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TheRealTalkPod
The RealTalk Blog
Challenging the status quo of blogging and creative writting
Let's talk Brexit!
March 25, 2019 April 4, 2019 Categories Current AffairsBrexit, EU, Politics, UKLeave a Comment on Let's talk Brexit!
Theresa May said this… Boris Johnson is doing a madness and who the hell is Donald Tusk?? This UK is done out here!
As a lot of you know (or should know), the United Kingdom is going through a political roller-coaster right now. Probably the biggest moves in the world of Euro Politics since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Since the EU exit referendum 2 years ago (23 June 2016) there's been so much jargon, empty promises and speculation being thrown around on the news and media. So it's easy to get lost in it all – especially when politics isn't one of your main interests. More so, is it easy to overlook the Brexit movement believing it doesn't concern you or thinking "why should I care?"
To put it simply, as a millennial it most definitely concerns you and for someone aspiring for the best possible future opportunities – the effects of Brexit on the British economy alone is a major reason why you should care. This post and the ones that may follow will aim to break down Brexit and hopefully shouldn't be too long and boring.
So Brexit, where did it all start?
Since the UK joined the EU (European Union) in 1973 there have been decades of debating whether Britain should remain in the so-called 'socialist bloc' (a bloc is a group of countries or political parties with common interests who have formed an alliance). This was always in been more of an issue for the Conservative Party; particularly under Margaret Thatcher who is remembered for her hard right-wing agendas during her time.
"We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super state exercising a new dominance from Brussels" (Thatcher, 1988). Probably one of the most iconic quotes from the late prime minister. It's clear to see that the EU did not sit well against Thatcher's hard right agendas for Britain during her time.
Let's stop there quick. What's this right-left-wing business about? Basically, left wing is a theology of politics based around socialism, public ownership and putting average individuals first in the economy. This is the principle typically practiced by the Labour Party. The right-wing is more capitalist in its approach, stressing the importance of private ownership and the needs of business/upper class. This side of the political spectrum is practiced by the Conservatives. Hopefully you get the gist on why the Conservatives have never really been fans of the socialist movements of the EU.
There's a lot more to it of course but we're gonna stick to the basics. Fast forward to the time of David Cameron's time as Prime Minister (a Conservative party government) from 2010 to 2016. If my memory serves me well, there was a lot of pressure put on Cameron to push for a British exit of the EU. Our reluctant PM at the time was pretty much coerced into holding the referendum in 2016.
It's now June 23rd, 2016 (referendum day) and the UK has voted to leave by a slim majority. Leave 51.89% and remain 48.11%. Brexit is now the new political buzz word with all roads leading to the departure of the UK by March 29th, 2019. Since then UK politics has been a series of ups and downs, starting with David Cameron stepping down – leaving the burden of the Brexit negotiations to his successor Theresa May. May is currently still battling to strike a deal with the European bloc. Tensions and pressures are always on the rise as the end date for negotiations edge's closer.
So where are we now?
Fundamentally of key importance at this point is whether the UK will stumble out of the EU without a deal. The deal proposed by the PM from the outset is one that promotes 'British interests' such as restrictions on immigration, reduction in payments to the Union, whilst maintaining the infrastructure of free trade. Sure it's all well and good that the UK has put these things on the table, but if both sides can't agree on a definitive stance no deal Brexit is what we might be faced with. An alternative being a soft Brexit moved into action by a Labour Government eager to take the reins.
Source: Bloomberg Brexit Bulletin, 8 Nov 2018
Representatives from the Bank of England have expressed on many occasion that a no deal exit would be disastrous for the UK economy as a whole – which is already suffering from slower growth, a weaker Pound and falling house prices nationwide.
May has since suffered embarrassing defeats to her agreed deal as this was rejected by Parliament twice. Without delving too much into the specifics, this proposed deal primarily failed to address the issues of the Irish backstop, which would involve keeping the UK in the EU indefinitely. How I see it, the dynamics and detrimental problems regarding the border is something that was very much overlooked during the time of the referendum vote – but again let's leave that topic for another time. Britain yet has problems beyond the bloc even after it signs an exit deal. The battles beyond Europe pose an additional source of uncertainty to this Pandora's Box.
The story of Brexit is now a waiting game to see what surfaces from negotiations following the rejections of May's deal. The EU has now given the UK an extension to the Brexit deadline from March 29th to April 12th (should parliament reject May's deal again). In a seemingly unlikely case that the deal is accepted, this date would be pushed back to May 22nd.
I'm hopeful that this post was able to shed some light into the lucrative topic that is Brexit. Excited to see what progress is made this week following the EU's extension. I would be thrilled to see a more collective approach from the fragmented government – but you can never tell with these lot.
Follow the news is my best advice. All major outlets will be covering the incoming updates so it's not hard to find. My favourite sources are The Economist, Financial Times and Bloomberg.
I also do a 'Snow's Brexit Update' every now and then where I try to break down the stories so far since it can be quite hard to follow. Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@ManLikeAyo) to stay in the loop with those – happy to answer any questions you might have too!
Next Brexit update/post out soon!
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GUILDFORD THE GREAT by Dawson and Sawyer. This 4 bedroom(or 3 bedroom + den) & 3 bath corner townhouse shows just like new and hardly lived in. Spacious living room, oversize kitchen with huge island, quartz counter-top, all stainless appliances, cozy living room with high ceiling. Master bedroom is king-sized with his and her closet, other rooms are generous sized as well. Walking distance to Guildford Town Centre, school, park, highway 1 and public transportation. The Buyer or the Buyers agent to verify measurements if important.


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r.patterson
galleries/show schedule
"...'what a useful thing a pocket-map is!' I remarked. 'That's another thing we've learned from your Nation', said Mein Herr, 'map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?' 'About six inches to the mile.' 'Only six inches!' exclaimed Mein herr. 'We very soon got to six yards to the mile. then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. and then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to a mile!' 'Have you used it much?' I inquired. 'It has never been spread out, yet,' said Mein Herr: 'the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well.'"
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded
"In that Empire, the craft of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a Single Province covered the space of an entire City, and the Map of the Empire itself an entire Province. In the course of tim'e, these Extensive maps were found somehow wanting, and so the college of Cartographers evolved a Map of the Empire that was of the same scale as the Empire and that coincided with it point for point. Less attentive to the study of Cartography, succeeding Generations came to judge a map of such Magnitude cumbersome, and, not without Irreverence, they abandoned it to the rigours of sun and Rain. In the western Deserts, tattered Fragments of the Map are still to be found, Sheltering an occasional Beast of beggar; in the whole Nation, no other relic is left of the discipline of Geography."
from "Of exactitude in science"
in A Universal History of Infamy
copyright r.patterson ~ all rights reserved milton, georgia, usa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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2 March 2020 Podcast
Episode 15 – Casual Games
In this episode, we're asking what the difference is between serious and casual gaming.
Music: Black Moons by The 126er on YouTube
Yucata.de: https://yucata.de/en
Concordia: http://riograndegames.com/Game/1279-Concordia
Jaipur: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/54043/jaipur
Barrage: http://craniointernational.com/products/barrage-kickstarter/
Rising Sun: https://cmon.com/product/rising-sun/rising-sun
Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King: http://lookout-spiele.de/spiele/isle-of-skye/
7th Continent: https://the7thcontinent.seriouspoulp.com/
Xia: Legends of a Drift System: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1438045410/xia-legends-of-a-drift-system-0
Western Legends: https://kolossalgames.com/our-games/western-legends/
Risk: https://shop.hasbro.com/en-us/product/risk-game:2C7C6F52-5056-9047-F5DD-EB8AC273BA4C
Dune: https://www.gf9games.com/dune/
Downforce: https://restorationgames.com/downforce/
Oracle of Delphi: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193558/oracle-delphi
Dominion: http://riograndegames.com/games.html?id=278
Terra Mystica: https://www.zmangames.com/en/products/terra-mystica/
Star Realms: https://www.starrealms.com/
Chess: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171/chess
Magic the Gathering: https://magic.wizards.com/en
Kingdomino: http://www.blueorangegames.eu/pf/kingdomino/
Werewolf: https://beziergames.com/products/one-night-ultimate-werewolf
The Mind: https://coiledspring.co.uk/product/the-mind/
Poker: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1115/poker
Tapestry: https://stonemaiergames.com/games/tapestry/
2 Replies to "Episode 15 – Casual Games"
RogerBW
3 March 2020 at 12:40 pm
I don't really like running through long procedures in a game if I don't have input; if I get input so that I can choose how things go, I'll accept a lot more complexity.
I've seen "sandbox" used to describe all sorts of boardgames that I wouldn't personally class that way. Rallyman GT for example: all right, it's a bit more flexible than good old Formula D given that you have lots of different cars and layouts, but it's still basically about taking a car round a track faster than anyone else.
I think that "turtling" often gets used pejoratively because it's not as much fun for the other players as getting out and mixing it up – especially if it's combined with kingmaking. A slightly obscure game of which I'm rather fond, War of the Nine Realms, solves this very neatly: you can win by killing your opponent's leader, or by gradually doing damage, so if you try to hide while other players fight one of them will probably win.
I seem to have got accidentally involved in running a bunch of racing leagues on BGG – classic Rallyman, Rallyman GT, and a very lightweight dice game called Go500. Turns out that once you have software to sort out people's results it's quite easy to adapt it to a new game…
Many of the games I like are on the short, light and/or casual side, but I play quite a lot of them. To me a more serious gamer is someone who plays relatively few games and does a deep dive on each, caring about improving their skills and winning; I play a lot of different games and I'm out mostly to have a good time whether or not I win or even play well. On the other hand a more casual gamer feels like someone who's fairly new to the hobby, who's playing everything for the first time and doesn't yet really know what sort of game they'll enjoy most.
(This can all too easily turn into "I'm a better gamer than him, because I play good games" of course.)
Here's an example for Oliver: Onitama is a quick game, but it can be very intense. On the other side, Talisman or Munchkin are mechanically pretty light but often quite long.
A side note from the comment about poker: I think a lot of traditional games (Cibbage, for example) became wildly complicated by modern standards because they were the only game that was being played in a particular community (social group, etc.), and that community expanded the rules to keep things interesting and to make it uniquely their game that outsiders wouldn't understand. When they're played for money, there's even more incentive to have lots of complex special cases that the newcomer won't know about. An extreme version of this is Uckers, which started as Pachisi/Ludo (opinions differ) but then got into the hands of the Royal Navy, and is now thoroughly arcane.
3 March 2020 at 1:23 pm
Thank you for listening to our podcast and for your comment, Roger. That's a great deep dive into our episode. It sounds like you really enjoyed it. It's also great to hear that you play games to have a good time. That's a great approach. Thank you also for mentioning Onitama, which is definitely a very thinky game, even though it plays relatively quickly. As you say, Talisman and Munchkin are quite simple, but can take a long time to play. It was a very interesting topic to talk about for sure.
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A Quick Update! | So, You Think You Can Teach ESL?
Hello everyone! Ketan here. I've been quite busy these past few months with winter camps, end of the term stuff, progress reports, etc. and I haven't had any time to post.
Once things settle down over the next month or so I'll try to find more time to post and (hopefully) have a fresh batch of topics to post about. We have the Lunar New Year holiday this next week in Korea and I plan to spend time brainstorming.
If you're in Korea, I wish you a happy Lunar New Year, and for the rest of you I wish you all a happy New Year, too!


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http://www.24pakistan.com/sport/imam-century-powers-pakistan-to-358-9-in-third-odi-against-england/14450-news
Imam century powers Pakistan to 358-9 in third ODI against England
BRISTOL: Imam-ul-Haq came into form ahead of the World Cup with a career-best 151 as Pakistan made 358 for nine against tournament hosts England in the third one-day international at Bristol on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old left-hander's innings was also the highest individual score by a Pakistan batsman against England at this level, surpassing the 138 made by his opening partner, Fakhar Zaman, in a 12-run defeat at Southampton on Saturday that left the home side 1-0 up in this five-match series.
Meanwhile Chris Woakes did his chances of being included in tournament hosts England's final 15-man squad for the World Cup no harm with a return of four wickets for 67 runs in a maximum 10 overs.
But team-mate Joe Denly's World Cup chances suffered a setback, with the leg-spinner — playing in place of the rested Adil Rashid — bowling a couple of full tosses in a solitary over costing nine runs before he was taken out of the attack by England captain Eoin Morgan.
Warwickshire pace-bowling all-rounder Woakes made an early double strike to reduce Pakistan to 27 for two after Morgan won the toss and decided to let England chase — they generally prefer to bat first — ahead of the World Cup.
Woakes's last ball of the first over, an excellent full-length delivery, had Fakhar edging to second slip where Test skipper Joe Root held a juggled catch.
Number three Babar Azam was then clean bowled by a Woakes off-cutter.
But new batsman Haris Sohail was quickly into his stride in ideal batting conditions on a sunny day.
The left-hander hit two superbly timed fours off successive Woakes deliveries through point and then drove David Willey through the covers for a boundary.
But Sohail's excellent run-a-ball 41 came to an unfortunate end when, called through for a single by Imam, he was run out by bowler Tom Curran kicking the ball onto the striker's-end stumps.
Pakistan were then 95 for three in the 17th over.
But Imam and Asif Ali, whose 52 was his second successive fifty, repaired the damage with a fifth-wicket partnership of 125.
Imam, the nephew of Pakistan great and selection chief Inzamam-ul-Haq, went to his sixth hundred in 27 ODIs — and first against England — off 97 balls.
He continued to take the attack to England, driving Willey for a straight six and next ball glancing the left-arm quick for four.
Imam then surpassed his previous ODI best of 128 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo last year.
Asif holed out off Woakes and Imam's excellent innings ended when he was bowled, giving himself room, by Curran.
Imam faced 131 balls including 16 fours and a six.
Tailenders Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi hit out to leave England, who had also rested Jos Buttler following the star batsman's blistering 110 not out at Southampton, with a decent chase for victory.


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Torture and the Bush administration: 3 letters
By DP Opinion
Re: "This tortuous debate," April 24 David Harsanyi column.
David Harsanyi has done it. He has hinted on the debate which rationale citizens will face. Waterboarding and other interrogation techniques are now illegal, but that still does not make them torture. The debate should start with the video of Daniel Pearl. Then we should get a few uncensored pictures in the prisons of countries on the U.N. Human Rights Commission. That will provide documentation of physical pain that the dictionary defines as torture. You will not find a prisoner there who has gone through 185 episodes of waterboarding. Why? Because it is not used. Real pain is used and, if it does not get what the captors want, we have the pictures of our dead and mutilated soldiers for starters.
Bring on the circus. The ringmasters will be the ones who become the clowns. The citizens will not have to wonder why all these informed, high-ranking members of the political class condoned the carefully supervised waterboarding they now fraudulently claim as torture.
B.F. Miller, Englewood
This letter was published in the April 28 edition.
To those who would still defend the policy of torture by the Bush administration, let's set the record straight. The interrogation of Abu Zubayda and others which led to the thwarting of an incipient terrorist plot in California was accomplished in late 2001, by FBI operatives, using proven, lawful techniques. The torture of these same prisoners by the CIA did not start until six months later and was ordered by the Bush White House, with the hope of extracting false confessions of a supposed link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, to gin up propaganda for an invasion of Iraq. It did not work, and other intelligence sources showed only tenuous and acrimonious contact between Saddam and bin Laden more than 10 years before 9/11.
These torture techniques led to exactly zero reliable intelligence, besmirched the good name of our country, and helped to foster an even deeper and perhaps justified hatred of the United States around the world. If you must support a rationale for our country's leaders sinking to the level of the scum who attacked us, please find a more helpful argument based in historical fact.
J. Brandeis Sperandeo, Denver
With the launching of a political jihad against the Bush administration for keeping America safe after 9/11, President Obama has abdicated his role as my president. He — and his radical Democratic Party — will not criminalize differences of policy from one administration to the other, and I will not sit by and let that be done. If he insists on starting a civil war, it will not go without a fight.
R. Barry Crook, Aspen
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Professor Weinblatt is one of Israel's most respected economists. After receiving his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he began a four-decade career at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev which culminated in his appointment as Rector of the University from 2002-2010. After retiring from Ben Gurion University, Professor Weinblatt served as President of Sapir Academic College until 2014.
Professor Weinblatt's research has covered a broad range of topics, including theoretical and empirical studies in the areas International Economics, Macroeconomics, Economics of Crime, Development Economics, Economics of Social Issues, and the Economies of Israel and Palestine. He has published several books and more than fifty articles on these topics.
Professor Weinblatt now serves as a Professor Emeritus of the Ben Gurion University and continues to be involved in studying the Palestinian Economy in the context of the Peace Process.


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In the name of progress
In these biweekly posts, I like to address current issues or unique problems I find and look at them from new angles. And the majority of that involves offering criticism of some current issue, picking apart the negative effects of the status quo and looking for changes that can improve our lives from what we have today. But as a side effect, most of my posts also take a rather negative tone, criticizing what we have in education, government, or the media. And because the vast majority of news media and journalism tries to do the same – pick apart and criticize – there's a mismatch between the positive events taking place in the world and how much of it we reflect in our discussions and debates.
There's a mismatch between the positive events taking place in the world and how much of it we reflect in our discussions and debates.
There's a solid rationale behind the news media that's saturated with more negativity than positivity. If, for example, a family very narrowly survived an escape from a building collapse and another family is missing after a fire, it would make sense to report on and talk about the negative news of the missing family, the issue that requires a more immediate solution and attention. On the other hand, there are also arguments that say that criticism for the sake of improving the status quo is more worthwhile and valuable than seeing the positivity and contenting ourselves with the present. I think the media leans disproportionately on the side of negativity and criticism because of these two goals – constructive criticism and urgent news delivery. And both of these are noble and worthwhile goals – without the criticism of the media, companies and politics may never have the same motivation to improve. And without the delivery of urgent news in times of devastation, those who need help the most may never get it in time. But at the same time, I think there is a bit of a feedback loop happening in journalism and similar discussions in other places, where the atmosphere of criticism and negativity leads to more criticism and picking-apart of the present issues with no real constructive purpose. While a respectable article on, for example, the recent tragedy of Amtrak's derailed passenger train may deliver accurate information and go a step further to suggest opportunities that the infrastructure could have taken to improve safety, another article covering the same story may turn out to be nothing more than a sophisticated rant about the weakness of American transpiration infrastructure.
The same problem, criticism for the sake of criticism, digs even deeper in more personal and idealistic stories. Articles covering the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of Indiana from a month ago ranged anywhere from high-quality, neutral, and constructive pieces to well-written but biased pieces, to articles whose quality was completely destroyed by the lack of rationality and extreme bias of the author – and this happened on both sides of the debate. And one of the issues we often encounter is pieces that only exist to criticize, rather than to ultimately lead to improvement.
In psychology, there is a multi-step process to resolving mental problems that begins with the patient "admitting that he or she has a problem." Naturally, this step is the key to motivating those with problems to work and improve. And a very similar process, I think, can be applied to resolving issues that societies have as a community. The first step, of course, is the people of a community realizing that there is a problem to be resolved. But when the discussions that are taking place focus more on the issue itself and less on ways to improve on the present, that's a bit like the patient admitting there's a problem, but stopping there and doing nothing to get better. Ultimately, it goes nowhere, and the negativity only makes for a generally pessimistic atmosphere.
But the fact that a patient refuses to take any action definitely doesn't mean the doctor should give up. And likewise, the fact that our criticism is often misdirected doesn't mean we should stop paying attention to the faults we have. On the contrary, rather than spending too much time on exposing the problems we face, if we invest a little bit of that effort into finding solutions to improve upon and solve the issues we know we have, that might make for a much better use of our words and discussion. I'm certainly guilty of this problem as well. Most of my posts exist to point out a problem we have that I think is worth more attention, but more than a handful of the times, I stop there. I write a few paragraphs about the issues I think are supposedly important, but I don't do anything about it. What does that way about how much I really care about these issues?
We like to admit we have a problem. In fact, we like to talk about a whole lot of them, every day. But like an unmotivated patient, we stop there, and don't put nearly as much effort into resolving the problems we identify. Too often we neglect the problems we say we care about when we have to put forth effort to resolving those issues. We criticize and participate in heated discussions in the name of progress, but when it really comes the time and opportunity to take the next step, we digress. And at that moment, with that decision, we willingly give up the privilege we were given to be able to advocate for the changes we deem necessary. And just like that, our words become purposeless, speaking out but not being heard. And it's time to change that.
As a part of that effort, today, I'm personally taking an action to at least attempt to resolve something I've felt is an issue in my school. And because I know you've probably spoken out against something in the past few weeks, I'd like to challenge you to do the same. Take the next step.
If you enjoyed this piece, you might also enjoy my next post, Victims of circumstance.


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Jazz Genres
Red Norvo, Art Pepper, Joe Morello, Gerry Wiggins – Collections
Collections is an album by vibraphonist Red Norvo, saxophonist Art Pepper, drummer Joe Morello and pianist Gerry Wiggins recorded in early 1957 originally released on the Intro label. "Joe Morello was virtually unknown when he [More]
Chuck Wayne feat. Zoot Sims and Brew Moore – The Jazz Guitarist (Full Album)
The Jazz Guitarist is an album by jazz guitarist Chuck Wayne which was released on the Savoy label in 1956. The album comprised two recording sessions, one recorded in 1953 (originally released as Chuck Wayne [More]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet – At Carnegie Hall (1963)
At Carnegie Hall is a jazz live album by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. It was recorded at the famed Carnegie Hall in New York City on Friday, February 22, 1963. Critic Thom Jurek described it [More]
Dave Brubeck Trio – Blues For Joe (1967)
"Blues For Joe" (Dave Brubeck). A live performance from Juan-Les-Pins, Antibes, France, July 23, 1967 featuring an unbelievable drum solo by Joe Morello. Personnel: Dave Brubeck – piano Joe Morello – drums Eugene Wright – [More]
Dave Brubeck Quartet – Castilian Blues
Castilian Blues (Dave Brubeck). Personnel: Dave Brubeck – piano Paul Desmond – alto saxophone Joe Morello – drums Eugene Wright – double bass _____________________ 1961
Dave Brubeck Quartet – Live In Portland 1959 (Full Album)
Track listing: 1. Two Part Contention 2. The Lonesome Road 3. Take the "A" Train 4. When the Saints Go Marchin' In 5. I'm In a Dancing Mood 6. Someday My Prince Will Come 7. [More]
Carmen McRae with Dave Brubeck – Take Five Live
Take Five Live is a 1961 live album by the American jazz singer Carmen McRae, focusing on the songs composed by Dave Brubeck. This was McRae's second album with Brubeck; their first, Tonight Only with [More]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out (Full Album)
Time Out is a studio album by the American jazz group the Dave Brubeck Quartet, released in 1959 on Columbia Records. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, it is based upon [More]
Gary Burton – New Vibe Man in Town (Full Album)
New Vibe Man in Town is the debut album by vibraphonist Gary Burton recorded in 1961 and released on the RCA label. AllMusic Review by Scott Yanow: Vibraphonist Gary Burton's debut as a leader shows [More]
Jay McShann – Georgia On My Mind
"Georgia on My Mind" (Hoagy Carmichael / Stuart Gorrell) (from the album "The Big Apple Bash" ) Personnel: Jay McShann – piano , vocals Herbie Mann – flute, tenor saxophone Gerry Mulligan – baritone, soprano [More]
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OCR helps reduce paper clutter and helps improve accessibility of information from remote locations. Using some of the latest image acquisition and image enhancement technologies, Daproim operators can quickly gather information from resumes, data forms, address labels, newspapers, magazine cutouts, paper files and product labels.
It is tedious and time consuming for most companies to continue performing manual data entry work. This is where optical character recognition services come in handy. OCR involves the use of specialized machines and software that quickly reads text from physical documents and converts them into soft copies. These soft copies can be stored and later retrieved for editing or processing into different formats.


text:
Q: Silverlight DeepZoom Dragging lets one drag the MultiScaleImage off screen I'm having some issue and am hoping someone can answer the question. I have a Deep Zoom project that I used the standard (deep zoom composer) project which places a DeepZommInitializer behavior on the MultiScaleImage control. I'm trying to constrain dragging to make sure that the user doesn't drag the image off screen (and therefore is unable to find the image). I did add a Home button which will bring the image back to the starting location at a zoom of 1. Anyway here's the code I currently have (have scoured the internet looking for an answer).
        // msi is the multiscale image
        msi.MouseLeftButtonDown += delegate(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            lastMouseDownPos = e.GetPosition(msi); // class level var
            lastMouseViewPort = msi.ViewportOrigin; // class level var

            mouseDown = true; // class level var

            msi.CaptureMouse();
        };

        msi.MouseMove += delegate(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            lastMousePos = e.GetPosition(msi);

            if (duringDrag)
            {
                Point newPoint = lastMouseViewPort;

                newPoint.X += (lastMouseDownPos.X - lastMousePos.X) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth;
                newPoint.Y += (lastMouseDownPos.Y - lastMousePos.Y) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth;

                var limits = new Rect(new Point(1, 1 / msi.AspectRatio), new Point(-1, -1 / msi.AspectRatio));

                if (newPoint.X > limits.Right * .999)
                {
                    newPoint.X += (-2 * (lastMouseDownPos.X - lastMousePos.X)) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth; // Reverses direction when going off left

                }

                if (newPoint.Y > limits.Bottom * .999)
                {
                    newPoint.Y += (-2 * (lastMouseDownPos.Y - lastMousePos.Y)) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth; // Reverses direction when going off top of screen
                }

                msi.ViewportOrigin = lastMouseViewPort = newPoint;
                lastMouseDownPos = lastMousePos;
            }
        };

I really need a solution that works for right and bottom but the moment that I zoom at all the values all change. My limit code works if zoom level is 1. I can't believe this is nowhere to be found on the internet! But the moment the zoom changes then everything goes out the window (values for newPoint aren't in the range I expect). Any help would be fantastic!

A: And just like that I figured it out myself (finally after several weeks).
Here's the answer (simple change the mouse move event as follows):
        msi.MouseMove += delegate(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            lastMousePos = e.GetPosition(msi);

            if (duringDrag)
            {
                Point newPoint = lastMouseViewPort;

                newPoint.X += (lastMouseDownPos.X - lastMousePos.X) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth;
                newPoint.Y += (lastMouseDownPos.Y - lastMousePos.Y) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth;
                var limits = new Rect(new Point(1, 1 / msi.AspectRatio), new Point(-1 / Settings.ZoomLevel, -1 / msi.AspectRatio / Settings.ZoomLevel));

                if (newPoint.X < limits.Left * .999)
                {
                    newPoint.X += (-2*(lastMouseDownPos.X - lastMousePos.X)) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth;  // we went off right so reverse X direction

                }
                if (newPoint.X > limits.Right * .999)
                {
                    newPoint.X += (-2 * (lastMouseDownPos.X - lastMousePos.X)) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth; // we went off left so reverse X direction
                }
                if (newPoint.Y < limits.Top * .999)
                {
                    newPoint.Y += (-2*(lastMouseDownPos.Y - lastMousePos.Y)) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth;  // we went off Bottom so reverse direction
                }
                if (newPoint.Y > limits.Bottom * .999)
                {
                    newPoint.Y += (-2 * (lastMouseDownPos.Y - lastMousePos.Y)) / msi.ActualWidth * msi.ViewportWidth; // we went off Top so reverse direction
                }
                msi.ViewportOrigin = lastMouseViewPort = newPoint;
                lastMouseDownPos = lastMousePos;

                msi.SendMovedZoomMsg(Settings.ZoomLevel, newPoint, myClassName);
            }
        };

This probably doesn't completely constrain the image, but it keeps it on screen and more than likely the user will stop trying to move in the wrong direction

A: I beleive the following code correctly determines if a ViewportOrigin leaves some portion of the image on the screen.  (ImageCtrl is a class variable for the MultiScaleImage).
    private bool IsValidOrigin(Point point)
{
  var limits = new Rect(
                 new Point(-0.95 * ImageCtrl.ViewportWidth, -0.85 * ImageCtrl.ViewportWidth/ ImageCtrl.AspectRatio),
                 new Point(0.95, 0.85/ImageCtrl.AspectRatio));
  return limits.Contains(point);
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Don't be greedy, share it:
Who Has Been Selling Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) Shares?
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China's Oil Futures Are Gaining Momentum
Authored by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,
China's new oil futures contract is gaining some momentum as a fixture on the global oil market, although hurdles remain before it can become a key benchmark for Asia.
China launched its yuan-denominated oil benchmark in March to much fanfare, after years of planning and delays. The logic of starting up an oil futures contract in China is obvious. China is the largest crude oil importer in the world, and its growing appetite for crude has increased the urgency to establish a contract based on local supply and demand conditions. Importing such heavy volumes at dollar-denominated prices exposes Chinese refiners and consumers to currency risk. A yuan contract mitigates some of that risk.
Beyond those concerns, the yuan contract also augments the global status of the Chinese currency. China is the world's second largest economy and shifting more global trade into yuan advances Chinese influence.
However, the new contract on the Shanghai International Exchange still has to overcome some hurdles before it can be taken seriously as a premier benchmark in the global oil market. Just because the contract was launched does not mean it will become dominant, or even relevant. Previous contracts have failed to garner sufficient liquidity and ultimately have been discontinued or have wallowed in irrelevance.
The Dubai Mercantile Exchange's Oman futures contract has been somewhat reflective of conditions in the Asian market, incorporating medium and heavy sour blends. But "its daily traded volume and open interest (number of contracts outstanding) have remained at low levels since its inception in 2007, indicating it is not actively used among market participants," the EIA wrote last week.
As Reuters noted in early April, there are several ingredients for success. First, the contract must serve a need for hedging. Second, it has to attract enough traders in order to build liquidity. Finally, restrictions on trading, speculation, and capital controls must not be too onerous.
Because China is already the world's largest oil importer, the Shanghai contract can obviously meet the need for hedging. It also has a sizable pool of refiners and traders, which should allow the contract to build liquidity. An added advantage is that China imports medium and heavy sour crudes, while Brent and WTI generally reflect lighter and sweeter varieties. The need for some differentiation is there.
Reuters notes the biggest uncertainty is over intervention in the market from the Chinese government, which could deter investors. But the desire by the Chinese government itself to successfully build the Shanghai benchmark might be a strong enough incentive to allow trading to proceed largely uninhibited.
As such, the prospects look good for the Shanghai oil contract and trading volumes have picked up.
For China, the trading of oil contracts in yuan reduces currency risk for Chinese consumers, and thus, the Chinese economy. Yet, with the rest of the world buying and selling oil in U.S. dollars, for oil traders, a contract denominated in yuan creates new currency risk. That could be a big deterrent and obstacle for the growth of the Shanghai contract, an obstacle that other futures contracts did not have to overcome. For instance, the USD/CNY exchange rate has appreciated 8 percent over the past year, the EIA points out.
However, the global oil trade is gradually shifting east since that is where demand is rising the fastest. In 2017, the EIA says that Asia and Oceana accounted for 35 percent of global demand for oil and other liquid fuels, up from just 30 percent in 2008. That portion will continue to expand with China and India accounting for an outsized portion of demand growth going forward.
That puts additional weight on the importance of a benchmark that reflects supply and demand conditions in Asia. Over the longer-term, the potential peak and decline of oil demand in the OECD West makes Asia even more important as a hub for the oil market.
Already, the Shanghai contract has seen more trading volume for September 2018 delivery than the Oman contract. But volumes are still a tiny fraction compared to WTI and Brent. It could be a while before the Shanghai contract becomes a truly global benchmark. But it is on its way to becoming an important regional benchmark at least, reflecting medium and heavy sour conditions in Asia.
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NetDocuments is more than just a document or email management software service, but also a technology partner with its customers for enabling the legal industry in information security and governance. Law firms who create and store documents on behalf of their clients must also comply to federally regulated compliance standards related to data sovereignty and security.
Customer-managed Storage is a paid add-on feature, enabled and disabled at the repository level. Please contact NetDocuments Sales for more information.
Customer-managed Storage takes NetDocuments beyond a web application for managing your documents and allows your firm to customize the service for your unique compliance purposes.
A NetDocuments customer may opt to have documents associated with selected workspaces or matters be co-located in the customer/firm's facility, inside its own firewalls. The customer may also elect to have some of its workspaces or matters to be co-located at a particular client's facility. These are on-premises options that will be available to NetDocuments customers. Hosted options will also be available, with details forthcoming.
The NetDocuments Customer-managed Storage technology allows a document repository to be created outside the NetDocuments Global Data Centers and be privately hosted by the customer or the customer's client. The Customer-managed Storage option stores digital files away from the cloud, avoiding multi-tenancy, while still enjoying the processing efficiency and innovations from a secure cloud technology. The Customer-managed Storage is ideal for customers who have a limited selected number of clients who are cloud adverse, and insist in having local disk storage systems in particular locations of their choosing and away from the cloud.
Requirements and configuration settings described below are subject to change.
What is required to use Customer-managed Storage?
In order to implement Customer-managed Storage, a NetDocuments customer needs custom software installed by a third party partner on a minimum of 6 servers - 3 for object store, 3 for redundancy.
For now, only one vendor (storage system) is supported. Others may be supported in the future.
How does it work with NetDocuments?
To access the Customer-managed Storage console, go to the Repository Administration page.
NOTE: The example above is for demonstration purposes only and does not necessarily represent available locations.
Enter the Name of the location, the URL, the Access Key ID and Access Key secret.


Excerpt from Q&A, July 17, 2017.
MATT CANAVAN: Thanks, James. Look, I don't accept that renewables are, at the moment, cheaper than coal.
– Excerpt from a question posed by Q&A audience member James Newbold to then-Resources Minister Senator Matt Canavan on Q&A, July 17, 2017.
One of the biggest debates underway in Australia (and around the world) is about electricity, and how it should be generated. One of the major pressure points is prices.
The Conversation contacted Matt Canavan's spokesperson for sources to support his statement but did not hear back before deadline. Nonetheless, we can test his statement against publicly available data.
In 2017, the marginal cost of generating power from an already existing coal station is less than $40/MWh, while wind power is $60-70/MWh (explained below). So why do people say renewables are now cheaper than coal?
Well, they're often talking about what would be the cheaper option if old coal-fired power stations were replaced today – in other words, the new-build price.
Making the distinction between the cost of existing energy generation, and the cost of new-build energy generation in this debate is very important. Comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.
Current prices are based on existing installations, while new-build prices compare the costs of different technologies if their operating lives started today. This matters because Australia's existing coal-fired power stations are ageing and will need to be replaced.
Comparing new-build prices is more complicated than comparing current costs, as I'll discuss later in this FactCheck.
How do we measure the cost of electrical power?
Let's cover the basic terminology first.
Electrical energy is measured in kilowatt-hours – the units generally used for metering and charging residential electricity use. One kilowatt-hour represents the amount of energy a device that draws one kilowatt of power (like a household heater, for example) would use in one hour.
A megawatt-hour is 1,000 times larger, and it's what we typically use to measure large electricity loads or generators. So when we're comparing the cost of electrical energy generated by different sources, we'll be talking about Australian dollars per megawatt-hour ($/MWh).
There are a few things we need to take into account when we're calculating the cost of electricity created by different technologies.
First, we need to factor in how much it costs to establish the source in the first place – whether that's a coal-fired power station, a wind farm or a hydro-power plant. Then we need to factor in how much it costs to operate, fuel and maintain that facility over its lifetime.
These factors and the cost of capital (like the interest rate) are commonly combined into a metric called the "levelised cost of electricity" (or the LCOE). This provides a measure of the total cost in current dollars per unit of electrical energy generated ($/MWh) over the lifetime of the facility.
We also need to know the time frame in question. A coal-fired power station that's nearing the end of its operating life may have recovered its original capital investment. So the marginal cost of coal-fired electricity may be low, compared to the levelised cost of a new wind farm that's yet to recoup its initial capital cost.
Using the levelised costs of electricity created by different technologies does always not provide a perfect comparison. Comparing such different technologies will never be comparing apples with apples. But it's the best measure we've got for a simple "plug-and-play" replacement of a single generating source.
Today, most of Australia's electricity is sourced from coal-fired power stations. In their discussion on Q&A, Newbold and Canavan referred broadly to "renewables". Currently, wind power is the cheapest form of renewable energy. So we'll use that as the basis for comparison with coal-fired energy.
In 2017, the marginal cost of generating power from an already existing black coal-fired station is less than $40/MWh. Brown coal-fired power is even cheaper.
To establish the current price of wind power, we can look at the announcement in May 2017 by Origin Energy, when the company agreed to buy all the power to be generated by the Stockyard Hill Wind Farm in Victoria between 2019 and 2030 for less than $60/MWh.
A similar price was struck in March 2016 when the Australian Capital Territory government conducted its second "wind auction". The government uses wind auctions to buy contracts for future energy supplies. The lowest price in the 2016 auction yielded around $60/MWh in current prices. This figure is based on a flat rate of $77/MWh for 20 years and assuming around 3% inflation, which is the upper end of Australia's inflation rate target of 2-3%.
Combining the total price range for that auction with this inflation range gives around $60-$70/MWh in current prices, with wind farms currently operating in that adjusted range.
So, based on the marginal cost of energy generated by existing coal-fired power stations with sunk costs, Canavan is correct in saying that renewables are not "at the moment, cheaper than coal".
However, the story is different if we are talking about new-build electricity prices. And this is often where conversations and debates become confused.
Coal-fired power stations in Australia have operating lives of around 50 years. As can be seen from the table below, nine of Australia's 12 biggest operating coal-fired power stations are more than 30 years old.
In preparation for the retirement of those older coal-fired stations, policymakers, energy companies and other investors are debating whether to replace them with new coal-fired power stations, or other types of energy generation. This is where the comparison of new-build costs comes into play.
FactChecks rely on data from events that have already occurred. So we can't say with factual certainty whether or not renewables would be cheaper than coal as a new-build energy source, because no coal-fired power stations have been built recently.
But we do have recent prices for the cheapest form of new-build renewable energy, which is newly-installed wind power.
And we do have recent levelised price projections for the cheapest new-build fossil fuel energy, which is supercritical coal power.
The projected price for new supercritical coal power comes in at around $75/MWh from the recent Finkel review of the National Electricity Market, based on data produced by Jacobs Consultancy. That is consistent with the price of $80/MWh from the 2016 report from the CO2 Cooperative Research Centre, and less than the $84-94/MWh from the 2012/3 Australian Energy Technology Assessment .
These projections for new supercritical coal power are higher than the recent prices for newly-installed wind power (outlined earlier in the FactCheck) at around $60-70/MWh in current prices over the 20-year contract period (which is similar to a levelised cost).
So, if we look at recent wind power prices and recent price projections for new supercritical coal power, it's reasonable to say that – as things stand today – wind power would be the cheaper new-build source of electricity.
improvements in technology (this is expected to reduce the price of renewables more so than coal).
secondly, the Q&A audience member and Canavan were discussing prices as they are "now" and "at the moment".
So that's what I've addressed in this FactCheck.
Based on the electricity generated now by old coal-fired power stations with sunk costs, Matt Canavan was right to say: "I don't accept that renewables are, at the moment, cheaper than coal". In 2017, the marginal cost of generating power from an already existing coal station is less than $40/MWh, while wind power is $60-70/MWh.
The Q&A audience member may have been talking about new-build prices.
The author has provided a sound FactCheck that covers a lot of the complexities around a challenging issue. I would add one remark which doesn't detract from the author's verdict.
The cost of new-build coal is likely to be higher than reported in the FactCheck.
The author was correct to point out that the introduction of a price on carbon emissions would increase the cost of new-build coal-fired electricity.
The mere possibility of the introduction of a price on carbon or carbon regulation in the future actually affects the costs of new-build coal-fired electricity today. The risk of increased costs or regulation for emission intensive generators manifests itself as a higher "risk premium" applied to current financing costs. The overall effect is a higher weighted average cost of capital (basically, a higher average interest rate) for emission intensive generation.
The cost of electricity produced from a new wind farm is competitive with the best estimates for the cost of electricity produced from a new coal station, and cheaper than the cost of new coal quoted in very reputable analyses (CO2CRC 2015 and CSIRO 2017).
As noted by the author, the comparison in this FactCheck does not include the cost of intermittency for renewables. Recognising that no technology runs 100% of the time, there is a backup cost to be added to wind to make it as firm (or stable) as a fuel-based plant. Available costs for such backup, such as large scale battery or pumped storage, are based on estimates and are the subject of much current study.


text:
Berkeley English Faculty
Joshua Gang
Wheeler 412
Fall 2021 TBA
jsgang [at] berkeley.edu
20th- and 21st-Century British
Narrative & the Novel
Professional Statement
I joined UC Berkeley's English department in 2015. My research interests include: 20th- and 21st-century British literature; literature and philosophy--especially philosophy of mind and moral philosophy; the history of the novel; literary history; and the history of criticism and reading practice.
My book Behaviorism, Consciousness, and the Literary Mind was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in November 2021 (series: Hopkins Studies in Modernism). My essay "Derek Jarman and Everything That Is the Case," which brings Jarman and Wittgenstein's Tractatus to bear on queer theory, will appear in the Summer 2022 issue of Critical Inquiry. I've also published my work in journals such as ELH, Novel: A Forum on Fiction, and PMLA.
I am beginning a new project on moral philosophy, aesthetic value, and modern British fiction and film.
Behaviorism, Consciousness, and the Literary Mind
What might behaviorism, that debunked school of psychology, tell us about literature? If inanimate objects such as novels or poems have no mental properties of their own, then why do we talk about them as if they do? Why do we perceive the minds o....(read more)
FIELDS:
Selected Publications and Papers Delivered
Behaviorism, Consciousness, and the Literary Mind. Johns Hopkins University Press, Nov. 2021 (series: Hopkins Studies in Modernism).
"Derek Jarman and Everything That is the Case." Forthcoming from Critical Inquiry (Summer 2022 issue).
Review of Modernism and Close Reading, ed. David James (Oxford UP, 2020). Review of English Studies 1-2 (Summer 2020).
"Consciousness in the Balance." NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 50.2 (Summer 2017).
"No Symbols Where None Intended." PMLA 130.3 (Fall 2015). Contribution to "Theories and Methodologies: Learning to Read," edited by Deidre Lynch and Evelyne Ender.
"Mindless Modernism." NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 46.1 (Summer 2013).
"Behaviorism and the Beginnings of Close Reading." ELH 78.1 (Spring 2011).
English Department Classes
45C/1
Literature in English: MId-19th through the 20th Century
Introductory Surveys
Problems in the Study of Literature
45C/101 -- discussion section
No instructor assigned yet.
The Seminar on Criticism: Close Reading
Literature and Philosophy: "Minds, Morals, and the Novel"
British Literature, 1900-1945
British 20th- and 21st-Century
Contemporary Literature: Contemporary British Fiction (and a few films)
134/101 -- discussion section
Gamedze, Londiwe
Nieto, Rebecca Maria
Kao, Libby
Graduate Readings: Literature and Analytic Philosophy
Research Seminar: British Fiction Since 1945
Show ALL Classes


text:
Q: Not able to login using Ultimate Membership Pro Wordpress I have issues login using the plugin Ultimate Membership Pro in Wordpress. When i use the login form and the right credentials I would get "Invalid email or password". I tried creating a new user and change the password still get the same error. It was all working fine. Does anyone had any similar issue?

A: I was facing same issue....it's because of wordfence security plugin.
You can deactivate this plugin or make some changes in wordfence firewall setting.
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With back to school season now in our midst, it's time to start thinking about really simple lunch ideas. Whether you have kids going to school, or you are a student attending post-secondary, you need quick, easy, and inexpensive recipes to get you through the fall. When I was a kid, tuna salad was one of my favorite lunches and I still make it often today. Instead of using bread, I've loaded it into a red bell pepper for added nutritional value and crunch.
Slice the pepper in half and set aside. Mix all the salad ingredients together and spoon into the pepper. Seal up in a container for lunch the next day, or eat it right away.


text:
Des retrouvailles toujours orchestres par Philippe
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30 يونيو، 2016 /0 تعليقات/بواسطة admin
https://vision-bs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/LOGO-01.png 0 0 admin https://vision-bs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/LOGO-01.png admin2016-06-30 04:14:332020-09-12 13:25:37Des retrouvailles toujours orchestres par Philippe
"Like so many others in self isolation We delivered a garbage product


text:
Study argues ditching butter for veg oil won't prevent heart disease
"Ditching butter for veg oil may not be better for heart," the Daily Mail reports.
An analysis of previously unpublished data from the 1960s and 70s found no benefit in replacing sources of saturated fats with vegetable oils.
The original study was conducted from 1968 to 1973 in six US psychiatric state hospitals and a nursing home. People were randomly assigned to eat a diet that switched saturated fat with vegetable oil rich in linoleic acid, or a control diet including saturated fat plus linoleic acid for about a year. Researchers looked at the data from more than 2,000 participants over a maximum follow-up period of four years.
Both diets reduced cholesterol levels, though the effect was greater for the diet with vegetable oil. In both groups, lower cholesterol levels were associated with an increased risk of death for people aged 65 or over. It is not clear that this was due to the diet, as it occurred in both groups, and as there were such small numbers, the findings are not reliable.
The study population – people staying in a nursing home or a psychiatric hospital – are not representative of the population at large, limiting confidence in the findings.
Since the 1960s and 70s, large randomised controlled trials (RCTs)have shown that lowering cholesterol with statins reduces the risk of death.
This study does not conclude that butter is good for you, but does add to the debate about dietary composition.
'The fat controversy'
This is certainly not the first study to challenge the generally held consensus that saturated fats are bad for people. As we have discussed in recent years, there have been studies arguing that:
the 1980s fat guidelines 'lacked evidence
the link between saturated fats and heart disease is unproven
it is trans fats, not saturated fats, that pose the real risk to heart health
It is reported that the government's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition is due to publish an evidence review on saturated fats in 2017. Whether this will settle the debate on the role of fats in diet remains to be seen.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the University of North Carolina, Medtronic (in Minneapolis), the Mayo Clinic, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
It was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, and the University of North Carolina Program on Integrative Medicine.
The study was published in thepeer-reviewed medical journal the BMJ on an open-access basis, so you can read it for free online.
In general, the UK media reported the study accurately and put the results into context, providing helpful and balanced comments from experts in the field, both for and against the arguments put forward in the study.
However, there was little coverage of the limitations of the research, such as the unrepresentative nature of the participants.
What kind of research was this?
This was a re-evaluation of an RCT conducted in the US from 1968 to 1973 and a systematic review and meta-analysis to put the results into context. The RCT aimed to see if a diet replacing saturated fat with vegetable oil rich in linoleic acid could reduce cardiovascular diseaseand deaths.
This type of study design is considered to be the gold standard, but in this case there are numerous limitations, including the short length of follow-up for determining these outcomes. In addition, the researchers were not able to access all of the data, so their main analysis is based on a small number of participants.
What did the research involve?
The researchers analysed published and unpublished data from the RCT.
This was a double-blinded RCT conducted in a nursing home and six state psychiatric hospitals. A total of 9,570 people were randomly assigned to eat a diet that was low in saturated fat, but high in linoleic acid-rich vegetable oil, or a control diet that had the same amount of saturated fat used before the study, but with an increase in linoleic acid. This control diet used common margarine and shortening (butter or lard).
The intervention diet used liquid corn oil instead of cooking fats and also added this to salad dressings, "filled beef" (lean ground beef with added oil), "filled milk" and "filled cheeses". This diet reduced the saturated fat from 18.5% to 9.2% of calories consumed. Both diets were designed to look the same, and the study participants and medical staff did not know which diet they were eating.
The diets were eaten for an average of 460 days.
Data was used in this re-analysis from a subset of 2,355 participants who had followed the diet for over a year, had regular cholesterol measurements and had follow-up data for three years.
The researchers analysed the results to take into account some common confounding factors, such as:
baseline cholesterol
systolic blood pressure (the pressure of the blood when the heart beats to pump blood out)
their assessment of adherence to the diet
They then performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of any RCT that compared diets using vegetable oil in place of saturated fat and no other intervention.
What were the basic results?
Re-analysis of RCT
Based on a subset of 2,355 people:
The low saturated fat diet significantly reduced the level of cholesterol in the blood by 13.8% compared to the control diet, which lowered cholesterol by just 1%.
In both groups, for each 0.78mm/l reduction in cholesterol, there was a 22% higher risk of death from any cause (hazard ratio [HR]1.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14 to 1.32). This statistic appeared to be driven by a 35% higher risk for 595 people aged 65 years or more at the start of the study (HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.54).
There was no association between cholesterol reduction and death for the 1,760 people aged under 65. This was based on 149 deaths.
The researchers reported that a thesis on the RCT written in 1981 found that, overall, the low saturated fat diet did not reduce the risk of death compared to the control diet over the next four years and may have increased the risk of death in people aged 65 or over. However, the researchers did not have access to the raw data to be able to confirm these findings, or whether they were statistically significant.
There was insufficient autopsy information for accurate analysis of the effect of the diets on heart attacks or atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Five RCTs including 10,808 participants were identified that compared a diet substituting saturated fats with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid. Pooling the results, there was no difference between the diets in terms of death from coronary heart disease (HR 1.13, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.54) or death from any cause (HR 1.07, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.27).
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers concluded from the available evidence that, "replacement of saturated fat in the diet with linoleic acid effectively lowers serum cholesterol but does not support the hypothesis that this translates to a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease or all causes".
They also criticised the fact that some of the data from the RCT was unpublished and say that this has "contributed to overestimation of the benefits of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid".
This re-evaluation of some of the data from an old RCT has found that both diets reduced cholesterol levels, though the effect was greater for the diet with vegetable oil. In both groups, lower cholesterol levels were associated with an increased risk of death for people aged 65 or over. It is not clear that this was due to the diet, as it occurred in both groups, and as this was just based on 149 deaths over a relatively short follow-up period, this limits the reliability of the findings.
Cholesterol levels can reduce due to illness, and there was a lack of information about what other illnesses any of the participants had, why they were in the psychiatric state hospitals, what medication they may have been taking and if they smoked. These factors limit our confidence in the findings of this study.
Other limitations include the actual amount of food that was consumed. The study design meant that participants were assumed to have eaten the food on their tray, and not to have eaten if they did not collect their tray. In addition, the study is not able to take into account any other food that the people may have eaten from visitors or the effect of their diet over their lifetime. There was also a wide variation in the diets between the hospitals.
The original study was conducted more than 45 years ago, before statins were available. Since then, large well-conducted RCTs in the general population have shown that lowering cholesterol with statins reduces the risk of death.
This study does not conclude that butter is good for you, but does add to the ongoing debate about the best dietary composition.
Due to the limitations of the study, it should not been seen as "proof" that the current guidelines regarding saturated fats are flawed. The current UK health guidelines recommend that:
the average man should eat no more than 30g of saturated fat a day
the average woman should eat no more than 20g of saturated fat a day
These guidelines may well change after the publication of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition's evidence review on saturated fats, expected in 2017. But until then, we would recommend erring on the side of caution.
[Source:- NHS]
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Breakdown of Myelin Implicated in Alzheimer's, UCLA Research Shows
Wisdom comes with age (doesn't it?), but not without a process that takes place in the brain called myelination. Myelin is the fatty sheath that coats the axons of the nerves, allowing for efficient conduction of nerve impulses. It is key to the fast processing speeds that underlie our higher cognitive functioning, including, yes, wisdom. Myelination continues sheathing axons until we reach the age of about 50, but in these later stages, the myelin becomes more and more susceptible to damage. Now, in a report in the April issue of the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, Dr. George Bartzokis, UCLA professor of neurology, suggests that it is the breakdown of this late-stage myelin that promotes the buildup of toxic amyloid-beta fibrils that eventually deposit in the brain and become the plaques which have long been associated with Alzheimer's disease. These amyloid products in turn destroy more and more myelin, according to Bartzokis, disrupting brain signaling and leading to cell death and the classic clinical signs of Alzheimer's. If correct, the research suggests a broader approach to therapeutic interventions for the disease. And in a unique twist for modern-day science, Bartzokis tested his myelin model of Alzheimer's by comparing modern imaging results with maps of cortical myelination that were published in the medical journal The Lancet — back in 1901. "Myelination is the single most unique aspect in which the human brain differs from those of other species," said Bartzokis, who also directs the UCLA Memory Disorders and Alzheimer's Disease Clinic. Myelin is produced by oligodendrocytes, specialized glial cells that themselves become more vulnerable with age. "Myelination of the brain follows an inverted U-shaped trajectory, growing strongly until middle age. Then it begins to breakdown," Bartzokis said. "Before the advent of modern medicine, very few persons lived beyond age 50 and therefore, as a species, we evolved to continue myelinating over our entire natural life span." As a result, the volume of myelinated white matter increases to a peak at about age 50, then slowly begins to reverse and decline in volume as we continue to age. The myelin that is deposited in adulthood ensheaths increasing numbers of axons with smaller axon diameters, and so spreads itself thinner and thinner, he said. As a result, it becomes more susceptible to the ravages of age in the form of environmental and genetic insults and slowly begins to break down. "The myelin breakdown process mimics the developmental process of myelination, but this time in reverse," Bartzokis said. "That's what we think underlies the progressive spread of the neuritic plaques from the late-myelinating regions toward the earlier-myelinating regions." Bartzokis noted that a similar progression has been described clinically of the cognitive, functional and neurologic declines that accompany Alzheimer's disease. Oligodendrocytes and myelin have the highest levels of iron of any brain cells, Bartzokis said, and circumstantial evidence supports the possibility that brain iron levels might be a risk factor for age-related neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. In the study, he suggests that myelin breakdown in the late-myelinating regions releases iron, which promotes the development of the toxic amyloid oligomers and plaques, which in turn destroy more myelin. Bartzokis tested his hypothesis by examining published images of amyloid deposition acquired in living individuals; the images were made using radiolabeled ligands, molecules that bind to amyloid plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Next, he compared the physical location of these plaques to much earlier work published in a 1901 edition of The Lancet that mapped the locations in the brain where late-stage myelination occurs. The two matched up perfectly. "It was pretty striking," Bartzokis said. "And the results are easily testable using currently available imaging methods. What's important is that these results have implications for novel therapeutic interventions that could target oligodendrocytes, myelin and iron deposits in the brain." The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, and the Psychiatry Services of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Po Lu, an assistant clinical professor in the UCLA Department of Neurology, and Jim Mintz, professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, were co-authors on the study. The UCLA Department of Neurology encompasses more than a dozen research, clinical and teaching programs. These programs cover brain-mapping and neuroimaging, movement disorders, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, neurogenetics, nerve and muscle disorders, epilepsy, neuro-oncology, neurotology, neuropsychology, headaches and migraines, neurorehabilitation, and neurovascular disorders. The department ranked No. 1 among its peers nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding in 2005. For more information, visit http://neurology.medsch.ucla.edu. -UCLA- MW216