Checking in on Players Drafted with Picks Acquired from the Wild
There are a handful of NHL-ers enjoying successful careers that were drafted with picks originally held by the Wild.
By BehrInTheWild Dec ampa Bay's Brayden Point was selected 79th overall in the 2014 Draft, a pick the Lightning acquired from the Wild on draft day
Earlier this week, the Wilderness''tk "what if?".
The table below shows all of the play in the past 10 drafts. Over the 10 years, the Wild have traded away 23 picks and have seen a wide range of players selected with them: on one end, All-Stars and Stanley Cup Winners, and on the other end a handful of players that never made it to the NHL.
Players Drafted with Draft Picks Acquired from the Wild
Pick (Round)
Kevin Bahl, D Arizona 55 (2) 2018
Linus Lindstrand Cronholm, D Buffalo 117 (4) 2018
Pierre-Olivier Joseph, D Arizona 23 (1) 2017
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, G Buffalo 54 (2) 2017
Chad Krys, D Chicago 45 (2) 2016
Rem Pitlick, C Nashville 76 (3) 2016
Cameron Clarke, D Boston 136 (5) 2016
Matthew Phillips, C Calgary 166 (6) 2016
Brendan Warren, LW Arizona 81 (3) 2015
Veeti Vainio, D Columbus 141 (5) 2015
Vaclav Karabacek, RW Buffalo 49 (2) 2014
Brayden Point, C Tampa Bay 79 (3) 2014
Nikita Zadorov, D Buffalo 16 (1) 2013
Jake Guentzel, C Pittsburgh 77 (3) 2013
Pontus Aberg, LW Nashville 37 (2) 2012
Alexander Khokhlachev, C/LW Anaheim 40 (2) 2011
David Honzik, G Vancouver 71 (3) 2011
Joe Basaraba, RW Florida 69 (3) 2010
Freddie Hamilton, C San Jose 129 (5) 2010
Calvin De Haan, D NY Islanders 12 (1) 2009
Charles-Olivier Roussel, D Nashville 42 (2) 2009
Alexander Urbom, D New Jersey 73 (3) 2009
Olivier Roy, G Edmonton 133 (5) 2009
Let's take a further look at a few of the more notable players listed above:
The Trade: The Islanders traded up from 16 to 12 in the first round and gave the Wild two extra picks to do so. The Wild would use the 16th pick on Eden Prairie grad and Gopher commit Nick Leddy. (Leddy would be traded to Chicago within a year)
The Player: de Haan played his first NHL game in 2010-11 when he played just the one game and then really broke into the leauge in 2013-14. He has dealt with injuries over the years, playing 82 games only once, but he has been productive when healthy. He turned that production into a four year deal with over $18 million this past offseason with Carolina. He averages over 20 points per 82 games and has been a minus player only one season.
How he would fit: The left-handed de Haan is fairly comparable to Jonas Brodin, all in terms of salary, offensive production, and defensive value. It is hard to see how they could both be on the same team, with neither having the offensive component to their game you would want from a top defensive pair player and both being too expensive to put on the bottom pair. If the Wild had drafted de Haan, it seems likely that only he or Brodin would still be with the team.
The Trade: This pick went from the Wild to the Flyers to the Stars to the Penguins. The Wild received Darroll Powe in their trade with Philadelphia, a forward who played 90 games for Minnesota over two seasons recording 13 points before being traded to the Rangers with Nick Palmieri for Mike Rupp
The Player: I don't at''s ncan't,
The Trade: This is arguably the most upsetting of all of the trades that sent away Wild picks. Point was selected 79th overall in 2014, and the Lightning struck a trade with Minnesota to move up one pick from 80th overall. The Wild used the 80th pick to draft Louis Belpedio. They also received a 7th rounder in 2015 which was used on Gopher defensemen Jack Sadek.
The Player: Point is a right-handed shot currently playing second-line center in Tampa Bay. Off to an amazing start, he has 32 points in 25 games, which is good for fifth in the league. The 22 year old has 138 points in 175 career games, giving him an average of 64 points per 82 games. All signs point to him being a very productive player for a very long time.
How he would fit: Honestly, how wouldn't h's'd's .
The Wild have traded away a lot of picks over the years, and when you trade away that many picks, it is inevitable that some talented players are going to be selected with those picks. And obviously, the Wild have also been on the other end of this. Jason Zucker, for example, was selected with a pick originally held by Philadelphia. But still, it is interesting to think about what the team could look like if the Wild had kept some of these picks and used them to select these players.


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Ifishing. One of the great prizes ofand d over-large trawlers, which are doiks?. Will the Government set out the details of plans to train new fishermen and fisherwomen ready for the extra capacity we will need?Will they provide grant in aid schemes, so that those individuals can acquire second-hand trawlers or commission new trawlers from British yards so that we are again expanding the capacity of our industry?
So wh
Anyone who thinks Johnson has the strength of character to act in our interest?Has lost leave of their senses, that includes themERG. He just capitulated on level playing field, Fisheries and territorial waters, forever!
Have you forgotten the complete contempt for the electorate shown by MPs, of all parties, in the last parliament?
Not at all. The process has taken 4 and a half years. We are all heartily sick and tired of it. The idea of spending another six months dissecting this agreement – and to what end?
I read an article by a retired doctor who volunteered back in the spring repeatedly asking what he could do. Seven months after NHS thought he could be a call handler!
Ferguson back giving advice!How many times does he have to fail costing our nation a fortune?
But are the hospitals full of Covid cases?Or is the is normal high exacerbated by the untreated?We can no longer trust the death certificates. I thought it was a criminal offence to not identify a death accurately?
If the vulnerable and elderly isolate properly and are supported to do so (which would be cheaper than closing the economy and providing support) then would the hospitals fill up?
And a smaller number voted Remain. Gotta love democracy in action, don’t ya?
P.S. On referendum day, I served as a ‘polling agent’, there to see fair-play at the polling stations. My abiding memory?
“Funny that Barnier wants ‘to serve the French’. He seems not to understand what ‘the project’ is.”
My maths is very bad Margaret, but does that mean that even fewer voted to Remain?Considering that was the de facto position and had an advantage, doe that mean that, say 85% did not vote to Remain?
An excellent summary Mancunius. I too am not convinced about this deal and I fear it will continue to cause ructions. The Northern Ireland arrangements are highly unsatisfactory. I read awhich included the following…
“Brexit has not even got out of the starting blocks”
The question is; can we outfox the establishment and turn BRINO into BREXIT. ?
“I notice all you remain fanatics on here are now using the word “orbit” in every post.”
“The EU is so big, so powerful and so close that we have no choice”
“Well done John for abstaining this afternoon.”?
they think carp are a delicacy, and have been known to electrically stun carp and steal them from private fisheries. A cultural thing!
Int?
What will your government do to defend us and retaliate?
“It won’t be long before the EU and individual States start threatening us with petty restrictions and bans.”g!
Could you please explain in what ways I, as an individual, am freer as a result of leaving the EU?What can I now do that I couldn’t do a few years ago?(I am a Cambridge graduate and a retired teacher. Perhaps I’m part of the “ruling elite” that Brexit is a revolt against?
That the Government was apparently unable to explain its position on the three matters you raise sufficient to secure your vote is a damning indictment of it. What was the people’s Blue Boris thinking?
Please, promise me we won’t have to endure seeing the government wasting its time trying to encourage women to go into fishing!


Republican Guard (Iraq) - Iran-Iraq War
Initially, the Guard had limited capabilities;es. BcIraq'. T In addition, the military began accepting Sunni volunteers from throughout Iraq.
Read more about this topic: Republican Guard (Iraq)
... During the closing stages of the Iran- ... surface engagement since the Second World War ...
20 transcripts and documents in conjunction with a conference on the Iran–Iraq war that was
Terms related to Iran-Iraq War:
Shia Militants


Tasci is recovering from his knee injury and he'll be ready for the next season.
He will miss the 2009 U-21 Euro Championship.
"I'm going on holiday in the next couple of days. I'll unfortunately have to watch the championships at home in front of the television but I'll have my fingers crossed for the lads,".
Real Madrid haover the sale of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
The 25-year-old Holland international moved to the Bernabeu from Ajax in January but apresident Florentino Perez.
Stuttgart have agreed to pay the player's €20million (£17.2m) asking price and Real sporting director Miguel Pardeza has revealed it is now up to Huntelaar to decide whether to complete the move.
"[Madrid director general Jorge] Valdano wants to involve him in the situation and for him to make a decision," he said.
Huntelaar's agent, Arnold Oosterveer,confirmed that Stuttgart are the interested party but revealed that the player i
"We will also talk to Stuttgart.
"Real have offered him to everyone, but it is clear that Klaas-Jan will be the one to decide where he goes.
"Stuttgart are a fine club, but there are many other clubs interested, and maybe he will stay in Madrid.
We signed Demba Ba, I'm in doubt we'll sign Huntelaar...
I thought Demba Ba has to stay in Hoffenheim !?
Demba Ba stays in Hoffenheim, yes.
Huntelaar to you guys or Tottenham for 20 M Euros could be closed at any time now. He has not travelled with Madrid to Ireland and stayed back to sort out the transfer.
Or Demba Ba...
I think we have a chance to qualify from one of the fisrt places.
 Just lost to Hannover now. They have enough decent players not to have had such a bad run of results. Really poor from them.
I wonder when the first ones that hailed Babbel will start asking for his sacking...
The same happened with Veh, one year he was the hero, the next year they all screamed he needs to be fired.
Just gets worse for Stuttgart.
Knocked out of the German Cup by Greuther Fürth. No goals for Stuttgart again. Marica guilty of some missed chances, one a terrible effort right in front of goal.
It is ridiculous isn't it? He took the team to the UCL, finished 3rd last season with a team who punched way above their weight and at the first sign of things going wrong this season they sack him. Ironically with a win over Unirea on Wednesday they will make the UCL knockout stage .
It is always the same. Sad but unfortunately reality.
It was inevitable. The supporters turned quite nasty at the end but they showed some faith with Babbel. The turn against him was vicious and swift. And what else did he expect? Questions would be asked of a manager if he had taken one of the better teams in the Bundesliga to midtable let alone near to the bottom of the league which has happened.
He came across as being a gentleman but was a bit disappointed in him bringing up Enke in his resignation speech. A bit cheap and tacky to do that and not necessary. Other than that his resignation speech was very honest. He didn't blame anyone but himself and all but admitted that in the long run he just wasn't good enough at this moment in time despite his bright start at the club.
Cheap maybe for the supporters but also true. The fact is (and I am not valuating it at all) and although it may sound very harsh it is the truth: Nobody gives a shit about Enke anymore.
Gotta love today.


Mr. Faremouth met his wife Elizabeth on their first day of clas3. They have two children, David and Faith, as well as two dogs, Brady and Blue. In his spare time, he enjoys distance running, upland and waterfowl hunting and spending time with his family.


All of our countries historically have been able to deal with domestic terrorism or even a limited amount of international terrorism in our domestic systems. Many countries here such as Italy, Germany, the UK, others, even the United States, both historically and even since September 11th, have used our domestic criminal justice systems in appropriate cases where the groups are there, the individuals are there, the witnesses are there, and the evidence is all there. But what to do when one has a case like al-Qaida which is essentially like a nation state projecting force and committing acts of terrorism with the capacity and sophistication that only a nation state could previously muster from afar?So what to do with those sorts of individuals when they have committed crimes like what happened on 9/11, and where should they be tried?
An initial question is simply, what is the legal status of members of al-Qaida?
Of course the first question that I get is why don't you just use your own domestic justice system?Why do you have to have military commissions?
Does that mean that these people had done nothing wrong and that they should simply be released?


Cap3-Direct objects - Direct objects In this presentation...
Direct objects Direct objects  In this presentation we are going to look at another set of pronouns. To begin with, think of one way of completing each sentence:  I saw _______.  I ate ________.  I drank ______.  I met ________.
Direct objects Direct objects  Did you come up with something similar to these?  I saw Mary.  I ate the broccoli .  I drank a glass of Kool-Aid .  I met your parents .  Whatever you put into the blanks is a direct object.
Direct object pronouns Direct object pronouns  Now let’s substitute a pronoun for each noun.  I saw Mary. >> I saw her.  I ate the broccoli . >> I ate it.  I drank a glass of Kool-Aid . >> I drank it .  I met your parents . >> I met them .


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It would perhaps be a bit lazy of me to suggest that a blockbuster movie about a giant wall constructed to keep out aliens couldn't be more timely.
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Powerful tornadoes ripped through southern Mississippi late last month, bringing death and destruction to many places.
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you this is a rodgie. The term was coined due to Paul "Rodgie" Rogers who constantly puts his foot in his mouth and is used by the good folk of Bailieboro Co. Cavan
Rodgie opened his mouth and shoted "jaysus yer wan is a fine thing, I wouldnt mind a go there". Here boyfriend was stand behind him. rooster laughed and said to Trill "jaysus that was and awful rodgieIncludes a comprehensive, World Cyclo-cross Championships in Louisville.In 2008, the Louisville Sports Commission began working with Metro Parks and the Mayor’s Office to develop the new course and, with third-party promoters, attract the World Championships to Louisville. In January 2010, Louisville was awarded the
### </s> Some notable accomplishments and performances from the college football weekend, by the numbers:
0.469: Points per play Saturday for Kansas (31 points on 66 snaps) as it ended a 27-game Big 12 losing streak with a 31-19 win against West Virginia. Entering the game, the Jayhawks were 120th in FBS in points a play at 0.198, according to teamstats.com. James Sims ran for 211 yards and three TDs on just 22 carries for KU.
4: Seasons of more than eight wins in Duke's history. The Blue Devils moved to 8-2 this season with a 48-30 win Saturday against Miami (Fla.), ending a nine-game losing streak against the 'Canes. Duke has never had a 10-win season.
5: Consecutive games that Colorado State sophomore Kapri Bibbs has run for at least three touchdowns. He had a school-record six TDs Saturday as the Rams (6-5) beatNew Mexico 66-42 Bibbs last week2. He had 291 yards Saturday.


Data privacy has taken a backseat in terms of nationalCongress has shifted its whole focus to the virus and US tech companies have begun working with state and federal authorities to reach potential patients.
Google launched Verily — a site that directs possible patients in the San Francisco area to COVID-19 testing sites and also provides virus inform digital, launching a new system to track the spread of COVID-19 across the country in late March.
In Congress, a years-long, bipartisan effort for new federal consumer data protections, which gained national attention and bipartisan interest in 2018 as a result of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, appears unlikely to reach a conclusion by the end of this year.
The reason for this: Coronavirus has left Congress unable to conduct essential business, stalling the introduction of any unrelated legislation.
Up Next Anxiety can have similar symptoms to the coronavirus. Here’s how to tell the difference.


We investigatedate bilinguals using a neuro-acoustic approach. One hundred and thirty-eight German-English bilinguals matched on various behavioral measures were tested for “speech imitation ability” in a foreign language, Hindi, and categorized into “high” and “low ability” groups. Brain activations and speech recordings were obtained from 26 participants from the two extreme groups as they performed a functional neuroimaging experiment which required them to “imitate” sentences in three conditions: (A) German, (B) English, and (C) German with fake English accent. We used recently developed novel acoustic analysis, namely the “articulation space” as a metric to compare speech imitation abilities of the two groups. Across all three conditions, direct comparisons between the two groups, revealed brain activations (FWE corrected, p < 0.05) that were more widespread with significantly higher peak activity in the left supramarginal gyrus and postcentral areas for the low ability group. The high ability group, on the other hand showed significantly larger articulation space in all three conditions. In addition, articulation space also correlated positively with imitation ability (Pearson's r = 0.7, p < 0.01). Our results suggest that an expanded articulation space for high ability individuals allows access to a larger repertoire of sounds, thereby providing sn and language learning.
Speech sound imitation is a pivotal learning mechanism for humans. Vocal imitation provides a basis for acquisition of both languages and musical systems (Fitch, 2010). Yet individuals differ greatly in their aptitude, ability, and success in sound imitation learning (Golestani et al., 2002, 2011; Dogil and Reiterer, 2009; Reiterer et al., 2011)cquisition of a second language sound system, with diverse shades of foreign accent being left as audible traces for the listener. Some people, on the other hand, are adept at vocal imitation and make a living mimicking dialects, speech characteristics, and foreign accents.
Although the origins of differences in imitation ability—whether neurobiological, genetic, psycho-cognitive, social or environmental are still unknown, recent neuroscientific research has suggested brain structural and functional differences as a partial explanation (e.g., Golestani et al., 2007; Golestani and Pallier, 2007; Reiterer et al., 2011). Anatomical predispositions in the brain have been proposed to explain why some individuals have better speech sound imitation or auditory discrimination skills (Golestani and Pallier, 2007; Wong et al., 2008; Harris et al., 2009; Golestani et al., 2011). While the direction of correlation between skill and level of brain activation continues to be hotly debated,d, that greater amounts of brain activation accompany poor imitation skill. This phenomenon of “cortical efficiency/effort” (Reiterer et al., 2005a,b; Prat et al., 2007) suggests that speakers with higher speech imitation ability show reduced brain activation in brain networks related to pronunciation, phonemic awareness, articulation, phonological processing, sound imitation, and auditory working memory (Reiterer et al., 2011).
An interesting combination of acoustic and neurophysiological methods has been applied to characterize speech discrimination ability in animals. Using spectrograms and neural activity in the form of spike timing and firing rate, the performance success of consonant discrimination ability could be predicted by neural activity in the primary auditory cortex of rats (Engineer et al., 2008).
Along similar lines, but in the domain of individual differences of voice recognition, forensic phonetics has used acoustic biometrics to identify individual speakers wherein time-frequency spectral signal analysis has been used to identify phonetic, phonation or voice characteristics in speech. (Arsikere et al., 2010; Disner et al., 2010; Belin et al., 2011; Tiwari and Tiwari, 2012).
Given these observable differences in the neuro-biological and acoustic-phonetic domain, we hypothesized that it should be possible to find quantitative bio-markers to measure differences in speech imitation ability biometrically that correlate with acoustic markers. Our objective was to combine the acoustic-phonetic and neuro-imaging domains to characterize good and bad pronunciation performance which reflected the lower and higher quantiles (second and third SD above and below the mean) at the ends of a normally distributed curve of individual differences in speech imitation capacity. We hypothesized that lower ability speech imitators would engage more widespread, diffuse neural activation around articulation-relevant areas in the brain and that acoustic analyses would be capable of capturing differences in segmental and suprasegmental speech articulation patterns as a function of.
One hundred and thirty-eight German-English second language learners (or, late bilinguals/polyglots) with varying degrees of proficiency in English, matched for age, handedness, gender, educational status, mother tongue, age of onset of second language acquisition (AOA), linguistic experience, neurological status, verbal and non-verbal IQ were randomly recruited for the study. There were no “true,” “equal” or early bilinguals (those with AOA before puberty)recruited from the urban catchment areas surrounding the universities of Tübingen and Stuttgart. This large pre-search pool was investigated closely with respect to speech imitation/speech production abilities to characterize the participants' behavioral performance in articulation ability to be better able to select participants for the further examinations. Their mean age was 25.9 years (SD ± 5.2), 90% right-handers, 85 females/53 males, mixed fields of study backgrounds from natural sciences, business to humanities and languages, mother tongue German, AOA: 10.5 years (SD ± 0.8), 50% language study background, no neurological disorders. They all knew at least one foreign language, which was English, 24% knew only one L2 (English), 30% knew two L2s, 22% knew three, 17.5% knew four, 3.5% five, 2% six, and 1% nine foreign languages. All participants together knew 27 different foreign languages to varying degrees including very low levels of proficiency for some of the mentionedch, Greek, Portuguese, Hungarian, Turkish, Polish, Russian, Czech, Slowenian, Rumanian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Africans, Esperanto, and Latin. Mean number of foreign languages was 2.5, minimum was 0 (additional to English) and maximum number was 9. All of these additional languages were acquired between age 10 and 35 at various ages within this ranghe mean exposure to formal school instruction in L2 English was: 9.9 years (±2.3). Their verbal (Lehrl et al., 1995) and nonverbal IQ (Raven et al., 1998) scores were in the normal to advanced range (between 110 and 140) corresponding to their educational background. In order to elicit speech imitation aptitude, we used indirect (imitation from memory) and direct imitation tasks as described by Flege and Hammond (1982) which required the volunteers either to fake a familiar foreign accent from long term memory (indirect or “delayed” imitation) or from acoustic working memory (direct imitation).
Inside of the fMRI scanner (reported below) we performed further indirect imitation tasks, namely sentence reading tasks (imitation from memory). 26ability groups according to the behavioral experiment 1 (Hindi imitation scoring) were scanned and recorded in the scanner on sentence reading tasks in their L1 German, L2 English, and “faking an accent” (faking L2 in L1). We chose this task to be performed in the scanner, because it was described in the literature as a task which discriminates well rs in accent imitation because phonemic awareness is especially taxed in the case of the imitations from memory (Flege and Hammond, 1982). The task is described in more detail in Neuroimaging Tasks.
Based on the ratings of the Hindi imitation task of our large pre-selection study, participants were categorized along a continuum of the Hindi imitation ability score. From this overall pool of 138 subjects we re-invited a similarly (normally) distributed subsample to our fMRI experiments. 40 participants were scanned. For the fMRI group vs. group analysis (N = 26) we selected the two extreme groups within the second and third SD below and above the mean, resulting in 13 participants each group. Details for the high ability group: 9 males/4 females, mean age was 28.38 years (SD ± 5.0), age of onset of L2 English: 10.38 years (SD ± 0.9), mean number of second languages spoken: 2.38 (SD ± 1.1), mixed study background, Hindi score: 6.4 (SD ± 0.7). Details for the low ability group: 8 males/5 females, mean age was 25.466923 (SD ± 1.3), mixed study background, Hindi score: 3.6 (SD ± 0.7)Hindi score (p = 0.000**), but behavioral background parameters.
We scanned these already well described participants (see also Participants and Behavioral Experiments) during overt, microphone-monitored speech production (sentence reading). The monitored utterances were quality controlled in two ways: once online during the in-scanner task and once offline for omissions and error rates. Using an event-related, sparse-sampling fMRI paradigm, we administered an overt sentence reading task (30 min), which was subdivided into the three sub-conditions: (A) reading aloud German sentences (L1), (B) reading aloud English sentences (L2) and (C) reading German sentences with a fake English accent (any variety). This task required phonemic awareness of foreign accented speech characteristicsMean sentence production duration was 3 s. The sentences were presented in the center of the screen and condition (C) was signaled by a British flag symbol above the sentence. The 75 total stimuli (25 per condition) were 11-syllables long and matched for semantic content. Participants were instructed to start reading as soon as the sentence appeared. For acquisition, a sparse sampling paradigm was used (TR = 12 s, TA = 3 s, pause = 9 s) with sentences presented and read during the scanner pauses. Stimuli were randomized for time-onsets and order of presentation. Inter-stimulus baseline trials were inserted alternatingly every second TR accompanied by fixating a white cross on black screen. The produced speech was recorded by a commercially available optical MR-microphone. Before the start of the fMRI scanning session subjects were familiarized with sample stimuli. Examples of each condition are provided below.
For structural (anatomical) image acquisition, structural MRI scans of all subjects were performed on the same scanner, using a high resolution T1-weighted MDEFT sequence (Modified Driven-Equilibrium Fourier Transform), scantime = 12 min, rep-etition time (TR) = 7.92 ms; echotime (TE) = 2.48 ms; inversion time (TI) = 910 ms; FA = 16°; voxelsize: 1 mm × 1 mm × 1 mm, FoV = 176 mm × 256 mm × 256 mm, slices per slab = 176 sagittal, matrix = 256 × 256, acquisition orientation: transversal. An eight-channel headcoil was used.
The voice recordings from the scanner were subjected to the digital spectral analysis (acoustic measurement) described in the following sections.
FMRI images were analyzed using the free software packet SPM5 (Statistic Parametric Mapping).
Data pre-processing: each fMRI data set underwent spatial realignment by aligning the first scan from each session with the first scan of the first session and aligning the images within sessions with the first image of a particular session. The realigned data were spatially normalized to the standard Montreal neurological institute (MNI) T1 template, with the coregistered individual T1 image as a reference. Volumes were resliced to a voxel size of 3 mm × 3 mm × 3 mm, motion corrected and spatially smoothed using a10-mm full-width-at-half-maximum Gaussian kernel and prepared for later random effects analyses. Temporal correction (slice timing) was not applicable because the sparse sampling acquisition mode was adopted here.
The speech imitation recordings of the reading tasks in the scanner were subjected to detailed spectral analysis. The spectral analysis involved setting up the speech modulation spectrum (SMS), which a probability distribution of the different spectral and temporal modulations in a vocal utterance. It is obtained by calculating the two-matrix of the amplitude envelope of the vocal utterance in its spectrographic represent; Sullivan et al., 2013). In order to construct the SMS for each individual, all recordings were first manually examined by listening to the recorded speech. Recordings from the MRI scanner were cleaned in order to remove scanner noise using Goldwave (vesion 5.10). Speech waveform files that were of very low recording quality were excluded from this study. Amplitude waveforms were normalized to -18 dB. Finally, all analyzed speech recordings for each speaker were composed of 25 sentences per condition, sentence length was 3 s. This process was carried out for each condition of the fMRI task: reading German, English, and German with fake English accent (conditions A, B, C). Using custom written code in Matlab the SMS for each individual for each imitation condition was constructed using the algorithm described in Singh and Singh (2008). Contours enclosing 99% of the total spectro-temporal modulation power for the respective speech modulation spectra were constructed and articulation space was estimated by counting the number of distinct spectro-temporal modulations enclosed within the contour.
Speech is a signal that involves processing at multiple time scales (Rosen, 1992). It is therefore proposed that articulatory features of spoken language require the sensori-motor integration of articulatory gestures at different time scales. Singh and Singh (2008) developed a novel spectral analysis technique, called SMS to study the organization of such articulatory gestures as a metric of speech motor skills. The first step of this analysis involves using speech samples from each participant to calculate a spectrogram. The she speech signal and offers a visual display of fluctuations in frequency and time (see Figure 1), described respectively as spectral and temporal modulations. As shown in Figure 1, spectral modulations (ωf) are energy fluctuations across a frequency spectrum at particular times, whereas temporal modulations (ωt) are energy fluctuations at a particular frequency over time. Based on the rate of fluctuation, spectro-temporal modulations have been proposed to encode three articulatory features, namely (1) syllabicity or syllabic rhythm (SR) (2–10 Hz), (2) formant transitions (FT) reflecting consonant blends and transitions (20–40 Hz), and (3) place of articulation (POA) reflecting finer, rapid-scale changes in utterance (50–100 Hz).
A 2-D Fourier transform of the spectrogram yields a probability distribution of these different articulatory features and is called the SMS (Singh and Theunissen, 2003). In a typical SMS, the central region between 2 and 10 Hz carries supra-segmental information and encodes SR. The side lobes between 10 and 100 Hz carry information about segmental features. FTs are encoded between 25 and 40 Hz, and POA information is found between 50 and 100 Hz (Stevens, 1980; Tallal et al., 1985). As the modulation spectrum goes from 1 to 100 Hz, the amplitude fluctuations of a sound become faster and go from syllabic to vowel-like to plosive-like segments (Singh et al., 2007). The modulation spectrum thus plots a “language articulation map,” which depicts how energy or “power” is distributed in different articulatory features of spoken language, namely SR, FTs, and POA (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Speech modulation spectra for the low and high ability groups, demonstrating the “articulation space” and the presence of different articulatory features. Articulatory features are classified based on different time scales and classified thus: SR = syllabic rhythm, 0–20 Hz; red bars- FT = formant transition, 25–40 Hz; green bars – POA = place of articulation, 50–100 Hz. Color-coded bar reflects intensity of energy/power is the total number of spectro-temporal modulations that encompass 99.9% of the total energy. The total contour area, therefore, is comprised of the number of spectro-temporal modulations for each articulatory feature. The contour area for each articulatory feature is the number of modulations as defined by the temporal limit for that feature—thus the contour area for SR is the number of spectro-temporal modulations between 0 and 10 Hz, for
As a main result of the Hindi imitation native speaker ratings, we found that the scores of Hindi imitation capacity followed the shape of a Gaussian normal distribution for our 138 Germanwith 70% of subjects ranging within one SD below and above the mean (average ability). The subjects' mean score was 4.62, SD ± 0.99, ranging from a lowest score of 2.42 to a highest score of 7.74 on a range from 0 = min to 10 = max. The 18 Hindi native speakers who had been interspersed into the database to confuse the native raters were ranked along the first 18 places of the evaluation, scoring between 8.07 and 9.9, SD ± 0.6; four-five standard deviations above the mean scores of our subjects. This means they had been perfectly identified as Hindi native speakers by other Indians, a fact which controls the quality of the online rating procedure. The raters were 30 “blind,” naïve, gender balanced, (15 females) Indian native speakers living in India, performing the ratings online using earphones, indicating judgments on a 0–10 intuitive rating scale. They were paid for their services of several hours of rating time needed for a sample of 138 subjects (plus 18 native subjects). The inter-rater reliability, Cronbach's Alpha was 0.964. Originally a larger number of raters (36) performed the online ratings, but 6 raters were excluded due to their low inter-rater reliability. For more details on the Hindi speech imitations and ratings procedure also see Jilka (2009) and Reiterer et al. (2011).
The two obtained speech imitation scores of foreign language material, the Hindi and English imitation scores, also correlated significantly with each other 0.33** (p = 0.0001). For more details on the scoring systems see also Hu et al. (2013).
Representative spectrograms of the low and high ability groups in Figure 1 showed differences in the energy distributions of the temporal, spectral, and spectro-temporal modulations. Differences in articulatory features were estimated using the SMS analysis, and differences across all the three conditions are displayed in Figure 2. The low ability group showed reduced energy in the place of articulation information (POA), which lies between 50 and 100 Hz, and is representative of the faster modulations. The contour areas for the different articulation spaces for the extreme high ability and low ability group (based on the Hindi imitation ability scoring) in the three conditions of our main task (Neuroimaging Analyses) reading native German sentences (A), reading L2 English sentences (B), and faking a foreign accent (C) are shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Articulation space/area plots of the modulated speech spectrograms, characterizing speech by fluctuations of energy in different frequencies over time. X-axis represents time (here seconds), y-axis frequency (Hertz) and the colors encode the different ability groups. Blue, high ability speech imitation group; Red, low ability speech imitation group. High ability speakers have larger articulation spaces than low ability speakers, in all three subconditions: reading German (A), reading English sentences (B), faking an accent (C, English accent in German carrier sentence).
A statistical comparison of the articulation areas between the high and low ability groups (Figure 4A) showed significant group differences (p = 0.002 for condition A, p = 0.001 for condition B, p = 0.001 for condition C). As shown in Figure 4A in all conditions (A, B, C), the group with high ability speakers (talents) displayed a significantly larger articulation space as compared to the low ability speakers. In condition C (faking the foreign accent) this difference was most pronounced (Figure 4A). In order to quantify the differences across various articulatory features, the area occupied by each articulatory feature for the three conditions was also calculated. As seen in Figure 4B, the high ability group shows larger area for all the three articulatory features with differences being significant for faster time scales namely FTs and POA.
A correlation of the articulation space area scores with the behavioral language imitation scores, showed a positive correlation in all three conditions with the highest positive correlation for condition C (faking the accent): Pearson r = 0.74, p = 0.0000** (Figure 5), followed by condition B (reading L2), r = 0.66, p = 0.0002; and finally by condition A (reading German) correlated r = 0.62, p = 0.001. Articulation space also correlated with the English pronunciation ability scores, although to a lesser degree and significance level: English score correlated positively with articulation space for condition A: r = 0.4, p = 0.04; condition B: r = 0.5, p = 0.01; with condition C: r = 0.4, p = 0.02. Thus, the English imitation score correlated most strongly with condition B, the “articulation space of reading English sentences.” See also Figure 5 for the example of the correlation with condition C.
rs. We identified: “partial omissions,” “mispronunciations,” “slips of the tongue,” “repetitions,” “self-corrections,” “hesitations”. Not a single complete omission of a sentence was observed. In all 3 sub-conditions (read German, read English, read with foreign accen two tailed, t test for independent samples). Error counts do not correlate with our imitation/pronunciation ability measure, the Hindi score, only and not surprisingly, the English score correlates negatively with the error rates for reading English sentences (the higher the English pronunciation ability score, the lower the error rate, r = 0.6).
As seen in Figures 6A,B, there were a number of areas where the low ability group showed significantly greater fMRI (increased in intensity and extension) activation than the high ability group (Figures 6A,B; Tables 1, 2)along the Rolandic fissure (central sulcus) which demarcates the motor (precentral gyrus) and somatosensory (postcentral gyrus) areas, also called the sensorimotor strip. In detail, the network activated by the low ability group comprised: (1) pre- and postcentral gyrus (bilateral), (2) inferior and superior parietal lobe, (3) basal ganglia (caudate and putamen), (4) left insula, (5) parts of the middle frontal and middle temporal gyrus and 6. cerebellum. As can be seen from Figures 6A,B, the gradual increase in difficulty during the mimicry task, is reflected in the increase of activated brain areas as the reading task becomes more complex, from German as L1 (A), over English as L2 (B) to (C) German with foreign accent. Especially when faking a foreign accent (Figure 6C; Table 2), the low ability group displays strongly increased activation within the speech-motor-relevant areas and the dorsal speech processing pathway, with peak foci around the left supramarginal gyrus/postcentral gyrus. The differences between the three conditions (A, B, C) consisted mostly in the intensity and extent of activation rather than in recruiting different areas for each condition. For example, in condition A and B (reading German and English sentences) a significant activation of only the right basal ganglia (caudate and putamen) was observed, whereas in condition C (faking the accent) the activation increased into a significant bilateral involvement of right and left basal ganglia. The overall activation increases of the low ability group in all reading tasks occurred in both hemispheres, but (based on visual inspection) seemed more pronounced within the left hemisphere. Here, the activation peak (color-coded in yellow) culminated in left inferior parietal and postcentral areas, within and around the supramarginal gyrus [peak voxel in MNI coordinates (−54, −21, 45)].
Figure 6. Group vs. group comparisons: significant differential activations (low ability > high ability group) for the low ability group during sentence reading in (A) German (L1), (B) English (L2) and (C) German with fake English accent (L1Acc). (A) FWE corrected (whole brain) for multiple comparisons at cluster level, p < 0.05. Cluster extent threshold k = 400 voxels (only clusters which exceed this number are displayed). (Bvoxel level, p < 0.05. Significant differences in activation already found for (A) reading in mother tongue, with increasing activations in speech-related areas the more complex the reading task gets (reading English sentences and German sentences with fake English accent). Activation peak observed in the left inferior parietal (IPL) cortex, supramarginal gyrus.
Table 1. p-value statistics (ad Figures 6A,B) including corrections for multiple comparisons for activations at cluster and voxel level.
To compare the intensity of the fMRI signal change between the groups, the highest (peak) activated voxel of the left supramarginal gyrus was chosen as ROI. The second reason for choosing this ROI was based on the hypothesis that the left supramarginal gyrus is an important hub area for sensorimotor integration (Lopez-Barroso et al., 2011; Rauschecker, 2011; Grabski et al., 2013). According to this ROI group differences in intensity of activation were estimated (see Figure 7). Within the high ability group only, the difft. Sfor the low ability (as compared to the high ability group) in all three conditions, but most strikingly in the condition where participants were required to fake a foreign accent. Thus, in the low ability group, the “big gap” occurs between normal sentence reading and faking a foreign accent.
We compare for the first time a combination of neural and acoustic features in individuals with high and low abilities in the speech-motor imitation domain.f high and low ability speech imitators in terms of brain imaging as well as biometric acoustic analyses, as differentiated by the task of imitating foreign accented speech. Based on our findings we propose that it is possible to characterize speech imitation talent from purely biometric data. We also provide behavioral and neuroimaging evidence that the task of faking accents from memory, which requires phonological awareness at both segmental and suprasegmental levels, is an effective discriminant of individual differences in pronunciation aptitude, rooting partly in decisive differences in auditory long term memory performance. Some individuals seem to have good access, storage and retrieval capacity of auditory episodic events, possibly stored as exemplars in their memory. Thus, they possess detailed phonetic representation and phonemic awareness of how to reproduce the typical accent of foreign-sounding speech. The auditory phonemic imagination capacity of our good speakers might also be dependent on their well-developed oro-motor system and good articulation capacity, which we tested. Those with lower awareness for foreign accented speech seem to have less successful memorization strategies perhaps due to a lower articulation capacity in the first place. Recent research supports the view that participation of the oro-motor system may be essential for laying down the memory of speech sounds and that speech and auditory memory are heavily intertwined by their coevolution (Schulze et al., 2012). Likewise, mapping sound to articulation is a process which is ascribed to partly overlapping, heavily interconnected brain areas with one hub area being located in the left parietal cortex (culminating in the supramarginal gyrus) and another hub being related to the pre-motor areas, the whole loop being referred to very often as the “dorsal” route of language processing (r brain imaging results confirmed our initial hypothesis that low ability speakers activate speech production areas more than high ability speakers (compare Figures 6–8) and suggest that this reflects the mechanism of neural or cortical efficiency (compare Reiterer et al., 2005a,b, 2011). We found significantly different activations in areas well established to speech production, proposed by some researchers as “minimal speech production network” (Bohland and Guenther, 2006) or more generally articulation/speech production network (Ackermann and Riecker, 2004, 2010; Ackermann, 2008; Moser et al., 2009; Ackermann and Ziegler, 2010; Grabski et al., 2012; Ziegler and Ackermann, 2013). Group differences occurred primarily within the pre-and postcentral gyrus (sensory motor cortex), the left inferior and superior parietal cortex—which included the area of maximum difference—the left supramarginal gyrus, the basal ganglia system (caudate and putamen bilaterally), cerebellum,, inferior frontal gyrus (Broca, pars opercularis), and the left insula.
The most significant group difference (see Figure 7), was obtained in the left. The left IPL has been claimed to integrate aspects of speech perception and production, phonological representations, working memory store, multilingual language learning and reading, amongst others. (Rauschecker, 2011; Della Rosa et al., 2013). Recent neurobiological language processing models claim and find converging evidence for a left auditory dorsal processing stream which combines auditory speech representations in the auditory cortex with articulatory representations in the motor system by sensorimotor interaction primarily converging in the supramarginal gyrusWe find that low ability speech imitators highly activate this area when trying to fake a foreign accent and view this increase of activation vs. the high ability group as a sign of a compensation mechanism and use of more global workspace in these areas constituting the articulatory interface in the left IPL within the dorsal stream.
The left supramarginal gyrus/left IPL has furthermore long bf verbal working memory and implicated in the phonological underpinnings of reading in both native (Graves et al., 2010) and second language (Das et al., 2010). Interestingly, in a recent fMRI study on verbal working memory (Kirschen et al., 2010) a similar location of brain activation was described as a cerebral correlate of auditory and modality independent verbal working memory. Part of the explanation why the low ability group had significantly more activation particularly in the left IPL could lie in their generally weaker auditory working memory—as also strongly supported by our earlier findings (Reiterer et al., 2011). Auditory working memory correlated most significantly with the Hindi imitation ability score, i.e., the better their imitation ability of Hindi sentences, the higher their digit span of recalling numbers and non-word syllables. These correlational data with working memory were published in Reiterer et al. (2011) and Hu et al. (2013). The common ground for working memory as a trigger for aptitude in second language acquisition has long been established (Baddeley et al., 1998). It is well documented in the literature that (auditory) working memory plays a crucial role in L2 language production (Adams and Gathercole, 1995; Acheson and MacDonald, 2009; Slevc, 2011). A recent study investigating 95 school children (Andersson, 2010) re-affirmed that L2 learning success and native language processing can be predicted by working memory capacity, and that there is a strong association between L1 and L2 processing capacity, which suggests that working memory and general language aptitude are mediating mechanisms or common sources. Recent EEG studies have also shown similar results in that native monolinguals (English)—who are believed to exhibit linguistic uniformity—could be differentiated by their event related potential responses (EEG/ERP) to simple phrase structure violations into high and low L1 performers (Pakulak and Neville, 2010 individual differences in brain activation even in mother tongue reading (Figure 6). We thus hypothesize that L1 and L2 language abilities are similar to each other and draw on common grounds of general language aptitude (Reiterer et al., 2005a,b, 2011).
Our behavioral and computational acoustic data point into the same direction. There is higher neuro-cognitive flexibility, reflected by higher articulatory flexibility in the group of the more talented speech imitators. Since the Hindi imitation task did not involve any pre-existing experience with the language, we assume that some individuals must still possess this openness to build new phonetic categories on an ad-hoc basis (e.g., by storing exemplars through memory-based learning), and not rely on pre-experienced, entrenched categories (rule-based learning). If transfer/interference from L1 had taken place, their speech output would not have been rated as being close to the native speaker range of Hindi speakers of the language as reflected in the native speaker judgments. However, the low ability group was rated significantly different (very low) by native judges. This means that the world of second language speakers is not best described by a unifying theory according to which all speakers act according to either one or another theory, but seem to follow graded distributions of the form “some speakers contradict traditional theories,” “some speakers highly corroborate traditional theories,” and “many speakers are in transitional positions.” Thus, for our high ability speakers we can refute a critical period for phonetic learning and propose instead a successful mastery of native speech where interference from L1 is not at work. Phonetic interference phenomena from L1 do exist, but they depend on the individual level of phonetic aptitude.
Hu, X., Ackermann, H., Martin, J., Erb, M., Winkler, S., and Reiterer, S. (2013Advanced Progressive Matrices. Oxford, UK: Psychologists Press.
Copyright © 2013 Reiterer, Hu, Sumath.


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Sunderland International Airshow 2021
The air show at Roker Beach
On2ndnts.
Further details and flying displays for 2021 will be here when known.
Aircraft will be listed here when known
Message from the airshow organisers about the 2020 show
Following careful consideration, we announce the cancellation of Sunderland Airshow 2020.
PC-7 Team (Swiss Air Force) (Sat & Sun)
Eurofighter Typhoon (RAF) (all 3 days)
Saab J35 Draken (Swedish Air Force Historic Flight)(Has now received authorisation)
Chinook (RAF) (all 3 days)
Black Cats (RN) (all 3 days)
BBMF Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane (all 3 days)
RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team (Sat & Sun)
Republic P47 Thunderbolt 'Nellie' (Sat & Sun)
T-33 Shooting Star (Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron) (Sat & Sun)
Strikemaster Mk82A G-SOAF (Sat & Sun)
Wildcat Aerobatics (Sat & Sun)
Bronco (Sat & Sun)
Fireflies (all 3 days)
Tigers Parachute Display Team (Sat & Sun)
Wildcat HMA2 (Royal Navy) (all 3 days)said:
Aircraft - so far (some displays have been announced by Sunderland but have not yet been confirmed by the operators)
Red Arrows (Fri at 19.15 & Sat at 16.30)
BBMF Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane (Sat & Sun. Friday cancelled)
Grob Tutor (RAF) (Sunday only)
Eurofighter Typhoon (all 3 days)
Swordfish (Sunday)
Team Raven (Sat & Sun)
Rockwell OV-10 'Bronco' (Sat & Sun)
AeroSuperBatics (Wingwalkers) (Sat & Sun)
Bristol Blenheim (Sat & Sun)
Fireflies (Fri & Sat)
Twisters (Fri & Sun)
Otto with Brendan O'Brien (Friday only)
Calidus Autogyro (Peter Davies) (Sat & Sun)
Vampire Pair (Sat & Sun)
MiG-15 (Sat & Sun)
Spitfires and Buchon (Sat & Sun)
No BBMF Friday
The full programme is on the show's web site. click any text in this box to go there.
Crowd favourites from the RAF: the Red Arrows, Typhoon, RAF Falcons parachute display team and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight are all scheduled to play a part in this year's Sunderland Airshow, as are the Tutor Display Team who are returning to airshows after a short absence.
They join display acts such as The Blades, Bronco and the AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers with the return this year of the MiG-15, Vampires, Blenheim and Peter Davies in his Autogyro.
There will be a very good military presence in the air and on the ground with RAF, Army and Navy military villages as well as the usual craft and trade stands.
RAF Typhoon Display Pilot 2017, Flight Lieutenant Ryan Lawton said,
"The RAF Typhoon Display Team is once again thrilled to be participating at the Sunderland International Airshow. Each year we are delighted to display over the spectacular coastline at Sunderland. "As for me, this will be my first display at Sunderlandelcome that the city is known for."
Red Arrows All days
Typhoon All days
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight All days
Chinook Sun
Sally B Sat (cancelled: weather), Sun
Fireflies All days
Gerald Cooper All days
Blades Sat, Sun
Blenheim Sat, Sun
P-51 Mustang Sat, Sun
Tigers Parachute Display Team Sat (cancelled: weather), Sun
RAF Falcons Sat (cancelled: weather), Sun
Tutor Sat, Sun
Autogyro Sat, Sun
Bronco All days
Swordfish W5865 Unserviceable All days
The weather couldn't spoil Sunderland Airshow
The Bronco brightened even the dullest skies
Then, as the sun began to set, both the Twisters and AeroSPARX lit up the skies with their LED lights and fireworks off the wings. If that wasn't enough fireworks, there was a land-based firework display to close the evening.
Twister music
Flying schedule (tap / hover over icon for more detail)
Red Arrows (RAF) (22nd & 23rd)
RAF Chinook CANCELLED before the show
RAF Falcons (23rd & 24th)
BBMF Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane (due all 3 days but the Lancaster only flew on Friday)
Black Cats (23rd & 24th)
Autogyro (23rd & 24th)
The Blades (23rd & 24th)
Twisters (all 3 days - with lights and fireworks on 22nd)
AeroSPARX with lights and fireworks (22nd)
Fairey Swordfish (23rd & 24th)
Matadors (23rd & 24th)
Strikemaster (23rd & 24th)
Tigers Parachute Display Team (23rd & 24th)
B-25 Mitchell (24th only)
MiG 15 (Flypast on 24th with Vampires)
Bronco (23rd & 24th)
Vampires (Norwegian AFHS) (23rd) (Flypast with MiG15 on 24th) of amphibious action against 'enemy' beach positions.
Unfortunately, some unexploded pyrotechnics were left on the beach, which caused the beach to be closed for much of Sunday whilst they were dealt with and gave a few people cause for concern, especially as the beach had been open the previous evening. These incidents will no doubt be reviewed and measures taken to secure against them in 2017.
Getting to the Sunderland Airshow
The nearest main road to the flying line is the A183, Whitburn Road. Use sat nav SR6 8AB.
Sunderland is about ½ hour from Newcastle by National Express, 45 minutes from Middlesbrough and up to 4 hours from York. There are services to many other parts of England and WaleGoNorthEast who usually have special routes from nearby towns direct to the airshow
Journey planning by public transport
Hotels near the Sunderland Airshow
There are two Premier Inn hotels in Sunderland and another 11 within 15 miles.
The International Hotels Group do not have any Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotels in Sunderland itself, but there is a Holiday Inn in Washington, about 9 miles away and another in Newcastle. They also have two Holiday Inn Express hotels in Newcastle about 12 miles away.
Travelodge have two hotels in Sunderland itself and another six within 10 miles.
Click any of the blue names to go to the corresponding web site. Most of the links already have the location built in, but please check, and change as necessary, the dates, number of rooms and number of guests.
Weather for the Sunderland Airshow area
A full 7 day Sunderland weather forecast from the UK Met Office
Click the blue-text link to go to the forecast. The location is already built into the links.
Show's web site
To express an interest in taking a commercial stand at the show, email the organisers
Not required. This is a free seaside show


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Volvo Car India Sales Report Depicts 11% Increment in Half-Yearly Sales
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Cole team recruited subjects through outreach on social media and websites devoted to researchers in biological anthropology. They heard from 122 men and women, more than half of whom had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment,site managers, project directors or peers living and working at field research sites. The researchers defined sexual assault as “any kind of inappropriate physical contact, unwanted physical touching, assault, all the way up to rape,” Clancy said.
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bacterium Staphylococcus aureus would pose a grave risk following heart surgery, Voss and his colleagues screened the baby girl for the microbe. They found not just S. aureus but also a menacing drug physicians were flummoxed. Although MRSA , MRSA infections are rare in the Netherlands, thanks to an aggressive “search and destroy” policy the country launched in the mid-1990s to screen for the superbug in health-care settings, where it most frequently spreads. In the Netherlands now, the biggest risk for MRSA infection is a stay in a germ-ridden foreign hospital.
Pigs in confinement barns can harbor MRSA. A few farm families have contracted dangerous infections.
CREDIT: GLEN STUBBE/LANDOV
But this baby girl had never left the country. “We couldn't find a single source” of exposure, Voss recalls. But there was one clue: Her parents were pig farmers.
Within weeks, a second MRSA-colonized patient appeared at the hospital: another pig farmer. Then a third: the child of a veterinarian who worked only with pigs. “It was dumb luck I would say,” Voss recalls. “We had within a short time three unexpected cases that all had pig written on them.”
Pigs and other livestock commonly, and generally harmlessly, harbor S. aureus. But except for a single report buried in the scientific literature, no one had realized that pigs or other livestock harbored MRSA, and no MRSA strain had ever been known to jump from livestock to humans. If the Dutch doctors' fears were correct, a novel strain had just gained that ability, opening up a new route for a potentially dangerous superbug to spread among humans. “Initially, we were very much afraid that this would be a major problem that could spread to the entire population,” says Jan Kluytmans, a microbi whom Voss recruited early on to help investigate.
MRSA from pigs on Eric and Ine van den Heuvel's farm was detected in their daughter, Eveline, when she was an infant.
CREDIT: MARIEKE VAN DEN HEUVEL
In recent months, the dangers of livestock-associated MRSA have been played up in controversial media reports, including a special series by CBS Evening News, as a consequence of the livestock industry's indiscriminatk. Such uses can lead S. aureus and other bacteria to swap whole sets of resistance genes, potentially transferring resistance to antibiotics like methicillin that haven't even been used in agriculture.
Such awareness has fueled a push to restrict this long-debated use of antibiotics;hase it out. Industry is opposed, saying the risk is negligible. Both sides are using the emergence of this new superbug to bolster their cases.. “Is it something to worry about? Absolutely,” says infectious-disease specialist Vance FowRSA appeared first in hospitals, where medical procedures can ferry bugs into the unprotected interior of the bodyUntil the 1990s, it posed only a mild threat, and the vast majority of S. aureus infections remained sensitive to methicillin. But since then, MRSA strains have increasingly displaced sensitive S. aureus strains and acquired resistance to other antibiotics, making hospital infections far more dangerous (Science, 18 July 2008, p. 356). Today, S. aureus accounts for about 20% of all hospital bloodstream infections in the United States, and 65% of the S. aureus infections in intensive-care units resist methicillin, among other antibiotics. MRSA killed approximately 18,650 Americans in 200higher death toll than that of HIV/AIDS.
For years, the most dangerous strain of MRSA remained inside hospitals. Some strains began to circulate in the wider community, mostly among people in tight spaces such as prisons, and those with a lot of skin contact, such as family members and participants in contact sports. They were largely considered a nuisance, far less dangerous than hospital-acquired infections, mostly because they infected healthy people whose skin and immune defenses kept them from infiltrating the body, and they were easier to stop with antibiotics.
Since the 1990s, however, community-acquired MRSA has grown more menacing, picking up genes that make it more virulent and resistant to an increasing variety of antibiotics. Most life-threatening infections still occur in hospitalized patients or those who have undergone outpatient treatments such as dialysis or surgery. But each year in the United States, community-acquired MRSA causes about 13,000 400 deaths, according to the 2007 CDC report. What's more, the lines between hospital-associated and community-associated strains are blurring, as strains formerly limited to the hospital have begun colonizing healthy people, and strains once limited to the community now sicken many patients in hospitals.
A peculiar strain
With permission from the young patient's father, Voss's team cultured bacteria from pigs on his farm and did a quick and dirty test on him and 25 of his pig-farming colleagues. Within 2 months of the girl's admission, they'd learned that one in four was asymptomatically carrying MRSA, compared with just 0.03% of the general Dutch population. Although crude, the analysis provided pretty strong evidence that the bug had come from pigs.
Follow the pork.
In the Netherlands, rates of human infections with MRSA strain ST398 tracked with pig populations (top), while rates of other MRSA strains tracked with human populations (bottom).
CREDIT: ADAPTED FROM I. VAN LOO ET AL., EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES 13, (DECEMBER 2007)
No one knew then how virulent the strain was, but some of the data were and remain concerning. Case reports continue to appear of MRSA strain ST398 causing minor skin and soft tissue infections as well as mastitis, severe wound infections, pneumonia, and even some flesh-eating disease in countries throughout Europe. To date, Voss has seen about 10 cases of severe bloodstream infections of ST398 and two ST398 infections following hip-rep


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But Trump lawyer David Schoen, in response, claimed Raskin was attempting a “public relations stunt” by sending the letter to the former president.
Jason Miller, part of Trump’s team, told Newsmax on Thursday that he did not expect him to testify.
“We’ve seen public reports from the police and FBI and all sorts of other outlets that much of this planning was done well in advance,” he said on the network.
Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Democrats won’t net a conviction after 45 GOP senators voted against holding the trial in January. At least 17 Republicans would have to join the Democratic caucus.


To select a start date of your desired time range you can either type in a date or use the drop down arrow to select from a calendar. The same method is used for selecting an end date. Note that you will be restricted to a year maximum for data retrieval. If there are no sessions for your desired receiver in the given time range the date will be shifted to a new range that includes sessions. Please note for long time ranges the GUI may take some time to populate the plots.
The second plot is a color plot for each of the RFI sessions that occurred during the requested time period. This plot provides a look at the log of the flux (in Janskys) over the frequency range of the receiver per session instance.
When planning for a proposal for time on the Green Bank Telescope one can use this GUI to get an idea of the spectral occupancy as seen by the GBT receivers and appropriately plan observations around the current RFI.
When observing, one can use this GUI to understand if the RFI observed is commonplace for that region of the band.
RFI scans are performed routinely by the operators during gaps between astronomical observations. The aim of the technique is to do the best job of monitoring narrow-band RFI coming from the horizon (which comes at the cost of monitoring changes in the RFI from satellites, nearby planes, etc.). The GBT, which can’t point below an elevation of 5 deg (typically many beamwidths), has very little sensitivity to horizon-based RFI in its forward direction. The sidelobes in the forward direction are also not uniform. The telescope is much more sensitive to radiation that comes from the horizon and that enters the sidelobes of the feeds. To make the sensitivity of the feed patterns uniform around the horizon we position the elevation of the antenna so that the flange of the feed is parallel to the horizon. The feed sidelobes also have uniform sensitivity as they cover a very large solid angle. Gregorian receivers require a different elevation than PF receivers to put the feeds into this orientation. However, the single telescope feed arm will introduce azimuthal diffraction patterns on top of the feed sidelobe patterns. To smooth out this azimuthal dependence, the telescope moves at near its top speed from Az=0 to 180 (or Az=180 to 0 if that’s a more efficient route). With this tactic, one can’t expect the monitoring of RFI that comes from the forward direction (satellites, etc.) to be anything more than hit and miss. Please note that some RFI in the X-band range may be due to satellites and because of the data reduction process this may seem worse than actuality. Please talk to your project friend with any concerns about RFI in this band.
If you would like the raw data of RFI scans please contact the GB helpdesk for data retrieval at help.nrao.edu.
This system has been automated to ingest into a database, updating every 24 hours ensuring scans that have been taken by the telescope are accessible within a 24 hour period.
Dr. Alyssa GoodmanSmithsonian Institution. She will share her amazing experience as an astronomer and about
This lecture was recorded, and is available on YouTube!


Chelsea transfers: Oscar drops hint about his future
Oscar appears to be happy to stay at Chelsea beyond the summer
Sunday 19 July 2015, 11:17 UK
Oscar shared this picture on his Instagram account Photo: Oscar/Instagram
Oscar appears to have his heart set on staying at Chelsea beyond the summer midfielder recently spoke of his desire too’s first-team squad.
Oscar sharsimply wrote: “😃”


"The [housing] market is steady across the UK and that is also true of Scotland," said Mr Brown. "Aberdeen is positive. Obviously through the oil crisis it was a bit of a challenge but that's behind us now and that business is starting to grow, so we have invested heavily in more land and more people in that business."
"We set our existing growth strategy in 2013. In the last six months we've contracted on nearly 1,600 [homes] and achieved planning on more than 1,900 so what that is saying to us is that we have the capability to deliver more than 3,000 homes."


7 years in WP – hooray!
I wanted to do a rant post, but it is rather pointless to make one, when I'm not even sure if its out of jealousy or out of self pity. You know, one of those – why they get help while I had to figure it all out on my own?
I tried publishing again. Put the Third Law up for sale on Amazon before I thought I scream to the world that guess what!The joy lasted half an hour until a comment appeared with 1 star rating – "You would sell so much more if you asked 0.99 instead of 3.59". Thank you, whoever you were, because it was, AGAIN, a random troll running amok through the wide Amazon. No other comments, no other purchases. And what am I supposed to do with a 1 star rating?Took it down, of course, because who among you all would even look at a book with 1 star rating?
I'm not taking the comment personally, as it had nothing to do with the book. It wasn't bought, the whoever troll didn't comment the story itself, so I am not touched by it personally aside being dead angry that Amazon allows such comments!I can hit the "Report abuse" link how ever many times I like and explain it has no relation to the product, it will still remain there!Which means I have already two books with 1-3 star ratings which were left by non-buyers, who had no other problem with the story aside to mark out that "IDK" and "asks too much for it". And lets not forget "I haven't read the book, but I'm just giving 3 stars"!
It didn't help to read an article in local news stating how every author in the region can apply for "city writer salary". I thought about it and went to check it out. Who wouldn't?
Right now I feel like the squeaking bird, who somehow isn't a real writer, because she doesn't live in the county. Who can't apply for writer status, because she doesn't know the right people to join the Author's Society, who can't apply for state salary, because she doesn't promote local culture (read – doesn't use Estonia as background) nor writes in the right language…
4 responses to "7 years in WP – hooray!"


pf
Following the recovery in the leisure and recreational
services sector, Miami-based Royal Caribbean resumed its
the second largest cruise company, suspended the payment of its
annual dividend in the wake of the economic recession and high
that of another cruise company
). Carnival's current dividend yield stands at 2.67% as Sep
Royal Caribbean's financial position is stable. It generates
sufficient At
the end of the second quarter of 2013, cash and cash equivalents
further. However, its growth momentum will not pick up before the
delivery of the first Sunshine ship in late 2014.
Royal Caribbean is leaving no stone unturned to enhance the
announcement, Royal Caribbean also proposed to do away with the
staggered terms for directors and replace it with annual
director who will be a link between the board's non-management
ich
look attractive at current levels, include
Cedar Fair L. P.
). While Rick's Cabaret carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy),
Cedar Fair retains?


The defendant must have the intention to defraud a personwire fraud.
A reasonable person would understand that interstate wire communications would be needed to commit the fraudulent act.
It is also important to know that a scheme does not have to be successful Even an unsuccessful attempt to defraud someone can result in a conv.


The lithium-ion battery is the most commonly used battery in handheld consumer electronics for several reasons. But like all batteries, it has its advantages and limitations.
Advantages - it is small, lightweight, has a high capacity, can re-charge hundreds of times and has a low self-discharge rate.
Limitations - it is subject to aging even if not in use, and has some transportation restrictions such as on board commercial airlines (cdevice). It is also not individually replaceable.
All batteries degrade over time and the lithium battery is no different, itLithium batteries typically have a lifespan of 2-3 years or 300-500 full charge cycles, whichever comes first. They will also slowly discharge when not in use or storage. If you are not using your mophie product regularly, it is recommended to check the charge level in your device every 3-6 months and recharge if needed.
Avoid extreme temperatures. Operating temp range is 14°F - 122°F. Storage range is -20°F to 170°F.
Do not leave the device plugged in all the time100% or 0% charge.
If your mophie product is experiencing charge or discharge issues and was purchased within two years from an authorized retailer, cs.


Clinton Eastwood and the gun vote
Aug 31, 2012 Elections 2012
Onl.
Upset with Boehner
Aug 29, 2012 Elections 2012, Politics
The right is upset with House Speaker John Boehner for telling the truth:
“… “H?” Boehne’ve not met ever anybody … It ought to be on one sheet of paper … That way Americans could actually read it …” …”
And he’s right. It’s 62 pages long. Other than party groupies who is going to take time to read it? Certainly not the voters. There is a reason political ads are short and to the point.
“… Every four years,have won seats develop the party’s national platform … Some activists work for months just to win the right to attend the convention so they have a chance at influencing a platform that officially defines the principles and policy positions for which the party stands …”
That’s great. The problem here is, like the Libertarian Party’s platform, is that there is no way to enforce it. There is no litmus test or oath of loyalty required to join a political party and there is no mechanism to punish candidates and officeholders who do not follow the party platform. NRA reps. can go on and on about the pro-gun parts of the platform, but it is nothing more than the GOP pandering for the gun vote.
Pandering for the gun vote
Aug 27, 2012 Elections 2012, Federal Legislation
Republicans are clearly pandering for the gun vote this election:
“Dwill approve the most pro-gun platform ever, staking outopposing domestic restrictions on ammunition and United Nations interference in gun sales …”
David Keane mentioned this when he was on NRANews last Friday. While I don’t doubt that some of these feelings are genuine, this has to be an attempt to shore up the lukewarm feelings gun owners have for Mitt Romney.
“… Le … : , or otherwise revising the ill-considered Clinton gun ban.” …”
Romney’s interview
The interview must have been carefully scripted by either NRA and/or Romney’s campaign and comes across to me as a lot of hot air. The one good thing out of it is Romney said he would sign the reciprocity bill. They should have just printed that and saved six pages of newsprint for something else.
How’s it likely to work out for them? Let’s ask Mayor Mike:
“… Bloomberg’s debate fantasy follows by a few weeks another righteous initiative that went nowhere: his call for a national dialogue on guns and violence, prompted by the Batman movie massacre in Aurora, Col. …”
Aug 19, 2012 Elections 2012, Humor
Aside from being very competitive, it is one of the very few races where a pro-gun Democrat is up against an antigun Republican with Collins being a member of the (now defunct?) MAIG spin-off County Executives Against Illegal Guns.
Ryan was a good choice for Romney
Aug 18, 2012 Elections 2012
Antis not attacking Ryan
Paul Ryan’s pro-gun credentials are making the rounds in the media.
“… Mitt Romney’s choice of Wisconsinite Paul Ryan as his running mate was a bold move on more than one level, and one that should hit the right nerve with American gun owners worried about Romney’s record on gun rights … Adding Ryan to the ticket brings credibility with gun owners; a commodity Republicans need to get gun owners off the couches and away from their keyboards to the voting booths. Where Romney certainly can depend upon Ryan’s savvy with a budget, he should also rely on the congressman’s counsel where gun and hunting rights are concerned …”
I agree with this. What I find interesting, though, is that I have not seen the antis attacking Ryan yet. Considering how much blood-dancing they’ve been doing lately I would have assumed they’d jump on him right from the start..


Saturday was the three mile walk. Edifice, my employer, was a sponsor of the walk and we also formed a team to raise money and awareness. Thanks to all my friends and family that were kind enough to donate to the cause. There were a few employees from work that made it to the walk on Saturday. I took my dog, Yana. I know, many of you who know Yana may be wondering why I took her and not Foggy. Well, it's simple, Foggy would have tried to kill any other four legged creature he came across. Yana loves attention and I figured with all the other people that she'd be able to make it 3 miles. Plus, it was overcast and a little rainy that morning. Well, she did beautifully, at first. There were a lot of pink balloons around and she desperately wanted a balloon. We started the walk and she immediately had to 'lighten her load', if you get my drift. Luckily, I had thought ahead and brought a plastic bag to scoop the poop. But then I had to carry said poop for about a mile and a half. Yana continued to be a trooper. At about the two mile mark she started to fade. I stopped and let my group go on so that Yana could have a little break and I gave her some much appreciated water. The next half mile she was slow but we were making progress. Then, with about a half mile left, she just refused to walk. We were on the sidewalk out of peoples way at least. So, I'd go squat beside her and tell her how great she was doing and we'd start walking again. She'd walk for a few more blocks and then stop again and the whole cycle would repeat. She did get a lot of encouragement from passing walkers (that wasn't embarrassing!)! Then we came upon a big hill and Yana does not like hills. So, about half way up she stopped and there was no restarting her this time. So, yes, I had to carry my fifty pound dog up the hill (again, not embarrassing at all)! But after that I could see the end and she must have sensed it too because she didn't stop again and we made it, thank goodness we made it!!!!! I was super proud of her. Here she is at the end, recuperating...On a more serious note, it was inspiring to see all the many breast cancer survivors and all the people that came out to support them. I saw a former client of mine, and breast cancer survivor, as well. It was great to see her again. Also, Rose, our office manager, walked with her sister, who is a two time survivor. Those two had the best time together and boy do they look alike. It was a fun time and Yana has gotten her walking in for the rest of the year!!
What a cutie!!!! My sister Susan and I met our niece Virginia for the first time on Monday night. She is just too adorable for words!! I mean, look at that face!! She's so tiny, you just want to snuggle her close to you.As soon as she was born she was taken to the nursery to receive oxygen. She was having some trouble breathing. While Susan and I were visiting the new parents, new mom Kathy was able to hold her precious new baby for the first time in the nursery. It was a very sweet moment and I feel honored that we were able to be there.Only parents and grandparents are allowed in the nursery so Susan and I were bummed! We were really wanting to hold the little cutie!! Lucky for us, soon after Kathy was able to hold her, she was able to come off the oxygen and was brought to the room for the first time. Then new dad Reiggin was able to hold her for the first time also. The family will be going home today to start their new lives together... First family photo! Mom and Virginia...how sweet!!! Proud new aunts...Susan and Lisa (I look like a natural, I know)! Kathy is such a loving and forgiving person, Virginia is lucky to have her as her mother! Kathy may miss sleeping in but I know she .Not much longer and sister #2 (Susan) will be a new Mom too...only 3 1/2 more months and there will be more newborn pictures to post!! Can't wait!!
Well, Mike and I left for sunny California last Thursday. We flew back on Sunday. The main point of the trip was to see two Angel's games. We saw the Thursday and Friday games. The Angels won both, Friday's by a walk-off home run. Thursday, we saw K-Rod tie the all-time saves record. So, that was definitely fun!!Now, as for the rest of the visit...just so, so. If you ask Mike, he'd say that the highlight of the trip was bacon. Yes, that's right, bacon. He was so in love with the bacon served by the Doubletree at breakfast I thought he'd never shut up about it. He gorged himself on it both mornings we were there and went on and on about how he'd never had such good bacon in all his life. He's easily entertained!! (This blog is really pissing me off, I can't get it to put a blank line between these two paragraphs. I've tried like a hundred times!!! What the heck!!!!!) Other than the baseball games, we did some sightseeing. L.A. proper wasn't much to see if you ask me. Hollywood was very dirty and quite frankly, a little scary. Beverly Hills is overrated. L.A. is surrounded by some beautiful mountains though. We explored the Angeles National Forest on Friday afternoon. There were some really nice, twisty roads (better suited for our bike than the rental car). And let me just say, California should really consider investing in bathrooms with running water. A toilet that flushes is all I ask for. Anyway...these are some pictures from Friday... I thought this was one of the most amazing sights I'd ever seen. From the lookout from the mountains, all you could see were clouds!More mountain pictures (see above).On Saturday the plan was to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and stay outside of Santa Barbara. Well, the coastline along the highway was nice, what we could see of it. There was so much haze, or smog, I'm not sure, that the view was very limited. Once we got to Goleta, we drove through the Santa Ynez Mountains (I think, I can't really remember). Anyway, it was actually very pretty. Again, may I suggest that California invest in a few more rest stops. These are a few pictures... Notice there are no pictures of Mike and I. That's because the pictures were less than flattering. The camera and I are not friends. I don't think I'll be going back to L.A. for anything other than baseball games anytime soon.
So far this is how the week has gone:Sunday: I took the dogs for their weekly walk. Of course, Yana had to relieve herself in a neighbors yard. Luckily, I was prepared (this time, sshh!!) and had a plastic bag to scoop the poop. But I was not feeling too hip about carrying the bag of poop around the rest of the walk. Lucky for me, I spotted a trashcan that had already been pushed to the curb for the next day's garbage pick up. I thought...Score!! It's early, I took a quick look over the right shoulder, then the left shoulder...looked like the coast was clear, so I went for it. Real quick, 1, 2, 3...lift lid, deposit poop, close lid. We're off scott and poop free...or so I thought. I took 2 more steps and looked to the left and right across the street from the now poop filled trashcan was a neighbor sitting on his front porch looking right at me...oh well, busted!!Monday: I found out that I am NOT the favorite daughter!! Yeah, that's right...My mom and dad were supposed to come up and check out the progress of the house. But Mom called early Sunday to blow me off. She said she was just too busy after a long weekend of partying. However, I found out, from an anonymous source, that while she was too busy to make time for me, she wasn't too busy to fix lunch for my sister Susan and her husband Joe. Mmmhmm...that's right...I found out!!! At least I know where I stand now...second favorite, sorry Kathy!!!Tuesday: It was just one of those days. Everything I touched was just going to pot. I was having a breakdown and I yelled across to my co-worker "I think I'm going to start taking my dog's crazy pills". Just as the words were out of my mouth, a Project Manager appears. He said, "I didn't hear a thing". So, he now thinks that I'm a nut job that takes my dog's crazy pills!! Perfect!!!
I wasn't feeling much like blogging today but I just got some good news. I mailed a very important package certified priority mail last Saturday. As of today, I still had not received a confirmation of delivery. I just thought to check on-line and it was delivered and signed for on Sept. 3rd!!! Yippee!! So, I figured I'd do some blogging, but then I realized I really don't have anything to blog about.It was a pretty uneventful weekend. We, of course, went by the house. Oh I must tell you, we purchased a coupon on Ebay that was issued by Home Depot to their employees for 20% off any purchase up to $3,000. Well, since we're not employees of HD, we were told that Lowe's would accept the coupon. Well, they did. We paid about $15 bucks for the coupon and saved about $100 bucks on our purchase at Lowe's. We've already purchased another coupon!! That was neat!! If you are going to have any big purchases, I'd look into buying a coupon. The ones we've seen expire on 12/31/08.Anyway, we dropped some stuff off at the house and spent about an hour picking up construction trash from around the house. Man it was hot!! We had to, or Mike had to, push the wheel barrow from the backyard to the construction dumpster in the front yard. It is a slight up hill climb from back to front. After that little bit of work, we were wiped out!!Sunday was pretty unproductive as well. However, I was extremely excited to purchase a pair of jeans at Kohl's. I have the worst time finding jeans that don't have a big gap in the back or that aren't so low that I can hardly keep them up. I tried on two pairs and both pairs fit tight around my waist and minimized the size of my butt (bonus!). Man, that was so exciting. I hate trying on 10 pairs of jeans and having none fit righ.Now, I'm just waiting until we leave for L.A. on Thursday!!
Yana...What Can I Say?
Yana is just the strangest/cutest dog at times. Most times though, she's the biggest pain in the rump. She has a unique way of doing most things in life. Some of her quirkiness is out of necessity, but most is out of laziness. For instance, the way she drinks water...The funny, butt in the air drinking style (as evidenced above), is out of necessity...she has a bad overbite and we just haven't invested in braces yet!! But this on the other hand (2 seconds later)... Is just plain laziness!!!
Today is Mike's mom's birthday. Happy Birthday!!! We went to Taylorsville to see her on Sunday and to wish her a happy birthday. Of course I made her have her picture taken for the blog. Pay no attention to the helmet hair Mike and I are both sporting. Betty is just so adorable. I couldn't have been blessed with a better mother-in-law. Betty, you make sure Wayne is good to you today!! We love you!!!
Baby Virginia's Shower
Saturday my sister Susan and I hosted a baby shower for our younger sister Kathy. Mom was gracious enough to let us borrow her house for the shower since neither of us have a descent home of our own (sad, I know!). Kathy is due in about 4 weeks...so this shower was not a moment too soon. I have to take a moment to brag on Susan and myself. Above is the baby shower cake (adorable!) and the table of food offered to the guests. Susan did a lot, OK, most of, the cooking and she did a great job.Mom to be, Kathy, with Great Grandma to be!! My Grandma is very worried about Kathy and Susan having what they need as they become first-time mothers. She is just too sweet!!! We all love her and Grandpa so much!Here are the three Ford girls!! Mom didn't get us centered in the picture and I couldn't figure out how to edit it to fix it...so, yes, I know it is not centered. But that doesn't take away from how cute we look. Well, at least they do...notice Susan's ever growing baby bump. I think she looks just adorable. Everyone was amazed at how good Kathy looked. She really hasn't gotten too big and she has really looked great throughout her pregnancy! Here is Kathy with all her loot. Everyone was very generous and she got lots of cute stuff. All the ladies love the baby clothes. There were lots of "oohs and aahs"!The shower guests were Ford family members, except for our Aunt Annette (we missed you!), Mom's friends, and a few of Kathy's friends. I think the shower went well and everyone had a good time. I think that for our first attempt at hosting a baby shower, we did a pretty good job. Now, I've got to start planning for Susan's shower!!


I don't know if I simply overlooked this in the 2nd ed quickstart rules, but I don't see how to determine how many points go into the various pools for starting PCs.
I see where its linked to attributes and skills, but I just don't see a formula or mechanic for determining point values.
Flex is 1, you can increase it to 3 if you want to by spending Customization Points.
Your other Pools are determined by the Morph you're using and the augmentations it has.


Sex trafficking has opened up a political division within the US digital economy.
Neither side is arguing in favour of these heinous crimes, nor do they deny that the internet has seen them increase. Rather the issue is what one side sees as the prospect of bad law being enacted, albeit with the very best of intentions, that would do greater harm to those outside technology’s top tier.
Earlier this month, Washington politicians and the largest online players struck a deal over the proposed wording and reach of the SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act) bill. It then unanimously passed its committee stage but has since been placed on hold by Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon. However, this is probably not the end of the story.
That the oversight liability imposed by SESTA would be too great.
That it makes overly optimistic assumptions about content filtering software.
That it would restrain freedom-of-speech, including that of victims of sex trafficking.
That it has secured support from bigger companies that have the resources to meet its requirements, but those same requirements may hobble competitors.
In its statement criticising the bill as “deeply flawed”, the EFF had civil liberties and technological concerns: “Some SESTA supporters imagine that compliance with SESTA would be easy – that online platforms would simply need to use automated filters to pinpoint and remove all messages in support of sex trafficking and leave everything else untouched.
“But such filters do not and cannot exist: computers aren’t good at recognising subtlety and context, and with severe penalties at stake, no rational company would trust them to.
In a Medium post, Leighanna Mixter, legal fellow with Wikimedia, takes a deep dive into her organisation’s concerns over SESTA. It is worth your time if you want to gather a broader view of what is happening.
As currently framed, SESTA would amend a critical is the clause that has given platforms relative immunity over issues such as online bullying, fake news, and political chicanery as well as sex trafficking – notwithstanding their efforts (or lack of thereof) towards combatting them. Nevertheless, Section 230 can be said to have allowed hundreds of thousands of flowers to bloom by simplifying liability and thereby lowering the bar of economic viability.
With the backing of the titans’ trade lobbyist, The Internet Association (and its membership does read like a Who’s Who of social media and e-commerce), SESTA would insert a requirement into Section 230 for sex trafficking only. It would state that henceforth, as Mixter describes, “participation in a sex trafficking venture occurs when a party, such as a website, is ‘knowingly assisting, supporting, or facilitating’ a sex trafficking crime.”
At first glance, it is hard to see much wrong with this. But get lawyerly and problems emerge.
For example, what if an online company adopts a ‘wise monkey’ strategy by explicitly not looking too hard at what makes it on to its pages, whatever restrictions may be in its terms of service? Is that “knowing”?
Or what if a company applies monitoring, but it is not absolutely perfect? Could perhaps even flagging material to law enforcement expose it to liability?
Your guess is as good as mine, but more to the point, the lawyers aren’t sure either.
There is then the more explicitly commercial aspect. Not only would SESTA require extensive and possibly costly monitoring infrastructure (though some might say that is no bad thing), it also by definition would apply mostly to the ‘smaller’ corners of the internet.
So can this be resolved?
Part of the problem lies in technology’s espousal of Section 230 as holy writ. It is a part of legislation that is more than 20 years old. In that time, it has allowed many internet companies to grow, but at the same time, so has online criminality. Sex trafficking is itself a good case in point.
As noted earlier, traffickers prefer smaller sites, but one of the bigger and more controversial ones they have used is the classified advertising platform Backpage. It has suffered numerous attacks from politicians and even the arrest of senior executives over the presence of sex trafficking ads on its site.
Look back two decades and ask yourself whether anyone then could have foreseen the problem with sex trafficking reaching that scale on one site alone by today. Then add back in the prevalence and volume of bullying, trolling and political propaganda.
The obvious conclusion is that Section 230 is no longer ‘fit for purpose’. Rather than tinkering at its edges, it needs a serious review that balances the continuing need  how we prevent online services being abused.
And, whatever SESTA’s fate, Silicon Valley needs to start thinking along those lines now because the signs in Washington are that several powerful politicians have already begun to do so. Moreover, the process needs to stretch across the industry.
Technology wants to be regulated with a light touch. To achieve that, it needs to demonstrate a willingness to strive more seriously towards maintaining that goal. It needs to make SESTA not a threat but an opportunity. As batty as it may sound, the Valley needs to create its own Better Justice League.
Russia rejects potential UN ‘killer robots’ ban, official statement says


DAAN 2014: An Awareness Drive on Organ Donation
The Hon. Minister declared that a sum of Rs. 1000 would be granted to all patients undergoing dialysis, monthly. Patients who have undergone organ transplant would be eligible to receive this benefit for 5 years. He hopes to include APL patients too under this scheme.
The students of the Department conducted flash mobs and street plays in various parts of the city to raise general awareness. The campaign also featured a rally on Independence Day by the Bullet Buddhas Riders Club to garner attention for the cause.
A fundraiser concert “Music For Life”, featuring playback singer Siddharth Menon of Thaikkudam Bridge, singer Kavya and DJ Savyo was also conducted. An amount of Rs 25,000/- each was donated to six organ transplant recipients for their treatment.
Communicative English Association Inauguration