bolivar.
As a part of the Barrio Adentro health program, these new hospitals make up the fourth phase of the health program consisting of building specialized hospitals. The third phase, launched in 2006, is the upgrading and remodeling of existing hospitals such as the Pérez Carreño hospital that Chavez inaugurated yesterday. These hospitals receive improvements in their infrastructure as well as new medical equipment and facilities.
"We have seen equipment that did not exist in Venezuela before, now for the service of all Venezuelans," said Chavez yesterday at the Pérez Carreño hospital. "Some of them have been installed and operated for the first time. This, combined with high quality medical personnel, is the perfect combination of man and machine."
The Pérez Carreño hospital was equipped with a new emergency room with capacity to treat 66 patients simultaneously, two operating rooms, and two recovery rooms, as well as a variety of state-of-the-art technology. Chavez commented that this model emergency room is "number one, not only in Venezuela, but on this continent. It would be difficult to find an emergency service as good as this one."
This is the beginning of the third phase of Barrio Adentro, according to Chavez, and he said he hopes to see "all the hospitals in the country as good as [the] Pérez Carreño [hospital]."
According to Health Minister Jesus Mantilla, the Venezuelan government has approved a total of Bs. 1,355 billion (US$ 631 million) for the remodeling and upgrading of 62 public hospitals across the country. The minister said that more hospitals will be incorporated into the project as the program advances.
"All of the people need preventative, healing, quality care that is efficient and free," said Chavez. "This is a truly revolutionary concept."
The social programs of the Chavez' government that include health, nutrition, and education programs have reached 47.7 percent of Venezuelan homes according to a recent survey by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV). The study showed that 62.3 percent of low-income homes benefit from the programs, while only 22 percent of middle class homes have been reached. The study also showed that general well-being among the Venezuelan population had improved from 1997 to 2005. Inequality, however, had slightly increased from 2000 to 2005
Chavez assured yesterday that these results were evidence that Venezuela is "winning the battle against capitalism." He also cited results of a recent survey that showed he enjoys the support of 70 percent of the population.
"Imagine if we could increase the efficiency in the general management of the government," said Chavez. "If we could do a better follow up on things, if we were more efficient, our support would get as high as 90 percent."
Chavez also cited results that show that 35 percent of Venezuelans say they prefer a socialist system, while 40 percent support a social democracy, and only 5 percent prefer a capitalist system.
But Chavez claimed that the survey was poorly designed since it asked the question as if socialism was different from democracy.
"The new socialism isn't the dictatorship of the proletariat," he said. "It's democracy."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Compile error of Swigibpy Python package I'm trying to install Swigibpy package for Python. I'm on Windows 7 64bit, Anaconda 32bit (Python 2.7.9).
https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy
I tried to follow the instruction in this thread
Making Cython work with Python 3.4 on Anacondas, Windows 7 64-bit
To install Visual Studio for Python 2.7..
I get this error. Anyone know how to solve it?
C:\swigibpy-master>python setup.py build_ext --inplace --compiler=msvc
running build_ext
building '_swigibpy' extension
C:\Users\tmgike\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\Microsoft\Visual C++ for Python\9.
0\VC\Bin\cl.exe /c /nologo /Ox /MD /W3 /GS- /DNDEBUG -DIB_USE_STD_STRING=1 -IIB
-IIB/src -IIB/shared -IC:\Anaconda\include -IC:\Anaconda\PC /TpIB/src/EClientSoc
ketBase.cpp /Fobuild\temp.win32-2.7\Release\IB/src/EClientSocketBase.obj /D_CRT_
SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE /EHsc /wd4355 /wd4800
EClientSocketBase.cpp
IB/shared\EClientSocketBaseImpl.h(308) : error C3861: 'snprintf': identifier not
 found
error: command 'C:\\Users\\tmgike\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Common\\Microsoft\\
Visual C++ for Python\\9.0\\VC\\Bin\\cl.exe' failed with exit status 2

C:\swigibpy-master>


text:
Thematic structure is a concept in linguistics. When people talk, there are purposes in three separable parts of utterances, the act of speech, the propositional content and the thematic structure. Because speaking is cooperative, in order that the speaking can be effective in the conversation, speakers have to pay attention to their listeners' knowledge, state of mind and level of understanding. Speakers can assume that listeners know or do not know what speakers are talking about.

According to Michael Halliday, the speakers' judgements about the listeners' current mental states are reflected in what is called the thematic structure used.

The thematic structure has three main functions:
To convey given information and new information
To subject and predicate
To frame and insert

A thematic structure is a preoccupying conception of a proposition which runs throughout a media text, usually around an initiating topic. It strategically ties together a number of more specific conception or statements on the basis of particular social forms of knowledge and social forms of perception and belief. A thematic structure helps to make a media text coherent -- it orients a text around a central theme or a strand of related themes running through a story. (reference: David Deacon(2007), Researching communications, p. 174)

References

Linguistics

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Call Go4 Marketing and Public Relations Ltd today on 01233 636878 or email malcolm@go4marketing.net to see what we can do for you. Initial consultations are free and without obligation.
If the right words are vital in conveying your marketing message to your customers, then good design is an essential part of making sure people pick up and read that message.
At Go4 Marketing and Public Relations we work with a variety of different designers, all with particular skills and experience, to create a design that works for your product in your market place.
At Go4 we believe that good design is built on the basic marketing principle of understanding the audience and then creating a design that will grab the attention of that audience.
We will only brief a designer once we have talked to you about your message and your audience and agreed with you a concept that will bring those two things together.
We love good design but we never lose sight of the fact that it is there to sell the product or service, not just to make the designer feel good or allow him to impress his designer friends.
Above all it is important to remember that good design does not have to be expensive, but a design that doesn't sell the product is a complete waste of money.


There are lots of websites out there for children to use to support their work in school and for them to enjoy. These are some of the websites that we suggest. It is however important that you limit the time your child spends online and that you ALWAYS monitor what they are doing.
A great Maths website for children of all ages. The children will need their username and login from school to use this website.
A very clever document that links to a number of websites for the children to use as part of their revision. It also includes handy videos to explain things!
A website that has games for English, Maths and Topic. Great fun with lots to do.
Lots of Maths fun to be had by all ages.
Bite-sized fun by the BBC for Key Stage 1 children on English, Maths and Science.
Bite-sized fun by the BBC for Key Stage 2 children on English, Maths and Science.
A wide range of games and activities for children on all aspects of Maths.


text:
School Security Gets Smarter
Making sure you have the right security in place
By Steve Surfaro
From program management to application and deployment, security practitioners from schools, corporations and government agencies are asking: Do we have enough security?
Perhaps an even more important question is: do we have the right security?
While many facilities share similar security risks such as entrance and exit points, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. After all, the security needs of a one-room schoolhouse greatly differ from those of a multi-building campus. Technologies such as access control, video surveillance and mass notification can help ensure the safety and security of a school when properly designed and deployed. But a fully integrated and functional security system doesn't just happen overnight. So where do you get started?
From Assessment to Planning
The first step is to recognize the school's specific security needs. School officials typically begin this discovery process with a threat and vulnerability assessment (TVA). This can be as simple as having a number of experts walk through the facility and put together a checklist to help identify operating procedures and policies for incident response, crisis management and recovery. The TVA is based on risk associated with the full spectrum of threats, including natural events, accidents or intentional acts to cause harm. The results of such assessments are then used to develop sound, scalable security master plans.
Security master plans touch on nearly all aspects and departments of a school facility, so it is important to include all stakeholders in its initial development from the system designer, manufacturer, systems integrator, parents, teachers, IT department, and superintendent to first responders.
The Department of Homeland Security recognizes six disciplines for first responders: EMS, law enforcement, fire, explosives, HAZMAT, and search and rescue. Procedures for direct communication and collaboration with first responders in any of these categories should be built in to a school's security plan. In the unfortunate event of an incident, a streamlined approach can help save valuable time and maximize resources.
Be sure to define objectives and discuss potential consequences of the risks, threats and vulnerabilities that are identified. Developing a security plan for a school requires a careful balance of budgets, expectations, privacy and the safety of the students and staff to create a realistic and comprehensive plan.
Top of the Class Technologies
Once the security plan is created, it can be linked to human resources and security technology systems. Thanks to technological advancements in recent years, security systems have become increasingly sophisticated and have been designed to meet specific security challenges that are common in educational environments.
Communications. Emergency communications and IP paging is now typically bundled with unified communications (UC) management systems that many schools already have. A number of solution developers offer off-the-shelf and customized emergency communications and mass notifications systems. From phone-to-phone live audio paging to audio announcements to groups of phones within a school, this form of UC is gaining traction.
Intra-communication is equally important. Are there communications protocols between office and classrooms for emergencies? Cloud computing, mobility and video surveillance provide new opportunities for better communication during emergencies. A popular solution permits the "opt-in" of a mobile device to a school's emergency communications network, allowing simplified sharing of potential threats and incidents in progress. This solution has now "graduated" to include automated call up of nearby surveillance cameras to the incident and personal emergency applications triggered by students, faculty and staff.
Automated license plate capture and recognition (ALPR). As stated by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, law enforcement agencies throughout the nation are increasingly adopting automated license plate recognition technologies to enhance investigative capabilities and compare vehicle license plates with lists of stolen, wanted and other vehicles of interest. ALPR systems automatically capture an image of the vehicle's license plate, transform that image into alphanumeric characters, compare the plate number to a database of vehicles of interest and send an alert when such a vehicle of interest has been observed. Today's "smart" surveillance cameras with embedded platforms can host an ALPR application and even communicate to the school and public safety "back office" systems—all within a matter of seconds.
HDTV imaging. With today's HDTV standards, high-quality forensic video data is available in the current lower-cost IP video cameras and enhance dependent processes like video analytics, ALPR and still-image enhancement. Video quality and HDTV aid review and investigations, and together with H.264 compression, offer a balance of color fidelity, frame rate and visual acuity.
Video and physical access mobility. Remote video surveillance is now an integral part of private and public server-storage and/or cloudbased video surveillance systems. The ability to receive even buffered or near real-time video content during an event is a great situation awareness improvement for first responders. The use of the mobile access credential is still at the pilot stage for many schools, but is a promising cost reduction opportunity.
Lighting, safe waiting areas. LED lighting is now a popular part of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) and offers an improvement to both video surveillance and deterrence. Equipped with LED lighting, advanced video motion detection and wireless emergency communications, newer, modular outdoor waiting areas on a school campus are effective improvements.
Time for an Upgrade?
Often the kneejerk reaction, especially following tragic incidents, is to completely overhaul the current security system. However, this startfrom- scratch approach is often not feasible—and even unnecessary. It is also never best to make security decisions in haste. Part of the TVA is a review of existing systems and provides recommendations on whether to upgrade, replace or keep existing components.
With many schools facing limited budgets, complete system overhauls can be expensive. However, when it comes to transitioning to IP video surveillance, for instance, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Existing quality coaxial infrastructure can be leveraged using video encoders or coax converters, making the migration path to IP video easier and more cost-effective. Schools that cannot go to a full IP video system at once can still reap the benefits of IP video, including searchable video and intelligent analytics, while adding IP cameras with superior image quality to their system on a camera-bycamera basis as budgets permit.
After compatible systems are selected and implemented, maintenance and upkeep of the system is still important. Improvements need to be continually considered in trending technologies, particularly in industrial security, cyber security and consumer electronics/commercial technologies. Technology and other security countermeasures are only useful if properly managed and maintained. Certified security professionals can recommend ways to scale the system to continue to meet growing and changing needs.
Putting It to the Test
From fire drills to bus evacuations, many schools already conduct routine tests to ensure that certain safety plans and procedures are effective. This should be no different for the school's security system.
Schools with security staffs can conduct internal trainings for staff to become familiar with how the system can respond and be utilized depending on the type of event. Locating a lost child will elicit a much different response than preparations for an approaching tornado. Identifying the key technologies that are most useful in various situations in advance will help ensure that the best decisions are made if they become reality.
Collaboration with local and federal law enforcement agencies is also an important proactive step. Schools should work with these agencies to set up full day drills and involve the students. Oftentimes knowing that a plan is already in place can be a comfort to many students and parents, especially if a security issue arises. Working with law enforcement under normal conditions will open lines of communication and understanding, helping to establish and define the respective roles of school officials and law enforcement.
If law enforcement responds to an event, they will arrive on scene with a pre-existing relationship with school officials and an intimate knowledge of the technologies and tools at their disposable.
Many school systems across the country have specifically focused on active shooter scenarios. Resources abound, but it is important to consider education from board certified practitioners, and first responders' perspectives. As part of their Enhanced Violence Assessment and Management Curricula, ASIS International offers the workshop, "Active Shooter: Prevention, Intervention, and Response." Useful training is close to the schools and often available on request from local law enforcement agencies. These will typically consist of training drills involving multiple police and emergency agencies and held on site at the school.
The Department of Homeland Security developed courses and guidelines for active shooter preparedness, providing schools with numerous resources and the flexibility to prepare the students and staff in a way that best meets their individual needs.
Active shooter scenarios are not the only threats to be considered. Remember that the website, firstresponder.gov, is organized by the six major response scenarios: EMS, law enforcement, fire, explosives, HAZMAT and search and rescue. All areas must be considered in the school security plan.
No school system or law enforcement agency hopes to ever answer such a call, but having the proper procedures, communication and technology in place in advance can help protect the students, staff and first responders. Security systems are one piece of a multi-layered approach that can help provide peace of mind, situational awareness and forensic evidence in the event of the unthinkable.
This article originally appeared in the July 2013 issue of Security Today.


text:
Going for Lofty Goals
Philip Gold
Congratulations to the United States Army. When Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki gave his recent "Army Vision" speech to an Army audience, he offered a set of goals that are correct, compelling, and–if aggressively pursued and adequately funded–the best thing to happen to the service since Desert Storm or the day they consumed the last of their Nam-era C-rations, whichever came first. As a former Marine, I find his intention to turn the Army into the "most feared ground force" in the world, well, commendable. As for the rest, after a decade of stagnation and deterioration (and a decade in which a lot of ideas slowly percolated) it's good to see the Army on the move.
Still, questions arise. Not criticisms, but the kinds of questions generated by a wondrously ambitious vision. To take a few.
"Strategic Dominance" General Shinseki speaks of "Strategic Dominance across the Entire Spectrum of Operations." A wise approach that steers between a hoary "Sorry, we only fight the wars we want to fight" intransigeance and that too-glib-by-half "911 Force for the Global Village" slogan of a few years ago. But there may be a danger here. Today, the Army maintains ten active divisions of various kinds: airborne, air mobile, air cavalry, light infantry, mechanized infantry, armor, etc. These forces are traditionally decreed "General Purpose," available for most anything. Yes, when the balloon hits the fan, you go with what you got. But experience shows that peacekeeping and other operations short of war not only require special skills and training; they blunt and exhaust combat units. Combat forces should, to the maximum extent possible, be protected from such assignments. Ten divisions ain't much. And the total Army, active, reserve, and National Guard, numbers a million or more. Surely specialized ops-other-than-war units would pay their way.
"Smaller Units, Greater Lethality" General Shinseki calls for restructured units that draw upon advanced technology. The era of ponderous Industrial Age warfare, of armies piled on armies, is over. He proposes both new kinds of weaponry and new organizational arrangements, including the ability to "task organize on the move." Yes, absolutely. But the question arises: Is the traditional division/corps (a group of divisions) structure still relevant? An Army general told me, "We know we can take out one level of command. We just don't know which one." But taking out one level would mean sacrificing the command and staff billets so prized by the officer corps, and so necessary for career advancement. Is the Army ready to follow the logic of restructuring wherever it leads, or will the tendency to applique technologies onto existing units and then furiously cross-patch prevail?
"Gettin' There" General Shinseki sets a breath-taking mobility goal. He wants to be able to put at least one combat brigade team (several thousand people) anywhere in the world in 96 hours; a division (currently 10,000 – 18,000 people, plus support) in 120 hours; and 5 divisions in 30 days. Five divisions means moving millions of tons. That means sealift. Lots of sealift. And sealift to meet these requirements must be as advanced as the gear they'll carry: fast ships (50 – 60 knots) that can load and unload in hours, with or without extensive and vulnerable port facilities, then scoot. Such ships are possible; some are under civilian development. A mixed fleet, military and civilian on-call, will be vital. Finally, an item General Shinseki didn't mention: the Citizen Soldier.
For obvious reasons, not everybody, active or citizen, needs to be good-to-go all the time. Also for obvious reasons, some units will get the new stuff long before others. But in an era of rapid technological change, "tiered readiness" can lead, de facto, to forces so differently trained and equipped as to make inter-operability or reinforcement extremely difficult. Will the Army Reserve and Guard retain the relevance mandated by the Total Force Policy?
This matters for two reasons. First, despite all the lamentations over the loss of "connection" between the military and the people, that connection remains (as the Founders intended) in the citizen soldier. Second, as the Army moves ever more deeply into homeland defense–read here "consequence management" and "support" of law enforcement and other civilian activities–that linkage must be strengthened.
In sum, despite the questions, General Shinseki has demonstrated the potential to become a genuine military statesman (Another fine indicator: upcoming talks with Marine Commandant James Jones on expanding co-operative endeavors). Of course, he can't do it alone, any more than General Creighton Abrams could when he undertook to redeem the post-Vietnam force. And therein lies the human beauty. It will take ten years to realize this vision. The captains who take up the challenge now will be colonels then; today's colonels, generals. General Abrams and his legacy brought forth the leaders of Desert Storm. General Shinseki and his legacy should be no different.
Dr. Philip Gold is a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute, and director of the Institute's Aerospace 2010 Project. A former Marine, he is the author of Evasion,: The American Way of Military Service and over 100 articles on defense matters. He teaches at Georgetown University and is a frequent op-ed contributor to several newspapers. Dr. Gold divides his time between Seattle and Washington, D.C.


The maiden vintage Tokara Méthode Cap Classique Blanc de Blanc 2011 is superb. From Chardonnay grown on this producer's Elgin property, the wine spent five years on the lees.
The nose shows a subtle aldehydic character as well as a hint of reduction, these two qualities playing off against each other to good effect while there is also citrus and apple also in evidence. The palate is pristine with wonderfully pure and concentrated fruit, fresh acidity, the mousse soft and pleasantly lazy. The depth of flavour is extraordinary and this is surely one of the most accomplished local bubblies to be had. Price: R650 a bottle.


text:
David Paul Morris/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Kids Know Their Gender, According To Science
by Josie Rhodes Cook
On Tuesday, The Hill reported that President Trump has approved a plan for the Departments of Education and Justice to send letters to schools reversing guidance that transgender students be able to use the restroom consistent with their gender identities. Last year, the Obama Administration issued guidance to all public school districts in the United States, directing them to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms matching their gender identities. So, Trump's directive would be a reversal of those guidelines. But Obama's legislation wasn't just forcing a progressive agenda down people's throats: it was based on science and psychology. Kids know their gender, according to science, and we need to protect their rights, especially in the face of this news.
According to The Advocate, Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told the Washington Blade that sources have told her the departments in question will send a letter Tuesday withdrawing the guidelines. The publication was not able to secure comment on the report from the White House or either of the departments involved. Keisling is quoted as saying:
I'm angry; I'm outraged. This is about kids who just want to go to school who just want to be themselves, and to hear the president a week or two ago talk about how supportive he is of LGBT people, it's just outrageous that he go after trans kids this way.
The White House hasn't responded to Romper's request for comment.
Sara D. Davis/Getty Images News/Getty Images
This reversal of guidelines for trans students is a blow to advocates working for the rights of transgender individuals, and children in particular. Plenty of stories and studies have made it clear that gender isn't an unknown to kids; in fact, children unquestionably know what gender means, and are aware of the limits gender places on them.
Vanessa LoBue, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University Newark, has said, "children don't begin to notice and adopt gender-stereotyped behaviours (e.g., preferring colours like pink or blue) until the age of two or three." Some research suggests that, "children's concept of gender develops gradually between the ages of three and five. After the age of five, most children believe that outward changes in clothing or hairstyle don't constitute a change in gender."
According to Vox, a study from the TransYouth Project found that trans children as young as 5 responded to "psychological gender-association tests" — which assess how one views themselves within gender roles — as consistently as kids who don't identify as trans. In other words, kids are pretty sure of their preferred gender pretty early on after a few years of navigating a world in which gender norms are encouraged and enforced.
Children figuring out their gender identity need to be supported, not shamed. This reported reversal by the Trump Administration in regards to bathroom use by trans students in schools may make kids feel, at best, conflicted about their identity. At worst, it could lead to more dire results.
A study by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Williams Institute found that 41 percent of transgender individuals try to kill themselves at some point during their lifetimes. And in particular, one study using data from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey found a correlation between the high suicide rates of transgender teens and bathroom restrictions for transgender teens.
The Trump Administration undoing the guidelines previously set forth by the Obama Administration creates discrimination that could actually lead to trans kids hurting themselves. If kids are aware of their gender early on, and they just want to use the bathroom that best matches their identity, what's the point in forcing them not to do so?


Le Château des Marais luxury camping site is strategically surrounded by numerous sumptuous castle-style Châteaux.
Set against a backdrop of the luxurious and lush Loire valley, the site has been tastefully designed to encompass the foundations of a regal and rural manor house. With the royal palace of Château de Chambord just three miles away, this holiday hideaway is perfect for families who wish to flavour some French opulence as well as tune into the tranquil atmosphere. To select your choice of mobile home accommodation, get in touch with LUX-camp today.
What is special about a Le Château des Marais camping holiday? Offers a traditional and authentic French holiday experience. Surrounded by 70 castle sites. Swimming complex with five pools. Close proximity to a river, a lake and stunning landscape views.Choices of water themes - lake, lagoon and river You are almost guaranteed good weather in this sunny region, and what better way to make use of it than to go swimming? Le Château des Marais is all about luxury camping and offers guests a variety of ways to while away the hours. The kids will absolutely adore the five pools, especially the lazy river feature. There are water slides, a special water chute and smaller paddling pools for toddlers to play in. As if that were not enough water fun, there are a lake and river just a kilometre away.
Now that you have the children sorted, how about a little pampering for Mum and Dad? Le Château des Marais provides a wonderful spa and relaxation area with a variety of treats to make your holiday special too. Choose from massage, manicure and pedicure favourites. Try out the steam room, sauna and Jacuzzi - or allow yourself the luxury of a facial. There is a range of other full-body beauty therapies including the traditional Balneo treatments. If you are a more active type, there is a vast amount of physical activities for you to engage in.
When not enjoying your luxury tent or mobile home, the surrounding Chambord countryside is home to several sumptuous castles, with their opulent grounds and well-maintained structures. Among these is the splendiferous Château de Chambord, renowned for its sheer opulence. It is the largest of the châteaux in the lovely, Loire valley and should be first on your list of places to visit. This grandiose site has a staggering 22 miles of stone walls, and dominates the 12,00 acres of land around it. It is rumoured that Leonardo Da Vinci was responsible for some of the delectable design.
Le Château des Marais holiday camping site comes complete with a resident, terraced restaurant, take-away and bar. They run alongside each other so you can conveniently eat, drink and be merry. There is also a small supermarket onsite, which is well stocked with all your camping necessities.


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EU Aims to Curb Carbon Footprint via Breakthrough in Space Program
New Black and Orange Bat Species Discovered in West Africa
Offshore Wind Power Is Ready to Boom. Here's What That Means for Wildlife
Could IKEA's New Tiny House Help Fight the Climate Crisis?
Can Plastic Ever Be Made Illegal?
Nov. 13, 2017 12:22PM EST Popular
By Danielle Corcione
I thought I knew what garbage looked like. Then I arrived in Bangalore, the third-largest city in India.
There was trash almost everywhere you looked. Plastic bottles, food packaging and other waste that could've potentially been recycled contaminated the landscape, even in people's front- and backyards. When I'd ride into the city from the ashram where I was staying in the countryside, I'd inhale toxic fumes of garbage piles burning and observe wild animals rummaging through fields of trash.
During my first day on Commercial Street, one of the city's busiest thoroughfares, I could feel the pollution sink into my pores and ignite oils on my face. The ground was no better. While wearing only flimsy flip-flops, I nearly stepped on a rat with a candy wrapper in its mouth.
My experiences weren't just anecdotal. According to a 2016 study by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore generates 5,000 metric tons of garbage a day, of which only 10 percent on average is recycled. The city's landfills, however, can only handle 2,100 tons of waste per day.
When I returned home, I quickly learned that Bangalore was not alone, and how the U.S. plastic lobby keeps its waste pollution behind closed doors. New York City—which has a population 1.5 million fewer people than Bangalore—throws away twice as much garbage; according to GrowNYC, residents of the Big Apple produce 12,000 tons of solid waste a day.
My experiences inspired a radical belief in me, going beyond plastic-bag bans and littering fines: Plastic should be illegal.
Communities around the world have taken action to ban single-use plastic bags. I began to wonder, could we ever take things a step further by banning plastic altogether? That's not an easy question, I quickly learned, because not all plastics are created—and therefore, disposed of—equally.
When we explore the possibility of banning plastic, we need to be specific about which kinds. The base of all plastic is resins, which are composed of polymers. Different chemicals are required to make the many different types of resin. According to the American Chemistry Council, some common types include:
Polyethylene terephthalate, found in water bottles;
High-density polyethylene, included in bags for grocery and retail purchases;
Low-density polyethylene, used for food packaging and shrink wrap;
Polypropylene, utilized for medicine bottles and bottle caps; and
Polystyrene, typically in the form of Styrofoam.
Each of those types of plastic comes with different potential environmental costs. "The plastics of greatest concern from an environmental health perspective are polyvinyl chloride (vinyl), polystyrene, polycarbonate, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene," said Mike Schade, Mind the Store campaign director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. "Using vinyl products exposes consumers to hormone-disrupting phthalates, which are dangerous at very low levels of exposure." Even getting rid of vinyl is dangerous, he said, because when incinerated, it's one of the most toxic man-made chemicals.
Additionally, I found that not all plastics are regulated equally. Although there hasn't been any federal U.S. legislation yet banning vinyl, or any other type of plastic, cities and states have successfully passed and adopted measures to ban plastic bags. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Austin, Cambridge, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco are among the cities to implement straight bans as opposed to fees. Meanwhile, statewide bans have passed in California and Hawaii.
"When it comes to high density polyethylene and other [types of] plastic bags, the biggest issues are with them clogging up landfills, polluting parks, and waterways," Schade said. "Plastic bags are a huge solid waste problem and a waste of precious resources."
According to the Earth Policy Institute, the U.S. consumes 100 billion plastic bags each year, which is enough to circle the equator 1,330 times.
What if plastic bags were to be banned in the U.S., as they were in Kenya earlier this year? Unfortunately that legal battle would require likely copious amounts of money to fight the plastic industry, most notably the American Progressive Bag Alliance, a pro-plastic lobbying group run by the American Chemistry Council. In her documentary Plastic Patch: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which I initially watched after returning from India, journalist Angela Sun revealed that the council is an umbrella organization for Dow Chemical Company, DuPont and ExxonMobil.
According to a recent report in The Huffington Post, the group is the moneybag behind legislation to ban the banning of plastic bags. These types of laws have already passed in states like Florida and Arizona. As depicted in Sun's film, the American Progressive Bag Alliance ran negative, untruthful commercials urging Californians to vote against that state's proposed plastic bag ban years ago. This year, the Iowa became the most recent state to ban plastic bag bans following a push from the organization and the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Ironically, experts tell me that plastic-bag bans can actually endanger municipalities by instigating lawsuits from "big plastic."
"Cities potentially expose themselves to lawsuits over environmental claims if they only ban plastic bags, but allow other bags to be given away for free," explained Jennie Romer, a New York City-based attorney and founder of Plastic Bag Laws. Romer works with grassroots organizations in New York City to push for plastic-bag fees; according to The New York Times, Gov. Cuomo quashed a measure to implement a 5-cent fee on plastic bags earlier this year.
There's a reason why conversations about the plastics industry revolve around plastic bags: it's a gateway to other environmental issues. Romer explained that once people get accustomed to having certain plastics banned, the plastic industry becomes concerned about the potential of all plastic products being banned rather than just bags. In other words, I realized that plastic bag legislation isn't really about plastic bags; it's about what other types of plastic can be potentially banned in the future.
While governments can regulate the plastics industry, ultimately, the effort to reduce plastic consumption comes down to shifting consumer behavior, Romer said. She adds that implementing fees encourage consumers to be more mindful compared to straight bans.
"People just don't get a bag when they get an item or two or they bring a bag when they don't want to pay a fee," Romer explained.
While plastic bags are her focus, Romer also consults on expanded polystyrene, found in Styrofoam. She believes this type of plastic requires a straight ban because it breaks up more easily and cannot be recycled, unlike high-density polyethylene in plastic bags.
Sun told me the government should have a role in regulating the labeling of plastic products. "Just because Bisphenol A [or BPA] is a buzz word and in social consciousness, the chemical industry can easily make a slight change and call it something else and still have a BPA-free label on it because it's technically free of BPA," she said. "Putting a BPA label on a baby bottle doesn't mean it's necessarily OK to be used."
Sun also stresses that while governments should implement policies to reduce plastic consumption systematically, it's up to individual people to raise awareness about the issue. No matter how much policy can influence our everyday lives, reducing plastic ultimately falls us—as individual consumers—to take action. This both inspires me and disappoints me, because it's difficult to fight against a culture specifically designed to consume plastic. After all, bringing your own reusable bag doesn't go very far when most of the products you purchase are packaged in plastic.
"Social change is hard to do, but it can be done little by little," explained Sun. "Empowered citizens in different realms have pushed and lobbied for this change. It's power to the people."
While bans, whether they are for plastic bags or certain types of resin, seem to be the best idealistic policy for the environment, I learned that they can make governments vulnerable to lawsuits by the plastic lobby. While fees can inspire a change in consumer behavior without the potential of legal action, even those are difficult to just get passed. If we seriously consider banning plastic, not only do we have to specify which kinds, but we also need to work around a system heavily influenced by plastic manufacturers. Otherwise the U.S.' garbage problem could start to look a lot more like Bangalore's.
Reposted with permission from our media associate The Revelator.
the revelator plastics plastic bags earth policy institute
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst stand at the Orion spacecraft during a visit at the training unit of the Columbus space laboratory at the European Astronaut training centre of the European Space Agency ESA in Cologne, Germany on May 18, 2016. Ina Fassbender / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
By Monir Ghaedi
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep most of Europe on pause, the EU aims for a breakthrough in its space program. The continent is seeking more than just a self-sufficient space industry competitive with China and the U.S.; the industry must also fit into the European Green Deal.

'Strategic Autonomy' in Space

"I believe we need a more offensive and aggressive strategy," said the European Commissioner Thierry Breton as he laid out the main priorities for the EU space program over the next seven years. Breton said that the European Union must move quickly to reduce its dependence on third countries.

"Enhancing Europe's strategic autonomy in space is not an option" @ThierryBreton #BBESpaceConf https://t.co/Qm9gOeUh4v
 — Business Bridge Europe (@Business Bridge Europe)1610441257.0

"Strategic autonomy" is Brussels's latest catchphrase that echoed throughout Breton's and other EU officials' speeches during the 13th European Space Conference earlier this week. As Europe plans to address economic needs within its borders, its aerospace program is set to focus inwards as well.

Breton mentioned having independent EU-wide internet coverage as another important target. Noting that "attacks on the internet are not fiction anymore," Breton explained that the EU must construct a secure broadband network.

He also emphasized that the European Commission needs to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in space, while continuing to expand its existing projects. Otherwise, he said, Galileo and Copernicus – Europe's major satellite projects – will soon become obsolete.

After these plans receive approval from European governments and the European Parliament, €15 billion ($18.2 billion) will fund space sector projects during the 2021-2027 period, in addition to current funding from national governments and private investments.

Meeting the Competition and Climate Goals

During the past decade, the number of satellite launches and space missions has surged internationally. China's lunar rover landed on the far side of the moon. Private companies in the U.S. have made rapid advancements too. SpaceX successfully returned two of its reusable rocket cores to Earth.

As vital infrastructure like transportation and communications rely more and more on space technology, there's a greater sense of urgency for the EU to realize its own space ambitions.

The continent's other pressing objective is to become carbon neutral by 2050. Expansion of EU aerospace activities – now heavily dependent on the production of metal and fuel – must comply with the European Green Deal.

Alignment of these two goals might not be straightforward, but in the view of EU officials, the space program has a role to play in fighting climate change, fostering green technologies like clean fuels and optimized farming. Additionally, data and services from space are used to constantly monitor the Earth and measure things like CO2 levels.

EU officials and entrepreneurs mentioned clean fuel production and satellite monitoring missions as two promising areas to help achieve Europe's Green Deal and other environmental targets.

Clean Energy in Space and on Earth

One of the areas in which European space companies have a leg up is the production of liquid hydrogen as fuel. When liquid hydrogen burns, it produces enough propelling force to launch a rocket, but emits only water vapor and warm air. However, it's highly energy-intensive to produce, creating a large carbon footprint. The focus of European firms working on this energy option is to mitigate the impact of liquid hydrogen production on the environment.

"Hydrogen (as fuel) is expensive today but tomorrow it will be cheap and green," said Xavier Vigor, vice president of Air Liquide, a supplier of industrial gases.

European rockets have used liquid hydrogen as their fuel for decades. ArianeGroupe, the continent's largest launcher company, aims to launch its carbon-neutral rockets running on hydrogen produced from biomass by 2030. The company also plans to bring the clean fuel to the transport industry. If they succeed, ships and airplanes will be able to travel around the globe, producing no carbon emissions.

"I am really thankful for the decisionmakers in Europe who made the decision to use hydrogen for European launchers. This was a brilliant bet," said Jean-Christophe Henoux, ArianeGroup's vice president of Future Programmes.

Satellites Monitoring Climate Change

EU officials are confident their satellite program will also help in the fight against climate change. The EU space program will continue to design missions focused on CO2 monitoring and a polar observation by its satellites.

"Satellite programs such as Galileo and Agnus have already had an important contribution to minimizing our environmental footprint," said Rodrigo da Costa, the head of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA), in a press briefing.

Copernicus, the EU's Earth observation system, has monitored climate change since 2017, providing historical data and climate models for the future.

European satellites continue to provide data on climate change.

"We believe we can create synergies between navigation and Earth observation," said da Costa. Better navigation helps shorten transportation routes, which cuts fuel consumption. This is how EU satellite programs can contribute to the implementation of the Green Deal, according to da Costa.

Full details of the European space plan have yet to be worked out. The European Commission will meet to decide on them in the coming weeks. After that, a consortium of aerospace and telecom companies will start working to operationalize the plan.

Reposted with permission from DW.

EU to Meet 2020 Climate Targets Thanks to Cheap Carbon Credits ... ›
ESA - European Space Agency ›
EU Space Program banking on EIB, CO2 emission cuts | New Europe ›
Europe gives space programs a big boost | Science | AAAS ›
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A new species of bat has been identified in West Africa. MYOTIS NIMBAENSIS / BAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL
In 2018, a team of researchers went to West Africa's Nimba Mountains in search of one critically endangered species of bat. Along the way, they ended up discovering another.

The new bat species, Myotis nimbaensis, has an unusual orange and black coloring, and it was written up for the first time last Wednesday in American Museum Novitates.

"In an age of extinction, a discovery like this offers a glimmer of hope," study coauthor and chief scientist at Bat Conservation International Winifred Frick told the American Museum of Natural History. "It's a spectacular animal."

🚨 New research alert! A new species of a striking orange & black bat from the Nimba Mountains in West Africa has be… https://t.co/2dtGTa4lko
 — American Museum of Natural History (@American Museum of Natural History)1610569431.0

Frick was part of a team of scientists from Bat Conservation International and the University of Maroua in Cameroon who were investigating natural caves and mining shafts in Guinea's Nimba Mountains. The mountains, which rise about one mile above sea level, are known as sky islands and are important biodiversity hotspots for species including bats.

One especially important bat species is the Lamotte's roundleaf bat, or Hipposideros lamottei, which lives only in the Nimba Mountains, and especially in abandoned mineshafts known as adits. But while trapping for the existing species, the scientists found something they did not expect.

"I looked in a net and there was just something interesting in there," Jon Flanders, director of endangered species intervention at Bat Conservation International, told The Washington Post.

Flanders said he first saw the bat with his colleague Eric Moïse Bakwo Fils from the University of Maroua.

"Eric and I got back to camp and we independently started trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Finding a new species of specially colored bats is very rare. I was like, 'I'm pretty sure this is a new species'. We walked in the room in the morning and simultaneously said 'I think we've got a new species.' "

So the pair called up bat expert and American Museum of Natural History Curator Nancy Simmons for help.

"As soon as I looked at it, I agreed that it was something new," Simmons, who is also the paper's lead author, said in the museum press release.

Simmons confirmed her initial opinion with help from the Smithsonian and the British Museum of Natural History, she told The Washington Post.

Newly discovered bat has already won 2021 Halloween #Bat #Nature #Science #Wildlife https://t.co/WE1Qt1TE73
 — Cool Science Videos (@Cool Science Videos)1610649004.0

There are more than 1,400 species of bats, and more than 20 new ones are added to the list every year, according to The New York Times. But mostly, these discoveries are made in the lab by closely analyzing the DNA of similar-looking species previously thought to be the same.

"This sort of situation where experienced researchers went out in the field and caught an animal and held it in their hand and went, 'This is something we can't identify,' that's much more unusual," Simmons told The New York Times.

The new bat is likely already endangered, since it is only known to live in the Nimba Mountains. Researchers said the next step is to learn more about the species so that they can protect it more effectively.

Bakwo Fils also told The New York Times that he hoped the discovery would boost bat conservation in West Africa more generally. Bats are important pollinators, seed spreaders and pest eaters in the region, but superstition and their connection with Ebola has meant they are often harmed.

"This discovery is very important in terms of West Africa's bat biodiversity, because even if bats are a very important component of our ecosystems, they rarely receive attention," Bakwo Fils said.

Eek! Bat Populations Are Shrinking. Here Are A Few Ways to Help ... ›
First Bat Removed From U.S. Endangered Species List Helps ... ›
What We've Lost: The Species Declared Extinct in 2020 - EcoWatch ›
Newly Discovered Bat Species Has Halloween Colors | Smart News ... ›
biodiversity bats conservation animals science
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Seabirds often follow fishing vessels to find easy meals. Alexander Petrov / TASS via Getty Images
By Jim Palardy
As 2021 dawns, people, ecosystems, and wildlife worldwide are facing a panoply of environmental issues. In an effort to help experts and policymakers determine where they might focus research, a panel of 25 scientists and practitioners — including me — from around the globe held discussions in the fall to identify emerging issues that deserve increased attention.

The panel, coordinated by the UK-based Cambridge Conservation Initiative, conducted a horizon scan — an effort to spot early signs of significant phenomena — of global biological conservation issues. For the resulting study, which was funded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the panel winnowed down an initial list of 97 topics, settling on the following 15 because of their novelty or their potential to move the conservation needle in either a positive or negative direction over the coming decade.

1. Seabirds Could Help Spot Illegal Fishing

Seabirds often follow fishing vessels to score easy meals. Now, scientists are hoping to exploit this behavior to help spot illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing, which accounts for up to $23.5 billion worth of seafood every year, or 1 in 5 fish sold. Researchers have had some success attaching transmitters to seabirds to locate fishing vessels in the Indian Ocean, but more study is needed to validate the use of this tactic.

2. Marine Vessels and GPS Spoofing

Vessels plying the ocean navigate and transmit their locations and identities mainly through the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and automatic identification system (AIS). The panel points out that a recent rise in GNSS spoofing and AIS cloning incidents could facilitate the trade of illegal goods and hamper authorities' efforts to identify vessels engaged in illicit resource extraction activities such as fishing and dredging.

3. More Corals May Suffer From Lack of Oxygen

Several factors — including climate-driven marine heat waves and nutrient runoff from land — can lower oxygen levels in the ocean. Corals in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans have died from this hypoxia, and, although those events weren't widespread, some scientists fear that the threat may grow significantly as climate change further warms the ocean. Research is needed to better understand the extent and impact of low oxygen conditions on coral reefs.

4. Understanding the Impacts of Increased Dissolved Iron on Coastal Polar Ecosystems

Coastal zones in polar latitudes are among Earth's most productive — that is, they create and support large numbers of organisms ranging from tiny marine plants to animals such as polar bears and seals — a characteristic driven by the availability of dissolved iron from glaciers and ice. Increased melting in the polar regions will result in higher iron concentrations, which in turn will probably fuel more intense phytoplankton blooms and enable organisms on the seafloor to capture more carbon and other nutrients. Such changes could have wide-ranging effects — including impacts on the structure of the region's marine ecosystems and on carbon sequestration — and warrants investigation.

5. What to Do With a Growing Number of Decommissioned Offshore Energy Platforms

It is estimated that 3,000 offshore oil and gas platforms will be decommissioned in the coming decades and that the number of offshore wind farms will continue to grow. Currently, decommissioning practices vary by country and include full removal, conversion of platforms to artificial reefs, and abandonment. As new offshore energy infrastructure is built and old platforms are phased out, nations will need to evaluate the immediate and long-term impacts of their decommissioning strategies on the marine environment.

6. A Drug Problem in the Water

When some chemicals used in pharmaceuticals and in garden and farm products are introduced into waterways — usually through runoff or via sewage systems directly or in human waste — they can cause changes in fish and other organisms, including altering the number of female to males in a population, lower fertility, and deformities. There is emerging evidence that the effects of exposure can be multigenerational, affecting organisms that were never directly exposed.

7. Changes in Low Cloud Cover

Low clouds shade sizable portions of the planet in subtropical regions. It is predicted that these clouds will become increasingly unstable if atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to rise at current rates. The resulting changes could have negative effects on wildlife and human communities.

8. Tree Planting as a Simple Carbon Sequestration Solution

Pledges to plant large areas of trees to help tackle climate change are often perceived as a win for conservation. However, tree planting must be planned and implemented with a clear understanding of regional ecosystems to avoid negative effects on biological diversity.

9. Logging to Reduce Fire Risk

As nations around the world contend with more extreme wildfires, some policymakers suggest that tree removal may be part of the solution. However, the effectiveness of such policies is uncertain, and any short-term gains from removing trees are often offset by the growth of non-native grasses and flowering plants, which may themselves be highly flammable.

10. Large-Scale Adoption of Sustainable Farming Techniques Across India

Driven by government policies and local innovations, sustainable farming practices are becoming more prevalent in India. The state government of Sikkim has adopted organic farming as policy, and the state of Andhra Pradesh, with 6 million farmers, plans to adopt natural farming practices by 2025. Other states across the country plan to follow suit. Early evaluations indicate that these large-scale transitions boost crop yields and incomes, improve the health of farmers, and increase women's access to microfinance. With such results, there is the potential for similar large-scale shifts in other parts of the world.

11. Low Earth-Orbiting Satellites May Mislead Animals Responding to Celestial Cues

More than 2,600 artificial satellites currently orbit the earth, a number that is rapidly increasing. Many species of mammals, insects, and birds use celestial cues to migrate long distances and to orient themselves in local habitats and could be affected by the proliferation of satellites.

12. Bitcoin Mining With Stranded Energy

An emerging use for stranded energy sources, such as low-value methane byproducts vented from oil wells and excess energy produced by wind turbines and solar panels, is to power computers used for Bitcoin mining — the process of creating new Bitcoin by solving complex algorithms. Monetizing stranded energy in this way is a mixed bag that decision-makers will probably have to evaluate. The practice could increase carbon emissions from marginal fossil fuel sources but also could incentivize the deployment of renewable energy by guaranteeing a minimum selling price.

13. Open-Source Investigations of Environmental Threats

Scientists demonstrated some success with using online videos, social media posts, and other open-source data to document the effects of the locust swarms in East Africa in 2020. As faster internet connections and access to smartphones continue to grow globally, the use of open-source data may become an effective tool for researchers.

14. Self-Healing Building Materials

The potential to engineer building materials made of chemicals, polymers, and bacteria that can fix themselves when damaged could reduce the need for repairs and shrink the environmental footprints of construction projects. Recently, scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder used a type of cyanobacteria found in the ocean, along with other materials, to engineer a living building material that can regenerate when fractured.

15. A Waterway to Connect the Baltic and Black Seas

A planned 1,200-mile inland navigable waterway connecting the Baltic and Black seas would alter the flow of cargo and trade in the region. However, the waterway, which would pass through Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine, could alter habitat in 70 wildlife areas and numerous international conservation areas, introduce non-native species, and change the region's rivers and wetlands. Additionally, dredging in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone could disrupt radioactive sediment.

Jim Palardy is a project director with The Pew Charitable Trusts' conservation science program. He served on this year's horizon scan panel and is a co-author on the resulting study.

Reposted with permission from The Pew Charitable Trust.

Six Eco-Friendly Pledges for 2021 - EcoWatch ›
What will 2021 bring in the world of conservation? | Ensia ›
Speak Up For Nature: Your Guide to Environmental Issues in 2021 ›
What will 2021 bring in the world of conservation? | News | Eco ... ›
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Ask a Scientist: What Should the Biden Administration and Congress Do to Address the Climate Crisis?
A damaged home and flooding are seen in Creole, Louisiana, following Hurricane Laura's landfall on August 27, 2020. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
By Elliott Negin
What a difference an election makes. Thanks to the Biden-Harris victory in November, the next administration is poised to make a 180-degree turn to again address the climate crisis.

President Trump famously called climate change a "hoax," appointed fossil fuel industry lobbyists to key positions in his administration, rolled back the Obama-era rule that would have curbed power plant carbon emissions, and weakened Obama-era limits on vehicle carbon emissions. Just a day after last fall's election, he pulled the United States out of the international Paris climate agreement.

By contrast, President-elect Biden has endorsed a $2 trillion climate plan, and pledged to issue at least 10 executive orders to protect the climate and rejoin the Paris climate accord on Day One of his administration. He also has appointed an impressive and diverse climate change team to take key administration positions, including New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland, who co-sponsored the Green New Deal, to run the Interior Department; North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality head Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency; former Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy as national climate advisor; and former Secretary of State John Kerry, who helped negotiate the Paris climate agreement, to serve as his international climate envoy.

That's a welcome relief, because the world is running out of time. In 2020 alone, wildfires burned millions of acres in Australia and California to a crisp; heat waves scorched Europe, Asia and the Arctic; floods inundated the U.S. Midwest as well as nations in Africa and Asia; and a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season battered the coasts of Central America, Caribbean islands and the United States.

But for all the promises President-elect Biden has made, some nagging questions remain: Given the constraints of a closely divided Congress, how much will the Biden administration truly be able to accomplish? And even with the United States rejoining the Paris accord, will countries live up to its promise to keep the Earth's temperature in check?

For some answers, I turned to Climate and Energy Program Policy Director Rachel Cleetus, who I last interviewed in May about what a post-pandemic economy should look like. The questions I posed to her this time around are a logical extension of the conversation we had then.

EN: Before we dig into what we can expect from the incoming Biden administration, let's talk about what Congress included in the pandemic relief package it passed just before Christmas. I don't know about you, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it included some good climate-related provisions. Does this suggest that the next Congress will take climate change seriously?

RC: The omnibus pandemic relief bill Congress just passed was long overdue and desperately needed, given the fact that millions of people are in increasingly dire economic straits. It also included a provision to dramatically reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), extremely potent heat-trapping gases used in air conditioners and refrigerators; an extension of renewable electricity production and investment tax credits, which will help boost clean energy and create jobs; support for energy storage technology research and development; and increased funding for ARPA-E, the Department of Energy's technology innovation program. The bill also included a one-year extension of the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, a welcome but inadequate provision as black lung disease hits record levels in coal country.

The National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress just passed with an overwhelming bipartisan override of President Trump's veto, also includes provisions recognizing the impact of climate change on the military and the need to invest in resilience measures.

These provisions demonstrate that Congress can act in a bipartisan manner on clean energy and climate change issues. But much more will be needed in the months and years ahead to make steep cuts in global warming emissions and achieve comprehensive, bold and just climate policies that benefit everyone. Congress has yet to demonstrate the will to act commensurately with the scale of the challenges we face, which is why we will need to continue to pressure policymakers to do the right thing after the new Congress and administration take office.

EN: Notwithstanding the fact that leading Republicans supported the climate-related elements of the pandemic relief package, how much will the incoming Biden administration have to rely on executive orders to advance initiatives to combat climate change? After all, the oil and gas industry still has a great deal of influence over Congress.

RC: President Biden should send a clear and strong signal, early on, that he is committed to using his full powers to advance climate action through executive authorities and regulations. Here are some of the most important actions on climate that he should take, many of which could be done within the first 100 days and some which should happen via a Day One executive order on climate change:

Set science-informed climate goals and commit the United States to reaching net-zero carbon emissions economywide no later than 2050, and at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Direct all federal agencies to incorporate climate science into their actions and develop updated climate action plans.

Initiate administrative and regulatory actions to sharply curtail heat-trapping emissions economywide and advance climate resilience, prioritizing investments in historically marginalized communities.

Rejoin the Paris agreement, with an ambitious commitment to cut heat-trapping emissions and provide climate funding for developing countries, in line with the US fair share contribution to global climate goals.

Reverse the Trump administration's egregious executive orders that have halted, undermined, and reversed climate action.

Create White House-level offices focused on environmental justice and economic transition to elevate and mainstream these priorities.

As you note, opposition from the fossil fuel companies is not going away any time soon. They may continue to try to slow down or stop climate action, or at best support incremental policy changes that preserve their profits—even as they claim to endorse the Paris agreement's net-zero goal.

UCS and its coalition partners will continue to engage in sharp and strategic corporate campaigns to expose their disingenuous actions, curtail their Wall Street financing, and prod them to align their business models with what the science demonstrates is necessary. We will continue to push for companies to disclose their climate risks, and for financial regulators to require this. And we support the rights of affected parties to seek legal accountability for climate damages caused by fossil fuel companies.

EN: OK. So what can a narrowly divided Congress accomplish?

RC: Congress also will have to step up to play its part. We are coming off a year of record-breaking climate related disasters—including wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and heatwaves—which intersected cruelly with the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting ongoing economic crisis. People across the country need Congress to do its job. Securing robust, comprehensive, durable climate and clean energy policy will require legislation.

President Biden should immediately begin working with the new Congress to advance a suite of policies that ramp up clean energy, drive down carbon emissions economywide, and build climate resilience, while also addressing longstanding environmental injustices that have disproportionately affected low-income communities and communities of color and ensuring a fair transition for coal communities. Breaking through the long-standing political logjam won't be easy, but the needs are urgent and the economic, health and climate benefits of a low-carbon climate-resilient economy are clear.

Many of these policy priorities were highlighted in the Biden-Harris campaign platform. The incoming administration must do all it can to prod Congress to pass legislation addressing them. Here's just a partial list of what we need:

Additional pandemic relief and economic recovery packages. More funding for public health priorities and economic relief is desperately needed at the national, state and local level. Congress should include a robust "green" economic recovery package to jumpstart and foster a just and equitable economic recovery, with job creation driven by investments in clean energy and climate resilient infrastructure. Forty percent of these investments should directly benefit historically marginalized communities.

Fair transition for workers and communities. Congress should pass a comprehensive, well-funded transition package for displaced workers and communities hurt by the country's ongoing transition away from coal.

Environmental justice. Congress should strengthen public health safeguards, tighten enforcement, and invest in cleaning up the cumulative toxic burden of pollution in fence-line and frontline communities, which are disproportionately low-income communities and communities of color.

Recognition of climate change's financial and economic risks. Congress should pass legislation to ensure that financial regulators require corporations to disclose their climate risk to ensure they—and the market more broadly—are appropriately accounting for such risks and taking steps to mitigate it.

Guaranteed community access to the courts. As a mounting number of cities, counties and states seek to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate damages and fraud, here's one thing Congress should not do: pass laws attempting to limit or eliminate communities' access to the courts to seek redress.

EN: President-elect Biden recently proclaimed that he will "put America back in the business of leading the world on climate change." What should that mean in concrete terms? As the country responsible for the largest share of cumulative carbon emissions to date, what does the United States have to do regain international respect and provide leadership?

RC: To be perfectly frank, the Biden administration will have to do a lot more than trot out tired rhetoric about US leadership on climate action.

What the country and the rest of the world need is for the United States to take its place at the table, alongside and in cooperation with nations large and small, and do its part responsibly, fairly and consistently. The Biden administration and Congress need to enact strong national climate policies and make an ambitious, credible emissions reduction commitment ahead of the next international climate talks. They also must commit to scaled-up climate finance for developing countries. Finally, they have to work together with states, cities, tribal governments, businesses, and local stakeholders, many of whom have contributed to significant climate progress despite the absence of national leadership in the last four years. It's time—well past time, actually—for meaningful federal action.

Reposted with permission from Union of Concerned Scientists.

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text:
Emirates Airline has announced a new insurance program that will cover medical and quarantine costs for passengers diagnosed with Covid-19 after traveling with them.(Photo: AirlineGeeks | Hisham Qadri)
[ News ]August 19, 2020 7:00 am ET
By Jose Antonio Payet
Countries Turn to Testing To Reopen Borders
Travel across Europe is in a tough spot at the moment as countries increasingly require arriving passengers to quarantine upon arrival. In the U.K., the government now requires passengers arriving from a handful of countries, including Spain, France, the Netherlands and Belgium, to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival.
As holidaymakers during the busy summer period face uncertainty, other travelers choose to cancel their upcoming trips in fear of changing advice and restrictions over travel. As quarantine proves to put people off travel, testing could become a more viable and effective option.
Many industry stakeholders agree on the need for countries to uphold a clearer strategy on how they expect to open borders and resume travel. As the number of COVID-19 cases resurges in Europe and continues to peak across the Americas, more countries are looking at testing as a mechanism to safely opening their borders. Countries such as Iceland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had been conducting Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests, which search for the novel coronavirus' genetic makeup in samples, on arriving passengers.
At the moment, Iceland requires passengers to test for COVID at the airport and stay in isolation until they receive a negative test result, while the UAE requires all transit and arrival passengers to present a negative PCR test result that has been carried out within 96 hours of arrival into the country.
According to God Save The Points, Singapore is also looking into testing passengers for COVID on site instead of requiring arrivals to quarantine for 14 days. However, they want to narrow this to a select move of countries that have equal or lower COVID-19 infection rates than they do.
In Germany, testing facilities at airports were implemented last week. PCR tests have become compulsory for arrivals from countries catalogued as high risk and performed free of charge. Countries that have more than 50 cases for every 100,000 people are considered as high risk, according to DW. Passengers then receive their results via an app, allowing those who tested positive to take precautions and socially isolate.
Second Tests at Some Locations
As the rates of infection rise, two countries are now requiring two negative COVID-19 test results in order to shorten social isolation times. In Iceland, all international arrivals will be required to take a second COVID test between 4-6 days of arrival; passengers are asked to quarantine in the meantime. All travelers must place register their location where they will be quarantining on a pre-registration online form. After receiving a second negative test result, travelers are allowed out.
The UAE is also implementing similar measures, such as requiring passengers from a list of high-risk countries, including select destinations in the U.S like Dallas Fort/Worth, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale, to carry out a second test upon their arrival to the country. By requiring passengers to download an app, they can be monitored through contact and location tracing, ensuring that those testing positive comply with isolation measures whilst they contain the virus.
With reports alleging that as many as 70% of coronavirus cases are asymptomatic, testing might be a more effective method of containing the spread of the virus than mandatory quarantine, as quarantine narrows down tracing to symptomatic cases. Tests, meanwhile, can identify people who do not have no or mild symptoms
Jose Antonio Payet
As a geography nerd, Jose has always been fascinated by the complexities of the airline industry and its ability to bring the world closer together. Born and raised in Peru, now studying in the UK. he has travelled around America, Europe and South East Asia. His favorite aircraft is the Boeing 767-300, which he has flown many times during his childhood; although now the A350 is slowly growing up on him.
Latest posts by Jose Antonio Payet (see all)
Ryanair To Close London Southend Base - August 11, 2021
Argentina Raises International Passenger Entry Limits, Yet to Announce New Figures - July 8, 2021
European Airlines Increase Flying Capacity - June 23, 2021
COVID-19testingtravel rebound


text:
Q: Increment date with arrow in python not changing properties I am using .replace and .shift method to increment/decrement an arrow date. However the behaviour is completely unexpected. See the python session below as example.
>>> import arrow
>>> ref = arrow.get('2019-08-01', 'YYYY-MM-DD')
>>> ref.weekday()
3
>>> ref.day
1
>>> ref.shift(days=1)
<Arrow [2019-08-02T00:00:00+00:00]>
>>> ref.weekday()
3
>>> ref.day
1
>>> ref
<Arrow [2019-08-01T00:00:00+00:00]>
>>>

After I shifted the arrow by one day I would expect weekday and day properties to be incremented. However they stay the same. Any explanation to this?
Using replace does the same thing.

A: Try this:
ref = ref.shift(days=1)
shift doesn't update the object, it returns an updated object...
C:\Users\deanv>python
Python 3.7.4 (tags/v3.7.4:e09359112e, Jul  8 2019, 20:34:20) [MSC v.1916 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import arrow
>>> ref = arrow.get('2019-08-01', 'YYYY-MM-DD')
>>> ref.weekday()
3
>>> ref.day
1
>>> ref = ref.shift(days=1)
>>> ref.weekday()
4
>>> ref.day
2
>>>


text:
hisystems
digital ink
Taste in translation aarti
Jan 17, 2013 Watch Chef J. k. Paul preparing Chicken Makhani ( Lunch on the go Indian Lunch box) with Aarti Sequeira the Food Network Star.Aarti Lucica Sequeira (born 19 August 1978) is an Indian American chef and television personality, best known as the winner of the sixth season of Food Network's reality television show, The Next Food Network Star. As a result of that victory, her show Aarti Party premiered on the network on 22 August 2010. Following Aarti Party, she went on to host Taste in Translation on Cooking Channel, in taste in translation aarti
Taste in translation aarti free
Dec 01, 2017 Author, Host of Aarti Party and lead judge on Guys Grocery Games Food Network host Aarti Sequeira is known for two things: spinning her Indian soul into American favorites and her laugh. Armed with both, the former CNN producer won Food Network Star in 2011 and went on to host Aarti Party (a cooking show that grew out of the
Aarti Sequeira helps to bake a cake at Vanilla Bakeshop in Los Angeles in a scene from her new cooking show, Taste in Translation. (Cooking Channel photo) By Lisa Tsering, Staff Reporter
Taste in Translation. Taste in Translation is an American Cooking show series produced by Leopard Films that currently airs on the Cooking Channel. The series is hosted by Aarti Sequeira, an Indian chef and television personality, who is best known as the winner of the sixth season of Food Network 's reality television show,
Aarti Sequeira travels the globe in this series not only to taste popular dishes from around the world but also to explore the history and cultural significance behind each one. Each episode features a different theme such as birthday treats, and portable foods that takes Sequeira on a global journey to learn about the role each food plays locally such as a symbolic spicy soup served
Taste in Translation is an American Cooking show series produced by Leopard Films that currently airs on the Cooking Channel. The series is hosted by Aarti Sequeira, an Indian chef and television personality, who is best known as the winner of the sixth season of Food Network's reality television show, The Next Food Network Star.
Taste in Translation is an American Cooking show series produced by Leopard Films that currently airs on the Cooking Channel. The series is hosted by Aarti Sequeira, an Indian chef and television personality, who is best known as the winner of the sixth season of Food Network 's reality television show, The Next Food Network Star.
Taste in Translation. WITH AARTI SEQUEIRA. Taste in Translation is an international tastetrotting tour of the world's most popular and flavorful food. You'll travel far and wide, over a mouthwatering map of the most delicious dishes on the planet as well as our top American favorites.
Fast Taste in translation aarti
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In August 2010, Aarti Sequeira, a dedicated foodie, competed on and won season six of Food Networks number one series, Food Network Star, landing her very own Food Network show, Aarti


text:
Världsmästerskapet i schack 1892 var en titelmatch mellan den regerande världsmästaren Wilhelm Steinitz och utmanaren Michail Tjigorin. Den spelades i Havanna mellan den 1 januari och 28 februari 1892, och slutade med att Steinitz behöll världsmästartiteln.

Steinitz, som var 55 år gammal, försvarade sin titel för tredje gången och precis som 1889 var det på Kuba mot Tjigorin, den siste av de gamla romantiska spelarna.

Det blev en jämn match. Efter de planerade 20 partierna var det oavgjort med 8 vunna partier vardera. Man fortsatte då till en spelare vunnit 10 partier och efter grova fel av Tjigorin i de 22:a och 23:e partierna vann Steinitz matchen.

Regler
Matchen spelades som bäst av 20 partier eller först till 10 vunna partier. Om det var oavgjort efter 20 partier så fortsatte spelet tills en spelare hade vunnit 10 partier. Om båda spelarna nådde 9 vunna partier slutade matchen oavgjort och världsmästaren behöll titeln.

Resultat

Partier

Ett av de mest kända partierna från matchen är det fjärde som var ett vackert angreppsparti av Steinitz. I diagramställningen har svart just slagit på d4 och väntade sig förmodligen 24.Lxd4+ Tf6 (som också ger vit en överlägsen ställning).
Men svarts kung är utsatt med de öppna diagonalerna och Steinitz hade förberett ett kungsangrepp som leder till forcerad matt.

24.Txh7+!! Kxh7 25.Dh1+ Kg7 26.Lh6+

Även 26.Dh6+ fungerar.

26...Kf6 27.Dh4+ Ke5 28.Dxd4+ uppgivet.

Det är matt efter 28...Kf5 29.g4#.

I det sista partiet i matchen vann Tjigorin pjäs och hade en klar vinstställning och chansen att utjämna matchen. I stället gjorde han ett grovt, svårförklarligt misstag i diagramställningen. Partiet slutade 32.Lb4?? Txh2+ uppgivet. Vit är matt efter 33.Kg1 Tdg2#.

Se även
 Världsmästerskapen i schack
 Schackets historia

Referenser

1892
Sportåret 1892
1892 i Nordamerika
Sport i Havanna


In the early days of the personal computer software industry, there were all kinds of products that, it turned out later, were destined to be features. My favorite from that era was a standalone utility called Sideways that let one print - yep - sideways. Today, that would be the "landscape" button on the submenu for print options.


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