Right handed, sharp. Fences have been traditionally regarded as small and easy.
Taunton is a tight and trappy track to ride. It's pretty level on the whole but the third last fence and second last hurdle as you swing into the home straight catch a few out as you run down into them at speed. The fences aren't all that stiff though and are a fair enough test for most, but as with most flat tracks it pays to be on horse with a gear or two up their sleeve, and sometimes they tend to get racing a fair way out.


It must be hot in Cuero, Texas as Li'l Toby is in a sweat about a post I made on Conversations with Bob. You have to forgive Li'l Toby. He is still pouting about losing his redneck truck for the sake of the little woman. He is also concerned about passing his reading test. He has almost mastered The Little Brown Reader. Soon he might be able to read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But that may take many years.
This is just mean spirited as all get out. It's one thing to criticize someone for their beliefs. (In that, you should be able to take as good as you give.) It's quite another to reach below the belt and go for ad hominem attacks.
If you wanted to be a gentleman, you could have just said "Bless his heart, it must be hot down there." Instead, you took the low road.
I have to agree with Chris here. You may not like Toby but you should still be as polite with him as you are with me.
I know you're getting flack because of being put on Presbyweb but come on.
Thank you for instructing me in word and example what it means to be a gentleman. Bless your heart.
Well bless your heart, John! And a hearty thanks to you for showing me what it means to live out the statement that Jesus is Lord. I thought it was an alternative to Caesar's "lordship" but it's going to be much easier carrying the standard of personal autonomy.
And if anybody is mad at anything I've said, just chalk it up to hyperbole.
Don't you thin calling Toby a Redneck is a bit judgmental and frankly, ethnically insensitive?
There is no reason for such behavior from a member of the clergy. This is 3rd grade stuff, or 6th grade at best.
Yes, you are all correct. An apology is in order and made.


I am trying to make Six Sigma meetings at my project in the UK fun and a little 'different' than the normal meetings there.
I am gathering up fun exercises and video clips to play in between facilitation of the DMAIC tools.
I will share with you one GREAT team exercise (I got from my company) which is a team building exercise that will break down barriers in teams especially when the group have just met.
1.A 2 metre bamboo cane. Get from DIY store.
You get the bamboo cane and balance it just on your forefingers. (Your forefingers are under the bamboo cane).
With that, you lower the cane.
You then state "everybody stand up and get round the cane" In the case of 6 people; stand 3 people either side of the cane.
Then you raise the cane to chest height and state "Now as a group, lower the cane using only your forefingers." Each team member must have two forefingers on the cane at the same time. Only the forefingers can be used. For example NO THUMBS.
You also state, if anyone cheats you will take the cane off them and put it back to your chest height.
No group I have tried this on can lower the cane straight off. The cane actually rises. It is then the task of the group to work out within the rules how to lower the cane.
One person can lower the cane easily. But, when others have their input, a simple exercise for one can for a team become impossible without planning and teamwork.
I would really appreciate sharing with fellow bloggers and readers any similar exercises or videos you have.
Have someone sit on a chair. Ask for 4 volunteers. One volunteer for each armpit and knee. Ask each volunteer to fold their hands together with only the forefingers extended forward. Tell the volunteers to place the forefingers under the armpits and knees and to lift the person off the chair. Usually nothing is accomplished.
Then have the volunteers count to 3 and lift simultaneously. The person is slightly lifted off the chair.
Coordination and teamwork is thusly demonstrated.
My company uses the "ball exercise" as a teamwork tool. The class instructor starts by giving a small ball to a member of the class and tells the group to pass the ball around the room until every class member has touched the ball. Secretly, the instructor records the length of time it takes to touch everyone's hands. The instructor then tells the group their time and asks if they can do it faster. The group complies and they improve. The instructor then informs the group that each previous class (at least at my company) has completed the task in less than 1 second. The class is then asked to repeat this feat. Eventually the group should get to a point where they line up their fingers next to one another forming a slightly "bumpy" hill. The ball starts at the top of the hill and rolls down touching each finger along the way.
I came across this excercise a while ago. It was called "the cane game". I think it's a excellent demonstration of the values of teamwork, communication and planning.
What a neat idea to cultivate teamwork! I also like the "ball exercise" too! Great ideas!
Great, i will surely give-up a try to this exercise, hope the outcome will be an interesting game….
I drop a loop of rope (aprox 15m long, ends tied together) in a heap on the floor and tell the students they have to make a 5-pointed star with the rope. However the rope must be completely off the floor when complete and as soon as ONE member of the team touches the rope EVERY member must close their eyes for the remainder of the exercise.
By specifying a 5 pointed star rather than a pentacle, you get more variety in the overall design (eg some do a conjoined pentacle, some do an outline etc), by specifying a pentacle you get some more debate from the students as their are always some who don't know what a pentacle is.
All good exercises, but try this, for communication. You need to know how many delegates you are going to have because you need to draw a random but complicated different shape on each sheet of A4 paper in heavy felt tip pen. You need one sheet between two people. You also need some pads of paper and pens.
Spread your delegates around the room in pairs. Tell each pair to stand back to back and them give one a sheet containing the random design (face down) and the other a pad and pen.
Then tell all the pairs that when you say go they have 2 minutes in which the one with the drawing has to describe it to the other who has to draw it!
Great fun ensues as they realise no matter how carefully one describes the shape the second person cannot visualise it! Some will say draw up the page for one inch but because they havent given a start point it all goes wrong..others will go wrong because they can't estimate an inch etc etc.
YOu can go on an use this as a basis for a communications exercise illustrating how important it is to see the person you are communicating with if you are to avoid confusion and error.
You can vary the exercise by giving all the pairs the same shape and compare the results from the group as a whole.
As them what they learnt from the exercise.
Another one … involves 3 parts.
Part 1 : give everyone a piece of A4 paper and tell them to close their eye and follow the verbal instructions. Facilitators gives instructions as (a) fold paper in half, (b) tear off a corner, (c) fold paper in half again, (d) tear off a corner, (e) fold paper in half again, (f) tear off a corner. Now ask everyone to open eyes and unfold piece of paper. You will get a variety of different shapes.
Part 2 : get people to pair up and stand back to back. Each person to have a piece of A4 paper. The pairs can now talk to each other. Facilitator to give the same set of instructions (do not say anything other than instructions). Once complete you will have some pairs with matching "pictures", but some still don't match.
Part 3 : everyone sitting with a piece of A4 paper, eyes open, can all talk to each other. Objective is for entire team to get the same "picture" at the end. Facilitator to give same set of instructions. It's amazing at the end how you will still get one or two people that end up with a different "picture".
Key learning : we always work better when we can communicate as a team!
Note : it's also surprising how no one will ask for clarification of instructions during the game. Relate this to the workplace whereby a Supervisor will assume that everyone understands his instructions and thus has no need to expand further. BUT everyone has a different understanding of "fold the paper in half".


text:
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HOME / CALENDAR /
Africa and COVID-19 Webinar Series: Youth & Closing the Innovation Gap
Wednesday, December 9, 2020, 10:00am to 11:00am
Virtual Event - Details Below
December 9th - Youth & Closing the Innovation Gap
Despite the healthcare and economic challenges of COVID-19, opportunities exist for new and innovative ways of thinking about production and manufacturing. Many of the most creative responses are driven by youth. The pressure on the global supply chain forced countries and local producers to rethink production of PPE, use 3-D printing and other means of in-country manufacturing for affordable ventilators, and ramp up production of generic pharmaceuticals. The panel will explore the innovative technology coming out of Africa during the pandemic, ways in which business agility has contributed to rethinking global supply chains, and the role of youth in the pandemic response.
Register for the webinar: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Cy_a3e4tR1KuEjK6TDUm4g
This webinar will be livestreamed on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/HarvardAfricanStudies/live_videos/
Clare Akamanzi, CEO, Rwanda Development Board & CAS Leadership Council
Seyram Avle, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Okendo Lewis Gayle, Founder & Chairman, Harambeans
Moderated by Professor Demba Ba, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering, Harvard University
The Harvard University Center for African Studies in partnership with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is hosting a series of webinars on the topic of COVID-19 and Africa. Held each Wednesday for one hour from 10am EST, CAS' Africa and COVID-19 Webinar Series will bring together the private sector, policy makers, academics, and practitioners for a series of conversations across health, technology, and economy, among others. Please check our COVID-19 Resources page for upcoming webinars and recordings of previous webinars. Join our weekly newsletter to receive updated information.
Timezones:
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ORGANIZERS: Harvard Center for African Studies & Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
CO-SPONSOR: Organisation for Global Africa Cooperation (OGAC)
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The Harvard University Center for African Studies compiles Africa-related seminars, workshops, events, and conferences taking place in Cambridge, Boston, and Johannesburg, South Africa. We also include virtual Africa-related events and activities that are free and open to the public. The Center for African Studies will consider requests to host, coordinate, sponsor, or co-sponsor Africa-related events only if the event is supported by one of our faculty affiliates.
Please note that the calendar also includes events and activities hosted by organizations and entities not affiliated with the Harvard University Center for African Studies, and CAS makes no claim of endorsement or responsibility for the content of these activities. Please e-mail africa@harvard.edu if you would like us to consider sharing your event on our website.
The Center for African Studies will consider requests to host, coordinate, sponsor or co-sponsor Africa-related events only if the event is supported by one of our faculty affiliates. Event requests should be sent to the Associate Director by the sponsoring faculty member .
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text:
Christopher Strong - Autobiography of a Sceptical Dowser
Compiled and edited by Nigel Twinn
Christopher Strong has certainly practiced intuition in every aspect of living. Well-known for decades in the dowsing world, this book describes Christopher's life and many of his cases and tells how he and his wife Veronika developed their dowsing skills to help over 5,000 people.
Christopher Strong - Autobiography of a Sceptical Dowser quantity
Well-known for decades in the dowsing world, this book describes Christopher's life and many of his cases. It tells how he and his wife Veronika developed their dowsing skills to help over 5,000 people, with a "success" rate of about 75%, while travelling the world and bringing up a family.
"Christopher Strong is a master of his craft. He is able to convey his considerable knowledge in a simple and straightforward manner. Christopher's passion for his work and life shine through in this book."
Gill Matini, Principal, The College of Psychic Studies
"Told with charm and wit, this is the life story of a Cambridge-trained scientist who came to value dowsing and psychic skills as part of his daily life. Fascinating and entertaining, it is a truly riveting read."
Isabel Derry, President, The British Society of Dowsers
Dowsing and more
Earth Energy & Leylines
Hamish & Ba Miller
Authors and Producers
Return of the White Serpent


i recommend you go to the blogger support forum and search for your question or post it there --- that's where I've gotten most of my questions answered.
I'm also not clear on your question -- do you want the type centered or the whole widget centered? You might need to fool with the margins to accomplish the later.
Sadly Blogger support has no answers - I searched exhaustively before posting here. One blogger reported the same issue and someone suggested some coding to try which worked for them but it doesn't for me. I've also posted there with my specific query and noone has come back to me.
@FJK - I want everything in the column centered, all features of the widgets, all text, everything.
It is indeed a cool feature, like your points of view in these matters.


text: ALTER TABLE `jetpack_packagerevision` ADD `commit_message` TEXT DEFAULT '';

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


SUN SHADE NETS ARE USED FOR THE AGRICULTURE OF NEEDS OF NURSERY, VEGETABLES, AND ALSO INDUSTRY OF POLYHOUSES ETC.
WE ARE OFFERING OUR CLIENTS, QUALITY SHADE NET, WHICH IS MANUFACTURED USING 100% VIRGIN MATERIAL.
THESE NETS HAVE HIGH CONTENT OF HIGH DENSITY POLYTHELYNE (HDPE) AND ARE TREATED WITH HIGH QUALITY COLOR MASTER BATCHES & UV STABILIZERS.
COLOR: CAN BE PRODUCED AS CUSTOMER REQUEST.


Nieman Lab: Adele and the death of "clickbait"
To illustrate the path one teacher living in Japan took to escape the 2011 tsunami, an interactive map was created using Street View images. As the point on the map changes, an image of that point is shown.
An interactive graphic that compares California schools' student-to-teacher ratio to other states.
The interactive map shows the 102 buildings in the University of California system that were deemed unsafe by inspectors and includes detailed information for every building.
A visual representation of the musical connections of rapper/producer Kanye West. Each orb represents an artist West has performed with, produced, mentored or sampled.
A detailed look at how brush fires are fought. The project was based on a flat infographic that was enhanced with an animated experience.
A series of static brush fire maps were used as the base for an animated history of wildfires in Southern California.
The Windy City's landmarks dedicated to people of color are explored in this interactive presentation. The project was produced in less than 48 hours during the 2008 UNITY conference.
Award-winning multimedia exploration of the legal and social persecution gays face in Africa, the country's overlooked prostitution problem and the Ghanaian government's failure to address the HIV/AIDS problem in the gay community.
From the construction of the first American mosques in the early 1900's to the election of the first U.S. Congressmen, Muslims have had a long history in the United States. This interactive timeline showcases some of those significant events.
The pop singer's music video career is visualized as an interactive mosaic. Screenshots of her music videos were used as tiles and the name of each video appears when rolled over.


text:
Чемпионаты Европы по водному поло — соревнования сильнейших национальных мужских и женских сборных стран-членов Европейской федерации плавания (ЛЕН). Проводятся ежегодно для мужских команд с 1926, для женских — с 1985 года. Система соревнований включает в себя предварительный этап, в котором все команды играют друг с другом по разу, и плей-офф с участием лучшей четвёрки по итогам предварительной стадии.

См. также
 Чемпионат Европы по водному поло среди мужчин
 Чемпионат Европы по водному поло среди женщин

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Should you make your kids pay for screen time?
Parents are always looking for the best way to strategize limits on screen time. A Silicon Valley mom wrote for PopSugar about her latest success story, charging her kids for their minutes with video games, the tablet or the smartphone. Cristina Margolis says it isn't screen time that she disagrees with, she just has a desire to create opportunities for her kids to learn hard work and find fun in other forms.
"Don't get me wrong — I think the new technology our children are growing up with today is fantastic and exciting. I never wanted to ban screen time from our home completely, but I definitely wanted to limit it in a smart and practical way," she writes.
For her 6 and 8 year old children, she gives them age appropriate chores and instead of rewarding them with an allowance, she offers coins that can be returned for an allotted time on their devices. Read more about the process in her article.
Well, Cristina, we hope we've created just the app for that! We hope WebSafety can encourage parents to be more involved in what their kids are doing online and help limit that screen time if they choose.
We think Cristina's process of monitoring screen time is a great way to encourage responsibility around digital devices. Has your family tried something that works? We want to hear about it! Share with us in a comment or email us at info@websafety.com.


text:
Q: MySQL: decrypt password INSERT INTO users_tbl (`fName`, `lName`, `email`, `password`)
VALUES ('Nick', 'Furry', 'nick@example.com', PASSWORD('nick333'));

I used PASSWORD() function provided by MySQL to encrypt the password and the password column is encrypted, but now I do not know how to decrypt it. I didn't use those hash methods. Can anyone tell me how to decrypt it?

A: The PASSWORD function performs encryption one-way so basically, there is no way to decrypt.

A: *

*As @phnkha stated, this is a one way encryption, but this is actually a good thing - you shouldn't store passwords in a way that allows to decrypt them in the future. The correct way to do it is to store it encrypted and use the same encryption algorithm when the user is trying to authenticate and compare the encrypted values.

*You shouldn't use the PASSWORD function, it's used internally. You should use MD5 or SHA1 (assuming you're using MySQL).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Step Up's Housing First Program.
Access to Step Up's programs and services comes by referral from each of the Coordinated Entry System.
If you are homeless you can call 2-1-1 and speak to someone who should be able to direct you to shelters or other homeless services and make a referral to begin the permanent supportive housing process.
Step Up's Orange County Housing First Programs began in 2015 with the CoC Mercy House Collaborative. Step Up Orange County also offers services at Jamboree Housing's Supportive Services sites. Step Up has already housed 11 individuals who had been experiencing chronic homelessness following the Housing First model and offers supportive life skills services to over 200 residents.
Step Up's Orange County Team works with property management companies and landlords who are willing to engage with Step Up to rent to the homeless population. Once an individual is in housing, service teams provide supportive case management services to ensure success. These services include assisting in securing public benefits (Social Security income, food stamps, etc.), counseling, substance use recovery support and linking to community resources.


text:
How do you write a polynomial function given the real zeroes 2,-2,-6i and coefficient 1?
Precalculus Polynomial Functions of Higher Degree Zeros
Alberto P.
#(x-2)(x+2)(x+6i)=(x^2-4)(x+6i)=x^3+6ix^2-4x-24i#
Generally if a polynomial function with grade n has zeroes #x_1,x_2,...,x_n# then #P(x)=a(x-x_1)(x-x_2)...(x-x_n)#
where a is the coefficient of #x^n#
What is a zero of a function?
How do I find the real zeros of a function?
How do I find the real zeros of a function on a calculator?
What do the zeros of a function represent?
What are the zeros of #f(x) = 5x^7 − x + 216#?
What are the zeros of #f(x)= −4x^5 + 3#?
How many times does #f(x)= 6x^11 - 3x^5 + 2# intersect the x-axis?
What are the real zeros of #f(x) = 3x^6 + 1#?
How do you find the roots for #4x^4-26x^3+50x^2-52x+84=0#?
What are the intercepts for the graphs of the equation #y=(x^2-49)/(7x^4)#?
See all questions in Zeros
425 views around the world


Cott Cola, a value soft drink brand, was a staple on store shelves across Canada in the 80's. But, as the company continued to grow, their focus shifted away from Cott pop and the brand lost its spark. Cott Cola challenged BTI to help 'Refresh' the brand's image and create relevancy within the target audience.
To tackle the challenge, we took to social media with a strategy, segmented into 4 stages: Generate Interest, Populate, Target, and Engage. Within only a few months of activity we built a community of over 4,500 fans, and with this captive audience, we transitioned to a targeted approach with a new campaign...MIX IT UP!
MIX IT UP! celebrates diversity and individuality, and helped turn our fans into brand champions. The content delivered on relevance to our target audience, resulting in an increase of page likes, reach, and engagement - bringing a new life to Cott pop with a fan base that continues to grow.


Stay organized with this adorable A4 plastic file folder with 5 pockets from the lovely design of Kutusita Nyanko. Printed on both sides. This kawaii file folder is perfect for school or the office. Fits several A4 papers.


I have been going to Cruiser Haven Marina for well over 15 years. I went their over the weekend and was very disappointed in how run down it is. The whole marina has gone down hill. The docks are unsafe, the bathrooms are filthy, most of the slips are empty and there is no one their who can help you. (if your crazy enough to want to rent a slip), which also means no security. Ten years ago I would have recommended this Marina to everyone. The location is great because it is located right on the fast water. The picture posted on this site must be 15 or more years old.


text:
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Obamacare facts separated from spin by Wendell Potter, FactCheck.org
by Bill Buzenberg August 15, 2013 January 7, 2022
Holding a sign saying "We Love ObamaCare" supporters of health care reform rally in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 27, 2012, as the court continued hearing arguments on the health care law signed by President Barack Obama.
(Charles Dharapak/AP)
Two excellent reader comments caught my eye this week, in response to Wendell Potter's latest column separating fact from fiction on the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare.
First there was:
"THANK YOU for this column! I'm so exhausted with the insane rhetoric about just getting healthcare to all our people, and this gives me some information so I can respond to some of that ridiculous hysteria."
And second:
"Misleading information, sloppy coverage are confusing the public about Obamacare. Considering all the intentionally misleading information we are being subjected to about Obamacare from politicians and special interests with an obvious agenda, it will be vitally important for reporters to be more responsible in their reporting."
Google "Obamacare myths" and you'll come up with about 8,000 results. Many of the most important provisions of the 2010 law have not taken effect yet, but three years of controversy, legal challenges, deliberate misrepresentations and 40 attempts to repeal it by the U.S. House of Representatives have all taken their toll. Polls show about half of all Americans don't know enough about the law to see how it will — or will not — affect their families.
In his own version of Obamacare myths, Bill Keller wrote in the New York Times last year that a number of fallacies (it's a job killer, it's a federal takeover of health insurance, etc.) "seem to be congealing into accepted wisdom. Much of this is the result of unrelenting Republican propaganda and right-wing punditry, but it has gone largely unchallenged by gun-shy Democrats."
Wendell Potter commentary
Former CIGNA executive-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter writes about the health care industry and the ongoing battle for health reform.
How to reduce the absurd amount of money Americans spend on health care? One community at a time
By Wendell Potter
Presidential candidates in fantasy land over health care
Insurers using lobbying muscle, campaign cash to push mergers
Insurers say private Medicare plans are better, but we really don't know
Merger of health insurers usually leads to big payday for executives
Health insurers working the system to pad their profits
Candidates without a clue
Privatizing Medicare would create more problems than it solves
Latest swing of revolving door puts former Medicare czar in charge of health insurance lobby
GOP myth: Obamacare is driving insurance mergers
Click here for more stories in this series
With new state health insurance marketplaces (known in the law as exchanges) set to enroll people in coverage starting Oct. 1, the distortions, including misleading advertising, seem to be ramping up. Enter Wendell Potter the Center for Public Integrity's own myth-buster. Wendell is a former health insurance industry insider-turned-whistleblower who writes with clarity and insight about healthcare in ways that others in the media have sometimes come up short.
Yes, the plan is complex, as Potter told me, and advocates have not done an adequate job of explaining it. Of course, it is always easier to condemn and confuse than it is to explain and educate. He believes the law is misunderstood for a combination of reasons. It has been very political from the beginning, with the GOP viewing it as a continuing campaign issue that appeals to its base of supporters. And politicians are only too happy to exploit it for their own political purposes.
Potter believes the media itself has not done its job well enough, especially in steering clear of those with an interest to peddle or an agenda to sell. Obamacare news coverage has too often been driven by Washington politics, as part of an ongoing political campaign, rather than by the substance of the law, which only contributes to the public's perplexity.
Last May, Potter addressed some of the myths and realities of Obamacare. He noted that: "Two of the most important provisions of the law [Republicans] profess to hate were actually Republican ideas the Democrats embraced in hopes of getting bipartisan support for reform."
The first such provision is the requirement that all Americans not covered by a public plan like Medicare or Medicaid must buy coverage from a private insurance company. The second provision is that the state health insurance marketplaces or exchanges would be places where private insurers could compete online for customers.
Besides Potter, FactCheck.org, an impartial truth squad, has also been busy comparing facts to political rhetoric. In its latest report (Louie Gohmert's Health Care Hooey), FactCheck.org found that Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert "is wrong when he says a 'poor guy out there making $14,000' is 'going to pay extra income tax if he cannot afford to pay the several thousand dollars for an Obamacare policy.'"
"In fact, that poor guy will be eligible for Medicaid coverage or heavily subsidized private insurance, depending on where he lives, without fear of being penalized if he cannot afford insurance.
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee has its own list of 57 "Coordinates for a Train Wreck," or Obamacare by the Numbers. However, as FactCheck.org noted, the RNC list includes a number of serious mistakes. For example, they claim "that 8.2 million Americans can't find full-time jobs 'partly due to ObamaCare.' But that figure is the total number of part-time workers in the U.S. seeking full-time work."
"The RNC also claims 6 million retirees 'will lose prescription drug coverage' under the health care law. But 6 million aren't expected to go without drug coverage. Instead, they are expected to lose employer-sponsored drug plans and join other Medicare Part D plans instead."
FactCheck.org found other "well-worn distortions" in the RNC list, along with items that were true: "the gross cost of insurance coverage provisions in the law do add up to $1.8 trillion for 2014 to 2023, according to the nonpartisan CBO, and the law's 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services would amount to $1.5 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation."
FactCheck.org also faulted President Obama's recent press conference statement for overpromising on premiums. "President Obama claimed that all of the currently uninsured would be able to get coverage on the exchanges 'at a significantly cheaper rate than what they can get right now on the individual market' even without federal tax credits. But even Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has said that younger Americans would likely pay more on the exchanges, while those who are older would likely pay less."
One fact that is important to know is that most Americans will not be affected by the changes. As Wendell Potter has explained, in a country of 315 million people, "only 15 million — less than 5 percent of us — currently buy health insurance on our own through the so-called individual market because it's not available to us through the workplace."
The vast majority of Americans — about 55 percent — are, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, enrolled in health insurance plans sponsored by our employers. Another 32 percent of us are enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and other public programs. That means, Potter said, that "almost nine out of 10 of us will not be affected at all by rates insurers will charge next year in the individual market."
Keeping up with an accurate understanding of the healthcare changes taking place has almost become a full-time job Thank goodness there are careful purveyors of the truth, such as Wendell Potter and FactCheck.org, to help us all with this process.
'); ##]]
Bill Buzenberg
Bill Buzenberg was the Center for Public Integrity's executive director from 2008 to 2015. More by Bill Buzenberg
by Bill Buzenberg, Center for Public Integrity

Obamacare facts separated from spin by Wendell Potter, FactCheck.org

by Bill Buzenberg, Center for Public Integrity
August 15, 2013

Holding a sign saying "We Love ObamaCare" supporters of health care reform rally in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 27, 2012, as the court continued hearing arguments on the health care law signed by President Barack Obama.

(Charles Dharapak/AP)

Two excellent reader comments caught my eye this week, in response to Wendell Potter's latest column separating fact from fiction on the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare.

First there was:

"THANK YOU for this column! I'm so exhausted with the insane rhetoric about just getting healthcare to all our people, and this gives me some information so I can respond to some of that ridiculous hysteria."

And second:

"Misleading information, sloppy coverage are confusing the public about Obamacare. Considering all the intentionally misleading information we are being subjected to about Obamacare from politicians and special interests with an obvious agenda, it will be vitally important for reporters to be more responsible in their reporting."

Google "Obamacare myths" and you'll come up with about 8,000 results. Many of the most important provisions of the 2010 law have not taken effect yet, but three years of controversy, legal challenges, deliberate misrepresentations and 40 attempts to repeal it by the U.S. House of Representatives have all taken their toll. Polls show about half of all Americans don't know enough about the law to see how it will — or will not — affect their families.

In his own version of Obamacare myths, Bill Keller wrote in the New York Times last year that a number of fallacies (it's a job killer, it's a federal takeover of health insurance, etc.) "seem to be congealing into accepted wisdom. Much of this is the result of unrelenting Republican propaganda and right-wing punditry, but it has gone largely unchallenged by gun-shy Democrats."

Wendell Potter commentary

 Former CIGNA executive-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter writes about the health care industry and the ongoing battle for health reform.

Stories in this series

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How to reduce the absurd amount of money Americans spend on health care? One community at a time

By Wendell Potter

October 26, 2015
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Presidential candidates in fantasy land over health care

By Wendell Potter

September 28, 2015
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Insurers using lobbying muscle, campaign cash to push mergers

By Wendell Potter

September 21, 2015
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Insurers say private Medicare plans are better, but we really don't know

By Wendell Potter

August 31, 2015
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  <hgroup>

Merger of health insurers usually leads to big payday for executives

By Wendell Potter

August 24, 2015
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Health insurers working the system to pad their profits

By Wendell Potter

August 17, 2015
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Candidates without a clue

By Wendell Potter

August 10, 2015
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  <hgroup>

Privatizing Medicare would create more problems than it solves

By Wendell Potter

August 3, 2015
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  <hgroup>

Latest swing of revolving door puts former Medicare czar in charge of health insurance lobby

By Wendell Potter

July 20, 2015
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  <hgroup>

GOP myth: Obamacare is driving insurance mergers

By Wendell Potter

July 13, 2015
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Click here for more stories in this series

With new state health insurance marketplaces (known in the law as exchanges) set to enroll people in coverage starting Oct. 1, the distortions, including misleading advertising, seem to be ramping up. Enter Wendell Potter the Center for Public Integrity's own myth-buster. Wendell is a former health insurance industry insider-turned-whistleblower who writes with clarity and insight about healthcare in ways that others in the media have sometimes come up short.

Yes, the plan is complex, as Potter told me, and advocates have not done an adequate job of explaining it. Of course, it is always easier to condemn and confuse than it is to explain and educate. He believes the law is misunderstood for a combination of reasons. It has been very political from the beginning, with the GOP viewing it as a continuing campaign issue that appeals to its base of supporters. And politicians are only too happy to exploit it for their own political purposes.

Potter believes the media itself has not done its job well enough, especially in steering clear of those with an interest to peddle or an agenda to sell. Obamacare news coverage has too often been driven by Washington politics, as part of an ongoing political campaign, rather than by the substance of the law, which only contributes to the public's perplexity.

Last May, Potter addressed some of the myths and realities of Obamacare. He noted that: "Two of the most important provisions of the law [Republicans] profess to hate were actually Republican ideas the Democrats embraced in hopes of getting bipartisan support for reform."

The first such provision is the requirement that all Americans not covered by a public plan like Medicare or Medicaid must buy coverage from a private insurance company. The second provision is that the state health insurance marketplaces or exchanges would be places where private insurers could compete online for customers.

Besides Potter, FactCheck.org, an impartial truth squad, has also been busy comparing facts to political rhetoric. In its latest report (Louie Gohmert's Health Care Hooey), FactCheck.org found that Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert "is wrong when he says a 'poor guy out there making $14,000' is 'going to pay extra income tax if he cannot afford to pay the several thousand dollars for an Obamacare policy.'"

"In fact, that poor guy will be eligible for Medicaid coverage or heavily subsidized private insurance, depending on where he lives, without fear of being penalized if he cannot afford insurance.

Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee has its own list of 57 "Coordinates for a Train Wreck," or Obamacare by the Numbers. However, as FactCheck.org noted, the RNC list includes a number of serious mistakes. For example, they claim "that 8.2 million Americans can't find full-time jobs 'partly due to ObamaCare.' But that figure is the total number of part-time workers in the U.S. seeking full-time work."

"The RNC also claims 6 million retirees 'will lose prescription drug coverage' under the health care law. But 6 million aren't expected to go without drug coverage. Instead, they are expected to lose employer-sponsored drug plans and join other Medicare Part D plans instead."

FactCheck.org found other "well-worn distortions" in the RNC list, along with items that were true: "the gross cost of insurance coverage provisions in the law do add up to $1.8 trillion for 2014 to 2023, according to the nonpartisan CBO, and the law's 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services would amount to $1.5 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation."

FactCheck.org also faulted President Obama's recent press conference statement for overpromising on premiums. "President Obama claimed that all of the currently uninsured would be able to get coverage on the exchanges 'at a significantly cheaper rate than what they can get right now on the individual market' even without federal tax credits. But even Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has said that younger Americans would likely pay more on the exchanges, while those who are older would likely pay less."

One fact that is important to know is that most Americans will not be affected by the changes. As Wendell Potter has explained, in a country of 315 million people, "only 15 million — less than 5 percent of us — currently buy health insurance on our own through the so-called individual market because it's not available to us through the workplace."

The vast majority of Americans — about 55 percent — are, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, enrolled in health insurance plans sponsored by our employers. Another 32 percent of us are enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and other public programs. That means, Potter said, that "almost nine out of 10 of us will not be affected at all by rates insurers will charge next year in the individual market."

Keeping up with an accurate understanding of the healthcare changes taking place has almost become a full-time job Thank goodness there are careful purveyors of the truth, such as Wendell Potter and FactCheck.org, to help us all with this process.

Until next week,
 Bill

This article first appeared on Center for Public Integrity and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.


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Golden Era of Songwriting?
October 2, 2013 UncategorizedJim Bruno
Are we in a golden era of songwriting? Will this time be looked back on as a historically great one for our art form?
Lord knows we've got numerous advantages our predecessors didn't have…
How about our instruments? With the advent of quality Chinese instruments you can now get a guitar, mandolin, banjo, whatever that's a pleasure to play and sounds great for a fraction you used to have to pay to get the equivalent quality.
How about our recording costs? Also way, way, way down. You can record albums using Pro Tools or many of its competitors for literally hundreds of dollars rather than the previous tens of thousands of dollars.
How about distribution? Thanks to the Internet we can now reach listeners all over the world. No longer do the Music Industry Gatekeepers control our access to our fans.
So, once again, are we in a golden era? I'm not so sure myself. In spite of all the advantages I've mentioned I can't really say that I've seen the level of our art form go up. Yes, there are more songwriters but better songwriters? I'm not so sure.
Maybe it's just a case of they're out there but the clutter prevents us from hearing them or maybe not.
← Song Titles	Words or Music First →
6 thoughts on "Golden Era of Songwriting?"
Nick Scalero says:
If it is a Golden Era one would never know it by listening to the drivel that we're exposed to by the media (IMHO). I can hardly sit through a music video these days much less listen to the radio. It seems that flash and name are winning out over substance, at least with the media.
On the other hand, technology changes have enabled me to listen to new music and purchase just those selections I like as opposed to having to purchase an entire album. It's also made it easy and cheap to back-fill my music library.
Alan Monasch says:
Substance is losing in the mass media, which is why I do not listen to national commercial music. There are some excellent songs by local artists, especially in this San Francisco Bay Area, but it is hardly a Golden Era; too many local writers are emulating the national style of non-substance!
songwriterbob says:
I think that all those technological advances you mention – instrument quality, recording software, distribution methods – have nothing to do with songwriting. They are convenient tools to allow our songs to be heard, but not to make the song any better.
Three areas of technology which have certainly helped me become a better songwriter have to do with computers: 1. Online rhyming dictionaries allow me to compile extensive lists of potential words to use in my songs far more easily than looking them up in books. 2. Word processing and spreadsheet programs allow me to visually represent my lyrics so that I can more easily check length of line, presence or absence of rhyme (color coded as I write the song) more efficiently than writing on paper. 3. The internet offers instant access to potential content of the lyrics much more easily than having to consult books or simply by pulling stuff out of your head or relying only on your own experience..
Jim Bruno says:
Instruments are tools, you're right about that. More quality tools in the hands of more craftsmen should help the craft,right? My first guitar wouldn't stay in tune and had ridiculously high action. Try writing a song on a guitar like that!
Recording software aids many songwriters today. I use recording software to record rough audio sketches of my songs. It's the initial canvas I use for my work. And how about all of the songwriters that use beats and loops for inspiration? It's not the way I write but that doesn't make it less valid.
Speaking of inspiration, how can world wide distribution not help to inspire songwriters? Also being able to hear songwriters from all over the world should help us to get a better handle on the over all state of the art form.
But let's for the moment, accept your premise, Bob, and discount these modern advantages as providing no benefit to songwriters and substitute your points; Online Rhyming Dictionaries, Word processors and Speadsheets (?) and Access to online content…
You still didn't answer the basic question of the post. "Are we in a golden era of songwriting?"
I was thinking of the quality of the song – lyrics, melody and chords. A super guitar may be fun to play, but if you don't have the ability with the language, the facility with the music, a $10k guitar is not going to make your songs any better.
Your point about the digital sketchpad – I thought about that a bit but then discounted that, perhaps because of the way I work. I never record anything until after the song is done. I figure, if the melody is memorable, I will remember it. Back in the old days, we could use cassette recorders or reel to reel tape. The digital recorder makes it a bit easier, but does not improve the song. I do use Band-in-a-Box sometimes for melody creation, because it frees me up to create a melody while looping the chords over and over again, but still it is not a qualitative improvement over strumming the guitar and creating the melody.
On the other hand, the online rhyming dictionary (especially for near-rhymes) is a lot better than the 10 or 12 rhymes I can think of off the top of my head and a lot more convenient than searching through dictionaries with my aging eyes. And I have at least 4 online dictionaries that I use regularly – they supplement each other nicely. The word processing software combined with the spreadsheet is really handy for arranging each line of each verse, one under the other and it keeps me honest about number of syllables in a line. And finally, many of my songs have been inspired by chain searches on the internet. I hear something interesting, I look it up, it leads me to something else, and so on until I find something that really intrigues me. Then I gather vocabulary and details in a way I could never do before the internet was around. It frees me up from my own mental limitations and knowledge.
As far as the Golden Age of Songwriting – I see two trends occurring simultaneously. There is the music mafia – the people who control commercial taste – the kind of crap that has nothing to do with good or interesting music, but which ends up in all the awards shows as the industry's "finest". Most of it is mediocre music with super production and lots of spectacle. But there is music that is distributed via the internet, by-passing the gatekeepers of the industry. Some of it is good, some of it is not. But the democratization of the process of music creation and distribution is probably a good thing, even if it means that you have to wade through a lot to find the good stuff.
I have heard a lot more interesting music in clubs and house concerts than on music awards shows. And those people will probably never reach the big stage in a million years. But that doesn't mean the songs are not good.
John Mausen says:
Interesting subject, Jim. For the most part, I would have to say "No."
While I welcome the trend of digital recording to the ordinary person's desktop, because it enables a poor musician such as myself the opportunity to actually acquire a bonafide recording studio, this movement in and of itself has had a reverse effect in that it has really watered down the talent pool. Put bluntly, this has enabled every hack in the world to be able to record their drivel, no matter how lame it might be.
Add to this the fact that social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have enabled the distribution of the lion's share of this junk on a world wide basis, and we have a real recipe for the degradation of talent in the industry. No one is held to a standard of excellence any longer, myself included. Add to this the advent of TV shows such as American Idol and The X-Factor, which I refer to as the worlds biggest high school talent show, and we have a real menu of undesirable junk from which to gather a modicum of talent, all relative to the prejudice of the likes of Simon Cowell (who cares), J-Lo, and Brittany Spears–Please!!!
What makes it worse, is that with the dissemination of so much no-talent material, it makes it infinitely harder to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Who has time to scroll through so much information without sensory overload.
One would hope that in some manner or fashion that the cream will still rise to the top and in many cases it has. I look at talents such as The Lumineers or Phillip Phillips and see that indeed there is still some decent songwriting going on.
But on the whole, I think the advancement of the industry has made the overall assessment of talent much harder than it has in the past, although it affords the opportunity for previously undiscovered talent to have a channel to exposure.
Don't get me started on rap and hip-hop–that' a whole different discussion.
Those are my thoughts. Will it keep me from writing and trying to make some waves? No, but it accentuates the increased difficulty, whereas the original idea was to enhance the talent pool. I think the opposite has been the actual effect.


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Bio and Beyond
An "Omics" Answer to the Replication Crisis
Malcolm MacLeod
The job of scientists is to find stuff out, and the more useful that stuff is, the better. But science is a continuous process, and few answers are ever final. We are constantly learning more and more about the world around us and readjusting our theories and hypotheses. Thus, the result of scientific exploration is not a static "fact," but instead a knowledge claim that is reported in a scientific article, and which the reader is asked to believe. About a decade ago it became apparent — first in psychology, then elsewhere — that many of these knowledge claims, even those we had elevated to the status of canonical beliefs, turned out to be false. The findings could not be replicated, and the "replication crisis" was born.
Since then, many of us have been worrying away at the issue, trying to work out what's been going wrong in science. I first got involved in this area as a trainee neurologist, interested in conducting clinical trials of new treatments for stroke. Looking at the data coming out of the lab, there was no shortage of promising drugs we could test. But when we looked in detail, all of the drugs that had been tested in clinical trials were ineffective, with only one exception (a clot-busting treatment more reminiscent of a plumbing solution than true neuroprotection). It turns out the same has been true across the neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and brain tumors. There was a fundamental mismatch between the research being done in the lab and what we were finding in the clinic, and it came at a real human cost. So how do we better align the two?
Critically, we need to be much more strategic in the way we use published research findings (from the lab) to inform what we do next (e.g. clinical trials). We need to combine and integrate — systematically — the full granularity of research claims and their provenance to provide a richness of detail to our understanding. This process of integrating information at scale is well established in the "-omics," where oceans of data about genes (genomics) or proteins (proteomics), for example, are combined in a single knowledge system. I propose we do the same thing in combining the oceans of data represented in published research claims, in a new approach I'm calling "publomics."
But first, how did we get here?
At least part of the reason for the replication crisis was the weaknesses in the provenance of the original knowledge claims. When we look at how those original studies were conducted, we find a number of common shortcomings. These include:
No blinding. Experiments must have a test and a control arm. "Blinding" is when the researcher doesn't know whether the subject they are analyzing (be it proteins, cells, mice, or human subjects) is the test or the control. Results are more reliable if the researcher is blinded, and this is standard part of clinical trials, but is often not practiced or unreported in the preclinical experiments, leading to biased results. We also want the experimental subjects to be allocated to the test and control arm at random — but again, this is infrequently practiced and reported in the lab.
Small sample sizes. We also need to know that the study was big enough to justify the claims made. For example, it's pretty obvious that men are on average taller than women. But to have a good chance of detecting this difference in an experiment, you'd need at least 20 people to find a statistically significant result. Unfortunately, such huge effects are rare and unlikely in biology, and larger study populations are needed to make well-supported claims. Results based on small sample sizes can skew the literature with knowledge claims based on artifacts.
Publication bias. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the scientific literature is full of positive results. Null or negative results have traditionally been hard to publish and are often relegated to abandoned hard drives, despite the fact that they represent valuable knowledge claims. Research users looking for evidence get a distorted view, which — like Johnny Cabot in the 1944 film Here Come the Waves — accentuates the positive, eliminates the negative, and latches on to the affirmative. While it might work in the movies, it's not a good basis for drug development or true scientific progress.
These and other common design flaws combine to mislead the clinical trialist, the research funder, and the investor as to what is sound, rigorous science. More importantly, this lets down patients — the people, and their families, who suffer the consequences of these diseases. It is heartbreaking to see people go through cycle after cycle of excitement and promise and hope, only to see another promising therapy fail in clinical trials. We owe it to them to do better.
So what would "better" look like? A more realistic appraisal of the prospects for scientific success might not create as much buzz, but it could be a lot more efficient. That would involve scrutinizing all the available evidence, not just cherry picking the best bits. It would involve doing due diligence on the research claims made — were the studies randomized and blinded, with preregistered designs, sufficiently large sample sizes, and power calculations, or are the authors mute on these important details? Just because these things weren't done doesn't mean that the findings aren't true — but it makes it more likely that they aren't true.
Fortunately, there's a well-established strategy for finding this out, through approaches called systematic review and meta-analysis. In systematic review, you use a defined literature search strategy to identify relevant research. It doesn't guarantee that you'll find everything, but it's substantially better than starting at the first page of PubMed and choosing the stuff that looks interesting. A systematic review is often followed by a meta-analysis, which allows you to combine, quantitatively, the results from different publications. These analyses can reveal whether the findings from different papers on the same subject are broadly consistent, or all over the place. For example, does the treatment work in both sexes, at all ages, in different species? If so, this would be strong support to the hypothesis. If not, you might be looking at an artifact, edge, or corner case. If the literature doesn't give you that complete picture, it might make more sense to fill in those gaps with further pre-clinical experimental work before embarking on a clinical trial.
To fully reap the benefits of our collective advances in science and technology for health gain, a careful and systematic evaluation of the available information, with due diligence on the strengths, and relevance of the research claims made, is essential. If this were done at critical stages — such as the initiation of human clinical trials — it would reduce the risk that the premise information on which those trials was based was not well founded. That would benefit the trial participants (who wants to be in a trial where the chances of success are low?), the clinical trialists (who could then focus on trials of agents with a better prospect of success), and those who pay for the trials (de-risking their investment). This isn't just true for the transition to clinical trial, but at any transition which incurs a major commitment in time, people, or money.
There is of course a catch. If it is that simple, why has it not become standard practice?
Firstly, nobody wants to see their beautiful ideas cast aside — the last thing we want is for someone to show us we are wrong. So while many scientists welcome, in the abstract, the principle that our theories should be tested to destruction — we would very much prefer that that did not happen.
But even if you were absolutely committed to doing a systematic review, there are challenges. This research-on-research, or "meta-research," is not well funded (generally, tools which are designed to test the theories of scientists to destruction are not well received by funding panels made up of those scientists). That means we haven't developed the research capacity — we don't have enough people with the right skills — to do all the systematic reviews and meta-analyses that need done. And the process itself can be onerous. Looking for research into Alzheimer's disease, for instance, identifies over 400,000 publications. Working out what's relevant and not, and the quality of the research, is a Herculean task.
This is where technology comes in
If you search PubMed for research on Alzheimer's disease — one of our most pressing clinical needs — it lists over 170,934 results. At half an hour per article for 40 hours a week that's over 41 years of reading. It is simply not possible for one person to integrate these claims in an organized knowledge system — our understanding is instead based on abstraction and simplification, and lacks granularity. What if we could take these claims — and their context — and describe phenomena which are always observed, which are never observed, and which are observed in some contexts but not in others? What if we could map these claims from animal research with knowledge claims from human studies, from cell culture? What if we could do it all at the touch of a button?
Fortunately, this is where the emerging tools of big data can help. Advances in text mining and natural language processing allow us to automate many of the steps in systematic review, so that specific research questions can be addressed at much lower cost and effort.
This prospect is what I mean by "Publomics" — taking the automation approach to its logical extreme, to sit with genomics and proteomics and metabolomics and all the other "-omics" that have revolutionized our understanding of biology (and provided a richer understanding of human health as well). Every research artifact — publication, or pre-print, or dataset — would be richly and automatically indexed and curated in a central repository. In addition to the details of the experiments (the cells or animals or people studied, the diseases modeled, the interventions tested, the outcomes measured) and the outcome data (the numbers, not the interpretation), this would also include details of how the researchers sought to reduce risks of bias in their work, for instance through randomisation or blinding or more robust sampling.
Then, a systematic search, with all the tricky and tedious work involved today, would no longer be required. All that would be needed for a meta-analysis is the selection of the outcomes of interest, and the pressing of a button.
With apologies to my colleagues in the field, we would make systematic review redundant.
The benefits of this "Publomics" approach extend beyond the replication crisis, by also enabling higher-order analyses, across literatures, of interesting questions like: the concordance between different outcome measures, and the construction of evidence-based networks, describing the different components of mechanistic pathways and how the functioning of those pathways differs for instance across variables like species, sex, and age.
To show how this might work, let's take multiple sclerosis as an example. It is a devastating condition in need of better therapies. When testing new drugs in animal studies, researchers measure and report a number of different metrics, including the effects of drug candidates on inflammation, on damage to nerve fibres (axon loss), on damage to the surrounding myelin (demyelination), and on animal behavior. By combining data from almost 300 animal studies which measured drug effects on at least two of these outcomes, our meta-analysis showed that early treatment which targeted inflammation was highly effective, but as time went on, drugs which did not improve axon loss had no effect on behavior. This nuance is critical, as most patients present with established disease, suggesting that targeting inflammation will not help many patients — and that therapies protecting against axon loss are needed, a critical insight for drug development.
If that's what you can find when you combine data from 300 experiments, what riches are there in a literature of 30,000 publications, and how can we exploit that richness? Text mining and machine learning approaches can get us some of the way there, but without high-quality input information (risks of bias in the primary research, detailed annotation of the experimental set up), they can only give the broadest overview — like taking an ultra high-resolution picture with an unfocussed camera. With Publomics, we could sort that problem by making sure our focus, our presentation of detail, was razor sharp.
There is already a great example of this approach in the clinical space. The Trialstreamer platform (https://trialstreamer.robotreviewer.net/) uses a high-resolution screen to identify reports of human clinical trials, then uses automation tools to extract information on the study population, the drug being tested, the outcomes measured, and risks of bias in the research design.
But laboratory research is more complicated, because papers usually describe several experiments at once, and separating these out can be challenging (for humans as well as for machines). It is becoming possible, however. In our prototype Systematic Online Living Evidence Summary of animal research testing interventions for Alzheimer's disease (https://camarades.shinyapps.io/LivingEvidence_AD/), for instance, we have summarized the animal model, intervention, outcomes measured, and risks of bias in almost 20,000 publications using transgenic animal models of Alzheimer's disease. The next step is to find a way to extract the outcome data, to feed into meta-analytical or machine learning platforms. These are not yet ready for prime time, but they're not far away.
There will be pushback, of course. The work required to get us there may be seen by some as prohibitive, and the fidelity of our tools less than perfect. There may also be a concern that rendering such understanding at the click of a button might undermine the cachet and price of expert opinion. But we don't have to choose between experts and machines: Expert opinion that draws from and builds on a Publomics approach is likely to be of much greater value than either approach on its own.
Having tools like this will transform the way we are able to use, exploit, and deploy research findings from thousands of scientists around the world, and will not only provide one antidote to the replication crisis and give us greater confidence in our understanding of the literature. It might also help us find cures faster and more effectively, transforming the lives of many people whose existence is blighted by disease.
Malcolm MacLeod Malcolm Macleod is a Professor at the University of Edinburgh, and co-founder of the Collaborative Approach to Meta-Analysis and Review of Animal Data from Experimental Studies (CAMARADES).
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Killigrew of the Royal Navy
Jonathan Lunn
Epic action and adventure from the glory days of naval power.
1847: Despite the best efforts of the Royal Navy, transatlantic slavers continue to profit from the illegal trade. Idealistic young naval officer Kit Killigrew wants to stop them.
With the aid of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, Killigrew hatches a daring plan to infiltrate the slavers and discover the whereabouts of the biggest slave market in West Africa. But Kit will also need find out the identity of a shadowy British figure, one of the slave trade's major investors.
A veteran of campaigns in Syria and China, Killigrew now sets out on a perilous high-seas adventure that will challenge him to his very limits…
Full of sea-salt, gunpowder and nail-biting naval action, this is the first in the extraordinary Killigrew naval dramas, perfect for fans of C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian and Julian Stockwin.
Praise for the Killigrew Novels
'A hero to rival any Horatio Hornblower. Swashbuckling? You bet' Belfast Telegraph
'If you revel in the Hornblower and the Sharpe books, grab a copy of Jonathan Lunn' Bolton Evening News
'A new naval hero who will delight lovers of seafaring yarns' Manchester Evening News
Previously published as Killigrew R.N.
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
More Books by Jonathan Lunn
Kemp: The Road to Crécy
Killigrew and the Incorrigibles
Kemp: The Castle in the Marsh
Torrance: Escape from Singapore
Kemp: Riders of Fury
Kemp: Passage at Arms
Killigrew and the Golden Dragon
Killigrew and the North-West Passage
Killigrew's Run
Killigrew and the Sea Devil


If cen wants to see into the heart of a Sentient culture, cen need look no farther than their entertainments. Veneration demonstrates society's attentions… Any declining society will make their games the most important aspects of their lives - worse, they will make an entertainment of their politics.
Theirs is a warlike society, their lives consumed in all ways by the life-or-death struggle of their species. Every Sentient is involved somehow in the war effort. As such, Humanity engages in gladiatorial-like combat to sate their aggressive hunger.
Combat to the death involves Human soldiers battling captured aliens who would be put to death anyway. Granrexen, colloquially known as "Grunts", are most often the chosen sacrifices. Choxen too weak to kill themselves will often find their way into the fighting pits of the Republic of Humanity. Be they Choxen or Grunts, they are weakened and equipped with such poor weapons as to be completely ineffectual.
Duels can be fought as singles, teams, or any combination thereof. Battles are never intentionally to the death, indeed, it is extremely disadvantageous to their society for Republic members to kill one another, thus diminishing the available pool of warriors and destroying the species's meager resources.
These duels can be fought in any number of ways, from unarmed, to dull-blades, to low-energy lasers. Races, vehicle combat, and squad-based battles are also common.
Rising through one of the many different styles of combat, or "brackets", soldiers hope to earn respect among their peers and raise their respective ranks within the military. The larger and more popular of these brackets are televised throughout the Republic.
A note on equipment: Any equipment used is decommissioned and not deemed useful or safe for first or second-line combat. It is subject to failure, which adds to the audience's excitement.
All media within the Republic of Humanity are state sponsored and should thus carry with them the stigma and danger of all such government-run organizations; critiques are rare, and dissent is nonexistant. The governmental propaganda can be classified into two rough categories: Information, Documentaries, and Entertainment.
These programs consist mainly of news broadcasts. When possible, the news is recorded live from the front lines or taken from the cameras embedded into assault equipment. The visceral recordings add an element of sensationalism to any news of war and helps to desensitize the populace to the rigors and mental stress that accompanies constant warfare.
These are movies or short expose on important personages within the Republic. The Oniwabanshu tends to commission these types of media to garner support for political candidates that will help the regime maintain its power.
These documentaries have also been used to shift public opinion toward or away from specific topics. A recent series of documentaries focused on the sacrifices of the Variant Caste and how their sacrifices save the lives of True-Borns. The intent of the series seemed to try to shift sentiment from outright disgust and violence to hostile acceptance of their place within Human society and military.
All of the Republic's entertainment media are thinly veiled propaganda pieces at their best; at their worst, they are more subtle and therefore more insidious. Well acted (within the Republic's scope of acting), the creations of their Media subcaste entertain while also exhorting the unspoken rules, mores, and taboos of their society.
The Human government has made limited efforts to embrace galactic culture at large, despite its maturity and wealth of material as far as entertainment goes.