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text:
Ralph Nader: The other one percent
A line to vote is seen in this Nov. 5, 2012, file photo in Burlington, N.J.AP file photo
As a high school student, I came across an observation by Abraham Lincoln who said that "With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed." Today "public sentiment" would be called "public opinion."
Over the years, I have been astonished at how less than one percent of the citizenry, backed by the "public sentiment," have changed our country for the better by enacting reforms to protect the people from abuses of power, discrimination and deep neglect.
Specifically, if – one percent or less – were to dedicate a modest amount of their time and money working together for much-needed changes that are overwhelmingly supported by public opinion in each congressional or state legislative district, they would prevail against the government and corporate power structures.
There are obstacles, such as a corporate influence over City Hall and wavering politicians who insincerely pledge support, but defer and delay action. But, if people work together, almost any problem can be solved.
History shows that it only takes a dedicated few to gain the momentum from many more to enact change. The major drives to give women the right to vote, workers the right to form unions and secure numerous protections, and farmers regulation of railroads and banks did not require more than one percent of seriously active champions. Those in power understood that there was overwhelming support for these reforms by affected populations.
Even the abolition movement against slavery was well under way in our country before Ft. Sumter and did not involve more than one percent of the people, including the slaves who fled via the Underground Railroad. By 1833, the British Empire, including Canada, had already brought slavery to an end.
More recently, the breakthrough laws in the late sixties and early seventies regarding auto and product safety, environmental health and occupational safety drew on far less than one percent of seriously engaged supporters. The air and water pollution laws were supported by widespread demonstrations that did not require a large burden of time by the participants. These air and water pollution laws, not surprisingly, were very popular when introduced and the public made its support known to lawmakers with numerous phone calls and letters. Other reforms (auto safety, product safety and occupational safety measures) were pushed through with far less than one percent of engaged citizens, as was the critical Freedom of Information Act of 1974.
Along with the small full-time advocacy groups, a modest level of visible activity around the country aroused the media. The more citizen power the media observed, the more reporting, and this in turn led to greater public awareness.
Lately, this pattern can be seen in the efforts to enact civil rights for the LGBTQ community and to pass a substantially higher minimum wage for tens of millions of workers being paid less now than workers were paid in 1968, adjusted for inflation. The latter has become a front burner issue at the city, state and congressional levels with picketers in front of McDonald's, Burger King, Walmart, and other giant low-pay chains over the past two years. Those pushing for higher wages number less than the population of Waterbury, Connecticut (approximately 110,000). The Service Employees International Union
(SEIU), some think tanks, organizers, writers and economists rounded out this less than one percent model of action for justice.
It is important to remember that the active one percent or less, with the exception of a handful of full-timers, are committing no more time than do serious hobbyists, such as stamp and coin collectors, or members of bowling leagues and bridge clubs, or birdwatchers.
Why is all this important? Because in a demoralized society full of people who have given up on their government, on themselves and are out of the public civic arena, learning that one percent can be decisive, can be hugely motivational and encouraging, especially with emerging Left-Right alliances. Prison reform, juvenile justice, crony capitalism, civil liberties, unconstitutional wars, and sovereignty-shredding and job-exporting trade treaties that threaten health and safety protections are all ripe for Left-Right action (see my recent book Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State).
Youngsters grow up exposed to numerous obstacles that tell them they "can't fight City Hall" or the big corporate bosses. Unfortunately, they are not taught to reject being powerless because they learn myths, not reality, and they graduate without civic skills and experience. Small wonder why so many of them could easily be members of a Society of Apathetics.
But lawmakers want to retain their jobs. Companies want to keep their customers. On many issues that could so improve livelihoods and the quality of life in America, it is important to bring to everyone the history and current achievements of the one percent who stood tall, spoke and acted as the sovereign people our constitution empowers them to become.
Send more 1 percent examples to info@nader.org.
Ralph Nader is an author, consumer activist and Connecticut native.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Derbyshire Wildlife Trust was commissioned to survey the pond located on land to the west of the former Kingsway Hospital in Derby as part of the Wild About Ponds Project in order to provide management recommendations based upon the findings of the survey. It would also enable a comparison of survey results against data obtained as part of the 2004/5 Derby City Pond Survey.
Map 1 shows the location of the pond. The pond is located within a wider area of unmanaged grassland, abandoned arable land and areas of developing scrub to the west of the former Kingsway Hospital grounds. A tall unmanaged hedgerow alongside the A38 road forms the north-west boundary to the site and the Bramble Brook runs alongside the north-east boundary. The pond is within an area defined by post and rail fencing with a locked gate within the fencing allowing access for management.
Habitats immediately surrounding the pond within the site include tall ruderal vegetation along the northern and eastern banks comprising Broad-leaved Dock, Common Ragwort, Creeping Thistle, Common Nettle and Yorkshire-fog, with developing willow scrub at the western end. The steeply sloping south bank is dominated by bramble and tall fen vegetation which is largely impenetrable in places making access along the bank increasingly difficult.
The pond is owned by the Royal Derby Hospital and was created around 2002/3 to act as a water storage facility to collect surface water from the staff car parks. Any surplus water is discharged into the adjacent Bramble Brook via a controlled outfall. The pond was initially surveyed in 2004/5 as part of the Derby City Pond Survey and in the intervening period between the initial and the current survey it would appear that the pond has been expanded to increase its water storage capacity.
There is no public access to the site. Access for the undertaking of the various surveys, which have been carried out since 2004, has been obtained with the kind permission of the Estates Department of the Royal Derby Hospital.
The recommended time of year for carrying out PSYM pond surveys is during June, July and August. The pond was surveyed during August 2011.
This represents a slight decrease in the ecological condition of the pond since 2005 when a survey undertaken as part of the Derby City Pond Survey returned a PSYM score of 61%. This slight decrease would appear to be the result of an apparent decline in the presence of Coleoptera (water beetles). No beetles were recorded during the 2011 survey.
A conductivity test to measure of the total quantity of chemicals dissolved in the water returned a reading of 1350µS/cm. This figure indicates that the pond is somewhat contaminated presumably as a result of run-off from the car park areas. Where conductivity is 500-1000 + µS/cm this is usually a sign of some kind of pollution and a perfectly clean water pond would have a figure of 100µS/cm or less.
Whilst the pond shows a slight decline in overall ecological quality in recent years, it still supports a good range of aquatic macroinvertebrates, particularly dragonflies with Broad-bodied Chaser exhibiting mating behaviour and ovipositing during the survey visit as well as the presence of larvae.
Also, of particular note is the presence of the submerged aquatic plant Zannichellia palustris, Horned Pondweed, in the margin of the eastern bank of the pond. The plant is a Derbyshire Red Data Book species which is considered to be locally declining.
Presumably due to its relatively undisturbed nature, the pond attracts a reasonable amount of bird activity with Coot, Moorhen, Mallard and Little Grebe nesting at the site and Reed Bunting present in the surrounding willow and bramble scrub.
It is somewhat disappointing and surprising that the pond does not support any amphibian interest. Torchlight and bottle trapping surveys undertaken on 21st April 2004, April 8th 2011 and March 23rd 2012 all failed to find any evidence of amphibians.
The pond and surrounding habitats provide excellent foraging opportunities for bats.
It is understood that some initial planting was carried out when the pond was created but has since been left to colonise naturally. There is little evidence of management with the exception of some Typha removal in the vicinity of the outfall, presumably to maintain functionality.
Photographs would seem to indicate that the pond has been enlarged in the intervening period between the pond survey carried out in 2004/5 as part of the Derby Coty Pond Survey and the current surveys undertaken in 2011/12. The earlier surveys identified a band of Typha around the margins of the pond while the recent surveys show a band of Typha running through the centre of the pond.
The extent of Typha should be monitored to ensure that the extent of open water does not fall below a threshold of one-third of the pond area. When necessary, the Typha should be removed outside of the bird breeding season during the autumn period with the removed material left on the bank of the pond for a few days to allow any invertebrates to return to the water.
The pond is vulnerable to the introduction of contaminants in surface water run-off from the staff car park areas thereby promoting blanketweed and algal growth. Consideration should therefore be given to upgrading the interceptor system to control and minimise the amount of contaminants entering the pond.
Annual PSYM surveys should be carried out to monitor the ecological condition of the pond with the results forwarded to the Derby City Pond Wardens Association and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.


"The 2017 awards under the ICMR Eprogram will enable scientists to continue vital malaria research, which often straddles disciplines to address the most pressing problems and practicalities of fighting malaria." — Lee Hall, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of NIAID's Parasitology and International Programs Branch.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced approximately $12.9 million in first-year funding, subject to availability, for eleven malaria research centers around the world. The 7-year awards continue NIAID's 2010 program that created the International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research (ICEMRs) in regions where malaria is endemic. The awards fund four new and seven existing centers that work in 17 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands and Latin America.
Despite significant progress in reducing malaria incidence and mortality, the World Health Organization estimates that 212 million new cases of malaria and 429,000 malaria deaths occurred in 2015, mostly in Africa. Although numerous vaccine candidates to prevent malaria are in development, none have been approved for widespread use. Effective malaria drugs are available, but some have severe side effects, may be difficult to procure in remote regions, and are losing their effectiveness in some places as malaria-causing parasites have developed resistance. Mosquito control, which relies largely on bed nets and insecticides, is still a front-line defense in regions where malaria is endemic, but changes in mosquito behavior and insecticide resistance are increasing concerns.
"The 2017 awards under the ICEMR program will enable scientists to continue vital malaria research, which often straddles disciplines to address the most pressing problems and practicalities of fighting malaria," said Lee Hall, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of NIAID's Parasitology and International Programs Branch.
Under the previous awards, ICEMR researchers found evidence that some current rapid diagnostic tests are failing to detect malaria in some regions because malaria parasites do not always express the antigen the test is designed to detect. ICEMR research also has confirmed a significant shift in the behavior of some malaria-carrying mosquitoes, perhaps in response to malaria control measures. Malaria is typically transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes biting indoors late at night, but more mosquitoes now appear to be biting outdoors and earlier in the evening, when people are not sleeping under protective bed nets.
Principal Investigator: Joseph Vinetz, M.D.
Principal Investigator: Seydou Doumbia, M.D., Ph. D.
Principal Investigator: William Moss, M.D.
Principal Investigator: Grant Dorsey, M.D.
Principal Investigator: Guiyun Yan, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator: Liwang Cui, Ph.D.
Principal Investigators: Christopher Plowe, M.D., M.P.H., and Myaing Myaing Nyunt, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator: Terrie Taylor, D.O.
Principal Investigator: Ivo Mueller, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator: Pradipsinh Rathod, Ph.D.
*This is a new ICEMR institution.


Yesterday, Jack travelled as part of a six-man Bridgewater team to the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham as part of the North athletics team to compete in the ISA Nationals. Against a very strong field, Jack threw a 3kg shot a whopping 7.59 metres – try it, it's not easy! Unfortunately, he was a mere 21cms off a medal position, but this is a new personal best for Jack and, for someone who is relatively new to the shot, a great achievement. We hope he'll be back in a medal winning position next year in Year 7!


text:
Q: Proof of Wald's Equation: Why do we need this statement? Let $(X_i)_{i \geq 1}$ be a sequence of i.i.d. random variables with $\mathbb{E}[X_i]= \mu$ and $Var[X_i]= \sigma^2$.
Let $\tau$ be a non-negative integer-valued random variable independent of $X_i$.
Now consider $S_n:=\sum_{i=1}^n X_i$.
We want to show that $\mathbb{E}[S_{\tau} \mid \tau] = \mu \tau$ a.s. for $\mathbb{E}[\tau]< \infty$.
In the proof there first is shown that $\mathbb{E}[|S_{\tau}|]\leq \mathbb{E}[|X_i|]\mathbb{E}[\tau]$ using the monotone convergence theorem.
Then we calculate
$\mathbb{E}[S_{\tau} \mid \tau] = \mathbb{E}[S_k] \mid_{k=\tau}=\mu k \mid_{k = \tau}= \mu \tau$.
What confuses me now is: do we really need that statement above about the absolute value derived using the monotone convergence theorem? Under which circumstances is the second calculation (with the conditional expectation) valid? I would suggest that we calculated this to justify the use of dominated convergence, but where do we use dominated convergence in the following?
Then it is mentioned that we can use the tower property of conditional expectation to derive that $\mathbb{E}[S_{\tau}]= \mu \mathbb{E}[\tau]$. Do we need the above statement for this?

A: It is not clear a priori that $S_\tau$  is integrable, and this rests on the assumption that $\tau$ has a finite expectation. In that way, the computations are justified.
We indeed have
$$\mathbb E[|S_\tau| ]=\mathbb E\left[ \sum_{j=0}^\infty\mathbf 1_{\tau=j}|S_j|   \right]$$
and we need to switch the expectation with the infinite sum, which is done by monotone convergence.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Is there a Cantor set $C$ in $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ so the graph of every continuous function $[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]$ intersects $C$? Consider the Cantor ternary set on the real line with the usual topology and define a Cantor set to be any topological space $C$ homeomorphic to the Cantor ternary set.
The idea is to construct a Cantor set $C$ in $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ such that for every continuous function $f:[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]$ we have $C\cap\operatorname{Graph}(f)\neq\emptyset$, where $\operatorname{Graph}(f) = \{(x,f(x)):x\in[0,1]\}$.
Does the result generalize to $\mathbb{R}^{n}$, $n\ge 3$?
That is, for every positive integer $k$, let $I^{k}$ denote the product $[0,1]\overbrace{\times\cdots\times}^{k\rm\ times}[0,1]$. We seek to find a Cantor set $C$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ such that for every continuous function $f:I^{n-1}\rightarrow I^{n-1}$ we have $C\cap\operatorname{Graph}(f)\neq\emptyset$.
A related question can be found at Is there a cantor set in $\mathbb{R}^{n}-\{0\}$ which intersects every ray from the origin?.

A: Here's one simple other example of such a Cantor subset.
First, the theoretical side. In the closed unit square $[0,1]^2$, define a decreasing sequence of "simple" closed subsets $K_n$ (with complement $U_n$), and define $K=\bigcap_n K_n$. The conditions we can to ensure is that (a) $K$ is totally disconnected (b) $K$ meets the graph of every continuous map (written "graph" below).
A trivial but essential remark is that (b) holds if and only if no $U_n$ contains a graph. (Indeed, by compactness, if $U=\bigcup U_n$ contains a graph, then this graph is contained in $U_n$ for some $n$.) As regards (a), the condition to ensure is that the sup $r_n$ of diameters of connected components of $K_n$ tends to zero. (I don't insist on $K$ being Cantor because it's a trivial issue, which can always be ensured by enlarging it, e.g., replacing isolated points with small Cantor subsets.)
The interest is that while $K$ is a bit mysterious, the individual $U_n$ are meant to be easy to understand.

Now for the example. Each $U_n$ will be blue and $K_n$ white. Each $K_n$ will be a finite union of horizontal squares tilted by $45$ degrees, then intersected with $[0,1]$.
The basic construction is as follows: start from a square, cut it into $5\times 5$ squares and fill the 9 ones as follows:

Next, fill the 16 remaining $5$-times-smaller white squares in the same fashion, but in the orthogonal direction. Next, do the same with the $25$-times-smaller white squares, again in the original direction. Eventually tilt everything by 45 degrees.
At each step, this defines $U_1\subset U_2\subset U_3$...
The pictures are as follows, showing, for $i=1,2,3$, $U_i$ (blue), $K_i$ (white):

(at the bounding square, the white part should be understood as the closure of the inner white part — it was written as a blue line only for readibility)
It can easily be checked that the sup of diameter of components of $K_n$ tends exponentially to zero. Next, $U_n$ contains no graph for any $n$. The point is that in $U_n$, the smallest $\Pi$-shaped paths (those in $U_n-U_{n-1}$) can't be used for travelling "to the right". Hence showing that $U_n$ contains no graph can be checked by induction. Of course details would be a little cumbersome to be written in Bourbaki-style, but this is quite visible from the picture, even for a non-mathematician.

Edit: here are pictures of subsets $U_n$ (blue color) for Nik Weaver's example, after 4 steps and after 11 steps:

(the increasing slopes are $(4/3)^n$, while the apparently decreasing slopes are actually vertical segments)

More precisely, define functions $f_i$ as in Nik's example, where $f_i$ has slope $(4/3)^i$ at each continuity point: $f_0(x)=x$, $f_1(x)=(4/3)x$ for $x<1/2$ and $=(4/3)x+(2/3)$ for $x>1/2$, etc. Note that $f_i$ is defined on the set $C$ of dyadic expansions, rather than on $[0,1]$ where it bi-valued at some dyadic numbers. Thus the $f_n$, viewed as continuous function on $C$, converge uniformly to a function $f$ and $f(C)$ is the desired Cantor set. We have $\|f_{n+1}-f_n\|_{\infty}\le \frac16(2/3)^n$, so $\|f_n-f\|_\infty\le \frac12(2/3)^n$. Thus I defined $U_n$ as the set of $(x,y)$ such that $|y-f_n(x)|>\frac12(2/3)^n$ (properly speaking this is ill-defined for for the few points at which $f_n$ is discontinous, in which case I mean that $\max(|y-f_n(x^+)|,|y-f_n(x^-)|)>\frac12(2/3)^n$).

PS pictures written with SageMath.

A: I suspect not.
Fix $C$. Then its complement in $[0,1]\times[0,1]$ is open and path-connected, and so we can find a path $\gamma$ in this complement with $\gamma(0)_x=0$ and $\gamma(1)_x=1$. Moreover, we may take this path to be smooth by Whitney approximation. Consequently, $\gamma$ will have a vertical tangent line at only finitely many points. Applying the implicit function theorem, we get a smooth function $f$ defined on $[0,1]\setminus\{a_1,\dotsc,a_n\}$ (for some finite collection of $x$-values) whose graph avoids $C$.
I would guess that one can modify $f$ to get a function violating the criterion, possibly by repeating the process inductively in a neighborhood of each point with some condition guaranteeing the regularity of the limit, such as bounding the variation. However, I can't think of an argument right now.

A: Following Will Brian's comments 1 2, here is a graphical "proof" that the graph of every continuous function from $[0,1]$ to $[0,1]$ intersects my Cantor set whose original description is retained below.
Here are the first three steps $C_1$, $C_2$, $C_3$ of a construction that starts with the diagonal line from $(0,0)$ to $(1,1)$, and then in each step replaces the previous stage with two copies of it, scaled by $\frac{1}{2}$ horizontally and $\frac{2}{3}$ vertically:

and here is $C_7$:

So: starting with any continuous function $f: [0,1] \to [0,1]$, let $x_1$ be a point where its graph intersects $C_1$, $x_2$ a point where its graph intersects $C_2$, etc. That these intersections exist is visually obvious and not hard to prove rigorously. Any cluster point of this sequence will be a point of intersection between the graph of $f$ and my Cantor set.

Original post: I think there is such a Cantor set, and here is my proposal:

The first few points are $(0,0)$, $(1,1)$, $(\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{3})$, $(\frac{1}{2}, \frac{2}{3})$, then we have $(\frac{1}{4}, \frac{2}{9})$, $(\frac{1}{4},\frac{4}{9})$, $(\frac{3}{4}, \frac{5}{9})$, $(\frac{3}{4}, \frac{7}{9})$, etc. Hopefully that explains the pattern. There is a homeomorphism from the usual Cantor set to this set which takes the middle-third endpoints to the points I started to list above.
I don't have any good ideas about how to prove that the graph of every continuous function intersects this, but I can't see how it could be avoided.


text:
\section{Introduction}

The discovery of graphene ushered in a new era of studies of materials properties in the two-dimensional (2D) limit~ \cite{robinson2015}.
For many years after this discovery only a handful of van der Waals (vdW) materials were extensively studied.
Recently, over a thousand new 2D crystals have been proposed~\cite{cheon2017,Marzari}.
The explosion in the number of known 2D materials increases demands for probing them for exciting new physics
and potential applications~\cite{chen2013tuning,nourbakhsh2016mos2}.
Several 2D materials have already been shown to exhibit a range of exotic properties including superconductivity, topological insulating behavior
and half-metallicity~\cite{novoselov20162d,zeng2016enhanced,choi2017atomistic,chen2017properties}.
Consequently, there is a need to develop tools to quickly screen a large number of 2D materials for targeted properties.
Traditional approaches, based on sequential quantum mechanical calculations or experiments are usually slow and costly.
Furthermore, a generic approach to design a crystal structure with the desired properties, although of practical significance, does not exist yet.
Research towards building structure-property relationships of crystals is in its infancy~\cite{mbtr, riley2017, tropsha2017}.

Long-range ferromagnetism in 2D crystals has recently been discovered~\cite{huang2017, cava2017}, sparking
a push to understand the properties of these 2D magnetic materials and to discover new ones with improved
behavior~\cite{cui2017contrasting,miyazato2018, moller2018, sun2018}.
2D crystals provide a unique platform for exploring the microscopic origins of magnetic ordering in reduced dimensions.
Long-range magnetic order is strongly suppressed in 2D according to the Mermin-Wagner theorem~\cite{mermin1966},
but magnetocrystalline anisotropy can stabilize magnetic ordering~\cite{hope2000}.
This magnetic anisotropy is driven by spin-orbit coupling
which depends on the relative positions of atoms and their identities.
As a result, the magnetic order should be strongly affected by changes in the structural arrangements of atoms and chemical composition of the crystal.

Chemical instability presents a crucial limitation to the fabrication and use of 2D magnetic materials.
For instance, black phosphorous degrades upon exposure to air and thus needs to be handled and stored in vacuum or under inert atmosphere.
Structural stability is a necessary ingredient for industrial scale application of magnetic vdW materials, such as CrI$_3$ and Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$~\cite{huang2017,cava2017}.
In addition to designing 2D materials for desirable magnetic properties,
it is important to screen for those materials that are chemically stable.
In our approach, we employ the calculated formation energy as a proxy for the chemical stability~\cite{rasmussen2015}.
In particular, we obtain the total energies of systems at zero temperature,
and calculate the formation energy as the difference in
total energy between the crystal and its constituent elements in their respective crystal phases.
This quantity determines
whether the structure is thermodynamically stable or would decompose.
This formulation ignores the effects of zero-point vibrational energy and entropy on the stability.

Recently, machine learning (ML) has been combined with traditional methods (experiments and ab-initio calculations) to advance rapid materials discovery~\cite{rupp2012, meredig2014, tsuda2015, rasmussen2015, Ueno2016, Francesca2017, tsuda2017, cheon2017, Marzari}.
ML models trained on a number of structures can predict the properties of a much larger set of materials.
In particular, there is presently a growing interest in exploiting ML for discovery of magnetic materials~\cite{landrum2003, moller2018}.
Data-driven studies of ferromagnetism in transition metal alloys have highlighted the importance of novel data analytics techniques to tackle problems in condensed matter physics~\cite{landrum2003}.
It is conceivable that tuning the atomic composition could provide an additional degree of freedom in the search for stable 2D materials with interesting magnetic properties~\cite{janus2017}.
Even more compelling is the ability of ML tools to assist in uncovering the physics underlying the stability and magnetism of 2D materials~\cite{cubuk2016, cubuk2017}.
Specifically, ML methods can identify
patterns in a high-dimensional space revealing relationships that could be otherwise missed.

\section{Methodology}

In order to develop a path towards discovering 2D magnetic materials, we generate a database
of structures based on a monolayer Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ (Fig.~\ref{fig1}(a)) using density functional theory (DFT) calculations
~\footnote{The results of these DFT calculations will be used to build a database of monolayer 2D materials
which will be publicly available to the scientific community.}.
The possible structures amount to a
combinatorially large number of type A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ ($\sim10^4$) with different elements occupying the A, B and X sites.
We select a subset of 198 structures due to computational constraints.
We obtain the total energy, magnetic order, and magnetic moment of each structure.
The ground-state properties were determined by examining the energies of the fully optimized structure with several spin configurations, including non-spin-polarized, parallel, and anti-parallel spin orientations at the A sites (Fig.~\ref{fig1}(b)).

We then employ
a set of materials descriptors which comprise easily attainable atomic properties,
and are suitable for describing magnetic phenomena.
We employ additional descriptors which are related to the formation energy~\cite{Ulrich2004}.
The performance of descriptors in predicting the magnetic properties or thermodynamic stability sheds some light into the origin of these properties.

To create the database we use
DFT calculations
~\footnote{We used the GGA-PBE for the exchange-correlation functional. The energy cutoff was 300 eV.
The vacuum region was thicker than 20 \AA.
The atoms were fully relaxed until the force on each atom was smaller than 0.01 eV/\AA.
A $\Gamma$-centered 10$\times$10$\times$1 \emph{k}-point mesh was utilized.}
with the VASP code~\cite{vasp3}.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth,keepaspectratio]{fig1.jpg}
 \caption{\label{fig1}(a) Crystal structure of the A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ lattice. (b) Magnetic orders considered in the A plane, labelled parallel and anti-parallel.
 (c) Elements used for substitution of A (blue), B (red) and X (magenta) sites.

 }
\end{figure}
We create the different structures by
substituting one of two Cr atoms (A site) in the unit cell with a transition metal atom,
from the list:
Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Y, Nb, Ru.
In the two B sites we place combinations of Ge, Si, and P atoms, namely Ge$_2$, GeSi, GeP,
Si$_2$, SiP, P$_2$.
The atoms at X sites were either S, Se, or Te, that is, S$_6$, Se$_6$, Te$_6$.
Fig~\ref{fig1}(c) shows the choice of substitution atoms in the Periodic Table.
An example of a structure created through this process is (CrTi)(SiGe)Te$_6$.

The careful choice of descriptors is essential for the success of any ML approach~\cite{Scheffler2015, Tanaka2017}.
We use atomic properties data from the python mendeleev package 0.4.1~\cite{mendeleev2014} to build descriptors for our ML models.
We performed supervised learning with atomic properties data as inputs, with
target properties the magnetic moment and the formation energy.
The choice of the set of descriptors for the magnetic properties was motivated by the Pauli exclusion principle, which gives rise to the exchange and super-exchange interactions.
We also consider the magneto-crystalline anisotropy~\cite{chikazumi}
by building inter-atomic distances and electronic orbital information into our descriptors.
With respect to the formation energy, the choice of descriptors was motivated, in part, by the extended Born-Haber model~\cite{Ulrich2004},
and include the dipole polarizability, the ionization energy and the atomic radius (see Supplemental Materials for a full list of atomic properties and descriptors used~\footnote{See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/ supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevX.x.xxxxx for more details and discussions related to this letter. \label{footnote_sm}}).

The data were randomly divided into a training set, a cross-validation set and a test set.
Training data and cross-validation were typically 60\% of the total data while test data comprised 40\% of all the data.
We employed the following ML models: kernel ridge regression, extra trees regression, and neural networks.
Kernel ridge regression with a gaussian kernel has been shown to be successful in several materials informatics studies.
Extra trees regression allows us to determine the relative importances of features used in a successful model~\cite{hastie}.
An analysis of hidden layers of the deep neural networks could allow us to identify patterns in 2D materials properties data,
thereby guiding theoretical studies~\cite{cubuk2017}.

\section{Results and discussion}

\subsection{Magnetic properties}

\begin{figure}[h]
  \includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth, keepaspectratio]{fig2.jpg}
  \caption{ \label{fig2} (a) Energy difference between parallel and anti-parallel spin configurations
  ($E_{\text{parallel}}-E_{\text{anti-parallel}}$ in eV$/$unit cell) of A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ structures.
(b) Magnetic moment per unit cell (in $\mu_B$) for each A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ structure at the lowest energy spin configuration.
The occupation of the two B sites is shown on the horizontal axis while that of one of the A site is shown on the vertical axis.
}
\end{figure}

We find that the non-spin-polarized configuration has the highest energy for all the structures considered.
That is, all structures prefer either parallel or anti-parallel ordering in the A plane.
Fig.~\ref{fig2}(a) shows the energy difference of parallel and anti-parallel spin configurations.
Negative (positive) energy difference means the parallel (anti-parallel) is more stable.
We note that, because of the supercell size limit, we do not consider more complex spin configurations in this study.
For example, the lowest-energy spin configuration of Cr$_2$Si$_2$Te$_6$ was reported to be zigzag anti-ferromagnetic type~\cite{sivadas2015}.
Total magnetic moments for the lowest energy spin configuration of each structure are presented in Fig.~\ref{fig2}(b).
We find that only atoms in the A sites show finite magnetic moments, while the moments in the B and X sites are small.
Distinct patterns for regions of high and low magnetic moments are observed for X = Te, Se and S in Fig.~\ref{fig2}(b).
Structures created by substituting non-magnetic atoms at the A site, such as Cu, have small variations in their relatively small magnetic moments, as seen in the rows of Fig.~\ref{fig2}(b).
However, substitutions of magnetic atoms, such as Mn, result in a set of structures with a large variation in the magnetic moment, with a much larger upper limit to the range of values observed.

Both the magnetic order and magnetic moment are sensitive to the occupancy of B and X sites,
even though the atoms in these sites have negligible contribution to the overall magnetic moment.
Atoms in the X sites strongly mediate the magnetic coupling between neighboring A sites~\cite{sivadas2015}.
Atoms at the B sites can affect the relative positions of A and X sites.
Direct exchange between first nearest neighbor A sites competes with super-exchange interactions mediated by the $\textit{p}$-orbitals at the X sites.
The ground state magnetic order is determined by the interplay between first, second and third nearest neighbor interactions.
Changing the identity of one of the A, B or X sites affects the interplay between the direct exchange and super-exchange interactions.
Recent work has shown that applying strain to the Cr$_2$Si$_2$Te$_6$ lattice
tunes the first nearest neighbor interaction, resulting in a change in the magnetic ground state
 from zig-zag antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic~\cite{sivadas2015}.
Our work demonstrates that tuning the composition of the A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ lattice can have an equivalent effect.
For instance, whereas X=Te structures show more parallel ($\bar{\bar{P}}$) than anti-parallel (anti-$\bar{\bar{P}}$) spin-configurations with lower energy,
there is a clear change when X $=$ Se or S.
As X moves up the periodic table, there are increasingly more regions of anti-parallel spin configuration,
as well as regions in which $\bar{\bar{P}}$ and anti-$\bar{\bar{P}}$ are degenerate.
In particular, we find that the distance between nearest neighbor A and X sites,
as well as two adjacent X sites is linked to the magnitude of the magnetic moment (see Supplemental Materials for details).

We use extra trees regression~\cite{hastie} to approximate
the relationship between the total magnetic moment and a set of descriptors designed for magnetic property prediction
(see Supplemental Materials).
Training and test data are considered for the X = Te, Se, and S structures individually.
The model performance for X = Te is shown in Fig.~\ref{fig3}(a).
We find reasonable prediction performance for X = Te that deteriorates for X = Se and is even worse for X = S.
This suggests that our model, along with the set of descriptors used to predict X = Te structures, does not generalize well.
This could arise due to the fact that there are more structures that have degenerate $\bar{\bar{P}}$ and anti-$\bar{\bar{P}}$ spin configurations if X=Se and S than for X = Te.
Nevertheless, subgroup discovery can be exploited to learn more about these systems~\cite{scheffler2017}, implying
that the identity of the X site strongly affects the magnetic properties of the structures.

 \begin{figure}[h!]
\includegraphics[width=0.477\textwidth, keepaspectratio]{fig3.jpg}
\caption{\label{fig3} ML predictions of magnetic moments of A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ structures.
(a) Extra trees model performance for the magnetic moment (in $\mu_B$) prediction. A subset of structures for X = Te are displayed.
The red squares indicate the test data, the green circles show the training data.
(b) Top six descriptors for the extra trees prediction of the magnetic moment.
The size of the bar indicates relative descriptor importance (see text for details).}
\end{figure}

Determining which descriptors are most important for making good predictions of a property
can be exploited for knowledge discovery, especially when a large number of descriptors are available
but their relationships with the target property are not known~\cite{reshef}.
Fig.~\ref{fig3}(b) shows the descriptor importances~\cite{scikitlearn} as derived from extra trees regression.
It shows that the `\emph{the number of valence electrons}' [``nvalence max dif'' in Fig.~\ref{fig3}(b)],
`\emph{the average covalent radius}' [``covalentrad avg'' in Fig.~\ref{fig3}(b)]
and the `\emph{average number of spin up electrons}' [``Nup avg'' in Fig.~\ref{fig3}(b)],
linked to the atomic dipole magnetic moment,
are among the top six descriptors in the set examined.
The magnetic moment per unit cell is a function of the magnetic moments of the individual atoms in the unit cell.
We examine the local magnetic moments at the A sites to determine how the magnetic moment per unit cell is constructed.
The local magnetic moment at the A sites (A$_{\text{Cr}}$ and A$_{\text{TM}}$) can be different from the atomic dipole magnetic moment of the corresponding element.
For instance, while the atomic magnetic moment of Cr$^{3+}$ is 3~$\mu_B$, the local magnetic moment at  A$_{\text{Cr}}$ fluctuates from 2.7 to 3.2~$\mu_B$.
Fig.~\ref{fig4} (a) shows the local magnetic moment at A$_{\text{TM}}$.

\begin{figure}[h!]
  \includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth, keepaspectratio]{fig4.jpg}
  \caption{\label{fig4} (a) Local magnetic moment of the transition metal A site, A$_{\text{TM}}$ (in $\mu_{\text{B}}$).
  (b) Formation energy (in eV/cell) for A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ structures at the lowest energy spin configuration.
  Conventions are the same as in Fig.~\ref{fig2}.
   }
\end{figure}

\subsection{Formation energy}

In addition to identifying structures with specific magnetic properties,
the ability to screen for chemical stability is also important.
DFT-calculated formation energies (for the lowest energy spin configuration) are shown in Fig.~\ref{fig4} (b).
Structures comprising certain elements, such as Y, decrease the formation energy considerably in comparison to those without it.
Certain transition metals, such as Cu, tend to destabilize the (CrA)B$_2$X$_6$ structures.
The formation energy becomes more negative as the substituted atom at the A site goes from the
left to the right of the first and second row of transition metal elements in the Periodic Table.
This is linked to the filling of the \textit{d}-orbital, where elements with a filled \textit{d}-orbital do not form chemical bonds
with other elements.
Varying the composition at the B site does not appear to have a strong impact on the formation energy (see Supplemental Materials, Fig. S1).
Changing the X site from Te to Se and then S results in the overall trend of decreasing formation energy.

To exploit the trends in the formation energy data, we use statistical models to predict the formation energy and
to infer structure-property relationships.
We find that some descriptors, such as the atomic dipole polarizability, are strongly correlated with the formation energy,
and are therefore
important in generating good ML predictions.
Since useful descriptors are not always revealed in an analysis of the Pearson correlation coefficient~\cite{reshef},
we consider other methods to learn descriptor importances such as the extra trees model~\cite{scikitlearn}.
 \begin{figure}[h!]
  \includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth, keepaspectratio]{fig5.jpg}
  \caption{\label{fig5}Formation energy prediction performance of (a) kernel ridge regression,
         (b) deep neural network regression and (c) extra trees regression. Red squares are
         test data and green circles training data.
         (d) Performance of the extra trees regression model on the test data as the training set size increases,
         in terms of the R$^2$ and mean absolute error (MAE) scores.
 }
\end{figure}
Using the ML models to predict the formation energy of A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ structures
permits the quick calculation of the formation energy for a large set of compounds.
Whereas DFT calculations of 10$^4$ structures
could take up to 1 million CPU hours, the ML prediction takes a few seconds.
Fig.~\ref{fig5}(a) shows the prediction performance for kernel ridge regression using a gaussian kernel.
Fig.~\ref{fig5}(b) shows the performance of a neural network~\footnote{The deep neural network used in this study is implemented by tensorflow. It is comprised of 3 hidden layers with sizes 10, 30 and 10 units} while
Fig.~\ref{fig5}(c) shows the performance of the extra forests regression.
Both training set and test set results are displayed, as well as the
test scores for kernel ridge regression, extra trees regression, and neural network regression.

\begin{figure*}
\centering
{\includegraphics[width=6.90in]{fig6.jpg}}
  \caption{\label{fig6} (a) ML predicted formation energies (in eV/cell) for a wide range of substitutions that
   were not included in the DFT data set covering 4,223 new structures (570 are shown here).

  (b) ML predicted magnetic moments (in $\mu_B$) for a wide range of substitutions that
   were not included in the DFT data set covering 4,223 new structures (190 are shown here for X=Te).
   Conventions same as in Fig.~\ref{fig2}.
    }
\end{figure*}

Further analysis (see Supplemental Materials)
shows that the `\emph{variance in the ionization energy of atoms}' and the `\emph{average number of valence electrons}' are the two most important descriptors in the set examined.
This demonstrates a  link between the formation energy and the atomic ionization energy,
emanating from the increased atomic ionizability which produces stronger chemical bonding.
In addition, the number of valence electrons is linked to the number of electrons available for bonding.
For instance, substitutions by atoms with a filled outer orbital shell
will create less stable bonds, leading to chemical instability.
The ability of our models to generalize is demonstrated by the high scores on the test data.
We further examined how the test set performance varies with the training set size.
Fig.~\ref{fig5}(d)
 shows test scores as a function of training set size using extra trees regression.
The test score reaches a plateau at about a training set size of 40\%, with test score (R$^2$) as high as 0.91.

\subsection{High-throughput screening using ML models}
We can use our trained ML models to make predictions on a wide range of structures not included in the
original DFT data set.
 %
Thus far, we have used our ML models to estimate the formation energy for an additional 4,223 A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ structures, constructed as follows:
(i) For A site substitutions, we considered transition metals not used in the DFT dataset.
(ii) We included Al, Sn and Pb in the set of atomic substitutions for B sites (not shown).
(iii) For the X sites, we added O to our previous choice of S, Se and Te.
The resulting predictions, partly shown in Fig.~\ref{fig6}(a),
provide a means to quickly screen a large data set of structures for chemical stability.
For instance, our ML predictions suggest that structures based on Er, Ta, Hf, Mo, Zr, and Sc in the A site and Al in the B site are likely to be stable and thus good candidates for further exploration.

Magnetic moment predictions are shown in Fig.~\ref{fig6}(b).
From the results of the ML predictions we select structures with formation energies below -1 eV and magnetic moments above 5~$\mu_B$ (for X=Te only). From the 4,223 predictions, we obtained 40 that satisfied our constraints. 15 of these were randomly selected for verification with DFT.
5 of these 15 structures were confirmed to have the expected properties within uncertainty.
These 15 structures were then added to the training data to build an improved model for predicting magnetic moment.
A second iteration of prediction and verification by DFT generated three structures, all of which satisfied the constraints within uncertainty: (CrTc)(SiSn)Te$_6$, (CrTc)Sn$_2$Te$_6$, Cr$_2$(SiP)Te$_6$.

\section{Conclusion}
We presented evidence that the magnetic properties of A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ monolayer structures can be tuned by making atomic substitutions at A, B, and X sites.
This provides a novel framework for investigating the microscopic origin of magnetic order of 2D layered materials
and could lead to insights into magnetism in systems of reduced dimension~\cite{huang2017, cava2017}.
Our work represents a path toward tailoring magnetic properties of materials for applications in spintronics and data storage~\cite{han2016}.
We showed that ML methods are promising tools for predicting the magnetic properties of 2D magnetic materials.
In particular, our data-driven approach highlights the importance of the X site in determining the magnetic order
of the structure.
Changing the composition of the A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ structure alters the inter-atomic distances and the identity of electronic orbitals.
This impacts the interplay between first, second and third nearest neighbor exchange interactions,
which determines the magnetic order.

One goal of this work was to find magnetic 2D materials that are also thermodynamically stable.
ML models were trained to predict chemical stability that allow the rapid screening of a large number of possible structures.
We showed that the chemical stability of A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ structures based on Cr$_2$Ge$_2$Te$_6$ can be tuned by making atomic substitutions.
Examples of structures that satisfy both magnetic moment and formation energy requirements include the following:
(CrTc)(SiSn)Te$_6$ and (CrTc)Sn$_2$Te$_6$, not included in our original DFT database. In addition, we found structures in our set of DFT calculations that also satisfied our requirements: Cr$_2$(SiP)Te$_6$, (TiCr)(SiP)Te$_6$, (YCr)Ge$_2$S$_6$ and (NbCr)Si$_2$Te$_6$.

This work provides the impetus for further exploration of structures with other architectures not considered here, that is, with more complex atomic substitutions beyond 1 in 2 replacement of Cr atoms at the A site.
We estimate a total number of at least 3$\times$10$^4$ structures of the A$_2$B$_2$X$_6$ type described in Fig.~\ref{fig1}.
A computationally efficient estimation of the magnetic properties and formation energy is required to quickly explore this vast chemical space.
We also expect the ML methods explored here, with proper modification,
 to allow an efficient exploration of other families of 2D magnets, such as
CrI$_3$, CrOCl and Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$~\cite{chen2013, huang2017, sun2018}.

\begin{acknowledgments}
We thank Marios Mattheakis, Daniel Larson, Robert Hoyt, Matthew Montemore, Sadas Shankar, Ekin Dogus Cubuk, Pavlos Protopapas and Vinothan Manoharan for helpful discussions.
For the calculations we used the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which is supported by National Science Foundation (grant number ACI-1548562)
and the Odyssey cluster supported by the FAS Division of Science, Research Computing Group at Harvard University.
T.D.R. is supported by the Harvard Future Faculty Leaders Postdoctoral Fellowship.
We acknowledge support from ARO MURI Award W911NF-14-0247.
\end{acknowledgments}

\bibliographystyle{apsrev4-1}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Updated: April 12th, 2019
A scope is simply the set of variables that you have access to. Scoping in JavaScript can be confusing. Even some experienced JavaScript developers still struggle with it. Many people, including myself, have learned scoping the hard way. This guide aims to simplify JavaScript scoping.
What is scope?
The easiest way to understand scope is to think about what scope means. A scope is some device that you look through, think microscope or telescope. The word scope is derived from Greek words meaning to look out , target, or aim. A scope on a rifle is a great example. You look through the scope to focus in on something specific. The scope naturally blocks out things you are not trying to focus on. In programming, scope is very similar. Scope refers to some portion of code that you are focusing on. In JavaScript, there is a large scope, called global, and much smaller ones, called local scopes. Throughout this guide we will understand how these scopes are defined.
Globally scoped variable
A globally scoped variable is any variable declared outside of a function. By default, in the context of a web browser, these global variables are added to the window object and can be accessed either directly by name or as an attribute of window, like this:
var x = 2;
alert(x);
alert(window.x);
You can also declare a global variable within a function so long as you don't use the var keyword, like this:
function setSomeVar(x) {
someVar = x;
setSomeVar(2);
alert(someVar);
As you'll see in later steps, using the var keyword to declare a variable gives that variable a local scope. However, if you don't use the var keyword, the interpreter will search up the scope chain until it finds a variable with the same name. That means, if you've declared a variable in an outer scope and reference that variable by name without using the var keyword from an inner scope, you will be referring to the outer variable. If no variable with the same name exists, your variable will be created in the global scope.
Locally scoped variable
A locally scoped variable is a variable declared with the keyword var within a function. Local refers to the context of the function itself. When you declare a variable within a function it is made available throughout the entire function, and it is completely unavailable outside of the function. For example:
function hello() {
var y = 2;
hello();
alert(y);
If you run this code you will find that the function hello has access to x because it is a global variable, but when we try to alert y outside of the function we get an Uncaught ReferenceError. That's because y is only available within the scope it was created. It is also important to note that parameters passed into a function are scoped locally. So in the following example:
function sendMessage(message) {
sendMessage('hello, friend');
console.log(message);
we see the alert but get another Uncaught ReferenceError because the message variable is declared as a parameter of the function sendMessage and is only available from within the function itself. As JavaScript allows for nesting functions, a variable declared within a function is also available within its nested functions. Take this for example:
function go() {
function add3() {
return x + 3;
return add3();
alert(go());
You would never write this, but if you did you would find that x is available from within the add3 function. But as you might now assume, a local variable declared within a nested function is not available to its parent function. Keep in mind that in JavaScript, unlike many other programming languages, there is no block level scope. Instead JavaScript uses function level scoping.
Variables should be declared with the smallest possible scope. Global variables should only be used when it is necessary.
No block level scope
JavaScript uses function level scope, not block level scope. What does this mean? A block generally refers to curly braces. So think conditions (if/else, switch) or loops (for, while). That means that each of these blocks do not get their own scope. Any variable declared from within a block will be available outside of the block as well. Take this for loop as an example:
for (var i = 0; i <= 10; i++) {
console.log('after', i); // prints "after 11" to the console
You'll see that the variable i is available outside of the for loop block. This is expected as there is no block level scoping. If this for loop isn't contained within a function, i will technically be a global variable. Otherwise it will be local to the function that contains it.
Array(16).join("wat" - 1) + " Batman!";


text:
During a panel discussion at this year's Telluride Film Festival, Nicolas Cage was asked to respond to a description of his performance in this film as over-the-top. He replied, with a smile, that it seemed that casting him in this particular role under Werner Herzog's direction meant "over-the-top" was a given.
But Cage isn't overplaying his part: he's fully inhabiting…
a character who is seriously out of control. That's why watching Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is such a blast. In the movie's opening scene Cage injures his back, which not only triggers his descent into drug addiction but affects his posture and body language. This is a highly physical performance, and it's fascinating to observe.
William Finkelstein's script wasn't originally set in New Orleans, but when the production moved there (for the usual tax incentive reasons) director Herzog realized it perfectly suited a story about moral decay. He went out of his way to find odd, unusual, and extreme locations, and took full advantage of the city's post-Katrina look. Aside from that, and some deliberately outlandish shots of iguanas, it's hard to peg this as a Herzog film, but he certainly gets the most of the outrageous screenplay, which sees Cage devolve from a good cop to a kind of walking monster. The supporting cast is right there with him, including Eva Mendes, Fairuza Balk, Xzibit, Tom Bower, Shawn Hatosy, and Jennifer Coolidge, among others. (Val Kilmer is wasted as one of Cage's fellow cops.)
If you're expecting a police procedural, stay home and watch Law & Order. If you're anticipating an indulgent Werner Herzog art film, you may be disappointed. But if you're open to a cops-and-robbers yarn told in extremes, I think you'll enjoy Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
Tagged Film Reviews
A HORROR MOVIE MECCA IS ABOUT TO CLOSE
Oct 13, 2016 6108
ASSESSING 'THE BIRTH OF A NATION'
Oct 7, 2016 3234


In recognition of her lifetime of service to the Church, 97-year-old Amalia Snyman received from Archbishop William Slattery the Bene Merenti papal medal and certificate in her home parish of Maria Regina in Pretoria.
Mrs Snyman worked tirelessly among Allied troops in Florence, Italy, during World War II.
In 1947 she married Ockert Snyman, who brought her to South Africa where she immediately immersed herself in working in military Catholic communities, including Saldanha Bay and Voortrekkerhoogte.
In 1992, after her husband's death, she joined the parish of Maria Regina where she was instrumental in raising funds for the Holy Cross Home in Lady Selborne.
Mrs Snyman continues to visit Holy Cross Home every month. She had the joy of her three children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren present at her award Mass.


programs so veterans can compete for them "
The GI Bill may be best known for helping veterans earn a bachelor's degree, but at some schools, the majority of GI Bill students are graduate students.
When you apply for job openings you "MUST" differentiate yourself from the crowd. As competitive as the job market is today you "MUST" pull out all the stops. Throughout the development of your professional resume always keep in mind that your resume should be targeted to each position in which you apply. This one tip alone will dramatically increase your chances for an interview.
Write a list of your main accomplishments for each job you held.
Weave these accomplishments into challenge, context, action and result (CCAR) sentences.
Answer ALL job-related questions to the best of your ability. Include accurate details of your experience, education, or training in the narrative input or supporting information fields provided.
Use ALL portions of the application to provide unique and exemplary information that sets you apart from other candidates.
Present your most important job-related competencies and accomplishments.
Present information in a polished (and accurate!) manner.
Double check for typos and grammatical errors.
Stress actions and achievements, and include a result.
Last month, we reported The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee chairwoman was pushing for a dramatic expansion of government programs aimed at helping separating service members find jobs. Now, it appears as though that measure is running into stiff opposition on two fronts, The Department of Defense and the bill's costs.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee chairwoman and chief sponsor of the 'Hiring Heroes Act of 2011', said the current veteran high unemployment rate "is simply unacceptable" and is a sign that current programs are not working.
"For too long, we have patted them on the back and pushed them into the civilian job market with no support," she said last week during a committee hearing that covered the jobs bill, S 951, and 34 other measures pending before the panel.
The Defense Department did not testify before the panel, but provided a statement raising objections to many parts of the bill, including Murray's insistence all the services adopt the Marine Corps' policy of making attendance mandatory for all separating and retiring personnel at the 2½-day Transition Assistance Program workshops, designed to help troops find post-service jobs.
Defense officials said they would be required to retain National Guard and Reserve members and people receiving administrative discharges on extended active duty until they could attend the classes, and would incur other expenses in providing transition help to about 160,000 people who now leave service without attending TAP courses.
Defense officials also oppose a provision of the bill aimed at boosting federal job opportunities for separating service members, which the statement says "runs the risk of making it extremely difficult for someone who is not a veteran to gain entry-level employment."
What might slow down the jobs bill is money. The Congressional Budget Office has not yet assigned a price tag to the measure, but Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Senate veterans' committee, said cost must be considered in whatever the committee passes.
"As we examine each bill, I think it is important to keep in mind that our nation is faced with staggering deficits and debt and is on a fiscal path that is simply unsustainable," Burr said. "As we consider whether to create or expand veterans programs, we should start by taking a serious look at what programs already exist and how well they are working. We also should look at whether reducing any duplication could make existing services more effective and more efficient."
Murray, however, suggested that getting jobs for veterans could save money. The Army alone is spending $1 billion a year on unemployment compensation, a cost that would be reduced if separating service members founds jobs faster, she said.
The chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee announced an ambitious goal earlier this month of finding jobs for 400,000 veterans within two years, a move that would reduce the unemployment rate for veterans of all generations from 7.7 percent today to about 4.5 percent.
To do this, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said he doesn't want to create new programs or spend additional money. Instead, he wants to concentrate on making sure existing public and private programs are working efficiently.
"Good jobs are out there. We just need to retool our programs so veterans can compete for them," Miller said.
The problem might be more difficult, requiring that a broad sword be taken to bureaucracy that could be making it harder for veterans to land jobs.
Veterans looking for jobs — and the employers who might want to hire them — face a confusing array of programs, a panel of employment experts told the committee.
There are 8,000 websites providing information about veterans' employment, said Jolene Jefferies of Direct Employers Association, a non-profit group that helps 600 U.S. corporations with recruiting strategies. For all of that information, there is nothing available that tells employers how to locate veterans who are qualified for the available jobs, said Jefferies, the association's vice president for strategic initiatives.
Henry Jackson of the Society for Human Resource Management said companies trying to hire veterans are often confused about where to seek help.
"Employers would greatly benefit from having a more streamlined set of resources that they can consult to find veteran talent, post their open positions and find information about hiring veterans and other transitioning service members," Jackson said.
It also would help to know what works, said Kevin Schmiegel, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's vice president for veterans employment. His organization hosts job fairs around the nation to help link veterans and employers, but Schmiegel said it remains unclear how many veterans are landing jobs. After a big job fair in Chicago earlier this year, Schmiegel said a survey was sent to participating employers, but only 20 percent responded.
Schmiegel suggested veterans employment could grow by simply linking veterans and employers.
"Ninety percent of military occupations are directly transferable to the private sector," he said.
Marshall Hanson of the Reserve Officers Association said employers' concerns need to be addressed as part of a hiring initiative, which could include increased notification time when Guard and reserve members are about to deploy.
Miller said there needs to be a careful review of what works and what doesn't. There are advocates for a large federal program that would serve as a one-stop resource for veterans and employers, but it is not clear if such a program would solve the problems.
There are several bills pending before Congress aimed at improving veterans' employment, and Miller said he is working on his own package. He is still working on the details, but the bill will not create additional bureaucracy and won't have a large price tag, he said. He wants, in general, for the government to streamline existing programs to focus on what works, and to hold program managers more accountable for results — judged by whether veterans are getting jobs. He also wants to make sure that programs focus not just on newly separating veterans, but also on middle-aged veterans who have lost work and are far removed from the transition assistance and job training programs helping newer veterans.
At George Washington University, 70 percent of the student veterans are enrolled in graduate degree programs, said Mary Waring, the school's veterans coordinator. The school certifies more than 500 military veterans for GI Bill benefits every year, she said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said that 26,386 Post-9/11 GI Bill students pursued graduate-level studies in 2010. According to a report by the VA, about 10 percent of all students using military education benefits in 2010, including the GI Bill and other funding programs, were enrolled in graduate degree programs.
The opportunity to earn a master's or doctoral degree with GI Bill funds is a valuable one, but veterans need to do some research first. College administrators, student veteran and support organizations emphasize that aid packages and funding for graduate-level education varies widely, not only among universities but also within them.
Erik Brine, a graduate student at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, serves in the Air Force Reserve as a major. On active duty, Major Brine was a C-17 pilot who was deployed three times and served in 56 countries. At Georgetown University, he founded a chapter of Student Veterans of America, a national organization of student veterans that strives to ensure that veterans are welcomed and supported on college campuses. Brine advises veterans planning to use GI Bill benefits for graduate school to research both their own GI Bill eligibility and school policies.
"Veterans expecting to use GI Bill benefits for graduate schools should be sure they do their homework to understand what their benefits will cover before they commit to any specific school or program," Brine said. "The vet needs to know what percentage of GI Bill benefits he/she is entitled to. Then, if 100 percent eligible, determine if the school or program has a Yellow Ribbon Program (YRP), which requires 100 percent eligibility, and if so, what does it provide."
Currently, Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits are capped at the maximum in-state public school tuition for undergraduate programs. Veterans pursuing graduate degrees have to rely on the YRP to make up the difference. In the YRP, participating schools agree to contribute a certain amount toward the tuition fees that exceed GI Bill benefits, and the VA matches that contribution.
Starting in the fall of 2011, the GI Bill will cover graduate tuition at all in-state, public universities with no need for the YRP. However, tuition for graduate school programs at private universities could still exceed the maximum GI Bill benefit. Although the YRP program still exists for these schools, a new cap of $17,500 on VA contributions means that schools would have to either find new funds to make up the difference or pass those tuition costs on to veterans.
Under the new GI Bill rules in effect in 2011, veterans may face changes in their education benefits and tuition contributions, some of which are still to be worked out. Veterans considering using GI Bill benefits for graduate school should contact VA and school representatives to figure out what their education benefits cover and develop a budget to meet any additional costs.


Portugal is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east.
The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal.
Portugal has over eight centuries of History and is one of the most ancient countries in Europe (independence in 1143).
Higher education includes universities and polytechnics administered by public, non-public or cooperative institutions.
Promoting access and equal opportunities.
In February 2007, a new policy for initial teacher education was defined in order to make a greater contribution to improving teacher performance and also to meet the education and training challenges that teachers face nowadays. To that end, this policy definition firmly places teacher-education courses within the parameters of the Bologna Process.
MARIA ULRICH – A woman, a citizen of the world, a great pioneer for Education.
The School always strove to provide human values, proposing a live project…To educate… But where to start? Indisputably, from the very beginning – the children!
An original spirit (…) made up of exchange, simplicity and dynamics is alive in our educational process.
Across the street is Basilica da Estrela, a vast neoclassical monument. Built in the second half of the 18th century to fulfill a vow by Queen Maria I after she gave birth to a son and heir, it has a huge rococo dome and a façade with twin bell towers decorated with an array of statues of saints and allegorical figures.
ESEI Maria Ulrich prepares a work programme based on the pre-established LA for incoming participants: tutoring time about their educational practice and face to face work between ESEI's tutor and kindergartens; integration in a class where several host students assist them during the mobility and a group of teachers is responsible for their tutoring period. All students are invited to join an institutional event each time a celebration occurs (Integration week on September; Christmas celebration; Easter outdoor activities and others).
The academic recognition of Erasmus+ mobility period is based on the system ECTS – European Credit Transfer (European Credit Transfer System) – by the responsibility of the Commission of Accreditations and the President of CTC (Scientific Technical Council) of Maria Ulrich College of Education.
Students grades of the course units according to the Plan of Study completed and the level of performance achieved.
ESEI Maria Ulrich: Tina, why did you choose to be an International Erasmus Student ?
Tina Hipsi: I choosed to be a International student because I have always dreamed about to study somewhere else than in Sweden and I really love to travel to different countries.
ESEIMU: Tina, you are from Sweden, Boräs. Why did you choose Portugal for this Erasmus experience?
Tina Hipsi: I choosed Portugal because I have never been in Portugal, so this was my first time in there, and I know that its different from Sweden with the climat and culture, so I wanted to explore it. And it was a really good choose from me, because I really like Portugal and I will come back to visit someday!
ESEIMU: to finish, a last question, please let us know What would you highlight in this experience? What do you feel is/was more important?
Tina Hipsi: I think everything was important to me to learn about everything, but if I should highlight anything, I think it was my practice, to learn everything that I learned from there, and I have really grown on this part. I can now be more relax with children and I can read the body language from children because I didnt know any Portugese just some words. So I think this was my highlight of Erasmus.
Benvindo à ESEI Maria Ulrich!
Benvenuto a ESEI Maria Ulrich!
Velkommen til ESEI Maria Ulrich!
Välkommen till ESEI Maria Ulrich!
Welcome to ESEI Maria Ulrich!


text:
Allocosa fasciiventris este o specie de păianjeni din genul Allocosa, familia Lycosidae. A fost descrisă pentru prima dată de Dufour, 1835.

Este endemică în Spania. Conform Catalogue of Life specia Allocosa fasciiventris nu are subspecii cunoscute.

Referințe

Allocosa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Plymouth Village celebrates 50th anniversary
By Redlands Daily Facts | redlands@dfmdev.com |
September 27, 2009 at 12:00 a.m.
REDLANDS – People braved the 100-plus heat Saturday for Plymouth Village's 50th anniversary celebration.
Bob and Ruth Cooper and their two daughters sat in the shade in front of the Coopers' home, watching the morning parade.
"I used to be in the high school band," said Bob Cooper, who grew up in San Bernardino. "This is great – they did a good job."
The Redlands East Valley High School marching band led the parade through the complex, followed by classic cars and fire trucks – one carrying Mayor Jon Harrison.
"It was terrific – I loved (the band's) spirit," said Ruth Cooper, who graduated from Redlands High School and earned her teaching credential from the University of Redlands.
The Coopers have lived at Plymouth Village for three and a half years.
"It's great because there are such nice people here – really great people," Ruth said.
Ruth said she knew about Plymouth Village since she grew up in Redlands.
"We looked around and felt this was the greatest option," she said.
She said she and Bob like that the complex is all one story, "kind of like having your own place."
"A lot of retirement communities are like hotels," she said.
She said there are many local people living in Plymouth Village, including some she knew from UR, where she graduated in 1942.
"It's a wonderful place for people to still have a social life," said the Coopers' daughter Kathy Gallow, who lives in Redlands. She and her sister, Gayle Cooper of Anaheim Hills, visit their parents at Plymouth Village on Saturdays.
The 50th anniversary event was open to the community and activities were aimed at all ages, particularly children. There were hot air balloon rides, a dunk tank, pony rides, games for prizes and a bounce house. There was also a classic car show and tables and chairs set up under a canopy, where people could talk and eat hot dogs.
"We wanted to create something for all ages, draw the families of Redlands and open our doors to the community," said executive director Keith Kasin. "Something people wouldn't say, `This is just a retirement community' – it's so much more."
Wendell and Annetta Searer watched the parade and then observed the car show and balloon and pony rides, set up across the street from their house.
"It's fun to see all ages, including the darling children," Annetta said. "It's always thrilling to see the fire trucks and all the helpers."
The Searers came to Plymouth Village about three years ago from Cottonwood, Ariz., at the recommendation of their three daughters, two of whom live in Redlands.
"It provides many of our needs – it's a very comfortable place with very stimulating friendships we wouldn't have anywhere else," Annetta said.
"There are people who have been all over the world or have lived all their lives in Redlands."
Kay Kallander started her career at Plymouth Village, moved to the Bay Area and returned for the event Saturday.
"What I love most is the people here," Kallander told the crowd seated at the main food tables. She worked at Plymouth Village 12 years, starting as director of nursing and eventually becoming executive director. She left Redlands 10 years ago for the corporate offices of American Baptist Homes of the West, which owns Plymouth Village and 31 other senior complexes.
"Redlands especially strikes me because the relationship between the town and the village is particularly strong," said Kallander, now senior vice president for strategic planning at American Baptist Homes of the West.
She is planning to hold the corporation's annual meeting in Redlands next year.
On Saturday morning, Harrison presented Kasin with a City Council proclamation honoring Plymouth Village's 50 years.
The proclamation cited Plymouth Village events that have become community staples, like the Strawberry Festival, and the award-winning Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society's 2007 flower show, held at the historic Kendall House.
Harrison joked that members of the REV band, who cooled off under the food canopy, might end up at Plymouth Village someday.
"They might not be thinking about this yet but they might find themselves back here," Harrison said. "Many members of this great community grew up in Redlands."
Plymouth Village sales assistant Martha Clarkson, who volunteered at the Saturday event, said the complex has always supported city events and organizations.
"We couldn't have a better city to have a retirement community," she said. "It's such a match in the way of culture – our residents have so many opportunities just living in Redlands."
Redlands Daily Facts
How Trump will hand off nuclear football if he won't meet Biden


March 2, 2013 Oral Roberts at Southeast Mo. St.
J. BLUM singled down the lf line.
C. BIESER reached first on an error by p, SAC, bunt; J. BLUM advanced to second.
Boss, Tyler singled to left center.
Cho, Kevin singled to third base, bunt.
Brandy, Matt singled up the middle.
Boss, Tyler homered to left field, 2 RBI; Brandy, Matt scored.
C. BIESER singled to second base.
C. BIESER advanced to second on a wild pitch.
D. GIBSON struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b.
C. BIESER advanced to third on a wild pitch.
D. HEWITT singled to right field; C. EVANS advanced to second.
Domenico, Logan doubled to center field.
Trevino, Jose singled through the right side, RBI; Domenico, Logan scored.
C. BIESER singled up the middle.
D. GIBSON doubled down the lf line; C. BIESER advanced to third.
LENNINGTON struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b.
M. TELLOR grounded out to 1b unassisted, RBI; D. GIBSON advanced to third; C. BIESER scored.
W. JR to p for SPITZFADEN.
C. EVANS singled to second base.
A. SIDDLE to p for S. COBB.
Garza, Nathan to p for Gonzalez, Alex.
J. BLUM struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b.
T. ZERRUSEN to p for A. SIDDLE.


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New Solo Record News…
Thought it was about time I wrote a short post about this new record I've been working on over the last couple of months. It's only fair…
Most of you have heard Mandala by now. Some of you might have the CD. More of you have probably got the download version from here, Amazon, or iTunes. So you know what it is that I do when playing solo. If you don't, then click the Music tab at the top and have a listen 🙂
I've changed my setup quite a lot since Mandala. Both the live rig and the recording setup. I've now moved on to Pro Tools and my trusty Mbox 2 Mini; which has finally decided to start working with my LP1. The recorded sound is infinitely cleaner now and having it in Pro Tools will enable me to do so much more in post-production and will also make life a lot easier going to mastering. Just sold the old Toneport UX2 on eBay 🙂
ps. Geek Alert!! Am gonna talk about gear quite a bit here. Sorry to the Duke and TDC fans who've unwittingly stumbled upon a bass geek-fest…
I've added a Pod X3 Pro and a FBV Shortboard to the live rig which has, to be perfectly frank, revolutionized the whole process for me. I used my Lexicon MPX G2 for the guitar effects on Mandala and got some great sounds. But I could never get the kind of over-processed synth effects I was really after and the UI was an incredible faff to get around; especially during a live performance. I'm still using the Lexicon in the effects loop of the X3. Couldn't quite live without the great pitch shift effects (which are the mandolin-esque parts on Mandala) and those strange shimmering sparkly noises, but they're used sparingly…
The Pod X3 is fantastic. The sounds I'm using now are definitely inspiring me to write new material all the time. The presets are all top notch, easily editable and programming new patches from scratch is actually a pleasurable experience rather than a chore. Adding the FBV shortboard to the mix makes it ideal for what I do with live looping; it's like having a whole bank of complete pedalboards right in front of me. The amp modeling has also opened up the control I now have over the basic sound of the bass as I write new tunes.
So, what's the new material like? Well, most of the tunes are more organic and less 'written' than those on Mandala. I've revisited a couple of tunes that didn't make the last album including Baliset and Go Quietly Now (you can hear the previous ditched incarnations on my Soundcloud page). I wanted this album to be very different sonically to Mandala. I've used a lot more 'guitar' effects and synth sounds than previously, and I've been more precious making any actual 'bass' parts sound more punchy and distinct. I've also been a lot more experimental with the recording/performance process. I've been looping more glitchy sounds, crackling cables and detuned effects to further remove the music from what would obviously be solo bass.
I've posted it before on the blog, but here's one of the early demos again so you have some idea (sorry about the hiss)…
Glitch #1 by simonlittlebass
So far I have ten tracks completed that I'm really happy with. I'm going to continue spending time working on new material until the tunes gel as an album. I might even release the rest of the tracks as an EP around the same time. I'm finding this new looping rig really inspiring and the recording 'hit rate' has been much higher than with my previous setup. I'm probably going to release this record just as a download via Bandcamp, maybe adding it to iTunes etc later on. I might be tempted into doing a very short run of limited edition CD copies (100?), but I need to find a way of making it cost effective first.
I'm really excited about this new project. It's been great working on this alongside the Little Alex material. Having the possibility of using live drums with my looped bass in a separate project has really helped concentrate my solo writing.
Exciting times 🙂
1 comment	| tags: Lexicon, Line 6, Little Alex, Looperlative, Mbox 2 Mini, Pro Tools LE, Simon Little, solo bass	| posted in Looping, Mandala, New Music, Recording
Recording Solo Bass: Some thoughts on my new Podcast…(Part II)
Sorry it's been a while since I last posted on here. There hasn't been the usual flood of gigs to tell you all about. I've used this little gigging hiatus to develop the solo bass project and work on the Podcast.
Hopefully by now most of you will have already subscribed to the Podcast. It's available at the iTunes Store or directly from my page at Podbean.
Since I started the Podcast a few months ago, I've had a chance to examine some of the tracks in greater detail. As I mentioned in my previous blog post on the podcast (you can read it here), at some point in the near future I'm going to take the best tracks and develop them further for re-recording to make up a complete album of solo bass material. Whether the reworked tunes will bare much resemblance to the original improvisations remains to be seen. I'm assuming that the primary loops will from the backbone of any reworking, as the majority of the tracks currently up on the Podcast have only a vague suggestion of a melodic theme anyway.
Which brings me to my first point. Some of the tracks (For example, Quietly Now, Sometimes It Rains In August or A Little Light & Shade) have a clearly defined melodic line which came about through repeated improvisation over the initial loops before I started recording. These had become fixed early on in the creation of the pieces. Other tracks have a less identifiable melody, mainly because the 'tunes' were improvised along with the underlying loops. In more recent posts (mainly since the addition of the Looperlative to my recording setup), I've purposely recorded passages which could be repeated later on in the track to act as main themes. This sort of spontaneous composition is only really possible with the Looperlative. My previous setup did not allow loops to be dropped in and out during a live performance and consequently if a particular track was to feature a specific melody (as in Bells II; I still can't believe I recorded that track with just the Boss DD6! It's so far away from what I can do now with the LP1), it would have to have been written/worked out in advance so that I could play it live at the beginning and end of the piece.
My question is this; at what point does a particular passage in an improvised performance become the theme? I notice that as I listen to the tracks together more and more, each one (including the tracks with no particular melody) has it's own little motifs which I end up singing along to. I'm just not sure whether this is through increasing familiarity with the material or because I subliminally had a theme in mind during the original performance. Sometimes these little motifs are at the point where a pre-written tune would come in, sometimes they are the loops themselves.
When I listen to the solo bass music of Eberhard Weber, I can sing along to the themes on virtually every track. His recorded solo material is intricately through-composed, featuring some fantastic counterpoint and cross-rhythms. I'm really attracted to this style of playing and am planning on sitting down at some point and writing specific music for my solo project. I think a good mix of improvised and composed material would greatly enhance my playing. Thus far the only 'composed' piece featured on the Podcast is the very first track Bells II, which I wrote for a solo performance a few years back. When you compare it to the music I'm producing now, it really does come unstuck as a performance, but I'm glad it's still up there in all it's out-of-tune glory if nothing more than as a marker for the progress I've made over the last few months.
Now. One of my favourite Eberhard Weber tracks is 'Epilogue' from his 1988 album Orchestra. If you haven't heard this album yet (and the fact that you're reading this blog post tells me that you must have at least a passing interest in this music!), then go and buy it now. And Pendulum. It's mainly solo bass, with a couple of tracks also featuring a small brass ensemble. It really is a masterpiece. Anyway, back to Epilogue. For me, this one track differs to all Eberhard's other solo music in that it does not have any particular tune. The piece grows organically as Eberhard layers up a series of simple diatonic loops to create a beautiful contrapuntal soundscape which serves as the basis for the improvisation. In fact, the blowing doesn't actually start until halfway through the track. The main body of the piece is the minimalistic building up of melodic layers, and is very much typical of the way Eberhard performs solo bass live. Which is specifically what I'm working on at the moment.
Playing purely improvised music in a recording situation can be rather a tricky business if you are a perfectionist like me. It usually takes a whole afternoon or evening to produce a track I would be happy to post on the Podcast. There are a few exceptions up there, but in general they take a long time to come out right. I've learnt that there's a certain degree of abandonment that needs to come into play when publishing improvised music. At some point during the recording process I literally have to step away from the bass and take time to properly listen back to the results. Becoming too picky with the material would inevitably lead to nothing being posted. It would also completely obliterate the creative process, as well as the premise of posting material to gain feedback from listeners.
Repeated listening (check out my Last.fm profile if you don't believe me!) to the Podcast tracks have shown up a few general points in my own playing that I intend to address. Much as many jazz musicians rely on a set of pre-learned "licks" to provide a basis for improvisation, I have come to recognise a series of solo bass licks that I have settled on over the last few months. And a lot of them have come from listening to too much (if there is such a thing) Eberhard Weber. I am constantly annoyed at the number of times I use bass harmonics in the initial loops. Really must investigate some other effects. The problem is they sound so good in reverse! A couple of Eberhard's melodic licks have crept in too. Whilst this is not necessarily a bad thing, I would hate to be accused of ripping him off!
My most recent solo adventure has been the introduction of the Chapman Stick into the project. For those of you unfamiliar with the Stick, it is a 10-stringed touch guitar which was invented by Emmett Chapman in the late seventies. You can check out the Stick Enterprises website here, or go check out the excellent European Stick Center site for a more detailed description of the instrument and some great video and audio clips. I only managed to get my hands on one of these about a year ago and have been struggling on ever since. It is as difficult to play as it looks folks. A whole new world of confusion.
The joy with using this for the solo project is in the fact that I have absolutely no chops whatsoever on the Stick. A recent lack of inspiration on the bass has been easily remedied by getting out the Stick and just seeing what comes out. I literally cannot play any of my usual stuff on the Stick, which forces me to play in completely new ways. I haven't used much cross-tapping on the Podcast, having gone for the Tony Levin/Trey Gunn method of just playing one side at a time, thus exploiting it's massive range in a single-line setting. It has broken me away from the harmonics, the parallel 5ths and the tunes doubled a third up (!) that I seem to have settled on with the bass, and shunted me into a whole new world of funny noises, chordal work and distortion.
There are currently two tracks live on the Podcast using the Chapman Stick; A New Start? and last night's Walking Alone….. They are both similar in that they evolve organically via a process of layering various sounds and motifs in order to create internal counterpoint. Neither has a distinct melody line. I have become more interested in the specific sounds since the addition of the Lexicon MPX G2 multi-effects processor to the looping setup. It really is the mutt's nuts for the Stick. I've had it a while now, but only recently got hold of an MPX R1 foot controller to really allow me to use it handsfree. The Chapman Stick tracks bare little resemblance to the bass tracks because they tend to lean more towards the prog side of ambient music. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on the Stick tunes as compared to the solo bass tracks.
So we move into the next phase of the solo project. As I mentioned earlier, I will be recording some pre-written arrangements in the near future. I am also intending on somehow bringing the two disparate styles of improvisation (ie: Bass vs. Stick) together to meet somewhere in the middle. It is in this happy medium where I think I will find my true voice. Not too far to go now…
Sorry if this has been a long, rambling load of nonsense. If you've found it interesting, then do leave your comments below. I'd love to hear your thoughts and perhaps compare similar experiences. And please do leave your comments, ratings and suggestions on the Podbean site when you next check in. I really do need your feedback. And a big thanks to Matt Stevens, who has just featured my track New Toys on his fantastic Guitars & Samplers Podcast, which can be found both on iTunes and Podbean. Cheers mate! Always glad to have someone help spreading the word.
On another note, I just got through my copy of Steve Lawson and Jez Carr's 2002 duo album 'Conversations' and frankly can't stop listening to it. It's been a big inspiration this week. Go forth and purchase people! I got my copy from CD Baby.
4 comments	| tags: Chapman Stick, Eberhard Weber, Jez Carr, Lexicon, Looperlative, Steve Lawson	| posted in Looping, Podcasting, Recording, Solo Bass


The NYPD says it will peel back some of the layers that some charge have been hiding the process of disciplining police officers.
Last week, police commissioner James P. O'Neill, said he would begin opening the files on departmental trials, and spoke out positively about legislation aimed at making more disciplinary records public.
The commissioner's statement followed an independent commission report that found "almost a complete lack of transparency and public accountability" in the department's system for investigating misconduct, according to the New York Times.
O'Neill said that the NYPD is accepting the Independent Panel's complete list of recommendations to improve the NYPD disciplinary system. The Commissioner convened the Independent Panel earlier this year and today outlined the plan to carry out those changes.
He also announced an NYPD Implementation Panel will now administer the operational, legal and budgetary plan to enact all recommendations. Some of the recommendations can be implemented in the short-term, over the next 30-60 days. Another set of changes will require additional time to take effect. The NYPD will also ask an outside entity to perform an external audit of the overall implementation process.
The Police Commissioner should enhance the documentation of variances from disciplinary recommendations.
O'Neill named First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin B. Tucker as the chair of the NYPD Implementation Panel. As part of their work, the Implementation Panel will identify an external organization to audit the NYPD's reformed disciplinary system.
In June 2018, Commissioner O'Neill appointed a three-person panel of highly-respected experts to perform an autonomous, exhaustive review of the NYPD discipline system, and make recommended changes to improve it. The panel had the full cooperation of the Department during their seven-month review — including unfettered access to all requested documents, information and interviews, and complete independence to explore any and all elements of the disciplinary system. On Friday, January 25, 2019 the panel shared the final report with the NYPD, and on February 1st released it publicly.


text:
Three months after the shutdown, some workers still feel its effects
Maria Hollenhorst Apr 25, 2019
Sunny and Seth Blaylock with their two kids, Stella and Tiger. Sunny Blaylock
It's been three months since the longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended. While it was going on, we talked to a woman named Sunny Blaylock. She's an instructional designer for a government contractor in Arlington, Virginia and her husband works for the State Department. Both of them stopped getting paychecks when Washington shut down at the end of last year. We called her up to see how things are going now.
"The shutdown definitely has made us far less risky in our financial choices. In December, my husband and I were finally ready to get rid of our last student loan repayment. But when the government shutdown happened, it just made us really nervous. And so I have put off paying our last bit of our student loans. There's still that insecurity. You want the cash on hand.
My husband and I have both talked about us, maybe at least one of us, not working for the government. And we have considered, you know, maybe looking elsewhere. But the truth is, we don't do this work because of the great pay, we do it because we really care about what we do. It's hard to let that go. The perk of a government job, in the past, was that it was stable. So when that was taken away … it has definitely colored every decision we have made.
This past week we went on a trip, we didn't book this trip until very last minute because of the government shutdown. We didn't feel like we could, but we did eventually go on a trip for spring break, which was a big deal for our family, and our kids were nervous when we booked it because they knew that all spending was on lockdown. And while we were on this trip, there was a video arcade. So I gave them both a budget. They both had five dollars, and my younger one spent seven dollars, and when I came back I was slightly annoyed, and like a good parent I was like, 'Hey, buddy, you had a budget, you didn't keep to it.'
But his reaction, and fear of spending money, and then overspending, was, like, far more than it should have been. [He] burst out crying for 20 minutes because he just felt horrible about spending an extra two dollars. And I felt sad when I saw that, because it shouldn't have been that way. I don't want my kids to have an unhealthy relationship with finances, and I hope that changes in time."
Click the audio player above to hear her story.
Government shutdown 2019