text:
Was the Deal Capping Drug Cost Savings Inappropriate?
As this column goes to press, President Obama is putting the finishing touches on his speech to a joint session of Congress outlining his case for health care reform. The Presidential address follows a summer of criticisms ranging from the understandable—for example, that current reform proposals would not do enough to contain costs—to the delusional—such as the fear of government "death panels." Anyone interested in rational debate should be relieved that the President has now focused on specific reforms. Indeed, pro-reform critics have been complaining for some time that the President had been acting too passively.
Yet the speech to Congress is not the President's first high-profile involvement in the health-care reform process. Last month, the White House made headlines when it struck a deal to enlist the pharmaceutical industry in support of its reform efforts. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) agreed that it would give $80 billion worth of discounts to patients over ten years. It further agreed to spend $150 million for advertising in support of the President's plan. In exchange, the White House agreed that savings from drug discounts would be capped at the $80 billion; the government would not use its purchasing power to negotiate deeper price cuts.
Since the outlines of the deal have been made public, doubts have been raised about its details and whether it binds Congress. Lawmakers did not sign on the dotted line, after all. Should an otherwise-acceptable plan emerge from Congress that violates the terms described above, would President Obama veto it? At this point, much remains to be seen.
Still, quite apart from the complexities of the underlying draft legislation, the PhRMA deal itself raises important issues about the role of interest groups in government. For purposes of this column, I shall assume that the elements of the deal are as described above, and explore the question whether there is anything wrong with such a deal. Many Democrats criticized the Bush Administration for its coziness with corporate lobbyists. Is the Obama/PhRMA deal different from the Bush modus operandi? Is it worse?
A Misplaced Objection: Regulated Businesses Should Not Be Involved in Lawmaking
On its face, there is something unseemly about permitting business interests that stand to gain from weak, rather than strong, regulation to participate in the process of creating that regulation. In fact, however, this happens quite commonly. Ethics laws restrict the ability of lawmakers to accept gifts and favors from lobbyists, but lobbying itself—the process by which business and other interest groups try to persuade lawmakers to their point of view—is protected First Amendment activity.
Business and other interest groups receive similar protection with respect to the executive branch. Thus, the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA) guarantees "interested persons," including corporations, "an opportunity to participate" in the process by which binding rules are made.
Giving industry representatives a chance to make their case on the merits may be a matter of basic fairness. But the Obama/PhRMA deal went further. President Obama was not simply persuaded by PhRMA that capping drug cost savings at $80 billion is a good idea. Instead, PhRMA and the Administration apparently negotiated over just how much the industry would need to pay. That sort of bargaining is more than simply an opportunity to be heard on the merits.
Yet such bargaining is also routine. Legislation, we frequently hear, is the art of compromise. Such compromises do not simply trade off the policy preferences of various legislators: They involve the interests of the underlying groups with which various legislators are in sympathy.
Indeed, turning again to the APA, we find that Congress has established procedures for "negotiated rulemaking," in which government agency officials convene interested parties (again, including corporations) to negotiate over the rules and standards that will govern their future conduct.
Negotiations with powerful industry players are often necessary if regulation is to occur at all: Government lacks the resources or the expertise to regulate complex industries such as health care (or sub-industries such as pharmaceuticals), without some level of cooperation from the regulated industries. When industry leaders play a role in the design and implementation of the regulations governing them, we can generally expect that such "buy-in" will lead responsible industry players to cooperate with, rather than attempt to undermine, the resulting regulatory scheme.
Yet buy-in does not eliminate the need for government watchdog agencies, nor does it assure that profit-driven corporations will happily accept any regulations proposed. That is why, before striking a deal with industry, government should engage in tough, arm's-length negotiations. And perhaps the Obama deal with PhRMA was not tough enough. But then we are arguing over the particular deal that was struck, not about whether the government ought even to be able to negotiate the governing law with the targets of regulation. It ought to be, and it does, routinely.
Free Speech Implications of the PhRMA Deal
Nonetheless, one particular aspect of the PhRMA deal is troubling along a wholly different dimension: PhRMA's agreement to fund advertisements in favor of health care reform raises issues under the spirit, if not the letter, of the First Amendment.
According to published accounts, PhRMA agreed to pay $150 million for advertising to promote the Administration's reform proposal. Although that represents only a tiny fraction of the amount of money at stake in the underlying regulation, it is nevertheless a huge sum for a political advertising campaign. By comparison, in 2008, a Presidential candidate who accepted public funding would have only been permitted to spend just over $126 million for the primary and general election campaigns combined.
If PhRMA were spending the $150 million in advertising on its own, then that would be a sign that the $80 billion cap on drug discounts was to its liking—a good deal for the industry and, conversely, a not-so-good deal for taxpayers: After all, you don't voluntarily roll out a huge advertising campaign for a program you hope will fail.
But it appears that the advertising was itself part of the deal. Is that a First Amendment problem? Perhaps. According to the "unconstitutional conditions" doctrine, the government can run afoul of the Constitution by conditioning a benefit on the relinquishment of a right. For example, the government could not insist that recipients of food stamps forfeit the right to vote, even though the government could cancel the food stamps program entirely.
Likewise here, it might be said that the Obama Administration has conditioned a benefit—the $80-billion cap on drug-cost savings—on the pharmaceutical industry's giving up its right not to speak in favor of the health care reform proposal. The objection would be less clear than in my food stamps example, partly because corporations do not have exactly the same right to political speech as natural persons. That could change, however. As I discussed in an earlier column, the Supreme Court hears argument today in a case in which it specifically asked the parties to address the question whether to overturn a precedent permitting limits on corporate-funded political speech.
Still, even if the Court expands the free speech rights of corporations, it would not follow that the pharmaceutical industry could complain that its deal with the Administration imposes an unconstitutional condition. The unconstitutional conditions doctrine is notoriously difficult to apply and, in any event, the industry appears to be happy with the deal, and thus unlikely to challenge it.
Why the PhRMA Deal Does Not Involve Ordinary Government Speech
Thus, the real speech issue raised by the PhRMA deal may have less to do with the industry's right to speak, than with the public's interest in a health-care debate that is not corrupted by government propaganda.
Of course, not all government speech is "propaganda," as I am using that term. Government legitimately aims to accomplish many of its policy objectives through speech: After all, it is largely through speech that public schools educate the young. Moreover, the government also speaks through public campaigns urging Americans to eat a healthy diet, exercise, conserve water and other scarce resources, avoid alcohol when pregnant, and take any number of other measures for their own and the social good. These are all reasonable means of pursuing laudable aims. And the Supreme Court's recent case law—including the decision earlier this year in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum—make clear that government speech is even permissible when the government appears to take sides on hotly-contested questions.
Nonetheless, the Obama/PhRMA deal does not exactly fit the government-speech paradigm. Here, the government is speaking through a third party in a way that could cause public confusion. Therefore, the deal might be compared to the Bush Administration's secret payments to journalists like Armstrong Williams for touting the No Child Left Behind law.
The PhRMA deal is a bit different from the payments to journalists, however. It is not secret, and it does not appear aimed at borrowing the credibility of seemingly independent speakers: Even before the $2.3-billion fine levied on Pfizer for unethical marketing practices, the pharmaceutical industry was viewed by many as a malefactor in the health cost crisis. Thus, the Obama Administration almost certainly did not make a judgment that PhRMA was the perfect spokesperson for its message on health care.
Rather, the PhRMA deal was a way to funnel $150 million of previously private, and now public, funds into urging the public to support the President's health care initiative. Rather than extract $80.15 billion in savings from the pharmaceutical industry, the President agreed to take only $80 billion, essentially receiving a kickback of $150 million in the form of PhRMA-paid advertising. That was not illegal because the money was to be used to advance the President's policy agenda, rather than to supplement the personal fortune or campaign treasury of any candidate. Still, it was highly problematic.
To see why, imagine that the President had instead simply gone to Congress and asked for $150 million to fund an advertising campaign aimed at persuading the public to urge Congress to enact the President's health care reform proposal. Surely, the very members of Congress who currently oppose the proposal would have opposed the funding, as well.
Moreover, even if Congress had been willing to authorize the funding, the appropriation for the advertising campaign still would have been troubling. The PhRMA-funded advertisements are not public service announcements. They are not, in other words, instances of the government's pursuing its own established policy aims through speech. Rather, they are advertisements designed to influence the public debate over what policy aims should be adopted in the future. They are in that sense, propaganda aimed at achieving political outcomes, rather than speech aimed at implementing or supporting outcomes that were themselves the result of a prior political process.
Such propaganda violates a maxim of Thomas Jefferson: "to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical." Jefferson's view may seem odd in light of the fact that government can, for instance, use the tax revenues from pacifists to support a war, and the revenues from watchman-state libertarians to support social programs. What makes government expenditures for the propagation of certain kinds of opinions different, I would suggest, is that they use what are supposed to be the outputs of government decision-making to influence their inputs.
I admit that the line I am propounding—between traditional government speech as policy, and government-funded speech to affect policy choices—will not always be easy to discern. Government speech that results from one policy choice may affect another: For example, public education campaigns urging people not to smoke may also lead people to favor laws banning smoking in public places.
Accordingly, the distinction between permissible government speech and impermissible government propaganda may not be suitable for judicial enforcement. But if not, that is all the more reason for the President to take extra care not to cross the line.
Michael C. Dorf, a FindLaw columnist is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell University. He is the author of No Litmus Test: Law Versus Politics in the Twenty-First Century and he blogs at michaeldorf.org.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Fred Greenall, with his coinstructor Alex (who's last name currently escapes me), has opened the first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club in Nanjing. Since August 15 of this year he's been teaching BJJ in a 7th floor gym near the Zhujianglu metro exit. I happened to find him while searching through online forums for nearby martial arts opportunities. Coming accross one of his posts was the best stroke of luck I've had in China yet.
I managed to go to a training session, and had a fantastic time. Travel abroad can be a bit lonely and stressful for the first week, so it was nice to go do something I love with some awesome people. I plan to continue training with Fred and Alex throughout my stay here. The student club no longer exists, so Fred's club takes the responsibility of being the new beginning for BJJ in Nanjing. If the club is successful, it could bring about a new era in martial arts training for the entire city. I hope it does.
Up above, you'll see a small gallery of the gym and the group we had that day. The club currently doesn't have a lot of members or expensive equipment, but it's looking to grow. In the group picture, the tall white man with the shaved head and red shorts is Fred. The man in the black shirt and shorts on his left is Alex. I apologize for the poor picture quality, but at the moment, all photos are still being taken with my ipod. I used some editing to ameliorate the quality, but to little effect.
Dojos have been homes away from home for me for quite a while. So now, even thousands of miles from Central New York, I've got a home. I hope that the other asiapod bloggers will be able to share in this fortune in their travels.
You're making great connections! Do you know how BJJ came to China? And is there the same level of soul-searching and tension in the Chinese martial arts community over the introduction of grappling as there seems to be in the US?


The English lavender, with sweetly, deeply fragrant green-gray leaves and lavender flowers, is a mainstay of our herb garden. Lavender's crystallized fresh flowers can be used in cakes and cookies, the dried leaves in herbal sachets and potpourri, the oils in fragrances, creams and soaps. Growing to 12-18" tall and wide, the compact perennial's alluring leaves, brilliantly subtle flowers and sensuous aromatics imbue the garden with tranquility.
Lavender, Munstead is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by AndreaWilliamsburg from Fragrant I got these really quick and even though there are no flowers on them yet they are very fragrant. I put them right in the ground. Can't wait to see them in bloom.


text:
Q: how to test whether grid is empty or not in jquery i have a grid and adding elements to is in jquery like below:
$('#MyGrid tbody').append('
' + htmlString.ID+ '
');

before that i need to test whether this MYgrid is empty or not. how to do that with jquery.
thanks,
michaeld

A: Can you not just count the rows, and if there are non, assume that your grid is empty?
if(!$('#MyGrid tr').length) {
    // grid is empty
}

A: You can use the :empty selector:
$('#MyGrid tbody:empty').append('
' + htmlString.ID+ '
');

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This week we recommend Direct Relief, rated highly by Charity Navigator.
Uzbekistan when you shop for clothing.
Over a million people are estimated to be forced to pick cotton in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan by their own governments every year.
Hiroji Yamashiro, 64 years of age, has been released on bail after five months in detention without being able to see his family. Arrested for his role in protests against new U.S. military construction projects in Okinawa, his next court hearing is scheduled for 27 March 2017.
Prisoner of conscience, Tashi Wangchuk, has been detained for over a year and has yet to be informed by Chinese authorities of the charges against him. Please take action on his behalf.
Cuban authorities sentenced human rights defender Eduardo Cardet to three years in prison after holding him in provisional prison in Holguín, south-east Cuba, since November 2016. He is a prisoner of conscience who must be released immediately and unconditionally. Please act for him.
Don Davis is scheduled to be executed in Arkansas on 17 April. He has been on death row for 25 years, having been sentenced to death in 1992 for a murder committed during a burglary in 1990. Twenty seven years old at the time of the crime, he is now 54. Please call for clemency and commutation of his sentence.
A community of approximately 1300 Romanian Roma is facing an imminent forced eviction from the informal settlement of Gianturco in Naples, in southern Italy. Around 200 of the Roma will be rehoused by the municipality in a newly built segregated camp in Via del Riposo. The rest risk being rendered homeless. The municipal authorities have so far failed to carry out a genuine consultation to identify adequate alternative housing. Please call for a halt to the eviction and humane treatment towards the Roma.
Coca-Cola's Australian-based bottler Coca-Cola Amatil is systematically violating basic rights in an effort to stamp out independent and democratic trade unions at its Indonesian operations. And Coca-Cola corporate management in the US knows the full history but has failed to remedy the abuses. Please speak up for abused workers.


This Memorial Day send flowers of gratitude to honor the men and women veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country. Whoever you decide to honor. Westland Florist & Greenhouse can send your bouquet to Westland, MI or nationwide!


text:
Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Military strategy
Battle of annihilation
Outline of war
Generations of warfare
Counter-insurgency
Guerrilla warfare
Tactical objective
Deep battle
Maneuver warfare
Operational manoeuvre group
Philosophy of war
Asymmetric warfare
Military operation
Principles of war
Religious war
War novel
A battle of annihilation is a military strategy in which an attacking army seeks to destroy the military capacity of the opposing army in a single planned pivotal battle. This is achieved through the use of tactical surprise, application of overwhelming force at a key point, or other tactics performed immediately before or during the battle.
The intention is that the opposing government will then be forced to sue for peace to prevent the unopposed capture of its capital or other core areas.
It is not necessary to kill or capture all, or even most, of an opposing army's soldiers to annihilate it in the sense used here. Rather, the destruction of the enemy army as a cohesive military force able to offer further meaningful resistance, even if temporarily, is the objective.
Significance of the term Edit
In ancient and classical times, many battles ended with the annihilation of one of the forces, the battles of Cannae, Zama and Adrianople being famous examples. From the Renaissance onward, however, the battle of annihilation became rare, at least in Europe. The greatest exception is seen in the battles of Napoleon Bonaparte, and it is with Napoleon that the battle of annihilation in the modern sense is most closely associated, so that term "Napoleonic battle of annihilation" is sometimes used, and the Battle of Austerlitz is often cited as the apotheosis of the modern battle of annihilation.
Alternatives to the battle of annihilation Edit
At first blush, it might seem that annihilation of the opposing army is the obvious object of any military campaign. This is not true, however. Many battles have been fought to cause an enemy army simply to retreat, or to suffer attrition; and many campaigns have been waged to avoid rather than seek such a battle. Reasons for not seeking a battle of annihilation include:
Avoidance of the risk and cost associated with such a battle
Lack of means to attempt such a battle
Ability to achieve desired objectives through other means
Accepted practice
Political concerns
Risk and cost Edit
A successful battle of annihilation usually requires exposing one's own army to loss in a way that more conservative tactics do not. For example, attempting to turn an enemy's flank generally requires one to separate the flanking force from one's main body. This exposes the attacking force to defeat in detail. Attempting to pierce the enemy's center is usually costly in itself, and also exposes the vanguard force to a destructive counterstroke.
This was an especially important consideration during the pre-Napoleonic era, when armies were relatively small forces composed of professional career soldiers and losses were difficult to replace.
Lack of means Edit
From the Renaissance until the advent of military mechanization, armies were slow on the battlefield (not necessarily slow operationally). This was due to the declining efficacy of cavalry and to the advent of artillery, which is difficult to move. This made it difficult to move quickly enough to prevent an enemy from countering a battle stratagem, or, failing that, to withdraw safely.
Using other means Edit
If the object of war is to destroy the enemy's ability to resist politically, this may be achieved by other, less expensive, methods.
For example, one may attempt to maneuver one's army in such a way as to cut off the enemy from its base of supplies. If this is done successfully, the enemy may be forced to seek terms with its army intact. This sort of campaign was typical of Enlightenment armies, and is especially associated with the campaigns of Frederick the Great.
The French Campaign of 1940 offers an example. After the Germans broke into the French rear at Sedan, they were able to surround the main Allied armies and render their position untenable. No great battle of annihilation was required. (Alternatively, the Germans considered instead striking toward Paris. Capture of the French capital might have broken the French morale and political will to resist).
Accepted practice Edit
In warfare, as in many avenues of human endeavor, the optimal application of material means is sometimes limited by the failure of imagination. A successful battle of annihilation generally requires great skill and daring on the part of the attacking commander. If a commander's training, experience, and peer relationships have not prepared him to expect a battle of annihilation, this alone may prevent him envisioning such a battle.
For example, during the American Civil War, several Union Army generals were not able to imagine a battle of annihilation even during opportunities when the Union Army of the Potomac had sufficient strength in forces and the material means to conduct such a battle.
Political considerations Edit
If a war has limited political objectives, this may require the adoption of limited military strategy, including the disinclination to pursue a battle of annihilation.
In the Gulf War, the Allied forces could have sought and won a battle of annihilation against the Iraqi Republican Guard. It was decided, however, that the annihilation of the Republican Guard might have led to the dissolution of the Iraqi state, which was not a desired political objective.
Some historians have speculated that Hitler declined to seek the destruction of the British army at Dunkirk in 1940 for political reasons: to show magnanimity by allowing the British to withdraw, facilitating a political end to the war. (This is, however, disputed—other historians feel that Hitler simply wanted to avoid the risk to his armored formations that a battle of annihilation would have required, and Alexander Procofieff de Seversky in Victory Through Air Power implied that the cover of land-based Royal Air Force aircraft allowed the army at Dunkirk to escape).
After Napoleon Edit
Napoleon's victories at Austerlitz (1805) and Jena (1806) are often cited as the classic battles of annihilation. Napoleon himself was unable to again achieve such decisive results, partly because his enemies subsequently adjusted to his tactics. For example, Borodino, while a victory, did not result in the desired destruction of the Russian army.
Nevertheless, strategists, influenced by those of the Napoleonic era, most notably Antoine-Henri Jomini, held the Napoleonic battle of annihilation to be the proper objective of modern military campaigns. This interpretation was later mis-accredited to the more renowned Carl von Clausewitz, initially by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder who supported arguments for strategies of annihilation with quotes from Clausewitz. Clausewitz, who disliked Jomini personally, as well as his concepts, instead emphasized the primacy of the political in warfare, and remained indifferent to theories arguing for any absolute solutions via the application of military force. Nevertheless, this set the stage for mass confusion down the line of strategic thinkers.[1] Clausewitz's trilogies (albeit used out of context) are contested by Liddell Hart, who claims in Strategy that a poor choice of words by Clausewitz led his interpreters to overestimate the value of annihilation battles.[2] Consequently, at the beginning of the American Civil War, many top military commanders expected a battle of annihilation to quickly end the war. This did not occur. Already, the size and firepower of armies were making the battle of annihilation harder to achieve.
A contrast may be seen between the Confederate general Robert E. Lee and the Union general Ulysses S. Grant. Lee, when on the offensive, usually maneuvered with the intent of forcing a battle of annihilation. His archetypal attempt was at the Battle of Chancellorsville, where a classic Napoleonic flanking maneuver defeated but was not able to destroy the Union Army under Joseph Hooker.
Lee may be faulted for attempting to achieve a battle of annihilation, particularly at Gettysburg, in an age when this strategy was becoming obsolete.
In contrast, Grant was noted for waging campaigns of maneuver. In the Vicksburg campaign, he forced Pemberton's army into a siege position where it was forced to surrender without a battle.
In the Virginia campaign of 1864 against Lee, he continually maneuvered around Lee, forcing him to withdraw further and further south until he had to choose between abandoning the Confederate capital of Richmond or withdrawing into siege lines.
William Tecumseh Sherman may also be cited. Rather than pursuing the chimera of destroying Hood's army, he chose to operate directly against the Confederate economy. His famous march through Georgia, directly away from Hood, was basically the opposite of a Napoleonic strategy.
The Napoleonic ideal was still alive at the beginning of World War I. In fact, the Germans were able to execute a battle of annihilation against the Russian 2nd Army at the Battle of Tannenberg in the war's opening weeks. But attempts to create such a result on the Western Front resulted in great slaughter to no effect. Armies were now too large to have flanks to turn, and had too much firepower and too much defensive depth to be broken by assault.
During Operation Uranus, Soviet forces launched a counter-attack on Axis forces at Stalingrad. The Soviets enveloped the Axis forces in a double pincer, then began a battle of annihilation that resulted in the destruction and subsequent surrender of the German Sixth Army of 250,000 soldiers.
During the Pacific War, the Imperial Japanese Navy's strategy was fixated on the goal of luring the numerically superior United States Pacific Fleet into a single decisive battle of annihilation, which would force the United States to sue for peace. This was at least partially the motivation behind the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway, but was loosely followed for as long as the IJN was capable of offensive operations. This goal was never achieved for several reasons. First, the US Navy was wary of committing all of its forces to one major battle. Further, the IJN concentrated so much of its efforts on preparing for a single massive showdown (which never truly occurred) that it neglected devoting resources towards protecting its naval supply lines, which soon fell prey to a Fabian strategy when they were extensively targeted by US submarines. Finally, IJN strategic thought was still heavily based on Mahan's outdated theory of naval supremacy which was based on battleships, failing to realize that aircraft carriers were growing into a position of dominance in naval warfare. Even Japanese victories such as the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands failed to utterly annihilate their opponents. The hoped-for "decisive battle" against the US Navy never came, and the IJN was gradually ground down through attrition.
Since World War I, the paradigm of armies maneuvering in the empty countryside for weeks and then meeting in a battle lasting (usually) a single day no longer applies (at least to wars between major powers). Instead, armies are deployed in more-or-less continuous lines stretching perhaps hundreds of miles. Thus, the battle of annihilation may be considered to be mainly of historical interest, except for secondary campaigns.
Defeat in detail
Swarming (military)
Fabian strategy (antithesis)
↑ J. Nagl, (2005), p. 19.
↑ Hart, B. H. Liddell, (1991), p. 319.
J. Nagl. (2005). Learning to eat soup with a knife. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Hart, B. H. Liddell. (1991) Strategy, Second Revised Edition. New York, Meridian.
Retrieved from "https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Battle_of_annihilation?oldid=4509956"


Our app uses powerful Apple's ARKit.
How does it work? Choose any flat surface and launch Packhelp mobile app - the virtual box model will shortly appear at your fingertips. Try our app now and find packaging that's right for you.
Don't know which box will fit your items? Use transparency mode to see it clearly. Just put your products into virtual box model and see through in-app camera if the size is good for you.
Would you like to see your packaging before placing an order? See your designs come to life using augmented reality and watch your box among your products. It's also great way to compare different printing variants.
See our products in real life and compare them to choose the best one for you.


Maya is a visual effects studio designed with the art of filmmaking in mind. Maya's virtual camera replicates real-world cameras as much as possible, while at the same time offering enough flexibility in the settings to allow for a wide variety of creative uses. This chapter introduces the core concepts of how to work with Maya's virtual cameras.


text:
Q: Wordpress Function = 0 i'm a absolute noob with php coding and I guess after several laughs, the solution is really simple for a professional. I coded a simple average-calculation for the category.php of my wp-template and it works perfectly but I heard that it's the much better way to split design and function and so I tried to convet this to a template function:
<?php

$total = 0;
$count = 0;

foreach($posts as $post)
{
     if(get_field('weight')){ // If we have a value add it to the total and count it
        $total += get_field('weight');
        $count++;
     }
}

$Average = $total / $count;
echo $Average;
?>

The result is always "0" because I guess he pulls the variable from above and skips the foreach-procedure. But why?
function averageit()
{
$total = 0;
$count = 0;
foreach($posts as $post)
    if(get_field('weight'))
    $total += get_field('weight');
    $count++;
    $Average = $total / $count;

  echo $Average;
}

I hope somebody is able to help me. Thank you in advance!

A: There's a few issues at play here. The main one is that $posts isn't defined in the function. Turning on error checking will help notice these issues. Try adding posts to the function:
function averageit($posts){

For readability I always like to use braces after if statements and for loops. In your case it will cause an issue.
This:
if(get_field('weight'))
    $total += get_field('weight');
    $count++;
    $Average = $total / $count;

is equivalent to:
if(get_field('weight')){
    $total += get_field('weight');
}
$count++;
$Average = $total / $count;

Similarly your loop if only looping the first if. Try rearranging and adding braces:
function averageit($posts){
    $total = 0;
    $count = 0;
    foreach($posts as $post){
        if(get_field('weight')){
            $total += get_field('weight');
            $count++;
        }
    }
    $Average = $total / $count;
    echo $Average;
}

A: Your problem is likely to be one of variable scope. The "scope" of a variable is the section of code where that variable "exists", if you will.
In your case, consider your foreach loop, looping through items in the '$posts' variable. Where is the $posts variable declared? I suspect that at the point of the function running, that variable doesn't exist, so the loop is not being executed at all.
I'd suggest the following amendments to your function:
function find_average_weight($posts)
{
    $total = 0;
    $count = 0;
    foreach($posts as $post)
    {
        if(get_field('weight'))
        {
            $total += get_field('weight');
            $count++;
        }
    }
    $Average = $total / $count;
    return $Average;
}

There's a few changes here.

*

*While writing the function out I realised your foreach loop had no braces. This can cause issues of readability and indeed make the logic work incorrectly, so I put them in :)

*I added an parameter to the function to pass the required "$posts" variable in.

*I changed the function name to be slightly more descriptive, though not knowing the exact application I may be off the mark here, so take the suggestion with a grain of salt.

*I altered your function to return a value, which you can then do whatever you wish with. This makes the function a little more agnostic regarding what your intentions are - perhaps at some point you will want to find the average of these posts without outputting the results?

To use the new function and output the result, you could now write a line like this:
echo(find_average_weight($posts));


text:
Domoljub je lahko:

domoljub, nekdo, ki ljubi svojo domovino
Domoljub, slovenski poljudni časnik

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As I mentioned above, listing your Alaska home during the month of May will likely allow you to find the right buyer quicker than any other month. In fact, those homes listed during the first half of May typically sell two weeks faster.
According to a recent analysis of home sales, May is the month where homes tend to sell well over market value, an estimated 5.9 percent more, when compared to other months. In today's market, that trend is only amplified by current supply and demand. Given the number of motivated buyers in the market and the low number of homes for sale in Alaska, buyers are more willing to overpay for their dream home to ensure the property becomes theirs.
Remember that while May can be one of the most lucrative times for homeowners to list, the rest of the summer can be just as successful! June and July are also busy months in the Alaska real estate market, providing a great window for homeowners to sell, while August and September begin to mark the slowing of home sales.
Contact Madden Real Estate today for more information about selling your Alaska home or for a list of available properties in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Eagle River, Palmer, Wasilla, or North Pole!
We even offer a Guaranteed Sale Program that ensures if we don't sell your home, we'll buy it! We are confident that we have the staff, tools, and resources to sell your house!


In the second installment of their "Four Paintings" series, Regina Rex presents four huge figurative paintings, one each from accomplished artists Hannah Barrett, Linda Gallagher, Becky Kinder and Summer Wheat.
Stroking herself and gazing over her shoulder outside the picture toward the neighboring wall, she is perhaps fantasizing about the red-pink, loosely painted alien-like silhouette painted on the next canvas over.
Becky Kinder, Untitled, 2011, oil on canvas, 88 x 80 inches.
He or she turns away from the genitalia, facing the canvas on the next wall–a picture-within-a-picture that we are told references Lars Von Trier's 2000 award-winning musical-dramatic film Dancer in the Dark. The painting features a cropped assortment of objects, perhaps items scattered about the artist's studio, and a photograph (film still?) of a lady lying on the ground with her hands over her mouth. Although I've never seen the film, I learned from a Google search that Dancer in the Dark is about a woman (played by Bjork) who is slowly going blind and (spoiler alert) dies at the gallows after she is convicted of murder and treason.
Linda Gallagher, Selma, 2009, oil on canvas, 96 x 90 inches.
Looking toward the matronly but androgynous figure on the fourth wall, the Lars Von Trier woman completes the circle. Sitting on a big easy chair that rests atop a crate, the final figure, sporting a Thatcher-esque helmet hairdo and Mary Jane shoes, stares defiantly at the viewer, a biscuit in one hand and a diminutive teacup in the other.
Hannah Barrett, Small Brown One, 2013, acrylic and oil on canvas, 72 x 50 inches.
For the most part, the solitary figures in the paintings resist the viewer's presence, carrying on despite the occasional visitor. It occurs to me that the show, in its determined obliviousness and defiance, could be an apt allegory for the artworld's relationshp to the general public.
Summer Wheat , Scratchpad, 2010, acrylic and oil on canvas, 96 x 72 inches.
I saw socks like that at MoMA once.
Thank you for this review. Looks like a beautiful show.
Oh dear! One sock on and one sock off, you will catch cold.


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CORONAVIRUS ALERT!
Times, Dates, and Locations likely to change!
How Many Days Until Football?
Top Events Top Events
Schedule Release
2020 Regular Season Opener
Superbowl LV
When is NFL Kickoff 2020?
Our Countdown to September 10th, 2020
How many days until NFL Kickoff 2020?
How many weeks until NFL Kickoff 2020?
What about other upcoming NFL Events and Dates in 2020?
It's not desperate to care about when training camps start, we promise!
Superbowl LV 2021
February 7 @ 6:30 pm EST
Notable Dates for 2020 NFL Season
March 29 – April 1 — Annual League Meeting, Palm Beach, Florida.
April 6 — Clubs that hired a new head coach after the end of the 2019 regular season may begin offseason workout programs. Teams with returning coaches begin April 20th.
April 17 — Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets.
April 23 – April 25 — NFL Draft, Las Vegas, NV
April 27 — NFL clubs may request permission to visit with, try out, or sign any player who was under contract to the XFL at the conclusion of the XFL season.
May 1-4, 8-11 — Clubs may elect to hold their one three-day post-Draft rookie minicamp from Friday through Sunday or Saturday through Monday.
July 15 — At 4:00 p.m. ET, deadline for any club that designated a Franchise Player to sign such player to a multiyear contract or extension. After this date, the player may sign only a one year contract with his prior club for the 2020 season, and such contract cannot be extended until after the club's last regular season game.
Mid-July — Clubs are permitted to open preseason training camp for rookies beginning seven days prior to the club's earliest permissible mandatory reporting date for veteran players.
Veteran players other than quarterbacks or "injured players" may report to a club's preseason training camp no earlier than 15 days prior to the club's first scheduled preseason game or July 15, whichever is later.
July 22 — Signing period ends for Transition Players with outstanding tenders. After this date and until 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the Tuesday following the 10th weekend of the regular season, prior club has exclusive negotiating rights.
August 6 — Hall of Fame Game, Canton, Ohio.
August 11 — Deadline for players under contract to report to their clubs to earn an accrued season for free agency.
Sept. 5 — Prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time, clubs must reduce rosters to a maximum of 53 players on the Active/Inactive List.
Sept. 10, 13 – 14 — Regular Season Week 1.
Already Happened
Feb. 24 – March 2 — NFL Scouting Combine, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Feb. 25 — First day for clubs to designate Franchise or Transition Players.
March 10 — Prior to 4:00 p.m. ET, deadline for clubs to designate Franchise or Transition Players.
March 16 – 18 — Clubs are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations with, the agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents.
March 18 — At 4:00 PM ET, free agency officially begins, and teams may begin signing players or trading players who are still under contract. Additionally, all teams must be under the salary cap at this time.
May 19 – May 20 — NFL Spring League Meeting, Marina Del Ray, CA
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independent news and opnion
Publisher - independent news and opnion
Your 2019 guide to military pay and benefits
By root	 Last updated Jun 9, 2019
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Military service members and veterans have seen major changes to their pay and benefits over the past year. A new retirement benefit, revised rules for Tricare health insurance and changes to GI Bill eligibility can have a far-reaching impact on the lives and livelihoods of military families around the world.
For the most part, it's good news. Basic pay is once again rising at the same rate as private-sector wages after several years of tight Pentagon budgets resulted in service members losing some ground compared to their civilian counterparts. The new retirement benefit, which includes cash contributions to a thrift savings account, is a major boost for the vast majority of the force that serves for six or eight or ten years but never reaches the 20-year mark to become eligible for a lifelong pension.
Yet revisions to health care coverage and the GI bill education benefits are more complex, and may impact individual service members, their families and veterans in different ways.
Maximizing the options available to you is essential to making the most out or your military career. These are generous benefits. You've earned them. Getting smart about what has changed and what hasn't is worth your time.
Evidence suggests that service members who joined the military in 2000 are making more than their civilian counterparts, on average. (C. Todd Lopez/Army)
Basic pay is getting its biggest boost in a decade
A look at the basics that make up your basic pay … and what could be in store for your bank account come 2020:
Basic pay is determined by rank and length of service, with automatic raises when troops meet certain time and promotion markers. In addition, each year Congress determines how much of a pay raise all troops should get.
The figure is tied by law to the anticipated increase in private sector pay, but lawmakers in the past have approved smaller raises to save money for other military priorities.
The annual military pay increase takes effect in January of each year. The White House issues its target for the hike each August, either going along with the projected rise in private sector wages, known as the Employment Cost Index, or offering justification for establishing a different rate.
Congress has the final say, however. Last summer, Congress finalized a 2.6 percent pay raise for 2019, the earliest they've finished that work in more than two decades. The raise is usually applied across the board, although lawmakers made an exception at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to provide more money for some mid-career service members to help with retention.
The most junior enlisted service members make around $19,000 a year in basic pay (not including allowances, special pays and other benefits), while enlisted troops nearing retirement typically earn about $70,000 annually. Officer pay is significantly higher: The most junior officers clear close to $38,000 a year while senior officers nearing 20 years of service can make in excess of $170,000. That means that even a small change in the anticipated pay raise calculations can make a big difference for military families.
For example, in recent years (but not for 2020) the Pentagon has backed plans for a pay raise 0.5 percent below the federal formula for the annual increases.
If that reduction were to be put in place for 2020, an E-4 with three years of service would see a difference of about $140 in take-home pay over the course of a year compared to the expected level of pay boost. For a senior enlisted or junior officer, the difference is closer to $300 over 12 months.
Outside advocates have said even though those gaps won't cover a mortgage payment, they are the difference between being able to afford a monthly co-pay for prescriptions or having to go without. That makes even small increases or trims a major issue in the military community.
Since the start of the all-volunteer military force in 1973, Congress has authorized a pay raise of at least 1 percent for troops every year, even during budget cycles where other civilian wages were held steady. For the last three years, those increases have matched the rate of expected growth in civilian wages.
The 2.6 percent pay raise troops received in January 2019 was the largest they had seen since 2010. That mark matched the federal formula based on the annual Employment Cost Index calculation, but lawmakers and the president claimed credit for the boost as proof they are taking care of military members and families.
In March, White House officials released their fiscal 2020 budget proposal which included a 3.1 percent pay raise for next January. It too matches the ECI formula under federal law, and would be the largest raise troops have seen since 2010.
Lawmakers have already voiced support for that level. If it holds, that means a monthly boost of around $70 for junior enlisted troops, $125 for senior enlisted and junior officers, and nearly $240 for senior officers.
Current BAH rates aim to cover 95 percent of housing costs
This year, the Pentagon bumped the 2019 Basic Housing Allowance rates an average 2.5 percent higher compared to last years, setting the tax-free benefit at a level intended to cover 95 percent of the anticipated housing costs for each assigned duty post in the U.S.
Basic Allowance for Housing provides service members not living on base or in government-provided housing a cash supplement to be able to rent housing at local market rates. The amount paid to a service member depends on rank, whether or not they have dependents, and where they are based.
Any active-duty service member stationed in the 50 U.S. states who is not provided with government housing is eligible. Those stationed in U.S. territories, possessions or overseas who are not provided government housing are eligible for an Overseas Housing Allowance, which is calculated under a separate formula.
BAH is non-taxable, and unlike the Overseas Housing Allowance, if a service member can find housing below the BAH rate for their assigned location, they are able to pocket the difference, because what service members actually spend is not used to calculate BAH. In Overseas Housing Allowance, however, it's "use it or lose it." Service members lose whatever portion of OHA they do not spend.
DoD calculates median rental costs for 300 military housing areas, including Alaska and Hawaii. The calculations are based on the rental costs for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment, a 2 or 3 bedroom townhome, and a 3 or 4 bedroom single family home, and then set against specific enlisted and officer ranks for a service member with dependents and service members without dependents.
Based on rank and the local real estate market, what you take home can be less than $1000 or more than $3000. For example, an E-1 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina without dependents would receive $984 according to the 2019 BAH Calculator. On the other hand, a Colonel or Navy Captain working in Washington, D.C. with dependents would receive $3243, based on the 2019 rates.
For details of locations across the country, see: https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfm
WHAT IF BAH FOR MY AREA IS CUT WHILE I AM STILL THERE?
Service members are protected from falling rates under a rate protection policy that maintains their current rate for as long as they remain at their location, regardless of whether the official rates drop. However, they will receive the new, lower rate if they are demoted or if their dependency status changes, in which case they'd receive the current rate for their new status.
If rates rise in a location, all service members receive the higher rates regardless of when they arrived. Two rates are set for each location by a survey of rental costs: The with-dependents rate goes to personnel with at least one dependent and does not increase for additional family members.
WHAT IF MY SPOUSE AND I ARE BOTH IN THE MILITARY?
If there are no children, both spouses get the without-dependents rate.
U.S. Marine Corps Col. Jay Hanlon, command inspector general, I Marine Expeditionary Force salutes during his retirement ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in January 2018.
Your new retirement benefits: The biggest change in decades
The military retirement system has just undergone the biggest change since World War II, as defense officials implemented the Blended Retirement System in 2018.
Now and in the future, all service members entering the military now are automatically enrolled in the new BRS.
In 2018, more than 400,000 eligible service members opted in to the new BRS, out of the 1.6 million currently serving active duty and reserve troops who were eligible to make a choice between the legacy system and the new system. In addition, more than 150,000 new service members were automatically enrolled last year.
The majority of those who chose the new BRS over the legacy system, or about 80 percent, were enlisted members. The average active duty member who opted in had 3.05 years of service.
BRS is a blend that combines traditional retirement pay of the legacy system with some new features that allow military members to take some government benefits with them even if they don't serve until retirement. Historically, only 19 percent of active duty service members and 14 percent of Guard and Reserve members serve long enough to get retirement benefits.
You'll get the traditional monthly retirement pay if you serve until retirement from the military. But it's 20 percent less than what it is under the legacy system.
The Thrift Savings Plan, or TSP, is like a private-sector 401 (k) retirement plan savings account. The TSP has been available to service members for years, but there was no government match until now. The money you contribute to your TSP is always yours. You own the DoD contributions after you serve at least two years.
Here's how it works: After you have served for 60 days, a TSP account will be created, and automatic deductions of 3 percent of your basic pay start going to your TSP. (You can change that amount.) DoD kicks in 1 percent automatically, but will contribute up to an additional 4 percent of base pay to match your contributions. So if you put in 5 percent of your base pay to your TSP, DoD also puts in 5 percent. Making your 5 percent contribution to your TSP is key to getting the maximum benefit out of BRS.
BRS participants contributed more than $500 million to TSP accounts in 2018, and DoD added another $300 million in government automatic and matching contributions to those members' TSP accounts, said DoD spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell.
The services will make a one-time payout of continuation pay when the service member reaches 12 years of service. To receive that continuation pay, which is similar to a retention bonus, you must commit to serve an additional four years.
Active-duty members get 2.5 times their monthly basic pay as of the first day of their 12th year of service. Reserve and Guard members get 0.5 times their monthly pay – except for those in the Army Reserve and Guard, who get 4 times their monthly pay. The Army increased that in December — that's the prerogative of the services — to adjust that multiplier within a certain range, to meet their needs.
Continuation pay is taxable, but you can also contribute all or part of it to your TSP. You can receive it in a lump sum or, to help reduce your taxes, you can opt to receive continuation pay in four equal installments over four years.
When you retire under BRS, you can request an up-front lump-sum payment of part of the retirement pay you'd receive before you reach full Social Security retirement age, which for most people is age 67. You can receive either 25 percent or 50 percent percent of its "discounted present value." That means the amount is cut by a discount rate published yearly. For 2019, it's a 6.81 percent reduction. If you take the lump sum, the retirement checks are reduced by either 25 percent or 50 percent, depending on what percentage you received, until you reach age 67. At the point, your retirement check returns to its full amount. The lump sum is taxable; retirees can choose to receive the money in up to four installments over four years to reduce the tax burden.
To get the most out of your BRS benefit, make sure you're contributing at least 5 percent to your Thrift Savings Plan account, to get the matching DoD contribution of up to 5 percent.
Why turn down free money?
The Army has increased its continuation pay for Reserve and Guard members under BRS by eight-fold. Its previous formula was 0.5 times the monthly drill pay upon reaching 12 years of service. It's been increased to 4 times the payment. For an E6 with 12 years, that's a one-time bonus of $15,499 –$13,561.80 more than was previously offered.
The other services' formulas remain the same, at 0.5 monthly drill pay for Reserve and Guard members.
An Air Force staff sergeant teaches children how to properly brush their teeth at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, Feb. 11, 2019. (Airman 1st Class Mercedes Porter/Air Force)
Help for military spouses and children
The military lifestyle that involves frequent deployments and moving every two or three years can intensify the needs of families in some areas, specifically spouse employment and child care.
Bases worldwide offer families a wide variety of support services, from legal assistance and tax preparation, to child care, financial counseling, relocation assistance, education and employment assistance, youth programs, and deployment and mobilization support.
CENTRAL POINTS OF CONTACT
Start with the family centers on military installations or MilitaryOneSource.mil, which offers access to additional assistance by phone or chat, 24 hours a day.
Most of the site's information is available publicly, but some extra services are available for free to service members and their immediate family members, survivors of deceased service members, and certain others. Retiring or separating service members (and their immediate family members) can also access these services for one year after they leave the service.
Among those services are nonmedical counseling – available in person, by phone, secure chat or secure video session – as well as financial counseling, including tax preparation and tax filing help. Spouse employment and education services; language translation services for documents, health and wellness coaching, child/youth behavioral counseling, and family life counseling are also available.
For decades, two of the biggest issues for military spouses have been finding employment and finding good quality, affordable child care. Here are some of the programs that address those needs:
SPOUSE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Spouses can visit their installation's family center for employment and education assistance. They can also visit the Spouse Education and Career Opportunities, or SECO, section at MilitaryOneSource.mil for information on scholarships and other education and employment needs. SECO provides certified career counselors to help spouses investigating career options, education options or entrepreneurial projects.
Through DoD's My Career Advancement Account program, or MyCAA, spouses of certain junior service members can receive tuition assistance of up to $4,000, with an annual cap of $2,000, to pursue licenses, certifications or associate degrees needed for employment in high-demand, high-growth portable career fields and occupations. This benefit is available to spouses of active duty members in paygrades E-1 to E-5, W-1 and W-2, and O-1 and O-2. A recent government report said the program is underused, with just 7 percent of eligible spouses using the program in 2017.
Spouses can also search job opportunities on the Military Spouse Employment Partnership site, where hundreds of organizations are seeking to hire military spouses.
The Defense Department child care systems include more than 700 child development centers, school-age care facilities and about 2,600 family child care homes at more than 230 locations worldwide. All are required to adhere to DoD regulations, meeting nationally recognized standards for curriculum, safety and health. Fees are on a sliding scale based on total family income.
Any family child care provider on an installation who offers child care for other families' children for 10 or more hours per week must be a certified provider. Families can get lists of certified family child care homes at their installation's child development program office. They can also find certified family day care homes through the www.militarychildcare.com website. It gives parents more visibility over what child care slots are available at multiple installations in a given area.
Military families can also find high-quality, subsidized child care in their area if care is not available on base. Visit https://usa.childcareaware.org/fee-assistancerespite/military-families/
DoD and the services are looking at new ways to ease the child care shortage, such as streamlining the hiring process for child care workers. Last year, the Army launched a program to help military spouses get hired more quickly at the new duty station and streamlining the notification and hiring process
Crista Gyates raises the American flag at her home March 19, 2019, at on-base military housing at Naval Station Mayport. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Devin Bowser/Navy)
Ready to make the leap into home ownership?
The Department of Veterans Affairs home loan program took shape near the end of World War II and has been used by millions of service members and veterans since then: Nearly 3 million have VA-backed loans at present, and more than 740,000 new loans were taken out in fiscal 2017.
The VA guarantees a percentage of an eligible beneficiaries' home-purchase or home-refinance loan, allowing the lender to provide better, more affordable terms and often letting the borrower seal the deal without a big cash down payment.
Eligible service members and veterans can apply, via private-sector lenders, for home-purchase loans on properties up to $424,000 — more in some high-cost areas. These can be used to buy manufactured homes or homes under construction, in some cases, but not mobile homes. The VA loan program also offers cashout refinance loans.
An Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan can reduce the rate on an existing VA-backed loans. These loans come with funding fees that vary by loan type and veteran status. Veterans using the benefit for the first time on a no-down-payment purchase loan pay a 2.15 percent fee, for example, while a veteran making a second cash-out refinance loan would pay 3.3 percent. A full fee table is available at https://www.benefits.va.gov by typing "loan fee" into the search window.
Veterans receiving VA disability compensation are exempt from fees. Other loans, including joint loans, construction loans and loans to cover costs of energy-efficient repairs, also can be backed by VA. Consult your lender for information.
The key step for service members and veterans is to obtain a Certificate of Eligibility, either through the eBenefits site or via their lender, to be eligible for a VA-backed loan.
Those seeking to refinance existing loans should read lenders' advertising material carefully: VA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a "warning order" in November against deceptive lending practices.
Among the red flags: Aggressive sales tactics, low interest rates with unspecified terms and promises that borrowers can skip a mortgage payment as part of the new loan — a practice prohibited by VA.
VA loan eligibility does not expire, though the entitlement can only be used for the borrower's place of residence (not a rental property). It can be reinstated after the loan is paid off or under other circumstances — another veteran can assume the loan, for instance. Learn more: www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans; www.militarytimes.com/home-hq.
Are you among the VA-backed loan-holders who've been deluged with offers to refinance? Government officials have begun taking action to curb these practices. In addition, a banking-reform bill that passed the Senate in March could include some relief. Should the VA-related language in the Senate bill survive further lawmaker negotiations, the bill would prohibit lenders from offering VA-backed refinance loans within six months of a veterans' initial loan. Lenders also would need to provide borrowers with a "net tangible benefits test" that outlines the full financial scope of the refinanced loan, so borrowers have a complete picture of what they're saving over time.
Service members whose time in uniform falls within these date ranges must have 90 days of active-duty service to qualify:
• Sept. 16, 1940-July 25, 1947
• June 27, 1950-Jan. 31, 1955
• Aug. 5, 1964-May 7, 1975 (Note: For those who served in the Republic of Vietnam, this era begins Feb. 28, 1961).
• For loan purposes, VA considers "Gulf War" service beginning Aug. 2, 1990, and continuing through the present day. Service members from that time period must have completed 24 months of continuous active-duty service to be eligible, or at least 90 days if they have the right discharge status.
• If your time in uniform doesn't apply to the date ranges above and you were enlisted and separated on or before Sept. 7, 1980, or if you were an officer and separated on or before Oct. 16, 1981, you need 181 continuous active-duty days to qualify. If your service came after the above date ranges, you need 24 months of time in or less if you have certain discharges.
• Troops now on active duty become eligible after 90 days of service for as long as they remain on active duty. Reserve and National Guard members become eligible after six creditable years in service. Troops discharged for a service-connected disability are eligible regardless of service length.
For more eligibility details, visit VA's eBenefits site (www.ebenefits.va.gov) or call 877-827-3702.
A physician at Naval Hospital Jacksonville's Family Medicine Clinic conducts a health screening on Nov. 9, 2018. (Jacob Sippel/Navy)
Tricare changes: What you need to know
The military's Tricare health program was overhauled in 2018 to include a strict limitation on switching between Tricare plans.
And for retirees, a new dental program, the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program, or FEDVIP, has replaced the now-defunct Tricare Retiree Dental Program.
As of 2019, beneficiaries can't switch between Tricare Prime and Tricare Select until the yearly open season starting each November, unless there's some sort of qualifying life event, such as the birth of a baby, a move to a new duty station, marriage or retirement.
Amid Tricare's bureaucratic reforms and changes in regions and contractors, beneficiaries are dealing with higher costs, and some have had difficulty finding local doctors and other medical providers who are in the Tricare network. Defense health officials have been closely monitoring the performance of the two Tricare contractors and are working to resolve the problems.
Tricare is a health care program for almost 9.4 million beneficiaries that offers 11 different options, with choices depending on the status of the sponsor and the geographic location: Active-duty members; military retirees; National Guard and Reserve members; family members (spouses and children registered in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System) and certain others, including some former military spouses and survivors, as well as Medal of Honor recipients and their immediate families.
Those entering the military on or after Jan. 1, or changing status (i.e., from active duty to retired) should make sure they and their eligible family members are enrolled in the Tricare program of their choice. Those who don't enroll may only receive care at a military clinic or hospital on a space-available basis, and medical care by civilian providers wouldn't be covered. The one-month open season begins on the Monday of the second full week in November and goes through the Monday of the second full week in December. During that time, you can enroll in a new Tricare Prime or Tricare Select plan; or change your enrollment. If you're satisfied with your current Tricare health plan you don't have to take action to stay enrolled.
Tricare offers two core options: Tricare Prime and Tricare Select. Select replaced Tricare Standard and Tricare Extra in 2018. All active-duty members are required to enroll in Tricare Prime; they pay nothing out of pocket. Active-duty families can enroll in Tricare Prime without an enrollment fee. Prime beneficiaries are assigned a primary care manager, or PCM, at their local military treatment facility or, if one is not available, they can select a PCM within the Tricare Prime network. Specialty care is provided on referral by the PCM, either to specialists at a military facility or a civilian provider.
Tricare Select is similar to a traditional fee-for-service health plan. Patients can see any authorized provider they choose, but must pay a deductible and co-pays for visits. Patients pay lower out-of-pocket costs when they receive care from a provider within the Tricare network.
All Tricare programs have a cap on how much a family pays out of pocket each fiscal year, depending on the sponsor's status and the type of Tricare program used.
• Tricare Prime: Prime is similar to a health maintenance organization, which has lower out-of-pocket costs but requires enrollees to use network providers and coordinate care through a primary care manager — a doctor, nurse practitioner or medical team. It's free to active-duty members and families; retirees must pay an annual enrollment fee ($297 for an individual, $594 for a family in 2019). Those whose initial period of service began before Jan. 1, 2018 are grandfathered in to these rates. Co-payments for medical visits are lower than other programs, and there are no deductibles unless patients get care outside the network.
• Tricare Prime Remote: Service members who live and work more than 50 miles or an hour's drive from the nearest military treatment facility must enroll in Tricare Prime Remote. Family members are eligible if they live with an enrolled service member in a qualifying location, or they may use Tricare Select.
• Tricare Prime Overseas/Prime Remote Overseas: Tricare Prime Overseas is a managed-care option for active-duty members and their command-sponsored family members living in nonremote locations. They have assigned primary care managers at a military treatment facility who provide most care and referrals for and coordination of specialty care. Tricare Prime Remote Overseas is a managed care option in designated remote overseas locations, with most care from an assigned primary care manager in the local provider network, who provides referrals for specialty care. Activated National Guard and Reserve members and their families also may enroll in these options while the sponsor is on active duty; retirees and their families aren't eligible.
• Tricare Select: This is a preferred provider plan — authorized doctors, hospitals and other providers are paid a Tricare-allowable charge for each service performed. Costs are higher for out-of-network providers, and certain procedures require pre-authorization. There is no enrollment fee for active-duty families, or for retirees and their families and others whose period of service began before Jan. 1, 2018. Copays vary by status and type of care: An in-network primary care outpatient visit costs retirees and their families $29, for example, while some active-duty family members pay $21 and others — those whose sponsor entered the network on or after Jan. 1, 2018, pay $15.
• Tricare Reserve Select: Qualified Selected Reserve members can buy Tricare coverage when they are in drilling status – not mobilized. The program offers coverage similar to Tricare Select.
• Tricare Retired Reserve: "Gray area" National Guard and Reserve retirees who have accumulated enough service to qualify for military retirement benefits but have not reached the age at which they can begin drawing those benefits (usually age 60) can purchase this insurance, which offers coverage similar to Tricare Select.
• Tricare for Life: This wraparound program is for retirees and family members who are eligible for Tricare and Medicare. The provider files the claims with Medicare; Medicare pays its portion and then sends the claim to the Tricare for Life claims processor. Enrollees must enroll in Medicare Part A (free for those who paid Medicare taxes while working) and Part B (monthly premium required) to receive Tricare for Life.
• Tricare Young Adult: Unmarried dependent children who do not have private health insurance through an employer may remain in Tricare until age 26 under a parent's coverage via TYA Select or TYA Prime. Premiums are required for both.
• US Family Health Plan: Beneficiaries who live in one of six designated areas, can enroll in this as a Prime option. Those enrolled get all their care, including prescription drugs, from a primary care provider the beneficiary selects, from a network of private doctors affiliated with one of the not-for-profit health care systems in the plan. Beneficiaries don't get care at military hospitals or clinics, or from Tricare network providers when enrolled in the US Family Health Plan.
Beneficiaries must take action to enroll in a Tricare plan in order to be covered for civilian health care. Those who don't enroll will only be able to get health care at a military clinic or hospital on a space available basis.
To be eligible for any of the Tricare plans, beneficiaries must first be enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System. Active-duty members are automatically registered in DEERS when they join the military, but they must register eligible dependent family members. Service members should make sure the information is correct for their family members. Only military members can add or remove family members; this is done through the local ID card office.
Military members wishing to continue their education can find that there are a variety of financial assistance programs to help fund their endeavors. Programs such as the Montgomery GI Bill, the Post 9/11 GI Bill and in-state Tuition Assistance for members of the National Guard. (Master Sgt. Bill Wiseman/Air Force)
GI Bill and tuition assistance: Know your education benefits
Going back decades, one of the main reasons people have joined the military has been to get access to the generous education benefits available to veterans.
That's as true as ever today, with the Post-9/11 GI Bill. But the benefit has some complicated rules – and things recently got even more complicated with the Forever GI Bill, which changed some important aspects of the benefit.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill is a benefit for the latest generation of service members and veterans, as well as their eligible dependents. It includes payment of tuition and fees, a monthly housing allowance, and a stipend for textbooks and supplies.
The amount of time you spent on active duty determines your benefit level. In general, the higher your benefit level, the less you have to pay out of pocket for school, maxing out at the 100% benefit level, which covers full in-state tuition at public universities.
Here's what veterans who received an honorable discharge after Sept. 10, 2011, are eligible for based on the amount of time they've served:
• 100%: 36 months or more of active duty service, or at least 30 continuous days and discharged due to service-connected disability
• 90%: At least 30 months, less than 36 months.
• 50%: At least 6 months, less than 12 months.
• 40%: At least 90 days, less than 6 months.
• No benefit: Less than 90 days.
You can use your benefits toward an education at a college, university, trade school, flight school or apprenticeship program.
While the benefit covers all in-state tuition and fees at public institutions, it may not have the same reach at a private or foreign school. The maximum tuition coverage for private nonprofit, private for-profit and foreign schools for the 2019-20 school year will be $24,476.79, effective Aug. 1, 2019.
The housing stipends GI Bill users receive depend on the level of benefits they're eligible for, how many courses they take and where they go to class.
The rate is determined by DoD's Basic Allowance for Housing scale and is paid at the same rate an active-duty E-5 with dependents would receive in a particular area. If you are pursuing a degree entirely online, you get half of the national BAH average.
The VA has historically based the housing allowance on the location of the main campus of a school, even if the student in question is taking classes at a different branch campus that could be many miles away. The Forever GI Bill directed VA to instead base the housing allowance on the location where a student takes most of his or her classes. That change was supposed to take effect Aug. 1, 2018.
But the department ran into technical problems implementing the change. So on Dec. 1, 2018, the VA gave itself until the same day in 2019 to change housing stipend payments to match the new rules.
Service members may transfer their benefits to a dependent, provided they have already served in the military for at least six years and agree to serve four more after the transfer is approved by the DoD. Starting July 12, 2019, only those with fewer than 16 years of active-duty service will be able to transfer their GI Bill benefits.
The transfer must happen while you are still in unform. Veterans who have already separated from the military are not eligible to transfer their benefits. Children are only eligible to start using the transferred benefits after the service member doing the transfer has completed at least 10 years of service. Spouses can use the transferred benefits right away, but they only have 15 years after the service member's last separation to use the benefits if the discharge date was before Jan. 1, 2013.
As previously mentioned, service members who have been in uniform longer than 16 years will no longer be able to transfer their GI Bill benefits to a dependent, as of July 12. Other changes on the books:
• The Pentagon previously allowed service members who have already served more than 10 years – as well as those subject to mandatory retirement – to transfer their benefits without committing to four more years of service. Those exceptions are no longer available; everyone must commit to four more years of service to transfer benefits.
• Active-duty troops who earned a Purple Heart for combat injuries are now allowed to transfer their benefits to dependents regardless of how long they served or their ability to commit to more service.
• VA hopes that delaying implementation of the housing stipend calculation change frees up staff so that the department is able to process GI Bill claims without the extended delays that some students experienced in fall 2018.
Action items: You can apply for the Post-9/11 GI Bill online (www.vets.gov/education/apply/) or by visiting a local VA regional office. If you've already chosen a school or program, arrange a meeting with the institution's VA certifying official, who can help you get started.
GI Bill Comparison Tool (www.vets.gov/gi-bill-comparison-tool).
Some schools participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program, a voluntary agreement with the Veterans Affairs Department to split school costs not covered by the GI Bill. This reduces or eliminates the amount students must pay themselves.
As of Aug. 1, 2022, active-duty troops will gain access to the Yellow Ribbon Program and it will also be available at that point to the spouses of service members eligible for 100 percent GI Bill benefits.
THE MARINE GUNNERY SERGEANT JOHN DAVID FRY SCHOLARSHIP
The Fry Scholarship allows children or spouses of service members who died in the line of duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001, to use the GI Bill at the 100 percent level.
These benefits are extended to children as of their 18th birthday. If they became eligible for the benefit before Jan. 1, 2013, they can only use their Fry benefits until their 33rd birthday. If they became eligible on or after that date, that age restriction is removed.
Spouses cannot have remarried, and they have 15 years to use the benefit if they became eligible for it before Jan. 1, 2013.
Service members have more education benefits available to them than just the GI Bill.
While service members can begin to use their GI Bill benefits on active duty, they can often get help paying for college from their service branches – and save the GI Bill for later – by using tuition assistance.
Here's how TA works, and what you'll need to
know to make the most of it:
TA is a federal benefit that covers the cost of tuition, up to particular limits, for active-duty service members, as well as some members of the National Guard and reserves. The funds are paid directly to schools by the service branches.
Each service has its own requirements.
• Air Force: All Air Force officers incur a service requirement if they use TA, but there is no service-length requirement to begin using the benefit.
• Navy: Sailors must wait until they've been at their first permanent duty station for a year to use TA, unless they get a waiver. Navy officers must agree to remain on active duty for at least two years after using TA.
• Army: As of Aug. 5, 2018, there is no longer a one-year waiting period after completion of Advanced Individual Training, Basic Officer Leader Course or Warrant Officer Basic Course to receive TA. Active-duty officers incur a two-year service obligation.
• Marine Corps: After previously having to wait 18 to 24 months to use TA, Marines now have no minimum service-length requirements for the benefit. However, they must agree to at least two more years of active duty service to use the benefit.
• Coast Guard: Active-duty Coast Guard members must have been on long-term active-duty orders for more than 180 days to access TA. The Coast Guard also has unit-specific requirements and requires commanding officer approval.
• Guard/Reserve: Soldiers who are activated or on drill status are eligible under the same conditions as active-duty Army personnel. Air National Guardsmen and reservists of other branches are eligible for TA if they are activated, and the use of TA often comes with a service obligation for a certain amount of time once the last course is completed.
The Defense Department caps tuition assistance at $250 per semester hour and $4,500 per fiscal year. The Coast Guard recently decreased its annual cap to $2,250 per year, down from $4,000. The Navy and Army set limits at 16 semester hours per year.
Generally, TA funds can be used to pursue a higher degree than what you have already earned, up to the master's degree level. If you have a bachelor's degree, you can use it to pursue a graduate degree — not an associate or second bachelor's, though there are some exceptions. Some branches require you to create a degree plan or take a branch-specific course before your TA benefits are approved.
If you do not perform well in a class or need to withdraw for reasons other than personal illness or military duty, you will be required to pay back the funds used for that course. The Army and Coast Guard require service members to earn a "C" grade or better for undergraduate courses and a "B" grade or better for graduate courses; anything lower requires reimbursement to the U.S. Treasury.
In the Air Force and Marine Corps, service members must maintain a grade-point average of at least 2.0 for undergraduate work or 3.0 for graduate work.
Those who fall below the requirements can become eligible for the benefit again once they have raised their GPA above the threshold. The Navy will force service members to reimburse their TA if they receive a failing grade or lower, which is a "D" for undergraduates and "C" for graduate students.
To accept tuition assistance funds, colleges and universities must sign a memorandum of understanding with the DoD, agreeing to comply with a set of rules related to recruiting and educating military students.
To enter into the agreement, institutions must be regionally or nationally accredited, state-approved to accept the GI Bill and certified to participate in federal student aid programs.
If you have served for at least 90 days on active duty since Sept. 10, 2001, then you are eligible to receive Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. You may use these benefits while on active duty, though experts suggest using your tuition assistance first.
If you take advantage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill while you're still active, you will not receive an additional monthly housing stipend with the benefit as you would if you waited until separating from the military. That said, the Forever GI Bill has made it so active-duty service members can receive a housing stipend the day after separating from the military, as opposed to the previous wait time of one month.
If you choose to use the GI Bill while on active duty to help pay for your education, you will need to apply for veterans benefits and contact your school's certifying official, who will formally submit your enrollment in VA benefits.
Search for schools that have signed DoD's memorandum at www.dodmou.com. To apply for TA, visit your nearest education service center or visit your branch's education website for details.
Get the latest military education news, as well as updates to transition benefits and scholarship opportunities, at Military Times Rebootcamp — Rebootcamp.militarytimes.com.
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Q: getArguments function inside customView not recognized I have FragmentA with constructor below :
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FragmentA has a customView and inside customView getArguments not recognized. what should i do?


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Spyder Review
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spyder.
Stefan L 06/04/20 Comments Closed
Agent 8 is a cute little guy. Roughly 4cm in span, with two little flashlight-like eyes and eight adorable robot legs, he's a wonder gadget in the fight against S.I.N. Where did he come from? Who designed him? It doesn't really matter, because he's got sinister and spectacular plots to foil.
Agent 8's a staggeringly capable little robot, stuffed with little electronic gadgets to interface with terminals, a screwdriver to get into vents, grappling hook to grab items or leap across gaps, and more. It's biggest trick, however, is in its legs. Just like Spider-Man and real spiders, Agent 8 can scuttle up almost any surface. It's this that gives the game its main hook, of giving you freedom to explore a location almost unhindered.
With the game an Apple Arcade exclusive, this has to work whether you're playing with the touch screen, connecting up a controller, or sat at the keyboard and mouse of a ludicrously expensive Mac Pro. The touch controls are pretty intuitive, with the left half of the screen dedicated to movement and the right letting you tilt the camera – this has been patched in shortly after release – and you then interact with things by tapping or holding on them. Alternatively, playing with a controller will feel instantly familiar to anyone that's played the most basic of platformers.
That freedom of movement means that the camera needs to be on its A-game. By and large it does manage to frame the action so that you can understand where you are and what way up you are, but sometimes it can frustrate and freak out as you move Agent 8 into a tight spot or shuffle over the lip of a desk. It's this kind of behaviour (and not just how hot my iPhone 8 would get) that pushed me more to playing with a controller than with a touch screen.
The half dozen levels in the game are fairly directed, almost always pointing you in the right direction with an objective marker and camera. While there's something of an escape room vibe to the situations you'll find yourself tackling, you're only left to figure things out for yourself on a handful of occasions.
Spyder is an immediately charming game to look at, with a visual design that feels lightly reminiscent of Sumo Digital's last homegrown game, Snake Pass. Of course, where Snake Pass had a cutesy fantasy charm, Spyder is full of all the quirks of 60s and 70s Cold War Bond films. The first mission sees you scampering back and forth across a computer console trying to prevent a nuclear launch, and it continues much in the same vein, as you save a space mission, stop a runaway train and more.
It won't take you took long to rattle through the six levels, maybe four hours, though you can spend longer exploring each level, soaking in the environment and snagging the sticker collectables. Unfortunately there were a small handful instances where bugs halted my progress, not letting me select a particular wire to cut for example, though these were relatively easily fixed by reloading. I also had a little more inconsistency in that regard with the touch controls than with a controller.
With its Cold War Bond stylings and hook of being able to climb up walls and along ceilings, Spyder is a charming miniature spy adventure, that's easily worth the time if you're subscribed to Apple Arcade.
Agent 8 is adorable
Great gameplay hook of being able to climb up walls
Can feel a bit too directed at times
Occasional camera freak outs and progression bugs
I'm probably wearing toe shoes, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!
Hood: Outlaws & Legends and Sackboy developer Sumo Digital will be acquired by Tencent
Get Ark: Survival Evolved, Snake Pass & Hitman: Absolution free on PC this weekend
Little Orpheus Review
Interview: How Spyder went from Sumo Digital game jam to Apple Arcade exclusive
Developer:Sumo Digital
Publisher:Sumo Digital
Platforms:Apple Arcade
Version tested:iOS
Release date:20/03/20


For class or advising info in the Earth/Physical Sciences (including but not limited to):Geology, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography, Natural Resources, and General Sciences.
Geology courses are listed under physical science on WebRunner.
Geology students please note: there is no order in which you must take the geology courses. Geology courses are great for non-science majors!
Interested in studying Earth or Environmental Sciences at OSU?
I started teaching as a full-time faculty at LBCC in September 2006. I teach a variety of introductory science courses, including physical and historical geology, oceanography, earth science, and astronomy.
I have a M.S. in Geology from Central Washington University, and a B.A. in Geology from Whitman College.
In my free time you might find me coaching my kids soccer teams, or trail running in the McDonald Forest.
Show all of Deron Carter's web pages.


From the Edgar HQ (so they say): "Mondays always feel they last a month, aren't they?"
Every year, the residents of Catoira (Spain) stage a spectacular re-enactment of the Viking invasions that occurred a thousand years ago.
Are you also bored with static advertising? Join the battle!
Microsoft's website has been online for 20 years, but is still "nice" to look back when Internet Explorer didn't exist. Remember?