\nPeople are leaving Austin in droves, according to new report (Video)", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 68, "original_length": 3438, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.84, "perplexity": 309.5, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://armyofwomen.org/studies/977", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:53:55Z", "digest": "sha1:MCZ3YPO6LNUIRBBCF22SHEQJFMIYMTWV", "length": 3286, "nlines": 13, "source_domain": "armyofwomen.org", "title": "Phase I Study of T-DM1 Alone Versus T-DM1 and Metronomic Temozolomide in Secondary Prevention of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Brain Metastases Following Stereotactic Radiosurgery | Army of Women", "raw_content": "Alexandra Zimmer, M.D., at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD\nThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether using Temodar and Kadcyla together decreases the chance of patients with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer developing new brain metastases. Approximately 18 participants will take part in this study. Participants enrolled in this trial may be eligible to receive compensation for their travel expenses.\nIf you sign up for this study, you will be contacted by the research team and asked to visit the Clinical Center at the NIH for a screening visit. Before your visit, you may submit recent tests (laboratory and imaging) for review by the research team as an initial eligibility check. During the screening visit, you will have several exams and tests to ensure you are a good fit for the study, including a review of your medical history, physical examination, electrocardiogram (EKG), echocardiogram, CT scan, MRI, bloodwork, and a pregnancy test. Additionally, you will be asked to provide a copy of your tumor pathology report to confirm your diagnosis. Participants who enroll in this study will continue treatment until their disease gets worse.\nThe purpose of this phase I clinical trial is to evaluate the safety of using Temodar with Kadcyla. Volunteers will receive increasing doses of Temodar to determine the best dose to use in combination with Kadcyla.\nAll participants in this part of the study will receive both study medications. You will receive Kadcyla once every three weeks through an IV. You will take Temodar, an oral drug, every day. The research team will monitor your side effects and conduct tests to determine how you are responding to the two drug combination. Every three weeks you will have a physical exam, testing of your vital signs, blood tests, urine tests, symptom review, and a pregnancy test. Every six weeks, you will complete questionnaires and receive an MRI and/or CT scan. An EKG and echocardiogram will be performed every 12 weeks.\nTo lean more about the effects the two-drug combination is having on your tumor, the research team will study your blood samples, a tumor sample, and your cerebrospinal fluid. Tumor samples will be requested from surgeries you had before or during the study. You will not have any biopsies performed just for research purposes. Cerebrospinal fluid will be collected by the research team. These samples are obtained by a procedure called a lumbar puncture. You are required to have two lumbar punctures: once before treatment and once at the beginning of cycle 3.\nThroughout the study, you will complete a daily medication diary. This diary will help the research team record your medication use.\nNational Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD\nYou are a woman or man with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer\nYou have new brain metastases which were recently treated (within the last 6 weeks) or are about to be treated by stereotactic radiation, surgery, or whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT.)\nYou are able to complete a brain MRI, lumbar puncture, bloodwork, and provide a pre-enrollment brain tumor sample if available.\nYou live near or are able to travel to Bethesda, MD\nAfter you RSVP and if you are eligible, the research team will follow up with you for next steps in the study.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 105, "original_length": 5797, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.94, "perplexity": 302.8, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://articleonfitness.com/exercise-for-beginners-to-lose-weight-at-home/exercise-for-beginners-to-lose-weight-at-home-4/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:44:27Z", "digest": "sha1:KHR3KEK5METJT63PN2W34UVRPJPYWZ4C", "length": 124, "nlines": 1, "source_domain": "articleonfitness.com", "title": "exercise for beginners to lose weight at home | Article on Fitness", "raw_content": "https://articleonfitness.com/exercise-for-beginners-to-lose-weight-at-home/exercise-for-beginners-to-lose-weight-at-home-4\">", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 65, "original_length": 1888, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.85, "perplexity": 170.3, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://artsandcraftshomes.com/tag/registers-and-grilles", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:01:06Z", "digest": "sha1:A5EPOWYM2VCP7HXYPMUCEPETG2IJRYWK", "length": 265, "nlines": 2, "source_domain": "artsandcraftshomes.com", "title": "registers and grilles - Design for the Arts & Crafts House | Arts & Crafts Homes Online", "raw_content": "Acorn Mfg.\nAcorn is the finest and largest manufacturer and distributor of forged iron grilles and registers in the United States. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality products, timely delivery and the most knowledgeable and courteous customer service.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 98, "original_length": 1832, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.95, "perplexity": 111.6, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://as.vanderbilt.edu/neuroscience/research-3/search-by-research/neuroprotective-therapies-for-glaucoma-and-ocular-trauma/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:37:50Z", "digest": "sha1:NMPHDMCND7U2TJ4RLPJG2VMJVVP7RLEB", "length": 957, "nlines": 4, "source_domain": "as.vanderbilt.edu", "title": "Neuroprotective Therapies for Glaucoma and Ocular Trauma | Neuroscience Program | Vanderbilt University", "raw_content": "Neuroprotective Therapies for Glaucoma and Ocular Trauma\n11425 Langford MRBIV\ntonia.rex@vanderbilt.edu\nThe Rex laboratory uses recombinant adeno-associated viruses to deliver mutated forms of erythropoietin (EPO) developed in her laboratory into animal models of Glaucoma and ocular neurotrauma. Her laboratory identified forms of EPO that are neuroprotective and do not induce a rise in red blood cell count, thus making them safer for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. She has shown great efficacy with pre-treatment in a mouse model of Glaucoma and is now investigating the efficacy of delayed therapy and long-term outcomes, as well as investigating the mechanism of action. Dr. Rex also developed a model of ocular trauma that mimics injuries incurred by exposure to an explosive device. Her laboratory is investigating the mechanism of cell death in this model as well as using gene therapy to treat or prevent the subsequent neurodegeneration.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 63, "original_length": 2633, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.94, "perplexity": 315.0, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://ascfusa.org/answering-moscows-assault-democracy/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:39:15Z", "digest": "sha1:JTWJSG43J5F33F4CSRLF4JHG4PKARTAC", "length": 10742, "nlines": 27, "source_domain": "ascfusa.org", "title": "Answering Moscow\u2019s Assault on Democracy - American Security Council Foundation", "raw_content": "Answering Moscow\u2019s Assault on Democracy\nBy Alan Dowd, \u2013 ASCF Senior Fellow\nApril 2017 \u2013 John Lenczowski, president of the Institute of World Politics and former State Department and National Security Council official, argues that the U.S. national security community \u201chas systematically neglected\u2026the entire field of perceptions management, propaganda, strategic deception, information warfare and strategic influence.\u201d This field includes operations aimed at \u201cdiscrediting adversaries, supporting political movements\u2026and the subversion of governments and organizations\u201d\u2014operations in which the Soviets and their Russian heirs specialize. The West\u2019s failure to respond to these operations has led to a range of security challenges, including the normalization of authoritarian systems, the erosion of support for the Western alliance system, and the discrediting of institutions and ideas that make the West unique\u2014representative government, political and religious pluralism, majority rule with minority rights, economic and political freedom, and the rule of law.\nBefore discussing how to respond to Moscow\u2019s latest assault on the West, it\u2019s important to point out where and how Moscow is carrying out its campaign of \u201cinformation warfare and strategic influence.\u201d\nAs The Washington Post reports, U.S. intelligence agencies conclude \u201cRussian President Vladi\u00acmir Putin ordered a cyber-enabled influence campaign in 2016 aimed at undermining confidence in the election.\u201d This operation came into focus for most Americans when reports emerged that the Russian government had hacked into the computer system of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and then selectively leaked emails that were damaging to the campaign of former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Throughout the summer and early fall of 2016, these \u201cweaponized leaks\u201d revealed collusion between the DNC and certain media outlets, unfair treatment of presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, the use of the Clinton Global Initiative (a nonprofit organization) as a source of personal income for the Clinton family, hostility toward religious voters, and plans to exploit Sanders\u2019 stance on religion.\nThis information, along with the fact that Russian intelligence did not make a similar effort to leak information damaging to the Trump campaign, likely had a negative impact on Clinton\u2019s campaign. It\u2019s important to note, however, that when FBI Director James Comey was asked during congressional testimony, \u201cDo you have any evidence at the FBI that any votes were changed?\u201d he responded, \u201cNo\u2026We saw no efforts aimed at the vote itself.\u201d In addition, Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama, reported, \u201cWe did not see anything that amounted to altering ballot counts or degrading the ability to report election results\u2026We see no evidence that hacking by any actor altered the ballot count or\u2026deprived people of voting.\u201d\nMoscow\u2019s targets extend far beyond the United States. Russian intelligence has conducted similar disinformation campaigns against the Netherlands, Estonia, Germany, and Britain, Newsweek reports. An EU investigation has revealed that Russia used disinformation and so-called \u201cfake news\u201d campaigns to influence political outcomes in France.\nAccording to Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. European Command and NATO, Russia has \u201covertly interfered in the political processes of both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro\u201d and \u201cis taking steps to influence the internal politics of European countries\u201d in order \u201cto create disunity and weakness within Europe.\u201d In 2016, as Defense News reports, officials in Montenegro revealed a Russian-funded plot to disrupt elections and \u201cset up a new administration loyal to Russia.\u201d\nFreedom House adds that Russia tried to influence a referendum in Italy and has \u201cdeepened its interference in elections in established democracies through\u2026theft and publication of the internal documents of mainstream parties and candidates, and the aggressive dissemination of fake news and propaganda.\u201d\nRussia spreads this propaganda through a network of websites and false-front news organizations. Some are unwitting accomplices; some are backed and funded by the Russian government. As the Washington Post reports, 200 websites were \u201croutine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season, with combined audiences of at least 15 million Americans.\u201d Plus, stories \u201cplanted or promoted by the disinformation campaign\u201d on Facebook were viewed more than 213 million times. \u201cSome of these stories originated with RT and Sputnik, state-funded Russian information services that mimic the style and tone of independent news organizations yet sometimes include false and misleading stories in their reports.\u201d\nOther stories relied on Potemkin websites like the Center for Global Strategic Monitoring to lend an air of legitimacy to pro-Russian propaganda.\nThe consequences of Russia\u2019s strategic influence campaign are subtle but far-reaching. Although Russia played no part in tampering with ballots, all the talk of Russian hacking has the effect of raising Russia\u2019s profile and capacity to intimidate; undermining the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Trump administration, and weakening the faith of some Americans in their political system.\nMark Kelton, who served in the CIA for 34 years, says Russia\u2019s interference in the 2016 election and the U.S. reaction to it are \u201cserving to advance Putin\u2019s overarching goals of degrading American power, denigrating American ideals, and driving a wedge between President Trump and the U.S. intelligence community.\u201d\n\u201cThey want to essentially erode faith in the U.S. government,\u201d argues Clint Watts of the Foreign Policy Research Institute tells the Washington Post.\nNSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett calls Russia\u2019s actions \u201ca challenge to the foundations of our democracy.\u201d\nThe challenge is not new. Foreign influence in the U.S. political process concerned the founders. Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist #68 that given \u201cthe desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils,\u201d the Constitution should erect \u201cevery practicable obstacle\u201d to prevent such \u201cintrigue and corruption.\u201d\nIn his farewell address, President George Washington thundered against the \u201cinsidious wiles of foreign influence,\u201d \u201cmischiefs of foreign intrigue\u201d and \u201cavenues to foreign influence.\u201d He used the words \u201cforeign\u201d and \u201cworld\u201d 17 times in his valedictory\u2014almost all of them in a negative light. These words have served as the rally cry for isolationists. However, neither Washington nor the nascent American Republic was isolationist. After all, as historian Marion Smith details, the United States conducted 41 treaty negotiations between 1783 and 1800, and the number of U.S. consular posts jumped from 10 in 1790 to 52 by 1800. The Congressional Research Service notes that between 1798 and 1810, the U.S. landed Marines in the Dominican Republic, waged war on the Barbary States of Africa, invaded Spanish holdings in Mexico and sent troops to occupy parts of Spanish Florida. These are not the actions of some isolationist hermit republic.\nFar from opposing international engagement and a forward-leaning foreign policy, Washington was concerned about foreign influence on America\u2019s political process and political institutions. \u201cHistory and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government,\u201d he observed, urging his countrymen \u201cto be constantly awake\u201d to such dangers.\nThat brings us to crafting a response.\nThe post-election flurry of congressional hearings suggests that the legislative branch is awake to the danger. Now, Congress must resist the temptation to flutter away to some other issue du jour, because Moscow will surely return to this playbook.\nTo safeguard America\u2019s interests and preserve the integrity of America\u2019s institutions, Congress should play a real oversight role by forming a select joint committee of seasoned members of the House and Senate to monitor, investigate, report and secure necessary funding for efforts to block attempts by foreign entities to interfere in the U.S. political-electoral system.\nScaparrotti urges Congress and the White House to \u201cbring the information aspects of our national power more fully to bear on Russia, both to amplify our narrative and to draw attention to Russia\u2019s manipulative, coercive and malign activities.\u201d He recommends strengthening and then unleashing both the Russian Information Group (a joint effort of U.S European Command and the State Department) and the State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center (a project charged with countering foreign disinformation campaigns).\nLikewise, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper calls on Congress to revive the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), which countered Moscow\u2019s propaganda during the Cold War. Clapper wants \u201ca USIA on steroids to fight this information war a lot more aggressively than we\u2019re doing right now.\u201d\nNoting that \u201ccollection, analysis, and countermeasures had effectively stopped by 1988,\u201d Lenczowski argues that \u201cWe must revive our public diplomacy, information operations, and political, psychological, and ideological warfare capabilities.\u201d\nAll of these atrophied in the post-Cold War period, as the U.S. and its allies came to believe there was no longer a need to defend, let alone promote, the institutions of the West. For instance, USIA was shut down in 1999. In 2011, the Obama administration announced plans to end Voice of America broadcasts in China\u2019s main languages of Mandarin and Cantonese, even as China was pouring $7 billion into overseas propaganda and launching 60 U.S. affiliates of its state-run TV network. Today, there are reports that Washington is \u201cplanning to cut funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.\u201d\nWhen faced with similar challenges to Western institutions and ideas, President Reagan didn\u2019t cut funding for agencies committed to promoting free government. Instead, he helped create the National Endowment for Democracy \u201cto foster the infrastructure of democracy\u2014the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities\u2014which allows a people to choose their own way, to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.\u201d\nIn a similar way, perhaps it\u2019s time for the world\u2019s foremost groupings of democratic nations\u2014the G-7, European Union, NATO and its partners in Israel, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia\u2014to create a pool of resources to reinforce the infrastructure of democracy; to monitor and expose Moscow\u2019s meddling; and to help those under information-warfare assault preserve the integrity of their political institutions.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 101, "original_length": 12349, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.95, "perplexity": 217.0, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://asiancorrespondent.com/2018/01/laos-pushes-ahead-mekong-dams-despite-environmental-risks/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:44:09Z", "digest": "sha1:USJF2QLXLXMJR64WGFSWPS2QEVUVZCO4", "length": 10662, "nlines": 38, "source_domain": "asiancorrespondent.com", "title": "Laos pushes ahead with Mekong dams despite environmental risks\tLaos pushes ahead with Mekong dams despite environmental risks", "raw_content": "Laos pushes ahead with Mekong dams despite environmental risks\nMan on a boat at Don Det, Laos. Source: Robert Metz/Unsplash\nAS PART of an ambitious bid to boost its hydropower output and become the \u2018battery\u2019 of Southeast Asia, the landlocked communist state of Laos now has three dam projects underway along the vast stretches of the Mekong river that wind through its rugged mountainous landscape.\nThe dams being built at Xayaburi, Don Sahong and Pak Beng will likely be joined by others in the near future, with plans for a further six being mooted despite years of sustained activism from concerned international NGOs, regional multi-national bodies and local community groups.\nThe proponents of the dams emphasise their potential positive impacts in terms of increased clean energy production in the region, as well as expanded electricity access and faster economic growth within the host country, Laos.\nYet critics have sought to draw attention to the potential for negative long-term environmental consequences such as declining fish stocks, reduced sediment loads and the substantial threat to rice-growing downstream. These could be compounded by negative social impacts such as the loss of traditional livelihoods and the cultural identity of river communities.\nBoat on the Mekong River in Laos. Source: Tom Roche/Shutterstock\nWhatever the eventual outcome, the current and proposed hydropower projects along the Mekong are certain to have a lasting impact on Laos and its nearest neighbours, by permanently altering the landscape of a region which has for generations been defined by its famous waterway.\nThe new dams will add to seven already built on the Mekong\u2019s upper reaches \u2013 otherwise known as the Lancang river \u2013 across Laos\u2019 northern border in China, in addition to the Nam Theun II Dam, built in the late-2000s on a Mekong tributary in Laos.\nThe dams are part of a wider infrastructure project being undertaken by Laos\u2019 government, which aims for the isolated country to become \u2018land-linked\u2019 through the construction of a Chinese-funded railroad, as well as becoming Southeast Asia\u2019s primary hydropower hub through the mass construction of dams. The three currently under construction are set to be joined by another six in Laos, in addition to two proposed dams in neighbouring Cambodia.\nSource: International Rivers\nConstruction of the latest dam at Pak Beng was approved in February last year, becoming the third project to be started by Laos on the Lower Mekong\u2019s mainstream channel, after other projects had got underway at Xayaburi in the north and Don Sahong in the south.\nThe 1.3-gigawatt Xayaburi dam is expected to cost US$2 billion and is being constructed by a company based in Thailand, whilst building of the US$300 million 260-megawatt Don Sahong dam is being undertaken by a Malaysian firm.\nThe Pak Beng dam in the northern Oudomxay province is expected to cost US$2.3 billion and is being built with Chinese support. Work is expected to be completed by 2024, with up to 90 percent of electricity generated set to be exported to Thailand. The remaining 10 percent will be held back to meet domestic demand.\nSEE ALSO: Decades after America\u2019s \u2018secret war\u2019, unexploded bombs still hinder development in Laos\nAdvocates say the dams will help Laos fulfil its potential as a nation perfectly placed for hydropower development, taking advantage of its mountainous terrain and monsoon climate combined with a low population density, which limits the need for human resettlement.\nLaos is also set to benefit from sizeable revenue streams maintained through selling the electricity to its neighbours, enabling the country to sustain its high annual rate of economic growth which has averaged around 7 percent over the past decade. The government says the extra income will be directed towards alleviating poverty, helping what is one of Southeast Asia\u2019s poorest countries climb toward middle-income status in the coming decades. The new dams will also facilitate the construction of better roads providing access to remote areas along the riverbank, as well as providing jobs for Laotians with the required skills.\n(L-R) Thailand\u2019s Prime Minster Prayuth Chan-ocha, Vietnam\u2019s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Cambodia\u2019s Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Myanmar\u2019s Vice President Myint Swe pose during the second Mekong-Lancang Cooperation leaders meeting, under the theme \u201cOur River of Peace and Sustainable Development\u201d, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia January 10, 2018. Source: Reuters/Samrang Pring\nThere may also be benefits at the regional level, as the growth of the hydropower sector will allow states to meet a higher proportion of their electricity needs through a renewable source of energy. Hydropower would serve as a cleaner and cheaper alternative to fossil fuels, enabling the region to achieve a higher degree of energy security whilst contributing to meeting its climate change targets.\nYet the construction of multiple dams on the Lower Mekong also poses serious risks to the natural environment. These risks were outlined by the multi-national Mekong River Commission (MRC) as far back as 2010, before any of the three projects currently underway in Laos were given the go-ahead by the government in Vientiane. The MRC published an in-depth Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) report outlining the ecological dangers of damming the Mekong.\nThe SEA report concluded that the natural flow of the river would be drastically altered and more than 50 percent of it would be turned into \u2018stagnant reservoirs\u2019, blocking vital fish migration routes and resulting in the loss of between 26-42 percent of annual fish stocks, costing up to US$500m per year in downstream countries. The MRC added that reduced sediment loads of up to 50 percent would lead to lower agricultural production, hitting Vietnam\u2019s fertile Mekong Delta rice-growing region particularly hard. In addition, the report said biodiversity losses would be so great that iconic and endangered species such as the giant Mekong catfish and Irrawaddy dolphin could be driven to extinction.\nAn Irrawaddy dolphin swims in the Mekong River at Boloven Plateau, Champasak Province, Laos. Source: Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay\nThese potential environmental impacts could be compounded by equally-devastating social costs. The Mekong holds great economic and cultural significance for the more than 60 million people who depend on it to sustain their livelihoods, with many families downstream still reliant on subsistence fishing and farming along its nutrient-rich banks.\nSEE ALSO: Cash and chemicals: For Laos, Chinese banana boom a blessing and curse\nWhen the dams are built, traditional livelihoods are likely to be significantly altered or even lost. Those living in the immediate vicinity of the Pak Beng dam \u2013 around 6,700 residents located in 25 villages \u2013 will be partially compensated and resettled by the Laotian authorities, yet the dam\u2019s wider impacts will stretch for thousands of kilometres and affect the livelihoods of millions in the downstream nations of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.\nThe MRC has warned of \u2018\u2018permanent and irreversible\u2019\u2019 damage to the environment if multiple dam projects on the Lower Mekong proceed, stating that the associated risks cannot be fully mitigated. After releasing its SEA report in 2010 the MRC called for a ten-year deferral on damming the Lower Mekong\u2019s main channel; yet eight years later with three dams under construction, it is clear that the MRC has been unable to exert any form of meaningful influence.\nWoman paddles a canoe in the Mekong River delta, Vietnam. Source: Guadalupe Polito/Shutterstock\nA major problem is that the MRC \u2013an inter-governmental forum which includes Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam \u2013 lacks any real power on the issues it is concerned with, serving in a purely advisory rather than regulatory capacity. Whilst the MRC does have discussion and consultation mechanisms in place, it lacks the authority to force any one of its member states to delay or halt construction on any given project.\nWhere multilateral mechanisms have failed, non-government organisations have stepped in to try and exert pressure on Laos. International Rivers has been at the forefront of a regionwide advocacy campaign, releasing a report in May 2017 which labelled the environmental impact assessment and mitigation measures put in place for the Pak Beng dam as \u2018\u2018inadequate\u2019\u2019, whilst concluding that the official project documents provide only an \u2018\u2018extremely limited picture\u2019\u2019 of the dam\u2019s \u2018\u2018environmental and social impacts, especially the trans-boundary and cumulative impacts of the project\u2019\u2019. Multiple NGOs in the downstream states have also voiced their opposition, arguing there is a need for wider public consultations and in-depth scientific studies to be carried out before work moves forward.\nDespite facing opposition and pressure from within the region, Laos appears determined to push ahead with its large-scale dam-building projects on the Lower Mekong river.\nSEE ALSO: Australia must tackle \u2018dire\u2019 situation in human rights talks with Laos\nRice paddies along the MeKong River in China. Source: Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay\nWith Laos\u2019 first three hydropower projects on the road to completion, the efforts of the MRC and campaign groups have proved fruitless in the face of national economic interests, the allure of foreign investment, and market forces driven by the burgeoning energy needs of Southeast Asia\u2019s mainland states.\nThe new dams \u2013 when complete \u2013 will certainly bring much-needed revenue to Laos, but whether this will translate into equitable development in one of the region\u2019s poorest states remains questionable.\nAt the regional level, achieving a balance between new and old economic interests will be key. The dams will provide new opportunities in terms of electricity production and will advance Southeast Asia\u2019s energy security, yet these gains may be outweighed by the depletion of traditional livelihoods and industries \u2013 such as fishing and rice-growing \u2013 which have flourished for centuries and served as the foundation of economic progress in the region.\nIf a sustainable balance is not found, the thriving ecosystem of the Lower Mekong, along with the river\u2019s economic and cultural significance sustained over generations, may be damaged beyond repair.\n{\"total\":429,\"error\":\"\",\"linkedin\":38,\"stumbleupon\":0,\"facebook_total\":370,\"pinterest\":0,\"google\":0,\"buffer\":1,\"twitter\":21,\"vk\":0,\"facebook_likes\":\"363\",\"facebook_comments\":\"7\"}\nTopics covered: asean Belt and Road China Environment laos Mekong Mekong River", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 149, "original_length": 13280, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.95, "perplexity": 293.1, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://astro-charts.com/persons/chart/cher/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:32:57Z", "digest": "sha1:ABSZRBFJ2WAHAR7D2M2JQIHICQXMQOO7", "length": 772, "nlines": 1, "source_domain": "astro-charts.com", "title": "Astrology birth chart for Cher", "raw_content": "Cher (/\u02c8\u0283\u025b\u0259r/; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer and actress. Recognized for having brought the sense of female autonomy and self-actualization into the entertainment industry, she is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in various areas of entertainment, as well as continuously reinventing both her music and image, which has led to her being nicknamed the Goddess of Pop.Cher became prominent in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband\u2013wife duo Sonny & Cher, who popularized a particular smooth sound that successfully competed with the dominant British Invasion and Motown sounds of the era. She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in each of the past six decades.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 181, "original_length": 7174, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.98, "perplexity": 74.2, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://attorneyadamburke.com/ohio-dui/ohio-ovi-offenses/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:05:48Z", "digest": "sha1:LWYSANZTHJ2XKQUO5XEXFD5GZ5ZYS4TA", "length": 1684, "nlines": 13, "source_domain": "attorneyadamburke.com", "title": "Ohio OVI Offenses - Columbus Criminal Attorney", "raw_content": "In Ohio, a DUI is called an OVI. There are two types of Ohio OVI offenses: (1) OVI Impaired and (2) OVI Per Se.\nThe first type of Ohio DUI offense is called OVI Impaired.\nOhio OVI Per Se\nThe second type of Ohio DUI offense is called OVI Per Se.This charge means you have tested over the legal limit. On your ticket this may be marked ORC 4511.19(A)(1)(b)-(x) (or a municipal ordinance).\nIf you take a breath test you will be charged with OVI Per Se if you tested with a Blood Alcohol Concentration of .08 or Higher.\nIf your breath test is over .17 you will be charged with a \u201chigh-tier\u201d violation. This means if you are convicted the minimum penalties are higher (6 days instead of 3 days) and special license plates are mandatory.\nA person who is not operating a vehicle may still be charged with having physical control of the vehicle while under the influence.\nOn your ticket this may be marked ORC 4511.194(B)(1)-(3) (or a municipal ordinance).\nThis is a non moving violation. In many cases, someone who is charged with OVI may have there case reduced to a Physical Control or a Reckless Operation as part of a plea bargain.\nUnder Age OVI\nA person under 21 with a breath test between .02 and .08, may be charged with operating a vehicle after underage consumption. On your ticket this may be marked ORC 4511.19(B)(1)-(4) (or a municipal ordinance).\nThe penalties for an underage OVI include: up to 30 days in jail & $250 Fine, a license suspension of 1 to 5 years, 4 points, Driving Privileges after 60 days.\nThe penalties for a second underage OVI include: up to 60 days in jail & $500 Fine, a license suspension of 90 days to 2 years, 4 points, Driving Privileges after 60 days.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 230, "original_length": 6987, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.93, "perplexity": 257.3, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://attorneyguss.com/truck-driver-fatigue-can-cause-serious-accidents/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:45:31Z", "digest": "sha1:XS4XXRDGKSDHMQGQRU232LEJKWYSNQ33", "length": 5893, "nlines": 14, "source_domain": "attorneyguss.com", "title": "Truck Driver Fatigue Can Cause Serious Accidents | Stewart J. Guss, Attorney At Law", "raw_content": "In the United States, commercial trucks transport about 90 percent of the products we use. Trucks deliver everything from groceries to furniture. If those truck drivers are fatigued or drowsy, they pose an immediate danger to the surrounding traffic.\nIf a fatigued truck driver failed to take a mandatory rest break and crashed into you, you may feel overwhelmed. The insurance companies won\u2019t stop calling, you\u2019re traveling to and from doctor appointments, and are trying to make up missed income due to time off of work. Stewart J. Guss and his team of skilled truck accident lawyers and legal professionals are here to help! We have more than 20 years of experience fighting trucking corporations and their insurance companies\u2014and winning the compensation our clients need to recover from the accidents that drowsy truckers caused. Call us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 800-898-4877, or you may contact us now by CLICKING HERE to learn more about how we can help. Your initial consultation is free of charge, so don\u2019t delay\u2014call now!\nUnderstanding the Hours of Service Regulations\nTruck drivers are professionals who are trained to drive within certain safety standards that are required by both their commercial employer and the Department of Transportation. One of the most obvious dangers of driving a commercial vehicle is the possibility of fatigue behind the wheel. Although there are strict limits for the number of hours a truck driver can consecutively be on the road, some drivers fail to observe these regulations and will continue to drive beyond the point of safety. Truck driver fatigue can cause serious accidents and severe injuries to all who are involved.\nThe Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has established Hours of Service (HOS) regulations in order to keep truck drivers from operating their vehicles when they are fatigued. Commercial trucking companies are responsible for enforcing these HOS with their professional staff. These Hours of Service indicate that a driver may not operate a vehicle for more than 11 consecutive hours without taking a 10-hour break. Driving drowsy is a serious issue that is regulated by the Federal Government with the intention to reduce the number of accidents caused by fatigued drivers. Unfortunately, some truck drivers chose to ignore these regulations in order to deliver their cargo as quickly as possible. Some commercial trucking companies, although they are required by law to enforce the HOS, still encourage their drivers to continue operating their vehicles for longer than the regulations allow. When trucking companies and commercial drivers opt to ignore the Hours of Service, serious accidents can happen.\nWhat to Do if You Suffered Injuries in a Truck Accident\nIf you sustained any injuries in a truck accident, there are several steps you should take. First, contact the police to report the accident. They will arrive on the scene prepared to take statements and record contact information for everyone who was involved. The police will also file an official report that determines who they believe was at-fault for the accident.\nNext, see a medical professional for a thorough examination. Even if you don\u2019t immediately notice any serious injuries, it\u2019s important to see a doctor as soon as possible. Some injuries don\u2019t present for hours or even days after the accident. When you file your claim, the insurance companies will look to see if you have medical records documenting your injury. If they notice you delayed medical treatment, they might claim that you weren\u2019t seriously injured, or that your injuries are not even related to the accident.\nFinally, contact a law firm that you trust and want to work with. Retaining the services of an experienced legal team will be an invaluable asset as you are proceeding through the claims process. Stewart J. Guss and his legal team are ready to help you gain the maximum compensation for your damages. We are proud to advocate for our clients\u2019 rights and have been doing so for decades.\nLet Your Legal Team Deal With the Insurance Companies\nOne thing that you shouldn\u2019t have to worry about after an accident is how to manage a call with the insurance companies. It\u2019s common for a claims agent to attempt to reach you in order to record your statement regarding the accident. They might ask you to recall your version of what happened, and encourage you to describe what you think led to the accident. Although the insurance companies might seem genuinely concerned about your injuries and say that they want to help expedite your settlement, often they are actually looking for ways to invalidate your claim. For this reason, it is always a good idea to let your law firm deal directly with the insurance companies so you don\u2019t have to worry about saying something that might potentially hurt your case. Stewart J. Guss and his legal team have managed the dialogue with insurance companies for many years, and we understand how to protect our clients right to just compensation.\nContact Our Skilled Legal Team Today\nA truck accident can change your life in an instant, and the aftermath can leave you both physically and financially devastated. If you were injured in a truck accident and believe that the driver was fatigued, call a personal injury law firm right away.\nAt our firm, Stewart J. Guss and his legal team are dedicated to putting our clients first. Because we take all of our personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis, you will not owe us a DIME unless we win your case. We are available to take your call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Contact us now to learn more about how we can help you navigate the claims process and seek just compensation for your injuries. Call us at 800-898-4877 or contact us online. Don\u2019t wait\u2014your rights are too important and a delay could hurt your chances of recovering damages.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 93, "original_length": 8927, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.96, "perplexity": 257.2, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://authorleefrench.com/2016/10/26/nanowrimo-is-coming/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:10:50Z", "digest": "sha1:GBTIP3DUQEJVHUL4NXWSX23FY2ZCEITQ", "length": 1917, "nlines": 10, "source_domain": "authorleefrench.com", "title": "#NaNoWriMo is Coming \u2013 Lee French", "raw_content": "#NaNoWriMo is Coming\nYear number 9, here I come. Also? Win number 9. Because I will win again. It\u2019s not in doubt. The doubt is over when and by how much.\nThis year, I have three complications to NaNo.\nI\u2019m an ML. This isn\u2019t much of a complication, since it really just means a little extra work in September and October. I did it last year and the only way it interfered was later in the month (after I already had my win) when people stopped showing up to the write-ins and I had to sit alone with my laptop in strange places instead of working from home. No biggie.\nI\u2019m working 4 conventions between now and Thanksgiving. Renton City Comic Con is this weekend at the Renton Red Lion on S Grady Way. This is my second year doing Jet City Comic Show in Tacoma. After that is EuCon in Eugene, Oregon, followed by a return appearance at OryCon in Portland. That\u2019s it for me for the rest of the year, but it\u2019s a total of 9 days out of November when I won\u2019t have time to write more than a handful of sentences. Plus the 3 Mondays following when I\u2019ll be half-dead. 12 days is almost half the month. What idiot arranged that? (Me. It was me.)\nMy home front situation is less than ideal. A little over two years ago, my kids and I moved in with my folks. Everything seemed great until health issues started to infringe. Now my dad is in hospice care. If you\u2019re not familiar with the term, it means he\u2019s not expected to be with us much longer. This is kind of a downer for creativity. It\u2019s also eating time out of my day as things happen that need to be dealt with and I\u2019m the one strong/skilled enough to do it.\nDespite all that, I anticipate having the first draft of Spirit Knights 4: Ghost is the New Normal complete by the end of the month. If I\u2019m lucky, I might have something else to go with it. We\u2019ll see.\nIf you have no idea what NaNoWriMo is, go check it out!\nPrevious:2016 Sucks. Still.\nNext:One Day More #NaNoWriMo", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 94, "original_length": 3725, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.96, "perplexity": 283.9, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://authors.library.caltech.edu/26371/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:54:25Z", "digest": "sha1:UDT4ZR3XU6NLGPHBR5QM4USPN3SCLUOS", "length": 1471, "nlines": 3, "source_domain": "authors.library.caltech.edu", "title": "Stochastic analysis of the seismic response of secondary systems - CaltechAUTHORS", "raw_content": "Stochastic analysis of the seismic response of secondary systems\nSmith, Kenneth Scott (1984) Stochastic analysis of the seismic response of secondary systems. California Institute of Technology . (Unpublished) http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechEERL:1984.EERL-85-01\nThis thesis is concerned with the earthquake response of light equipment in structures. The motion of the ground during an earthquake is represented as a stochastic process in order to reflect uncertainty in the prediction of such motion. A number of different stochastic earthquake models are considered, and analytical methods are described for these models. The response of equipment in a structure to stochastic ground motion is derived, in the case of a single-degree-of-freedom secondary system (equipment) attached to a single-dogree-of-freedom structure. The distribution of the envelope of the secondary system displacement is obtained for general transient ground motion. Closed form expressions are computed for the transient response to stationary ground motion. The effect of the interaction of equipment with the structure is described by the introduction of an equivalent non-interacting system. However, this method applies only to classically damped systems. The results are applied in a simple way to the problem of the computation of floor spectra. It is found that the ground spectrum is amplified in a simple way, except near resonance, where special considerations Must be addressed.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 44, "original_length": 2658, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.95, "perplexity": 207.3, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://awesomeatyourjob.com/375-how-and-why-to-communicate-mindfully-with-oren-jay-sofer/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:58:55Z", "digest": "sha1:2T6CSGJNL4YLMD5BICHSZ7GUYY4IJQOE", "length": 39090, "nlines": 154, "source_domain": "awesomeatyourjob.com", "title": "375: How and Why to Communicate Mindfully with Oren Jay Sofer \u2013 How to be Awesome at Your Job", "raw_content": "375: How and Why to Communicate Mindfully with Oren Jay Sofer\nMeditation practitioner and author Oren Jay Sofer hashes out the tenets of mindful and non-violent communication to help get ot the heart of every interaction.\nKey steps for getting what you want without causing defensiveness in others\nTwo points of subtext to listen for when someone speaks\nHow to gain emotional agility\nOren Jay Sofer leads retreats and workshops on mindful communication throughout the United States. A member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, he holds a degree in comparative religion from columbia University and is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and a Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication. Oren also creates mindfulness training programs for apps and organizations. He lives in Richmond, California.\nSponsored message: Zola makes wedding planning and registries easier\nOren\u2019s book: Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication\nOren\u2019s website: www.orenjaysofer.com\nNonviolent communication founder: Marshall B. Rosenberg\nPrevious episode: 292: Enhancing Work and Life through Mindfulness with Oren Jay Sofer\nOren, thanks so much for joining us here on the How to Be Awesome At Your Job podcast.\nGreat to be back, Pete. Thanks for having me.\nWell, I\u2019m excited to dig into it. We heard a little bit more about your backstory and fun facts in a previous episode, which wasn\u2019t too long ago. I want to dig right away into the goods of you\u2019ve got a book, Say What You Mean, coming out. What\u2019s it all about?\nYeah, so the subtitle of the book is How to Find Your Voice, Speak Your Truth & Listen Deeply. It\u2019s about understanding ourselves more clearly so that we can have more meaningful relationships and more effective conversations.\nThat sounds helpful. So you\u2019re using the term in the mix, \u201cnon-violent communication.\u201d What does that phrase mean, precisely?\nYeah, that\u2019s right. The full title, Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Non-Violent Communication. What\u2019s unique about this book and about what I do is that I bring together a few different worlds.\nWe\u2019ve talked already about the power of mindfulness and the benefits of bringing more awareness and balance and groundedness into our life, into our work, and the kind of clarity and sustainability that comes from that. What\u2019s neat is that mindfulness isn\u2019t just an internal practice, but it actually has all kinds of benefits for our relationships and conversations.\nNon-violent communication is a process of not only communicating, but also being aware of our thoughts and emotions, desires, and impulses in a way that lets us work with others more smoothly. The process of NVC, which is the shorthand for non-violent communication, is about using words in a way to create enough connection and understanding in our relationships to collaborate, to meet whatever needs are happening more easily.\nMaybe would you give an example of non-violent communication versus violent communication? Because when I think about violent communication, I think \u201cI\u2019ll kill you,\u201d but I\u2019m imagining there\u2019s a whole range of subtle ways that we\u2019re kind of aggressive in our communications.\nYeah, yeah. Thanks, Pete. Maybe just a word or two of history to contextualize this and then I\u2019ll give an example or two.\nNon-violent communication was founded by a man named Marshall B. Rosenberg. He grew up in Detroit in the 40\u2019s. He lived through the race riots there. There were about 40 people killed within a couple blocks of his house as a kid. This had a deep impact on him. It was a very powerful education into our world recognizing that people might want to kill you for the color of your skin.\nThen when he went to school, he found out that people might want to do violence to you because of your last name. He was Jewish and experienced a lot of anti-Semitism. This had a very strong effect on him. But he also was exposed to people in his family, like his uncle\u2014who would care for their grandmother, who was paralyzed\u2014with so much joy and devotion and happiness.\nHe had this question that was burning in him from a young age of \u201cwhat makes the difference between some people who are able to take a lot of joy in contributing to the well-being of others, whereas other folks, when they\u2019re challenged, will resort to violence to meet their needs?\u201d\nWhat he found through his research and his work and his studies was that how we think and how we speak plays a big role in whether or not we see violence as a viable strategy when things aren\u2019t working. As you recognized, violence isn\u2019t just physical violence. One definition of violence is any avoidable impairment of fundamental human needs. When we think about that\u2014\nI\u2019ll chew on that for a while.\nYeah, yeah, so there\u2019s a lot of violence in our world today, when you think about the level of human needs that aren\u2019t being met.\nHow does this apply in our lives? Well, so if you and I are having a conflict, we\u2019re having some kind of difference and I say, \u201cPete, you\u2019re being really unprofessional and irresponsible.\u201d In some way there\u2019s a little bit of violence or aggression in my communication because I\u2019m expressing what\u2019s going on for me by blaming you.\nIn other words, one of the ways we\u2019ve been conditioned to think about things, and this is so relevant for the workplace, is that when we don\u2019t like what\u2019s happening, when our needs aren\u2019t being met, or some objective or goal that we have isn\u2019t happening the way we would like it to, instead of being able to own that, to be conscious of it and say, \u201cThis is what I\u2019m valuing. This is the objective I have and what I\u2019d like to see happening. Here\u2019s how what\u2019s going on isn\u2019t really matching with that. I\u2019d like to talk about this.\u201d\nWe make it about the other person being wrong or bad or somehow irresponsible or unprofessional or uncourteous, so we project our own unmet needs out on to others and blame them.\nIf we just kind of pause and step back and think about it for a moment, if I want somebody to do something differently, if I want somebody to help me out with something, change their behavior in some way that\u2019s going to contribute to my life or my work in a better way, how useful of a strategy is it to blame them and tell them what\u2019s wrong with them?\nHas that ever worked? Does that ever inspire joyful giving and spontaneous change. \u201cOh sure you\u2019re right. Let me do this differently.\u201d\nNon-violent is about understanding \u2013 part of it is about understanding this conditioning and learning not only to speak, the words are actually the last thing. What\u2019s most important is where we\u2019re coming from inside and learning to see situations differently so that we can communicate in ways that other people can hear and understand without getting defensive.\nOkay, excellent. Well, so then, that\u2019s a handy sort of backdrop there in terms of digging into the contents of your book. I\u2019d like to get your view on first of all, with the title, Say What You Mean, what are some kind of key ways or categories that we fall short of saying what you mean and how is that detrimental?\nYeah. I think a lot of the time we don\u2019t know what we really mean to say. One of the things I talk about in the book in terms of the relevance of mindfulness is that to say what we mean, we have to know first what we mean and to know what we mean, we have to be able to look inside a little bit and be clear.\nInstead of asking yourself, \u201cWhat do I want to say?\u201d you can recognize that whenever we speak, pretty much all of the time \u2013 most of the time if not all of the time, we\u2019re speaking because we want somebody else to listen, we want somebody else to understand something. We\u2019re trying to get some message across.\nInstead of just focusing on what I want to say, it\u2019s more useful to think about, \u201cOkay, what do I want this person to understand? What do I want them to know or hear?\u201d\nWhen we only focus on what it is that I want to say or I want to blow off steam or I want to tell you this, without really placing our attention on, \u201cYeah, but what\u2019s the effect I\u2019m trying to have?\u201d and \u201cWhat is the information that I want you to really take in?\u201d we end up wasting our energy.\nWhen we fail to actually be aware of our purpose in communication and what we\u2019re trying to really transmit to the other person, not only do we waste our energy and time and the other person, but we end up getting entangled often in things that don\u2019t really matter.\nHow many times have you had an argument with somebody where you say something and then they get reactive and start responding to something that you don\u2019t even mean? You\u2019re like, \u201cNo, no, no, that\u2019s not what I meant.\u201d Now we\u2019ve got to take ten minutes to kind of unravel this whole thing that is, isn\u2019t even relevant.\nCertainly, yeah. That definitely happens. I\u2019d love it if you can maybe bring this to life a little bit in terms of making that switch from \u201cwhat do I want to say?\u201d toward \u201cwhat do I want them to know or understand or to pick up from that message can make all the difference? Can you bring that to life for us?\u201d\nYeah, absolutely. Let\u2019s take an example of something at work. Let\u2019s say that your first impulse is to say, \u201cYou\u2019re micromanaging me.\u201d That\u2019s not exactly saying what we mean. That\u2019s just moving out of habit.\nIf we pause for a moment and think, \u201cOkay, what\u2019s the effect of this going to be?\u201d Okay the other person is probably going to get defensive. \u201cI\u2019m not micromanaging me. You\u2019re not a team player. You don\u2019t know how to work with others.\u201d Now we\u2019re wasting our time arguing.\n\u201cYou\u2019re micromanaging me,\u201d what do I really mean by that? We can use the steps that I lay out in the book to understand more clearly what\u2019s happening.\nFirst, we want to say, okay, what am I referring to? What\u2019s actually happened? I\u2019m not just making this up. This person has done or said something, perhaps several things that didn\u2019t work for me.\nWe try to make some sort of a clear observation that the other person will recognize without getting defensive or arguing, like, \u201cI noticed that last week you asked me to take care of this task by Friday and then on Wednesday you emailed me again asking if I had finished it,\u201d so that\u2019s what happened.\n\u201cYou told me the deadline of Friday, but then on Wednesday, they were asking me if I had it done,\u201d so there\u2019s nothing to argue about there. It\u2019s just like, \u201cHey, you emailed me, asked me to do this, and then you did that.\u201d\nThen the next thing we want to be clear about is what\u2019s the impact this has on me? What\u2019s the impact it has and why? What matters to me? What is it that I\u2019m actually valuing in this situation? We can say, \u201cI felt a little confused and slightly frustrated.\u201d That\u2019s different from saying I felt pressured. I felt blamed, which is again about putting the focus on the other person.\nYeah, it\u2019s them.\nRight, I\u2019m taking responsibility for my part. I\u2019m saying, \u201cLook, I felt a little bit confused and slightly frustrated.\u201d What is it I want? \u201cWell, I really want to be able to work together in a way that we\u2019re each doing our own piece and really supporting each other\u2019s work with a lot of trust and collaboration.\u201d That\u2019s really clear. Those are values that we can get \u2013 that we can both agree on.\nThen the last part is now I want to know, if I just stop there, the other person is like, \u201cWell, okay. What do you want me to do about that?\u201d or \u201cOh, I\u2019m sorry, I guess.\u201d We want to give the other person some kind of suggestion about what would be helpful. This is what we call a request, which is a suggestion or a proposal or some kind of indication of the direction we can go from here.\nWe might just want more information. We might just want to ask, \u201cCould you tell me a little bit more about what your flow was? What was your process here because in my mind I was just expecting that I would email the report on Friday? I want to understand more where you\u2019re coming from.\u201d\nThen when we find out, then we might start a move to making some agreements about, \u201cGreat, well next time I wonder if you ask me for something on Friday, but you actually need it sooner, could you tell me that so that I can kind of plan accordingly and we can work it out?\u201d\nSo then the request phase seemed like you were kind of collecting more information and then sort of the agreement phase comes after the request phase?\nThat\u2019s right. Yeah. The more understanding we can establish between one another, the easier it is to make agreements and the more robust and reliable they\u2019re going to be.\nOne of the things that we tend to get tripped up with in conversations and negotiations, particularly at work, is that we want the answer. We want to cut to the chase and get to the solution, but what that means is that we often don\u2019t take enough time to really build the criteria for the solution.\nWhat\u2019s actually important here? What are we trying to accomplish and why? What are the goals the solution needs to meet and what are all of the concerns and considerations on the table? Let\u2019s really suss that out and make sure that we all understand the full landscape as much as possible.\nWhether it\u2019s kind of a team decision, a project decision or an interpersonal situation, if we\u2019ve established a really solid base of mutual understanding, it\u2019s a lot easier to come up with an agreement because we both can see things from one another\u2019s point of view. Then there\u2019s more buy in for any agreement or solution we come up with.\nOkay, that\u2019s really cool. The first step is to sort of state that clear observation. The second is \u2013 well, the impact that that observation has on me.\nThe third is declaring what you want for us in the collaboration. The fourth is kind of getting request or suggestion for some more information, understanding and then leading to ultimately an agreement in terms of how we\u2019re going to operate a bit differently going forward. That sounds like it makes great sense in terms of being low probability of triggering hostility and defensiveness.\nWell, do you have any other thoughts when it comes to communicating to minimize the risk of the other person feeling like you\u2019re attacking them or that you\u2019re offensive in some way?\nYou know, it\u2019s a great question, Pete. I think that one of the things I emphasize over and over and over again when I teach is that communication is not about what we say. So much of our communication, so much of our relationships is in our body language, our tone of voice. It\u2019s about where we\u2019re coming from inside.\nThere\u2019s a whole section on my book devoted to this, to the intention behind where we\u2019re coming from because we can say things in really nice, pretty ways, we can use fancy words and whatever kind of communication technique you want to lay on top of it.\nBut if inside we\u2019re actually saying in our mind, \u201cYou\u2019re such a jerk and you\u2019ve got to get your act together and I can\u2019t stand working with you,\u201d if that\u2019s what we\u2019re actually feeling and thinking and believing, they\u2019re going to know that. They\u2019re going to pick up on it.\nThe work in terms of taking that bite out and reducing the risk of getting embroiled in that kind of situation or just adding more tension to a workplace conflict that\u2019s already uncomfortable is actually doing the work internally of transforming our own way of viewing the situation. This is why mindfulness is so essential for communication because you can\u2019t do that.\nYou can\u2019t really take apart your own emotions and perceptions and blame without some kind of tool to get in there and really say, \u201cOkay, what\u2019s going on here? Why am I getting so upset over this? Where is this getting me?\u201d and start to actually understand more like, \u201cOh, okay, I see. I was wanting to be consulted in this decision and it feels like I\u2019m not being valued enough,\u201d or \u201cI want clearer definitions of roles at work and it feels like this other person keeps doing my job. Oh, that\u2019s what I need.\u201d\nThen it\u2019s much easier to talk about. It\u2019s not like you\u2019re out to get me, it\u2019s like, \u201cListen, I really want to make sure that we\u2019re not stepping on each other\u2019s feet here. Can we sit down and talk a little bit about what both of our roles are so that we\u2019re both working toward the same end and not getting into these situations where we find ourselves locking heads?\u201d\nYeah, excellent. That\u2019s good. Then when it comes to the intention, you talk about the work and the internal nature of it. I guess what that consists of is just really kind of thinking through clearly what do I want and I guess \u2013 I guess sometimes that can take a few loops or iterations to get yourself past \u201cI want you to stop being such a jerk.\u201d\nExactly. Well, there\u2019s a great tool we can use here. A couple of things. First, the single most powerful and transformative ingredient in dialogue is the intention to understand. When in doubt, just try to understand because that\u2019s what communication is about. Even when we\u2019re trying to just get something done, we rely upon mutual understanding. We need to be able to hear one another.\nWhen in doubt, we can always come back to just the baseline intention of wanting to understand. \u201cLet me see if I can understand you.\u201d Just that phrase, just that phrase, \u2018let me see if I\u2019m understanding you,\u2019 that in and of itself can start to change the tone of a whole relationship because the other person starts to feel our interest like, \u201cOh wow, you\u2019re actually making an effort. You\u2019re not just interested in getting your way.\u201d Then they can stop trying to defend themselves and get about working together.\nI said there were two things. Let\u2019s see if I remember if I remember what the second one was. Intention. Okay, so the second one, so there\u2019s a tool we can use to help us transform those knee jerk reactions and intentions to just blast the person or \u201cJust stop being a jerk,\u201d or \u201cGet off my back.\u201d\nThis comes from Marshall Rosenberg, who was as I said, the founder of non-violent communication. He suggested that when we want somebody to do something, that we ask ourselves two questions.\nThe first question most of ask, which is \u2018what would I like this person to do?\u2019 Now, if we stop there, if that\u2019s the only question we ask, then we might go about all kinds of strategies to get them to do it. We might coerce them. We might threaten them. We might be passive-aggressive. We might manipulate them.\nNow, some of those strategies can produce results, but they come at a cost. When I use my power to force someone to do something, I lose some of their trust and goodwill. This is huge, particularly for managers. Every time we get somebody to do something because we have more power than they do, we lose their goodwill. We lose that energy, that creative willingness to really engage in work.\nThat\u2019s so true. I\u2019ve been on the receiving end. It\u2019s like, \u201cAll right, well, I\u2019m just going to give you what you asked for and\u2014\u201c\n\u201c\u2014keep all my brilliant creativity to myself since you don\u2019t seem to care for it.\u201d\nExactly, yeah. We take away one of the things that\u2019s the most meaningful, which is our opportunity to contribute and give. We don\u2019t just start by asking \u201cWhat do I want this person to do?\u201d\nWe need to ask the second question, which is \u201cWhat do I want their reasons to be for doing it? Why? Why would I like this person to do this? Not just because they fear me or they want to keep their job. No, I want them to do this because they understand its value, because they see how this is going to contribute to the project, to the company, to the bottom line.\u201d\nWhen we ask that second question, now we\u2019re going to approach the whole situation differently because now we\u2019re not just trying to get the person to get to point B, we\u2019re actually trying to change their mind. We\u2019re actually trying to help them to see things in a different way.\nThat\u2019s where that intention to understand comes from is saying, \u201cLook, I think I\u2019m seeing things in a different way than you are and I want to see if we can learn from each other here. Tell me how you\u2019re seeing this because maybe you\u2019re seeing something that I\u2019m not aware of that\u2019s important. And there might be something that I\u2019m seeing that you\u2019re not aware of,\u201d so now we\u2019re actually having a conversation.\nYeah, that is a handy question in terms of what you\u2019re seeing and then it covers a multitude of issues in which you\u2019re just like, \u201cWhat\u2019s this idiot\u2019s problem?\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cOh, well, they may very well know something I don\u2019t.\u201d Then all of the sudden all sorts of things make a whole lot more sense when you go there.\nYeah, yeah. The other thing, all of us have to work with people who it\u2019s just like, \u201cWhat\u2019s your problem? Why-\u201c just people are grumpy or they\u2019re short. There I think what\u2019s helpful with these communication tools and the mindfulness tools is learning how to genuinely have that feeling inside of we\u2019re all just doing the best we can.\nYou know what? Maybe they had a fight with their wife or their husband. Maybe their kids got a really rough diagnosis. We just don\u2019t know where people are coming from.\nWhen someone is really rubbing us the wrong way, even if it\u2019s not around a work-related issue, when we can shift out of that perception and that way of thinking in terms of blaming the other person and what\u2019s wrong with them and why are they such a jerk, we can say, \u201cWow, maybe they\u2019re having a really hard time. Maybe they\u2019re really lonely. Maybe they\u2019re really angry. Maybe they\u2019ve been carrying anger around for years. God, that must be so hard.\u201d\nTwo things happen there that are really important. The first is one, we release ourselves from the burden of resentment and pettiness and judgment, which is just not a pleasant state of mind to be in. The other thing that happens is we start relating to the other person in a more humane way.\nWhat I\u2019ve seen again and again in my own life is when I relate to people with respect and kindness and patience, it has an effect. It might not be instantaneous, but over time if I consistently come from that place, they come around.\nYeah, that\u2019s really cool. Then I\u2019d to get your take then in terms of, since we touched on that a little bit, where sort of in the other side of the equation, where we\u2019re doing the listening, how can we do that and even if someone is kind of short or accusatory, how can we do the job of listening without feeling that feeling of being attacked, offended, getting defensive, bubbling up in ourselves?\nYeah, that\u2019s the other side of it. It\u2019s such an important skill. This is \u2013 actually this is one of the most powerful tools that we can develop is the ability to listen to what someone really means regardless of what they\u2019re actually saying. Yeah.\nI\u2019m finding myself talking about Marshall a lot on this \u2013 on our call today, but that\u2019s for a good reason. He was a very wise man. One of the other things that he said that I love is he said, \u201cI suggest you never listen to what people think about you. You\u2019ll live longer and enjoy your life more.\u201d\nWhat he means by that is don\u2019t listen to the blame and the judgments and the criticism that are coming out of people\u2019s minds. Try to hear what\u2019s in their heart.\nWe can actually train our attention to listen beneath the words to two things. One, how someone\u2019s feeling. In the workplace, that\u2019s generally going to be more of a silent awareness. We\u2019re just like, \u201cOh wow, this person seems\u201d \u2013 whether they\u2019re pissed or frustrated or hurt or upset or confused or irritated or annoyed or stressed.\nWe can kind of pick up on okay, what\u2019s going on for this person on the emotional level. Then that creates a little bit of a sense of empathy. We can feel where they\u2019re at as a human being. Okay.\nThen the next part, which is where the real transformation occurs is, \u201cwhat matters?\u201d What\u2019s important to this person underneath what they\u2019re saying, whether they\u2019re blaming me or complaining about someone else, what do they really value here, what are they needing. That\u2019s where we can start to listen to somebody and deescalate a situation without taking it personally.\nFor example, someone says, \u201cGod, you\u2019re so critical. Why are you so critical all the time? All that comes out of you is just judgment and negative stuff?\u201d\nI can hear that. I can hear that. It\u2019s probably going to take me a moment because I\u2019ve got to do this little aikido move, where I don\u2019t absorb that energy, I just kind of sidestep it, let it go past me and say, \u201cAll right, what\u2019s going on for this person. Maybe they\u2019re wanting a little bit more recognition, a little more appreciation for what they\u2019re bringing forward.\nI might ask, I might say, \u201cI\u2019m hearing that some of the ways that I relate or express myself don\u2019t really work for you. Thank you, I\u2019m glad you\u2019re telling me that. It\u2019s not my intention. I want to check. It sounds like you\u2019re wanting some more appreciation or acknowledgement for how hard you\u2019ve worked on this and the contributions that you\u2019re making or is there something else that \u2013 is it something else?\u201d\nI\u2019m actually trying to understand you. I\u2019m not taking on that story. I\u2019m just really listening for what\u2019s important for you.\nOkay, interesting. Well said, sidestepping and not taking on that story. It really kind of sparks a visual in terms of there\u2019s a whole lot of \u2013 I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m always \u2026 to think someone\u2019s got a bucket of tar and they\u2019re just sort of going to shove it such that it flies out of the bucket and in your direction.\nYou\u2019re saying, no, no rather than get the tar and say, \u201cHow dare you? I\u2019m a mess.\u201d We\u2019re just going to sidestep it and say, \u201chow interesting that this person thought that that was something that they needed to do.\u201d Let\u2019s kind of \u2013 I don\u2019t want to call it fun, but let\u2019s \u2013 or enjoyment, but it\u2019s sort of like \u2013 it\u2019s a bit of a puzzle.\nThat\u2019s kind of how I\u2019m relating to it is you can get interested and engaged in that thing on a different level of \u201cOh, I\u2019m trying to kind of get to the bottom of this,\u201d as opposed to \u201cI\u2019m trying to conquer and overcome and win and be right within in this.\u201d\nRight, yeah, yeah. There are two levels to this. One is understanding that when people are blaming and judging us, they have some unmet need. That blame and judgment is just a tragic and counterproductive expression of our own unmet needs.\nWhen we really understand that we we don\u2019t have to take on the blame or the story. We can just, \u201cOh, what\u2019s going on for you? Something\u2019s not working. Let me see if I can understand it.\u201d That\u2019s one level.\nThere\u2019s another level here, which is kind of a meta level on the conversation, which is how are we talking to each other and what kind of workplace culture do we have? That\u2019s something that we can address, but that it\u2019s better to address outside of the actual moment.\nWe have the conversation. We deescalate things. We hear what\u2019s important for them. We offer some understanding. Maybe we make some agreements or if we contributed in some way, we apologize, say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m sorry, wasn\u2019t where I meant to come from, but I can see how that had that impact on you.\u201d\nBut then we can also have a conversation saying, \u201cListen I wanted to just \u2013 I wanted to just talk a little bit about how things came out when you said that I\u2019m so critical and judgmental and I\u2019m always nitpicking and I never care about or appreciate anyone else. That was kind of hard to hear. I\u2019d just love to find a way that we can both express ourselves with a sense of care and respect for one another.\u201d\nWe can actually address the way we\u2019re talking to one another, but it\u2019s best to do that outside of the moment. We\u2019ve got to handle the situation that\u2019s happening first.\nWell, I think that\u2019s well said. I did want to dig into your take on sort of the best practices for how does one ask for what you need in an optimal kind of a fashion? It seems like we\u2019ve already got a few kind of principles and processes to work through, but do you have any extra things to point out when you\u2019re making a request?\nYeah, absolutely. Requests are tricky because a lot of us have been conditioned to think it\u2019s selfish to ask for things from other people. Some of this falls around gender lines and how we\u2019ve been conditioned or what our social location is, so based on our conditioning, we may feel more or less comfortable or willing to speak up and ask for what we need. A certain part of it is some of that internal work of just checking, \u201cdo I feel okay asking others to do things or help out or contribute to me?\u201d\nOne of the keys there, because a lot of us have stories that, \u201cI should be able to do it on my own. I\u2019m selfish if I ask for something. I don\u2019t want to be needy or dependent,\u201d all of these kinds of junk that we pick up along the way in life.\nBut if we turn the tables around for a minute and we just think about if a friend or a coworker came to me and said, \u201cHey, I could really use some help. Do you have a few minutes?\u201d If someone\u2019s sincere and we have the time, we\u2019re more than happy to help. We\u2019re like, \u201cYeah, totally. What\u2019s up?\u201d That feels good. It feels good to lend a hand to someone when we can.\nIf we contemplate that, then we can recognize if I can ask in a way that\u2019s inviting, I\u2019m actually giving the other person something beautiful. I\u2019m giving them an opportunity to contribute in a way that feels good.\nThat\u2019s kind of the key behind making requests. It\u2019s one, finding that place inside where we\u2019re not demanding that somebody do something, which takes all the joy out of giving and helping, but we\u2019re inviting them. It\u2019s an open door.\nOne of the things that makes that the most possible is letting them know how it\u2019s going to contribute to us. We need to let someone know why we\u2019re asking. How will this actually help me? What\u2019s the reason behind my asking? Then that gives the person a reason to want to help.\nThe other part is really making sure that we\u2019re clear that there\u2019s no obligation or demand here. This is a suggestion. I\u2019m just saying, \u201cHow about this? If this doesn\u2019t work for you, I\u2019d love to see if we can find another way that this could happen.\u201d Then, again, it becomes a dialogue. It becomes a collaboration.\nThat\u2019s excellent. You\u2019ve got another term I want to hear and touch about because it sounds like something I want. What is emotional agility and how can we get some more of that?\nOh, grasshopper. Yes, emotional agility is essential in life. Emotional agility is that ability to be aware of what we\u2019re feeling and have the strength and the capacity to manage it without it dictating our actions or our words. This takes practice, but it\u2019s completely feasible. There are a few steps to it.\nThe first step is learning to be aware of our emotions, just using mindfulness to identify how we\u2019re feeling and finding a way to experience our emotions with some degree of balance, so we don\u2019t get swept away in the tide of thinking and reacting and sinking in the emotion or lashing out or the other extreme, which is suppressing and avoiding our emotions.\nWe find that middle ground, where we can just feel the way we feel and stay balanced with it. That\u2019s a lot of the work of mindfulness.\nThen the next kind of phase is starting to actually understand our emotions and the function that they play in our life, in our relationships. Emotions are there for a reason. If we feel something, it\u2019s because there\u2019s something that matters to us. We don\u2019t feel emotions if there\u2019s nothing that matters to us in a situation.\nEmotions are sending signals. They\u2019re sending signals either that our needs were met. Pleasant feelings: things are going well, my values and needs are being confirmed or met in some way. Unpleasant emotions: it\u2019s a message, it\u2019s a signal that there\u2019s something not working for me here, there\u2019s some need I have that isn\u2019t being met.\nWhat\u2019s essential in understanding emotions is connecting them back to what actually matters to us and being able to identify, \u201cWhat am I actually wanting here? What\u2019s important to me?\u201d When we can understand that, when we can really see it clearly, there\u2019s a settling that happens inside because the message has been received. The emotion has actually served its purpose. Now we can go about figuring out how to meet that need. What action is necessary here?\nThen the last aspect of emotional agility \u2013 so we\u2019ve got being aware of our emotions and staying balanced. Then we\u2019ve got understanding our emotions, \u201cWhat message is this sending? What\u2019s actually important to me here?\u201d\nThe last part is learning how to communicate them constructively, how to hear other\u2019s emotions and how to express our own emotions in a way that\u2019s helpful. This is really where that training and non-violent communication comes in where we\u2019re able to be aware of how we feel on the inside instead of those stories of blame, \u201cI feel ignored. I feel attacked. I feel judged,\u201d which are all pointing the finger at you.\nInstead, being able to talk about, \u201cYou know? I felt a little bit sad when I heard that I wasn\u2019t invited.\u201d To be able to own how we actually feel instead of \u201cI feel dismissed,\u201d which is again, telling you what you\u2019re doing to me. Being able to state our emotions in a way that\u2019s about us and then connect them to our needs, to why.\n\u201cI really wanted to be included,\u201d or \u201cI really value being a part of the team,\u201d or \u201cI really enjoy your company and want to be able to build our relationship,\u201d so linking our emotions and feelings back to our needs. That\u2019s the kind of overview, the snapshot of developing emotional agility. I go into that a lot more in Say What You Mean, in the book.\nYou know, one of the things when I heard the term emotional agility that I got to thinking about is how often I am in one emotional state, let\u2019s just call it irritated. There\u2019s a distracting noise that a laundry machine keeps making a bunch of noise and vibration that is drawing my attention away and I don\u2019t like it.\nBut then the emotion that would be most kind of constructive might be in a conversation could be, maybe curiosity or interest or compassion. Do you have any thoughts for how can we \u2013 I know we\u2019re not robots that can sort of flip a switch and execute new emotion instantly, but\u2014do you have some pro tips for when we kind of need to access a different side of ourselves to rise to an occasion? How do we do that quickly?\nYeah, how do we do it quickly? I think it takes practice. It\u2019s not something that happens overnight. If we want to be able to come from that place of curiosity or more genuine care or compassion, we need to actually practice it. We need to cultivate those kinds of emotions and intentions in our self.\nThen when we do, when we\u2019ve actually trained our heart or our mind to know how to find goodwill, how to find curiosity, then in the heat of the moment, it\u2019s there for us and then we can come back to it.\nOkay, certainly.\nYeah, I think one other key there \u2013 I appreciate the question \u2013 one other key there is one of the central perspectives to non-violent communication, which we\u2019ve been dancing around, but I haven\u2019t stated explicitly, which is a particular view or perspective on human behavior, which is at the heart of humanistic psychology going all the way back to Abraham Maslow and Mendel and Carl Rogers, which is that all human behavior can be seen as an attempt to meet some kind of basic needs.\nWhen we view things in that way, we can always ask our self the question, \u2018What does this person need? What matters to this person?\u2019 That\u2019s a way to get curious even if we\u2019re reactive, to remember that sense of \u201cOkay, human beings do stuff because there\u2019s something that matters to them. What matters to this person?\u201d\nExcellent. Thank you. Any final things you care to share before we shift gears and hear about some of your favorite things?\nNo, it\u2019s been great talking. I\u2019m really happy to share all these tools with you and your audience. I just hope they\u2019re helpful for folks in their life and at their work.\nYes, thank you. Now can you share with us a favorite quote, something you find inspiring?\nYeah, absolutely. I\u2019ve given a few already on the show, but I\u2019ll share one more. This really points to an essential communication tool. \u201cThe biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.\u201d\nOh, I like that. Thank you.\nIt\u2019s that simple skill that a lot of times we do over email. We\u2019ll say, \u201cLet me know that you got this,\u201d but we can do that during conversation too.\nWe can actually check, especially when we say something important or meaningful to us or it feels like someone else is saying something important or meaningful, we can check. We say, \u201cI want to make sure I\u2019m still with you. Let me just tell you back what I\u2019m hearing and you tell me if I got it right.\u201d\nYeah, thank you. How about a favorite book?\nGary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild is phenomenal take on culture, society and nature. It\u2019s just a beautiful collection of essays that bring together a lot of wonderful ideas.\nA favorite tool?\nA favorite tool, say more my friend. Do you mean a physical tool or a-?\nIt could by physical tool, it could be a piece of software, it could be a framework of thought.\nGreat, yeah. Piece of software. I have a screen app that I use called Time Out that I can set it to different intervals and it reminds me to take a pause while I\u2019m working at my computer for my physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.\nExcellent. Is there a particular nugget you\u2019ve been sharing from the book that really seems to connect and resonate and get folks nodding their heads?\nYeah, one of the main steps that I encourage people to do in communication practice is to focus on what matters. That\u2019s skill we can develop to keep coming back to that question of what really matters here in myself, in another person, in a situation and to get underneath the layers of the stories, and the judgments, and the what-if\u2019s, and the who-did, and when, and why into okay, what really matters here. Focus on what matters.\nYeah, there\u2019s a great way to get in touch, which is through my website, www.orenjaysofer.com.\nIf folks want to learn more from me, I have a free gift to give away six guided meditations when you join my newsletter. The way to sign up for that is to text the word \u2018guided\u2019 G-U-I-D-E-D, like guided meditation, to 44222. You\u2019ll get six guided meditations and then every month I send a free guided meditation or an article or a link to a free online event that I\u2019m doing, so it\u2019s a great way to stay in touch and also get some more teaching and tools.\nCool, thank you. Do you have a final challenge or call to action for folks seeking to be awesome at their jobs?\nYeah, absolutely. Take this on as a practice. Communication is a learnable skill. It\u2019s not just something that some people are good at and other people aren\u2019t. You can improve your communication if you set an intention to work with it. Bring more awareness and presence into your communication and focus on what matters. If you want to learn more, you can check out my book, Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Non-Violent Communication.\nBeautiful. Well, Oren, this has been a treat once again. Thank you. I wish you tons of luck with the book, Say What You Mean, and all you\u2019re up to.\nThanks so much, Pete. It\u2019s been great being back on the show.\nCommunicationDifficult ConversationsGravitasKF #9. Manages ConflictRelationships", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 257, "original_length": 41917, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.96, "perplexity": 224.9, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://basketballbetting.net.au/western-conference/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:46:55Z", "digest": "sha1:VHCBR3HLPM5BEDPI35WBOPTGST4JYPL6", "length": 3353, "nlines": 10, "source_domain": "basketballbetting.net.au", "title": "Western Conference Betting \u2013 Basketball Betting On Western Conference", "raw_content": "Western Conference Betting For Australians\nThe NBA Western Conference is made up of 15 teams, which are organised into 3 divisions of 5 teams. The 3 division winners, along with the non-division winner with the best record are seeded 1 through 4 for the playoffs in order of their records, with all the remaining non-division winners seeded 5 through 8. This means that there is a possibility that a number 2 or 3 seed could be a non-division winner.\nIn a playoff series, home-court advantage is not decided by seeding but by record, so if the number 4 and number 5 meet in a playoff series in which the number 5 team has a better record, the number 5 team would have home-court advantage. The Western Conference playoffs are divided into 2 rounds. The NBA Conference final sees the winner of the Conference Championship facing the Eastern Conference champion in the NBA finals.\nThe Moneyline bet is one of the most popular bets placed on the Western Conference; this is one of the simplest bets in which the punter must choose a team to win a game. Handicap betting is a form of betting in which the bookmaker offers a handicap if one team is a favourite by a big margin. This levels the playing field for punters, the handicap number will appear on the bookmaker\u2019s site as a + or a \u2013 and will differ from the actual result of the game for basketball betting purposes. Total betting is a bet in which the punter is required to predict whether the combined points scored in a game will be more or less than a number that has been set.\nHalf and quarter bets are very popular exotic bets which require the punter to predict what the score will be after one quarter or half way through a game. Basketball games consist of 4 quarters and 2 halves and punters can place bets on any quarter or half. The team that wins the game does not always win every quarter, which gives punters the opportunity to use their experience and knowledge to make winning bets. Accumulator or parlay bets allow punters to place bets on several games, in order for punters to win they must predict all the games correctly and the more bets they place the better their chances of winning.\nTOP western conference betting SITESFebruary 2019\nAnother popular bet in Western Conference betting is futures betting, which allows the punter to place bets at the beginning of the playoffs. This gives punters great opportunities, because the betting odds will change during the playoffs. In props betting, punters can place bets on the performance of specific players for a single game or the entire playoffs. These bets are based on many different aspects of the player\u2019s performance, such as assists, points scored, rebounds and many other statistics.\nThe newest and one of the most exciting forms of Western Conference betting is live betting. In live betting, punters can place bets on games as they are being played. Many punters enjoy watching the game and placing bets at the same time. Placing bets on a Western Conference game will make watching the game all the more exciting.\nWestern Conference Betting with the Best Bookmakers\nIf you\u2019re a big basketball fan and want to enjoy wagering on national and international markets the bookmakers that we recommend offer it all. Choose one of the suggested sites that we promote and enjoy Australian online betting action at its finest.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 47, "original_length": 3908, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.95, "perplexity": 286.0, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://batesgen.net/contact/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:40:48Z", "digest": "sha1:7T5UCE6SWOS3V7R4ECG5DL2THJAPM27K", "length": 58, "nlines": 1, "source_domain": "batesgen.net", "title": "Contact \u00ab Batesgen \u2013 Video and Illustration", "raw_content": "Thank you for your message, I'll be in touch very shortly.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 16, "original_length": 444, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.98, "perplexity": 111.6, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bearcom.com/bi-directional-amplifiers/amplifiers-increase-building-radio-signal-strength-first-responders/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:48:49Z", "digest": "sha1:PD2HVZKNXA6Y5SDCYUGH5MYJPDN4COXW", "length": 4679, "nlines": 21, "source_domain": "bearcom.com", "title": "How Amplifiers Increase In-Building Radio Signal Strength for First Responders | BearCom", "raw_content": "In an emergency, first responders have to talk to each other, regardless of where they are. But sometimes, the facility they are in prohibits that from happening.\nThat\u2019s why amplifiers are needed to increase in-building radio signal strength. Read all about their importance below, along with how you can get them installed in your building. And be sure to contact the team at BearCom to get additional questions answered.\nImportance of In-Building Communications Systems\nHaving a sufficient in-building communications system is crucial for first responders. With the right system in place, firefighters, police officers, and EMTs will never lose their point of contact in a dire situation.\nThese men and women depend on indoor two-way coverage, often on multiple frequency bands, for team coordination and emergency communications. Public Safety professionals need to maintain contact with each other, regardless of their location in your building, be it on underground floors, elevators, stairwells, parking garages, or wherever.\nIn most localities, it is now legally required that communication systems maintain signal strength throughout a facility. This is primarily so there is a guaranteed level of in-building signal strength for first responders.\nNeeding In-Building Coverage\nIn the past, in-building coverage was primarily extended through an outdoor network of high site antennas. However, this left many highly populated areas inside hospitals, high-rise buildings, schools, and other facilities with severely limited coverage.\nIn addition, in modern structures constructed of concrete, steel beams, and glass, radio signals are often blocked from the outside, as well as inside the building. To increase signal challenges even further, \u201cgreen\u201d and LEED certified buildings are often sealed with tighter designs.\nFortunately, in-building signal boosters are available to help solve these radio coverage issues.\nTo help maintain communication in hard-to-reach areas, Bi-Directional Amplifiers (BDAS) are often used. These signal boosters are installed as part of a Distributed Antenna System and use wireless Radio Frequency (RF) technology along with cabling (if available) to boost and distribute RF signals in challenging environments.\nHow Amplifiers Increase Signal Strength\nA BDA is often the solution to boost signal strength. Depending on the capabilities of the unit (or units) selected, these signal boosters can be deployed and programmed to extend two-way radio range for facilities operational teams (usually bands UHF or VHF) and/or Public Safety frequencies (450/700/800 MHz bands), as well as cellular signals. In many localities, maintaining radio signal strength is required by law on the Public Safety frequency bands.\nPassive DAS: In buildings less than 500,000 square feet, a passive Distributed Antenna System often includes a BDA to receive signal from off-air, boost it and send it throughout the building using coax cabling. Passive designs are the most commonly used systems to meet Public Safety signal requirements.\nActive DAS: An active Distributed Antenna System is often used for larger buildings \u2013 usually more 10 floors and over 500,000 square feet of coverage area. Facilities that benefit from using an active DAS are venues such as concert arenas, sports stadiums, and airports.\nWireless communications providers perform site surveys to properly design and deploy an in-building signal booster system. As part of the survey, an RF signal analyzer is used to record the best signal strength in your building and identify poor indoor signals. This helps determine where to position the exterior antenna and where to place signal boosters inside the building.\nThe survey, wiring schematic, and floor plans help determine the optimal configuration of the Distributed Antenna System and individual antenna nodes, as well as the head-end position for the Bi-Directional Amplifier. When done properly, the system design and infrastructure, along with the power and programming of the BDA will sufficiently boost indoor signal to essentially eliminate dead spots.\nLearn More about Amplifiers\nIt is important to note that planning and deploying the DAS/BDA solution early into a new construction or remodeling project is far less costly than retrofitting the signal booster system into the structure later in the process.\nBearCom has vast levels of experience designing and deploying DAS/BDA systems in just about every sector and stands ready to assist with your wireless communications needs.\nEnhance School Safety with BearCom Two-Way Radio Solutions | BearComExtending Wireless Two-Way Radio Range with Bi-Directional Amplifiers | BearCom", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 137, "original_length": 7545, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.95, "perplexity": 336.6, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://beardentraveltime.com/travel-story/this-georgian-winemaker-is-bringing-awareness-to-domestic-violence-with-every-bottle/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T20:13:14Z", "digest": "sha1:B4SDP66AO7P3YZEEDJ7KKCMUSJG4GUMO", "length": 37, "nlines": 1, "source_domain": "beardentraveltime.com", "title": "Bearden Travel Time", "raw_content": "Where to Go to See Pandas In the Wild", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 94, "original_length": 5969, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.79, "perplexity": 332.6, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://beautyndbest.com/2018/04/27/heres-why-you-should-buy-organic-clothes-for-your-children/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T20:15:29Z", "digest": "sha1:QT34ISDTPXR4YPINUCJ7KSLZWSISWAYS", "length": 2949, "nlines": 10, "source_domain": "beautyndbest.com", "title": "Here's Why You Should Buy Organic Clothes for Your Children | Beauty & the Best", "raw_content": "There is nothing parents enjoy more than dressing their kids until they come of age when they insist on picking their own clothes. But until then, you can enjoy choosing the most adorable pajamas, onesies, dresses and tiny tuxes for your sweet baby. But while style does play an important role in buying high-quality children\u2019s clothes, many parents neglect the materials.\nSince your kids\u2019 skin is delicate, you have to choose the fabric that\u2019s going to be gentle on them as they will be wearing those clothes all day. If you look at the labels on your children\u2019s clothes, you\u2019ll see that the most of them are made out of cotton. However, not all labels state whether the cotton is organic or treated with chemicals such as dyes.\nIs Cotton Really That Natural\nWhat you might not know is that insecticides and pesticides are used in the cotton industry to defend the material against pesky attackers. Insecticides and pesticides are not only bad for the environment, they are also bad for our health as we consume the products they pollute. But most of those chemicals are removed as the cotton is processed, so you don\u2019t have to worry about having to get rid of your cotton clothes.\nA far worse alternative are clothes made from synthetic fibers. These fabrics are made using various dangerous chemicals such as PVC, acrylic, petrochemicals, and others that are often linked to health issues ranging from immunodeficiency, behavioral issues, and hormone imbalance.\nWhat both have in common are the fabric finishes. While some finishes can be washed away after a couple of times, some finishes such as permanent press cannot be washed out of the material. These finishes release a compound called formaldehyde. Some of those fabric finishes contain materials that experts have linked to skin irritation and even cancer.\nHow Should I Choose My Kids\u2019 Clothes?\nWhen choosing your kids\u2019 clothes make sure to check that the label states the clothes were made using sustainable materials and that they don\u2019t contain toxic dyes. This is the safest way to be sure you toddlers or children\u2019s skin is not in contact with toxins and harmful chemicals. Also, check if the clothes were treated with chemical finishes or dyes.\nThe best materials for kids\u2019 clothes include hemp, bamboo, organic cotton, cashmere, and silk. If the label shows the clothes follow the Global Organic Textile Standard or GOTS, you can rest assured the outfit you want to buy for your child is at least 95% made out of organic materials with no harmful chemicals used for dying or in the finish.\nThe number of companies selling organic children\u2019s clothes is on the rise due to the increasing demand of parents who are beginning to realize not all clothes are made equally. If you care for your child\u2019s health (and who doesn\u2019t), you should look more into what types of materials can be harmful to your child and clear their wardrobe of anything that might cause a number of health issues.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 142, "original_length": 5452, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.96, "perplexity": 314.9, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bedelsfordschool.org/were-outstanding/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:37:06Z", "digest": "sha1:HQ4GMLX3OQSN2FI7WZR5QNZX7HFXZPBM", "length": 573, "nlines": 6, "source_domain": "bedelsfordschool.org", "title": "Top", "raw_content": "We\u2019re delighted to announce that following our Ofsted inspection in December we continue to be Outstanding!\n\u201cYou and your team have extremely high aspirations for your pupils and you lead a truly inspirational school.\u201d\n\u201cMaximum use is made of learning time and not a moment is lost.\u201d\n\u201cThe idea of \u2018better never stops\u2019 is at the centre of what you achieve at the school.\u201d\n\u201cThe personalised and very well-thought out curriculum is underpinned by the key areas of social and emotional, thinking, independence, communication and mobility skills.\u201d\n30th January 2019 Alice Irvine", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 140, "original_length": 4245, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.96, "perplexity": 304.1, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://beebom.com/gurugram-digital-post-office/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:27:40Z", "digest": "sha1:4HRFIB6EFOIJ76RXQMC5VKVWTHOPXUDJ", "length": 1561, "nlines": 6, "source_domain": "beebom.com", "title": "Gurugram Is Now Home to the First Ever Digital Post Office | Beebom", "raw_content": "Home News Gurugram Is Now Home to the First Ever Digital Post Office\nGurugram Is Now Home to the First Ever Digital Post Office\nThe Haryana government has set up the first ever digital post office in Gurugram, which will provide services to senior citizens and the differently-abled. The new post office, which is located in Sector-82, will provide regular post office services along with additional facilities including passport and Aadhaar services.\nLaunched in partnership with Enviro, the facilities management wing of Vatika Group, the digital post office will also keep digital records of all the services provided at the location for ease of access. The services will include delivering mail, accepting savings deposits, and providing life insurance covers.\nAdditionally, the digital post office will keep a record of mail-tracking pin codes and enable online consignment tracking. The new features are expected to decrease the instances of fraud, especially in cases of money orders and cheques sent via post. Dedicated services for senior citizens and the differently-abled include money transfers, internet banking, passport services and Aadhaar enrollment.\nThe post office was recently inaugurated by chief postmaster general Col. Sukhdev Raj at Signature Avenue, Vatika India Next, Sector-82. Previously, the area had no post office of its own and people had to rely on the Manesar post office for all the services. The government is expected to open more such post offices in the state to completely digitize the postal services in the near future.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 71, "original_length": 2947, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.96, "perplexity": 232.3, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://beebom.com/samsung-galaxy-s9-s9-india-launch-how-to-watch-it-live-online/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:58:38Z", "digest": "sha1:UARYA5ZOBHWCXFVVLP6ATQ5VL5LW5MXA", "length": 2215, "nlines": 17, "source_domain": "beebom.com", "title": "Samsung Galaxy S9 / S9+ India Launch: How to Watch the Event Live Online | Beebom", "raw_content": "Home News Samsung Galaxy S9 / S9+ India Launch: How to Watch It Live...\nSamsung Galaxy S9 / S9+ India Launch: How to Watch It Live Online\nFollowing the unveiling of the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus at the MWC 2018 last month, Samsung had announced that it will launch the two devices in India on March 6. Now, the company has sent out press invites for the event that\u2019s scheduled to begin at 12:30 PM tomorrow, March 6, in New Delhi.\nSamsung Galaxy S9 / S9+ India Launch: How to Watch the Event Live Online\nThe company will also live stream the event, just as it did with the main unveiling at Barcelona a few days ago. In case you want to catch the event live, you have more than one option to do so. The live webcast of the event will be available on the Samsung India Newsroom, as well as the company\u2019s Hindi newsroom, Samsung Bharat.\nThe Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are the latest flagship smartphones from the South Korean consumer electronics giant, and have already earned many an award since their unveiling a couple of weeks ago. While the Galaxy S9 Plus won the GLOMO Award for being the \u2018Best Connected Device\u2019 at the MWC 2018, DisplayMate awarded the Galaxy S9 for having the best display among all smartphones. The S9 Plus also received the highest DxOMark score of 99, eclipsing the Pixel 2\u2019s score of 98. For context, the iPhone X received a score of 97 from DxOMark last year.\nSamsung Galaxy S9 / S9+ Specifications\nDisplay 5.8-inch/6.2-inch Super AMOLED 2960 x 1440p\nProcessor Qualcomm Snapdragon 845/ Samsung Exynos 9810\nStorage 64GB (expansion via microSD)\nPrimary Camera 12MP (f/1.5-f/2.4) / 12MP+12MP (f/1.5-f/2.4)\nBattery 3,000 mAh / 3,500 mAh\nAndroid Android 8.0 Oreo\nColors Midnight Black, Titanium Gray, Lilac Purple, Coral Blue\nPrice $719.99/$839.99\nSamsung Galaxy S9 / S9+ Availability and Pricing\nBoth devices will be available for purchase globally from the 16th of this month, although, there\u2019s no official confirmation about when they\u2019ll be available for purchase in India. It is worth noting, however, that they\u2019ve already been listed on Samsung\u2019s India website, but there\u2019s no info on pricing just yet. Of course, we\u2019re less than 24 hours away from getting all the details directly from Samsung.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 86, "original_length": 3706, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.87, "perplexity": 302.9, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://belfastchildis.com/2016/05/05/6th-may-deaths-events-in-northern-ireland-troubles/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:32:06Z", "digest": "sha1:XA3M6K4ODF2OBPAYLOD4LYBCUYO7YC2E", "length": 6924, "nlines": 46, "source_domain": "belfastchildis.com", "title": "6th May \u2013 Deaths & Events in Northern Ireland Troubles | Belfast Child", "raw_content": "6th May \u2013 Deaths & Events in Northern Ireland Troubles\nMay 5, 2016 Deaths in the Troubles6th May, 6th May deaths in the troubles, Hugh Hehir, Norman Prue, Philip Ellis, Robert Maughanbelfastchildis\nChichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, announced an amnesty for all offences associated with demonstrations since 5 October 1968 and this resulted in the release of, among others, Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting.\nJack Lynch, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), sacked Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney, then both ministers in the Irish government, over allegations of illegal arms importation. Lynch then survived a vote of confidence in the government.\n[On 28 May 1970 Haughey and Blaney appeared in court at the beginning of what became known as the \u2018Arms Trial\u2019.]\nAt approximately 9.00 pm a man aged 18 was shot and injured in the Glen Road area of west Belfast.\n[On 1 December 2015 the PSNI listed this shooting as one of nine incidents it was investigating in relation to the activities of the British Army\u2019s Military Reaction Force (MRF).]\nSee Military Reaction Force\nEight members of the Special Air Service (SAS) were arrested in the Republic of Ireland. The official explanation was that the soldiers had made a map reading error and accidentally crossed the border.\n[During the course of the Northern Ireland conflict there were many instances of British Army personnel and vehicles, including aircraft, making illegal crossings of the border. In March 1976 SAS soldiers had crossed the border and grabbed Se\u00e1n McKenna, then an Irish Republican Army (IRA) commander, from his home before handing him over to a British Army patrol on the northern side of the border.]\nDay 4 of the UUAC Strike\nThe United Unionist Action Council (UUAC) was unable to secure the support of the workers at the Ballylumford power station, near Larne, County Antrim. This meant that power would be maintained and factories and commerce could continue to operate.\n[The Ballylumford workers had control of a major part of Northern Ireland\u2019s power supply, approximately two-thirds, and thus were crucial to the outcome of the strike.]\nThe Coachman\u2019s Inn, a hotel situated near Bangor, County Down, was attacked by a mob which set fire to the building. The premises had continued to remain open during the strike.\nRoy Mason, then Secretary of State, met a delegation led by Harry West, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Its members including representatives from the Orange Order, industrialists, farmers, and businessmen.\nThe delegation pressed Mason to embark on a series of tougher security measures. Contrasting claims continued to be made about the progress of the UUAC strike. While the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) claimed that the business sector was \u2018near normal\u2019, leaders of the UUAC argued that support for their action was growing.\nIn an attempt to increase the pressure the UUAC called for a complete shutdown of Northern Ireland on Monday 9 May 1977. This call was criticised by Harry West who said he had been guaranteed by Roy Mason that a tougher security policy would be implemented.\nAn undercover member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and an undercover member of the British Army were both shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) at Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh.\nThe British government sent 600 extra British troops into Northern Ireland.\nThere were riots in Nationalist areas of Belfast and other towns following the third anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands on hunger strike.\nThere was a vote at Belfast City Council to resume normal business that had been adjourned in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA).\nThe vote was carried by 27 to 23 votes. The vote was taken to avoid a \u00a325,000 court fine, however the council began a policy of deferring business.\nTom King, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced the recruitment of an extra 500 full-time Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) reservists.\nThe Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) banned a parade planned by Apprentice Boys of Derry (ABD) for Saturday 10 May 1997. The march was intending to pass through the Nationalist lower Ormeau Road area of Belfast.\nThe Royal Black Preceptory announced that it had taken the decision not to proceed with its forthcoming march in Dunloy, County Antrim. There was a gala opening of the new Waterfront Hall in Belfast. The Prince of Wales carried out the official opening of the new concert complex.\nThe Sinn F\u00e9in (SF) leadership confirmed its support for the Good Friday Agreement, recommending that members in both the North and the South should vote \u2018Yes\u2019 in the forthcoming referendum.\nIt had been reported that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) had taken the decision to drop the ban on members of the Republican movement taking part in an assembly at Stormont.\nTony Blair, then British Prime Minister, and John Major, a former British Prime Minister, travelled to Northern Ireland to lend their support to the campaign for a \u2018Yes\u2019 vote in the referendum. Blair welcomed the news that SF had decided to support the Agreement.\nA majority of councillors in Ballymena District Council voted to support the Agreement.\n[Ballymena has been viewed as a stronghold of Paisleyism and some people had expected that the vote would go against the Agreement.]\nRepresentatives of the British and Irish governments held talks in London with representatives of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and Sinn F\u00e9in (SF).\nThe Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was reported to be anxious to see permanent disarmament because of fears of weapons falling into \u201ccriminal hands\u201d.\n[The statement marked a shift from saying it might never decommission its weapons.]\nThe Irish Republican Army (IRA) undertook to open some of its arms dumps for inspection and said it was prepared to \u201cinitiate a process that will completely and verifiably put IRA arms beyond use\u201d.\nThere was a bomb explosion at a Post Office delivery depot in north London at 1.53am (0153BST). The explosion happened at the same building where another bomb had exploded on 14 April 2001.\nAgain there was no warning of the bomb and one man was injured in the explosion. The \u201creal\u201d Irish Republican Army (rIRA) was thought to have been responsible for the attack.\n4 People lost their lives on the 6th May between 1979 \u2013 1988\nNorman Prue (29)\nUndercover British Army (BA) / Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) patrol. Shot while sitting in stationary civilian type car, outside church, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh.\nRobert Maughan (30)\nPhilip Ellis (33)\nShot by sniper while on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) foot patrol, Duncairn Gardens, Belfast.\nHugh Hehir (37)\nKilled by: Garda Siochana (GS)\nFrom County Clare. Shot during attempted armed robbery at Caher Post Office, Feakle, County Clare.\n\u2190 Girl Power! Boudica \u2013 Warrior Queen\tOn this day in 1954 -Roger Bannister breaks four-minute mile \u2192", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 240, "original_length": 14239, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.97, "perplexity": 188.4, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://benedikt-kuenzel.com/uber/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:58:21Z", "digest": "sha1:ARAV6B4CURLFX4IK5I7FSWJHYSGZMTDI", "length": 1276, "nlines": 6, "source_domain": "benedikt-kuenzel.com", "title": "ABOUT \u2013 Benedikt Kuenzel \u2013 Game Developer", "raw_content": "My name is Benedikt K\u00fcnzel and I am a 22-year-old game developer from lovely Germany.\nSince my earliest days, I\u2019ve been playing games non-stop, starting with child-friendly games on our family PC, my first Xbox (the original one back then), and building my first pc at age 14 in order to be able to enjoy Crysis 1.\nI was always keen on learning how games were actually made, however, this proved difficult, since the whole indy-movement was just pulling itself up by its bootstraps at the time. I\u2019ve played around with iPhone games, but since there wasn\u2019t any real engine that I could use, I\u2019ve abandoned the idea for some time, focusing on other projects, like building electronic gadgets. I came back to programming with Arduino, when I managed to successfully program a midi-interpreter for my solid-state Tesla coil.\nSinging lightning! I was fascinated by the power of programming and so got more into it again.\nWhen my brother told me about Unity, a free and easy engine that anyone could use, I was blown away! Ever since that day, about four years ago, I\u2019ve been making games with unity.\nIf you are interested in reading more about my current projects, please feel free to take a look at my development blog, in which I go in-depth about everything that I\u2019m working on.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 26, "original_length": 1703, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.98, "perplexity": 271.7, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://benmcnallybooks.com/event/genevieve-scott-in-her-voice/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:16:58Z", "digest": "sha1:MLU6M3F3SYFZQILGHGBRLUAXHO7JBXT3", "length": 1271, "nlines": 9, "source_domain": "benmcnallybooks.com", "title": "Genevieve Scott | In Her Voice \u2013 Ben McNally Books", "raw_content": "Genevieve Scott | In Her Voice\nTightrope Books: Fiction Night \u00bb\nPlease join us at the store for a special In Her Voice event.\nBen McNally Books and Goose Lane Editions invite you to celebrate the launch of Genevieve Scott\u2018s debut novel, Catch My Drift.\nGenevieve will be in conversation with novelist Catherine Bush.\nWednesday, April 4, 2018 @6pm\nSpanning two decades, Catch My Drift follows mother and daughter through life changes big and small, and reveals that despite our shared experiences, we each live a private story.\nLorna always wanted to stand out, but her career as a competitive swimmer was cut short by a knee injury. Cara, her daughter, tries hard to blend in, but when she has to fill in for her brother at a school pageant, she is overwhelmed by terror. Lorna is vain about her ability to shut out distractions. Cara can\u2019t control her scary thoughts. And while Lorna tries her best to move past life\u2019s early disappointments, Cara picks at the cracks in her family\u2019s story.\nToronto novelist Catherine Bush is the author of Accusation, Minus Time, a finalist for the City of Toronto Book Award and the Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and Claire\u2019s Head. The Rules of Engagement, a Canadian bestseller, was named a New York Times Notable Book.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 60, "original_length": 2732, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.95, "perplexity": 310.8, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bernd.io/about/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:21:10Z", "digest": "sha1:2AHJBXS6MH53H2ZWN3XH5MXV654A6L3J", "length": 373, "nlines": 3, "source_domain": "bernd.io", "title": "About me \u00b7 Bernd Ahlers", "raw_content": "I am a software developer at Graylog where I am trying to make open source log management better. Before that I have been working with the great people at bytemine and BS Web Services, amongst others.\nIn a previous life I was a member of the OpenBSD project where I worked on porting third party software to OpenBSD.\nI am living on the country side near Hamburg in Germany.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 12, "original_length": 538, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.97, "perplexity": 256.8, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bertnash.org/lgbt-group-for-youth/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:12:00Z", "digest": "sha1:64DS7K4BMU7SLF6MGEVXEDNL4RN3TBQT", "length": 3057, "nlines": 14, "source_domain": "bertnash.org", "title": "LGBT group for youth - Bert Nash", "raw_content": "Statistically, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth are at a disproportionate risk for depression, suicide and substance abuse.\nThey also can feel isolated, alienated or bullied.\nA new LGBT group for youth was started in the summer of 2017 at the Bert Nash Center to provide a support system so teenagers have a safe place to talk. Bert Nash also offers a support group for transgender adults.\n\u201cThat was the motivation for the group, just kids needing a safer place,\u201d said Lee Koch, a Bert Nash Child and Family Services case manager and one of the co-leaders of the LGBT group for youth. \u201cThe group allows us to talk about issues specific to them without the risk of the outside world. It gives them a chance to work on skills that are specific to what they need and things that they have dealt with, whether it\u2019s being transgender or transitioning, or being gay and their parents not accepting it. It gives them a chance to get together and talk about things that directly affect them.\u201d\nOne group member said, \u201cGroup has helped me make friends and talk about things we can relate to.\u201d\nThe LGBT group for youth meets weekly, including during the summer months, except during school breaks. Transportation to the Bert Nash Center is provided, if needed.\n\u201cWe started seeing a lot of need for this group,\u201d said Sunnie Shedd, a Bert Nash Child and Family Services therapist, who is the other co-leader of the LGBT group for youth. \u201cWe were seeing a lot of clients who could benefit from having the support of a psychosocial group like this. A lot of LGBT youth struggle with depression and anxiety symptoms, isolation, or they struggle with suicidal ideation or self-harming behaviors.\u201d\nShedd said her co-leader, Koch, has been the driving force behind the group.\n\u201cHe\u2019s the creative mind behind it,\u201d Shedd said. \u201cHe brings a lot of passion to the group.\u201d\nChild and Family Services Director Stephen O\u2019Neill said, \u201cI am proud of Sunnie and Liam and the support they are extending to children and youth. We are committed to ensuring we are offering support to our LGBT friends, family, and neighbors.\u201d\nKoch and Shedd have spent the past year getting the word out about the LGBT group for youth, working in conjunction with the Bert Nash WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities) therapists, who are in direct contact with students in the Lawrence school system.\n\u201cThe WRAP therapists are in the schools and if they interact with a student who isn\u2019t a Bert Nash client they can let them know that this is something that we offer,\u201d Shedd said. \u201cThen the student can come in and do an intake with a Bert Nash clinician and attend the group only, if that\u2019s what they want to do. But they have to do an intake in order to participate in the group.\u201d\nThe curriculum for the LGBT group for youth changes from month to month and can also include an outside activity.\n\u201cA lot of our kids struggle with making friends and recognizing appropriate social relationships,\u201d Koch said. \u201cAll of the issues we talk about are relevant to the LGBT community.\u201d", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 74, "original_length": 4055, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.97, "perplexity": 224.0, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bestquestict.com/2017/12/03/on-the-road-tulsa/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:49:12Z", "digest": "sha1:EHMIZNJAXUVHNMTL7FEY7WAUSPTJZC4Q", "length": 3215, "nlines": 17, "source_domain": "bestquestict.com", "title": "On the Road: Tulsa \u2013 Best Quest with Weston & Sully", "raw_content": "In late September, Topeca Coffee hosted a Specialty Coffee Association qualifying coffee competition in Tulsa. Since Andy was planning on helping out with the competition, we decided it would make a great family mini-vacation. And we were right!\nThe Oklahoma Aquarium was our first stop on Saturday morning. It was fantastic. I was skeptical that an aquarium in the midwest would have much to offer, and I\u2019m glad I was wrong. They had jellyfish, otters, beavers, an amazing shark tunnel and interactive exhibits. We had so much fun!!\nI asked the boys what their favorite part was and they both agreed that it was the sea turtle area where they got to climb into a pod under the water. My favorite was when the boys fed the snapping turtles. They both squealed with delight when the turtles snapped up their carrot pieces held on long rods.\nWeston brought along his favorite stuffed animal, Beaver Bear, and said BB was excited to meet his cousin the beaver.\nWe next decided to check out the local Warren Theatre in Broken Arrow. Since the theatre chain started in our home town of Wichita, I knew it was going to be nice. It exceeded my expectations and was luxurious for our matinee viewing of the latest Lego movie. They boys loved the reclining seats!\nWe ventured into downtown Tulsa after getting a tip that we HAD to go see the Sonic Center of the Universe. It\u2019s a spot you stand in and you can hear your voice echo. The boys thought it was pretty cool, and Weston even left one of his painted kindness rocks in the very center.\nOn Sunday, we thought it would be fun to hit some local parks. According to the Tulsa Parks and Rec site, they have 134 parks within the city limits. They have a really handy list, all in one place at this site: https://www.cityoftulsa.org/government/departments/park-and-recreation/tulsa-parks-and-map/ It looks like they have another six or more that are managed by the county.\nAfter some searching and asking around, we determined that if we were going to visit one park in Tulsa, it had to be LaFortune Park. According to their website, the park is over 270 acres! My only gripe was trying to find the entrance and parking. But it was well worth the frustration, because boy, oh, boy, was this a nice park! It was packed on this lovely day, and I can see why. The boys just couldn\u2019t make their minds up on which play area they wanted to visit first. There were two close together, one for smaller children and one for bigger kids. Down the sidewalk and over a small bridge was another massive play area which caught my attention. It looked like so much fun! Despite the park being packed, it was in great condition. I was impressed that there seemed to be no litter! You can tell this community is proud of this park.\nhttp://www.visittulsa.com/\nhttps://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1832\nhttps://www.cityoftulsa.org/government/departments/park-and-recreation/tulsa-parks-and-map/\nhttp://www.parks.tulsacounty.org/parks.aspx?page=lafortune\nhttps://topecacoffee.com/\nhttp://www.uscoffeechampionships.org/preliminaries/\nPosted in Other StatesTagged Coffee Shops, Golf, Picnic, Pool, Roadside America, SwingsBy katiewifeymommyLeave a comment\n\u2190 County #9: Harper\nCounty #10: Labette \u2192", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 58, "original_length": 4179, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.98, "perplexity": 305.2, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://beta.nwhealth.edu/school-of-massage-therapy/alumni/alumni-gary-mitchell/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:06:32Z", "digest": "sha1:UGXRTD72SFIYJOJWRYGSC2V626X6RTU4", "length": 1663, "nlines": 11, "source_domain": "beta.nwhealth.edu", "title": "Alumni Gary Mitchell - Massage Therapy School Program - Northwestern", "raw_content": "The amount of information a student receives in 11 months is phenomenal.\nAbout Gary Mitchell\u2019s practice\nHorizon Family Chiropractic\nRiver Falls, WI, 54022\nEmail www.dchorizon.net/contact\nWebsite: www.dchorizon.net\nAn interest in sports medicine led Gary Mitchell to pursue a massage therapy education. He chose Northwestern because it was recommended to him by his doctor of chiropractic. \u201cIt was the best school in the area. The program was very specific with a scientific focus.\u201d\nAt Northwestern, Mitchell learned that the massage program requires students to work hard and pay attention; that they can\u2019t just sit back and enjoy the ride. \u201cStudents have to realize that they are attending the best massage therapy school in the region. The amount of information a student receives in 11 months is phenomenal.\u201d\nA 2008 graduate, he now owns his own practice, which is located within a chiropractic office. The scientific focus that Northwestern provided has helped Mitchell in his new integrated practice. \u201cParticularly when working with a doctor of chiropractic, being able to assess clients and use the correct terminology to convey my message has been great.\u201d\nThe best part about being a massage therapist is seeing clients progress. \u201cHaving someone come in with a headache or a loss of range of motion, and to have them leave without a headache or regain the the ability to lift their arms above their head is amazing.\u201d\nMitchell says all the opportunities available at Northwestern add to a great experience. \u201cYou have to stay focused and try to take advantage of every possible opportunity while you can. I am very grateful I was able to go to Northwestern.\u201d", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 107, "original_length": 3202, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.97, "perplexity": 322.8, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bgr.com/2017/08/14/galaxy-note-8-specs-confirmed-benchmarks/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:50:03Z", "digest": "sha1:2SORNJ2NOC73HY4SDTRUGRP47IMDK2WW", "length": 2429, "nlines": 9, "source_domain": "bgr.com", "title": "Galaxy Note 8 flexes its muscle in new benchmark leak \u2013 BGR", "raw_content": "Galaxy Note 8 flexes its muscle in new benchmark leak\nSamsung fans, we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Samsung\u2019s upcoming Galaxy Note 8 is going to be an absolute beast. When it\u2019s finally released in the coming weeks after months of leaks and rumors, it will be one of the most powerful smartphones the world has ever seen, just as we all had hoped. But the bad news is that Samsung\u2019s next-generation Note phone will follow the same trend that we\u2019ve seen numerous times before with Samsung flagships. The version of the Galaxy Note 8 that Samsung releases in the United States will be one of the fastest smartphones available, but the version launching in the rest of the world will be even faster.\nDon't Miss: Amazon\u2019s magic Alexa wand is better than anything in Harry Potter, and it\u2019s free\nLate last week, benchmark test results were uncovered for the final global version of Samsung\u2019s upcoming Galaxy Note 8. This model, which is known as the SM-N950F, contains an octa-core Exynos process made by Samsung, and it crushed the Geekbench 4 test both in single-core tests and in the multi-core benchmark test.\nIn the United States, Samsung\u2019s new Galaxy Note 8 \u2014 which sports the model number SM-N950U \u2014 will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that\u2019s comparable to the Exynos model in the global model. Comparable, yes, but it turns out that it doesn\u2019t quite measure up to the chipset that Samsung has produced.\nBelow you\u2019ll see benchmark test results from a Geekbench 4 test run on the US-bound Galaxy Note 8. They were posted over the weekend on Prime Labs\u2019 Geekbench website.\nAs you can see, the Galaxy Note 8 Samsung will release in the US is a monster when it comes to power. As impressive as those numbers are, however, they fall a bit short of the 1984 Samsung\u2019s global Note 8 registered in the single-core test, and the 6116 the phone score on the Geekbench 4 multi-core test. Will this discrepancy translate to any discernible difference in performance between the two Note 8 models? That remains to be seen, but it\u2019s doubtful.\nSamsung will unveil the Galaxy Note 8 next week at a press conference in New York City. The phone is expected to feature a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display with 2K resolution, 64GB of storage, 6GB of RAM, a dual-lens 12-megapixel rear camera, IP68 dust- and water-resistance, and Android 7.1 Nougat.\nWe\u2019ve never seen anything like this latest iPhone 8 leak", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 72, "original_length": 4292, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.9, "perplexity": 241.7, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bharatmatamandir.in/lance-naik-albert-ekka/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:55:03Z", "digest": "sha1:NZVZPC27TS6JRYFINAL5CN6TFZS3G3DP", "length": 3659, "nlines": 14, "source_domain": "bharatmatamandir.in", "title": "Bharatmatamandir \u2212 Lance Naik Albert Ekka", "raw_content": "Lance Naik Albert Ekka\nLance Naik (LCpl) Albert Ekka (1942-71) was a soldier in the Indian army. He died in service in the Battle of Hilli, during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India\u2019s highest award for valour in the face of the enemy.\nAlbert Ekka was born on 27 December 1942, in Jari village of Chainpur tehsil Ranchi tehsil of Ranchi district (now Gumla district) in the Indian state of Bihar (now Jharkhand). His father\u2019s name was Julius Ekka and he hailed from a Christian Uraon family. On 27 December 1962, at the age of 20, Albert was enrolled in the 14 Guards of the Indian army.\nAccomplishments during the war\nWar broke out between India and Pakistan on December 3, 1971. On the very first day of this 14-day war, 14 Guards (to which Lance Naik Albert Ekka was attached) was tasked to capture a Pakistani position at Gangasagar, near Akhaura, on the border between the Indian state of Tripura and present-day Bangladesh.\nIt was a well-fortified position, held in good strength by the enemy. The reduction of this position was considered necessary, as it was the key to the capture of Akhaura. The 14 Guards launched an attack on enemy positions at 0400 hours on 4 December 1971. Lance Naik Ekka went with the left forward company of the battalion in the attack.\nLance Naik Albert Ekka was in the left forward company of a battalion of the Brigade of Guards during their attack on this well-fortified enemy position. The Indian troops came under intense shelling and heavy small-arms fire, but they pushed on regardless, and were soon engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The assault group was pinned down by a light machine-gun (LMG), fired from one of the Pakistani bunkers, inflicting heavy casualties. Observing the position of the LMG, Ekka, with complete disregard for his personal safety charged the enemy bunker, bayoneting two enemy soldiers and silenced the LMG.\nThough seriously wounded in this encounter, Lance Naik Albert Ekka continued fighting as he and his fellow soldiers they cut a swath through the enemy lines, clearing bunker after bunker for a distance of 1.5 km. They had almost accomplished their objective when a medium machine-gun (MMG) opened up from the second storey of a well-fortified building, inflicting heavy casualties and holding up their progress.\nOnce again, Ekka, despite his serious injury and heavy fire, crawled forward till he reached the building and threw a grenade into the bunker killing one enemy soldier and injuring the other. However, the MMG was still firing. Ekka scaled a side wall, entered the bunker, bayoneted the enemy soldier holding the MMG nest, and silenced the MMG. By doing this, he saved his company from suffering more casualties and ensured the success of the attack. In this process, he received serious injuries and succumbed to them after the capture of the objective.\nAs a result of the fall of Gangasagar, the southern and southwestern flanks of Akhaura were exposed and the enemy rear was threatened. As a result, the enemy was forced to vacate Akhaura.\nLance Naik Albert Ekka displayed valour and determination and made a great sacrifice for the Army. He was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the highest wartime gallantry medal, posthumously, for displaying conspicuous bravery and determination.\nLance-Naik Albert Ekka was posthumously awarded India\u2019s highest wartime gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra. In 2000, on the occasion of 50th Republic day, the Government of India issued a postal stamp in his memory.\nprevious post: Lieutenant Colonel Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore\nnext post: Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 60, "original_length": 4961, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.98, "perplexity": 187.8, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://biography.wales/article/s-VAUG-RIC-1670", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:43:44Z", "digest": "sha1:OQPVILJVM6IECFKEXDXBB5AUZQI4J7TQ", "length": 2630, "nlines": 14, "source_domain": "biography.wales", "title": "VAUGHAN, RICE (died 1670), lawyer and author | Dictionary of Welsh Biography", "raw_content": "VAUGHAN, RICE (died 1670), lawyer and author\nName: Rice Vaughan\nParent: Mary Vaughan (n\u00e9e Wynn)\nParent: Henry Vaughan\nOccupation: lawyer and author\nArea of activity: Law; Literature and Writing\nSecond son (and, from 1654, heir) of Henry Vaughan, Gelli-goch, Machynlleth, and his wife Mary, daughter of Maurice Wynn, Glyn, near Harlech. He went to Shrewsbury school in July 1615, was admitted to Gray's Inn, 13 August 1638, and was called to the Bar on 20 June 1648. In the meantime he had been assisting the Parliament side, e.g. in June 1644 he was appointed a member of the committee for Cardiganshire, Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire. Having failed to get himself elected Member of Parliament for Merioneth, 1654, he petitioned the Council of State, alleging irregularities on the part of the sheriff (Maurice Lewis); the member elected was John Vaughan, Cefnbodig (see summary account in W. R. Williams, Hist. of the Great Sessions in Wales, based on Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1654.) The previous year (18 August 1653) Vaughan had been appointed prothonotary for the counties of Denbigh and Montgomery in the court of Great Sessions in place of John Edisbury; for details, see W. R. Williams, op. cit., and Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, 1653-4. He served the commissioners for sequestrations (from March 1649) and did some business on behalf of the Council of State in 1656. He appears to have been a prisoner in the Tower of London for some time from May 1665 and probably remained there for about two years.\nVaughan was the author of (at least) three works: (a) A Plea for the Common Laws of England (London, 1651), a pamphlet dedicated to the House of Commons, replying to a book by Hugh Peters called A Good Work for a Good Magistrate; (b) Practica Walliae: or the Proceedings in the Great Sessions of Wales: containing the Method and Practice of an Attorney there, from an Original to its Execution. Whereunto is added, The Old Statute of Wales at large; And an Abridgement of all the Statutes uniting Wales to England; with Tables of the Fees, and the Matters therein contained (London, 1672); and (c) A Discourse of Coin and Coinage (London, 1675).\nHis will was proved in 1670 (P.C.C.)\nTo the references already given add Oxford Dictionary of National Biography;\nJ. Foster, Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn, 1521\u20131889 \u2026 (1889);\nR. Williams, Montgomeryshire Worthies (1894);\nWikipedia Article: Rice Vaughan\nDavies, W. Ll., (1959). VAUGHAN, RICE (died 1670), lawyer and author. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 15 Feb 2019, from https://biography.wales/article/s-VAUG-RIC-1670", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 47, "original_length": 3418, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.96, "perplexity": 160.1, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bipb.bm/2015/09/02/376/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:42:37Z", "digest": "sha1:34V7N677FZ6DESTST4YZ7Z2HVJ7FTODR", "length": 852, "nlines": 6, "source_domain": "bipb.bm", "title": "The Bermuda Tattoo 2015 \u00ab Bermuda Islands Pipe Band", "raw_content": "The Bermuda Tattoo 2015\nSep2 by bipb\nOn Thursday 22nd through Saturday 24th October 2015, the historic Keep Yard at the Royal Naval Dockyard will be brought to life with 400 musicians, singers and other performers. Ten exceptional overseas units are slated to participate and Bermuda will be represented by the Band and Corps of Drums of the Royal Bermuda Regiment, the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band and, for the first time, The Bermuda Tattoo Choir.\nThe performances, replete with artillery guns and fireworks, will be a showcase celebrating the best of Bermuda and our culture in this the 50th year of the formation of the Royal Bermuda Regiment. The spectacular show starts at 7:30 p.m. each night with close to 2 hours of entertainment. Tickets are available via https://bdatix.bm/\n\u2190 Term 1: Fall 2015 Class Schedule\nWinter/Spring 2016 Class Schedule \u2192", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 87, "original_length": 2312, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.91, "perplexity": 291.2, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/01/15/gaze-long-enough-into-this-john-wick-chapter-3-poster-and-the-john-wick-gaz", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:12:51Z", "digest": "sha1:DECTEYTU3N454DOEVXFMDFODPGOY6J3R", "length": 1680, "nlines": 7, "source_domain": "birthmoviesdeath.com", "title": "Gaze Long Enough Into This JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 Poster And The John Wick Gazes Back | Birth.Movies.Death.", "raw_content": "Gaze Long Enough Into This JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 Poster And The John Wick Gazes Back\nExcuse me - it's actually JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM.\nWord on the street suggests that the first trailer for John Wick: Chapter 3 is imminent, and we couldn't be more excited. This is one of our favorite franchises, and we're chomping at the bit to see how John Wick: Chapter 2's cliffhanger gets resolved.\nWe're so excited, in fact, that we're willing to build an entire post around this just-released poster, which is basically just a photo of Keanu Reeves looking through a rain-streaked window. Obviously, that's not just any window - that appears to be the front door of the Continental, Wick's preferred hotel for assassins - but whatever. You know what I mean.\nBut wait, there's more! If you're willing to throw yourself into the gaping maw of the John Wick: Chapter 3 marketing machine, you can also send a text to the number contained in the video below for a \"one hour headstart\". We're not entirely sure what this means, but our best guess is that anyone who replies to it will get a look at the new trailer an hour before anyone else does (of course, someone's probably just gonna rip that version of the trailer to the internet and undermine the entire point of this promotion, but whatcanyado?).\nAnd so it begins. Text \u2018John Wick\u2019 to 91099 for a one hour head start. pic.twitter.com/cYWFmsViMj\nAnd, finally, there's this: apparently the full title of John Wick: Chapter 3 is John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. Please update your records accordingly, and stay tuned for further information on John Wick: Chapter 3 (and that first trailer!) as further updates become available.", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 81, "original_length": 3570, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.93, "perplexity": 287.9, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://bizyell.com/how-to-write-data-driven-content/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:49:29Z", "digest": "sha1:C6RHPTC5BOEAFU7J42CJ6F2N4KY7C7CZ", "length": 7917, "nlines": 25, "source_domain": "bizyell.com", "title": "How to Write Data-Driven Content | BizYell", "raw_content": "Many already know what makes a website successful: reader engagement, low bounce rate, social shares, and conversions. And that often leaves you in a sad state of affairs, doesn\u2019t it? You try blogging from personal experience, provide valuable insight, and do everything you can to spread the word about your posts but\u2026you don\u2019t get a good enough response.\nPublishing more often doesn\u2019t work either. So how come sites like Moz, CoSchedule and Content Marketing Institute (CMI) receive such high traffic on their websites? People swarm to their posts, share and talk about them on Twitter, etc., and constantly go back for more. What\u2019s their secret?\nWell, there\u2019s no secret. They just publish data-driven content \u2013 posts that merge scientific research and data with subject matter expertise to provide an authoritative answer to people\u2019s pain points. While an opinion or argument can be subjective, data is mostly objective. People can\u2019t really question numbers. If the data tells you that the upcoming iPhone\u2019s battery life is superior to its predecessor\u2019s, it\u2019s hard to argue against. It\u2019s then up to the visitors to decide what to do with that information.\nWhat Actually Is Data-Driven Content?\nMuch of the content you see on web pages is experiential, which means it\u2019s mostly geared towards sharing personal advice and stories with the hope that it\u2019ll make a difference in people\u2019s lives. And while it works in most instances, people might be looking for more authority and credibility before they decide to implement the ideas presented in this type of content.\nThat\u2019s where data-driven content makes a difference.\nIt\u2019s a content approach that focuses on the creation of well-researched blog posts that address visitors\u2019 problems or the issues close to their heart by offering solid proof and backing claims up with updated research, fact-checked data, and scientific findings. Why publish this form of content? The primary reason to do so is that it helps you be seen as an authoritative figure.\nReferencing relevant case studies and citing number-drive research tells people that you understand certain information and are willing it to share it with others to enrich their knowledge. Plus, people also perceive that opinions backed by data are more believable, which is why many of us naturally believe in science, associating charts, infographics, and other graphs with it.\nSteps to Craft Data-Driven Content Pieces\n1. Come Up With A Title\nEven if you have access to top-notch data, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you\u2019ll be able to produce good content. It\u2019s important to know how to use the data available at your disposal to tell a story. But before anything else, you have to decide what you\u2019ll be posting about. Also, the choice of the topic could depend on whether you\u2019ve already thought of a newsworthy story or whether you have access to pre-existing data.\nWhen researching potential titles to cover, you can use like BuzzSumo and SEMrush. These tools are tailor-made for discovering trends and researching data-driven topics. The title should communicate who you\u2019re addressing as you won\u2019t be writing for everyone out there. Also, it could be a how-to piece, a question-related title, a reason-why title, or a direct title. For example, a great data-driven title could be Success Story: How Stacy Increased Her Social Shares by 220% in 60 days. Titles like these will pique curiosity and get people to click on the title to read what\u2019s inside.\nGather data from research information from reliable sources or it should at least come from something that has been cited in a reputable journal or research paper. The most reliable data comes from proprietary research. It\u2019s unique to the researcher and no one else has the same information. No other person will have insight into your customer preferences, support queries, and other internal states, for instance.\nIn addition, you could look for data for your content in the following places:\nDo you have a personal community of fans? How about sending them a questionnaire or quickly asking a few questions? If you have a forum where people discuss a broad range of things, this could be a great place to look into for titles that you\u2019d want to develop content around. If you have a database of customer emails, you could ask people to fill out a form. For those with a large social media following, they can use Twitter and Facebook polls for gathering data.\nResources like Guardian Data or Zanran (known as the search engine for statistics and data) offer people access to free information that they can integrate into their content. In terms of academically sound information, the best resource is ResearchGate. It\u2019s a big social network that enables research associates to upload papers of their own and allows anyone to see their work. Other than that, you can access a lot of from the research engine for academic papers: Google Scholar.\nSeveral firms don\u2019t realize the quantity of data they already have. You might already have analytics in place for measuring the success of your efforts. These tools could give you handy data and insights that you can integrate into your content. A good place to begin is Google Analytics. It gives you the option to see different demographics including visitor\u2019s gender, age, location, purchase behavior, devices they use, the industry they work in, and more.\n3. Seek Interesting Angles\nThe next important step is to determine what you want to educate people on with your content. Also, you should identify whether people actually have the problem that you\u2019re trying to address. You could do this in several ways. For instance, you can analyze customer service and support tickets to see the most common issues experienced by your audience. Likewise, you can monitor any question your target demographic has posted on Quora. It may also be a good idea to examine sales inquiries; this can help you check what issues your leads face when they begin searching for your services and products.\nIdentifying real problems in this phase can help you create more focused content pieces. Also, it\u2019s important to know why the people you\u2019re addressing the need to read the data-driven post in the first place. This allows you to verify whether you\u2019re addressing a practical problem rather than one that only you think people are interested in finding solutions for.\nLastly, how you present your findings will be a key determinant to your content\u2019s success. The first step to making the content share-worthy and engaging is to visualize your data, but doing so isn\u2019t quite straightforward. Ideally, site owners should work/collaborate with a designer for data visualization. If you don\u2019t have the budget to hire one, you can use a data visualization tool to get the job done all by yourself. Always consider how you want people to consume your content and ensure that it is responsive for those small screen devices.\nAnd while you\u2019re at it, highlight the stats that support the title you want to use and \u201cclick to tweet\u201d any compelling insight so that visitors can easily share it on Twitter. It\u2019s also a good idea to set up pivot charges as well as use conditional formatting to discover correlations between multiple data sets. Also, once you have strong data available at your disposal, demographically segment that information. This should help you discover local angles that you can reference in your content based on proximity, gender, etc. This is perfect for pushing out to local publishers and PR agencies for additional coverage.\nCreating data-driven content should take some time, but it\u2019s something that works in most instances because you published something that people want. If your research is spot on, you\u2019d soon enjoy a surge in search traffic courtesy of your powerful content piece.\n30shares Share on Facebook Share on Twitter You probably already \u2026\n104shares Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Top Tips \u2026", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 83, "original_length": 9829, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.94, "perplexity": 300.5, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://blimey.com/page/3/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T18:37:46Z", "digest": "sha1:DZGTM3I25SL2AFHHOVIWB4QML3SVNTYX", "length": 1541, "nlines": 12, "source_domain": "blimey.com", "title": "Blimey! \u2013 Page 3 \u2013 The ultimate Anglophile website for the very best of British", "raw_content": "The following is the start of a new series of guest posts \u2013 have you visited Britain for the first time and want to share...\nIt\u2019s that time of year again! Lashings of Strawberries and cream\u2026 and Pimms! Yes, the game of Kings and Queens returns. First started in 1877,...\n7 reasons living in America beats living in Britain\nOne of the hardest things when I return home to England every year for my annual \u201ceat Christmas pudding and get fat\u201d event, is missing...\nTop 25 unspoilt delights in England by Winnie-the-Pooh\nI used to love Winnie-the-Pooh growing up, so when I got to actually play Pooh sticks on the famous bridge in England, I couldn\u2019t resist....\nWe all have problems, everyone and everywhere in the world. But there really isn\u2019t anything quite like British people problems. Often overlooked by outsiders, for many...\nVisiting any new country invariably means you have to get used to their specific customs and cultures. In America, for instance, I have to eat a...\nThere are probably a few things you need to know. I suggest you sit down. Because of the popularity of many TV shows like Doctor...\nWe\u2019re so used to seeing film sets, theme parks or fake dinner theatre castles, it\u2019s easy to forget that genuinely beautiful castles exist in abundance...\nA new three part docu-drama starts tonight at 9pm tonight on Channel 5 (UK). This show will also be available on Netflix at some point...\nI tell people all the time \u2013 traveling to Britain isn\u2019t an impossible dream. Through careful planning of air miles and not spending all my...", "cc_segment": "crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479101.30/wet/CC-MAIN-20190215183319-20190215205319-00082.warc.wet.gz", "original_nlines": 148, "original_length": 8968, "language": "en", "language_score": 0.94, "perplexity": 199.2, "bucket": "head" }, { "url": "https://blog.fieldnotesontheweb.com/2008/", "date_download": "2019-02-15T19:33:34Z", "digest": "sha1:FSHW2UOM5R3M4IUA64E55PRPQWYSB47Q", "length": 88550, "nlines": 360, "source_domain": "blog.fieldnotesontheweb.com", "title": "Field notes on the Web: 2008", "raw_content": "As you're waiting for the ball to drop tonight (or whatever other marker you like), remember that 2008 will be hanging around for just a bit longer than the last few years. A leap second has been introduced for the first time since 2005 and only the second time this century.\nLeap seconds are interesting (and somewhat problematic) to anyone interested in keeping a computer's clock exactly in sync with the official timekeepers because, unlike leap years, they do not follow a predetermined rule. Rather, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) announces them based on observations of the earth's rotation. Despite what the name might suggest, the IERS does not actually cause the earth to rotate.\nThe Wikipedia link above has a good rundown. The official version is on the IERS site, but be advised that it's a bit technical. Evidently \"How much is the accuracy of precession/nutation improved by MHB2000 and corrections to the precession constant and obliquity rate over the current IAU models?\" is a frequently asked question.\nLabels: astronomy, time\nBusiness model blues\nItem 1: A local newspaper reporter muses on a local radio show about the future of newspapers. Yes, the economy is bad, but the long-term problem is that classified ads have gone online and they're not coming back. One option is to charge for a paper what it actually costs to produce; this would more than double the price, cutting readership and so on and so on. The days of the newspaper as everyone's window to the world are fading fast. That, too has gone online.\nItem 2: Viacom is urging viewers to call their cable operators (Time-Warner cable in particular) to urge them not to drop their channels. At issue: Viacom wants to increase its charges to providers. Providers argue that ratings are decreasing and the shows are available online for free in any case (often via the exact same cable). Fundamentally, the shift is from TV -- or perhaps more precisely, dedicated TV channels -- to online, where bits is bits and video is just one more bit stream, albeit a considerably bigger one than pretty much everything else.\n(Here's the top hit I got for viacom time warner, while putting together item 2. The particular article is from Dow Jones, now owned by NewsCorp, carried on CNN Money, owned by Time-Warner. Caveat lector.)\nLabels: economics, news, Time-Warner, Viacom\nEmail in the loop\nEmail seems to be a sort of universal escape hatch for otherwise automated schemes:\nIf you forget your password on many sites, or in some cases even if you forget your login entirely, you can have the site send a special email to an address you gave when you registered.\nIf you want to join a site, you'll often get an email containing a magic link to follow to complete the registration process.\nThe same scheme has been used for product registration.\nIf you want to join an automated mailing list, you'll typically get an email asking you to confirm that you wanted to join.\nWhy does this work? It's painfully clear that email is completely insecure on the sending side. Anyone can spoof anything without a lot of effort. I've sometimes received email from myself for products I'm pretty sure I'm not trying to sell myself (my evil twin, on the other hand, may have other ideas ...). However, receiving email is somewhat more secure. Generally you at least have to give a password and you can use TLS to help prevent various attacks. This is nowhere near ironclad, but it does help:\nA random person trying to recover your password will have to know what email address you registered with and be able to intercept your mail.\nSomeone trying to register hordes of people on a particular site will have to make up a bunch of email addresses and have a bot ready to answer the confirmation mails. Hmm ... that doesn't sound like a particularly high bar, so maybe I'm missing something.\nWhen you legitimately register a product, the seller now has an email address that it knows someone has replied to at least once (and presumably a pirate will use other means to get the use of the product).\nA spammer can't add your email address to someone else's mailing list without your getting an email asking if you really want mail from that list. This doesn't cure all ills, but it at least cures one of them.\nIf all this sounds like a sort of lukewarm endorsement, it should. The fact remains that email isn't really secure and doesn't seem to be getting any more secure very fast (I'm aware of PGP and its cousins and offspring -- good stuff, but not widely deployed). I think what bothers me here is that the extra email step might give an exaggerated air of security. About the best that can be said in most cases is that if you send an email to a legitimate address, at least the intended recipient is likely to see it, and schemes that rely on this seem to work well enough in practice that they continue to be used.\n[Access to email (the receiving side, above) has gradually become more secure. HTTPS is now pretty standard and two-factor authentication is available. SPAM and phishing are still significant issues, though SPAM filters seem to have gotten better faster than spammers have gotten better at getting around them. As to the main point of the article, email seems to be just as much in the loop as it was when I wrote this. --D.H. May 2015]\nLabels: email, security\nAre we still on the information superhighway?\nSome words and phrases are just plain dated. They were the cat's pajamas back in the day, but now only a square would think they were hep. For all practical purposes they've dropped off the face of the earth into a silent abyss, only to be dragged out when we feel like watching 80s videos, pointing and laughing (*). Which brings me back to the title.\nWhat was the \"information superhighway\"? As usual, Wikipedia has the relevant citation:\n\"One of the technologies Vice President Al Gore (**) is pushing is the information superhighway, which will link everyone at home or office to everything else\u2014movies and television shows, shopping services, electronic mail and huge collections of data.\"\nSo that happened. Not only that, the analogy to the original superhighways (i.e., the U.S. Interstate system) seems apt. Both are \"enabling technologies\", valuable not so much for what they do, but for the other technologies and trends they make possible. So why does the term sound so completely dated?\nI'd guess there are a couple of reasons. One is that \"information superhighway\" was never a real geek term. It was a way of explaining the geek stuff to congresspeople who largely didn't care greatly about the technology. They cared about what supporting said technology could bring to their constituents. The interstate system was widely regarded as a Good Thing, so if you could convince people this \"internet\" stuff was the modern version of that Good Thing you were ahead of the game.\nThat was probably helpful in congress, but it gave off the impression that only suits and pointy-haired bosses talked about \"superhighways\". Real geeks talked about networks, client-server architectures, not-so-client-server architectures, RISC vs. CISC and whatever else happened to be floating around at the time. If you wanted to be cool in the dot-com days, you wanted to talk like a geek.\nAnother reason, perhaps less obvious, is that we don't call superhighways \"superhighways\" anymore. They're just highways. What's super about them, anyway?\nThese days, if you're parked on the 405 during rush hour -- that is, pretty much any time -- they don't look so super. But consider what came before them. For example, to get from LA to the San Joaquin valley, you had little choice but to take the \"Ridge Route\" over the Tejon summit. These days, you've got eight lanes of I-5, traversable at speeds (ahem) well in excess of whatever's posted. Before that, well here are some excerpts from a description on GBCnet.com:\nPerhaps the most hazardous section [...] was the Grapevine Grade between Fort Tejon and the base of Grapevine Creek [...]. The original Ridge Route highway built in 1915 was an absolute deathtrap. This section had 119 sharp turns, two with a radius as small as 80' (a 10 MPH hairpin turn - the turning radius of an average car is 40') and when totaled caused the traveler to drive the equivalent of 12 full circles [My inner math major compels me to infer \"six one way and six the other\" -- DH]. As a testament to the hazards presented by this road, one turn was even labeled \"Deadman's Curve.\" By 1934 the extension of the US 99 Ridge Route Alternate [...] offered a substantial improvement in safety and ease of driving. For one, the number of turns was reduced to 23 and the number of complete circles a driver would have to make was reduced to 1\u00bd. [...]. Perhaps the biggest improvement was the widening of the road from 20' to 30' with three 10' lanes. The addition of suicide lanes enabled motorists to pass slow trucks and allowed traffic to move more quickly as backups behind the slow vehicles became minimized.\nYep. \"Suicide lanes\" were an improvement. Granted, by the time I-5 came around in 1960, there had been further improvements, including an expressway that was partially incorporated into the interstate. Nonetheless, all of the above fun and excitement would have been well known to drivers at the time, and eight relatively straight and level lanes, none designated \"suicide,\" would have warranted the \"super\" tag.\nSimilarly, if you compare grainy YouTube video, the occasional annoying wait and spam-a-go-go to dialup access to a BBS (***), the difference is night and day. But one soon forgets the night.\n(*) As you might guess from my profile, I caught those 80s videos the first time around. Thought they were infinitely bitchin'.\n(**) It's hard to pull out a quote like that without dragging up the \"Al Gore claims he invented the internet\" controversy. I'll defer to Wikipedia on that, too.\n(***) Nothing against BBSs. Like many geeks of a certain age, I spent a fair bit of time on one (thanks Keith!). I hear now you can use the internet to type short text messages to people who can type back at you ... you can even download timesink games and ...\nLabels: Al Gore, computing history, I-5, Keith Fellenstein, terminology, transportation\nAll of human knowledge\nIn the annual (?) appeal for funding for the Wikimedia Foundation, Jimmy Wales asks us to\nThis seems like perfectly fine wording for a fundraising appeal, a decent description of what Wikipedia is about, and a noble ideal to boot. So let's rain on the parade by picking it apart, shall we?\nIs it possible, even in principle, to give even one person access to the sum of all human knowledge? Actually, what does \"the sum of human knowledge\" even mean? Some time ago, I was convinced it was \"everything in the encyclopedia\". Now I'm not so sure. Wikipedia itself specifically excludes knowledge that isn't \"notable\" (what did I have for breakfast yesterday?) and \"original research\" such as tends to creep in as people summarize pieces of articles and draw conclusions from them. It also goes to great lengths to exclude or at least neutralize opinion (POV in the jargon (*)).\nIn other words, it aims to gather information generally accepted as \"known\". This is the kind of philosophical quicksand that holds up just fine so long as all you do is walk blithely across it. So let's just walk ...\nAssuming there's such a thing as the sum of human knowledge, for some value of \"knowledge\", could anyone access it? Well, you don't really want to access all of it. You couldn't anyway. You want to be able to access the bit you need at the moment, right then and there.\nThis runs directly into the limits human bandwidth. Not only is there only so much raw information you can process at one time, there is only so much metadata -- information about what and where other information is -- that you can process at one time. Sure, the knowledge you're looking for is in there, and you have both the careful work of editors and categorizers and the raw horsepower of text search at your disposal. But can you find it? Empirically, the answer so far is \"often\". I doubt it will ever be \"always\".\nNonetheless, an unachievable goal is still worth aiming for so long as we produce useful results along the way.\n(*) The Wikipedia article on POV contains a very relevant bit of wisdom:\nIn Thought du Jour Harold Geneen has stated:[1]\nThe reliability of the person giving you the facts is as important as the facts themselves. Keep in mind that facts are seldom facts, but what people think are facts, heavily tinged with assumptions.\nLabels: human bandwidth, terminology, wikipedia\nGiving online email the bird\nThe other day I was trying to send an invitation using a popular web site. The result was unsatisfying, but it wasn't particularly the invitation site's fault.\nIt was my first time on that site, so it didn't know any email addresses, and of course that makes sending invitations a bit harder. So I went into T-bird and started writing a dummy email. T-bird dutifully filled in the addresses from the first few letters of the names. I then went to cut-n-paste those addresses into the site's text box. T-bird doesn't seem to want to select more than one address at once from a message being composed.\nBad T-bird (or dumb me for missing the obvious -- but when dealing with software with a seven-digit user base and an ostensibly infinite supply of eyeballs, I tend to be less forgiving).\nThen I tried creating an ad-hoc mailing list in T-bird and copying that in. Turns out this was not T-bird's day (or mine, for that matter). So I finally did a silly-walk so unwholesome I hesitate to mention it: I saved the dummy email to a text file and cut-n-pasted the names in from that.\nWell, clearly the problem here is that I persist in keeping my email address book in my own personal silo instead of on the web. The invitation site was certainly of that opinion. It offered me the opportunity to import my email addresses from any of a dozen or so widely-used sources.\nThat there are a dozen or so to choose from tells me that this \"silo\" problem is not quite licked yet, even on the wide wonderful web.\nBesides the obvious concern about security -- which is maybe not such a big concern considering that everybody's bank accounts are online and your address book is more vulnerable to an email virus on your machine than on someone's secure server -- I think the problem here is granularity. I don't want everyone to see everything in my address book. I want different sites to see different portions.\nI haven't done even the minimal research of finding out if this is possible online, and frankly, I hardly ever run into a situation like the above, so I have no idea whether this is a real issue or not. It sounds like the kind of problem personal datastores are aimed at, though.\nIn the meantime, I plan to continue hiding in my silo, though I'll try to look into how the online system at work works. It's one of the major providers, but I access it through T-bird, of course. Better the devil you know.\n[This is one of the few posts that's struck me as seriously dated on re-reading, probably because it wasn't really that relevant in the first place. It does hit on some interesting themes. It just doesn't do much with them, and plenty of other posts have better takes on the same themes. Now that you've read this far, feel free to skip it --D.H. May 2015]\nLabels: annoyances, email, personal datastore, T-bird\nThe jury is out (but online)\nI heard a news story on the radio the other day about a high-profile case that was being reviewed, among other things, because jurors were thought to have been accessing the internet when they were supposed to have been sequestered.\nThis is sort of a dog-that-didn't bark situation. The net and web have been around for a long time now, with their potential for tainting jurors who are supposed to be isolated. You'd think there would have been more and bigger stories about it by now. Evidently, though, it's not a major problem. Take your pick of possible reasons:\nMost trials are over quickly. Relatively few require actually sequestering jurors.\nWeb access is just the latest in a long line of potential leaks. Cell phones, (not to mention ordinary phones), have been a problem for years now.\nJurors are generally good about following instructions.\nJurors not communicating with the outside world is fundamentally a human problem, not a technological one.\nWhat I found really interesting, though, was how the potential taint came to light: via email. And of course, the lawyers involved preface any discussion of this with \"If these emails are genuine ...\"\nThere's your barking dog -- email problems, particularly the ease of spoofing email, are a much bigger deal than the a web connection being available when it shouldn't.\nLabels: disruptive technology, email, law, not-so-disruptive technology\nThe OCR X-Prize\nA while ago -- in fact, just about a year ago as it happens -- I remarked that the use of Captchas to try to keep bots away is effectively an X Prize for OCR hackers. If there's money to be made by using a bot, as there is with, say, online ticket sales for popular shows, then there ought to be reason for someone to write a better text recognizer to get past the Captcha. I was sort of right, kind of.\nSure enough, people have written better text recognizers. But from what I can make it out, they've done it for fame and recognition (well, at least to publish and not perish) and not for money. There are several academic papers out there, but as far as I can tell no enterprising script kiddie has done the requisite research. There have been reports of real sites invaded by real Captcha-cracking bots, but most likely someone just cadged the work done in the research papers and put it to ill use.\nSo, Catpchas have spurred research, because OCR has become a somewhat hot topic. They've also spurred actual scammers to crack Captchas, but not necessarily through OCR research. Actual scammers have little reason to invent new OCR algorithms, or even read the literature on the subject. That's not their strong suit. Their strong suit is social engineering. People are good at reading squiggly Captcha letters; spammers are good at getting people to do stuff; ergo, spammers get people to read the squiggly Captcha letters for them.\nHow do they do this? Put up a site featuring a thrilling pictorial presentation of, say, accounting standards through the ages (they actually used a slightly different subject matter). After each image is the promise of more ... if you can read the squiggly letters in the box. The letters, of course, are taken from a legitimate site that the scammer is trying to crack into at the moment, and the mark's response is fed directly back to that site. The awful beauty of this approach is that it will work for any \"reverse Turing test\" approach whatsoever.\nIf they're smart, they wait for a successful response back from the legitimate site before letting the mark proceed. Otherwise the mark could put in anything at all, for example \"notarealticketbuyer\", and by definition the scam site wouldn't know the difference.\nMeanwhile, Captchas have become just almost too hard for humans to read (I came up empty on one today, which is what spurred this post). In other words, they've almost reached the point at which they can no longer discriminate between humans and bots. Clearly rendered text can't discriminate, because both humans and bots can read it easily. Gibberish can't discriminate either, because no one can read it. There is less and less room left in the middle.\nLabels: AI, OCR, scams\nHappy birthday, Kindle\nCNN points out it's already been a year since Amazon introduced the Kindle. It's currently sold out, and Oprah likes it, as do Toni Morrison and James Patterson (but not J.K. Rowling). It's accounting for 10% of Amazon's book sales, even though only 200,000 of Amazon's zillions of titles are available on it (evidently it's the right 200,000). So it's a game-changing hit, right?\nWell, it's definitely not a flop, and the article claims that sales are \"on a par with other high-profile mobile devices in their first year.\" On the other hand, in keeping with my not-so-disruptive technology theme, I'd have to side with Paul Reynolds of Consumer Reports:\nI think it's certainly a ways away from hitting the mainstream ... because of the price and the experience a reader gets from long-form reading. Whether these ... are successful, stand-alone devices remains to be seen. From what I've seen and heard, I think the technology is here to stay.\nSo ... so far, so good, and it definitely bears watching, but more of a leadoff single than a grand slam home run.\nLabels: disruptive technology, Kindle, not-so-disruptive technology\nMaybe all this googly stuff is worth something after all\nWell, I never really doubted it, but it's good to have a working example from time to time.\nA friend called, saying they were at a pizza shop on Smith Street (that's not exactly what happened, but let's say it is). The shop was next to a big red brick building. Could I come pick them up? Before they could relay any more detail, their cell phone went dead.\nSo I went to Google, searched for \"pizza\" \"smith street\"Preparing Your Home for Sale
2. SHINE THE FLOORS \u201cUnless your floors are severely damaged, it doesn\u2019t make sense to have them refinished,\u201d said Pat Christodoulou, who stages homes for sale in Connecticut and New York. Instead, she hires a handyman with a floor buffer, paying anywhere from $300 to wax and polish the floor of a small living room to $1,500 for a Classic Six.