Aristotle called it the fifth element. Alchemists thought it was the key to the philosopher's stone. Scientists believed it was the stuff light moved through. But it never existed at all.
"We've Been Wrong Before" is Popular Mechanics' encyclopedia of scientific ideas that sounded good at the time but didn't quite pan out. Today: The hunt for aether, which Aristotle, alchemists, and even Isaac Newton used to explain gaps in our understanding of the universe.
One of the most important science experiments of all time was a complete and utter failure.
In 1887, Albert Michelson and Edward Morley set up their project in the dormitory basement at a university in Cleveland, Ohio. The idea was to bounce light beams off mirrors in different directions and measure their speeds. The two researchers thought their hoped-for result—capturing light moving at different velocity—would help to prove the existence of aether.
The aether was the invisible material thought to permeate all the empty space in the universe, used by famous thinkers from Aristotle to Isaac Newton to explain the mysteries of the natural world. The much-heralded Michelson-Morley experiment, as the 1887 event would go down in history, sought to detect the existence of this undetectable substance.
The experiment would go down as a faceplant, a failure that marked the end for a theory that had dominated physics for 2,000 years. But the fallout of the Michelson-Morley experiment led to the idea of the universal speed of light, inspired Einstein's breakthroughs in relativity, and opened the door to much of modern physics. Sometimes it takes failure to move forward.
Aether meant many things to many people. Ancient Greeks saw aether as the god of light and the fifth element of the universe. To the medieval alchemists, it was the fabled philosopher's stone that could turn lead into gold and prolong life. Centuries later, early modern scientists like René Descartes and Nikola Tesla were still pointing to aether to explain fundamental natural phenomena like gravity and light. Yet aether does not exist, and it never did. It may be the most enduring imaginary concept in scientific history.
Aether was invented by the ancients. In Greek mythology it described the pure air that the gods breathed in the heavens as opposed to the normal air breathed by mortals on Earth.
In the 4th century BCE, Aristotle brought this concept of heavenly air into the world of physics. His philosophy saw aether as the fifth element, after earth, air, fire, and water. He believed the four terrestrial elements were changeable and transient, but the planets and stars were eternal and thus must be made of a different substance that transcended the earthly four. He called it aether.
Centuries later, the classical fifth element would inspire another epic but influential scientific misfire: alchemy.
The Alchymist, In Search of the Philosopher's Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and prays for the successful Conclusion of his operation, as was the custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers, by Joseph Wright of Derby, now in Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, U.K.
Alchemy, the magical medieval proto-science, came into vogue in the Western world in the 12th and 13th centuries, when the texts of the Greek and Arab philosophers were translated into Latin and European scholars finally got wind of these ancient ideas.
Alchemists dusted off the antique concept of aether and put a new spin on it. To them, it described the most pristine and perfect essence found in nature, which they called "quintessence." They too saw quintessence (so named from the Latin phrase qüinta essentia, meaning "fifth essence") as divine, but believed it was found on Earth as well as in the heavens. A bit of godly essence was hidden in all things, whether animal, plant, or mineral. The trick was freeing it.
Aristotle believed the four physical elements were changeable, and alchemists took this idea and ran with it. The underlying belief was that metals were alive and growing, and could change into other substances. Metals were all composed of the four elements, but were in different stages of maturity on their way to spiritual perfection.
The theory, then, was that by distilling a substance down to its elemental form and creating the perfect balance and proportions of the different elements, you could purify matter and transmute one substance into another. The ultimate goal was to turn immature base metals like lead into higher metals like gold by releasing their perfect state, or quintessence.
But what exactly was quintessence? That depends on which alchemist you ask. Alchemy was a secretive and enigmatic art with endless interpretations. To some, quintessence was a subtle substance found in some degree in each of the other four elements. Others thought it contained all the other elements within it. One of the best-known European alchemists, the 16th-century Swiss physician Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus, called the aether element "the substance of stars and souls." Isaac Newton, a passionate alchemist, described it as "the perfect Elixir ... our gold ... red virginal milk most fragrant and healthy." In essence, it was a pure and perfect spirit concealed in all things—both chemically and spiritually.
A woodcut engraving depicting the Twelfth Key of the Legendary Basil Valentine, symbolizing the successful making of the Philosophers Stone. 17th century.
The alchemists' quest for gold wasn't just about metallurgy, though. This was Christian Europe, after all, and alchemy's aims were spiritual as much as chemical. Metals and mortals could both be made more pure by freeing that little bit of divine spirit hidden in nature. Purification represented humans striving to perfect the soul. Achieving gold was like knowing God.
It was also known as the elixir of life, a universal cure that could bring eternal life.
Discovering this magical substance was the magnum opus of any alchemist. Newton devised a secret recipe for the philosopher's stone, though like most of his alchemy work, it wasn't published until long after his death. The key ingredient of his recipe was mercury, which was likely also a key ingredient in the nervous breakdown he suffered in 1693 during his time experimenting with toxic chemicals.
A more happy side effect of the quest for the elusive stone was the accidental discovery of phosphorus, first made by boiling copious amounts of human pee. In 1669, a German hobby alchemist named Hennig Brand got his hands on a recipe for turning lead into gold using concentrated urine.
Alchemy would not survive the Age of Reason in the West. By the late 18th century it had morphed into the modern field of chemistry or else was relegated to the occult. Yet the theory of aether endured. In the 17th and 18th centuries, thinkers dusted off, revised, and reintroduced the concept of aether in another influential but ultimately flawed attempt to explain the natural world. This aether 2.0 was a subtle, invisible substance that existed everywhere, filling the "empty" vacuum of all space.
In 1644, when he developed his mechanical theory of gravity, French philosopher René Descartes (who thought, therefore he was) reasoned that empty space must not be empty at all and must be filled with something. He believed that something was aether. He envisioned a dense, fluid medium comprising colliding particles that could transmit forces, including the mysterious force of gravity. His theory said that as objects moved through the aether fluid, the displaced particles created vortices that pushed planets into orbit. Earth was an immense aether vortex, circling around the sun.
Descartes' mechanical gravitation was less of a true scientific theory and more of a thought exercise. And while his vortex notion would be disproved, he got people thinking about the mechanics of the universe. In particular, he got Isaac Newton thinking about it just as the man under the apocryphal apple tree was about to change the world.
Early in his career, Newton described gravity as the pressure caused by aether flowing downward toward Earth. But then he changed his mind, thanks to a nagging, unanswered question: If the mechanics of gravity were explained by particles of aether pushing celestial bodies toward Earth, then what was pushing the particles of aether?
Instead, in his monumental 1687 book Principia, Newton didn't bother with the aether. He theorized that the forces of attraction and repulsion are acting on each other from a distance and proved many of the motions of the cosmos mathematically. But Newton admitted he couldn't explain the cause of gravity itself, and famously declared he would not "feign hypothesis." Some say he quietly speculated the aether had something to do it, but without any experiments to back it up, he did not publish the theory.
With the aether–gravity question shelved, attention turned to the nature of light—and yet another aether theory entered the stage.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, as physicists grappled with light, there was some debate over whether it was a wave or a particle. (Trick question—we now know it has properties of both.) Scientists thought that if light were a wave, then it needed a medium to travel through. Waves, after all, aren't objects themselves, but the effects of movement on a substance like air or water. And so, once again minds turned toward aether.
Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens first proposed the "luminiferous" or light-bearing aether as a medium for the propagation of light. It was a popular theory. Nikola Tesla held onto it well into the 20th century, writing in 1938 that all attempts to explain the workings of the universe without recognizing the existence of a light-bearing aether are futile.
But as scientists learned more about the true nature of light, the properties of aether became increasingly magical. To be consistent with the laws of physics, aether had to be fluid, so it could fill all space, but also solid enough to support light waves. It existed everywhere, yet was invisible, weightless, undetectable, and had no effect on physical objects—almost as if it didn't exist at all.
And still, the aether theory survived another major breakthrough in the understanding of light. Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell discovered that electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light because in fact they are one and the same. In other words, radio waves and X-rays and visible light were all part of the same electromagnetic spectrum. Scientists were thrilled: This meant that the different kinds of waves didn't need their own aethers, but all traveled through the same luminiferous aether.
And then, the aether died in a basement.
Michelson and Morley's interferometric setup, mounted on a stone slab that floats in an annular trough of mercury.
Public Domain / Case Western Reserve U.
Michelson and Morley hypothesized that light would travel at different speeds as it moved in different directions through the aether. The goal of their famed experiment, conducted less than a decade after Maxwell's formal definition of aether, was to record the effect of the "aether wind," the idea that the rotating Earth moving through the aether should create a wind of sorts, and light beams moving through it would have a measurable drag.
Of course, they found no difference in speed. Experiments capable of more exact measurements followed, all with the same null result. After all these centuries, it seemed aether didn't exist after all, a humbling revelation that Albert Einstein described as "very perplexing to physicists." It seemed light traveled through a vacuum, not a luminiferous material.
Today we accept this fact as textbook science. In the 19th century, though, it required a radical realignment in thinking. Scientists started to abandon aether theory, and in its wake, an alternative model was proposed: Einstein's theory of special relativity.
The theory of relativity didn't disprove aether, but it provided a simpler explanation that didn't require an absolute omnipresent medium for the motion of light. Einstein proposed that light traveled at a constant speed through a vacuum, and that everything is moving relative to everything else. An aether wasn't needed as a fixed reference framework for the universe because time and space were relative, part of one continuum. Spacetime was the new aether.
In that sense, the Michelson–Morley experiment wasn't a failure at all, but a titanic turning point in the way scientists considered the very nature of time and space. Twenty years later, Michelson became the first American scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, for developing instruments used to accurately measure the speed of light.
Soon after special relativity, French physicist Louis de Broglie proposed another revolutionary theory. He found that electron particles may also have the properties of a wave, and matter on an atomic scale has the same dual nature as light. This groundbreaking hypothesis led to the theory of quantum mechanics, which also had no need for aether.
Quantum mechanics sealed the coffin. By the end of the 1920s, aether was discarded, archaic. And yet it didn't disappear.
The term "aether" (or "ether") lives on as a colloquial expression in the West, an abstract idea of the intangible void. Certain traditional cultures still consider aether the fifth element, and it plays prominently in the esoteric worlds of magic, mysticism, and the supernatural.
More recently, the spirit of aether has even come back into the discussion of the cosmos, thanks to the mysterious discoveries of dark matter and dark energy, the elusive force believed to be the cause of the accelerating expansion of the universe. It's not hard to see the parallels between the aether of yore used to fill in the gaps of understanding and this new invisible, imponderable energy. In fact, a form of dark energy proposed by physicists in the 1980s was dubbed "quintessence" after the fifth element of antiquity.
The new quintessence has been described as a fifth fundamental force, after the four conventional forces of nature known to physics: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear forces. Dark matter and dark energy can't be readily explained by any known theories of physics, which is leading scientists to consider whether there is another, yet-unknown force. Might as well call it aether.
Is a Galaxy Quest TV Series Finally Happening?


Cadets from The Citadel will reenact the Jan. 9, 1861 firing on the Union supply ship the Star of the West in commemoration of its 150th anniversary.
With support from the City of Charleston, the reenactment will take place on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011, on Morris Island. Between 15 and 20 faculty and cadet re-enactors from The Citadel Military Living History Society will participate. In addition, The Citadel Alumni Association will host a Charleston harbor cruise that will pass by Morris Island during the reenactment.
"Cadets and faculty of The Citadel are returning to Morris Island to honor those who came before us. We will reenact as best we can one of the pivotal moments in the history of The Citadel," said William Sharbrough, the faculty advisor to The Citadel Military Living History Society.
In 1861, Citadel cadets manning an artillery battery on Morris Island fired what many contend were the first hostile shots of the Civil War. That action repulsed the federal steamship Star of the West, which was carrying supplies and 200 federal troops that were dispatched by President Buchanan to reinforce Union Forces garrisoned at Fort Sumter. During the Star of the West incident, the cadets flew as their banner a unique flag, observed by eye witnesses on the federal steamer, and described in a dispatch by a Union officer at Fort Sumter as "a flag with a red field, and a white palmetto tree." The Big Red flag is now the official spirit flag of the South Carolina Corps of Cadets and what is believed to be the flag that flew over Morris Island in 1861 is on display at The Citadel's Holliday Alumni Center.
The harbor cruise boat will leave the aquarium wharf at 3 p.m. and will return at 6:30 p.m. rain or shine on Jan. 8. Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased online at www.citadelalumni.org or by calling PJ Calogrides at 843-953-6586 or email pj.calogrides@citadel.edu.


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Social Platform on Payment Systems
The Dutch central bank has made the progress report of the Social Platform on Payment Systems available on its website. The report outlines the following plans:
- solve the availability issues of bank branches in a pragmatic way,
- create a good working group to discuss introduction of EMV,
- further work on fraud issues for false euro-notes,
- steer towards more efficiënt payment instruments on the basis of the outcome of cost-research (to be published in March 2004),
- introduction of the rounding rule (round towards 5 eurocents) provided that enough players agree.
Labels: retailbetaalgedachten
European Commission aims to clarify e-money before the summer
In an interview with Erwin Boogert of Planet Multimedia, Commissioner Liikanen states that the Commission aims to clarify the interpretation of electronic money before the summer (see this article and this interview). The rest of the article states that it is unclear what Vodafone's role is. But the FSA website shows that Vodafone Ltd and Vodafone Mobile Commerce Ltd are a certified small e-money issuer in the United Kingdom.
PayPal guarantees eBay auctions up to £250
Planet Multimedia reports on a ZDNet-article that informs us that Paypal will protect its UK EBay buyers by launching a buyer-protection fee that gives customers £250 of insurance.
At first sight this looks great, but it should be noted that the PayPal Buyer Protection Programme is only available on transactions involving sellers who have sold at least fifty items and who have a 98 per cent positive feedback rating. Qualified sellers are indicated with a Buyer Protection logo at eBay, but buyers must use PayPal to settle to qualify for protection.
In other cases, eBay's standard purchase protection programme offers up to £120 of coverage with a £15 processing fee.
Postbank stops m-banking on April 1 this year
Postbank today announces to owners of its mobile-banking application on the Siemens phone, that it will stop offering m-payment facilities via WAP. Instead users are suggested to use the generic voice-response application Girofoon to transfer money (up to amounts of € 700 a day).
Transfer of POS-contracts Interpay to banks
The website of Interpay now informs us about the procedure and rules that govern the transfer of the Interpay-POS-contracts to the bank of the merchants. The interesting thing is that merchants now have to choose a single bank to which all payments will be credited. Previously they could opt for split crediting to accounts in both the Postbank and former BGC domain.
Most interesting is the possibility that this transfer leads merchants to reconsider their banking relationship altogether. The transfer can then be viewed as a switch-moment which leads to additonial decisions and changes with respect to the preferred bank relation of merchants.
And a solution to phishing...?
Passmark is a concept/technology that is furhther discussed here. It works like this:
When a customer logs in to a bank's Web site, the bank shows the customer his PassMark -- a personalized image known only to the customer and the bank -- before asking for his password. Since a fake Web site will not know the customer's PassMark, it's safe for the customer to enter his password once he sees his PassMark. And PassMarks can also be used to authenticate outgoing email from the bank to the customer.
See also this analysis by Scot Loftesness.
E-mail scam hits MBNA customers
BBC NEWS reports how another E-mail scam this time hits MBNA customers.
Break-In at one of Israel's largest banks
Ron Onrust sent me this link/article, that summarizes the news in Isreal on a break-in that allegedly resulted in theft and deletion of critical client information at one of Israel's largest banks.
Verifone SC 5000 pinpad certified
Finextra reports that the Verifone SC 5000 pinpad has now been certified by Interpay for use in the Dutch market. So the pinpad now complies with Belgian, Swiss, Dutch, Visa and Mastercard rules and complies with EMV level 1 and 2 requirements. And Dutch company CCV announces a commercial deal to go with the pinpad, thus allowing retailers to be ready (or almost ready) for the introduction EMV in the Netherlands.
Urban Legends Reference Pages show ATM Camera
The website called: Urban Legends Reference Pages shows pictures of an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and skimming equipment, used to catch magstripe info and pincode.
Yahoo launches money service
Erwin Boogert just reffered me to NEWS.com.au where an article and further explanation can be found on the PayDirect money service offered by Yahoo, in collaboration with HSBC Bank. Essentially it is a money transfer service, rather than web-payment. Thus, Yahoo aims to get a slice of the global remittances market estimated to be $US140 billion ($189 billion) to $US200 billion dollars a year.
Moxmo also in the mobile top-up market
Planet Multimedia reports that e-money institution Moxmo will also offer its customer the possibility to top up their mobile phones from the m-purse that they have with Moxmo. This is all part of a trend in which pre-paid top-up cards are losing market share and operators either choose an additional Point of Sale application (Albert Heijn) or a connection with the banks (Orange and Interpay) to ensure that pre-paid customers can more easily load their airtime.
Meanwhile, the GTIAD is still working on its consultation document which will outline that mobile operator airtime earmarked for payment to others than the operator, will be treted viewed and regulated as electronic money. Both a short-term and long-term philosophy will be presented for comments to the market. And that will definitely change the regulatory wheather in favour of Moxmo.
Risk of magstripe continues
In this article of Globetechnology, Mary Kirwan deals with the security risks of still having debit-cards around that work with a magnetic stripe. It provides an insightfull overview of ATM-fraud risks.
More supervision on payments (systems)
Our Ministry of Finance has now published this letter to explain that a separate supervisory structure will be set up to ensure safe infratsructure for payments. Essentially all providers of payment infrastructures will need licenses. As such a long cherished desire of the central bank will be realised.
But as with e-money, we will undoubtedly face many more discussions on what payment systems are and what the specific roles will be of Authority Financial Market, De Nederlandsche Bank and the Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit.
Postbank unsafe..?
Rob Blaauboer sent me this link to an article in De Telegraaf.nl. It suggest that Postbank does not check the name and number for each credit-payment transaction. That suggestion, to my knowledge, is incorrect but may be widespread. I have recently received an acknowledgement that a payment order (of a very small amount) could not be executed due to the fact that name and number of the receiver of the payment did not match.
Legally, anyone who receives a payment without any underlying legal basis (contract, gift etc) has a legal obligation to pay it back to the sender ('onverplichte betaling'). So even if one tries to keep hold of the money, the judge will rule that is has to be paid back.
Phase 2 of revision of financial legislation: prudential supervision
This page of the Ministry of Finance has the details of its proposed reform of legislation with respect to prudential supervision (of banks, money transfer agents etc).
Report of Financial Expertise Centre: charitative foundations do whitewashing...
This report of the Dutch Financial Expertise Centre investigates the role that charitative foundations play in supporting illegal activities. It noted a number of weaknesses in law that allow illegal or suspect behaviour to go unobserved. Among the examples is a church foundation that effectively operated 0900-telephone lines with explicit sexual content. But also it observed that suspect money transfers that previously were done by individuals, are now done via the associations (which do not have members and only have to report if turnover/income is more than 3,5 million euro).
Whereas these observations are disturbing the report notes that what's most disturbing is the likelhood that the research group has definitely only seen the tip of the iceberg. So we have a serious issue here.
Vodafone launches first UMTS-service
Emerce reports that Vodafone launches the first UMTS-service. It is a datacard for laptops, allowing data access with ten times the speed of GPRS. The services focuses at the (postpaid) business segment of the market (which strategy is in line with the concept of Piet Maclaine Pont to always start new innovations for the business consumer first).
What to Think of Online Credit Card Fraud
Just a link to a nice article at Emarketer.com.
Paypal UK Ltd is an e-money institution as of February 12
Ben Putter informs us that Paypal has notified its European users that as of February 12 Paypal Europe Ltd will officially be an electronic money institution, supervised by the Financial Services Authority in the UK. More information can be found on their website.
This is a very remarkable moment, demonstrating that of all EU supervisors, the British FSA operates best. They did not hesitate to give licenses to Internet-based new entrants companies such as Moneybookers, Prepay Technologies and now Paypal. They've made Vodafone realize that a substantial part of its pre-paid business effectively is e-money, as a result of which Vodafone has a small issuer license. And as such they best contribute to creating a level playing field for electronic money.
Given the position of the FSA and Paypal, a lot of regulatory discussions on e-money may soon be untimely and out of date. All of a sudden EU-banks face a serious licensed competitor with a techological and market headstart. And while these main players battle for the digital e-money market, mobile telco's are left to find out how to solve their billing and regulatory issues. And unless they move quickly they will see their revenue from data-income from pre-paid users disappear completely.
Amex signs MBNA as its first U.S. issuer ; ABN AMRO prefers Mastercard
BTNonline.com reports that:
Amex and MBNA this year will roll out co-branded cards, "at which time product details will be available," a statement said. The companies will begin issuing cards in the United States, followed by Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom. Amex and MBNA first must await a final appeals ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court
At the same time, ABN AMRO announced that it has signed a worldwide deal with Mastercard as the preferred card. See this article in Newswire.
The costs of a single currency: false bank notes and slower payments
Newspaper de Volkskrant informs us that the central bank will start an awareness campaign for consumers. As a result consumers will be encouraged to take our time to check whether or not a bank note is false. Of course this is a good thing to do. But why not take a step back and muse about the (hidden) costs and benefits of the physical currency.
The introduction of the physical euro has been quite an expensive political endeavour. The monetary benefits of the physical bank note for the capital market are zero (as the euro was already used as an accounting and payments unit). There are however some benefits for Europeans when they travel. Yet let me explain why the physical Euro, in practice, is a serious loss maker.
1. We had to replace all EU bank notes before their economic lifespan had ended. This is costly and, as stated before, only gave Europeans a slight benefit (not having to change money when travelling).
2. The coins were designed at a designers table but are highly impractical. The result of giving the 1, 2 and 5 cents and 10, 20 and 50 cents the same colour is that longer time is required for payment in shops. The economic costs involved are considerable: the payment process at retailers takes more time to both consumer and retailer and thus costs more.
3. All Point of Sale systems needed to be upgraded to start working with the euro instead of the local currency. Again: a lot of costs, without gains.
4. The collectively designed bank notes can -for cost and negotiation reasons- never be as safe as the previously safest bank notes (presumably Dutch/German). So while for some countries the new bank notes are safer than before, for others they are more insecure. In the Netherlands the result is that we have higher costs related to having more false bank notes around.
I think it would be a good thing for the European tax payer if, the next time we do this single currency thing again, we would also endeavour on a rational calculation with respect to costs and benefits.
And it would definitely be the 'royal gesture' if the Dutch central bank takes its responsibility by partly compensating retailers for the extra costs incurred as a result of having brought into circulation bank notes that are less safe than the old one.
EPC Card Group report
The Cards Working Group of the European Payments Council has issued asummary of its work. Its goal was to formulate a long term vision on the positioning of cards and electronic means of payment in the context of SEPA, the Single European Payment Are(n)a. Thus they split up in two groups, one discussing card fraud, the other discussing business models.
The recommendations focus on practical issues such as deeper standardisation and combatting fraud. But more generally they intend to improve the governance structure between banks and card organisations so as to allow more transparent decisions on which part of the card business a bank wants to be in. To this end, interchange agreements are a must, so this is also noted in the document.
Of course the document outlines the desire to work closely together with regulators, but it also points out some issues where no further regulatory steps should be taken. What struck me particularly:
digital certification services in the payment sector (a deeper understanding of the issues is necessary before progressing in this field),
European Banking Industry Committee now coordinates contact with European Commission
This press release tells us that on Thursday 15 January, European banking industry federations launched the European Banking Industry Committee (EBIC), aimed at facilitating industry consultation by the EU institutions.
The EBIC was established by the main banking industry federations: the European Banking Federation (FBE), the European Savings Banks Group (ESBG), the European Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB) the European Mortgage Federation (EMF), the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB), the European Federation of Building Societies (EFBS), and the European Federation of Finance House Associations (Eurofinas) / the European Federation of Leasing Company Associations (Leaseurope).
Private or public identity?
One of our major future concerns will be to ensure that one is who one is (on the web, mobile phone etc). Ascertaining one's identity is therefore a very major market. Worldwide there is the Passport initiatieve by Microsoft and the countervailing Liberty. But these two private initiatives are now facing a third opponent. The European Forum for Electronic Business (EEMA) is working on a white paper that should be a basis for all in the identity market (including banks of course). This paper will be called 'Towards Understanding Identity'.
TACD's online survey on spam
The TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue has issued a report of their online survey on spam, Oct - Dec 2003. It becomes clear that 52 % of the consumers are shopping less (or not) on the Internet because they fear being spammed afterwards.
TSYS cuts 4 % of its workforce
Ledger-Enquirer reports that TSYS, the major credit card processor, cuts a lot of jobs to ensure future profitability. Its revenue base decreased due to the loss of 18 Mexican banks, price renegotiations and the sale by Sears and Circuit city of their credit-card portfolio's.
Volkswagen will start bank in the Netherlands as well
Car producer Volkswagen often uses financing deals to stimulate the sale of cars. For that reason it already operates a German Bank. Ben Putter referred me to this article at AutoTrack.nl. It turns out that Volkswagen and Pon Holding (a car importer) will start banking in the Netherlands as of 2005. The name of the bank will probably Volkswagen bank and it will have an internet-branch.
False 100 euro notes for retailers and false credit-cards for air line companies
Today it was announced that the number of Euro falsifications in the Netherlands is now bigger than the number of Guilder Note falsifications. The Council of Dutch Retailers (Raad Nederlandse Detailhandel) has thus decided to develop a sticker that can be used at the counter to tell customers the the 100-Euro note will not be accepted any more.
Meanwhile, air line companies (notably KLM) face an increasing number of fraudulant credit-card transactions. Flights to Afrika or Latin America that leave shortly are more often being paid with falsified cards or card numbers. Some of the tickets that are being ordered are then sold cheaply via Marktplaats.nl. The buyers of these tickets however may never be able to travel as air line companies are now checking the validity of payments (and sometimes withdraw the e-ticket).
SIIT 2003 Program on Standardization
Only too often policy makers call for standardization (in retail payments for example) without really understanding the process and pitfalls. Meanwhile there is a considerable body of knowledge. For those interested in further study the SIIT 2003 Program has online slides available.
How telco applications are useful to banks....
Where the banking sector used to be a sort of solitair developer of bespoke applications, we can increasingly see technologies and applications from other industries being used. One example is the mobile operators billing technology that is now being used by ING for billing their payments. Another example lies in money laundering detection.
Neteconomy for example is a company that started out detecting false/fraudulent phone calls, to discover that its technology is also useful for banks. This press release contains a testimonial by Nationwide Building Society to that effect.
Skimming fraudsters convicted
Automatisering Gids reports that the court in Breda has convicted two criminals who have been part of a skimming organization. They used a smart device to collect magnetic stripe information at unmanned pump stations and used camera's to obtain the pin-code of customers.
With the information they made new debit-cards, which were used at ATM's in the Nederlands, Belgium and Germany. The revenue was 600.000 euro. The two criminals face punishment of 4 years and 2,5 years in jail as well as a fine to be paid to government. Tomorrow, the main suspect will get to hear his verdict.
Update thursday: the big mind behind the crime is convicted to 3,5 years of prison and needs to pay 35.000 euro to the State.
Russians stop using the dollar... Olympics stick to Visa
What does one do in a country where trust in its own government and justice is low? Theory tells us that the local currency will not be used, but rather gold or foreign currency. Consequently Russians were used to think, pay and store value in dollars. In Het Financieele Dagblad, Karel Onwijn describes that, now the dollar loses value, the Russians reconvert the dollar into local currency and Euro.
To remain with the subject. Theory also tells that the use of payment instruments is contingent on force: the power to prescribe usage of particular instruments. In the same FD it is noted that Visa has established its 11th sponsorship of the Olympic Winter Games in Turin. Meaning that all people either pay cash or with Visa (but not with anything else...).
AT&T PrePaid Web Cents Technology: nice white labeling example
In this article AT&T announces an agreement with 7-Eleven to market AT&T Web Cards. These cards allow customers to download music from RealRhapsody, the Internet jukebox service from RealNetworks. The cards will be available in 5,300 7-Eleven stores.
Prepaid specialty cards supported by AT&T PrePaid Web Cents technology are sold at traditional retail outlets. They carry a specific content provider's brand and are used to purchase that provider's online content.
The specialty cards can be used to purchase a variety of online content such as interactive games, ring tones, graphics, maps, guidebooks, digital music, streaming audio and video, software, research services, and more. Each card is issued by the content provider and is exclusively for use on its site.
I think this trend may also come to Europe. In the end all retailers/content provider want their own relationship with the customer. And if they can avoid legal hassles with respect to e-money while doing so, it will be all the better.
Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits
Erwin Boogert pointed me to Poynter Online that informs us that Coinclick, the micropayments system in Denmark will stop as of March 2, 2004 with running its system. With 27.000 users it had not reached the goal it desired (100.000). And apparently Coinclick did not have the time or desire to wait until the e-money regulators would create a level playing field vis a vis telco-players and htier payment methods for premium SMS, MMS etc.
With this news, I sincerely hope that regulators and supervisors will turn out to be somewhat self-reflective as to the effect of their behaviour in 'shaping' the e-money market of the future. It's quite easy to say that there is no business case for micropayments if one allows free riders to make the real bucks.
Postbank recoups with My Postbank NL
As of today, Postbank is back in the Internet-banking race. They've been out for a while, given that the off-line e-banking facility Girotel (or its on-line version) both appeared to be too dusty for the users. On top of that, fees were levied, which was quite incomprehensible in the situation that users do the data-entry for the bank. But now, with the introduction of Mijn Postbank.nl they're back.
Mijn Postbank.nl is a free Internetbased environment allowing identification with a user-id/password combination that is chosen by the users. Any transaction requires the use of a Transaction Authorisation Number. Whereas these used to be distributed in lists of 100 (via snail-mail) Postbank now offers to send these via SMS, at the moment of the transaction.
The MyPostbank.nl environment offers users a full overview of all Postbank products and allows the user to reverse a direct debit and to view one year transaction history (often a problem with Internet-banking). And in comparison with other banks, it now allows world-wide web-access and usage.
What's missing in the information is the vision of the future. I cannot imagine that Postbank will support the old off-line Girotel until the end of times. So at one point in time I'll be forced to make the conversion to the off-line world. This is not being mentioned on the website. But if you look closer it shows that it is no longer possible to apply for Girotel and that Girotel (for now) will co-exist with MyPostbank.nl.
Dutch banks will be more open...
Last week the NVB, the Dutch Bankers Association, held their annual New Years Meeting. It's President, Mr Collee, held a speech"on the position of banks in society. In it he outlined the numerous roles and responsibilities of banks as well as the intention of the NVB to create a better understanding of the role of banks in society by being open, responsive and pro-active. The speech is quite reflective in nature and well worth reading.
Todays Financieele Dagblad notes that the Dutch competition authority does not recognize the critical note of Collee on their functioning. What Collee stated was that the new financial monitor of the NMa created a bad image while not containing any substantial evidence as to problems in the market. In reply the NMa now says that it finds that banks generally are satisfied with the supervision of the NMa..... (as if any supervised entity would ever tell its supervisor different...?).
eBay and Paypal penetrate by offering spam-free mail...
Planet Internet report that eBay will begin a spamfree e-mail service for its users. The service also provides for an overview of all the transactions of that user, done via Expedia, Amazon and Paypal.
Now, that looks like an interesting and timely penetration strategy.... People will use internet more often to buy and will need an overview. They are sick of spam. So this offer solves a part of their problems. And within the year they'll be using more eBay and Paypal.
Nedap takes a write-off on Mobile Pay
A press release of Nedap at Het Financieele Dagblad learns us that Nedap writes of 400.000 euro as its development costs for Mobile Pay. And although this looks like a loss, I'm convinced that the publicity gains of having this prototype product are bigger.
Does your IBAN work...?
Today I'm in my third week of trying to get a UK company to send me a payment. My regular IBAN and BIC-code did not make sense to them; neither did the alternative payment details that I provided.
Would you believe me if I said that this company was an FSA-licensed registered credit-institution?
US customers prefer debit now.... start of international convergence?
A customer survey by Edgarr Dunn reveals that the payment preference of US card holders is shifting towards using debit-cards. Their study shows the following preference profile:
- debit cards: 38 %
- standard credit cards: 22 %
- co-brander credit card: 20 %
- loyalty credit: 15 %
- smart credit: 2 %.
The study also showed that the desire to reduce the cost of their payment cards, increase their personal financial discipline and earn greater rewards have been the primary reasons that:
- nearly 50% of consumers are using a card that wasn't in their wallet a year ago,
- nearly 40% of consumers have canceled or reduced the use of ~2 cards during the same period.
One might conclude that slowly, the payment arena might be moving towards a more similar usage of the best/cheapest/efficient payment methods (debit rather than credit). So although the old classification of the US a s credit-card country is still correct, it may not be in 5 years time.
European Commission aims to clarify e-money before...
Phase 2 of revision of financial legislation: prud...
Report of Financial Expertise Centre: charitative ...
Paypal UK Ltd is an e-money institution as of Febr...
Amex signs MBNA as its first U.S. issuer ; ABN AM...
The costs of a single currency: false bank notes a...
European Banking Industry Committee now coordinate...
False 100 euro notes for retailers and false credi...
Russians stop using the dollar... Olympics stick t...
AT&T PrePaid Web Cents Technology: nice white labe...
eBay and Paypal penetrate by offering spam-free ma...
US customers prefer debit now.... start of interna...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Top 10 Powerful People in the World - 2011
Human are the ones who dominate all other species on earth. But not equal powers are given to the humans. If all humans take all the powers then this world would be a chaos. So, here is a list of 10 most powerful persons in the world. Take a look...
1. Hu Jintao - President, People's Republic of China
2. Barack Obama - President, United States of America
3. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud - King, Saudi Arabia
4. Vladimir Putin - Prime Minister, Russia
5. Pope Benedict XVI - Pope, Roman Catholic Church
6. Angela Merkel - Chancellor, Germany
7. David Cameron - Prime Minister, United Kingdom
8. Ben Bernanke - Chairman, Federal Reserve
9. Sonia Gandhi - President, Indian National Congress
10. Bill Gates - Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Top 10 Most Influential Persons in History
Top 10 Tallest Man Alive - 2012
Top 10 Most Powerful Brands in the World
Top 10 Most Powerful Tanks of the World
Top 10 Super Power Countries of the World
Top 10 Inventions That Changed the World
Top 10 Most Dangerous Spiders In The World
The 50 Most Powerful Images Of 2011
Labels: famous, information, people, world's
US Airways Flight 1549 Incident - Photos
8 Silliest Gaddafi Quotes
25 strange Haircut Photos...
Gaddafi's Female Bodyguards...
35 Wildlife Photographer of the Year...
World's Tallest Stack of Pancakes
15 Famous Movie Scenes Recreated in Lego


text:
Segedunum to Pons Aelius
Wallsend to Milecastle 4
The Wall from Segedunum, (Wallsend) to Pons Aelius (Newcastle upon Tyne) was an addition to the Wall's original concept, thought to be so by its being the narrow wall 7ft 6in on a base of 8ft, and was one of many amendments and refinements that were undertaken by the Romans at the behest of Hadrian their Emperor.
The counting of the Milecastles on the wall however start from Segedunum (Wallsend) The milecastles were numbered from 1-80, east to west, by Collingwood in 1930,
Setting off westward from Segedunum Fort the wall makes its way through Wallsend, Byker and drops down to the Tyne at what is now the location of the swing bridge.
The Castle at Newcastle upon Tyne built in the 11th Century is thought to be on the site of Pons Aelii which was quite a small fort (2 acres) Work continues in this area to try to establish its actual course. It almost certainly passed through the grounds of All Saints church built of the Wall's stones
Milecastle 4 is considered to have stood at the bottom of Pilgrim street in the area now occupied by All Saints Church.
Roman Mile = 1620 yards = 0.92Mile = 1.48km
Start point for this page
Milecastle
Segedunum to Pons Aelis
Wallsend to 4
Pons Aelis to Condercum
Condercum to Heddon
Heddon to Harlow Hill
Harlow Hill to Portgate
Portgate to Chesters
22 to27
Chesters to Brocolitia
Brocolitia to Vercovicivm
Vercovicivm to MC40
MC40 to Aesica
Aesica to Carvoran
Carvoran to Birdoswald
Birdoswald to Hare Hill
Hare Hill to Newton
Newton to Stanwix
Stanwix to Dykesfield
Dykesfield to Maia
73 to Maia
Milecastle Plan
The wall fragment in the photograph above, marks the eastern extremity of the Roman Wall which here turned southward to the River Tyne.
The WALLS END. This stone was found between the camp of Segedunum and the River Tyne in April 1903 and placed in this spot in 1907.
The Museum at Segedunum, a short walk from Wallsend town centre, has been arranged and presented in the most attractive manner. for details click the LOGO
It is a "must" visit for anyone with interest in the history of the Roman occupation of the region.
<<<<<<<<The bathhouse complete with working steam rooms has been constructed using the plans of other known Roman bathhouses.
The original Bathhouse for Segedunum stood closer to the river.
This superb reconstruction of a length of the wall is across Buddle Road from the Segedunum site
From the section of wall at Buddle Road the line of the Wall follows a very Roman direct route through Walker onto the Fossway to the top of Byker Hill, down Shields Road to the Byker Bridge passing the presumed sites of Milecastle 1 at the Presbytery of the Roman Catholic church at the junction of Eastfield Avenue and Stotts road, Milecastle 2 the site of the Fosse public house and Milecastle 3 at the north end of Stephen Street.
Milecastle 1 "The Grange"
Shown below
Milecastle 2 "The Fosse" Public House
Stukeley's Windmill will have stood near the position of this photo >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
View of the Wall from Byker Hill to Newcastle from Stukeley's 1776 Iter Boreale
This is now the course of Shields Road
<<<<<Milecastle 3 North end of Stephen Street
Looking back from the Valley of the Ouse Burn to MC3 site
The south end of St. Dominic's church >>>>
The path of the Wall through the Ouseburn ravine is not known but the review undertaken in 1929 shows the line of the ditch presumed as Ascending Stepney bank. Foundations of the wall were found at the south end of St. Dominic's church at the west end of Byker Bridge. From here it ran in a straight line to where the Sallyport was built as part of the Town Walls in the 13th century.
The Wall protected the bridge crossing the River Tyne at the place now occupied by the swing bridge. The Roman bridge was used for about a millenium and finally destroyed in 1248. This was Pons Aelii and the small fort above it was known by the same name.
In 1840 Richardson produced the reconstruction, shown below, of the wall through the Ouse Burn, Pandon Burn and the site of the fort with the wall showing heading off west. the Wall from MC4 to MC7 will be covered by this site on the next page.
Milecastle 4 All Hallows Church as seen above
Milecastles
This first plan provided for a wall 10ft wide, 15ft 6 inches high and surmounted by a 6ft crenellation. to the north of this was a 20 ft berm, a standard fighting ditch 30ft by 13ft 6 inches, and a glacis composed of the spoil of the ditch, approximately 60ft in width.
At each Roman mile was a milecastle with a north gate opening through the Wall, surmounted by a defensive turret and a south gate. In the original plan there were two barracks and the milecastle maintained a turret on either hand for the patrol garrison.
South of the wall was the Vallum, a complex consisting of a 20 ft ditch with a wide bottom section and mounds composed of spoil to north and south. The wall was built to the design width only on the eastern slope. The Milecastles built before the change of plan had 10ft wings on either side. The curtain wall as finally built was substantially narrower and the join is indicated in the diagram.
This information and the diagram taken from Richard Devine The Northwest Frontier of the Roman Empire Chap2 pg 27
Back to Segedumum
© 2007, northofthetyne.co.uk.
Horsley's map (1732) of the Wall from Segedunum to Milecastle 4
click to see larger version >>>>


text:
Supporting Art & Artists | Qatar Airways Strengthens Ties With Russia
MOSCOW: Qatar Airways has today revealed that it will further strengthen its ties with Russia through a five-year partnership with the forthcoming Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair, which commences from September this year, during the widely celebrated Year of Culture between Russia and the State of Qatar.
At largely attended press conference by international media at the St. Regis Hotel, Moscow, on 26 March, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, highlighted the many benefits that the five year partnership will bring. A letter of intention between Cosmoscow and Qatar Airways was signed by H.E. Mr. Al Baker and the Founding Director of Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair, Ms. Margarita Pushkina, in the presence of Qatar's Minister of Culture and Sports, H. E. Mr. Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser Al Ali.
The Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair is an event that unites the contemporary Russian art market and helps its contributors establish contacts with the international art community, and is a natural sponsorship choice for Qatar Airways. The airline is widely known for celebrating the arts, with its home and hub, Hamad International Airport.
H.E. Mr. Akbar Al Baker commented: "Qatar Airways celebrates strong links with Russia, with triple daily flights to Moscow and daily flights to St. Petersburg, from our home and hub, Hamad International Airport. During this widely celebrated Year of Culture between Russia and the State of Qatar, I am delighted to further strengthen our ties with this partnership, highlighting our shared countries beliefs in the importance of art as a means of bringing people together. I personally look forward to Cosmoscow opening this September and to being part of this exciting international showcase."
Founding Director of Cosmoscow International Contemporary Art Fair and Founder of Cosmoscow Foundation for Contemporary Art, Ms. Margarita Pushkina, said: "We are honoured to become the first art fair supported by Qatar Airways and grateful to the new General Partner of Cosmoscow for long-term cooperation. Our partnership will contribute to the establishment of cultural dialogue between Qatar and Russia, as well as to the development of the Fair and its numerous initiatives."
As the General Partner of Cosmoscow, Qatar Airways will first be represented at the main venue of the Fair at Gostiny Dvor from 6 to 9 September 2018 and will have an opportunity to participate in a number of Cosmoscow projects and programs.


How do I reset KitchenAid KUDE40FXSS?
This is most probably a software glitch. I had the same issue a week ago and my dishwasher is only about 2 yrs old and only gets used on average once a fortnight.
At first I did everything as the manual shows in the troubleshooting section. The whole process takes only about 5 to 15 minutes depending on how good of a handyman you are.
When I cleaned all the parts involved (all pretty clean to start with anyway) and connect them all back, sadly the red light wouldn't go.
It looked like I was stuck with the most hated option I had left: call the dreaded technician and be prepared to depart with some hard-earned cash.
Before doing that and out of desperation, I decided to surf the net for clues, blogs, forums, etc... and on one of them I found my answer.
One blogger suggested that "if anything else fails, try the 'reset' step" which means pressing at the same time the On/Off button and the Start/Stop button. That operation put a big smile on my face (and my wife's face too) as the red light magically disappeared.
My suggestion is "first try the reset trick and if that fails try and clean the parts as the manual shows". It'll save you headaches because the reset would do the trick in 90% of cases.
I work in IT and I can understand the fact that a software malfunction would trigger the red light and not reset it.
I had the same problem with a Whirlpool ADP 6515, led flashes 6 times, pause and repeat.
Open the door, remove the 2 screws that hold the control panel (1 top left, 1 top right). Gently lift the control panel up and away from the door to reveal the wiring, controllers etc. My controller was a Flextronics UCB-IC-EBL-P7-M3-HE1. Look at the connectors, one of them is marked on the controller as NTC and has 2 blue wires, push down on the white plastic tab below it and disconnect it (pull it horizontally away from the controller)..
I used a multimeter on 200k range and measured the resistance by probing those 2 blue wires and the NTC temperature sensor measured about 50k ohms +/- 5k depending on the room temperature. And that is correct for that NTC. (I knew the NTC was good as I had removed it from underneath the machine previously and measured the resistance whilst holding it under the hot tap as it went from cold water to hot. It's a Negative Temperature Coefficient sensor so the resistance reduces as it gets hotter).
So problem was definitely not that.
Solution was simple, on the connector itself, just use a very small flat bladed watchmakers type screwdriver to clean the pin contact faces and then gently pinch the pins of each wire closer together so that they bites tighter onto the controller.when you reconnect it.
Refit the control panel and problem solved.
Conclusion; the contact resistance of the connector to the controller added to the total resistance of the NTC and made the dishwasher think that the water was below the safe activation of the motor cycle, e.g. it thought the water was iced up.


It will take weeks to repair multiple road and highway washouts caused by a once-in-40-years rainstorm in northeast B.C.
The transportation ministry says torrential rainfall has closed or washed out Highway 97 in 16 places between Chetwynd and the Mackenzie junction, north of Prince George. A total of 40 roads from Chetwynd and Hudson's Hope to Dawson Creek and Fort St. John have also been closed due to flood damage, with 58 sites identified so far in need of reconstructive work.
Roughly 130 mm of rain fell on the region going into the weekend. At one point the flood waters from area creeks were running down Highway 97 through the Chetwynd business district, shutting the town down along with the highway.
Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom, MLA for Peace River South, toured the region by air Monday with ministry staff to assess the situation.
Among the roads closed are Highway 29 between Chetwynd and Hudson's Hope and Dawson Creek's dangerous goods route.
For updated road closure information on Peace Region flooding and damage repairs, see here.
Motorists can also check DriveBC for highway closures and travel advisories.


text:
package cromwell.engine.backend.runtimeattributes

import cromwell.core.{ErrorOr, WorkflowOptions}
import cromwell.engine.backend.jes.{JesAttachedDisk, JesWorkingDisk}
import cromwell.engine.backend.runtimeattributes.RuntimeKey._
import cromwell.engine.backend.{BackendCallJobDescriptor, BackendType}
import cromwell.util.TryUtil
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
import wdl4s._
import wdl4s.parser.MemoryUnit
import wdl4s.types._
import wdl4s.values._

import scala.language.postfixOps
import scala.util.Try
import scalaz.Scalaz._
import scalaz._

case class CromwellRuntimeAttributes(attributes: Map[String, WdlValue],
                                     docker: Option[String],
                                     zones: Seq[String],
                                     failOnStderr: Boolean,
                                     continueOnReturnCode: ContinueOnReturnCode,
                                     cpu: Long,
                                     preemptible: Int,
                                     disks: Seq[JesAttachedDisk],
                                     memoryGB: Double,
                                     bootDiskSizeGb: Int)

object CromwellRuntimeAttributes {
  private val log = LoggerFactory.getLogger("RuntimeAttributes")

  def apply(wdlRuntimeAttributes: RuntimeAttributes, jobDescriptor: BackendCallJobDescriptor, workflowOptions: Option[WorkflowOptions]): CromwellRuntimeAttributes = {
    val supportedKeys = jobDescriptor.backend.backendType.supportedKeys map { _.key }

    val attributes = for {
      attributesFromTask <- TryUtil.sequenceMap(wdlRuntimeAttributes.evaluate(jobDescriptor.lookupFunction(jobDescriptor.locallyQualifiedInputs), jobDescriptor.callEngineFunctions))
      attributesWithDefaults <- Try(getAttributesWithDefaults(attributesFromTask, workflowOptions))
      _ <- validateKeys(attributesWithDefaults.keySet, jobDescriptor.backend.backendType)
      supportedAttributes = attributesWithDefaults.filterKeys(k => supportedKeys.contains(k))
      validatedAttributes <- validateRuntimeAttributes(supportedAttributes)
    } yield validatedAttributes

    attributes.get
  }

  private def getAttributesWithDefaults(taskAttributes: Map[String, WdlValue], workflowOptions: Option[WorkflowOptions]): Map[String, WdlValue] = {
    val defaultAttributes = workflowOptions match {
      case Some(options) => defaultValues(options)
      case None => defaultValues
    }

    // Merge the two maps, prefer values from the latter
    defaultAttributes ++ taskAttributes
  }

  def validateKeys(keys: Set[String], backendType: BackendType): Try[Set[String]] = {
    /**
      *  Warn if keys are found that are unsupported on this backend.  This is not necessarily an error, at this point
      *  the keys are known to be supported on at least one backend other than this.
      */
    val unsupported = unsupportedKeys(keys, backendType)
    logMessageForUnsupportedKeys(unsupported, backendType) foreach log.warn

    // Return only supported keys
    validateRequiredKeys(keys, backendType) match {
      case scalaz.Success(x) => scala.util.Success(keys)
      case scalaz.Failure(e) => scala.util.Failure(new IllegalArgumentException() with ThrowableWithErrors {
        val message = "RuntimeAttributes are invalid."
        val errors = e
      })
    }
  }

  def logMessageForUnsupportedKeys(unsupportedKeys: Set[String], backendType: BackendType) = {
    if (unsupportedKeys.isEmpty) None
    else Option(s"Found unsupported keys for backend '$backendType': " + unsupportedKeys.toSeq.sorted.mkString(", "))
  }

  def unsupportedKeys(keys: Iterable[String], backendType: BackendType): Set[String] = {
    val supportedKeys = backendType.supportedKeys map { _.key }
    keys.toSet -- supportedKeys
  }

  val DefaultJesWorkingDiskString = s"${JesWorkingDisk.Name} 10 SSD"
  val DefaultJesWorkingDisk = JesAttachedDisk.parse(DefaultJesWorkingDiskString).get

  private case class ValidKeyType(key: String, validTypes: Set[WdlType])
  private val keys = Set(ValidKeyType("cpu", Set(WdlIntegerType)),
                        ValidKeyType("disks", Set(WdlStringType, WdlArrayType(WdlStringType))),
                        ValidKeyType("docker", Set(WdlStringType)),
                        ValidKeyType("zones", Set(WdlStringType, WdlArrayType(WdlStringType))),
                        ValidKeyType("continueOnReturnCode", Set(WdlBooleanType, WdlArrayType(WdlIntegerType))),
                        ValidKeyType("failOnStderr", Set(WdlBooleanType)),
                        ValidKeyType("preemptible", Set(WdlIntegerType)),
                        ValidKeyType("memory", Set(WdlStringType)),
                        ValidKeyType("bootDiskSizeGb", Set(WdlStringType)))

  private val defaultValues = Map(
    "cpu" -> WdlInteger(1),
    "disks" -> WdlString(DefaultJesWorkingDiskString),
    "zones" -> WdlString("us-central1-a"),
    "continueOnReturnCode" -> WdlInteger(0),
    "failOnStderr" -> WdlBoolean.False,
    "preemptible" -> WdlInteger(0),
    "memory" -> WdlString("2GB"),
    "bootDiskSizeGb" -> WdlInteger(10)
  )

  private def defaultValues(workflowOptions: WorkflowOptions): Map[String, WdlValue] = {
    def fromWorkflowOptions(k: ValidKeyType) = {
      val value = workflowOptions.getDefaultRuntimeOption(k.key).get
      val coercedValue = k.validTypes map { _.coerceRawValue(value) } find { _.isSuccess } map { _.get } getOrElse {
        log.warn(s"Could not coerce $value for runtime attribute ${k.key} to any of the supported target types: ${k.validTypes.mkString(",")}. Using default value instead.")
        defaultValues.get(k.key).get
      }
      coercedValue
    }

    keys.collect({
      case k if workflowOptions.getDefaultRuntimeOption(k.key).isSuccess => k.key -> fromWorkflowOptions(k)
      case k if defaultValues.contains(k.key) => k.key -> defaultValues.get(k.key).get
    }).toMap
  }

  val defaults: CromwellRuntimeAttributes = {
    // .get below because we assume that the default values are valid
    // There's a unit test in CromwellRuntimeAttributeSpec to test these defaults
    validateRuntimeAttributes(defaultValues).get
  }

  private def validateRuntimeAttributes(attributes: Map[String, WdlValue]): Try[CromwellRuntimeAttributes] = {
    val attributeMap = attributes.collect({ case (k, v) if Try(RuntimeKey.from(k)).isSuccess => RuntimeKey.from(k) -> v })
    val docker = validateDocker(attributeMap.get(DOCKER))
    val zones = validateZone(attributeMap.get(ZONES))
    val failOnStderr = validateFailOnStderr(attributeMap.get(FAIL_ON_STDERR))
    val continueOnReturnCode = validateContinueOnReturnCode(attributeMap.get(CONTINUE_ON_RETURN_CODE))
    val cpu = validateCpu(attributeMap.get(CPU))
    val disks = validateLocalDisks(attributeMap.get(DISKS))
    val preemptible = validatePreemptible(attributeMap.get(PREEMPTIBLE))
    val memory = RuntimeAttributes.validateMemoryValue(attributeMap.getOrElse(MEMORY, WdlString(s"${defaults.memoryGB} GB"))) match {
      case scala.util.Success(x) => x.to(MemoryUnit.GB).amount.successNel
      case scala.util.Failure(x) => x.getMessage.failureNel
    }
    val bootDiskSize = validateBootDisk(attributeMap.get(BOOT_DISK))

    (docker |@| zones |@| failOnStderr |@| continueOnReturnCode |@| cpu |@| preemptible |@| disks |@| memory |@| bootDiskSize) {
      new CromwellRuntimeAttributes(attributes, _, _, _, _, _, _, _, _, _)
    } match {
      case Success(x) => scala.util.Success(x)
      case Failure(nel) => scala.util.Failure(new IllegalArgumentException(nel.list.mkString("\n")))
    }
  }

  private def validateCpu(cpu: Option[WdlValue]): ErrorOr[Int] = {
    cpu.map(validateInt).getOrElse(defaults.cpu.toInt.successNel)
  }

  private def validatePreemptible(preemptible: Option[WdlValue]): ErrorOr[Int] = {
    preemptible.map(validateInt).getOrElse(defaults.preemptible.successNel)
  }

  private def validateDocker(docker: Option[WdlValue]): ErrorOr[Option[String]] = {
    docker match {
      case Some(WdlString(s)) => Some(s).successNel
      case None => None.successNel
      case _ => s"Expecting ${DOCKER.key} runtime attribute to a String".failureNel
    }
  }

  private def validateZone(zoneValue: Option[WdlValue]): ErrorOr[Vector[String]] = {
    zoneValue match {
      case Some(WdlString(s)) => s.split("\\s+").toVector.successNel
      case Some(WdlArray(wdlType, value)) if wdlType.memberType == WdlStringType =>
        value.map(_.valueString).toVector.successNel
      case Some(_) => s"Expecting ${ZONES.key} runtime attribute to be either a whitespace separated String or an Array[String]".failureNel
      case None => defaults.zones.toVector.successNel
    }
  }

  private def validateFailOnStderr(value: Option[WdlValue]): ErrorOr[Boolean] = {
    value match {
      case Some(WdlBoolean(b)) => b.successNel
      case Some(WdlString(s)) if s.toLowerCase == "true" => true.successNel
      case Some(WdlString(s)) if s.toLowerCase == "false" => false.successNel
      case Some(_) => s"Expecting ${FAIL_ON_STDERR.key} runtime attribute to be a Boolean or a String with values of 'true' or 'false'".failureNel
      case None => defaults.failOnStderr.successNel
    }
  }

  private def validateContinueOnReturnCode(value: Option[WdlValue]): ErrorOr[ContinueOnReturnCode] = {
    value match {
      case Some(b: WdlBoolean) => ContinueOnReturnCodeFlag(b.value).successNel
      case Some(WdlString(s)) if s.toLowerCase == "true" => ContinueOnReturnCodeFlag(true).successNel
      case Some(WdlString(s)) if s.toLowerCase == "false" => ContinueOnReturnCodeFlag(false).successNel
      case Some(WdlInteger(i)) => ContinueOnReturnCodeSet(Set(i)).successNel
      case Some(WdlArray(wdlType, seq)) =>
        val nels = seq map validateInt
        val defaultReturnCodeNel = Set.empty[Int].successNel[String]
        nels.foldLeft(defaultReturnCodeNel)((acc, v) => (acc |@| v) { (a, v) => a + v }) map ContinueOnReturnCodeSet
      case Some(_) => s"Expecting ${CONTINUE_ON_RETURN_CODE.key} runtime attribute to be either a Boolean, a String 'true' or 'false', or an Array[Int]".failureNel
      case None => defaults.continueOnReturnCode.successNel
    }
  }

  private def validateLocalDisks(value: Option[WdlValue]): ErrorOr[Seq[JesAttachedDisk]] = {
    val nels = value match {
      case Some(WdlString(s)) => s.split(",\\s*").toSeq.map(validateLocalDisk)
      case Some(WdlArray(wdlType, seq)) if wdlType.memberType == WdlStringType =>
        seq.map(_.valueString).map(validateLocalDisk)
      case Some(_) =>
        Seq(s"Expecting ${DISKS.key} runtime attribute to be a comma separated String or Array[String]".failureNel[JesAttachedDisk])
      case None => defaults.disks.map(_.successNel)
    }

    val emptyDiskNel = Vector.empty[JesAttachedDisk].successNel[String]
    val disksNel = nels.foldLeft(emptyDiskNel)((acc, v) => (acc |@| v) { (a, v) => a :+ v })

    disksNel map {
      case disks if disks.exists(_.name == JesWorkingDisk.Name) => disks
      case disks => disks :+ DefaultJesWorkingDisk
    }
  }

  private def validateLocalDisk(disk: String): ErrorOr[JesAttachedDisk] = {
    JesAttachedDisk.parse(disk) match {
      case scala.util.Success(localDisk) => localDisk.successNel
      case scala.util.Failure(ex) => ex.getMessage.failureNel
    }
  }

  private def validateBootDisk(diskSize: Option[WdlValue]): ErrorOr[Int] = diskSize match {
    case Some(x) if WdlIntegerType.isCoerceableFrom(x.wdlType) =>
      WdlIntegerType.coerceRawValue(x) match {
        case scala.util.Success(x: WdlInteger) => x.value.intValue.successNel
        case scala.util.Success(coercionhasgoneawry) => s"Coercion was expected to create an Integer but instead got $coercionhasgoneawry".failureNel
        case scala.util.Failure(t) => t.getMessage.failureNel
      }
    case None => defaults.bootDiskSizeGb.successNel
  }

  private def validateRequiredKeys(keySet: Set[String],
                                   backendType: BackendType): ErrorOr[Unit] = {
    val requiredKeys = for {
      key <- RuntimeKey.values().toSet
      if key.isMandatory(backendType)
    } yield key.key

    val missingRequiredKeys = requiredKeys -- keySet
    if (missingRequiredKeys.isEmpty) ().successNel
    else {
      val missingKeyString = missingRequiredKeys.toSeq.sorted.mkString(", ")
      s"Missing required keys in runtime configuration for backend '$backendType': $missingKeyString".failureNel
    }
  }

  private def validateInt(value: WdlValue): ErrorOr[Int] = {
    WdlIntegerType.coerceRawValue(value) match {
      case scala.util.Success(WdlInteger(i)) => i.intValue.successNel
      case _ => s"Could not coerce $value into an integer".failureNel
    }
  }

  implicit class EnhancedBackendType(val backendType: BackendType) extends AnyVal {
    def supportedKeys: Set[RuntimeKey] = for {
      key <- RuntimeKey.values().toSet
      if key.supports(backendType)
    } yield key
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Serves: Makes 6-8 lettuce wraps.
Mix all stir fry sauce ingredients making sure to dissolve brown sugar. Set aside.
Heat canola oil in pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add diced chicken and brown (about 4-5 minutes). Remove chicken from oil. Add onions, garlic and 1 teaspoon soy sauce to pan; brown. When onions and garlic are brown and tender, add stir fry sauce, browned chicken, and cashews. Saute mixture for a few minutes and remove from heat.
Spoon chicken mixture into individual lettuce leaves. Add your favourite hot sauce, more cashews or basil.


Very busy day today. I will post these events in the sidebar later.
In response to ten years of Bloomberg's failed educational policies, concerned teachers, parents, community members, and elected officials will gather on Thursday, 3/15 at 4 pm. Instead of holding our protest at Borough Hall as we did last year, Brooklyn has chosen to express itself closer to the source, across the street from the DOE Office at 65 Court Street. This rally is for EVERYONE with an interest in the public schools and ANYONE who is fed up with attacks on teachers, closing schools, release of teacher data reports, parents being cut out of the equation, and budget cuts to educational services. Please bring your colleagues and remember to wear blue in solidarity.
I thought that you might be interested in an upcoming event in Astoria, Queens. Beginning on March 3, 2012, a small gathering of people, mostly Greek-Americans, gathered to discuss how to organize support efforts to help the people of Greece. As I am sure you know, the people there have been shattered by the machinations of the global banking elite. The group's intent was to begin meeting at Athens Square Park every Saturday at 2 PM to discuss various issues that deal with the Greek crisis. However, Athens Square Park, which is located on 30th street and 30th avenue, seems to possess the potential of becoming a hot bed of local democratic action. It seems that the public education topic was one of the issues that dominated this panoply of areas of interest.
Therefore, next Saturday, March 17th, people from all over the city are planning to converge onto Athens Square Park, at 2 PM, in order to help educate our Astoria/LIC neighbors about some of the most important public education issues of our time. These folks intend to emphasize the closing down of local schools, the suspension of habeas corpus, the revitalization of Greek-American activism and many other important matters.
I hope that all of you will be able to join us since you clearly have a loud voice in the local scene of direct democracy. Also, we would be very appreciative if you helped us spread the word. Again, a group of unaffiliated individuals from all over the city will meet at Athens Square Park in Astoria at 2 PM. The park is on 30th street and 30th avenue. It can be reached by getting off at the 30th avenue stop on the N and Q lines. From there, it is a short one-block walk.
Lastly, it is interesting to note that Athens Square Park is a very symbolic park for many reasons. It is ordained by two statues that were gifts from the people of Greece. When you first walk in you will encounter Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Towards the back of the park sits Socrates, the philosopher that was poisoned for dissenting against the powers of his time. Lastly, adjacent to the park resides the Henry David Thoreau public school. As the author of Civil Disobedience this renowned American can act as a reminder for all present that we cannot remain silent in the face of so many injustices.
Educators Stand Up to the NY Post!
The New York Post despicably published the Teacher Data Reports of some 1800 fourth through eighth grade teachers, with full knowledge of their many flaws from inaccurate class rosters to statistically irrelevant sample sizes and the massive opposition to their focus on high stakes standardized testing as the only means of assessing teachers and students. The Post's parent company, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, has a history of connections to the worst actors in the movement against teachers and students, including hiring former New York City Chancellor of Schools, Joel Klein. This only adds to the already outrageous free distribution of the New York Post, a racist, sexist, pornographic rag of a newspaper, to our public schools.
Join Occupy the Department of Education for a protest at News Corporation's Headquarters, and a tour of the publications that betrayed our teachers and students through the publication of teacher data reports.
Wear Black to mourn the "death of teaching" and your "scarlet number" to show we won't be shamed!
This entry was posted in An Embattled Career, education reform, Politics, School and tagged Activism, education, Education Reform, Occupy DOE, Protest, public school activism, teacher bashing. Bookmark the permalink.
Fight on! My solidarity and best wishes as a student.
Thanks. It was a nice time, but not well attended.
Thank you for stopping by! Good luck to you.
The one I went to was yesterday was pleasant, but not too much turn out, unfortunately.


text:
Q: Subversion - Checkout a parent directory In my repository, lets say I have this:
Animal
  Dog
     Beagle
     Hound
     ...

Lets say I checked out Dog to a working directory and I realized, whoops, I really wanted to checkout Animal.
I can delete my working copy, the Dog directory, and checkout Animal, but is there way I can do so without deleting and checking out again?
If my working copy of Dog has Animal as a parent folder and I checkout Animal without deleting Dog, I get something like "subversion failed to add directory versioned same name already exists".
I'm also using tortoise.  Thanks.

A: This is not possible directly.
The easiest way is to delete your working copy and do a new checkout of Animal.
If you have any changes in Dog that you'd like to keep, move Dog to a temporary location, checkout Animal and then copy Dog back into the Animal directory.

A: You're looking for svn switch, which updates your working copy to reflect a new path. Modified files don't get touched, though. In TortoiseSVN, right click and select "Switch..." from the context menu.
The more common use case for svn switch is to switch between branches that are rooted from the same point, so that you can have different views of the same code. But you can switch between arbitrary paths in your repository.

A: I found to avoid downloading from the svn server what already is on my disk, then updating or checkout is done using --depth empty. So something like: svn co --depth empty Animal ; cd Animal ; svn update --depth empty Dog
Anyway, the idea is to get Dog as a directory in to Animal/.svn/entries.
This "--depth empty" keeps svn from downloading the actual content, but svn does make the sub-directory (in this case, Dog) and svn does put an entry for the Dog sub-directory in Animal/.svn/entries.
Then replace the Dog sub-directory with the copy you already have.
You can check that this works by whacking one of the files somewhere in Dog and doing an svn update in the Animal directory. The whacked file should be pulled down from the svn server.

A: Yes, you can map parent directory.To do that, you just need to delete .svn directory from "Dog" (child) directory and do SVN Update on Parent directory. It will make existing file as Versioned copy and will download delta content of Dog directory from SVN server.Please Note: You should have exact directory structure as SVN directory structure.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


...a very modern kitchen with a stainless steel gas hob and integrated oven, a washing machine and fridge freezer and a plethora of storage space. The dining lounge is also of a good size offering a dining table and chairs, modern furniture, and is also stylish throughout.
The double bedroom offers a double bed, modern furniture and is decorated to a good standard. There is also a separate smaller room which would make a good spare bedroom or office.
The bathroom is of a good size and is fitted with a modern suite.
To the outside is a front yard, perfect for those summer evenings.
All in all this is an excellent property which would suit a professional couple.


text:
Tom Holland wants to play Warhammer 40,000 with Henry Cavill
Ryan Aston Dec 4, 2021 1:23 pm 2021-12-04T13:23:40-05:00
Image via Sony
Fans may never get to see Superman and Spider-Man together on the big screen as part of the MCU/DCEU mega-crossover event fans crave. However, there is hope yet that they'll one day converge to go toe-to-toe in one of tabletop gaming's most iconic titles.
Or, at least, the actors who play them will.
Henry Cavill and Tom Holland recently guested on The Graham Norton Show and, during the appearance, the former was probed on his love of the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000. Noting that the Justice League star has "more hobbies than the average man," Norton asked Cavill if he painted his 40k miniatures.
His answer undoubtedly prompted geeks everywhere to swell with pride.
"You have to paint them, but it's just how much effort you put into them, " Cavill explained. "There's the painting/modeling side of the hobby and then there's the gaming side of the hobby."
Norton proceeded to ask what happens next, to which Cavill responded in the most basic way possible: "You put them together in little armies and you fight against someone else's army."
Although this drew laughter from the chat host and his studio audience, Holland was clearly intrigued by the whole thing.
"Can I come over and play?" Holland asked, eagerly. "It sounds amazing!"
Henry Cavill talking Warhammer is getting Spider-Man excited! This is the cross over we need 😂😁 pic.twitter.com/LeQKRaAbkE
— Chapter Master Valrak (@CMValrak) December 4, 2021
Holland's latest Spidey flick, Spider-Man: No Way Home, is set to hit theaters on December 17. Cavill, meanwhile, stars in season two of The Witcher, which will drop on Netflix on the same day.


text:
English musician and singer-songwriter
Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England
David Ian "Joe" Jackson (born 11 August 1954) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. Having spent years studying music and playing clubs, Jackson scored a hit with his first release, "Is She Really Going Out with Him ", in 1979. This was followed by a number of new wave singles before he moved to more jazz-inflected pop music and had a Top 10 hit in 1982 with "Steppin' Out". He is associated with the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US. He has also composed classical music. He has recorded 20 studio albums and received 5 Grammy Award nominations.
David Ian Jackson
Rock, pop, jazz, classical
Musician, songwriter, author
joejackson.com
1970 present
American singer, songwriter, and dancer
American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress
American gospel singer
American rapper from New York
Lani Hall


text:
ECKMEA
KMEA Links
High School Choir
High School Jazz Band
High School Orchestra
Middle Level Band
Middle Level Choir
Middle Level Orchestra
Treble Honor Choir
Outstanding Music Educator
Outstanding Young Music Educator
Honor Administrator
2018-19 Clinician (Gold)
2018-19 Clinician (Blue)
2018-19 Roster (Gold)
2018-19 Roster (Blue)
High School Orchestra Clinician (Gold)
Timothy Shade
Timothy Shade is the currently Director of Bands at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. Previous appointments include Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Alhambra Orchestra (FL), Visiting Director of Orchestras at Florida Atlantic University, and Director of Instrumental Music at Bethel College (KS). He has garnered praise for his exciting programming, engaging personality and "marvelous conducting." Equally comfortable in the orchestral and wind realms, Shade has worked with Greater Miami Symphonic Band, The New River Orchestra, The Naples Philharmonic, The Frost Wind Ensemble, The Florida Youth Symphony, The Wichita Wind Ensemble, The Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra, and the Delano Chamber Orchestra.
Under Dr. Shade's leadership, the instrumental music program at Bethel College increased in size and intensity. In February 2012, the Bethel College Wind Ensemble gave its first-ever performance at the Kansas Music Educators Association annual in-service workshop. In that same year he was honored by the Kansas Bandmasters Association with the "Outstanding Young Bandmaster" award for the state of Kansas. Since his arrival at Wichita State, the bands have experienced a significant resurgence in prominence at the local and national level. The 2017-2018 season contained performances at the Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop and the College Band Directors National Association Southwest Division Conference. Dr. Shade holds a music performance degree in euphonium and jazz trombone from Youngstown (Ohio) State University and did his graduate work as a graduate assistant in the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, Coral Gables, Fla., where he completed his Masters and Doctoral degrees in euphonium and conducting respectively.
As a performer, Dr. Shade has played in venues from New York's Carnegie Hall to the Carnival Cruise Lines' m.s .Inspiration. An active euphonium soloist, Dr. Shade has given more than 100 performances in recitals and as a guest soloist. He has appeared with the Youngstown State University Wind Ensemble, the Dana All-Star Band, the Dana Chamber Orchestra, the W.D. Packard Band, the University of Miami Symphonic Winds, the Greater Miami Symphonic Band, Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra, and the Wichita Wind Ensemble, among others. A proponent for new music, Dr. Shade has premiered several new works and is currently in the process of commissioning more repertoire for the euphonium. In the fall of 2011, Dr. Shade commissioned and premiered PARALLAX by Thomas Sleeper. PARALLAX was recently released on the album "Thomas Sleeper Symphony No. 3" with Shade as the soloist. Also a busy jazz trombonist, Dr. Shade has shared the stage with many well-known performers such as Wessell "Warm Daddy" Anderson, John Clayton, Harold Danko, Joey DeFrancesco, Conrad Herwig, Sean Jones, Darren Kramer, Wynton Marsalis, Jim McNeely, Bernadette Peters, and the Modernaires.
The promotion and creation of new music is a passion of Shade's. He has been involved in over 15 commissions and has worked with composers such as David Maslanka, Andrew Boysen Jr., Steven Bryant, Edward Largent, James Leatherbarrow, Jonathan Newman, Christopher Rouse, Michael Daugherty, Roberto Sierra, Paul Rudy, Steve Danyew, Derek Jenkins, Thomas Sleeper, Paul Dooley, and James Syler. In Spring 2013, Dr. Shade premiered This World Alive by Steve Danyew, a piece for winds and film based on the work of Ansel Adams. In 2014 he was involved with commissioning a wonderful song cycle for chamber winds also by Steve Danyew, Alcott Songs. The 2015-16 season saw a commission and premiere by fabulous young composer Javier Albornoz for orchestra entitled Mundus Novus. Current projects include an audience participation/media and wind ensemble piece from Derek Jenkins and a new symphony for wind ensemble from James Syler.
Anna Cook
Shawnee Mission North HS
7401 Johnson Drive
w: 785-393-0451
KMEA East Central District
Important Dates (2019-20)
Time TBD - Fall Dinner Meeting
@ Gardner-Edgerton HS
District HS Auditions
@ Olathe East HS
District Mini-Conventions


Senso continues doing steps toward better Neurorehabilitation solutions. We already have partners worldwide who use our Senso Gloves in rehabilitating post-stroke patients and now we want to move this collaboration even further.
Senso sees a huge gap between existing cutting-edge rehabilitation methods and final end-patients solutions. There is a lot of difficulties and peculiarities in the rehabilitation domain. We feel that the main stopping factor here is the lack of communication between medical community, technical teams, science and business. That is why today we aim to get developers and content-developer together with medical community: doctors, researchers, insitutes, we aim to build an ecosystem, where we can create better solutions and finally bring them to the patients worldwide.
As a part of this process we signed partnership with Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, which will allow us to develop new rehabilitation approaches and as well help us in solving issues of legal regulations – such as medical certification and clinical trials.
We are eager to find much more new contacts from the medical community and welcome anyone from the domain to join us in this collaboration!
Senso team is now at Barcelona Mobile World Congress 2018.
You are welcome to visit us at booth 5K49, Hall 5!
Senso team together with Mohammed Alsehli – the key figure in the Middle East blockchain community.
Last week of June Senso were invited to HTC Vive X Meetup in Shanghai. We were happy to visit the event and to communicate with all the VIVE X teams of Batch II. Huge thanks for all of you guys, you are making a great job!
We've released new driver version for Windows 7 platform.
Overall fingers tracking quality is improved, also we solved the problem of Bluetooth interference.
Now driver could be configured to operate up to 18 Senso Gloves in the same room.
We have also added a demo application (Windows 7) to our downloads page, so you can try the Glove out of the box, without using SDK.
Many of Senso Glove users showed interest for a similar full body tracking solution and Senso packed the same technology into new product – Senso Suit – it is a set of 15 modules. Each module is a small box (1×1 inch), with its own IMU and vibration motor, which could be mounted on arms, legs and torso. The modules are wired connected one-by-one and communicate with PC via USB-cable or Wi-Fi connection.
Senso Suit enables full body tracking and haptic feedback for use in VR gaming or it could be used as a very affordable motion capture solution in games or video production. Senso also provides free SDK for C++, Unreal Engine and Unity.
As it's shown in the demo – the suit behaves well without any standalone cameras, but to make the tracking even better – one can use Valve's SteamVR based external tracking stations (e.g. HTC Vive), as each of the module has additional SteamVR tracking sensor built-in.
Today we are opening preorders on Senso Suit, priced at $599 for the whole set of 15 tracking modules and main control unit. You can purchase it at our order page.
Stay tuned, more news are coming!
Senso is focused on creating completely wireless hands tracking solution, suitable for mobile use. That's we rely mostly on IMU tracking, without using any external tracking cameras or other solutions like Kinect or LeapMotion.
As you already now, the main problem of IMU-based solutions – is the drifting problem.
We use some of the best IMU-sensors, available on market, together with our custom software, thus lowering the drift as much as possible. It works well in many situations. For example, in a boxing simulation – you won't ever notice it. But some cases require perfect absolute positioning.
To deal with it, our current SDK version just locks the elbow position in space, so you can not move your elbow, but just rotate it via arc, with elbow-shoulder joint being its center.
So when the hand moves strictly forward or backward – nothing happens.
The software developer can then pull the virtual hand to the "zones of interest", such as buttons and other interactive elements (e.g. when the hand is close to such area, the coordinates begin to slightly change, moving closer to the zone). This way the process feels very intuitive and natural for user and the drift is not a problem.
Our new SDK version will allow developer to select whether he wants or not this locking to be applied. We also plan to embed this "zones of area" code directly into our SDK, so developers won't have to deal with it, only providing our API with the coordinates of such zones.
Now we release Senso Glove DK2, which has Lighthouse/SteamVR modules on board.
Those, having HTC Vive, or any other SteamVR tracking station, can now use its external tracking to eliminate the drifting issue.
There is also another solution of the problem – Senso Suit modules. Two modules could be connected to the glove and mounted on elbow and shoulder. This way the hand would be locked at shoulder-spine joint, having much more freedom. Senso Suit is a huge topic, which will be covered on our site soon.
We also want to mention, that our new SDK versions would support all Senso Glove versions, including DK1, and we have no plans to drop support for it in future. Most of the tracking is done via driver software, while the glove mostly transmits raw sensor data. So we can and we would improve Glove tracking performance by software updates in future.
We can't satisfy the high demand for Senso Glove DK1 and we are stopping its sales.
But here are the good news: we are starting production of Senso Glove DK2 – the new version of our product (its v7 in our models lineup). It now relies much more on factory production and requires less manual work from our team, so we can produce larger quantities in shorter terms.
Senso Glove DK2 is already available for preorder at our Purchase page, the first units will be shipped at the end of March.
We also allow our current customers, who ordered DK1 in January, and have not received their shipment yet, to get a free upgrade to DK2. If this is your case, you should receive an email on this.
We keep working on Senso technology and as many of you asked – we developed a new product named Senso Suit.
Senso Suit – is a bunch of tracking and vibration modules, which could be mounted on different body parts. You can use these modules to give additional freedom to your arms or the whole body. For example you can mount 2 additional modules on the elbow and shoulder. The modules would connect to Senso Glove and give you ability to track not only fingers and palm but the whole arm. You can also track the whole body by mounting up to 15 modules total.
Each Senso Suit Module is a small lightweight box, embedded with IMU, vibration motor and optional Lighthouse/SteamVR sensor. Their target price is around $20-$30 per module.
Please stay tuned to our news and subscribe to our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!
Follow our story development via Instagram, Facebook or Twitter!
All rights reserved. © 2016 Senso Devices Inc.


text:
DVD FINAL BATTLE
The planet is at war. And even though we're all engaged in the conflict it goes unnoticed.
Lucas is young and lives only for the moment. As time passes he doesn't seem to notice that his eternal destiny is at stake. Immersed in his daily routine he's unaware that all things in this life do come to an end. He puts off the decision he must make.
The last call is issued. The last chance is offered. Lucas makes up his mind.
You too have a decision to make. In this war there is no neutral territory. The final battle has already begun.
This 100 min. DVD is presented in 4 languages. Originally in Portuguese and dubbed in English. Spanish and French also included.
Tags/ DEOLIVEIRA/ DRAMA/ DVD/ END TIME/ END TIMES/ JO DEOLIVEIRA/ LAST DAYS
CASE FOR THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT TP
Ellen White called Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary "the foundation of our faith" (Evangelism, page 221) and said if the people of God don't understand the investigative judgment, "it...
CAUGHT BETWEEN 2 WORLDS A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR END TIME LIVING TP
Pastor Karl takes the reader verse by verse and explains the circumstances behind Peter's letters and the condition of the early church. "Is it possible " he asks "that you...
CRISIS OF THE END TIME TP [AHL]
With compelling evidence from Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy, Marvin Moore suggests the greatest crisis in human history is about to break upon us with startling speed and ferocity....
DANIEL PURE & SIMPLE TP
The books of Daniel and Revelation are companions. The prophecies given in Daniel are revealed further in Revelation and fit together like a hand in a glove. As you understand...
DELAY TP
For as long as we can remember and even before the refrain "Jesus is coming soon" has sounded in churches around the world. Its theme is central to our message...
Church Interest, CHURCH INTEREST
DVD GREAT CONTROVERSY V1
This exciting and informative documentary series traces the history of the greatest war ever fought-a conflict that began thousands of years ago and has touched every continent and culture. The...
The closing events of earth's history will be rapid ones! September 11 2001 proved that everything can change in an instant. This eye-opening feature-length film portays in stunning detail the...
Booklet, BOOKLET
END OF THE WORLD STP
In this little book you'll discover big things. Whether we like it or not, according to The Holy Bible, "the end of the world" is fast approaching. The unprecedented increase...


Hello and thank you for reading my first post! I created this blog as a way to show all of my friends and family how to travel for free like my family does.
In January 2014 I started looking for a way that I could afford to take my daughters on vacations, showing them the world on very little income. Our youngest daughter was born at only 23 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound & 6 ounces. For four months I talked to her in the hospital telling her story after story about where I would take her if she just fought to come home. I started out slowly, by watching others until I felt comfortable then jumped in head first. This summer we started knocking places off the list. I nicknamed it the "Celebration of Life" Tour.
I'd love to hear if you used my advice to travel somewhere! Let me know who you brought with you and where you went!
1. Sign up for frequent flyer programs and hotel rewards programs. This is where we earn points & miles to get free travel! Be sure to keep a Word document of all of your usernames/member numbers and passwords!
2. The quickest way to get miles & points without traveling is credit card bonuses! I plan out an "app party" twice a year. What that means is I will apply for 3 credit cards at the same time (or same week.) By only doing it one week twice a year my credit has not been affected. I also pay off the balance each month, so my credit isn't affected and I pay zero interest. I do not recommend opening credit cards if you cannot pay them off, but I will show you how to hit the minimum spends to get the credit card bonuses.
3. Shop and eat! You shop online right? Why not get points/miles for that same order just by clicking through the flyer program/hotel rewards portal first! Dining programs offered by loyalty programs offer points just by registering your credit/debit card with them before eating at your favorite restaurant!
BE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR EMAIL UPDATES TO SEE HOW WE TRAVEL FREE!


text:
Q: Why does merging these arrays cause an error? My front-end and back-end code is listed below. It's working perfectly. And from this page I'm sending 2 arrays to another page. There I want to merge the arrays and insert into a MySQL table. Here it my front page.
<?php
    include("db.php");
    $team_id=$_GET['team_id'];
    $sql1=mysql_query("select members from team where team_id='$team_id'");
    $sql=mysql_query("select user_id,full_name from users where school_id= '1'");

    while($array=mysql_fetch_assoc($sql))
    {
        $x[] = $array['user_id'];
    }
    echo "
";
    $row1=mysql_fetch_array($sql1);
    $member=unserialize($row1['members']);
    echo "<form action='ad_team_mem_db.php' method='post'>";
    echo "<select name='mem[]' size='25' multiple='multiple'>";
    foreach(array_diff_assoc($x ,$member) as $item)
    {
        $sqlf=mysql_query("select user_id,full_name from users where school_id=1 and user_id='$item'");
        if($roww=mysql_fetch_array($sqlf)){
            echo "<option value='".$roww['user_id']."'>".$roww['full_name']."</option>";
        }
    }
    echo "</select>
";
    echo "<input type='hidden' value='$member' name='member[]'>";
    echo "<input type='submit'>";
    echo "</form>";
    echo "
";
?>

And this is my backend page. In this page I couldn't merge 2 arrays.
<?
    include("db.php");
    $mem=$_POST['mem'];
    $member=$_POST['member'];
    **$members = array_merge ($member, $mem);**
?>

Error message,

Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #1 is not an array in C:\AppServ\www\teen\ad_team_mem_db.php on line 5

A: At the point you do this:
echo "<input type='hidden' value='$member' name='member[]'>";

$member is a PHP array, and what you'll end up in the form will look like:
<input type='hidden' value='Array' name='member[]'>

which upon POSTing will be a simple string, which is why your array_merge is failing.

A: I think you probably need to unserialise the POST vars before merging.

A: try
$members = array_merge ((array) $member, (array) $mem);