text:
Tag: Lizette Hall
"The people of coming days will know"
All morning the news was of the marches in cities across the world. A form of protest, a series of statements about justice and democracy, the moving sight of rivers of people holding signs, crossing bridges. A group of people on a research boat in Antarctica, holding up their signs. The hundreds of thousands in Grant Park, Chicago, a number considered too many for a march. Closer to me, just across Georgia Strait, in Nanaimo, a thousand. One for the history books, for certain
It's interesting how we record history, the stories that are included, abandoned, neglected, overlooked, revised. I was talking to my older son this morning — well, talking to his family! His wife Manon and their son Arthur, who remembered his grandparents from his Christmas visit and who blew kisses cheerfully — about the stories remembered and handed down by Indigenous people in British Columbia. Forrest is teaching a survey course in B.C. history and I wondered if he knew a story recorded by Imbert Orchard in 1966, collected in Robert Budd's Voices of British Columbia, in which Lizette Hall, a member of the Dakelh First Nation, remembers an incident from 1828 involving James Douglas, working then as a Hudson's Bay Company clerk at Fort St. James, and Lizette's great-grandfather, Chief Kwah. It's a story her family kept intact because of her great-grandfather's involvement. She acknowledges that the story she tells has been "retold so many times, and a thing added here and a thing added there. Well, this is the true story of what, just what did happen."
We sometimes think that because things weren't written down, well, then they can't be reliable. Good stories, maybe. But history? Lizette tells her story so emphatically and clearly that I have every faith that her version is "the true story". And remember the "discovery" of Franklin's ships in Nunavut, in a place where Inuit people had said they were located? An oral tradition held the story of the ships carefully and accurately but not many "experts" believed the validity of something not written down. I've read that the Inuit called the area on Queen Maud Gulf where the Erebus was found "the Ship Place". (What would have happened if archaeologists paid attention to such names a hundred years ago? Had paid attention to generations who told essentially the same story?) Louie Kamookak is an Inuit historian and it's fascinating to read about his expedition to visit areas remembered by his great-grandmother Humahuk:
Humahuk's father took one item that he later made into an ice chisel (in later years she learned it had been a dinner or butter knife). As they were looking for more objects they noticed a man-made mound the length of a full-grown person. At the end of it was a stone with strange markings on it. Seeing this, her father became afraid and they made their way down to the shore.
Once at the shore they found more strange objects: wood and a metal chain going into the sea.
The world is an intricate collection of stories, if we learn how to hear them, read them, hold them in our hands and decode their own particular language. I keep two rocks on my desk, pieces of conglomerate dense with fossils from the Sooke Formation, a geologic formation on the west coast of Vancouver Island, dating from the Oligocene, about 20-25 million years ago. The stones are heavy enough to hold paper down, literal enough to contain their own pages of marine history. I can read a little of it, recognize the marine fossils of gastropods, pelecypods, and oysters in the stones:
That tiny remnant of oyster on the top of the stone — it's as beautiful as any pearl. And the other stone, with its ridge of bivalve — a clam? I run my thumb along its edge. 20 million years of calcite seamed into rock.
Instead of marching in Vancouver, we hiked the Cedar Bridge Trail. (We have to be in Vancouver twice next week, and it's several hours each way, including a ferry…) Watery sunlight, pink buds on the alders, the sound of water running down the mountain (snow-melt!), the unsettling sight of a dead coyote in a creek by the highway, and as we came down off the trail, I had a sudden idea for a quilt. I've been working on one that somehow didn't end up being as beautiful as I'd hoped. Strips of deep red, various dark blue plains and prints, and white damask from old tablecloths too worn for the table (but still with usable areas). Sashing of Japanese-inspired red and white prints. The backing is a big piece of Japanese cotton, indigo-dyed. It should be beautiful but instead it's like a whole lot of French flags. I'll finish it of course — I'm too thrifty not to. But I've been wondering about starting something that I'll love as a process and as a finished quilt. I have two vintage linen sheets, found in a thrift store some years ago, and I thought today that instead of cutting them, I'll batik salmon on one of them, making a whole life-cycle with varying sizes of fish, and even shell buttons for the eggs. Then I'll dye the sheet using one of the shibori techniques I tried on smaller pieces of fabric last summer. This arashi, maybe, done with an old damask cloth.
Arashi means "storm" and if I can figure out how to do it with a large (single-bed sheet-sized) length of fabric, then I think it might be lovely. When I did this batch of indigo, I loved the process but wondered afterwards about the actual colour. I think this time I'll use more indigo and do more immersions than I did last summer. I want a deeper blue. The fish will look something like this:
Now the snow has melted and I can be outside (if it's not raining) with my dye vat and stick for stirring the tied lengths of fabric. I imagine them hanging on the clothesline to dry. It will be a story, told in dye and image, detailed in thread. Fish swirling and swimming, water rippling, shell buttons catching the light. A story open to interpretation.
Although you hide in the ebb and flow
Of the pale tide when the moon has set,
About the casting out of my net,
And how you have leaped times out of mind
Over the little silver cords…
–from "The Fish", by William Butler Yeats
Posted in UncategorizedTagged Chief Kwah, Dakelh First Nations, indigo dye, James Douglas, Lizette Hall, Louie Kamookak, Nunavut, Sooke Formation, The Fish, William Butler Yeats


text:
Radical Prostatectomy: Management of the Primary From Localized to Oligometastatic Disease
Posted by James A. Eastham, MD, FACS | May 2016
Dr. Eastham presented "Radical Prostatectomy: Management of the Primary From Localized to Oligometastatic Disease."at the 26th International Prostate Cancer Update on Thursday, January 21, 2016.
Keywords: prostate cancer, radical prostatectomy
How to cite: Eastham, James A. "Radical Prostatectomy: Management of the Primary From Localized to Oligometastatic Disease." Grand Rounds in Urology. January 21, 2016. Jan 2021. https://grandroundsinurology.com/radical-prostatectomy-management.
I'll be talking about the role of radical prostatectomy and prostate cancer, and we're going to go all the way from primary treatment, from localized, to oligometastatic disease, in this I have nothing to disclose.
This is my first response question. It has to deal with sexual function causing moderate to severe distress in men after radical prostatectomy in two years. You can select the percentage.
Good; a spectrum of answers but the common one was 40-50%, and the next question please.
Which of the following statements are true? They're 1-5 and I'll let you read them.
Good; so, some learning to do.
So, I think one of the themes we've heard in all of the talks about screening and molecular profiling, and using MRI and all of that is really to identify a cohort of men who really do have low-risk prostate cancer. As Dr. Partin just went through, if you appropriately select patients and appropriately manage these patients, very few will die of prostate cancer.
Most men with low-risk prostate cancer, appropriately managed, will stay low-risk and many will not require treatment throughout their lifetime. At least in our center and many centers around the country, radical prostatectomy has really shifted from the low-risk patient to those this with intermediate and high-risk disease.
As I'll show shortly, both biochemical and clinical recurrence rates for surgery are acceptable, but we still have to worry about complication rates. That's one of the areas that I think has promoted active surveillance, is just concerns about erectile dysfunction. Despite what we see on the internet, about 90% of patients after robotic prostatectomy retaining potency, that really is dependent upon your definition of potency. Many men do suffer consequences of over-treatment.
This is data from Memorial, but it's similar from the Johns Hopkins, and Michigan, and other big centers. If you look at all patients who undergo treatment with radical prostatectomy, most of them are cured. They remain free of biochemical recurrence. That's certainly stratified in the right graph based on whether they're low, intermediate, or high-risk. But even then with high-risk disease, about half of them do remain free of biochemical recurrence even 15 years after treatment.
So, certainly surgery is a very effective treatment, and this is as monotherapy. Some men certainly could be salvaged with radiation.
Getting back to the sexual function issue, this is a study by Martin Sand that was a multi-center trial. It looked at patient and partner issues in terms of quality of life after radiation therapy, whether it be external, beam, or brachytherapy, or with surgery, and you can see that the answer to the first question was 40-50% of men and their partners after radical prostatectomy have moderate or severe distress related to erectile dysfunction.
So, despite claims of improved potency with this, that, or the other, it is still a significant issue for many patients and their partners. We do better with urinary function; after surgery it's less than 10% of patients have moderate to severe distress, and then certainly GI symptoms are rare after surgery.
But, quality of life is a big issue, and over-treatment of course, and why we do all of this risk stratification and trying to cull out the favorable risk patients from having any treatment; it's all related to risks of treatment versus risks to quality of life. Certainly surgery has changed in my lifetime. When I first started in practice we were focusing on the low-risk patients. Those were the patients we thought we can cure and we did.
But, those were also the patients that probably didn't need treatment at all, and over the last few years more emphasis has been placed on surgery in intermediate, and high-risk, and even some patients with documents of metastatic disease are now undergoing radical prostatectomy as part of clinical trials looking at multimodal strategies to try to improve outcomes in patients who otherwise would just receive systemic treatment and ultimately have a high likelihood of dying of disease.
So, in terms of high-risk cancers, there's lots of definitions. This is one of them; it's the NCCN D'Amico, other criteria, but basically it's patients these days that have biopsied 8, 9, and 10 diseases. The percentage of patients that have PSAs over 20 that we're operating on has dropped dramatically because of PSA screening.
There are some men that have higher clinical stages, but most men in this group are defined as high-risk based on their biopsy Gleason score. High-risk simply means if they're treated with monotherapy they have a higher risk of failing.
Surgery, as I mentioned, was previously used in low- to intermediate-risk disease, and those with high risk were often said to not benefit from an operation. We typically sent those gentlemen to radiation therapy. Some of this was concerns about quality of life, and others were concerned about the efficacy of surgery as a treatment. What we've learned over the years is that when we operate on these higher-risk patients, we certainly don't have more complications in terms of intraoperative or postoperative events in patients who are intermediate versus higher-risk.
The rates of incontinence are similar and the time course of incontinence is similar. Certainly we do have higher rates of erectile dysfunction. Many of these men are at risk for extraprostatic extension, and they likely undergo at least some degree of neurovascular bundle resection. However, it's not inevitable. Many men with high-risk disease do not have the risk of extraprostatic extension in the area of the neurovascular bundle, and it often is not bilateral.
One of our fellows recently looked at our group of high-risk patients who underwent radical prostatectomy. We defined potency both pre- and postoperatively by an IIEF of 21; that's a definition that we used. If you look at two years after surgery, almost half the men were able to recover potency. So, not all of these patients are destined to have significant erectile dysfunction just because they're undergoing surgery in the high-risk setting.
Certainly three years of hormonal therapy, or two years of hormonal therapy and radiation likely will not have higher rates of erectile function preservation than these types of outcomes. So, it's not inevitable.
The rates of biochemical recurrence are high, as I have shown this slide previously. There are at least 50% over time, but even with biochemical recurrence, many of these patients will do well. Some can be salvaged with radiation therapy, and overall in 15 years only about 20% of these men will die from prostate cancer that were preoperatively high-risk.
So, while the rates of biochemical recurrence are high, surgery certainly has a very acceptable prostate cancer-specific mortality. We frequently use neoadjuvant strategies or concurrence and post-radiation hormonal therapy. What about surgery? There have been a number of studies that have looked at up to eight months of neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy for surgery, and while some histologic outcomes have been improved such as positive margin rates, the long-term outcomes are similar.
Someone with high-risk prostate cancer will not benefit from hormonal therapy prior to radical prostatectomy.
We have seen from several studies that adjuvant radiation therapy in selected patients with adverse pathologic features will provide a benefit in terms of survival. Studies are ongoing to determine whether early salvage radiation therapy is beneficial, but certainly patients who have high-risk features at elast should be considered for adjuvant radiation therapy.
The Messing Study, while it's often criticized, it does show a survival advantage in patients with lymph node involvement at radical prostatectomy for immediate versus delayed hormonal therapy. Certainly chemotherapy and newer agents are being looked at in terms of both neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment.
For high-risk patients at present, pretreatment, there is no accepted role for neoadjuvant hormonal and neoadjuvant chemotherapy unless it's part of a clinical trial.
So, those are the considerations in terms of trying to improve outcomes in high-risk patients, is what can we add to surgery to provide a benefit for the patient.
We all know the outcomes of the SWOG study in terms of Docetaxel providing a survival advantage in patients with hormonal refractory prostate cancer, and we have done clinical trials now that have been completed looking at neoadjuvant Docetaxel, plus radical prostatectomy versus radical prostatectomy alone.
That was a study that I had the good fortune to be the PI on. We accrued our 750 patients that were randomized. It's going to be another two to three years before we get the primary outcome, which is biochemical recurrence. But chemotherapy before surgery is not a standard of care at present, so that's at least one of the answers to the second question.
There have been studies looking at what's called androgen annihilation, which is basically looking at some of the newer hormonal therapies in conjunction with a standard hormonal therapy.
This was a study done by Mary Ellen Taplin up in Boston looking at various durations of an LHR antagonist with abiraterone, and they did have some partial responses and a couple of complete responses in terms of tumor eradication.
They defined a near pathologic complete response that I'm not sure the significance of, but again, they had marked reduction in tumor volumes in these patients, and whether this will translate into post-surgery improvements in biochemical or clinical recurrence rates, we'll have to wait and see. But, certainly strategies such as these are being investigated.
From the standpoint of further investigation how we can better treat these patients, we're really looking at what we would call a cure paradigm. So, it's basically using radical prostatectomy as a treatment for the primary tumor and combing that with a combination of systemic agents also in the oligometastatic rate, or oligometastatic setting; some patients will receive radiation therapy to bone lesions, trying to cure patients who are otherwise considered incurable.
This is an experiment; it's certainly not what we should do on an everyday basis, and the reason for selecting radical prostatectomy rather than radiation therapy for this setting is simply because we can use a non-detectable PSA as an intermediate end point.
So, the goal is to use this combination of treatments and see if the patient, off all treatment, with recovery of hormonal therapy, can we keep their PSA non-detectable? And it's basically using hormonal therapy and other systemic agent, whatever you want to think of, and then radical prostatectomy.
This also sets the stage for looking at this in patients with oligometastatic disease. There certainly is rationale to consider this in prostate cancer. We do have evidence in other cancers, renal cell, ovarian, colon, et cetera, so we are now looking at using radical prostatectomy in men who actually have documented metastatic disease.
There have been studies, or retrospective reviews of data that have looked at patients who have metastatic disease, and for one reason or another a small percentage of those patients were treated, had their primary treat it with either radiation or surgery, and they tended to do better. Now, obviously there's selection bias, et cetera, but it does suggest that treatment of the primary cancer may improve outcomes even in patients with metastatic disease.
This is a very nice study done by Axel Heidenreich and his group looking at patients who did or did not undergo radical prostatectomy in the setting of oligometastatic disease, so less than or equal to three bone metastases. They had to achieve a non-detectable PSA on hormonal therapy.
It is not randomized, so there was some selection bias, but if you look at those patients who underwent radical prostatectomy, there time to progression was longer, their time to castrate resistance disease was longer, their cancer-specific survival was better, and the requirement for local palliation, meaning other surgical interventions, nephrostomy tubes, et cetera, was much better.
So, again suggesting–small study–but suggesting that treatment of the primary cancer can provide a benefit in selected patients.
I'm not sure we'll quite come to this, this is from one our tests for cancer patients, but certainly there are some groups that are doing retroperitoneal lymph node dissection with pelvic lymph node dissection, with radical prostatectomy, in combination with some systemic therapy to try to cure patients who are previously selected just for hormonal therapy, and whether or not this will prove beneficial to these patients, that's being studied.
In terms of treating prostate cancer, I think radical prostatectomy is an excellent treatment for intermediate and high-risk disease. It's being evaluated in patients with very high risk in oligometastatic disease, certainly adjuvant or early salvage radiation therapy is an option in patients who do have biochemical recurrence, and we certainly have to improve our multidisciplinary approaches to these high-risk patients in order to improve their outcomes, and I encourage all of you to support the clinical trials that are available in this setting.
PreviousThe Future of Clinical Research in Private Practice: Alive or Dead?
NextAccurate Staging of Prostate Cancer
James A. Eastham, MD, FACS
James A. Eastham, MD, FACS, is the Peter T. Scardino Chair in Oncology and Chief of the Urology Service in the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Eastham received his medical degree from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He completed an Internship in General Surgery and a Residency in Urology at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center. He went on to complete a Fellowship in Urologic Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Prior to his appointment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Eastham was an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Urology at Louisiana State University in Shreveport and Chief of Urology at Overton-Brooks Veterans Administration Medical Center in Louisiana. Dr. Eastham's research has focused on the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer, and he has a particular interest in improving oncologic and quality-of-life outcomes after radical prostatectomy. He has authored or co-authored over 300 articles which have appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of Urology, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Urology, and Transplantation. In addition, he has authored numerous book chapters, reviews, monographs, and abstracts. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of several professional societies, including the American Urologic Association, the Society of Urologic Oncology, and the Societé Internationale D'Urologie.
Integrating the AUA Guidelines into Your Practice
Role of mpMRI: Implication and Implementation
Point-Counterpoint: Early Chemotherapy is Better
Osseous Metastatic Disease and Radium 223: Lessons Learned and Future Directions

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Who was blamed for the death of John Connor's foster parents? In Terminator 2, the T-1000 kills both of John Connor's foster parents.
Presumably, their bodies were discovered eventually.  Officially, who was suspected of killing them?

A: The official version of events, according to the police, was that Sarah Connor's unidentified male accomplice (the T-800) killed Todd and Janelle and kidnapped John Connor, then broke Sarah out of the mental hospital.  They obviously know that Sarah herself couldn't have been involved in the murders, because she was in the Pescadero Mental Hospital when they occurred.
The police visited her there, questioned her about the killings, showed her pictures of the second T-800 in the mall, and said that they believed the "man" in the photos to be involved in the deaths of John's foster parents.  This theory was made somewhat more opaque when Sarah later escaped from the hospital, joined her son and the unidentified man, and blew up the Cyberdyne Systems building.
But the official account, as far as who was blamed for Todd and Janelle's deaths, is that the cops believed that the unidentified "man" (i.e., the T-800), was responsible, and that Sarah was presumably an accomplice of some sort, although she obviously wasn't directly involved, as she was in custody at the time.
However, we do hear a little bit more about it in the following movie, Terminator 3:  Rise of the Machines.  Early in the film, John Connor finds himself, much to his surprise, in a veterinary clinic owned by his former schoolmate, Kate Brewster.  She recognizes him before he recognizes her, and she asks him what the hell happened to him all those years ago.

KATE: Mike Kripke's basement.
JOHN: What? What does that mean?
KATE: You're John Connor. I'm Kate Brewster. We went to West Hills Junior High together.
JOHN: Jesus.
KATE: What happened to you, John? Middle of eighth grade, you just disappeared. And there was that thing about your foster parents?
JOHN: Yeah, they were murdered...
[KATE stares at JOHN in silence for a long while]
JOHN: I didn't do it.

This exchange suggests that, among John's classmates at the time he vanished, there were rumors that claimed that the coincidence of the murder of his foster parents and his disappearance were not merely coincidental, so to speak.  At least some of his friends and acquaintances seem to have thought that John himself had killed his foster parents.
The authorities, on the other hand, believed that the unidentified "man" (i.e., the T-800) was responsible for the murders.  That is definitely what they believed just after the murders took place - they explicitly said as much during their interrogation of Sarah.

  CLOSE ON A BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPH.  The image is a nightmare from
    the past.  It is a surveillance camera still-frame from the L.A.
    police station where the first terminator made such an impression in
    1984.  We see the blurry forms of the cop frozen in the emergency
    lights of a burning corridor.

   A black-clad figure stands at the end of the corridor.  The guy has
    short-cropped hair and dark glasses.  An AR-80 assault rifle in one
    hand, and a 12-gauge in the other -- holding them both like toy
    pistols.
   ANOTHER PHOTO is slapped on top of the first.  Another still-frame
    blow-up is placed over the last.  Terminator looms in CLOSEUP.

                           DETECTIVE WEATHERSBY (O.S.)
           These were taken at the West Highland police
            station in 1984.  You were there.

   WIDER.  We're in --

   59A     INT. INTERVIEW ROOM/PESCADERO - NIGHT

   The photos are lying on the table in front of Sarah, placed there by
    DETECTIVE WEATHERSBY.  His partner DET. MOSSBERG, and Dr. Silberman,
    sit at the table as well.  Two uniformed cops, plus Douglas, stand by
    the door.  Sarah stares listlessly at the top photo.  She's
    withdrawn, haggard... drugged-looking.

                           MOSSBERG
           He killed seventeen police officers that night.
            Recognize him?

   Weathersby slaps another black-and-white eight-by-ten on the table.
    A closeup of Terminator taken by the Japanese tourist at the mall.
    It's the same face.

                           MOSSBERG
           This one was taken by a Japanese tourist today.

   Sarah doesn't react.  It's hard to tell she's thinking.
   Whether she's given up hope or is just in a drugged stupor.

                           WEATHERSBY
          Ms. Connor, you've been told that your son's
            missing.  His foster parents have been murdered,
            and we know this guy's involved.  Talk to us.
            Don't you care?

That last line is the important one, but the version that made it into the finished movie is a bit different.  In the movie as it was released, the cop says:

Ms. Connor, we know you know who this guy is.  I just sat here and told you that your son is missing...  that the foster parents have been murdered.  We know this guy's involved.  Doesn't that mean anything to you? Don't you care?

The police, therefore, formed the hypothesis that the T-800 (although they didn't know it was a T-800, and naturally assumed he was an actual human) killed Todd and Janelle;  furthermore, they came to this conclusion almost immediately after the murders took place.  They questioned Sarah Connor about the killings, not because they thought she was responsible, but because they knew that she had had some sort of relationship with the T-800 in the past (again, the cops don't know what a terminator is, and they naturally assume that the two T-800's are the same person).
Why did the police assume that the T-800 was involved in the murders?  Probably because he had only been seen on one other occasion, namely, the night he killed an entire precinct full of cops.  The police knew that the slaughter of their fellow officers was somehow related to the arrest of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, and they were aware that Sarah would endlessly babble about her son being the savior of humanity and her desire to protect him from murderous robots from the future.
So when a guy who was identical to the one who killed a billion cops in 1984 appeared at a mall and promptly got involved in a gunfight, killing several people and terrifying everyone else in the area, the police paid attention.  When, that very same day, the foster parents of Sarah's son were killed, and John himself went missing, the cops had excellent reason to believe that the infamous cop killer from 1984 had finally reappeared, and for whatever reason, killed Todd and Janelle.
I would assume that the police also assumed that the T-800 was also responsible for the death of the officer who was killed by the T-1000 at the beginning of the movie.
So, to make a long story short, the police believed that the T-800 had killed Todd and Janelle, but John's classmates, including Kate Brewster, suspected that John himself had killed them.

Note:  I'm not sure how the police became aware of Todd and Janelle's murders so quickly.  The time elapsed between the killings and Sarah's interrogation is only a few hours, tops.  That isn't even enough time for a missing persons report to be submitted.  They were both stabbed to death, which makes it highly unlikely that anyone could have heard the killings - if they had been shot, of course, someone probably would have heard it and called the police, but whose hearing is good enough to hear their neighbors being stabbed?  The only person who knew that they were in danger was John, and he certainly didn't call 911.  So how did the cops find out that a murder had taken place so soon after it happened?  The only explanation I can think of is that a neighbor got pissed off about the dog barking and called 911 to complain.  But cops can't enter your house without a warrant, probable cause, or your permission, and they wouldn't have had any of these things when they went to the house.  So we're still left to wonder how the murders were discovered so quickly.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Today is the first day of the full summer session and I started working on two of my three full 8-week classes today. Tomorrow I start my internship as well. I'm thinking it's going to be a rather busy and full summer! That is okay though. I just keep reminding myself that I have halfway done! 3 terms complete and 3 more to go. The time will fly by, I'm sure and in something like 9 short months I will have a degree and be looking for a J O B.
I had an excellent birthday weekend and many thanks to everyone who got in touch with me one way or another to share birthday wishes.
Dinner last night at the Jacksonville Inn was very tasty, but our service was a little lacking. I did share dessert with Chris and it was OMGosh…delicious and amazing. I dressed appropriately this time.
Of course, after another weekend of indulgences my scale is up a bit this morning. So, I am right back to my "eating as usual" this week. Fruits, veggies, and lean proteins are on the menu for this week, plus lots of good exercise.
I did finish the 4 day Firm Express Kick Start last Friday. It was awesome, and tough and I can already tell improvement in some areas. I took a rest day Saturday, but yesterday morning (yes, on my birthday!) I got up first thing and did a 20 minute sculpt session, 20 minute cardio/sculpt session and the 10 minute ab session. I haven't gotten my workout in yet today, but will be moving on to do that here shortly!
This entry was posted on June 25, 2012 by Corrie Beebe in school.


4. Select "Free Economy Shipping" as your shipping method at checkout.
If you qualify for "Free Economy Shipping" but your order also contains one or more ineligible items, you'll be charged shipping fees for those ineligible items.
Canceling items, combining orders, or changing your shipping address, speed, or preference might affect your order's eligibility for "Free Economy Shipping".
Weekend delivery cannot be requested. We use a variety of carriers to deliver orders, and some do not deliver on weekends. Most economy shipping is delivered by the post office.
You will not receive "Free Economy Shipping" on your order if any items are canceled, bringing the total below $50.


text:
HITTING A BUM NOTE
Man who pierced lad's anus with steel rod by driving car at him jailed for 18 months and given ten-year road ban
He pleaded guilty to two charges of dangerous driving causing harm and endangerment, failing to remain at the scene of an accident, as well as driving without insurance
By Ann Mooney
Updated: 10 Jan 2019, 23:07
A LAD'S anus was pierced by a steel rod after a man drove his car at him, a court heard today.
Gavin Heaphy appeared before the Circuit Criminal Court where he was sentenced to 18 months' jail.
The case was heard at Cork Circuit Criminal CourtCredit: Google Streetview
He had pleaded guilty to two charges of dangerous driving causing harm and endangerment, failing to remain at the scene of an accident, as well as driving without insurance.
The court in Cork heard how Heaphy found sexually explicit texts on his partner's phone on May 27 last and, despite being disqualified, drove to an estate to find Reginald O'Mahony.
Scots car nut makes lucky escape from deadly black widow spiders he found while refurbishing classic Ford Mustang
The 24-year-old, who has three young children with his partner and a fourth with another woman, waited at a house and, when Mr O'Mahony appeared, drove at him at speed.
Garda PJ Roche told the court Heaphy was unable to stop and went through a wall, piercing Mr O'Mahony's anus with a steel rod and fracturing a woman's wrist.
Judge Sean O Donnabhain
The man required surgery, spending five days in hospital before discharging himself against the advice of doctors.
Both victims declined the chance to give victim impact statements.
'IT'S RUINED MY LIFE'
Scots mum 'raped in hotel room' refused refund by Premier Inn bosses
PIC SWIPED
Glasgow fox hunt saboteurs brag about stealing Rabbie Burns photo from pub
IN COURT
Alex Salmond appears in court for hearing over 'rape bid & string of sex attacks'
BLADE HORROR
Two men stabbed by blade gang in Rutherglen street attacks five minutes apart
GENDER ROW
Bisexual woman 'kicked out of Polo Lounge Glasgow over LGB Alliance T-shirt'
Niamh Stewart, BL, defending, said that her client wasn't in a good place at the time of the "spur of the moment" incident and was very sorry.
Judge Sean O Donnabhain said his failure to remain at the scene was a serious action itself.
Jailing Heaphy for three years, but suspending the last 18 months, and disqualifying him from driving for ten years, the judge added: "Text messages are best dealt with by being deleted in most cases."
Young boy pours 'urine' from a bottle all over wheel clamp attached to a car in an apparent act of revenge against the DVLA
We pay for your stories and videos! Do you have a story or video for The Scottish Sun? Email us at scoop@thesun.co.uk or call 0141 420 5200


The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the St. Paul's Choral Society is presenting this fantastic Christmas concert held in the Zebbug Parish Church.
Attend this lovely concert and get into the Christmas mood! All the songs and music presented will be in Christmas theme! Entrance is for free so gather your friends and family and come along!


text:
COACHING KIDS of ALL AGES for SUCCESS
'CHAOS'
"His success in large extent depended on you, and let me stress that you were very successful in this, for which I am extremely grateful. ____ had a lot of faith in you and you were in big support to him. He was happy to have lessons with you. I'm sure you will remain forever enshrined in his memory."
Father of Secondary School son at graduation
"This (coaching) is just what we were looking for. We tried therapy, but it didn't give us specific ideas of how to make the changes we were looking to make. Coaching is helping us to find strategies for change."
ADHD adults
"We have a complex 13 year old boy, where information that we could share with him, comes better from someone with a set of skills to give a stronger context. He has been helped by Susan in that she gave him some easy-to-remember ways to think about what he needs to do, to be organized. Hearing mum and dad telling him to organize himself and his stuff did not cut it for him. Also Susan wrote things down with him in a way he could relate to.
Again, this is not a skill we have and just giving him that extra context, or alternative explanation was a very big help. He did not get this level of help from school. They just expected him to be organized!"
Father of ADHD boy
"It's such a relief to know that Susan is taking care of my son on a regular basis, now we don't need to fight so much."
Mother of teenage son with dyslexia
"I don't think I could have made it through this year without Susan's help."
Senior in Secondary School
"I have a coach at University, but she isn't as good as you were with me."
First Year University student.
"If it wasn't for you, I would have no idea about the possibility of SEN support."
Mother of teenage boy
"___ was on " a high" this morning and it just makes such a difference! I like to think it was because she saw you
yesterday ;-) "
Mother of secondary school girl
"Thanks a lot for your help. You have definitely had made a big impact on how ____ is preparing for his exams, tasks and tackles his life." Father of graduating secondary school boy.
"We never would have found out how to help our son if we hadn't met you."
"Not only did you help manage everything, but you also made me aware of my ADHD, and I was able to understand it and see its effects on my life. It changed my life."
Graduating secondary school girl
"I wanted to let you know the good news that thanks to your help and their hard work, ___ and ___ have been accepted."
Many, many thanks again for your very effective tutoring."
Mother of twin primary school children
"We want to let you know how much we appreciate everything that you do to help ___ overcome all his challenges. How you do it is truly amazing."
Mother of a primary school boy
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT KOACHING FOR KIDS
koachingforkids@gmail.com
© 2014 Susan Purcell


text:
Is Epic Games Store to Blame for Red Dead Redemption 2's Poor PC Sales ?, Crypto Coins News
Red Dead Redemption 2 is now on PC, but the first month's sales haven't been great for the EGS version.
Sales don ' t seem much better on Steam either.
It may not be Epic Games Store's poor reputation which has caused such a shoddy PC release.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a pretty damn popular title.It had the second largest launch of any entertainment productwhen it came out last year. Now it's finally made its way to PC and…sales haven't been amazing. On the Epic Games Store, the game only sold around 553 K units in the first month. That's nothing compared to other launches such as Borderlands 3, which came in at 1. million units in its first month.
While at first, it might seem likeEpic Games Store's bad reputation has struck again,things aren't that cut and dry. There are several other factors which have almost certainly had an impact on RDR2's performance on PC marketplaces.
The sales for Red Dead Redemption 2 haven't really been that great on Steam either from what we can tell . | Source:
Steam DB
Epic Games Store Is Only Part of the Reason for RDR2's Poor Sales
Epic Games Store really isn't all that popular . Many people do not like their aggressive business tactics and therefore end up shunning the store. This will certainly have made an impact on sales but probably not that much of an impact. Borderlands 3 was an Epic Games Store exclusive, and that sold like hotcakes. Clearly, there is something more at work here.
Firstly, there's the simple matter of timing. RDR2 was only exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a single month. Not that long to wait, especially considering the game actually came out a year ago anyway. It's not much of a difference for people who want a version of the game that comes with achievements and community features.
There is an even bigger factor which looms over RDR2 and its poor PC sales more so than any level of Epic Games Store exclusivity. The factor in question is just how bad it seems to be running on PC in general at the moment.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Didn't Even Sell That Well on Steam
The best sales figures we can get for the Steam version aren't that much better. Using Steam Spy, it's possible to see that a very vague 823, – 728, 10 people currently own RDR2. If the bottom figure is accurate, the sales are way under-performing the Epic Games Store sales. If the top figure is right, then they're barely doing any better.
Onthe game's Steam pageyou can see that it currently has 'mixed' responses from players. Digging through the reviews it becomes pretty clear that this PC port does not run properly for many people. There are complaints about glitches, errors, and being dropped from games consistently. With this much bad press floating around for the port, it's no wonder it hasn't sold tons.
Both Epic Games Store and Steam versions can be assumed to run in pretty much the same manner. After all, both are just the same game running on the same platform, just through different launchers. It seems pretty clear that even if the game had come straight to Steam, it wouldn't have made that big of an impact on sales. Most of the people who wanted to play it already did, and no one else wants to play a game buggier than pre-update Skyrim.
This article was edited byGerelyn Terzo**************************
**************************************** (Read More ************************************************
Previous article Luka Doncic & the Mavericks Feel Like Last Year's Toronto Raptors, Crypto Coins News
Next article Million WebSockets and Go (2017), Hacker News
Apple's sales increase despite store closures – Financial Times, Financial Times
UK retail sales tumble amid Covid-19 lockdown, but alcohol demand soars – business live – The Guardian, Theguardian.com
US retail sales slump 8.7% in March, deepest drop on record – CNN, CNN
Sales of Easter eggs, wine, barbecues and paddling pools soar ahead of four-day break – Daily Mail, Dailymail.co.uk
Tesco sales up 30% because of pre-lockdown stockpiling – The Guardian, Theguardian.combusiness
Solid chip sales are unlikely to cushion Samsung's virus-hit first quarter profit – Reuters, Reuters
Luka Doncic & the Mavericks Feel Like Last Year's Toronto Raptors, Crypto Coins News
Million WebSockets and Go (2017), Hacker News


text:
__БЕЗКН__

Tempus fugit лат. (изговор:  темпус фугит). Време бежи. (Вергилије)

Поријекло изреке
Изрекао велики антички пјесник Вергилије.

Тумачење
Вријеме је неухватљиво. Оно неумољиво бјежи-лети. Изрека се каже када се жели упозорити да не треба чекати.Чекање је неуспјех- губитак.

Референце

Спољашње везе

Латинске изреке

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
How to haggle in the bazaars
• How to haggle on the eastern markets
Anyone who has been to Turkey conditional on a market knows that the price tag set - this is only a starting point. But, in contrast to conventional points, counting not forward but backward. No matter how shrill or trader shouted: "Sabotage" - a real sabotage, he would never allow to happen. In this delta and should haggle. How to do it most effectively, we will teach you now.
Rule one. Shopkeepers often ask for whom you are buying a particular product. The worst thing you can say in such a situation: "For a child / for Mom." You will immediately be informed that the children / parents can not save. And try to argue with that. Worth to say that you plan to resell this product. In short, do not show excessive interest in buying.
The second rule. If we are talking about a large discount, the dialogue should be conducted with the person who has the right to make decisions. Ask your manager or call the shop owner, if you understand that before you a small fry.
The third rule. It is not necessary to deprive the seller to give in, but to save face. If you are going to leave, once again say that you like a thing, and you're willing to pay such a sum. Let you go to another shop, where, quite possibly, this amount would be enough, he can not.
Fourth Rule. Bargaining, do not talk too much - it gives your interest. Let the silence speak for you and your confidence. And listen quietly. Strong people are not ashamed to be silent.
Rule Five. Have all tried and desired prices still failed to achieve? Then mentally put on one scale his desire to become the owner of the product, but on the other - unwillingness to part with the stated amount. If the second bowl outweighs go out. Chance that the dealer will run up to you, not too small.
"You bastard, she and Africa bastard!", Or how to quickly identify a specimen at a glance, and how to communicate with these the only ones?
For the broken goods in a supermarket you are not required to pay
How to become more attractive
"Eats, Blogs", or how to react if your girlfriend talks to the former?
"Survival Rules", or where to get the strength to survive the hard times?
Such tricky questions asked during the interview at Google
How to learn how to engage in dialogue with a sociopath?
Cases where you can not leave the "tea" to the waiter
Common ways of cheating in different countries
How can you attract good luck
How to avoid becoming a victim of fraud on holiday 10 tips that will be useful
Facts of the childhood that determine throughout an individual's life
The most unexpected methods of communication
40 revelations supermarket cashier
As a girl should behave on a first date
Arches created by nature, which can still be time to see
The most scandalous Russian model
Zula Karuhimbi: witch, who saved a hundred and fifty people
Relatives of celebrities who may surprise you
"Deadly Valentine" or the terrible and mysterious murders, committed on 14 February. Part 1
Legacy Ancient Rome 10 Invention
Vitamins, the lack of which causes headache
Buryat shamans burned five camels to strengthen Russia
Oscar Wilde - dandy who always went beyond what is permitted
In San Francisco, it has opened an innovative school where children are taught to grow your own food
Coober Pedy - the underground opal town
Paris by Night at Brassai photos
That symbolized the last snowman
Tired of life, people
Tallest Ferris Wheel
Curious about the profession of pearl divers
"Beguines": women were disguised as nuns
Habits of the Soviet era, from which it is time to get rid of
Art director of an advertising firm for 3 years went to the office in the same dress
As the lives of Mark Zuckerberg
Hotel managers in Dubai complain of half-naked Russian models spoil the institution's reputation
Why is the opinion of the Russian love of foreigners suffer
Top 10 Russian Santa Clauses
Akarmara: Caucasian ghost town
For the rich and famous: it looks like a five-star holiday resort on the One and Only Hayman Island in the Great Barrier Reef
25 controversial quotes from the Indian sage Salman Rushdie
Abandoned Soviet military town near Berlin
10 new sites on the list of UNESCO heritage
History of Google Doodles logos


text:
Activist 'sacked by Khan's administration after expressing concerns about transwomen in refuges'
August 19, 2021 Dianne Reeves Online news
A campaigner on violence against women has claimed she was sacked by Sadiq Khan's administration after expressing concerns about transgender women being allowed into refuges for rape victims.
Joan Smith, a member of the Labour Party, said she was fired by City Hall after raising the problem on behalf of charities funded by the London Mayor that were said to be concerned about the proposal.
Ms Smith wrote to Mr Khan to say that though trans women should have access to services they need, female victims of male violence should not have to share refuges with 'individuals who have male bodies'.
Joan Smith, a member of the Labour Party, said she was fired by City Hall after raising the problem on behalf of charities funded by the London Mayor that were said to be concerned about the proposal
The Mayor did not respond, the Times reports. Instead, his administration wrote to say her position as co-chairwoman of the Violence Against Women and Girls board would be taken over by a City Hall official.
Ms Smith believes that she fell out of favour after calling for improvements in the way Scotland Yard identifies sexual predators in its ranks, and for highlighting so-called 'endemic misogyny'.
MailOnline has contacted City Hall for comment.
A campaigner on violence against women has claimed she was sacked by Sadiq Khan's administration after expressing concerns about transgender women being allowed into refuges for rape victims
Left-wing campaigner Ms Smith has written six books, including Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists.
Her website states that she chaired Labour Humanists from 2016 to 2018 and is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society and a patron of Humanists UK.
Ms Smith also supports Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state, and delivered the John Campbell memorial lecture in 2017.
Protests erupt in Italy as new Covid rules forcing ALL workers to have health pass come into effect
Father of Halyna Hutchins refuses to blame Baldwin, says it was the fault of movie armoury team
Travis Scott has pled guilty TWICE for encouraging fans to rush the stage
Zayn Malik vows to 'fight with every ounce of his body' to avoid a custody battle with Gigi Hadid
Sarah Ferguson's killer ex-dresser who murdered her boyfriend has new job stacking Morrisons shelves
Royal Navy shadows nine Russian warships around the UK
Eurovision 2021 host Rylan Clark-Neal grills UK hopeful James Newman in Line Of Duty parody
Apprentice mechanic, 18, 'lured schoolboy lover into woods for sex before bludgeoning him to death'
Previous Post:Bella Hadid cuts a trendy figure as she steps out with her boyfriend Marc Kalman in London
Next Post:Lab bar co-founder Martini Douglas Ankrah who invented Pornstar Martini cocktail dies at 51


An image warping/morphing program. Version 3.0 adds control vector matching, generation of up to 30 frames, image zooming up to 400%, Multiple Document Interface, ability to export to GIF, faster algorithm, Vector Inspector for fine tuning vector placement, OS priority adjust, full documentation, and much more. Unlike other morphing programs, BitMorph works with Windows Bitmap files, so you can use your own images as well.


The Internet continually evolves, and with mobile devices soon accounting for more than half of all website visits, your website must utilize the most up to date and useful technologies. The two most important technologies for today are Responsive Web Design and Dynamic Serving.
During the last three years Masterpiece Studioz has updated many websites with Responsive Web Design. However I would say that today's ultimate in mobile design is "Dynamic Serving." Unlike many technologies that come and go, Dynamic Serving will be an essential tool for the next decade. It uses the same URL regardless of device, but generates a different version of HTML for different device types based on what the server knows about the user's browser.. Website owners who want more return visitors, must provide the best website experience possible. Adding Dynamic Serving to your website can make that happen.
Dynamic Serving goes beyond Responsive Web Design, but the two complement each other to produce the best experience for folks visiting your website.
Uses the same URL regardless of device.
It has a version for desktops, as well as a version for mobile devices. The version for mobile devices is composed with the jQuery Mobile framework.
Two versions of html are utilized, depending on the type of device used by the visitor.
Using Responsive Web Design is still essential, but because of the vast, complex landscape, including layouts for desktops, tablets, and smart phones, new technologies are necessary. This is especially true because mobile traffic will soon surpass desktop traffic as the primary way people access the Web. Responsive Web Design alone is not enough to provide a truly optimized mobile experience because it has a built-in site performance inefficiency. RWD delivers the same source code to all browsers, regardless of device type or available bandwidth.
This means in order to view an RWD site, mobile users must download all of the page source code – including the desktop-specific formatting, high-resolution images, and other stuff they don't need. This frequently results in huge inefficiencies in mobile site performance. RWD is a front-end technique, meaning that the server delivers the same content for everyone.
The best solution for this issue is "Dynamic Serving", which Google describes as, "a setup where the server responds with different HTML (and CSS) on the same URL depending on the user agent requesting the page." In other words, Dynamic Serving is the idea of changing the content that gets served to be the most suitable for the given device or context. When combined with RWD, we create a strategy that involves both front-end and back-end optimization.
Do visit the website mentioned, http://jakereeseart.com/. Hopefully this information can help you see the opportunities available to provide an outstanding experience for each visitor to your website.


text:
Тотем () — американський фільм жахів 1999 року.

Сюжет
Шестеро підлітків живуть спокійним життям, та несподівано потрапляють на занедбаний цвинтар, який охороняє кам'яний ідол Тотем і його віддані повелителі смерті. Підлітки стають учасниками жахливого ритуалу в результаті, якого троє з них стають жертвами, а троє вбивцями.

У ролях

Посилання

Фантастичні фільми 1999
Фільми англійською мовою
Фентезійні фільми США
Фільми жахів США


text:
How three CAs are transforming the world of finance
LinkedIn (opens new window)
By CA Magazine
From crowdfunding cattle to an ethical tech firm… we meet three CAs transforming the world of finance with their disruptive mindsets…
Disruption. Until recently, it was a word only heard muttered to parents of noisy kids at PTA meetings or colleagues grumbling about miserable train journeys to the office. But over the last decade, it's become the ubiquitous business buzzword: think Uber upending the taxi industry, Airbnb forcing hotels to up their game, or budget airlines changing aviation's business model forever.
Disruption is probably the defining business concept of the 21st century so far; today even the most staid corporations are appointing 'chief disruption officers'.
It is much more than a staple of venture capitalists' PowerPoint decks though. We're accustomed to hearing it in accountancy too, sometimes skewered with a more negative tint: gloomy prognoses that automation will replace our jobs, new technologies such as blockchain threatening to make ledger sheets redundant, or cloud-based accounting platforms loosening the grip of the Big Four.
Yes, the 2020s could be a turbulent time for some chartered accountants, but with the right mindset, it could be one that generates many more opportunities than threats. Here, The CA speaks to three ICAS trained disruptors who, by attempting to break the mould, are helping to reinvent their sectors…
Tech City needs more CFOs – it's a great way to develop your career.
Jakub Kohout CA is Finance Director for investment platform Seedrs
ICAS qualified: 2012
East London's Tech City is the UK's obvious nerve centre for wannabe disruptors: an estimated 5,000 tech firms – including Moshi Monsters and Deliveroo – are clustered around Old Street's roundabout. One of its biggest success stories is crowdfunding platform Seedrs. Since 2012, its model of allowing backers to make an investment from as little as a tenner (in return for shares of a business) has helped turn equity-based funding on its head. In the process, it has, at time of writing, raised more than £756m (the website proudly displays the figure on its home page) for fledgling start-ups, ranging from artisan cheesemakers to Happy Days musicals. Tennis star Andy Murray is a Seedrs investor.
But it was funding seeds of a different kind that convinced Jakub Kohout to join Seedrs from his managerial job at EY, where he spent six years. He took a sabbatical to volunteer for the MicroLoan Foundation in Malawi, helping villagers start small businesses – usually securing loans to buy seeds.
When Kohout arrived back at his EY desk, he decided it was time for a life change. "I wanted to grow both myself and a company," he recalls.
Lo and behold, in 2016 he went from "the comfort and linear career progressions" of EY, with its plush offices and 270,000 employees, to a company boasting just 25 staff (Seedrs has since scaled to nearly 100). With many entrepreneurs needing a quality finance director to act as numerical yin to their risk-taking yang, Kohout believes working for disruptors is a fantastic way for new CAs to boost their career prospects.
"The value CAs can bring to these businesses is what they often lack in their early stages," says the 32-year-old, who currently runs a five-strong finance team at Seedrs. "You can definitely develop quicker within a smaller organisation; you get a broad awareness of the entire business." Indeed, Kohout says his role as Finance Director sees him "involved with everything. So far this week, I did recruitment and HR stuff on Monday, data accuracy on Tuesday, and then presented 2020 planning to the executive management on Wednesday."
Along the way, Kohout also experiences the buzz of seeing unlikely businesses receive funding. His personal favourite is the agritech firm Hectare. "It's a marketplace for cattle," he says. "These farmers use tech to make something that's been around forever [cattle marketplaces] more efficient. It [epitomises] the wonderful democratisation of private equity that Seedrs can bring."
State of independence
Kohout's background appears every bit as disruptive as the company he works for. Born in the Czech Republic, he went to school in Slovenia and Poland, before winding up at Royal Holloway University and an internship at EY. He believes this itinerant upbringing "helps with my independence, which drives disruption. I don't want to do the same things twice, whether going to the same restaurant or [the same place on] vacation."
The value CAs can bring to these businesses is what they often lack in their early stages. You can definitely develop quicker within a smaller organisation; you get a broad awareness of the entire business.
He also credits his ICAS training with fuelling this self-sufficiency. "ICAS teaches you the commerciality and awareness of the entire business," he says. "It doesn't just equip you with technical reporting, but also the softer side – your own confidence, people management, and ensuring teams develop. It teaches risk, too – a big issue for FDs and CEOs in the future." Today, Seedrs fosters a disruptive mindset among staff by getting non-tech employees to attend 'hack days' and revamping the recruiting process by staging "culture interviews" in which "somebody who isn't from HR chats with the interviewee on their values, beliefs, interests and disruption-thinking. It helps ensure a more diverse environment."
He also believes the success of companies such as Seedrs has forced the more established players to think differently: see KPMG's entrepreneurial hub in Camden or Barclays' tech-based Accelerator programme, both designed to reproduce the dynamism of Tech City.
"In 2008, everybody was applying for the big jobs at big banks or the Big Four," says Kohout. "But since then, fintech has exploded and there's more distrust in traditional banks. The big corporates are seeing the benefit of being identified as a disruptive firm, which explains these quasi-hubs."
For CAs concerned about the changes of the future, he has some promising words: "Back in 2008, everybody talked about the financial crisis. But sometimes, crisis means good things; it drives innovation. Seedrs might not have existed without it."
seedrs.com
I left Deloitte after 22 years to join a small start-up.
Debbie Thomas CA is group CFO at London fintech firm Bibimoney, which provides financial services to people in developing nations who have no access to banks
Twenty-two years, four months and 17 days." Debbie Thomas can reel off the exact length of time she spent at accountancy giant Deloitte. She could have stayed longer, perhaps receiving a carriage clock one day. Instead, in 2016, her life changed when a friend, "fond of hare-brained schemes", showed her an innovative new product: mobile wallet Bibimoney. "Once I saw this product, a light-bulb went off in my head," she remembers. "I thought, 'I need to be part of this.'" Thomas met with Bibimoney CEO Shiraz Jessa; a week later she handed in her notice.
Using a patented piece of technology called the SIM-Skin, which Thomas describes as a "sticker that sticks on top of your sim card", Bibimoney lets users install an app on their mobile, even if it's not a smartphone. These can be used to access money wallet services, such as mobile banking. For people in remote areas of developing nations, often with no access to banks, such financial services can be genuinely lifechanging. This is a big market too: nearly 60% of the world's population don't have smartphones.
The framework is changing the whole time. There will be some in the industry, just like Blockbuster when streaming happened, that will be left behind. But that is all part of the progress that occurs with disruption.
For the father in Botswana whose house is plunged into darkness at 10pm when his generator runs out, it means he can pay for his electricity immediately rather than having to drive to the nearest kiosk the following day. For the schoolteachers in the Solomon Islands undertaking dangerous two-day journeys across shark-infested waters to capital Honiara to withdraw salaries from their bank accounts (seven people recently died when a boat capsized), it means their wages can now be transferred directly into their mobile bank accounts, ready for them to spend. It's monumental too, for the people in Lesotho whom Tomas recently visited, who "have to walk miles every day to charge their phone, let alone visit their bank".
Testing time
Born in South Africa, Tomas arrived in the UK in the late 1990s. Her London office bears the influence of the continent, whether it's her green narinabird- inspired Ardmore wallpaper or the book on 'kasinomics' (township economics) on her shelf. Yet, despite having already spent 10 years at Deloitte (in both the UK and South Africa), and becoming a partner, in 2004 she had to sit her accountancy qualifications again – this time at ICAS. "I had to go back to college with all these third years," she says. "I was terrified – what if I didn't pass?" As it happened, Tomas fared extremely well, achieving the third-best results in the UK for that year.
Leaving Deloitte in 2016 was liberating. "I've always been a creative person – disruptive, if you will, always trying to do things differently. In the confines of Deloitte, I felt caged. Coming to Bibimoney changed my life and the way I look at things."
This disruptive ethos also runs through Bibimoney: Tomas even recruited one employee, a bright maths graduate, on Brighton beach. Today, her role sees her handle cash control and cashflows, assess risk and prepare business models for different countries. "[At start-ups], everybody has to get their hands dirty," she says. "I'm involved with everything now – even stacking the dishwasher!"
Working at a disruptor firm has made Thomas realise companies need to be future-focused. "Many accountants are wedded to the old ways," she says. "But the framework is always changing. There will be some in the industry, just like Blockbuster when streaming happened, that will be left behind. That is all part of the progress that occurs with disruption."
bibimoney.com
We might be one of the biggest businesses in the world, but I still see Visa as a disruptor.
Claire Sunderland Hay CA is Chief of Staff at Visa Europe
Visa Inc is one of the planet's most venerable firms: according to Global Finance magazine it's the world's ninth-highest-valued company by market capitalisation, worth some $389bn (£291bn). It processes 100 billion transactions a year, while the advertising of the 61-year-old American payment giant is splashed over hoardings at the Olympics and World Cup. It hardly fts the scrappy upstart archetype of disruptive firms.
Not so, according to Claire Sunderland Hay, Visa Europe's Chief of Staff: "In the 1960s Visa was one of the original fintech firms, enabling us to use cards in a way that wasn't possible before. The disruptive businesses of today are focused on ensuring consumer experiences are as easy as possible. Being focused on end-user experience is something we do all the time."
Sunderland Hay is speaking to The CA from the Visa London Innovation Center, a 1,000 square metre creative space, full of glass walls, Aaltoesque chairs and breakout pods where designers on beanbags hammer away on laptops. It's here – and in Visa's other innovation centres across the globe – that Sunderland Hay says many Visa innovations are hatched, such as a recent biometric card that uses a fingerprint scanner instead of a PIN number.
If not for the copious Visa branding, you'd think it was the office of a flashy Silicon Valley unicorn. It's clear the fintech revolution has changed the way Visa thinks, not just its choice of workplace decor. "Rather than developing a product and saying, 'This is the best thing for you to use', fintech firms want to develop a product that helps people and makes their experience easier – an awful lot of [traditional] firms have learned from this," says Sunderland Hay, who pitched – and subsequently helped to establish – the award-winning FinTech Accelerator at the Bank of England. "That is why many other traditional players are setting up challenger banks within their existing bank framework to demonstrate that they're learning from the fintech sector."
Doing the maths
Sunderland Hay joined Visa in summer 2018. "My career has been disruptive – I haven't followed a classic career path," she says. Since graduating from Oxford in maths in 2006 – the self-confessed "maths geek" also did a Master's there – Sunderland Hay has worked at EY, Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Services Authority.
She regularly uses her degree discipline. "With business being increasingly data-driven, it enables you to feel very comfortable. [Maths is] the building blocks on which we build the world, and interpret it."
Her ICAS training has proved equally useful. "I remember our TPE exam tutor telling us, 'issue, implication, recommendation'. It roughly translates as: never just find an issue or problem. Instead, ask 'What does this mean?', 'What should we do about it?' ICAS also helps students develop a commercial mindset, which is fundamental for business success."
The ability to question and challenge the status quo is a quality she wants to cultivate among her team at Visa Europe. "I try to create an environment that fosters learning and questions," she says. "That constant mindset of challenging oneself is what brings a disruptive mindset… Open banking, plus regulatory and tech changes means the world of payments is a dynamic environment at the moment. To keep up that pace, you have to keep on evolving."
visa.co.uk
This article first appeared in the February 2020 issue of CA magazine.
New look and feel for CA magazine: February 2020 issue
By Sarah Speirs, ICAS Executive Director of Member Engagement and Communications


text:
Дисѐвица е село в Северна България. То се намира в община Плевен, област Плевен.

География
Село Дисевица се намира на 12 км от град Плевен.

Културни и природни забележителности
В гората на селото има паметник от Руско-турската война, дарен от руснаците.

Редовни събития
Събор на Дисевица – последната събота (27) и неделя (28) на месец октомври

Други
Досегашни кметове на Дисевица:
 Мартин Неделков Петров
 Валентина Стоянова Вълчанова – временно изпълняваща длъжността
 Петър Димитров Димов
 Петко Тотков Вълчев
 Юлия Христова Гоцева
 Димитър Йонков Спасов – временно изпълняващ длъжността
 Йонко Димитров Спасов
 Пламен Симеонов Бешков

Външни препратки

Села в област Плевен
Населени места в община Плевен


text:
Deep learning microscope for rapid tissue imaging
by Rice University
Rice University engineering researchers Yubo Tang (left) and Mary Jin are members of a team that used deep learning to optimize both image collection and image post-processing in a new type of microscope that images all cells in large tissue sections. (Photo by Brandon Martin/Rice University)
By Jade Boyd
When surgeons remove cancer, one of the first questions is, "Did they get it all?" Researchers from Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have created a new microscope that can quickly and inexpensively image large tissue sections, potentially during surgery, to find the answer.
The microscope can rapidly image relatively thick pieces of tissue with cellular resolution, and could allow surgeons to inspect the margins of tumors within minutes of their removal. It was created by engineers and applied physicists at Rice and is described in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The main goal of the surgery is to remove all the cancer cells, but the only way to know if you got everything is to look at the tumor under a microscope," said Rice's Mary Jin, a Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering and co-lead author of the study. "Today, you can only do that by first slicing the tissue into extremely thin sections and then imaging those sections separately. This slicing process requires expensive equipment and the subsequent imaging of multiple slices is time-consuming. Our project seeks to basically image large sections of tissue directly, without any slicing."
Rice's deep learning extended depth-of-field microscope, or DeepDOF, makes use of deep learning to train a computer algorithm to optimize both image collection and image post-processing.
A new microscope called DeepDOF can quickly and inexpensively image all of the cells in large tissue sections (left) at high resolution with minimal preparation, eliminating the costly and time-consuming process of mounting thin tissue slices on slides (right). (Photo by Brandon Martin/Rice University)
With a typical microscope, there's a trade-off between spatial resolution and depth-of-field, meaning only things that are the same distance from the lens can be brought clearly into focus. Features that are even a few millionths of a meter closer or further from the microscope's objective will appear blurry. For this reason, microscope samples are typically thin and mounted between glass slides.
Slides are used to examine tumor margins today, and they aren't easy to prepare. Removed tissue is usually sent to a hospital lab, where experts either freeze it or prepare it with chemicals before making razor-thin slices and mounting them on slides. The process is time-consuming and requires specialized equipment and workers with skilled training. It is rare for hospitals to have the ability to examine slides for tumor margins during surgery, and hospitals in many parts of the world lack the necessary equipment and expertise.
"Current methods to prepare tissue for margin status evaluation during surgery have not changed significantly since first introduced over 100 years ago," said study co-author Ann Gillenwater, M.D., a professor of head and neck surgery at MD Anderson. "By bringing the ability to accurately assess margin status to more treatment sites, the DeepDOF has potential to improve outcomes for cancer patients treated with surgery."
Jin's Ph.D. advisor, study co-corresponding author Ashok Veeraraghavan, said DeepDOF uses a standard optical microscope in combination with an inexpensive optical phase mask costing less than $10 to image whole pieces of tissue and deliver depths-of-field as much as five times greater than today's state-of-the-art microscopes.
Ashok Veeraraghavan (Image courtesy of Rice University)
"Traditionally, imaging equipment like cameras and microscopes are designed separately from imaging processing software and algorithms," said study co-lead author Yubo Tang, a postdoctoral research associate in the lab of co-corresponding author Rebecca Richards-Kortum. "DeepDOF is one of the first microscopes that's designed with the post-processing algorithm in mind."
The phase mask is placed over the microscope's objective to module the light coming into the microscope.
"The modulation allows for better control of depth-dependent blur in the images captured by the microscope," said Veeraraghavan, an imaging expert and associate professor in electrical and computer engineering at Rice. "That control helps ensure that the deblurring algorithms that are applied to the captured images are faithfully recovering high-frequency texture information over a much wider range of depths than conventional microscopes. DeepDOF does this without sacrificing spatial resolution."
"In fact, both the phase mask pattern and the parameters of the deblurring algorithm are learned together using a deep neural network, which allows us to further improve performance," Veeraraghavan said.
To train DeepDOF, researchers showed it 1,200 images from a database of histological slides. From that, DeepDOF learned how to select the optimal phase mask for imaging a particular sample and it also learned how to eliminate blur from the images it captures from the sample, bringing cells from varying depths into focus.
"Once the selected phase mask is printed and integrated into the microscope, the system captures images in a single pass and the ML (machine learning) algorithm does the deblurring," Veeraraghavan said.
Richards-Kortum, Rice's Malcolm Gillis University Professor, professor of bioengineering and director of the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health, said DeepDOF can capture and process images in as little as two minutes.
Rebecca Richards-Kortum (Image courtesy of Brandon Martin/Rice University)
"We've validated the technology and shown proof-of-principle," Richards-Kortum said. "A clinical study is needed to find out whether DeepDOF can be used as proposed for margin assessment during surgery. We hope to begin clinical validation in the coming year."
Additional co-authors include Yicheng Wu, Jackson Coole, Melody Tan, Xuan Zhao and Jacob Robinson of Rice, and Hawraa Badaoui and Michelle Williams of MD Anderson.
Veeraraghavan and Robinson are both members the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (1730574, 1648451, 1652633), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (N66001-17-C-4012), the National Institutes of Health (1RF1NS110501) and the National Cancer Institute (CA16672).
Read the research article in full here.
tags: Focus on good health and well-being, Focus on UN SDGs


TEHRAN, Mar. 09 (MNA) – A conference was held in Tehran on Saturday to commemorate the senior Iraqi Shia cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, who was the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and was assassinated and martyred in a bomb attack in Najaf in 2003. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also attended the conference and delivered a speech on the role of Hakim in bringing Iran and Iraq closer to each other.


text:
The TechSeer
You are at:Home»Games»Oculus Go Review
Oculus Go Review
By Aymen Sheraz on May 13, 2018 0 Comments
8.8 Recommended
Improved quality of Go's VR and its impressive ability to run on its own makes it a winner. This is a great sell, experience and cost wise. An improved sound quality but a light leakage from nose. It's going to give the rest of the VR headsets a run for their money. The TechSeer rate this product 8.8 from a solid 10.
Ah, the fascinating world of virtual reality (VR) and how the gaming world is witnessing a new era because of it. Oculus Go, another VR endorsing gadget may be the next big thing in line. It is a stand-alone device, unlike its predecessor Oculus Rift or HTC Vive Pro that needed to be connected to a running PC in order to work.
Facebook owns Oculus and claims that's Oculus Go is the most approachable VR product and a brand new way for everyone to experience VR. It doesn't need a smartphone or any wiring or extra baggage of connections either. You wear it on your face, get comfortable and enter another world just like that.
For all the people who have been unable to experience the VR world due to various issues like price differences, unable to work out the connections, and personal hindrances, this may their easiest access to the VR world. It's cheap, practical and handy. It's the new Oculus Go.
Good VR experience
Minimal screen door effect
Light leakage
Rests entirely on the face / Heavy
Battery-to-charge-time not ideal
Price & Specs.
Released officially on 1st May, it is available in 23 countries including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
The Oculus Go is priced at $199/ AU$299 for 32GB version and $249/ AU$369 for the 64GB version.
For viewing, it features a 5.5 inch, 538 ppi panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 which is quite impressive for what its worth.
Oculus utilizes a fast-switch LCD display with the Go to have a better pixel fill. This makes the pixels simply appear larger to reduce the screen door effect often faced in previous VR headsets.
The Design.
Its sleek and has a modern appeal to it. With minimalist subtle features, it's luxurious looking. The front panel is plastic solid with a shade of gray which varies in different lighting.
The interior is lined with a foam molding that is soft and covered with a breathable mesh fabric. Once it is on, its comfortable and does not leave marks if worn for longer periods of time. The straps are adjustable, well-stitched and thick.
Some may struggle with the straps while putting on the headset. When worn, it tends to feel slightly insecure on the head. Feelings of it slipping off can make a person queasy but there's a comfortable position for everyone that just requires self-adjustment.
Once worn, the user may feel a fair amount of light entering through the tiny gap present at the bridge of the nose. It is an apparent flaw for those who are bothered by light leakage. This may be a deal breaker for some people who are extreme VR enthusiasts.
The control buttons on the headset are simple. The power button is on the top-left corner along with a volume button next to it. The headset has sensors which automatically knows to power on when you put it on and powers off once taken off. This emits the need to push the power button which is pretty neat.
There's a micro-USB port for charging and a headphone jack for when you want to keep the VR session low-key.
Setup is simple. It requires you to download the Oculus app on your phone, create an account, pair your phone and start shopping for apps and games. There are over 1000 games, apps, movies and short VR experience clips available.
Once you're in a VR experience or a game, things go down very smoothly. It offers great visual with picture clarity and depth. The overall experience is accurate and comfortable. Whatever you choose to play or watch, roller-coaster rides, shooting games, combat or board games, Oculus Go rarely stuttered or lagged.
Although the best part about it is the Oculus Rooms app. It's a customizable social space where the user can hang out with friends or online buddies, play chess, share photos and videos.
The Go's speakers are another feature that makes the entire experience worthwhile. They offer spatial sound effects that further indulge in the immersive feel of the headset. Sound clarity and volume are impressive.
Our Take.
Among the VR hardware available, the experience Oculus Go offers is as good as Oculus Rift. But the improved quality of Go's VR and its impressive ability to run on its own makes it a winner. For those who have always wanted to own a personal VR headset but were hesitant, this is a great sell, experience wise and cost wise. It's comfortable. It's durable. It's going to give the rest of the VR headsets a run for their money. The TechSeer rate this product 8.8 from a solid 10.
What is Fortnite? A Beginner's Introductory Guide
The Best Gaming Mouse
The Best Android Racing Games (Cars, Bikes and Boats)
iTouch Watch Review: Cheap alternative to iWatch?
Fitbit Versa Review 2019
Can Humans Live On Saturn?
Zephyrus S GX531 Review


Swashbuckling boys will love taking any of these backpacks and backpacks with wheels with them on their adventures.
These backpacks for girls are the ideal option for elegant young ladies to head off into the world with their favourite Disney characters.
These PVC-free kids' backpacks to suit children feature magical prints and padding throughout, offering the best comfort and support for children.
All Samsonite's very best Disney, Marvel and Star Wars backpacks and wheeled backpacks under one roof – don't look any further than this brilliant range of kids' backpacks. There is something for every boy and girl so let them take their favourite Disney, Marvel and Star Wars characters with them wherever they go, whether they are off to school, staying overnight or going on holiday.