text:
Abstract Photometric data from the Xuyi Schmidt Telescope Photometric Survey of the Galactic Anticentre (XSTPS-GAC) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are used to derive the global structure parameters of the smooth components of the Milky Way. The data, which cover nearly 11 000 deg(2) sky area and the full range of Galactic latitude, allow us to construct a globally representative Galactic model. The number density distribution of Galactic halo stars is fitted with an oblate spheroid that decays by power law. The best fitting yields an axis ratio and a power-law index kappa = 0.65 and p = 2.79, respectively. The r-band differential star counts of three dwarf samples are then fitted with a Galactic model. The best-fitting model yielded by a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis has thin and thick disc scale heights and lengths of H-1 = 322 pc and L-1 = 2343 pc, H-2 = 794 pc and L-2 = 3638 pc, a local thick-to-thin disc density ratio of f(2) = 11 per cent, and a local density ratio of the oblate halo to the thin disc of f(h) = 0.16 per cent. The measured star count distribution, which is in good agreement with the above model for most of the sky area, shows a number of statistically significant large-scale overdensities, including some of the previously known substructures, such as the Virgo overdensity and the so-called 'north near structure', and a new feature between 150 degrees < l < 240 degrees and -1 degrees < b < -5 degrees, at an estimated distance between 1.0 and 1.5 kpc. The Galactic North-South asymmetry in the anticentre is even stronger than previously thought.
GB/T 7714 Chen, B. -Q.,Liu, X. -W.,Yuan, H. -B.,et al. Constraining the Galactic structure parameters with the XSTPS-GAC and SDSS photometric surveys[J]. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY,2017,464(3):2545-2556.
APA Chen, B. -Q..,Liu, X. -W..,Yuan, H. -B..,Robin, A. C..,Huang, Y..,...&Zhang, H. -W..(2017).Constraining the Galactic structure parameters with the XSTPS-GAC and SDSS photometric surveys.MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY,464(3),2545-2556.
MLA Chen, B. -Q.,et al."Constraining the Galactic structure parameters with the XSTPS-GAC and SDSS photometric surveys".MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 464.3(2017):2545-2556.

industry_corpus2: Technology & Research


text:
The Hyperlink TextBox targets SharePoint columns that store hyperlinks or picture urls.
In contains 2 textboxes. One for the actual URL and one for its description (the same way it appears in the default SharePoint forms). If no description is provided by users, the url is used for the description part.
Not Applicable for the HyperlinkTextBox control.
Shows or hides the description part of the control.

industry_corpus2: Computing & Telecommunications


text:
» Get Disney treats at FamilyMart this winter — including Olaf-shaped chocolate steamed buns!
The campaign is set to coincide with the premier of Big Hero 6 here in Japan on December 20, and in light of Frozen‘s popularity, which seems to show no signs of waning, it really isn’t surprising that Family Mart has decided to put the two Disney films together. Okay, so first we have some tasty looking Frozen themed treats to show you.
▼This “Mixed Jelly: Anna and the Snow Queen“, already on sale from this past Tuesday, is a fruity affair made of strawberry jelly containing pieces of peach, pineapple, tangerine and cherry inside and is priced at 214 yen (US$1.79).
▼And this is the “White Soda Flavor Fresh Ramune Gummy Candy“, also already on sale and costing 128 yen ($1.07). These gummy candies have a flavor like the Japanese ramune drink, which tastes similar to a lemon soda pop. Apparently, you can even enjoy these candies frozen and feel them literally melting in your mouth!
▼Of course, we have to have some seriously ice-cold desserts too, since these are Frozen themed snacks after all, right? This is the “Anna and the Snow Queen: Salt Vanilla Soda Flavored Super Soft Ice Cream” which will come out December 9, and it will combine a salt and vanilla flavored soft-serve ice cream with a refreshing soda pop flavored sauce for a price of 198 yen ($1.65).
▼And this “Anna and the Snow Queen: Condensed Milk Flavored Ice Cream”, which will also go on sale starting December 9 for 162 yen ($1.35), will be a condensed milk flavored ice cream containing three types of fruit and also pieces of finely crushed ice inside.
▼And here’s the lovable Olaf as the “Anna and the Snow Queen: Olaf Chocolate Steamed Bun” priced at 190 yen ($1.59) which will be available from December 16. This Olaf is a steamed bun filled with a smooth chocolate cream, and we’re pretty sure that a warm chocolate dessert will go down extremely well on a cold winter day.
▼This is the “Jiggly Soft Almond Jelly and Milk Mousse” sold for 280 yen ($2.34). It’s made of milk mousse containing condensed milk topped with a strawberry sauce and also almond jelly which adds a bit of a chewy texture to the dessert. The sweet mousse and jelly is white and soft, like Baymax the robot in the movie.
￼￼￼▼And this is a snack that’s even more perfectly shaped for a tie in with Big Hero 6. It’s a set of “Three Mitarashi Dumplings” priced at 198 yen ($1.65). They’re soft chewy round white dumpling balls with a sweet soy sauce based filling inside, and they’ve actually printed Baymax’s face on one of the dumplings! Utterly adorable!
What’s even better, as part of the campaign commemorating Big Hero 6‘s release, for every 500 yen you spend at FamilyMart, you’ll have a chance to win one of several original movie tie-in goods, and the spending doesn’t have to be on the special Frozen and Big Hero 6 desserts but can be on other regular products sold at the store.
▼For one receipt of 500 yen or more worth of shopping, you can enter to win two 500 yen prepaid shopping cards (right). You can also choose to send in three receipts for a chance to win a Frozen blanket (middle) or four receipts for a chance to win a Frozen-inspired necklace (left).
▼Or if you want a Big Hero 6 tie-in product, for two 500 yen receipts you can enter to win a Baymax dumpling cushion (right) or for five receipts, a huge 125cm (4ft 1in) Baymax plush doll!
So, which item would you want to win? The give-away campaign runs until December 25, while the Big Hero 6 desserts will be sold until December 29 and the Frozen desserts will be sold while supplies last. Well, even if you don’t win any of the special tie-in goods, the desserts alone look pretty tempting to us (or is that just me?). We’d love to try the Olaf steamed bun in particular, simply because he literally looks cute enough to eat! Yup, you’d better get ready to be eaten Olaf, because we can’t wait for you to come out on the 16th, filled with yummy chocolate!

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


text: MARINE Formula STA-BIL® Ethanol Treatment protects against the damaging effects of ethanol. It contains DOUBLE the corrosion protection, and 4 TIMES the fuel system cleaner of Regular STA-BIL. Removes water, and helps prevent phase separation. Recommended for use AT EVERY FILL UP.

industry_corpus2: Petrochemicals


text:
Zoo News Digest: So you want to work in the new Dubai Safari Zoo?
Until recently I was receiving two or three emails a day asking for more details or how to apply to work in the new Dubai Safari Zoo. I didn't have an answer. It is not as though it is a secretive venture, it has had a lot of press but as to who was involved in the planning, the architects, the consultants this seems to be a very tightly closed book. There are seemingly 8 consultants involved in the project.
It has been suggested that the actual plans for the Safari Zoo had been in existence for several years. These having been drawn up for a similar venture which never actually got past the planning stage.
Just looking at the picture above suggests that the plans go beyond a simple transfer of animals from the existing Dubai Zoo.
Dubai Zoo incidentally I don't believe should close. I believe it should be re-developed with fewer animals. The location of Dubai Zoo make it ideal for visits and this is borne out by the large number of visitors it gets each week. Many of these are housemaids and nannies taking their young charges out for the day.
The new Dubai Safari is located outside of the city and is very difficult to get to without a car, though no doubt, in time, there will be a metro link.
You will note from the map above that there is mention of elephants. There are none in Dubai Zoo and, as far as I am aware* there are currently only two elephants in the UAE (there used to be more). That the Safari will have elephants is confirmed in this rather jumpy video.
"First phase of Dubai Safari ready by end of March - 1,000 animals and birds expected to be moved to new facility, which is currently 80% complete"
"Dubai’s new safari park in Al Warqa area, which is scheduled to open by this year-end, is an eco-friendly project.
About 1,000 animals from across the world will be housed there in temperature-controlled environment.The animals and birds from the current Dubai zoo will also be transferred to the new venue in Al Warqa, which is 80 times bigger than the Jumeirah facility."
"You might be forgiven for thinking that you have entered into foreign waters as you make your way through wadis filled with flamingos and animals running through greenery – this is the new Dubai Zoo.
Known as Dubai Safari, the Dh150 million park project is right on track and senior officials at Dubai Municipality have confirmed that the new Dubai landmark has completed its first phase of construction and, as scheduled, will be completed by the end of 2014.......The first phase took time to complete because it used to be a landfill, so we had to clean and level the site. One of the other main challenges was designing the zoo because we had to keep in consideration the summer heat as it can get very hot between the months of May and September,” he said.
Lootah explained that some of the animals need to be kept in a controlled environment, and these buildings would use simple, water-cooled greenhouse technology. The buildings are envisioned to be large structures equipped with an artificial mud pathway with dense vegetation, which would reduce the temperatures for visitors moving between exhibits.
With the advice of a municipal zoologist and international specialists, Dubai Municipality was also able to choose what kind of animals would be chosen to live at Dubai Safari. For the animals’ consideration, the safari park will be closed at night so that they can rest peacefully."
"Dubai Safari, that covers 60 hectares of the total area, aims to establish the best centre for wildlife in the world, provide a variety of environments appropriate for different animals, attract visitors from different parts of the world and use modern interactive methods in control and movement to ensure a unique experience for visitors."
"Crocodile park in Dubai to open by 2013 - Dubai will soon be home to about 100 crocodiles as it adds another first to its list and plans to come up with a sophisticated ‘Dubai Crocodile Park’.
The project entails an estimated investment of about $8 million to $10 million.
Expected to come up near the planned Dubai Safari in Mushriff area the park would be spread over 25,000 square metres of area and house Nile crocodiles.
The authorities are targeting to complete the project by 2013."
Dubai Safari has already started hiring staff. They have employed a number of local tour guides. These vacancies were posted on the Dubai Municipality website. One thing that is sure that no-one who is familiar with the Arabian Gulf region would sensibly move any animals anywhere now till the end of the year. It is hot and getting hotter. Heat stress is a killer.
The expected completion date is now sometime in 2015.
It isn't too helpful as vacancies are advertised in Arabic. You can get around it though by using Google translate and a bit of time. They are going to have to start looking for qualified Zoo Professionals soon. I daresay the first ads will appear on the website.
In the meantime I will keep my ear to the ground. Anything I hear will go in the first place on to ZooNews Digest and later on to Zoo Jobs.
If you have any reservations about moving to Dubai. It is a wonderful place to live and work. It is multi cultural. Freedom for all faiths to practice. The nightlife and restaurants are amongst the best in the world. It is a fun city catering for all interests.
* I say "as far as I am aware" because I don't believe anyone really knows what is hidden away in the many private collections in the UAE.

industry_corpus2: Travel & Geography


text:
You have seen them everywhere as of late as harem leather pants are now one of the hottest, hard-to-get looks this season.
Stars like Kim Kardashian have been seen rocking these around town and you surely won't be able to find these in stores anywhere.
Elsastic waist and at ankles with a loose comfy fit makes this an essential.

industry_corpus2: Others


text:
American has a new promotion where you can earn a tiered bonus of 50 to 5,000 bonus AAdvantage miles by completing from one to five activities from now through September 30. Registration is required.
This is a clever and easily-understandable tiered promotion where you can earn more AAdvantage miles, the more program-related activities you complete between the time you register and September 30. There are 5 “activities” in the promotion, you can complete them in any order, and you will earn from 50 to 5,000 bonus AAdvantage miles depending on how many you complete. It’s a nice incentive to engage with the AAdvantage program.
For me, there are three activities that should come easily, in the normal course. I will certainly take an AA flight before September 30. I’m sure I’ll use AA Dining at least once by Sept 30. I’m also pretty likely to use the AAdvantage eShopping portal at least once by Sept 30 (especially if I have a 750-mile incentive to do so).
That leaves hotels and rental cars, neither of which I normally book through AA. Is there enough incentive to motivate me to book a hotel and/or rental car?
As for the rental car, an $18.75-value incentive to book through AA may be enough. We will have at least 3 rentals during the promotional period, maybe more, and it could make sense to shift one of them over to AA if I can get a comparable price. It’s not like I’d be giving up substantial elite benefits (if any) by booking the rental car through the AA portal. So that one’s a real possibility.
The tougher one is the hotel. I haven’t spent much time on the AA hotel booking portal, so I don’t have a good feel for how comparable rates might be. I would earn a few AA miles by booking through AA (in addition to the bonus miles from the promotion), so that would go into my calculation. Even with the bonus promotional miles (baseline value $31.25) and the miles earned by booking through the AA portal though, I’m not sure whether that would be enough to offset (a) the fact that I wouldn’t receive elite benefits on the stay, and (b) the fact that I have access to a number of discounted hotel rates that may be far better than what is offered through the AA portal. On this one, we’ll just have to see how the details play out on our hotel stays over the next 3 months.
[UPDATE: Philly’s online AA account is now updated to the new interface. I clicked on “Promotions” at the bottom of the header with her account summary, the 5k promotion offer appeared, and I was able to register her. I believe that the promotion is not targeted; it just appears whenever the new interface rolls out to each AAdvantage account holder.] Finally, I should note that this promotion may be targeted. It was not on Philly’s AAdvantage account when I logged in earlier this morning. However, her account still had the old look and interface; it’s possible that AA is rolling out the new look over time and the promotion could show up later once her account is converted to the new interface.
Have you received the new AAdvantage 5k promotion? What is your strategy? Let us know in the comments!


text:
A boulder from a landslide killed two children in Welimada, on the Nuwara Eliya road early this morning, the police media unit said.
The police said that the two children aged 16 and 11 were sleeping in their house when the landslide occurred.
The police said that the boulder had gone through the house killing the two children.

industry_corpus2: Media & Journalism


text:
First show of the North American Summer Amphitheatre Tour.
Announced on February 6th, 2017, along with the tour announcement, Muse will play at the Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. The last time that Muse played in this venue, it was in 2004, back when it was called Sound Advice Amphitheatre, 13 years ago.
Dig Down and Starlight were soundchecked. This is the first performance of Dig Down without playback. A SFX intro was played before it. New Kind of Kick was once again played with Matt's vocals on playback. Hullaballoons were released during Starlight. Confetti streams were released during Mercy. The ending note of Drones was looped.
This page was last edited on 14 October 2018, at 13:32.


text:
KARACHI, Nov 20: Several Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in the city remained closed due to very low pressure of gas on Tuesday even ahead of a 48-hour closure announced by the Sui Southern Gas Company.
The gas utility notified that all the CNG stations in Sindh would remain closed for 48 hours from 9am on Wednesday to 9am on Friday.
When asked about the unscheduled closure, Petroleum and CNG Dealers Association Chairman Abdul Sami Khan said they were not doing anything wrong as they had permission by law to close their stations if they were making a loss.
�They have been allowed by the Supreme Court to do this as during his arguments before Justice Gulzar Ahmed the other day our attorney Hafeez Pirzada had said that the administration was making us keep the gas stations open despite making a loss due to the ordered reduction in gas prices.
The judge had then allowed the stations to close down or not sell gas if they were making a loss,� he explained.
�So you may see several stations closing until we have our meeting with Ogra [Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority] to set new sale rates, which is scheduled for Monday Nov 26,� said the chairman.
The press release issued by the SSGC stated: �SSGC regrets the inconvenience which may be caused to the CNG users during the above notified 48-hour shutdown,� it added.

industry_corpus2: Power & Energy


text:
Pollution levels in Delhi have reached epic proportions, lakes in Bangalore are foaming and catching fire, and garbage is piling along our streets in ever-increasing quantities. All this morbid news comes with a silver lining: A marked increase in civil society’s awareness of local issues, especially in urban areas. NGOs, social enterprises and start-ups have begun to deliver local solutions to local problems. The government of India with its Swachh Bharat mission has also joined in, bringing all its firepower. This infectious enthusiasm, however, faces several pitfalls that we must avoid if we are to achieve even moderate success.
The first pitfall is that of scale. Despite having lost some sheen, the idea of one-size-fits-all continues to fester. Not enough attention is paid to the possibility that it may fail if we try to take it out of the environment in which it was born. Also, trained model thinking often ignores corruption and oligopolies that prevent the most optimal solution from being implemented. For example, consider Bangalore and its ever-growing problem of solid waste management. A solution that has been proposed is segregation at source — a model that has worked reasonably well in the West. However, while some people may segregate their waste by choice, a few may only do so when there is punitive action, while others may not do it even if there’s the threat of a hefty fine or a jail term. It’s an open secret that segregation at source is disadvantageous to the garbage mafia in Bangalore (that rakes its dues from the government based on the weight of garbage in trucks) and, therefore, no amount of waste-profiling or optimal disposal route-mapping will complete the loop and result in tangible outcomes. The solution is not to do away with model thinking but instead operate carefully, under the perpetual assumption that scaling will not work unless proven otherwise.
A second and related obstacle is the over-dependence of data-driven decision-making. The walk from raw data to report can create an illusion that all has been accounted for, but the data we get is wrought with inconsistencies and potential errors. More importantly, the back story for every data set collection is washed away when combined with data coming from other reports or for the purpose of brevity. For instance, Karnataka achieved the 100 per cent toilets mark in all its schools last year, a feat that was tempered somewhat by the data that said 5,344 were dysfunctional. At around 5 per cent of the total toilets in the state, the figure doesn’t look too bad on paper. But the cracks are in the meta-data: A toilet is considered dysfunctional only when there’s no water for cleaning. Our organisation works with schools in improving sanitation and local issues across Karnataka and what we have seen in a recent survey we conducted is that only 17% of toilets were actually usable.
Many had been bolted to avoid the hassle of cleaning, some appropriated as toilets for teachers and staff, and a few clogged and rendered unusable. Data-based decision-making is here to stay, but real solutions are possible only when data is highly granular. We must operate under the assumption that data-based recommendations are useless unless the underlying data is ground-truthed and verified against the experience of local-level administrators and civil society.
A third drawback is our narrative — a narrative that is devoid of any attempts to woo the youth towards social change. Let’s look at the numbers — 10 million Indians graduate every year in this country and only one million get jobs. The mismatch in career and ambition with interest and passion is largely to blame for this. Students hop onto the engineering or medicine train in millions, unable by circumstance to decide for themselves. This leaves nine million unemployed and disgruntled youth, who have the potential to change society but are not given any impetus. It is not enough to dole out lessons in civic and environmental responsibility and hope for change without providing the necessary platform or opportunity for youth to explore their potential. India’s famed demographic dividend is slipping away between our fingers, even as we gloat about it in the rest of the world and unless we do something about it that is quick and effective on a local scale, we will have to start preparing for a demographic liability.
The last pitfall is that of confusing perception with reality. In the age of social media and instant gratification, it is easy to get frustrated by bureaucracy and government. And it is equally easy to quell that frustration with a few photo-ops, a strongly worded tweet or an emphatic ratification by a television presenter.
I spent eight months collecting garbage in Bangalore, doing the safai karamchari’s job and sharing their space. The journey was deeply humbling, and provided a strong impetus for my life goals. There are thousands who are just as enthusiastic as I am and waiting to solve problems, but do not have the right tools or environment. The disillusioned millions hold the key to a better India. It is only a matter of time before they burst onto the scene and be the change they wish to see.
Join us in our mission to solve tough civic and environmental issues using innovation and data, check out www.reapbenefit.org..


text:
Butter London Scoundrel Swatch - Polish Etc.
I have a rather large presentation for work this evening, so everyone wish me luck! I decided to wear the subtle yet gorgeous Butter London Scoundrel for my presentation. Since I'm a bright-colored-nails kind of girl I figured I would tone it down for the presentation. I don't want everyone watching my nails when they should be listening to what I have to say!
Butter London Scoundrel is one of the few near-pastel colors in my collection. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I HATE pastel polishes on me. I have this habit of buying pastels after seeing gorgeous swatches and loving how they look on other girls... then I put them on and have instant lobster hands! I hate how pastels make my skin look dark, red, and kinda dirty. Scoundrel however, is a gorgeous dusty purple. That dusty grey tone makes all of the difference. Scoundrel is what I'd describe as a lilac purple, it tends to be a bit more red-toned than blue toned. In the bottle it looks lighter, but it dries to this gorgeous purple.
The formula on Scoundrel was good, this is two buttery smooth coats. The formula reminds me of a crelly, since it applies like a jelly (smooth and easy) but dries opaque like a creme.
I was really surprised how much I love Scoundrel. While I was trying to tone it down for my presentation, I ended up loving this as a subtle girly purple. I've been told that a good manicure can give you confidence for public speaking and I need everything I can get!
This color looks great on you! Unfortunately, it didn't look so hot on me. Loved the formula though!
That's usually my problem with any polishes that are in the least bit pastel, I was surprised how nice it did look! Thanks for commenting!


text:
An employee verification letter serves as a proof of employment that may be used for various purposes and transactions that require a background check of a specific person including his or her work history. You may also see Letter Samples.
This letter is released by the company for whom the person is working. It allows any institutions or organizations needing such document to verify whether a person is stating the truth regarding specific facts during the recruitment process.
Aside from employee verification letters, we also have a downloadable Confirmation Letter that you may use as a reference to whatever purpose it may serve.
In some cases, employers will also be asked to specify the monthly or annual income of an employee including his or her base salary, the bonuses and incentives being received, and any allowances that he or she is entitled to get.
You may also download our Income Verification Letter and Employee Resignation Letter samples from our website should you be needing this specific kind of letters for the transactions that you do.
As the outcome of the processes that you are doing mainly rely on the consistency of the data you provide, make sure to always be honest in all that you say. Remember that you need to back everything up with a document for verification. Always be concise and accurate with how you answer and make it reflect to your employee verification letter so that you will not encounter possible problems in the near future.
You may view our Employee Complaint Letter Template as well should you have familiarized yourself already with the functions of an employee verification letter and need another form of letter to know of.


text:
Is there anything better than a long, luxurious soak in a jacuzzi tub or spa? Closing your eyes as you soak in the warm water and comforting jets, it’s easy to drift away and daydream you’re far away from all of the stress of daily life.
If you’ve been considering adding a spa to your home collection, there’s something you should know. No two spa systems are exactly the same; which you install can be the difference between enjoyment and a sub-par experience.
At Paradise Pools, we’re proud to sell luxurious Caldera Spa systems. Here’s why you should consider this brand before you make your purchase.
If you’re the type of person who enjoys an active lifestyle, you may enjoy special benefits from your Caldera Spa. Warm water jets encourage better circulation and gently relax your muscles, letting you recover faster after exercise. In just 20 minutes, you can achieve temporary relief from those exercise-induced aches and pains.
Those massaging jets also carry another benefit: relaxation. The combination of warmth and gentle massage creates the perfect environment for unwinding after a long day. Stepping into your Caldera Spa will begin to feel like the high point of your day; it’s your “home away from home” and a place of solitude and peace. It’s also a great way to unwind with a couple of friends on special occasions or during the holidays!
Struggling with Arthritis, or maybe even just a bum knee? There’s evidence that spending time in a hot tub or spa may actually reduce your level of joint pain, especially with regular use. There are a few different theories for why this happens: increased circulation, stress reduction, muscle relaxation…even plain and simple distraction counts. Spending just 20 minutes in your spa daily could very well help you to limit the pain you experience without taking any additional medications.
Of course, everyone is different and your doctor knows you best. Your mileage may vary, but if nothing else, you’ll enjoy the time you spend in your spa!
Here at Paradise Pools, we know there’s nothing more enjoyable than a hot soak or a swim on a beautiful day. If you’re considering adding a spa or installing a pool, we’d love to help you find the right system. Reach out now and discover the beauty of Caldera Spas.


text:
Have you ever wanted an hand-knotted rug? Not just any rug, but one with the quality to last a lifetime and the fair trade labor standards you demand? Come and explore our large selection of Tribal, Bokhara and Persian rugs. From Classic to Contemporary in sizes from 2’x3′ to 10’x14′ and runners. All of the rugs are hand-knotted by fairly paid adults in Pakistan.
Please RSVP, if you plan to attend by calling 540-442-1010.


text: This reference publication contains high precision data covering the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and minor planets, timescales, reduction of celestial coordinates, reference frames as well as reference data for a variety of astronomical objects. Phenomena including rise/set information, planetary magnitudes and eclipses are also provided. It is aimed at the professional and amateur astronomer, space scientist, geodesist, surveyor and navigator.

industry_corpus2: Aerospace


text:
In this module we’ll discuss an interesting take on network automation: treating network infrastructure as code and using software development techniques to manage it.
Network Infrastructure as Code (NIAC) is another overhyped buzzword. In this section we'll try to define what NIAC is, why you might care about it, and how to implement simple NIAC in networks that use decent devices with configuration replace functionality.
The second half of the presentation introduces advanced challenges like abstraction layers, dealing with numerous devices and byzantine failures, and using software development methodologies in network automation.
In the Network Infrastructure as Code presentation Mark Prior described how he automated a private cloud infrastructure, and how he uses infrastructure-as-code principles to build reliable data center networking infrastructure.
In the first part of his presentation Mark described a large-scale private cloud automation project he worked on.
After introducing one of his network automation projects, Mark described how he uses infrastructure-as-code principles in his work.
Mark spent ~15 minutes describing the principles of Ansible. As you might already be familiar with them, we moved them into a separate video.
The final part of Mark's presentation was a hands-on demo combining Git (version control), Jenkins (CI/CD pipeline), Ansible (configuration deployment), Python (post-deployment checks) and Slack (ops team notification).


text:
I sat down to write a blog post about the upcoming election this Saturday concerning the CATS Mass Transit Proposal. I started several different drafts of the post, trying to figure out how to address the myriad issues, both with the proposal itself as well as the arguments against the proposal. Every one of them seemed too lengthy (I know, surprise). I was getting frustrated and gave up on the whole thing, resigned to just continually barrage my Facebook wall and email contacts with this excellent Guide to the CATS Mass Transit Proposal put together by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. Very easy to understand and full of facts without bias.
…and then I received an email.
Sent out by Q106.5, the email featured one of the most clearly worded and well articulated Frequently Asked Questions I have yet seen concerning the proposal. I’m pretty sure it’s a crib of several different Together Baton Rouge and Baton Rouge Transit Coalition documents, but it’s not like they’re turning it in for a grade. Great job to whoever put it together. So here you go: everything you have ever wanted to know about the upcoming election. Grab something to drink and settle in for a spell.
1) What is “Transit Reform” all about?
Comprehensive Transit Reform has three components: Governance Reform, to strengthen the CATS board; an Election on April 21st, to create a dedicated revenue source for transit which will fund significant service improvements; and an Accountability Report Card and regular citizen evaluations, to give citizens the tools to hold CATS accountable for delivering service reforms as advertised and on time. Transit Reform is about improving the lives of people and the economic development of our community by providing a cost-effective alternative to travel by automobile and reducing traffic congestion and overall transportation costs for gas, insurance and car repairs.
2) Why does Baton Rouge’s transit system need more funding?
The average Southern cities spend on public transit is $133 per capita. Baton Rouge spends only $27 per capita on transit, 20% of the Southern city average. This extreme and decades-long under-investment is a major factor in why we have such a poor transit system. The result is a system with 75-minute wait times, poor route coverage and one-way trip times of 2 hours, 20 minutes (the time it takes to get to Biloxi, MS). Baton Rouge appears to have the lowest per-capita funding on transit of any city in the country.
3) Why not have the riders pay for increased funding?
Transit systems in Southern cities receive on average 14% of their revenue from rider fares. Baton Rouge already receives 25% of its revenue from rider fares, meaning that Baton Rouge already gets almost twice the revenue from rider fares than the average for transit systems. Increasing fares even more to pay for improved transit would put an even greater burden on transit riders who already pay substantially more than riders in peer cities.
4) If transit is so important, why doesn’t the Metro Council pay for it out of its regular budget?
Nearly all transit systems around the country have their own dedicated revenue source, so that funding is stable and predictable. Very few systems — and virtually none in larger cities — are funded out of general municipal revenue. Baton Rouge is one of the largest cities in the country without a dedicated revenue source for transit.
5) If the April 21st election passes, the CATS system would receive $18 million in dedicated revenue and a total budget of almost $30 million. Is that too much money?
$18.4 million in dedicated revenue and a $29.9 million overall budget was the amount recommended by the Blue Ribbon Commission as the minimum necessary to begin to build a modern transit system in Baton Rouge. This would bring CATS’ spending to $67 per capita, compared to its current level of $27 per capita — still a far cry from the Southern metro average of $133 per capita, but enough to build a high-quality, modern system. To put CATS’ proposed $30 million budget in perspective, the transit system in New Orleans has a budget of $76 million, serving a population 20% smaller than Baton Rouge’s service area.
6) Aren’t CATS buses sometimes empty? Why doesn’t CATS use vans or smaller buses?
Buses are like retail stores — they have busy hours and slow hours. Most people talk about buses being empty because they see them in the middle of the day. At peak hours — early in the morning and in the late afternoon, when people are going to and coming from work — most bus routes are full or nearly full. Running smaller vehicles at slow hours would require two different vehicles per route, which increases costs substantially. Furthermore, smaller vehicles actually are more expensive than larger ones, because they have a shorter lifespan. The 35-foot buses currently in use cost approximately $340,000 and have a life span of 12 years, costing about $28,000 per year. The smaller, 20-foot vehicles cost approximately $250,000 and have a life span of 5 years or less, costing $50,000 per year. Shifting to smaller vehicles would waste about $22,000 per bus per year.
7) Has CATS been wasting our money?
8) How were these “peer cities” decided?
The “peer city” analysis compared 10 significant Southern cities, which are the most likely to be in competition for businesses and residents. The Southern metro areas studied are Atlanta, Austin, Baton Rouge, Charlotte, Houston, Knoxville, Little Rock, Memphis, New Orleans and Raleigh.
9) I’ve heard that the April 21st election is taking place in a “gerrymandered district.” Is that true?
The accusation of gerrymandering is simple misinformation. State law provides CATS with two options for elections — to hold them either within the entire parish or within the city limits of any municipalities within the parish. CATS is holding the election in the city limits because it tracks more closely with the density of the ridership. The election is taking place in the permanent city boundaries of Baton Rouge, Baker and Zachary, not inside a gerrymandered district.
10) Why were Central and the unincorporated areas of East Baton Rouge Parish left out?
A key recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Commission was to align the area voting on and potentially paying for a dedicated revenue source more closely with the area that will be served by the transit system. There are no transit routes serving or currently planned for Central and most of the unincorporated areas, because low population densities in those areas that are not conducive to mass transit. Holding the elections in the cities of Baton Rouge, Baker and Zachary aligns the taxpayer area much more closely with the route service area.
11) But aren’t some of the transit routes outside of the city limits of Baton Rouge, Baker and Zachary?
About 95% of route mileage is inside the city limits where the vote will be taking place. The main area outside those boundaries is in the southeastern portion of the parish, which includes several hospitals and the Mall of Louisiana. Those lines will be continued because residents who live inside the city limits need access to those locations. The options for the election were either to hold the election in the entire parish or in the cities, and the cities provide a much closer alignment between the taxpayer base and the area served by the transit system.
12) Aren’t our property taxes too high already?
Historically, Louisiana has had extremely low property taxes and very high sales taxes, a system that places a higher burden on low-income residents. Louisiana ranks 51st in the country for property tax burden, behind all other states and Washington D. C. The chart below shows where East Baton Rouge Parish ranks on property taxes, compared to parishes and counties around the country.
EBR ranking for property tax burden (after transit millage): 731st out of 792 U.S. counties/parishes (still one of the lowest in the nation).
13) Why doesn’t the homestead exemption apply for this election?
State law prohibits the homestead exemption for all property tax elections that are municipality-based. The homestead exemption is only applicable to parish-wide tax elections and therefore cannot apply for this election. Similarly, all fire districts, the Baker, Zachary and Central school district taxes and all other municipal taxes that are confined to city limits are not subject to the homestead exemption because they are not parish-wide taxes.
14) Why is the Metropolitan Council being removed from operational decisions?
In the past, accountability for the transit system has been split between two public entities, with decisions by the CATS Board over routes and fares subject to veto power by the Metropolitan Council. The Blue Ribbon Commission was unable to find a single other example in the nation with anything resembling this confusing, divided governing authority. The universal conclusion of transit consultants and the examples of best practices nationally is for the system to be governed by a single transit board, funded by a dedicated revenue source and accountable directly to voters.
15) How will we hold CATS accountable for results?
The highest-performing transit systems in the nation are accountable directly to voters, who have the power to support or reject dedicated revenue in the future — the power of the purse. CATS no longer will be accountable to the Metro Council or Mayor or to any other politician; it will be accountable to us, the citizens who pay the bills. Together Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Transit Coalition are developing a comprehensive Accountability Report Card, to give the citizenry the tools to assess CATS performance on an ongoing and incremental basis. That Accountability Report Card will have benchmarks and timelines for delivery for every item of transit reform. Together Baton Rouge will meet with the CATS board and management every three months after the April election, to grade them on each reform item covered by the Accountability Report Card and assess the implementation of the transit reform plan.
So there you have it: a lot of great answers to some great (and not so great) questions. There may be a few additional quibbles (i.e. #12 doesn’t address our high sales tax rate, but even including sales taxes currently puts us somewhere in the middle of the pack total tax burden wise rather than making us taxed to the hilt), but generally speaking I think this addresses a lot of the issues.
Apparently, some think this is what patriotism looks like. If you ask me, it looks an awful lot like 9/11 and Oklahoma City.
It’s been a while, but recent events have compelled me to post. I wrote a little while ago about the potential for violence when political pundits and parties abrogate their responsibility to monitor and control their message. Sadly, I was proven somewhat prescient (not that it takes much to guess the inevitable). As most have heard by now, an idiot crashed his plane into an IRS building in Austin, TX, ultimately killing Vietnam veteran and IRS employee Vernon Hunter as well as his own loathsome self. This idiot’s name was Joe Stack.
Not only did Stack perpetrate one of the grandest spectacle homicides in recent memory, but he left us a note by which to remember him. If you do decide to go down the rabbit hole, make sure to bring along this travel guide to help point out the landmarks in the fantasy land of delusion in which Stack lived. It’s a pretty convoluted world where a man who’s money and livelihood were “stolen” by the government still somehow managed to own a $200,000 house and private plane. Yeah, he was living hand-to-mouth.
To me, the really interesting part of this tragedy is the contrast in the public reaction when compared with the Oklahoma City Bombing. Both were carried out by disturbed domestic terrorists fed up with the government. But Stack seems to have received much more support from the general public than McVeigh. McVeigh was generally reviled by everyone but a few fringe elements in the anti-government and white supremacy movement. Stack, on the other hand, has his own facebook fan page. To be fair, technological advances have eased the barriers of entry to getting your opinion heard on a grand scale, no matter how marginalized that opinion may be.
At the same time, social media websites like facebook aren’t anonymous, generally speaking. When you register your support for something, you’re registering your support for the facebook-going public to see. Fully aware of this and at last count, 2,293 people have registered their support for “The philosophy of Joe Stack”. 2,293 people have taken an affirmative stance in support of the philosophical arguments espoused by a terrorist. That truly blows my mind.
That type of rationale makes it hard for me to accept the defensive arguments of his supporters without a grain of salt. Further, I would have loved to see public reaction to a Muslim stating they did not agree with the methods of the 9/11 terrorists, but agreed with their anger against the United States. In my opinion, these statements of support are delusional and yet another display by a movement taking its cues from irresponsible leaders ultimately responsible for this tragedy.
To understand my rationale, you need to understand important concepts underlying the psychological preparation needed to kill someone. During my time in the US Army, I read On Killing by LTC Dave Grossman. LTC Grossman’s book is a fascinating analysis of the situational and psychological factors that play into a human being’s ability to kill another human being. One of those factors is dehumanizing the enemy. In recent conflicts, the military has accomplished this through the use of human-shaped target silhouettes and derogatory nicknames. It’s the latter that draws my attention.
The current partisan political discourse, both within the government and without, invites just the type of dehumanization needed to overcome inherent limits on a human being’s ability to kill. When last I wrote on this topic, I presented Jim David Adkisson as an example of this phenomenon. Adkisson murdered two members of a Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville because he hated Democrats, liberals, African-Americans, and homosexuals. Adkisson’s personal library contained writings from such luminaries as Mike Savage, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly.
Since Adkisson’s rampage, the partisan divide has only become more strained and, not unsurprisingly, we now have another example of this phenomenon in the form of Joe Stack. To the pundits and politicians who gleefully vilify the opposition, you need to take a hard look at what you are doing and saying. Focus your efforts on the issue, not the person. I realize it probably helps you sleep at night to think you can disassociate yourself from the actions of someone you have influenced. I also realize it is unlikely you understand the psychological rationale required to kill a person as most of you never served in any branch of the military. While you can deny your culpability in any deaths that result from your influence, the simple fact is that you are playing a necessary role in the dehumanization of an innocent person.
Simply consider this: if Joe Stack had viewed the IRS as an organization of hard-working human beings with the unfortunate job of collecting taxes rather than as a leviathan evil responsible for his sorry lot in life, Vernon Hunter would likely still be alive today.

industry_corpus2: Transportation


text:
At least, that’s what Monday morning’s Virginian Pilot said, and my newspaper would never lie to me.
In Norfolk, ESPN Radio’s Tony Mercurio suggested it might have been a publicity stunt. But is this good publicity? And why have copies of the paper disappeared from the internet? I thought they would be all over E-Bay by now. Comparisons have been made to “Dewey defeats Truman.” But it seems that Dewey almost did defeat Truman. And it is not 1948.
Besides, who gets their sports news from the newspaper anymore. I get my news from the internet. I mean the internet would never lie to me.
10. Should have waited until after the game to eat wings and drink beer.
9. Relax, it’s the best of seven.
8. Wanted to get home for Undercover Boss.
7. Parking at victory parades is such a hassle.
6. Too much pregame partying with Snooki and J-Woww.
5. Saints players were shoving us.
4. Because of cutbacks, we only brought 12 guys.
3. Oblong shape of ball made it quite unwieldy.
2. Right, like God is going to let a team called the Saints lose.
1. Peyton [Manning] left early to tape a Gatorade commercial.
First, a disclaimer, I know I can not pick my features.
Although one time I did beg, when I wrote “Mr. Editor, please make this a feature” (link provided). And 40 other times, I have had articles featured.
So while I can not pick a feature, if I could pick a feature for #42, it would be #42.
Jackie Robinson is the greatest baseball player of all time. The best? Well, that can be up for debate and difficult to measure over time and different eras. But there can be no question about Robinson’s athletic ability. He played four sports at UCLA. He could have been a star in any of them. But I am not talking about being the best, let’s talk about greatness. Here we are in an era where steroids make a player great. How about going back to a time when character made a player great. And that is what we can talk about when we talk about Robinson. Clearly he was a man of great character.
But how about another aspect that made him great, knowing when it is time to retire. Again, we seem to be in a time when players hang on to the limelight too long. And this is not a new phenomenon, players as great as Willie Mays and Babe Ruth both seemed to stay in the game too long. But not Robinson, he was reported to be in a trade sending him to the rival Giants and the Dodgers were leaving Brooklyn. Cue the exit. Right on time.
Above all of this was the most obvious contribution that Robinson made to the game of baseball, and society in general. Robinson broke the barrier that existed in Major League Baseball. It happened with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, with thanks to Branch Rickey, a man who had a good moral compass and an idea about social justice. In 1997, MLB honored the 50th anniversary by retiring #42 for every major league team.
Jackie Robinson. #42. Greatest baseball player.
Goaltender Curtis Joseph, known as “Cujo”, retired Tuesday at age 42.
He retires with the distinction of being the goalie with the most wins that never won the Stanley Cup. Joseph is fourth on the all time wins list with 454 wins. He also ends up tied for most losses with Lorne “Gump” Worsley. Both had 352 losses. However, Worsley was below .500 for his career, but Joseph can attribute this statistic to his longevity.
Joseph’s NHL career began with the St. Louis Blues in 1989. He replaced Greg Millen, who was traded to the Quebec Nordiques. When a player who has been around as long as Joseph retires, it is interesting to look at the transactions over their careers, and to see teams that no longer exist, and cities that no longer have a team. However, Quebec is a great city, and deserves a franchise more than Nashville, but I digress.
Joseph played for six different teams, most recently he was with Toronto for a second stint. He was also with the Oilers, Red Wings, Coyotes and Flames. The old adage in hockey is that you can ride the hot goal tender to the cup. Joseph had some memorable playoff appearances, but never made it all the way. It is too bad, because having the distinction of “the most wins without a Stanley Cup” takes away from some of the accomplishments over his long career.
Pregame was going just fine. Had my beverage of choice and some chips. Kerri Corazon made a really good Chicken Pizza. Coming up, Ravens and Patriots on HDTV.
Then, I pushed a button on the remote.
In our house, as I imagine it is in most houses, we all have things we can do and things we are not supposed to do. We have a music room, with a piano and a guitar and other instruments, and if I am there, I know what I can do. And when I am in the living room, the tech stuff is not my department.
So now the game is starting and the TV is out. I have no idea what I did, and Kerri is busy troubleshooting it. And I am thinking, what did I do to the football gods to take away this playoff game from me? And do you know when this happens, and you feel like 5 minutes is an hour. It was, no exaggeration, 20 minutes.
Kerri, as I knew she would, fixed it. In between the choice words that I added in about the TV. And then I learned something about the football gods. Maybe they were not cruel. Maybe they were just saving me from what was more cruel. By the time the TV situation was fixed, the Ravens were up 14 to 0. Then Tom Brady threw an interception. Then Kerri took the remote away, and every other object I might have used to hurt the television.
But this was not unexpected. With the injury to Wes Welker, I was starting to have my doubts. With all of the controversy of the Colts quitting in Week 16, exhibit A in favor of the Colts is the injury to Welker in Week 17. But the Patriots philosophy has always been that football players play football. And Welker’s injury was in the first quarter. It seems unavoidable. I am glad that the team I root for, the Pats, go for it.
There was talk before the game about how the Patriots were 5-0 against the Ravens. New England this season was 8-0 at home. The Pats had not lost a playoff game at home since 1978. This stat, was at best, quite flawed. Did a Houston Oilers victory that happened before many of today’s players were born have any bearing on this game? Also, many of those Patriot teams did not make the playoffs.
The Pats were trailing 33-14 midway through the 4th when they tried to kick a field goal and failed. I wonder if Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis would blame this loss on the “one man operation of the kicking game”. See my post on Coach Speak 101 for more details.
Oh well, 32 days until Red Sox Pitchers and Catchers report.

industry_corpus2: Sports


text: ABSTRACT: Political ecology and cognate fields have highlighted the social constructedness of different water discourses, exposing them as the product of a particular view of nature with underpinning interests and political consequences. Integrated Water Resources Management, technical approaches, or the privatisation of drinking water services have enjoyed dominant positions, being able to determine what constitutes common sense. This has excluded numerous other alternative approaches, such as those championed by indigenous peoples. Social media, through its easy accessibility and its emphasis on visual, interactive, and short communication forms, bears the promise to challenge dominant discourses. Whether social media benefits dominant or alternative discourses has not yet been explored by the political ecology literature to which this article contributes. The article conducts a qualitative analysis of the use of two of the main social networking services (Facebook and Twitter) by nine organisations working on water. Organisations were selected considering their likelihood to champion different water discourses. The article analyses the formats used, the place of communities, and the kind of language employed. It argues that while social media presents an interesting potential for alternative discourses, it also offers important tools for dominant discourses to consolidate themselves. The article concludes that social media does not structurally challenge the status quo and suggests avenues for future research.

industry_corpus2: Water Resources & Marine


text: This is an autographed custom stitched jersey that has been hand signed by Sandy Alomar. A perfect jersey for any collection. The jersey size is XL. The jersey comes with a certificate of authenticity from JSA.


text:
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text:
Hello everyone, I hope you have had a lovely weekend.
It is a lovely read about life and friendship. I guess if I had to compare to another author, Cathy Kelly and Maeve Binchey come to mind.
The Manifesto of the Society at the start of the book is sure to bring a smile.

industry_corpus2: Literature & Emotions


text:
As ridiculous as this claim may be, it’s grounded in concrete evidence. Last December, an AI-composed song populated several New Music Friday playlists on Spotify, with full support from Spotify execs. An entire startup ecosystem is emerging around services that give artists automated songwriting recommendations, or enable the average internet user to generate customized instrumental tracks at the click of a button.
But AI’s long-term impact on music creation isn’t so cut and dried. In fact, if we as an industry are already thinking so reductively and pessimistically about AI from the beginning, we’re sealing our own fates as slaves to the algorithm. Instead, if we take the long view on how technological innovation has made it progressively easier for artists to realize their creative visions, we can see AI’s genuine potential as a powerful tool and partner, rather than as a threat.
Ironically, AI-generated music is nothing “new” in music history. As early as the 1950s, experimental composers were writing music using randomized statistical models. A few decades later, David Bowie worked with former Universal Music Group CTO Ty Roberts to build the Verbasizer -- a program that prompted Bowie to input as many as 25 sentences and word groups into a series of windows, which the program then reordered randomly into new, potentially significant lyrical combinations.
“I can then re-imbue [the Verbasizer] with an emotive quality if I want to, or take it as it writes itself,” said Bowie, as memorialized in the documentary Inspirations. “Some of the things I’ll actually empathize with terrifically.” In other words, Bowie saw this chaotic (if elementary) AI as a means of elevating, rather than stifling, his art -- and he ultimately used many of the Verbasizer’s output in his iconic Berlin Trilogy of albums in the late 1970s, which many consider to be his best work.
Hence, what’s new in 2018 isn’t so much the technology: it’s the money. Major labels, streaming services, VC firms and other stakeholders are investing more and more cash in trying to build scalable, AI-generated music products for the masses.
Almost immediately upon joining Spotify, Pachet reunited with Carré to help promote a new, AI-composed music project on the streaming platform called SKYGGE. One of SKYGGE’s hit singles -- “Hello Shadow,” featuring Kiesza -- appeared on Spotify’s flagship New Music Friday playlist in Dec. 2017, as well as on localized NMF playlists in the U.K., Norway and Scandinavia.
Through its in-house Magenta project, Google is also developing deep-learning algorithms for generating songs, drawings and other artworks. One of its most popular music projects, Performance RNN, uses neural networks to give expressive, human-like timing and dynamics to otherwise stagnant, machine-generated MIDI files. All of Magenta’s tools are open-source, and real artists are already using these tools to write their own songs.
In the startup world, companies like Splice and Amadeus Code are building similarly AI-facilitated assistants for songwriters and producers. Three of the 21 startups in the Techstars Music accelerator roster to date -- Amper, Popgun and SecondBrain -- have built their core product around AI-generated music. Both Amper and Popgun have closed additional funding rounds from the likes of Khosla Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Horizons Ventures and Foundry Group since graduating from Techstars.
Yet, despite all this money flowing in, creative AI still faces financial and legal resistance from many people in music, particularly from legacy label execs who built their businesses around the exploitation of human-owned copyright.
Considering that music is inherently subjective and emotional, the notion of having a machine quantify and optimize for “aesthetic quality” understandably ruffles some feathers. In other operational areas, however, major labels are gradually warming up to the notion that data and “gut” don’t simply cancel each other out, but rather are most powerful when they coexist. Warner Music Group’s recent acquisition of Sodatone, a startup using algorithms to streamline and improve the A&R process, is a prime example of such a paradigm transforming artist development.
What makes creative AI particularly contentious is that labels and streaming services -- who are locked in an arguably faulty mutual dependency -- actually have opposite stakes in the outcome of just how good AI-generated music gets. While labels want to continue making money from their copyrights, streaming services want to stop relinquishing nearly 80 percent of their revenue to third-party rights holders.
In particular, Spotify’s motivations for investing more in AI-generated music may be the same reason why Uber, Lyft and other rideshare companies are investing more in self-driving cars -- namely banking on future costs plummeting in order to justify heavy upfront R&D spend. In this vein, Spotify’s chief R&D officer Gustav Söderström characterizing the company's consumer-facing vision as "self-driving music" is no coincidence.
The tension between labels and streaming services around creative automation was catapulted into the limelight in July 2017, when media outlets and industry execs accused Spotify of placing “fake artists” in its mood playlists. It was revealed that Swedish production- and background-music company Epidemic Sound had developed a robust distribution network for mood music on YouTube and successfully translated that network into majority market share on a handful of Spotify playlists like Peaceful Piano, and Deep Focus and Ambient Chill. The coming wave of creative AI will serve as yet another litmus test for how much the music industry can tolerate -- and compete with -- a more functional, utilitarian music streaming ecosystem.
Unfortunately for labels, a handful of the startups working on AI-generated music are also operating on a more utilitarian outlook on the industry. Speaking at the Copyright & Technology Conference in New York in Jan. 2018, Amper Music CEO Drew Silverstein outlined what he understood as a distinction between “artistic music” (e.g. the orchestral soundtrack from Star Wars) and “functional music” (e.g. Muzak-style elevator jingles).
Silverstein declared that Amper's primary product was indeed “functional music, for the contexts that demand it." In his eyes, not only is a functional music product more sellable, but such an approach also widens the market significantly to users who might not necessarily judge a song on its artistic merits alone -- namely film, advertising, gaming and other adjacent industries.
To mitigate future risk, labels would be wise to invest in and/or acquire AI-generated music startups -- which is already happening indirectly, through partnerships with programs like Techstars Music. But there’s still a legal elephant in the room that may complicate already-frazzled conversations around IP and ownership in music: as of press time, U.S. law doesn’t allow an AI to own a copyright.
Section 102 of the U.S. Code states that “in no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery.” Musical algorithms fit these criteria almost perfectly: at their heart, they are merely procedures and processes for outputting musical content. The legal complexity lies in figuring out whether human artists using AI tools are truly the “authors” of the end works created, or whether they are simply the programmers behind the AI tools.
Until lawmakers iron out these kinks -- which, if history is any lesson, will take several years if not decades -- the industry will see deals orchestrated across the spectrum on a case-by-case basis. For instance, YouTube personality and singer Taryn Southern formally credited Amper Music as a co-writer in all the tracks for her latest album, I AM AI. On the other end, while many artists have use Google Magenta tools to write their own music, most of them have neither the desire nor the infrastructure to pay royalties back to Google.
As these early deals get under way, another pressing question looms overhead: how do we define “success” for AI-generated music in the first place? Human creativity itself may be the most perplexing “black box” of all -- far more opaque than any algorithm or non-disclosure agreement. If we ourselves struggle to describe how exactly we make music, how can we possibly teach a computer to do it? How can we measure progress and improvement such that we can justify further investment in the space in the long term?
Google is grappling directly with these challenges, having developed many of the most compelling AIs of the past decade, including but not limited to Google Translate and AlphaGo. An important part of why these particular AIs have made such a huge impact on society is that they have beaten humans at solving narrowly-defined problems -- e.g. how to win a board game, or how to translate practically from one language to another.
But that openness and flexibility is arguably a strength -- especially for the artist community, which historically felt pressured to conform to what tech companies asked of them, not the other way around. Magenta is involving artists directly in their day-to-day operations, constantly asking artists how they create music and how their current tools could be more user-friendly.
Today, there are clear situations where an AI can outperform human artists, but not in the sense of outright displacement. Two of the biggest pain points in any creative process are time and cost, and AI can help reduce both factors significantly. In addition, amidst brutal touring, travel and interview schedules, artists can easily experience exhaustion and be less productive in their songwriting as a result, whereas there is no such thing as “exhaustion” for algorithms; assuming no “bugs,” they can run nonstop at peak performance, 24/7.
Where AI still falls far behind artists -- and where no one in the industry needs to fret about losing their jobs, at least for the time being -- is in building a compelling story around music that will convince fans to pay.
The claim that “AI will replace artists” assumes that we prescribe value only to songs themselves, when in reality musicians are so respected because they are arbiters of culture and context, not just of sound. If they are doing their jobs effectively, the people who help promote and develop artists (labels, distributors, managers, concert promoters, agents, etc.) are also selling the artists’ backstories -- personal histories, cultural and political upbringings, individual passions, etc. -- as much as they are selling the musical works.
In contrast, a typical AI has no “memories” or “experiences” in the world on which to draw for its creativity; just like Google Translate or AlphaGo, it’s working only with a limited set of predetermined rules and rewards. Until we can have an AI tell stories about itself and the music it writes, and until music companies feel comfortable promoting such "AI-generated backstories," human artists will still end up at the top and have the last creative word.
Hence, for all corners of the music industry, today's AI models are no more than evidence-based tools for reducing the time and cost required to make smarter decisions. At least in the short term, creative AI will reshape the industry not by eliminating jobs, but rather by freeing up real estate in the human mind to capitalize on certain perspectives and actions that it could not afford to take previously.
A positive side effect of this shift is that AI-facilitated tools and assistants will continue the work of Garageband, drum machines and other similar technologies in democratizing music creation to more and more aspiring artists all over the world -- which is arguably a net gain for the music industry at large.
In short, AI's aggregate impact on the music industry will not merely be inaction or laziness, but rather increased access and efficiency that enables further intellectual elevation. After all, unlike today’s AI, we ultimately write and dictate the narratives around our own creativity -- for now.

industry_corpus2: Artificial Intelligence


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Our College Now program is a unique opportunity for all high school seniors to get a head start on a college education. It will allow you to get a feel of college life and take classes in the career field you want to pursue.
You can earn up to 11 college credits tuition-free.
How Can I learn More About College Now at ASA?
Please fill out the form below and one of our Admissions Associates will contact you shortly.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


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Advertising and ad development has never been more important to the online space than it is today. An effective ad campaign designed by a professional digital agency can be the difference between social media success and failure. This means that you need to make sure that you dedicate plenty of time to writing and developing high-quality, effective ads for your business.
Social media marketing through ads – such as Facebook ads – is growing all the time. Developing the perfect social media ad can be a difficult process, but is something that you need to master if you want to create a real online presence.
Why You Should Never Rush Your Keyword Research?


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American Management Systems (AMS), the international business and information technology consulting firm, today launches a European initiative to address the complexities of telecoms roaming. Earlier this month, nine UK and German operators were raided by the European Commission during a mass probe into overcharging in roaming. The key premise behind the raids is that operators within a group are colluding to fix roaming prices. AMS asserts that the high costs of offering roaming services across non-standard platforms, constant regulatory changes and reliance on broker services are the barriers to lower prices.
Mr. Dijkman asserts that the solution is for operators to employ a global approach to managing their roaming business. "Roaming is where the integration between operators matters most. A common roaming billing platform across all subsidiary companies will help operators roll out new services more quickly, so improving operations and profitability. Given the regulator's aim to unleash fiercer competition within the roaming market, a platform that allows companies to operate efficiently and flexibly will be critical to their success."
AMS has worked with a number of European operators to increase the efficiency of their roaming processes and systems. The company helped Airtel of Spain to become one of the world's first TAP3 compliant operators and AMS's own TAP3 compliant roaming system, INTransit, is implemented at Amena, a GSM1800 operator in Spain. The platform improves operators' cash flow and operating efficiencies by standardising processes and by enabling faster, more accurate exchange of roaming data. It also provides real-time access to customer behaviour and billing information to give operators additional competitive advantage. Most importantly, the comprehensive system unlocks the enormous potential of offering roaming for 2.5G, 3G and value-added services and of providing a robust roaming solution for the large prepaid market.
AMS is an international business and information technology consulting firm that helps clients create value by increasing revenues and market share and decreasing costs. The firm combines analytical, business process and technology skills with deep industry expertise to provide leading edge solutions that deliver competitive advantage to clients.
Founded in 1970, AMS is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, with 8,750 employees and 51 offices worldwide. European headquarters are in The Hague, The Netherlands, and AMS has staff and offices in 11 European countries.


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Research the background of the Martinot Family Tree using the links below. We hope you find this information useful whilst you are unearthing your Martinot Family Tree !
New to Family History? Check out our Getting Started page. Check out House Of Names to investigate the origins of the Martinot surname or get a copy of the Martinot family Crest (a great gift idea!).
Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out your Martinot family tree. Many large databases are available to search covering from births, deaths and marriages, military records, census records and immigration records with many other smaller collections too. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly.
Ancestry.com global records search results for the Martinot family.
1790 - 1930 US Federal census search results for the Martinot surname.
Historical Newspaper archive search results for the Martinot surname.
UK Parish Records search results for the Martinot family name.
UK Census search results for the Martinot surname.
Military records search results for the Martinot surname.
Sometimes you can run into a brick wall in your tree and you just don't have enough evidence to make that next step back in time. If you are lucky then you may find some previously undiscovered Martinot ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results!
Have you reached a brick wall in your Martinot Tree?
Visit our Martinot DNA page to find out more.
Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Martinot Genealogy that will form part of your family tree. Although records vary from country to country, they are normally the most formal record of a person's relations. From the sources below you will be able to find a birth record and, from that, a birth certificate can be ordered which lists the names of the mother and father, taking you back another generation in your tree. A marriage certificate may also list the names of the respective fathers of the bride and groom which may then help you to find them earlier in life on a census record enabling you to fill out more detail in the Martinot family tree.
Study the huge Ancestry records Database for Births, Marriages and Deaths of the Martinot family.
Explore Martinot Parish Records at Find My Past.
Check out the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of the Martinot family using the FreeBMD database.
Check out Genealogy Bank for Martinot family records.
Study MyHeritage for Martinot family data.
Investigate the LDS Database for records of the Martinot family.
Research the Martinot surname using fold3 Military Archives and view images of original Martinot Military records.
Explore World Vital Records for information on the Martinot family.
Look at WikiTree for user contributed Martinot family records. Collaboration is encouraged so that accuracy of Martinot data can be verified or corrected by other users.
Look at MyTrees for information on the Martinot family and people looking to contact living Martinot relations.
Investigate GENi for Martinot family records.
Investigate One Great Family for Martinot records submitted by people who are already researching the Martinot Genealogy .
Research the Martinot surname using Genealogy.com forums .
Check out RootsWeb forums for Martinot records.
Search the Ellis Island Database for information on the Martinot family. This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America.
Explore Rootsweb resources for Martinot records.
Research the Martinot surname using the Genealogy Today database .
View the distribution of the Martinot surname in Britain using the public profiler Names database. The public profiler Names database contains distributions for the Martinot surname in both 1881 and 1998. It also contains data on the ethnicity breakdown of the Martinot surname.
Eric Martinot Wiki Detail Dr.


text: summon an army of magical Guardians. During your adventure, learn to control new types of Guardians, each with their own unique abilities useful for exploring the world of Spark, as well as for taking down formidable bosses on your way. Acquire new powers for both yourself and your Guardians, and become a true Master of Anima.

industry_corpus2: Gaming


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3,575 videos for tucson. Showing 1 to 25 below.
Is The Migrant Caravan A Symptom Of Failed US Policies?


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Terry R. Modesitt, a Terre Haute South Vigo graduate, earned his B.S. in 1979 at Indiana State University and attended Indiana University Law School-Indianapolis until his graduation in 1982. He is a life-long resident of Terre Haute.
Terry completed a three-year law school curriculum in two and a half years, and further passed the Indiana State Bar after only completing two years of his law school curriculum.
Terry is president and owner of Modesitt Law Firm, P.C. His private practice has been general practice with emphasis on Personal Injury, Litigation, Bankruptcy, Divorce, Family Law and Medicaid Planning. He also currently serves in his elected role as Vigo County Prosecutor – a position he has held since 2007. In addition to his distinguished legal career, Terry has been very active in Youth for Christ, Crisis Pregnancy Center, New Life Fellowship Church, Glenn Civic Center, Triad, Senior Education Ministries, as well as other local charities and not-for-profit organizations.
Terry has also volunteered his time and coaching skills to North Central High School, Terre Haute Youth Football League, Terre Haute Boys Club, Dixie Bee Baseball and Terre Haute Babe Ruth. Terry currently serves on the Advisory Board of Juvenile Justice Commission to the Governor, as well as the Board of Directors for Freebirds; and Senior Education Ministries, Inc.
For more than 30 years, Terry Modesitt has been protecting the legal rights of people all over the Wabash Valley. Terry is compassionate and understanding of your needs but is an aggressive proponent of your legal rights during negotiations. The Modesitt Law Firm has earned numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements.
From settling difficult family matters to winning personal injury judgements from multinational corporations and product manufacturers, Terry approaches each and every case with honesty, professionalism and commitment. Many lawyers practice law for a lifetime but never set foot in a courtroom. Terry has testified before Indiana Legislative Committees about changes in Indiana law. Terry has earned a respected reputation for both winning cases in court and negotiating out-of-court settlements.
Terry taught law classes at Indiana State University for three years. Terry’s hobbies include basketball and softball; he is an avid IU basketball fan. He is married to Karen Kiser Modesitt of Terre Haute, and has two sons, Jared and Joel.
Jim Winning, a Terre Haute native, serves as the market president for Old National Bank. Winning’s responsibilities include cultivating new business development opportunities and building community relations. In addition, Winning will continue his current commercial responsibilities of servicing and strengthening business client relationships.
Winning has served as vice president of commercial lending for Old National. During his 17 years with the company, he also served as a private banking officer and a client adviser in Old National’s wealth management division.
A graduate of Indiana State University, Winning is an active community volunteer. In addition to serving as commissioner of the Vigo County Sanitation Board of Commissioners, he is involved with Terre Haute Youth Football, Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club, Riley Recreation League, Union Hospital Foundation, Terre Haute Golf Association and Catholic Charities.
Dan Flanegan is a product obsessed entrepreneur, advisor & investor who likes to focus on Digital Health, Social, AI, VR/AR & Travel. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Butter, a mobile social app for making new friends anywhere on earth! Butter users have generated over a billion mobile page views and counting!
Dan is also the co-founder of SHEnetics, a cloud-based natural language platform that helps you transform any device into a smart AI voice UI based assistant – currently making iOT devices easier to use, voip phones smarter and robots conversational.
Dan was the founder & managing partner of Brand Anywhere, a mobile marketing agency that managed the mobile campaign strategy and execution for global brands including McDonalds, Comcast, Qualcomm, Meguiar’s Auto, Cover Girl, Tampax and Herbal Essences.
Dan co-founded and served as CEO of Soapbox Mobile, a mobile marketing platform provider. As CEO was responsible for the company’s vision and mission of helping companies improve customer engagement through mobile. Instrumental in creating a next generation mobile marketing and CRM platform that has powered the mobile campaigns of numerous brands including Levis, Guinness, Vans Warped Tour, Procter & Gamble, W Hotels, General Motors and many others. Soapbox was acquired in 2007.
Mr. Flanegan has been a featured speaker at The UC Irvine Graduate Computer Science Program, The Rady School of Management at UCSD, The MIT Enterprise Forum and Dow Jones VentureWire.
Duncan was born in London, but spent much of his childhood in Asia, following his parent’s diplomatic postings until starting boarding school in the United Kingdom. He attended Wellington College and then pursued his love of surfing and the ocean by studying Marine Biology with Oceanography at the University of Southampton. He started his first company in London, and then left to pursue an MBA in California where now currently resides with his wife and dog.
He is a veteran entrepreneur. After completion of his MBA he co-founded Soapbox Mobile, a leading mobile marketing company; raising 10 million dollars in the process. He grew the Company’s client roster to include Procter & Gamble, House of Blues, General Motors, Harrah’s Casino, Amp’d Mobile, and the Vans Warped Tour amongst many others. He sold Soapbox in 2007 to Single Touch Systems (OTC: SITO), where he served as SVP.
He then co-founded Butter and served as its first CEO. It is a mobile-first, social network targeted at Millennials. He scaled the user base to over one and a half million users with zero paid installs or marketing, and built relationships with Microsoft, Nokia, and various advertisers along the way. This experience has led to a unique insight into millennial behavior and how to virally grow mobile applications. The product continues to grow and there have been over half a billion photos added to date.
He is currently a co-founder and CEO at My Total Health, a digital health tech company that was founded to enable patients to monitor, manage, and understand their symptoms for a range of conditions. MyGiHealth (go.mygihealth.io) is the first of a pipeline of novel health applications created by the team.
He is thrilled to be joining the board at DHA Gastro and working with Dr. Sharma to grow his practice.

industry_corpus2: Law & Justice