IT WAS astounding enough for Washington�s political elite: last month they discovered that the man at the heart of a scandal over the planting of US propaganda in Iraqi newspapers was a dapper but unknown 30-year-old Oxford graduate who had somehow managed to land a $100 million Pentagon contract.
In his third year at Oxford he hired an assistant to help him to run his first proper company, Linck Ltd, which sold self-help tapes. In 1998, he changed his name to Bailey. �Following his father�s death, Bailey assumed the name for family reasons, something which children commonly do,� a Lincoln Group spokesman said. In the late 1990s he moved to San Francisco to try his hand as a dotcom entrepreneur, and then to New York, where he became treasurer of the Oxonion Society, a club for intellectual Anglophiles. He became co-chairman of a networking group for young Republicans. With his Republican contacts growing, Mr Bailey moved to Washington, where he spotted a golden business opportunity: the looming war in Iraq. He formed a partnership with Paige Craig, a former US Marine who served in Iraq.
In early 2003, just before the invasion, Mr Bailey formed a Lincoln subsidiary, the Lincoln Alliance Corp, offering �tailored intelligence services [for] government clients faced with intelligence challenges�. He also formed another subsidiary, Iraqex, which won a $6 million Pentagon contract to launch �an aggressive advertising and PR campaign that will accurately inform the Iraqi people of the c oalition�s goals and gain their support�.
The big breakthrough came in June this year when the Pentagon awarded the Lincoln Group a contract worth up to $100 million over five years to support the US military�s �joint psychological operations�, known as �psyops�.
Few lawyers have had more influence on President Bush's legal policies in the "war on terror" than John Yoo. This is a remarkable feat, because Yoo was not a cabinet official, not a White House lawyer, and not even a senior officer within the Justice Department. He was merely a mid-level attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel with little supervisory authority and no power to enforce laws. Yet by all accounts, Yoo had a hand in virtually every major legal decision involving the US response to the attacks of September 11, and at every point, so far as we know, his advice was virtually always the same� the president can do whatever the president wants.
James Wolcott�s recent reference to Digby�s blog as �a Paul Revere gallop through the pitched night of the Bush years� reminds me of this passage from Paul Revere's Ride, a 1994 book by the great historian David Hackett Fischer. The passage seems relevant to the recent discussion (triggered by the Kos article in WM) about the role blogs play in political discourse. Fischer sees Revere in relationship to the overall Revolutionary movement and debunks the myth that he was a "just a messenger." He describes Revere as an important cog *in a liberal movement* that was "open and pluralist" and made up of "an alliance of many overlapping groups." Revere was a silversmith by day, but away from his trade he was doing much more for the rebel cause, and it was more than a poetic midnight ride. This has a feel to it, like maybe this is what bloggers did before computers, in a day when everything was closer, within physical reach, and people did their politics face to face.
Fischer's description of Revere as a 'linchpin, communicator, coordinator, and organizer of collective effort' seems also seems apropos (heh). It's pure teamwork, where each role is small, even miniscule, but in the aggregate can lead to an essential outcome, which in today�s political environment is the shedding of authoritative conservatism in favor of an open pluralism.
Glenn Greenwald sees through the new "leak" about the government being forced (gosh darn it to heck) to monitor Muslims for nukes. Similar to how the convenient color coded terrorist warnings leading up to the election last year were designed to keep the president's poll numbers from falling, this one is designed to muddy the waters of the NSA spying scandal. After all, if Muslims are suspected of building nuclear devices right in our backyards (God Save Us ALL!) why in the hell are we worried about a little harmless phone tapping?
The Administration�s purported efforts to find radiological activity in Muslim mosques is now supposed to be thrown onto the pile along with its lawless NSA eavesdropping program, so that the whole confusing controversy is aggregated into nothing more than the same tired, irrational terrorist-defending fetish of trying to impede George Bush in his valiant crusade to protect us from The Terrorists. And sure enough, like puppets on cue, the most blindly loyal of the Bush defenders are spitting out exactly this scary tale.
And with the images now darkly dancing around in our heads of Muslims hiding in their mosques in Los Angeles and Queens and Georgia suburbs and maybe in your own backyard, standing over a toxic brew of radiology and TNT ready to zap us all with their mushroom clouds, all of this annoying chatter about FISA and the Fourth Amendment and the NSA is supposed to meekly fade away, drowned to death by nightmares of our children with their hair on fire and glowing in the dark and George Bush trying to save them.
He asks if they will get away with it again. I dunno. At some point you have to wonder if the citizens of the US will tire of playing this little fantasy of being a nation under seige (while they shop til they drop) and want to switch the channel to little "Morning in America."
I heard a stranger in a line at the book store say the other day that he was tired of hearing the president talk about "protecting us" like he's some kind of super hero. It's possible that they've gone to the well with this one too many times. We'll see.
Update: I see that I was unclear. (Eggnog?) This looks like it was leaked because it is the kind of thing that some people will find reasonable. (I doubt that it's any more effective than making grandma take off her slippers at the airport, but whatever.) The point is that the administration likely leaked this themselves for the purpose of obscuring the seriousness of the NSA spy scandal.
If this is true, it is another case of the administration leaking classified information for political purposes. How surprising.
That's what we all thought. TIA Redux. Which means they have likely been sifting through millions of Americans' communications, with the acquiescence of your friendly neighborhood phone and internet provider, looking for keywords, patterns ... well, we don't know, now do we, because it's all done with no oversight. They could be looking for signs of illicit blow jobs, which is, as we all know, a major threat to the republic.
I would not expect that this mining is quite as sophisticated as we might like. After all, we are surveilling Quakers and PETA because they are terrorist threats so I wouldn't look for the NSA to have some mind boggling, science fiction level capabilities to sort out the person who is discussing current events from the terrorist trying to kill us all.
Oh well. If you don't want to be a suspect, just don't use your phone or computer. Or the US mail. Or an airplane. Or a library. And if you do use those things, just don't say anything that a computer might interpret to be a threat. Is that so hard? Use your heads, people. This is what we have to do to preserve our freedom.
Four jobs you've had in your life: pizza cook, Alaska pipeline worker, medical transcriber, VP of business affairs.
Four movies you could watch over and over: The Godfather, Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally, Dr Strangelove.
Four places you've lived: Fairbanks Alaska; Ankara Turkey; Bangkok Thailand; Bay St Louis, Mississippi.
Four TV shows you love to watch: The Daily Show, The Family Guy, Deadwood, Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Peter Daou, the ball is in your court.
Lots of people are discussing this article about Kos in the new Washington Monthly and wondering whether we need more wonkery and less partisanship in the blogosphere.
It seems to me that there is a lot of great accessible policy analysis in the left blogosphere. Max Sawicky notes that that wonkery rises to the occasion when needed, as in the social security debate (and, I would argue, Juan Cole and other foreign policy specialists when Iraq debates have raged.) Specialists abound. There is political wonkery in the form of analysts like Ruy Teixeira at Donkey Rising. Nathan Newman is the go to on labor issues. PZ Myers and Chris Mooney on science. Economists and lawyers abound, Maxspeak, Angry Bear, Balkinization, Talk Left, Scotusblog, the list goes on. TPM Cafe is a salon devoted to wonkery.
Having said that, I disagree that the rest of the blogsphere is a bunch of screaming hysterics who engage in nothing but "agitation" or partisan catcalling. They all discuss politics --- you're not a member of the left blogsphere if you don't --- and they discuss the subject in different ways with analysis, humor, polemic, grassroots activism, criticism and historical perspective. The big blogs like Kos and Atrios have created virtual communities within the larger community for people to gather and talk about the issues of the day. And that, believe it or not, is the essence of politics.
"That man is much more a political animal than any kind of bee or any herd animal is clear. For, as we assert, nature does nothing in vain, and man alone among the animals has speech....[S]peech serves to reveal the advantageous and the harmful and hence also the just and unjust. For it is peculiar to man as compared to the other animals that he alone has a perception of good and bad and just and unjust and other things of this sort; and partnership in these things is what makes a household and a city."
Politics is way more than wonkery, although wonkery is essential. And the partisan catcalling is a natural part of it, particularly in highly polarized times such as this. It's human, for better or worse. People need to find solidarity and they need to express their fears, frustrations, desires, needs and beliefs. People turn to bloggers and each other to connect the dots and connect to others.
Wonkery is reason. The comaraderie we find among those of our online political tribe is heart. Successful politics requires both. I've often felt that one of the problems with liberalism is that we lost touch with that side of ourselves --- as Ezra has called it, our "inner RFK" --- the part that gets inspired (or angry) because we deeply believe in something.
Our technocratic side is far superior for actual governance, as we've recently been shown in spades. But it is a grave mistake to think that politics is, or ever has been, fueled by a concept like "competence." It's fueled by much bigger concepts like "leadership" and "inspiration" and "committment." We need some of that stuff, badly.
So I say hooray for the wonkosphere and the crankosphere. I know that each side sometimes offends the sensibilities of the other but we should warmly embrace our bretheren no matter what our temperaments incline us to. Robust progressive politics requires both.


'My mama don't like you and she likes everyone,' sings Justin Bieber in one of his recent hits, describing a slightly less complex mother son dynamic than the turbulent one depicted in Shakespeare's Hamlet. This is just one of the reasons why recent research has found that Britain's under-25s are more likely to recognise a lyric by Bieber than a line by Shakespeare. The results of the study, which was supposed to be in honour of Shakespeare's death, make the gesture feel a bit like passing a birthday card around the office only for everyone to write down that they don't really like you anymore; but the fact is, even if we don't quite know it, Shakespeare's presence is still very much felt four hundred years after his death.
For most of us, our first – and perhaps only – encounter with Shakespeare comes at school, and is not always welcomed. In a recent comedy documentary, 'Cunk on Shakespeare', a fictitious journalist-come-presenter, Cunk, declares: 'School in Shakespeare's day and age was far easier, because they didn't have to study Shakespeare.' But even if this is our only direct encounter with The Bard, we invariably go on to experience much more of his work and his influence through translations and adaptions, even if we are not always aware of it.
The Lion King is directly based on Hamlet. In both stories a young prince's father is killed by his uncle, and the prince is forced into exile, is visited by his fathers ghost, and returns to the kingdom to avenge his father's death and rightfully take the throne. Disney's version remains close to Shakespeare's original in many ways, though with fewer death and more cute animals.
Other examples include how Henry IV part I and II and Henry V help set the tone for Star Wars, as they depict maturing protagonists becoming a leader by having to defeat darker versions of themselves along the way, just like Luke Skywalker. The character of Frank Underwood in House of Cards, with his monologues directly into the camera, is reminiscent of Richard III. Kevin Spacey once played Richard III on Broadway, so the resemblance may well be a conscious one.
Nowadays this is how many of us loosely experience the work of Shakespeare, and although direct interaction with his work may not be as prominent as it once was, the importance of it has never been questioned. Experts have suggested that King Lear gives a medically accurate representation of madness; Nelson Mandela, who kept a complete work of Shakespeare during his twenty years in prison, said 'Shakespeare always seems to have something to say to us'; and statistically he is the writer most quoted by lawyers in court. Likewise, although the last year has seen an increase in the prominence of Shakespeare in modern society due to this anniversary, the number of tickets sold for the Globe's productions (368,000 in 2014 alone) serve as proof that Shakespeare's plays remain big business in certain circles, and are far from a novelty.
Just as the fact that it is 400 years since he lived hasn't diminished his role in England, it has also allowed his fame and influence to become a worldwide phenomenon: his statue stands in New York's central park, and he is integral to American culture. It is the greatest mark of his genius that four centuries on he still has so much to offer people. Benedict Cumberbatch, an international acting star at the height of his fame, dedicated a large part of last year performing on stage as Hamlet, showing that Shakespeare still has much to offer actors too, for whom his work remains mainstream, and for many, a necessity for a successful career's CV.
Shakespeare is, and will continue to be, one of the greatest geniuses of all time, so if some of his work continues to be hard for us to understand, perhaps we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves; it won't stop the fact that this same genius, like his stories, his characters and his legacy, will remain all around us.


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The Hive is a zombie themed haunted experience located directly next door to The Darkness. Visit The Darkness haunted house and The Hive in the same night. When you purchase a ticket to The Darkness, The Hive is only an additional $5.00 per person. The Hive is open every night The Darkness is open. The Hive is nothing but ZOMBIES, ZOMBIES and more ZOMBIES! Have you ever imagined going face to face with the Walking Dead? When buying your tickets ONLINE upgrade your ticket to include THE HIVE for an additional $5.00.
On two special nights The Hive will turn into a battle against zombies inside St Louis only Zombie Laser Tag Arena. This requires a special ticket.


Front Strut tops for the 1987-2005 MR2. These are often overlooked when replacing suspension and steering systems. They typically need replacing since the bearing underneath the top is typically worn out and falling apart. These tops are being sold individually as ONE unit. Purchase 2 if you are redoing your front suspension.


The men of Joan Peñarroya want to confirm their good progress at home, this Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The Nikola Dragovic signing will be the novelty; Doellman and Lukovic will not play.
Basketball returns to the Nou Congost, with a BAXI Manresa that gave the second joy of the season away from the Nou Congost. The victory in Andorra confirms the good start of Peñarroya's players, who want to transfer to the capital of Bages the triumphs. There will be Unicaja of Luis Casimiro, one of the best in this league start.
BAXI Manresa returns to the Nou Congost with a good balance (2 wins and 2 defeats) after the first 4 rounds. The injured power-forwards Justin Doellman and Marko Lukovic will not play, while the great novelty in the call is the Serbian Nikola Dragovic, the last to arrive, which could make his debut tomorrow.
Manresa will have to work hard in front of one of the teams most in shape of the championship at this start. Unicaja de Málaga, led over the court by Jaime Fernández and Giorgi Shermadini, has only conceded a defeat in Real Madrid court. The Malaga team, with Luis Casimiro on the bench, are in the fourth position, with 3 wins and one defeat.
Joan Peñarroya spoke of the rival and the squad status this Friday: "We start the week with the addition of a player for the loss of Lukovic; Dragovic will help us in the next games and in the day to day; We have done a good week of training, without many scares; We play against one of the teams that makes better basketball, that has only lost in the court of Madrid; they play a simple but very happy basketball".


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Q: ASP.NET MVC disable button I have a .cshtml view that has a button and a text box that is a datepicker. How do I disable the button with id = "submitButton" if the textbox is null? Thanks
<input id="submitButton" type="submit" value="blah" disabled="@ViewBag.blah"
       class="btn btn-default" />

    @Html.Label("my label:")

    @Html.TextBox("Closed", "", new { @class = "datepicker" })

A: You can do it in several different ways, easiest using javascript:

$(".datepicker").change(function() {
  if ($(".datepicker").val())
    $("#submitButton").removeAttr("disabled");
  else
    $("#submitButton").attr("disabled", "disabled");
})
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<input id="submitButton" type="submit" value="blah"
 class="btn btn-default" />
 <input type="text" class="datepicker">

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Birlasoft names Chandrasekar Thyagarajan its new CFO
Chandrasekar Thyagarajan will join the company effective from August 21, filling in the vacant CFO role after Rajeev Gupta stepped down to assume CFO position at L&T Technology Services Limited.
Shivani Phaugat
Digital and information technology services provider, Birlasoft announced the appointment of Chandrasekar Thyagarajan as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) & Key Managerial Personnel, as per a filing with the stock exchanges. Thyagarajan fills in the vacant CFO role after Rajeev Gupta stepped down to assume CFO position at L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS).
"We wish to inform you that the Board of Directors of the Company, at its meeting has approved the appointment of Chandrasekar Thyagarajan as the Chief Financial Officer & Key Managerial Personnel of the Company, with effect from August 21, 2020," said the filing.
With 32 years of experience, Thyagarajan has expertise in the fields of financial strategy and decision support, budgeting, reporting, statutory and management accounting, costing of products and services, implementation of financial processes and procedures, integration of legal entities, businesses and support functions, business controls and financial risk management, financial restructuring, sourcing of funds (private equity and IPO), liaison with financial institutions, and investment banks, statutory compliance, procurement and vendor negotiation, real estate, site operations, and transport operations.
In his career, he has spent 18 years in CXO level positions, with global and Indian companies; and 20 years in leading US multinational IT firms supporting the Infrastructure services, BPO and KPO services, software development, application management services, and IT Consulting Services businesses. He is also certified and licensed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Following the news, the firm's share price was up by 3.89% at Rs 148.40 a piece.
CFO Moves
Chandrasekar Thyagarajan
Birlasoft

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


(D) Data withheld to avoid disclosing figures for individual companies. (S) Withheld because estimate did not meet publication standards. (X) Not applicable.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, through 1992, Current Industrial Reports, series MA35J, annual; thereafter, Manufacturing Profiles, series MP, annual. (released February 2000).
To provide detailed data on new orders, shipments, and backlog of orders of air pollution control equipment. The United States Code, Title 13, authorizes this survey and provides for mandatory responses.
All firms that manufacture selected industrial air pollution control equipment; including particulate emissions collectors and gaseous emissions control devices (most but not all are in SIC 3564), and construction companies that manufacture or site. In 1993, the value of shipments amounted to over $760 million, with new orders amounting to over $665 million.
Data are collected for over 10 types of products. Data at the 7-digit SIC level include quantity and value of shipments, new orders, end users, and end- of-year order backlogs.
Annually; reported data are for activities taking place during the previous calendar year. Data on air pollution control equipment have been collected since 1971.
A mail-out/mail-back survey of over 100 known manufacturers. Firms are identified from the latest census of manufactures and private sources, and are contacted using form MA35J. Data may be revised if firms later provide corrected data.


A ready example of how product variability works is found in the automotive world. For years, automobile manufacturers have utilised common platforms across several product divisions. Each division would address a different market segment offering a variant of the base product equipped with assorted options and design features desirable to the individual segment.
The example illustrates the difficulty of effectively managing the variability for complex products. The conundrum is the desirability of customised, personalised product with the simultaneous requirement of achieving the economies of scale associated with mass-produced products.
It doesn't matter if the products involved are specialty vehicles, power generators, chainsaws, cameras or electronic devices; the same basic product can be made attractive for the consumer and professional users.
Adding variants adds complexity. As the markets served become wider and more diverse, the knowledge required to operate within each of the subsets within the market increases. Specialised knowledge is required to address the individual market in the form of design knowledge, usage knowledge and tribal knowledge. Sales teams must be able to ask the right questions, understand the pains unique to the individual market and converse confidently with those who live and work in each individual market.
Additionally, the complexity extends well beyond the manufacture and sale of product. Effective configuration management is needed to mitigate the challenge of managing variance across the product life-cycle.


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2017 Jul 25 — The Chakras — An Introduction
Regardless of our place of birth, we all have a skeleton with the exact same number of bones. Likewise, we share the same luminous anatomy, which includes the chakras and the acupuncture meridians.
The chakras (a Sanskrit word meaning "wheel") are swirling disks of energy. They spin three to four inches outside the body, rotating clockwise, in the same direction that the spiral arms of the galaxy revolve. The chakras link to our spine and central nervous system, and are a direct pipeline to the human neural network.
The descriptions of the chakras we are most familiar with come from yoga, but we can find references to the chakras among the Hopi, the lnka, the Maya, and many other aboriginal cultures around the world.
Yoga teaches that each energy center symbolizes the pleasures and pains that keep us bound to karma. One must overcome the beckoning rapture of the senses in order to discover that which is transcendent. Yoga is a Sanskrit word meaning "yoking," with connotations of "to unite what has been separated." The body and the soul are reunited; the mundane and the divine become one. In contrast, shamans in the Americas, do not believe in a division between the body and the spirit, or between the visible world of form and the invisible world of energy. There is nothing to transcend and nothing in need of yoking. Whereas some schools of yoga might say that you are not your body, the shaman says that indeed you are your body, and much more. He knows that the visible and invisible worlds permeate and suffuse each other. The reason we have so readily accepted the Eastern version of the chakras is that it fits our myth of banishment from Eden. We have grown accustomed to thinking that we are separate from nature. The soul may be housed in the body, but it is completely detached from it. Western philosophers called this the mind/body split.
These two broad theological orientations have coexisted for millennia. One school of thought developed the sky-god religions — creeds in which there is a heavenly Creator, male, separate, and distant from the Creation (for example, Zeus or Yahweh). The second orientation states that all matter is a manifestation of Spirit and infused with Spirit. This school of thought advances the Earth-goddess religions — these have an earthly Creatrix, female, whose presence permeates all her Creation (for example, Hera, Inana, or Pachamama). Shamans come from the second school of thought. The most accomplished masters transcend the limitations of their own beliefs and realize that both orientations are part of a larger whole.
The chakras represent elemental human qualities. Rather than suppress our instinctual desire and passion, the shaman hones them into finely tuned instruments. I believe that fear is compassion in seed form. Heal the fear, and compassion bursts forth. The instinctual self must not become the enemy. Anger, greed, and lust are all hidden resources that can be transformed into love, clarity, wisdom, and courage. Everything in nature is holy, and every chakra holds the seeds of our illumination and of who we are becoming.
Like the organs in the body, each chakra performs a unique function. Each chakra also has a unique frequency that we perceive as one of the seven colors of the rainbow. The chakras in a newborn child display their pure color, from red in the first chakra to violet in the seventh. As we grow older the colors in the chakras become dull. The trauma and loss in our lives leave their toxic residues behind. The sludge that adheres to a chakra does not permit it to vibrate at its pure frequency, and physical aging is accelerated.
The Amazon shamans believe that when you clear all your chakras you acquire a "rainbow body." Each center vibrates at its natural frequency, and you radiate the seven colors of the rainbow. According to legend, when you acquire the rainbow body you can make the journey beyond death to the Spirit world. You are able to assist others in their healing, and you can die consciously since you already know the way back home.
While the practitioners of yoga recognize seven chakras, my mentor, Don Antonio, taught me that we have nine chakras. Seven of them are within the physical body, while two are outside the body. He called the eighth chakra the wiracocha, which is the name of the Creator or Great Spirit (the word means "sacred source"). The eighth chakra resides within the Luminous Energy Field. It hovers above the head like a spinning sun. It is our connection with the Great Spirit, the place where God dwells within us.
The chakras metabolize life energies from nature. All of our energy comes from five sources: (1) plants and animals, (2) water, (3) air, (4) sunlight, and (5) biomagnetic energy (known as chi in the East and causay to the lnka). These nutrients go from the most material food, such as animals and plants, to the most ephemeral, pure light and energy. We absorb plant and animal foods and water through the digestive tract, oxygen through the lungs, sunlight through the skin, and causay through the chakras. The luminous energies circulate through the chakras just as water and food, the physical energies, course through our bodies. When our digestive track is clogged, we cannot absorb the nutrients in foods. Similarly, when our chakras are blocked, we cannot ingest the causay stored in the Luminous Energy Field.
The chakras extend luminous threads that reach beyond the body, connecting us with trees, rivers, forests, and other people. The first seven chakras are coupled to our bodies during our lifetime. At death, they withdraw from the physical body and rejoin the eighth chakra (wiracocha), and our journey continues in the invisible world.
In future blogs, we will discuss each of these energy centers in detail.


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Fossil Fuels are Dead, Long Live Fossil Fuels
Catherine Wolfram | Energy Institute at HAAS
With new carbon capture and sequestration technologies, can fossil fuels be part of the zero-carbon solution? (photo: Energy Institute at HAAS)
The start of a new year – and decade – is a good time to revisit how new technologies are impacting the electricity sector. In the electricity generation space, the hottest technologies seem to be wind turbines and solar panels. Visions of producing 100% renewable electricity are dancing through lots of heads, including Bernie Sanders' and the proponents of the Green New Deal.
I've also come across a couple of new technologies that seem poised to pump life into older fossil-fuel-based technologies. For example, colleagues of mine in the chemistry department at UC Berkeley have founded a company, Mosaic Materials, based on a chemical that works as a low-cost CO2 sponge and can be used to support carbon capture and sequestration from fossil-fuel-based power plant emissions.
What are the prospects for technologies that seek to decarbonize fossil-fuel electricity generation? Can they make economic sense, and, if so, are they getting any support in policy circles? In short, the answers seem to be that there are good prospects, but limited policy support.
Deep Decarbonization Appears Cheaper with at Least Some Fossil Fuel Use
Electricity generation is projected to play a central role in global decarbonization efforts. On the one hand, electricity generation is supposed to scale up rapidly, as we use electricity to replace fossil fuels in everything from powering vehicles to heating buildings and cooking food. At the same time, decarbonization necessitates a radical transformation in the way we produce electricity, since worldwide, over 60% of electricity is currently produced using fossil fuel technologies.
A number of researchers have sought to model decarbonized electricity systems. For example, several MIT researchers published a paper that modeled low- and zero-carbon systems for a northern electricity system, loosely based on New England's electricity grid, and a southern electricity system, loosely based on Texas' electricity grid.
In a nutshell, studies like this one make a range of different assumptions about the costs and efficiency of different low- or zero-carbon technologies and they simulate future electricity demand. They then try to find the least cost way of using the technologies to meet that demand under the different assumptions about, say, the cost and efficiency of solar electricity and the costs and efficiency of storage.
Read full article here>
Carbon Capture and Storage topic page


We created an intuitive, flexible application process that puts you in control by allowing you to start anytime, save your work, and come back later to submit your application.
Completed applications will be considered by the admissions cycle deadlines. Admissions decisions are made four to six weeks after each monthly admissions deadline.
Our team will provide personalized assistance to ensure that the Wisconsin Executive MBA is a good fit for you. We will support you throughout the admissions process by answering questions, and by reviewing your résumé and other qualifications before you apply. We encourage you to meet with an admissions professional for an informal review of your credentials.
The employer agrees that the participant will have approval to attend the scheduled classes and other required program activities that run concurrently with work hours.
The applicant will be asked to submit the name and email address of the representative in their organization who is authorized to give the applicant permission to miss work to attend class.
A bachelor's degree from an accredited institution is required. The target undergraduate grade point average is 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale). Candidates with additional degrees should include details regarding their other advanced degrees.
You must submit official transcripts/academic records. Records must have a seal and signature in ink from the institution's authorized official, such as the registrar or recorder of records. For degrees from international institutions, records must be in the original language of the institution attended, and accompanied by official English translations. Have transcripts sent directly to the Executive MBA Program Office from your schools. You may submit unofficial copies of your transcripts which will be used by the admissions committee for review when you submit your application; however, you must submit original hard copies sent directly from your schools at or before your admissions interview, which is by invitation only.
For non-native English speakers, a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of at least 600 (paper-based test) or 106 (computer-based test) is required. International applicants with undergraduate degrees from U.S. universities may contact an Executive MBA Program admissions representative to request a waiver of the TOEFL.
Wisconsin Executive MBA applicants must have either a H1-B visa or Permanent Resident status. No student visas are issued to Executive MBA students. Submit a copy of the H1-B visa or Permanent Resident documentation.
A target minimum of eight years of full-time professional work experience is required, with a target of five years of leadership experience. The program is designed for students who will hold a full-time professional position throughout the program.


Congratulations on your appointment at UNC Charlotte! Please reference the information below to learn more about the benefits orientation sessions and available resources, to help you make important benefit decisions that impact you and your family members.
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One of the more interesting product reveals that we missed during CES 2018 last week was the latest edition of the HyperDrive USB-C Hub for the Mac. We've covered Hyper's products before, but the new HyperDrive is an 8-in-1 hub plus a 7.5W Qi wireless charger and iPhone stand. With a single USB-C cable, you can add eight additional ports to a Mac in addition to placing a Qi wireless charging stand on your desk for your new iPhone X or iPhone 8.
Hyper launched a Kickstarter campaign preview last week shortly after it unveiled the hub, but now that the campaign has gone live, you can officially preorder the HyperDrive. The expected retail price is $159, but you can preorder now while the campaign is still live and secure your HyperDrive for as little as $99.
The new HyperDrive hub adds eight ports to your MacBook: 4K HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, microSD, SD, 3 x USB 3.1 and USB-C Power Delivery. In addition to being a formidable hub of ports, the new HyperDrive is also supports 7.5W high speed wireless charging for the iPhone X and iPhone 8/8 Plus, as well as 5W, 10W and 15W wireless charging for Android devices. Hyper claims that it will charge the iPhone X faster than Belkin and Mophie too.
But that's not all. The charger has three charging coils so that there won't be any blind spots when you set your phone down on it, the stand has adjustable viewing angles so that you can adjust your phone while it's docked (and still use Face ID), and it has a built-in LCD display to measure voltage and current.
If you're an Apple user, you're sick of dongles and you want a Qi wireless charger for your iPhone all in one package, you're going to want to check the Kickstarter campaign for the HyperDrive USB-C Hub and iPhone stand.


Ladd Memorial Hospital is a critical access hospital located in Osceola, WI 54020 that serves the Polk county area. This facility is a private non-profit hospital with emergency services.
The hospital patient survey at Ladd Memorial Hospital is administered to a random sample of adult inpatients after discharge. The following are the results of some the survey's five-star quality ratings.
These performance measures at Ladd Memorial Hospital show how rapidly emergency departments give recommended treatments known to get the best results for patients with certain common conditions. This information could help patients compare which hospitals provide the right care at the right time.
We have identified the following individual quality measures where Ladd Memorial Hospital has better average ratings than other hospitals in Wisconsin or where the hospital is performing better compared to national averages or benchmarks.


text:
package macromedia.qa.metrics;

import macromedia.util.UnitTrace;

import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

public class Value extends Persistable
{
    public static final String TABLE_NAME = "Value";

    public final Run run;
    public final Metric metric;
    public boolean outlier;
    public String textValue;
    public Double numberValue;

    private Map clause;
    private String[] tables = new String[]{TABLE_NAME};

    Value(Run run, Metric statistic)
    {
        this.run = run;
        this.metric = statistic;
    }

    public void load(MetricsDatabase database)
    {
        PreparedStatement statement = null;
        ResultSet rs = null;

        try
        {
            statement = get(database);
            rs = statement.executeQuery();
            rs.first(); //move to first row

            Object i = rs.getObject("id");
            if (i != null)
            {
                id = MetricsDatabase.getId(i);
                outlier = rs.getBoolean("outlier");
                textValue = rs.getString("textvalue");
                numberValue = new Double(rs.getDouble("numvalue"));
            }
            else
            {
                id = -1;
            }
        }
        catch (SQLException ex)
        {
            if (UnitTrace.errors)
                System.err.println("Error loading " + getIdentity() + ". " + ex == null ? "" : ex.getMessage());
        }
        finally
        {
            closeResultSet(rs);
            closeStatement(statement);
        }
    }

    public String getIdentity()
    {
        return TABLE_NAME + ": " + run.build.getIdentity() + ", " + metric.getIdentity() + ", id: " + id;
    }

    public String getTableName()
    {
        return TABLE_NAME;
    }

    protected String[] getTables()
    {
        return tables;
    }

    protected Map getInserts()
    {
        Map inserts = getUpdates();
        inserts.put("metric_id", metric);
        inserts.put("run_id", run);
        return inserts;
    }

    protected Map getUpdates()
    {
        HashMap updates = new HashMap();
        updates.put("outlier", outlier ? Boolean.TRUE : Boolean.FALSE);

        if (textValue != null)
            updates.put("textvalue", textValue);

        if (numberValue != null)
            updates.put("numvalue", numberValue);

        return updates;
    }

    protected Map getClauses()
    {
        if (clause == null)
        {
            clause = new HashMap();
            clause.put("metric_id", metric);
            clause.put("run_id", run);
        }

        if (id >= 0)
            clause.put("id", new Long(id));

        return clause;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Bivol focused more on legacy than money
December 28th, 2022 - Comments Closed
By Dan Ambrose: Dmitry Bivol is focusing on his legacy over money with his decision to target IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev over a lucrative rematch against Canelo Alvarez.
Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) believes the money will eventually come with him capturing belts and beating the best fighters he can. However, Bivol could be avoided if he keeps winning the way he has.
Some would say that Bivol is already being avoided because Canelo has been dragging his feet about taking the rematch since he was whipped by the talented WBA 175-lb champion last May in Las Vegas.
Bivol focuses on legacy over money
"If you are motivated only by money, you'll never achieve anything," said Dmitry Bivol via SI. "It's stupid. You have to love your job. If you are an actor, you have to have a dream to get an Oscar, not just to earn money.
"When you get your Oscar, you earn money too. But this is second. When you get a lot of titles, you earn money too.
"I'm not a guy who works only with the money. I'm not the guy who works on Wall Street. They think about money. I'm an athlete. Maybe it's a stupid dream, to have all the belts," said Bivol.
NEWS: Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol rematch at 168 for undisputed championship in September
Canelo's decision to try and beat Bivol by throwing single shots doomed him from the start. Whether it was Canelo's idea or his trainer Eddy Reynoso's to try and defeat a combination puncher like Bivol with that game plan is unknown.
Canelo & Reynoso should have researched and noted that Bivol was a combination puncher and adjusted their game plan.
For the boxing fans that say Canelo had no business at 175, the fact is that the 168-pounders, David Benavidez & David Morrell, are the same size as Bivol and bring just as much trouble.
Canelo chose to move to 175 to avoid Benavidez & Morrell, and he discovered that he was just as overmatched against Bivol as he would have been having he stayed at 168 and fought those guys.
If Canelo returns to the division and stays there, he will be trounced by Benavidez and Morrell in the same way he was by Bivol because he's not good enough of a fighter to beat well-schooled talented fighters.
Without controversial decision wins, Canelo's career would be on the rocks already after his fights with Gennadiy Golovkin, Erislandy Lara, and Austin Trout.
NEWS: Canelo Alvarez wants revenge against Dmitry Bivol says Eddie Hearn
Alvarez passed up on the rematch with Bivol last September to face his old past prime nemesis Gennadiy Golovkin in a trilogy fight way past its sell-by date.
If this fight was the equivalent of milk, it was spoiled, but Canelo still went in that direction, which tells you that he's avoiding Bivol like the plague.
With Canelo no longer an option due to his decision to take the rematch, Bivol is focusing on going after Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) next year. That fight will be huge, a battle of two unbeaten light heavyweight talents for the 175-lb supremacy.
Unless Top Rank says otherwise, it's quite possible that we'll get two to three fights between Bivol & Beterbiev. It's that type of fight. Top Rank promotes Beterbiev, and they might choose to protect him if he gets schooled by Bivol.
It's an excellent idea for Bivol to win all the belts at 175 because it's the best thing to come from that weight class. With the light heavyweight division being an ignored weight class, the only fight that makes sense for Bivol is against Beterbiev. It helps that all the titles will be on the line for the contest.
NEWS: Eddie Hearn confident Canelo vs. Bivol II happens in September
Eventually, when David Benavidez moves up to 175, that'll bring more excitement to the weight class. For the 175-lb weight class to take off, guys like Caleb Plant, David Morrell, and Demetrius Andrade will need to move up.
« Tank Davis' Biggest Adversary Is Gervonta Davis
Gervonta Davis says "I am not a monster," denies striking woman »
Is the Bivol and Beterbiev Showdown Still On?
Top Rank wants Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol next for undisputed at 175 in summer
Beterbiev wants Bivol next after destroying Yarde
Eddie Hearn goes off, insists Joshua NOT "finished in the sport"


text:
Station Vlissingen Stad is een voormalig station van de Zeeuwse Lijn dat dichter bij de stad lag dan het tegenwoordige station, dat toen Vlissingen Haven heette. Station Vlissingen Stad was open van 1 november 1872 tot 18 juli 1894.

In 1894 werd de hoofdspoorlijn verlegd naar station Haven, dat daarna station Vlissingen genoemd werd. Het gebouw heeft nog vele decennia als woning gediend, totdat het in de Tweede Wereldoorlog beschadigd raakte.

Externe link

Vlissingen Stad
Vlissingen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
xyFace
How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass
How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass(2003) Images
How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass was released in the year 2003。How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass is also called as Venganza de Sweetback, Gettin' the Man's Foot Outta Your Baadasssss!, Badass, Baadasssss!。
Melvin Van Peebles stunned the world for the first time, with his debut feature, The Story of a Three Day Pass. Filmed in France and selected as the French entry in the San Francisco Film Festival, Melvin's film was awarded the top prize. Saying it was controversial would be an understatement. In 1968 for a black man to walk up to the podium and accept the top festival award for a film he had to go abroad to make--now that's how you make your mark. After his comedy, Watermelon Man, Melvin was determined to push the Hollywood boundaries with the groundbreaking, and even more controversial, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. Turned down by every major studio including Columbia, where he had a three-picture deal, Melvin was forced to basically self-finance. Risking everything he had Melvin delivered to the world the first Black Ghetto hero on the big screen--whether they were ready or not! More than 30 years later, history is being fashioned again in the telling of this very tale. Mario Van Peebles, Melvin's son, directs an honest and revealing portrait of his pioneering father. Mario now tells the story of the making of Melvin Van Peebles' landmark 1971 film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, including Melvin's struggles to raise money to fund the film under the guise of creating a black porno film. Melvin had ducked creditors, the unions and had to bail out his camera crew after they were arrested because a white cop decided a bunch of Negroes and hippies couldn't have come by that camera equipment honestly. Despite death threats and temporarily losing sight in one eye, Melvin somehow managed to whip into shape a rag-tag, multi-racial crew and finish the film that would give birth to birth of a new era which was about to explode: Independent Black Cinema.
How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass Actors and Actresses
How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass actors and actresses include David Alan Grier, Joy Bryant, Karimah Westbrook, Khalil Kain, Khleo Thomas, Len Lesser, Mario Van Peebles, Mickey Mello, Nia Long, Ossie Davis, Penny Bae Bridges, Rainn Wilson, Sally Struthers, Saul Rubinek, Vincent Schiavelli, Wesley Jonathan。
Karimah Westbrook
Khalil Kain
Khleo Thomas
Len Lesser
Mickey Mello
Penny Bae Bridges
Saul Rubinek
Vincent Schiavelli
More Information of the Movie How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass
How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass on IMDB
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text:
Prof Tim Claridge
Professor of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.
Tim is Director of the NMR facilities for Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5583-6460
Book: High-Resolution NMR Techniques in Organic Chemistry
High-Resolution NMR Techniques in Organic Chemistry, Third Edition describes the most important NMR spectroscopy techniques for the structure elucidation of organic molecules and the investigation of their behaviour in solution. Appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, research chemists and NMR facility managers, this thorough revision covers practical aspects of NMR techniques and instrumentation, data collection, and spectrum interpretation. It describes all major classes of one- and two-dimensional NMR experiments including homonuclear and heteronuclear correlations, the nuclear Overhauser effect, diffusion measurements, and techniques for studying protein–ligand interactions. A trusted authority on this critical expertise, High-Resolution NMR Techniques in Organic Chemistry, Third Edition is an essential resource for every chemist and NMR spectroscopist.
My research interests revolve around the application of solution-state NMR techniques to address questions of structure, function and dynamics of "small" molecules in organic chemistry and chemical biology. Many of the projects in which I become involved arise through collaborations with groups across the department and the university more widely.
NMR Supersequences for efficient structure characterisation: NOAH
I am involved with the development of time-efficient NMR "supersequences" termed NOAH (NMR by Ordered Acquisition using 1H detection) that can provide a significant reduction in the time required for collecting 2D data sets used for the characterisation of small molecules. These experiments work by nesting multiple conventional 2D experiments into one, thereby reducing the number of lengthy magnetisation recovery delays required in data acquisition. This work is in collaboration with Eriks Kupce of Bruker Biospin UK. See our NOAH page for more details and access to pulse programs etc.
Protein-ligand binding studies by NMR Spectroscopy
The interaction of small molecules with protein targets is an area in which NMR spectroscopy can play a key role, providing information on the behaviour of the small molecule and on structural changes in the protein itself. A wide range of techniques are available to probe such interactions (such as relaxation filtering, saturation transfer difference and WaterLOGSY) and we are interested in further developing and applying such methods to a variety biological systems. We also employ protein-observe methods when isotopically labelled macromolecules are available, for example via non-specific15N or specific19F labelling.
NMR methods for studying small molecules
Despite their relatively small size, many molecules encountered in the laboratory of synthetic and medicinal chemists have structures that can prove surprisingly difficult to define reliably, especially in relation to stereochemistry. We are interested in exploring the application of novel methods and developing these further to help better elucidate small molecule structures. Methods that are currently of interest are those based on pure shift methodology (broadband proton decoupled proton spectroscopy), methods for fluorinated molecules, the use of anisotropic parameters as alternatives to traditional scalar couplings and NOEs.
Details of my book and journal publications are provided here.
My first degree was in "Chemistry and Analytical Science" at Loughborough University, which included a "sandwich" year in the spectroscopy laboratory at (what was then) Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now part of GlaxoSmithKline). During this time I gained experience of hands-on NMR and discovered this to be infinitely more interesting than chromatography so decided that a Ph.D in NMR was my next goal. This was completed in Oxford under the supervision of the late Andy Derome, during which I was a member of Wolfson College (an Oxford graduate college).
In 1992 I was appointed as the NMR Facility Manager in the Dyson Perrins Laboratory.
In 2004 the Facility moved in to the Chemistry Research Laboratory and I became the Facility Director for Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
In 2006 I was als awarded the title of University Research Lecturer and in 2014 became Professor of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.
For the period 1998- 2009 I served on the committee of the UK Royal Society of Chemistry NMR Discussion Group and was its Chairman from 2006-2009. In 2012 I co-founded the UK Magnetic Resonance Managers (UKMRM) group (with Dr Craig Butts, University of Bristol) and currently serve on the organising committee of the SMASH (Small Molecules Are Still Hot) International NMR conference and on the Advisory Board for the journal Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry.


* 6. Do you have any dietary requirements or food allergies?
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What is YOUR favorite beer style?
What is a vacation without a microbrewery tour along the way? Click on the Daily Loaf image above for my article (Part one of the multi-part article) about Western Canadian craft beer!


text:
Fintech/Consumer Fintech/Analysis/
Can QR codes become mainstream in Europe?
Founders and investors weigh in on the rise of QR codes in Europe — and its future, post-pandemic.
By Tom Matsuda 24 August 2021
Source: Photo courtesy of Sunday
"Everyone's a fintech now"… or are they? Why embedded finance is harder than it looks
By Tom Ritchie 14 September 2021
Enter any commercial establishment today and you'll confront a printed image of mishmash black and white lines. The QR code, along with surgical masks, has become emblematic of the times we live in.
While it's been a constant feature for years in Asia, in Western states, the pandemic has prompted a boom in QR adoption to access menus, order in restaurants and check-in with the NHS app.
Quick Response codes (known colloquially as QR) are 2D black and white barcodes that contain information ranging from contact details to website links and most notably, payment information. QR codes can also be used by merchants to eliminate the payment pain at the point of sale (POS) and to enable payments that are even more contactless than contactless itself.
In China, at least, messaging app WeChat has long relied on QR codes as key to its one-stop shop for payments. By depositing money into your digital wallet via bank transfer, a quick scan of the app can be used for services such as taxis and cleaning, bike rental and even for self-service convenience stores. This technology has enabled China to leapfrog over cards with the QR itself now operating as the payment de jour, with low merchant fees as a key selling point for SMEs.
Now, startups in Europe are beginning to work on becoming the next homegrown WeChat and making QR payments here mainstream.
Will they fly or flail?
QR comes to Europe
The good news for payments startups is that Brits are open to a future with QR codes. A 2021 Ivanti survey, revealed that 69% of UK citizens surveyed were open to using QR codes for payments.
So far in Europe, we've seen QR not operate as the payment method but rather the vehicle unto which payment can occur via Apple Pay or card. This suggests that the European story will be fundamentally different to the Chinese one in that it will accompany card payments rather than replace them.
One startup battling this space is London's Pomelo Pay, a QR code payment business that was founded pre-pandemic and now counts a customer base of 3.5k merchants in the UK and 35k worldwide.
Pomelo Pay CEO Vincent Choi and CTO Simon Varraest.
Pomelo Pay's CEO Vincent Choi doesn't see QR as competing with contactless in Europe as it operates as a route to payment. He explains the key advantage over contactless cards is that the client doesn't have to be at the card reader to pay. QR codes can enable the client to choose an item from a list, input their payment details and complete the transaction without interacting with anybody.
"Some of our merchants get really creative with how they use the QR system."
"Some of our merchants get really creative with how they use the QR system," he says. Choi describes a client that sells cleaning services via a QR code on a business card that the customer can scan to browse and book a range of services.
Money between the (barcode) lines
The QR ecosystem in Europe is still small but mighty.
Aside from Pomelo, which has raised £2.1m to date, investors are also excited by the likes of France's Sunday.
Sunday, a QR code payment system to speed up restaurant checkouts, raked in €21.8m seed funding. It was the largest seed funding round in Europe this year.
"Everyone now knows how to use a QR code, from seven-year-olds to 77-year-olds — Covid has democratised QR codes completely."
Moreover, Orderli, another QR-based tableside ordering platform, is taking part in the spring/summer Y Combinator batch — a clue into how the hospitality sector may be a key funnel for QR in Europe.
"I think pre-covid, no one in Europe knew what a QR code was — now, it's obvious," says New Wave VC founding partner Pia d'Iribarne, who invested in Sunday.
"On top of that, I think restaurants have really accelerated their digital transformation. Now, there are a lot of them looking at more digital [payment] solutions."
Whereas in China, QR codes came about due to a market environment where card readers were expensive and seldom-owned, adapting to the pandemic for physical premises appears to be paving the way for European adoption of QR.
"So, 18 months ago, this would have been a challenging product to launch because a lot of people didn't know how to use QR codes," says Sunday cofounder and US CEO Christine de Wendel. "18 months later, Covid has disrupted the way people use their phones."
Sunday now boasts 700k users across its restaurants in Europe and the US, adds de Wendel.
Barriers to adoption
However, there remain key infrastructure issues that will most likely hamper adoption.
Thibault D'hondt, an investor at Force Over Mass, says that the prevalence of expensive POS terminals already in place at merchants will slow uptake.
"[Regarding] merchants with existing payment infrastructure, it's not that easy to tell them like, hey, what you have there and what you paid 1000s of dollars for — you don't need that any longer," he says.
The other issue might be privacy related. In Asia, the QR code has also accompanied the rise of the so-called super app, presenting possible privacy issues for a European consumer in its ability to collect data. In certain restaurants in China, scanning a QR code to pay facilitated the transfer of one's WeChat name, profile picture and region.
"Suddenly, your offline activity of sitting down for a meal has become part of the online advertising empire."
Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the New York Times last month: "People don't understand that when you use a QR code, it inserts the entire apparatus of online tracking between you and your meal."
The ICO also recently fined a contact tracing firm for sending unsolicited spam via QR code technology.
Sunday cofounders Tigrane Seydoux, Christine de Wendel and Victor Lugger.
Europe's startups don't deny that data collection could be an asset to them.
The startups Sifted spoke to did admit that a key benefit of QR codes is their increased consumer-to-merchant interaction.
"Yes, there's a huge opportunity to monetize the data " says Sunday's de Wendel — as long as they upheld regional privacy laws.
In particular, de Wendel imagines a future where information about your allergies — "If you're allergic to shellfish, when we show you a menu, there's no reason why we should show you shellfish dishes." — and data on your morning coffee preferences can be used to customise the hospitality experience once Sunday becomes more widespread.
Choi says that they'll never try to circumvent GDPR laws and it'll be up to the customer to opt-in but stressed that the startup exists to benefit the merchants primarily.
While large scale adoption might still be a pipedream, there is one major advantage QR code startups have: money. Investors, at least, are ready to make their bets.
When Sifted quizzed investors about how confident they are in QR becoming mainstream in Europe — d'Iribarne says "it's a no brainer"— but thinks that it'll start in hospitality and then spread to other sectors in the long term.
D'hondt agrees, and also believes that there is potential for the QR craze to spread to large retail stores, such as Zara Home, due to its ability to enable increased consumer-merchant interaction.
"SMEs are the low hanging fruit today, but there are definitely opportunities for very large retailers as well."
Tom Matsuda is an editorial intern at Sifted. He tweets from @_tommatsuda.
Starling launches UK's first recycled debit card
By Sarah Drumm
The next big thing in neobroking: social networks
Twitter cofounder joins Belvo's recordbreaking $43m Series A
By Tim Smith in Barcelona
Podcast: The neobank battle over millennial millionaires' wallets
By The Sifted Podcast Team
Sikander Hauser
Great read and nicely put together! Adding three comments to the discussion: (1) Covid is not a trend setter, but an accelerator The overall trends and points are valid, but we shouldn't fall for the myth of Covid bringing QR to the market in Europe – banks started to prepare for QR payments from 2016 with Alipay already. Two separate pan-European-QR-Wallet collaborations were announced in 2019. But it's fair to say it isn't as big as cash & cards, and probably won't be for some time. We know that earlier attempts failed, including giants like PayPal. With the momentum now,… Read more »


According to financial planning website NerdWallet Inc, Omaha is among the top cities in the nation for starting a business, placing tenth.
The San Francisco-based company surveyed the 42 largest metro area in the United States, considering factors such as ease of collecting financing, health of the local economy, ease of hiring, and affordability when compiling their Best Cities to Start a Business List.
Omaha's concentration of manufacturing, healthcare, and and financial services companies; support for start-ups and small businesses; percentage of population with college degrees; top tier talent pool; and business-friendly culture helped the city place in the top of the list.
Those familiar with the best cities for starting a new business will recognize many of the cities on the list, as increasing numbers entrepreneurs move to areas that encourage innovation and small business.
The top five cities in order are Atlanta, Raleigh, Austin, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City.


text:
"A Bridge Over Troubled Water"? Why does our foreign secretary want an alternative route?: #Eurotunnel #Brexit
I spent some years in a "semi-fugue" state (the second a time I've been "out there", a few scares since -and it's always there "hovering"-, but no long term immersion in that "other" world), during the nineteen nineties ("nuff said" right now no-names-no-pack-drill), and had an number of strange or unusual encounters during this time. One notable encounter was when a good female friend took me to meet an engineer/architect who was at that time living in a top-floor flat in a Herbert Collins designed (see pic, unfortunately I couldn't find one of this far more Art Nouveau set of apartments -unusual for Collins because of their height -, I'm not sure but very possibly his only three-four floor development), block in Portswood Southampton.
I was having problems communicating (a very notable and usual component of the experience), but on academic subjects I could still be coherent. We talked about the engineer's work decommissioning nuclear reactors and also the plans he knew of to build a bridge across the Straits of Gibraltar. Standing on the roof of the block we all four (his partner was also there), looked over to Southampton water with our breath taken by both the view and the notion of the bridge that would be required (and as he intimated at the time the politics would have to be right for a bridge across the Mediterranean to be considered and as we know they haven't been since). The thought of a bridge across The Channel sprang immediately to my mind (unsurprisingly as I have never liked the "Chunnel" esp. as it was necessary to desecrate/destroy one of the only neolithic-bronze age sites in the region to build it -and "notwithstanding" the deaths which occurred during its construction-), I had written a poem about it some years earlier (this and other issues like the Iran-Iraq war), that I submitted to a competition (it was slated!). Since then I have watched events and news concerning the Tunnel with both interest and considerable concern.
"Eurotunnel" doesn't belong to we Brits anymore, its been sold-off, hardly a flagship project and although rarely of benefit to any but the middle and upper income groups we still intend to put all the HS2 eggs in its basket.
Quote; "Two Canadian pension funds are to pay a higher-than-expected £2.1bn for the right to run the UK's only dedicated high-speed rail line, in the first significant privatisation of the new coalition government.
Philip Hammond, transport secretary, described the sale of a 30-year concession for High Speed One to Borealis Infrastructure and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, announced on Friday, as "great news for taxpayers and rail passengers alike"."... Go to: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/be77b8d4-e8cc-11df-a383-00144feab49a.html#axzz34F7WsF2F
"Quote; ""Recently, an earthquake occurred along the English Channel
coast, with its epicentre at Folkestone in Kent, at
8.28 a.m. (local time) on 28 April 2007. The local earthquake
magnitude was estimated by the British Geological Survey
as 4.2ML (Walker and Musson, 2007) and no discernible
affect was reported on the sea. However, worryingly, a local
news outlet reported that coastal residents on feeling the
tremor "started rushing out from their houses and on to the
beach for safety" (Kent News, 2007)! This highlights the
need to assess the threat from tsunami and associated hazards
in Britain and, if appropriate, raise public awareness of
the potential hazards."
from http://dyscovery.newport.ac.uk/
According to "The Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Organisation" (go to.... http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/8/587/2008/nhess-8-587-2008.pdf ), siesmic events either in or on either side of The Channel are historically far from rare! " Go to http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/has-integrity-of-channel-tunnel-always.html"...
"Quote; "Geological profile along the tunnel as constructed. For most of its length the tunnel bores through a chalk marl stratum (layer)*
Successful tunnelling required a sound understanding of the topography and geology and the selection of the best rock strata through which to tunnel. The geology generally consists of northeasterly dipping Cretaceous strata, part of the northern limb of the Wealden-Boulonnais dome. Characteristics include:"...
"Quote; "Turkey's New Undersea Tunnel Is Built to Resist Earthquakes
How engineers made a train tunnel that connects two continents
When designing the tunnel, engineers had to take into account its proximity to the active North Anatolian Fault, which lies about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away. Activity along this 930-mile (1,500-kilometer) fault system resulted in a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey in 1999, killing tens of thousands of people.
"The earthquake hazard really drove the design of the project," said Joseph Wartman, a civil engineering professor at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved with the project but has studied its progress due to his work on earthquake-resistant design. The tunnel's engineers had to account for the possibility of earthquakes of magnitudes as large as 7.5, he said. "It's about as challenging as it gets for tunnel design."
Earthquake safety determined the sizing of the tunnel and a lot of the design details, Wartman said. "This project really posed some significant challenges to the designers. It's really pushing the boundaries of underground construction in a seismically active area."
Although earthquakes can cause a lot of shaking, that's not as much of a concern with underground tunnels, Wartman said. "They're actually some of the safest places to be, because the level of shaking is lower below the ground compared to the surface." He explained that this is due to the mechanics by which the seismic waves propagate across the ground.
"It may not be particularly intuitive that something deep is actually safer, but that's the case in this situation," he said.
Turning Solid Ground Into Liquid
The real concern during an earthquake is a phenomenon known as liquefaction, which can temporarily soften the soil surrounding the tunnel, effectively turning that soil into a liquid, Wartman said. "The soil is no longer supporting the tunnel, it's trying to dislodge it, and it can actually cause tunnels to float up," he said.
"We have seen many cases where below-ground structures such as gasoline tanks float up to the surface in an earthquake."
Jonathan Stewart, a civil engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles also pointed to liquefaction as a major concern for the Marmaray project, especially given the massive liquefaction observed during the 1999 earthquake in Turkey. "That's probably the single biggest threat," *said Stewart, who was not involved with the tunnel's design.
*Italics mine. Could liquifaction (or similar "non-impactive" stress), be a problem with regard to The Eurotunnel's structure?
Suspended Tunneling
Quote; "The concept of submerged floating tunnels is based on well-known technology applied to floating bridges and offshore structures, but the construction is mostly similar to that of immersed tunnels: One way is to build the tube in sections in a dry dock; then float these to the construction site and sink them into place, while sealed; and, when the sections are fixed to each other, the seals are broken. Another possibility is to build the sections unsealed, and after welding them together, pump the water out.
The ballast used is calculated so that the structure has approximate hydrostatic equilibrium (that is, the tunnel is roughly the same overall density as water), whereas immersed tube tunnels are ballasted more to weight them down to the sea bed. This, of course, means that a submerged floating tunnel must be anchored to the ground or to the water surface to keep it in place (which of these depends on which side of the equilibrium point the tunnel is). "...
"What concerns me greatly is that at the same time as The Oil Industry's baby was (possibly), pensioned off in 2010 the geological report which was produced ("pay-per-view" only), appears to have vanished.
Quote; "Channel tunnel
Ten workers died during the construction of the Channel tunnel between 1987 and 1993, most of them in the first few months during the boring of the tunnel. The Channel tunnel was a joint venture between British and French construction firms. The vast majority of the work was carried out by the British, and eight out of the 10 dead were British workers." Go to http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/thirteen-workers-die-as-safety-standards-are-ignored-in-race-to-build-olympic-sites-558698.html
I have now located a link to the British Geological Society's report on a prev. thread (I was unable to locate it via any current search engine), the report is still "pay-per-view" only but you will note that it was first published in 1997. I was given to understand that an update had indeed been undertaken, I shall check with the BGS....Go to: http://egsp.lyellcollection.org/content/12/1/327.full.pdf
Quote; "Archaeologists Race To Save History From Channel Tunnel Bulldozers
A dozen French archaeologists are racing against a swarm of bulldozers in this coastal village, trying to save precious history before it is churned to pieces by construction of the tunnel under the English Channel.
In reality, the race already is lost. According to the building schedule, only six months remain for the historians to save what they can from sites containing vestiges of paleolithic, neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Gallo- Roman, Merovingian and Medieval cultures.
Sites that normally would take years to excavate are being dug and studied in two months. The meticulous preparation through library and archives research is being put off until later. The focus is entirely on the ground, soon to be churned and destroyed.
″We know what we can't do,″ said Jean-Claude Routier, chief of one crew working at a site on a chalk hill containing the remains of an 11th century church and an earlier burial ground. ″We select. We are starting to get used to the pressure.″
A colleague, Jean-Pierre Jorrand, uncovering a nearby Gallo-Roman site, said ″we stress recovering knowledge over artifacts.″
President Francois Mitterrand of France and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain signed an accord in January 1986 for the construction of a rail tunnel for trains to carry freight, motor vehicles and passengers in both directions. It is scheduled for completion by 1993 at an estimated cost of about $8 billion, making it the largest privately financed building project ever attempted.
Though completion is still five years away, by September the earthmovers will have torn into the entire 2,200-acre area that will be the train terminal on the French side.
The $442,000 budget for the archaeological excavations is provided jointly by the French Culture Ministry, the Anglo-French Eurotunnel building consortium, the state-run French railroad and local and regional governments.
″It's difficult for an archaeologist to work so fast,″ says Luc Vallin, conservator of antiquities and prehistory in the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France as well as field director here. ″It's really rescue archaeology.″
The historians started working on an archaeological report in the autumn of 1985, before the tunnel accord was signed. The report was completed in March 1986, but archaeological work was delayed while a financing agreement was worked out.
Prospecting for potential digging sites began, with money advanced by Eurotunnel, in September 1986, even before the budget agreement was reached. Aerial surveys were made. Mechanical shovels dug swaths across the ground in areas of potential archaeological value.
Twenty sites were selected.
Some excavation began in June 1987, but work really didn't get moving strongly until December.
″At one site, if we could have excavated it completely, we could have reconstructed entire Gaullish houses,″ said Vallin. ″As it was, we had to content ourselves with what could be saved.″
Archaeologists know very little about the Gallo-Roman era in this region, roughly from Boulogne to the Belgian border. Rural life in the medieval period also is a subject of great interest.
″Perhaps it's in the medieval period that we are finding the most exciting material, and in protohistory,″ the Bronze and Iron ages, Vallin said" Go to: https://apnews.com/article/e2c21416178ddb68a0c1bf87667e57ae
for full article.
"Eurostar rail stake touted for sale by UK government"
go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29588412
Winchester earthquake: Tremor felt in Hampshire
Quote; "An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.9 has been recorded in Hampshire, the British Geological Survey has confirmed.
Postings on social media reported buildings in the Winchester area shaking following a tremor shortly after 18:30 GMT.
A police spokeswoman said no injuries or serious damage had been reported.
Matthew Emery, from South Wonston, near Winchester described the experience as "almost as if Concorde had flown over".
The British Geological Survey (Bgs) reported a tremor at a depth of 3km (1.9miles) at Headbourne Worthy, just north east of Winchester.
BGS Seismologist David Galloway said the UK experienced about 10 quakes of such a size each year which were "usually quite widely felt around the area"..
""the whole bed was visibly shaking" as well as one who said the earthquake sounded "like a bus" crashing "into the neighbours house at speed".
Hampshire Constabulary said it had initially received lots of calls from concerned residents in the Kingsworthy area following reports of something which "felt like an explosion which shook their houses".
Residents also took to social media to describe what happened.
Rowland Rees tweeted: "Quake felt in Crawley, Winchester. Whole house shook for a few seconds!"
And Jen Gupta said in a tweet: "Our house in Winchester just shook enough to rattle glasses in the cupboard, accompanied by a boom sound."
Rachel Cristofoli, in Kings Worthy, said: "Everyone felt it and came outside to see what was going on. It lasted about 5 seconds, but the houses all shook from top to bottom."
Brook Ethridge, barmaid at the South Wonston Social Club, said: "About half past six, I was sitting reading my book and all the glasses started shaking. It sounded like someone had driven into the back of the club."
Go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-31009707
For full article." From; "Was a Dangerous Eurotunnel "Pensioned Off"" go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2014/06/was-dangerous-eurotunnel-pensioned-off.html
The Tunnel was closed some Christmases ago due to "fissures" (their word), in the rails (strange word to use? I'm no expert). Now our foreign secretary wants to build a bridge. Does he know something we don't? Was this yet another example of the man's "humour"? You see it has also occurred to me that in no-wise would the tunnel authorities and politicians want the notion of a compromised tunnel to filter into the public domain, after all if one even thought there could be a problem "down there" one would most likely eschew using the crossing for a cheaper, less stressful and possibly safer alternative, it would surely only be necessary for the notion to gain traction for the tunnel to become financially unviable and unsustainable (I believe maintenance costs are high and that it is required rather more than was planned or than is common knowledge), personally I would rather (if given no other alternative and knowing just how dangerous it can be), swim the channel than cross it underground. What do you know Boris? Are you seriously suggesting we use and maintain both?!
Sorry to be the bearer but I am obliged..Caveat emptor sweethearts, I will never use Eurotunnel of my own volition...ever...
The above article represents the few snippets I could find sorry it is not more definitive.
When I aired my concerns both on The Lifeboat News message board and on Twitter following Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's comments to french President Emmanuel Machron during a recent visit it met with some skepticism however both the mainstream media (MSM), and alternative sources do not seem appraised of any problems regarding the Eurotunnel and consequently did not factor in the possibility that both Mr.Johnson and M.Macron may have been indulging in a "softening-up" exercise to prepare the ground (quite literally), for the eventual closing of the Eurotunnel route. Clearly a bridge across the channel would be an immense undertaking, one comment I received on Twitter was: "One gust of wind and it will be shut! Remember this is the English Channel we are talking about here!!" Possibly but could the road not be enclosed?
UK Hit by Biggest Earthquake for a Decade
Quote: "Parts of Britain have been struck by the country's biggest earthquake for 10 years.
The British Geological Survey said the tremor had a 4.4 magnitude, with a depth of 7.4km, and the epicentre was about 20km north of Swansea.
The quake happened just after 2.30pm on Saturday.
A spokesperson told Sky News it was "reasonably-sized" and that the effects had been felt as far afield as Devon and Birmingham.
"This is the largest earthquake in mainland UK since the 5.2 magnitude Market Rasen earthquake in 2008," he said.
Twitter users described their surprise as the aftershock was felt over a hundred miles away.
Tina Anton wrote on Twitter: "Just had a tremor as in earthquake in Cornwall! I lived in Greece and experienced loads there but never expected one in the southwest of England."
Tim Johnson also posted: "Anyone else just feel an earthquake then? The whole Hilton Liverpool building just shook violently." Go to: https://news.sky.com/story/reasonably-sized-earthquake-strikes-southwest-britain-11254792 for full article.
"A Bridge Over Troubled Water"? Why does our forei...
"My Name is Ruin": Gary Numan, from; "Savage Songs...
Cio Cio San and her Tale of Woe: #Arafel #Incinera...
The Primacy of Consciousness?: #TheLifeboatNews #S...


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Water Damage: Prevention and Cleanup to Avoid Mold After Flooding!
Home > Blog > Water Damage: Prevention and Cleanup to Avoid Mold After Flooding!
It does not matter if it's a burst pipe, a leaky water heater, an overflowing bathtub, or flooding off the Poudre.
And it does not matter if you see it or not.
Water damage can cause harmful mold, rot and unseen damage which can affect the value of your home and the health of loved ones. Too many Coloradans had to deal with this during the 2013 flooding, which we wrote about here.
Moreover, your homeowners insurance might not cover you! Therefore, for this week's article, we want to cover prevention and advice when water damage threatens your home.
• Inspect your roof after storms and make any necessary repairs.
• Clean out your gutters and install gutter guards if debris accumulates quickly.
• Look for leaks in and around your home. Stained or warped walls, spikes in your water bill and mildew are signs you need home repair.
• Take precautions against freezing pipes during the wintertime.
1. First, cut off the water source as soon as possible.
2. Turn off your circuit breakers to wet areas of the building when access to the panel is safe from electrical shock.
3. Have your air ducts and HVAC cleaned. Dirty ducts can circulate odors, mold, and other irritating contaminates throughout your home after water damage has occurred.
4. Avoid contact with contaminated water.
5. Thoroughly wash with clean water after contact with water that may be contaminated.
6. Ventilate with fans and dehumidifiers to help dry out the house, so long as you know contaminates are not present.
7. If you are not sure if fluid is contaminated, assume it is and call in a professional!
8. Do not enter rooms with standing water where electrical shock hazards may exist, such as exposed electrical outlets, switches, circuit breakers, or electrical equipment.
9. Do not attempt using your household vacuum cleaner to remove water, possibly causing an electrical shock or damage to the vacuum cleaner.
10. Do not use household fans to dry the structure if you believe contaminants might be present.


text:
namespace DevProLauncher.Network.Data
{
    internal class RankingRequest
    {
        public RankingRequest()
        {
        }
    }
}


text:
Q: Lightning record action to open prepopulated mail in user's client On the Standard Record page for a CustomObject__c, I want to display a button or link (Quick Action, URL formula field, ...) that when clicked by the user opens the users preferred email client with a pre-populated email (To, Subject, Body) ready to extend and send.
If I don't have to I am more than happy to not need Aura Components and Apex Controllers for that. So the less I need the better.

A: You can use a normal Formula field to do this:
HYPERLINK('mailto:'+EmailAddress__c+'?subject=Hello+There&body=This+is+an+example','Email Me')

For more information, see Email Links on MDN.

You can also make a quick action:

<aura:component implements="force:lightningQuickAction,force:hasRecordId" >
    <aura:attribute name="contact" type="Contact" />
    <force:recordData recordId="{!v.recordId}" targetFields="{!v.contact}" layoutType="FULL" recordUpdated="{!c.sendEmail}" />
</aura:component>

({
    sendEmail: function(component, event, helper) {
        var a = document.createElement("a"),
            contact = component.get("v.contact");
        a.href = "mailto:"+encodeURIComponent(contact.Email)+
            "?subject=Test%20subject"+
            "&body="+encodeURIComponent(contact.Description);
        a.click();
        $A.get("e.force:closeQuickAction").fire();
    }
})


Located towards the east end of Hot Springs Village, this home has an open floor plan with guest rooms separate from master. In addition to the 3 bedrooms there is a lovely all seasons sunroom. Lots of windows and well placed solar tubes add brightness and charm to this lovely home. Quiet neighborhood, great for strolling and easy access to the many amenities in Hot Springs Village!
Builder: DeSoto Blvd to Andorra Drive (next to church) to Left on Andorra Lane.
Directions: Seller is in the process of moving, furnishings will be leaving soon. Seller does have a dog so please call office number for an appointment.
Please, send me more information on this property: MLS# 19002725 – $182,000 – 12 Andorra Lane, Hot Springs Vill., AR 71909.


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You may use this installation package to re-install your program on another PC without PickMeApp usage by coping and running this executable on a destination PC. The setup will guide you through reinstallation process.
Select and install many new programs at once.
Manage separate profiles for different captured programs and new installations.
Submit request and receive online support.
Note: Currently there is no difference between PickMeApp and PickMeApp Light in supported applications.
Download PickMeAppLight now without registration !!!
The full PickMeApp can be downloaded from pickmeapp.com site after registration.


We know how important it is for you to have access to as much support as possible to understand your students' results and how marks have been awarded.
To help provide you with comprehensive feedback on the November 2018 Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) English Language exam series, we have produced two videos featuring our Chair of Examiners, Pam Taylor, and Chief Examiner, Janet Beauman.
Pearson Edexcel centres can use ResultsPlus at any time to access a detailed breakdown of their students' performance. The online analysis tool helps you identify topics and skills where your students could benefit from further learning, helping them gain a deeper understanding of their subject.
Our online Access to Scripts service is available free of charge to all our centres and allows you to view your candidates' marked scripts online or as a downloadable PDF.
The deadline for accessing student scripts through the service is 11 April 2019 and you must obtain permission from the candidates.
You can also use this service to help you decide if you wish to request a review of marking.


text:
Video: Instagram provides a connecting point for community of women scientists at CU
Published: Dec. 4, 2018
Doctoral student Julia Bakker-Arkema has taken to Instagram with the CU WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) selfie series to help familiarize viewers with science and scientists from the CU Boulder community.
Bakker-Arkema, who is working on a doctorate in chemistry, created the CU WISE Instagram page as a way to celebrate and connect the community of women scientists on campus.
"I wanted to create a place for people to describe their work in their own words," she said.
Google recognizes two CU-Boulder programs that use creativity to teach kids to code
Two University of Colorado Boulder programs that teach kids to code have received Google RISE Awards to support their efforts to attract girls and underrepresented minorities to computer science. The two programs are the Scalable Game Design project, which hooks kids on coding by empowering them to build their own video games, and AspireIT, which connects high school and college women with K-12 girls interested in computing. Read more
Renowned behavioral scientist to discuss impact of nurturing environments on April 27 in Boulder
Pioneering behavioral scientist Anthony Biglan will discuss how creating nurturing environments is key to raising better young citizens and building a healthier, happier and more prosperous Colorado and society as a whole on Monday, April 27. Read more
Special Valentine's Day event about Albert Einstein slated for CU-Boulder
Up for a romantic Valentine's Day evening? Then head to the University of Colorado Boulder's Fiske Planetarium to Relativity for Lovers – A Valentine's Day Among the Stars , for music, film and a talk on the genius of Albert Einstein. Read more


text:
Q: Orchard CMS: Create Content Items from External Data Source In Orchard CMS I have a service that pulls data from an external data source, and loads the data into an Orchard Content Part. The Part has a migration that welds it with a title part, and I have a route so that my controller is being hit via a URL:
I am using a controller to access the item via a URL, much like the Blog Part controller. However I can't render my part...
The Blog Controller does similar to the following:
    var asset = _assetService.Get(1234);
    if (asset == null) return HttpNotFound();

    var model = _services.ContentManager.BuildDisplay(asset);

    return new ShapeResult(this, model);

But if I do this, the 'BuildDisplay' method looks for asset.ContentItem but this is null, despite deriving my part from 'ContentPart'.
What do I need to do to get my data to display?

A: If I understand correctly, you are trying to display only one part, and not a whole content item.
To display a single shape, you can do the following:
private readonly IAssetService _assetService;

public MyController(IShapeFactory shapeFactory, IAssetService assetService) {
    _assetService = assetService;
    Shape = shapeFactory;
}

public dynamic Shape { get; set; }

public ActionResult MyAction(int assetId) {
    var asset = _assetService.Get(1234);
    if (asset == null) return HttpNotFound();

    // the shape factory can call any shape (.cshtml) that is defined
    // this method assumes you have a view called SomeShapeName.cshtml
    var model = Shape.SomeShapeName(asset);

    return new ShapeResult(this, model);
}

!!Note:
This does not kick of the (display)driver of the part, it only returns the .cshtml with the given model

A: By having my part deriving from ContentPart, I can use the following Controller method:
private readonly IAssetService _assetService;
private readonly IOrchardServices _services;

public MyController(IShapeFactory shapeFactory, IAssetService assetService, IOrchardServices services) {
    _assetService = assetService;
    _services = services;
    Shape = shapeFactory;
}

public dynamic Shape { get; set; }

public ActionResult MyAction(int assetId) {
    var asset = _assetService.Get(1234);
    if (asset == null) return HttpNotFound();

    // this method assumes you have a view called Parts.Asset.cshtml (see the AssetPartDriver)
    var model = _services.ContentManager.New("Asset");
    var item = contentItem.As<AssetPart>();
    item.Populate(asset) // Method that just populates the service loaded object into the ContentPart

    return new ShapeResult(this, _services.ContentManager.BuildDisplay(item));
}

This will use the 'AssetPartDriver':
public class AssetPartDriver : ContentPartDriver<AssetPart>
    {
        protected override DriverResult Display(AssetPart part, string displayType, dynamic shapeHelper)
        {
            return ContentShape("Parts_Asset", () => shapeHelper.Parts_Asset()); // Uses Parts.Asset.cshtml
        }
    }

And in conjunction with the 'Placement.info' file renders on the screen:
<Placement>
  <Match ContentType="Asset">
    <Match DisplayType="Detail">
      <Place Parts_Asset="Content"/>
    </Match>
  </Match>
</Placement>

The migration file combines my web service part with other Orchard parts:
public class Migrations : DataMigrationImpl
    {
        public int Create()
        {
            ContentDefinitionManager.AlterTypeDefinition("Asset", cfg => cfg
                .WithPart("AssetPart")
                .WithPart("AutoroutePart", builder => builder
                    .WithSetting("AutorouteSettings.AllowCustomPattern", "True"))
                .Listable()
                .Securable()
                .Creatable(false));

            ContentDefinitionManager.AlterPartDefinition("AssetPart", part => part
                .WithDescription("A part that contains details of an individual Web Service loaded asset."));
            return 1;
        }
    }

These additional parts are not yet used, but can be populated during creation and displayed individually using the placement file.
This is the first step of what I was trying to achieve!!


Investors looking to maintain capital in volatile markets may want to consider large-cap stocks, those companies with market capitalizations greater than $10 billion. Conducting business globally, they tend to pay dividends, have strong balance sheets and extremely large amounts of cash. While perceived to be slow growing, many possess the financial might to take advantage of business opportunities that smaller companies cannot. Whether you invest in individual stocks, mutual funds or ETFs, large caps ought to represent a portion of one's equity investments.
The usual understanding suggests that dividends account for approximately half a stock's total return. Some believe this number is really as high as 90%. Obviously, whatever the percentage, dividends are an important weapon in any company's arsenal for rewarding shareholders. Because large-cap companies often possess greater free cash flow, their ability to increase the dividend payment annually is, also, greater. A rising dividend, coupled with a multinational business possessing pricing power, which is the ability to raise prices regularly, provides investors with a certain amount of inflation protection that many mid- and small-cap stocks do not have. With operations in a variety of areas of the world, large caps are able to go where the growth is, and that's why you will find many operating in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Along with geographic diversification, large caps provide investors with currency diversification. As the U.S. dollar weakens, companies have the ability to sell their products more competitively overseas. Small enterprises are less likely to benefit just because a most of their revenue, often, is derived domestically. Lastly, and more importantly, many large caps possess solid balance sheets with little debt and huge levels of cash. For most professional advisors, they are the core holdings in any portfolio.