To avoid paying additional interest on my student loans, I want to ask my mother to pay off the entire loans with by lump sum, and then I would pay her back with interest.
Are there any issues regarding taxing for this?
If she charges you interest less than the "market rate" (roughly 2-3% right now depending on the term of the loan), the difference in the interest you pay versus what you would pay at market rates can be classified as a gift and taxed accordingly.
Get everything in writing - the interest rate, term, payment structure, etc.
Use a "fair" interest rate - this is to both be fair to her for giving you money instead of investing it, and avoids the tax consequences above.
Set up a reasonable time frame - don't extend the loan to 30+ years.
Pay it off as soon as you possibly can (for your benefit and hers).
In this context, treat her like a bank. Don't take advantage of your relationship to be late on payments, skip payments, etc. (without agreement in writing up front).
THAT SAID, loans from family can be problematic. They can taint relationships, make you think about each other differently (will you tell her about your extravagant vacations when you owe her money?) and if things don't go to plan it can actually ruin relationships. You also might want to make sure your siblings (or any other heirs) are aware of the arrangement since it affects their inheritance if she passes. An unsecured loan can be even more risky, since there's nothing that she can take to compensate her if you decide not to pay the loan (unlike a mortgage or a car loan). But if you're willing to take that risk, paying interest to family is better than paying it to a bank.
The gift tax exclusion in 2019 is $15,000.
If your mother is married (to your father or someone else), she can provide the funds for each to give up to $15,000. So $30,000 total.
If you are married, you and your spouse can each receive a $15,000 gift from each relative. So $30,000 (mother's not currently married) or $60,000 (mother married) total.
If the amount is over that, it goes against the estate tax exclusion. That's constantly changing, so I won't document the current amount. But if you do not expect to inherit millions from your mother, then it probably doesn't matter.
If your mother is charging you below market rate interest on a loan, you only have to figure gift tax on the interest that you would have paid. Not on the loan.
The IRS publishes rates. The current rate is somewhere between 1.93% and 2.91%.
If we assume a 3% rate (higher than what the IRS posted), then to go above $15,000 in interest, the loan would have to be at least $500,000. That's rather large for a student loan.
Gift tax is unlikely to be a problem unless you are also receiving some other gift from your mother.
For others who may come here, you can entirely avoid this if you are under twenty-five and your mother simply pays for your education. Paying for education directly is just a normal parental activity. No gift tax would apply.
I will skip the question of whether it is a good idea to borrow money from family, but I agree that it can be problematic.
I am a parent. I have learned two things: 1) never cosign EVER. 2) never lend money. Instead, I give whatever money I can afford to give with the clear direction that it is not a loan. This has come about because for 100% of the things I have co-signed, the other person did not make the payments. For 100% of the loans I have personally given, the other person has not paid me back. Nor have I witnessed, in the rest of my family, that there is an exception. As you say, it taints.
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Will: ...why we can't afford no ceiling?
The majority of sitcoms, a fair chunk of dramas and also much scifi are filmed in three wall sets. You see three walls of the room, from the perspective of the fourth invisible wall (see Fourth Wall), where the cameras and equipment are.
Some shows may build a three-wall set with a visible partition running down the middle, to show two rooms (usually adjacent, but sometimes not) at once.
Four-wall sets are quite rare and only for big budget shows. Even then not all of the sets will be four wallers. The Bill and The West Wing are notable examples of integrated four-wallers, making the Walk and Talk possible. In between the three-waller and the four-waller are such sets as the bridges of the various starships Enterprise—these are built as "breakaway" four-wallers, where one segment/wall can be removed to provide a position for the camera, and can be replaced when another angle is required.
Firefly was notable because the entire first floor of the spaceship was built as a single set (and the second floor was built as a separate single set), complete with all four walls in every room—and also providing enough in-world light sources that few if any lights were required to film any scene.
Similarly the Scrubs set was an obsolete hospital (admittedly with some minor internal cosmetic alterations to make filming easier) which was purchased (or possibly rented) by the crew for the purpose of filming. Virtually all the indoor sets, including the various characters' apartments were converted rooms within this hospital. Due to the fact that the set was full of actors wearing scrubs, gurneys and other assorted hospital paraphernalia, the set had to be surrounded with fencing and large "closed set" signs to prevent members of the public walking in off the street looking for treatment.
Aside from Scrubs there are many other single camera sitcoms that use real four-wall sets constructed on soundstages, some of them being necessary for the show's Mockumentary format.
In its early years, children's BBC drama series Grange Hill was filmed in the real classrooms of an abandoned secondary school; fortunately, it was a building with quite large rooms. Upon moving to dedicated BBC studios in 1985/6, the show made a move to using three-walled sets; the fourth wall was either the one at the front of the classroom, or the side wall facing the classroom door. When the show was bought by Mersey Television in 2003, a move to a new four-walled studio was made, as well as shooting scenes on a single camera; this gave the chance at more believably-sized classrooms.
The original series of Doctor Who saw nearly all of its "interiors" (including the TARDIS set) built as three-wallers, giving an overall impression of watching a play. The revamped version from 2005 onwards is generally shot on four-wall sets, although the TARDIS interior was still only a three wall set until 2010, when a new TARDIS interior was built (in full).
See also: Social Semi-Circle and The Couch.
↑ Also referred to as "practical" walls. Practical, in the sense that an actor could lean on it, and practical, in the sense that it could be removed for camera access. Being a carpenter in Hollywood carries special challenges.


1.Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep pan and sauté the onion and garlic.
2.Add the mushrooms and half of the sun dried tomatoes and sauté for 3 more minutes.
3.Add the mushrooms and half of the sun dried tomatoes and sauté for 3 more minutes.
4.Season well, add the sugar and paprika and simmer for 40 minutes.


A student is called a _____.
My brother said, "You are _____."
To me a ____ tastes like dirt.
I had a flat ____.
The ___ feels good on a hot day.


Viewpoints: If Hillary Clinton can't champion voting reforms that empower independents, she doesn't deserve to be president.
FACT CHECK: Are independent voters being suppressed?
In Arizona, the Republican Party runs the table, politically speaking, and it is wary of the rise of independents, trying to knock out a quasi-independent redistricting commission and considering a move to ban independents from any primary voting. In this regard, the Arizona Republican Party is aligned with the national GOP.
However, it would be a mistake to conclude that the Democratic Party stands for anything other than that. If the Republican Party wants an Iron Curtain around its party privilege, national Democrats have taken to using an "iron fist with a velvet glove" approach. Such was the case a few weeks ago when Hillary Clinton, frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, formally entered the race.
Hillary began her campaign kickoff week with a speech at Texas Southern University. Her theme was voting rights, and she berated the Republican Party for voter suppression and fear mongering about voter fraud. She advocated for basic democracy reforms — automatic voter registration at age 18; 20 days of early voting in all states; and the restoration of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which provides an enforcement mechanism to protect the rights of African American and Latino voters. All good in my book.
However, what was telling about Hillary's roaring rhetoric (she's a feminist, we're going to hear a lot of roaring) is what was missing from it: the rights of independent voters and the need to reform the primary system to make it inclusive and nonpartisan. Without addressing those issues, her voting rights appeal is, in effect, a form of voter fraud. If you don't speak out against the barriers faced by all voters — including the 42 percent of those who have opted out of being members of a political party — you have distorted the cause of voting rights.
Historically, these questions have revolved around the status of African American and Latino voters, and, of course, women. These Americans were enfranchised by the 14th, 15th and 19th amendments. The Civil Rights Movement translated its vision of nondiscrimination and racial equality into the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Since then, the voting rights cause has centered on protecting voters of color and ensuring full admittance to the political process. This struggle continues to this day, even as both parties use the issue as a political football to telegraph messaging to their core bases.
At the same time, a new self-selected political constituency has arisen in America, the independent voter. This includes an increasing and significant number of voters of color, who have opted for independence as their political identity. Does Hillary Clinton, voting rights "champion," intend to speak for them, too?
In 2007, Hillary ran around the country, trading on her husband's popularity, presenting herself as the candidate of African Americans. At the time, the country's leading Black independent, Dr. Lenora Fulani, an early Obama supporter, asked "Who decided Hillary was best for the Black community?" Black America decided she wasn't.
Today, I ask another question. Who decided Hillary is the champion of voting rights?
In Arizona, for example, 50 percent of Latinos are independents. But come the presidential primary on March 29, they will not be permitted to vote in either party primary, because the presidential primaries are a "members only" affair. They won't even be able to vote for Hillary Clinton! Isn't that practice a conspicuous form of voter suppression?
Young people coming of age politically, more than half of whom identify as independents, will also find themselves locked out of primary voting. In nearly every state, meanwhile, the taxpayers are footing the bill for an exclusionary system.
Hillary proclaimed that Americans are "problem solvers" and that "our political system is so paralyzed in gridlock" that the American people have lost trust in government. However, she says, "We don't hide from change, we harness it."
Hillary, here's your chance to do that. Even though you are a Democrat — actually because you are a Democrat — don't hide from the fact that 42 percent of Americans are independents. Don't demean the cause of voting rights, to suit your political purposes. Fight to give all voters — including independents — the chance to vote and to build bridges together, regardless of party affiliation. That's how the American people can solve our problems.
In Arizona, that challenge is looming. The acute education crisis can only be resolved if people come together across party (and no party) lines. Governor Ducey and the Legislature can't get it done, because they are too vested in party power. Any and all barriers to nonpartisan alliances need to be struck down to make change possible.
My message to Hillary, woman to woman, is this. If you are not prepared to challenge your own party to fight for voter freedom for all the American people, then you shouldn't be president. And that goes for Jeb and Bernie and Carly and Rand and Marco and Martin and the rest. When they come to Arizona, the independents will have to tell them so.
Jacqueline Salit is author of "Independents Rising" and president ofIndependentVoting.org, a national association of independent voters seeking full inclusion in elections. Salit is working with a multi-faceted coalition in Arizona to give voters the opportunity to choose a nonpartisan election system in 2016.


Can you answer the following question on TV shows from past and present?
1. Which actor, best known for his work in TV sitcoms, narrated the children`s show `Roobard And Custard`?
2. Which TV show, which is still running today, began in 1963 with a girl called Susan Foreman living with her grandfather in a junkyard?
3. Who presented the first ever edition of `Top Of The Pops`?
4. Which TV show takes place in Summer Bay?
5. In which fictional TV place in the 1980s might you have found Doozers?
6. Actor Gil Gerard is best known for his portrayal of which sci-fi character?
7. In `Bargain Hunt` how much money is each team given at the start of the show to buy their items?
8. In which TV show did the character Louby Loo appear?
9. Who hosted the TV game show `The Krypton Factor`?
10. What was J.R.`s surname in the TV soap opera `Dallas`?


Elaborated in this piece are the workarounds to deal with the issue about no audio/sound routed to the HDTV when you connect the AllShare Cast Wireless Hub or HDMI adapter to your Galaxy S5 smartphone.
1. It could be that the volume is turned down on the device, down to the extent of you being unable to hear any sound. In this case, double check the volume level on the device first.
2. Audio problem may also be due to a temporary issue on the device. Leave it that way for now, and then try to check it again at a later time.
3. There are also some cases where users are unable to hear any sound or there is no audio coming through the HDTV when they attached the HDMI adapter or AllShare Cast Wireless Hub to their GS 5 handset. Later on, it was found out that the issue was somehow tied to the mobile device's software or firmware that was outdated.
4. Use of incorrect or incompatible HDMI adapter can also cause such problem to happen on the device.
5. You may also face the same problem when you connect your GS5 to an HDMI port on your HDTV that does not support audio. Same thing happens when you use an adapter when converting a non-HDMI port to an HDMI port.
Now that we already determine the possible problem causes, let's proceed with the following workarounds.
1. To ensure audio is being sent from your Galaxy S5, press the Volume key up on your handset.
2. Perform a soft reset on your mobile phone.
· Remove the battery with the device still ON.
· Wait for at least 30 seconds and then put the battery back in the device.
· Turn the phone ON.
3. After performing a soft reset on the mobile phone, it's time to reboot the DLNA enabled device, as recommended by the manufacturer. If you need further assistance in rebooting the DLNA, it wouldn't hurt if you contact the device's manufacturer.
4. To ensure the problem is not due to an outdated firmware/software on your GS5 device, check for any available software updates for your device at Samsung official site.
5. Make sure the HDMI adapter you bought is compatible with your GS5 handset. Check the model of the HDMI adapter first. It is highly recommended to use the HDMI adapter model shown on your device's Accessories page. Audio may not be routed from the phone to the HDTV if you are using a different HDMI adapter.
Again, please note that if you are using an adapter to convert a non-HDMI port to an HDMI port, it is very likely that audio will not be routed through the television because of limitations of the adapter or port being converted.
In addition, not all HDMI ports support audio and video on some HDTVs. Try to connect the HDMI adapter or AllShare Cast Wireless Hub to another HDMI port, if audio from the Galaxy S5 is not routed to your HDTV.


I found a bee hive in an old building in the wall. I took out part of the wall to get to the honey, but the bottom of the comb was empty. No eggs, no larvae, no honey. Was this the new part of the hive? Should I go back and check at a later date? This was early May. Thanks, Joe P.
Sounds like you went treasure hunting and found no treasure! Oh well, that's how treasure hunting goes sometimes.
It's possible, though, that the treasure was there and you just didn't expose enough of the combs to see it. And it's also possible, of course, that the treasure was already long gone.
First off, I'm assuming that you did see bees in the hive.
If, by chance, you didn't see bees (lots of them - and probably angry!), then the colony has died out or is on the verge of dying. In this case, there would probably be no honey. The colony likely either died from starvation due to lack of honey, or they died from some other cause, and bees from other hives robbed out any remaining honey.
Going on the assumption that there is a live colony that you exposed in the wall, and assuming also that you weren't able to see all of the combs of the colony, then it's very possible that there is honey stored above the combs you were able to view.
Bees have a natural tendency to arrange the hive in this order: brood on the bottom, pollen stored above the brood, and honey stored above the pollen.
Bees also tend to move up in the hive during the winter as they consume their honey stores. So it would be quite possible in early spring for the bottom combs to be empty, with brood, pollen and honey above.
In fact, in a procedure called 'reversing,' beekeepers often move an empty bottom super to the top of the hive in early spring. This is to give the bees room to expand upwards as they are naturally inclined to do.
So if there are combs above the portion of the colony you were able to see, there may be honey there.
If you did see all of the combs, and there's no honey and no brood, then it's a doomed colony. But if it's a strong and thriving colony, odds are good that they will swarm, which will reduce the amount of honey they'll produce. But depending upon many variables, the colony could store up a considerable sum of honey later in the season.
Of course, the best thing would be to transfer the bees from the house to a proper hive, where they could be managed properly and honey harvested without tearing into a wall.
If this is not an abandoned house, then the bees really should be removed. Either transferred to a hive, or - sad, but sometimes necessary - exterminated and all of the combs removed from the wall.
Here's a webpage that provides more info about honey bees in the walls of a building.


</a> Go slink back to your FF hole in the ground with all the other gutter rat residents. No one here said anything about Jen like the slanderous lies you just repeated, part of the mantra of FF vileness repeated now since 2005, none of which is true or ever has been. Everyone other than evil lowlife completely psychotic insane FF denizens has moved on from a failed relationship that was not their own.
</a> "I'm used to conducting proceedings, therefore I'm used to controlling the pace and the order of events," he says, going over the same ground about why there are advantages of having a judge in charge of these things.
</a> "I will never forget that performance because it is what forced me to draw my personal line in the sandâ¦. I love being the center of attention, but that was something different. I was being stared and laughed at for all of the wrong reasons. I was being looked at as a propâ¦as something less than human."
</a> How much of all this survives, and where is it? We should be suspicious of objects and personal possessions said to have belonged to Mary simply because such a provenance, if it can be proved, enhances the object’s value exponentially. And Mary’s personal belongings can be difficult to identify with certainty because after her abdication in 1567 and flight to England the following year most of the possessions she’d brought from France were dispersed.
</a> To qualify for a pay-out, your illness must be listed by the insurance policy, so it is important to take out cover that offers protection from a broad range of conditions to increase your chances of a successful claim.
</a> He said domestic demand of copper could surge in the comingyear since China would start new standards on some homeappliances in October this year, which could prompt homeappliance makers to boost production to replenish stocks.
</a> British Eventing, the sport's governing body, said: "We would ask that at this extremely sad time that people using social media respect the fact that the rider's family may not be aware of the accident."
</a> Developers in Dubai are back to announcing mega-projects asthe emirate recovers from its 2009-2010 debt crisis. Dubai firmshave announced projects worth nearly $40 billion in the firsthalf of 2013, according to some estimates by local media,including plans to construct the world's largest Ferris Wheeland billion-dollar theme parks.
</a> "When a vessel is launched to the sea, it is because it isready," said the president of the Venezuelan merchant marineofficers' association, Gustavo Gonzalez. "The delivery normallyoccurs 2-3 months after the launching."
</a> In a survey of 700 San Diego residents on Tuesday, 69 percent said Filner should go, compared with 59 percent on July 12, according to the Union-Tribune website. Another 24 percent said Filner should remain in office and 11 percent said they were not sure.
</a> The family said Jessica will receive standard sickness benefit during the probationary period but added that the bureaucracy is putting them and other families in their position under "incredible stress".
</a> The show stopper is the duet between Henri, who believes himself to be a Sicilian of low birth but fiery, patriotic and full of anti-French fervor, and the man that a letter from his dead mother testifies is his missing father - none other than Guy de Montfort, the commander of the French occupation forces.
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There are various types of blood tests; liver function test, iron tests, thyroid function tests, serology and many more. However, the most common tests which people undertake are the complete blood count, shortened as CBC, and basic metabolic panel, done to check your infections, heart problem, kidney problem and even cancer! We all get blood tests done every now and then but there are certain things we may not know about them. Chances are your doctor hasn’t told these to you either. So, here we list seven things you may not know about a blood test.
‘NORMAL’ DIFFERS FOR MEN AND WOMEN: We all are fighting for gender equality but our biology is and always has been sexist. There is a difference in the way ‘normal’ reads for men and women. For example, normal haemoglobin range for men is 13.8 to 17.2 g/dL while for women it is 12.1 to 15.1 g/dL. Now your ideal range before you make an assertion.
‘NORMAL’ MAY NOT VARY WITH AGE: There are certain tests for which the ‘normal’ range can change with age, such as that of haemoglobin. The normal blood pressure range also changes with age. However, tests such as LDL cholesterol do not change with age. It should be lesser than 100 mg/dL for all ages.
POSITIVE RESULT MAY BE NEGATIVE NEWS: In a lot of tests like HIV, hepatitis C, or sickle cell anemia test, positive results refer to the presence of the diseases causing agents. In such situations, a positive result means the presence of the disease.
NEGATIVE RESULT MAY BE POSITIVE NEWS: Similarly, a negative test result will indicate the absence of disease causing agents in the blood in such diseases.
FALSE REPORTS ARE ABSOLUTELY POSSIBLE: There are many diseases the test for which depend on factors that are also influenced by other condition in the body. For example, a test for HIV can come falsely positive despite the person having the infection. This usually happens because the HIV test measures antibodies in the blood. If, let’s say, the person has other immune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, his test results can be false. Similarly, false negatives are also possible specially in the initial stages of the infection.
RESULTS MAY NOT ALWAYS INDICATE A DISEASE: The results from a test which indicate something wrong may not always indicate a disease. It could be due to many other factors, such as being on some medication, drinking alcohol the night before the test, or eating something specific you were not supposed to eat before the test. Such factors can also tweak your result. It is best to ask your doctor about any such risk factors in advance.
VALUES WILL DIFFER FROM LAB TO LAB: The test values are likely to differ if you get yourself checked from different diagnostic labs. This is because each lab has its own set of normal range against which your sample is compared. So, don’t just rely on one lab’s reports. If you have a doubt, change your lab.


Ss are going to see a short video and then I will ask them to answer me these questions: 1) Is the video interesting? 2) I will ask students if anything this like happened with them in their life?
I will ask Ss to read the text (exercise a), gist reading, and will ask them to read this through without to filling the gaps.
Ss will be asked in pair/groups to look at exercise b and put the listed adjectives and adverbs in the blanks of exercise a. Feedback will be done with whole class to check the answers. After that Ss will be asked to look at exercise d and complete these time expressions in pairs/groups Answers will be checked with whole class as open class feedback.
Ss will be asked in pairs/groups to go through the instructions of exercise e and decide which story to write and discuss what the plot is going to be. After they have selected the beginning sentence of the story i will guide them to plan the content as written in exercise f. I will remind students at this time to write only one story starting with one sentence. Once the instruction are completed i will ask them to start writing. Once they are completed and if there is time i will ask them to write another story of 120-180 words, organized in two or three paragraphs having variety of narrative tenses, adverbs, adjectives, and time expressions used to make the sequence of events clear. But if there is less time i will ask them to share your 50 words text on the wall and walk around the room and read which one is more interesting. etc.


How can I slide an image vertically or horizontily? It would be nice to make my image move across the screen, as if sliding from one point to another?... Allow row to break across pages (on by default): If a row of your table has multiple lines of text, this option controls whether Word permits page breaks to occur between any of those lines, or whether Word will prevent them by moving the row to the next page.
Intended audience: XHTML/HTML coders (using editors or scripting), script developers (PHP, JSP, etc.), Web project managers, and anyone who needs to better understand how to markup up right-to-left text on a Web page.
Allow row to break across pages (on by default): If a row of your table has multiple lines of text, this option controls whether Word permits page breaks to occur between any of those lines, or whether Word will prevent them by moving the row to the next page.
Locate the page inside of your "File Directory" that you want to place the moving pictures on. Select the option to "Edit" the page. This will launch the HTML editor for the page. Select the option to "Edit" the page.
What do you mean with "bottom of the page"? For that you would just add it at the bottom of the HTML code. But it seems that you want it to be placed at the bottom of the window rather than the page.


Heroes, Heroines, and History: Dr Pepper or Coke?
Were you aware the popular soft drink, Dr Pepper, was once known as a "Waco?" According to the Dr Pepper Museum brochure, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group is the oldest major manufacturer of soft drink syrups in the United States. Dr Pepper was created, manufactured and sold in the Central Texas town of Waco beginning in 1885.
A young chemist named Charles Alderton who prepared prescriptions for the citizens of Waco at Morrison's Corner Drugstore in Waco liked to dabble with the fruit syrups and carbonated water at the soda fountain. He kept a journal and after experimenting with several combinations, he hit upon a formula of 23 fruit juices and felt he had a winner. After trying it out on the store's owner who liked it, Alderton began to test it on the customers, who liked it as well. When they came to the counter, they began calling the drink a "Waco."
Morrison is credited with naming the drink, Dr Pepper, but nobody knows the exact story of how that came to be. Several stories have circulated, but the most enduring one is that Morrison named it after the father of a girl he was once in love with.
Soon the drink became so popular that Morrison's couldn't handle the orders any longer. Alderton was not interested in pursuing it any further and gave the formula over to a beverage chemist, Robert Lazenby. In 1891 he and Morrison formed the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, which later became the Dr Pepper Company.
They took the drink to the 1904 World's Fair where over 20 million people were introduced to the drink. Hamburgers and hot dogs on a bun were also newcomers introduced at the fair, and for the first time, ice cream was served in large quantities.
The beverage went through a series of logos and slogans. It was known as the "King of Beverages," from 1910 to 1914. "Old Doc," a typical country doctor figure with a top hat and a monocle became the trademark character in the 1930's and 40's. About that time research was released revealing people experience a dip in energy during the day at 10:30, 2:30, and 4:30, and that sugar boosted the energy dip. A contest was held for the creation of an ad to get the information out. Dr. Pepper came up with the slogan, "Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2, and 4," and then moved on to "Dr Pepper, the friendly pepper upper" in the '50s.
Today, one can visit the Dr Pepper Museum in downtown Waco. The museum was founded in 1988 to educate and entertain the public about our economic system through learning about the soft drink industry. One can view the original soda fountain where the popular drink was first served and enjoy a Dr Pepper.
Dr Pepper is still a favorite drink in Texas and in the South, as well as Dr Pepper floats. You can hear the oft-asked question at many social and sporting events, "Would you like a Coke or a Dr Pepper?"
So what do you prefer, coke or Dr Pepper ... or perhaps another drink? Were you aware that Dr Peppers were once known as "Wacos?"
I have never liked Dr. Pepper. To me it smells and tastes like cough syrup. My hubby and kids all love it, so I like to tease them by asking them if they are nursing a cough whenever they drink it. You know, the name Dr. Pepper is quite fitting when it comes to my thoughts on it. A Doctor would give out cough syrup. LOL I prefer an ice cold A&W root beer over any other soda, but I rarely drink sodas nowadays...I drink water, milk and coffee most days. Funny how it was first called Waco. I will have to tell all of this to my family.
I remember drinking Dr. Pepper when I was younger. I prefer Pepsi for a soft drink now. But will occasionally have a Dr. Pepper when available. Thank you for sharing the history of Dr. Pepper--very interesting.
Coke. Dr. Pepper smells like prunes to me. I don't remember hearing it called a "Waco" before. Thanks for the interesting post.


A few years ago, a friend told me that I over-analyse things, but I'm not sure really; I'm still thinking about it.
How do you know whether the ECP treatment is working?
It has been roughly a couple of months since I last mentioned how my skin GVHD is responding to ECP, and in that time I've had a further three treatments, bringing me to a grand total of twelve; The next is due to start in just over two weeks on the 15th of April (day +439). During that period, there have been some tweaks to how my skin GVHD is treated, but the real question is whether the ECP is actually working.
You may remember that after my tenth ECP treatment I was hoping to reduce their frequency from two-weekly to four-weekly. However, when that time came, the doctor instead decided to try reducing their frequency to three-weekly, whilst also reducing my Ciclosporin (immune suppressant) dose from 50mg/day to 25mg/day. The reason being that my skin GVHD didn't quite look under sufficient control to make the jump from two-weekly to four-weekly, hence splitting the difference made more sense. In addition, I was asked to apply Hydrocortisone cream for a week on the back of my hands, and for a few days around my mouth, as the skin GVHD was worst there.
Note: As you might imagine, frequently applying creams over nearly all of your body can become a somewhat tedious process. For that reason, combined with a mixture of laziness, a desire not to be a greasy, flammable mess, and past experience that my skin seemed to recover without using quite as much/strong of a cream as the doctors often prescribed, I decided to try only using the Betnovate cream initially, whilst also increasing my use of the Aqueous cream. My thinking was that it would be easy to see whether it was working or not, and I could always step things up if I needed to do so. As it turned-out, my skin improved quite quickly, and I even managed to reduce my use of the Betnovate cream a bit further, by sometimes using Aqueous cream instead.
After my twelfth ECP treatment, my skin was still slightly dry in places, but definitely better than three weeks prior, hence the doctor decided to try stopping my Ciclosporin (immune suppressant) altogether and reducing the frequency of my ECP treatments to four-weekly. As a result of the former, I could also stop taking my daily 5mg dose of Amlodipine, as it had originally been prescribed to help reduce my blood pressure, as the Ciclosporin had been making it a bit high. A week later, when having the routine blood tests and line flush, I asked the nurse to check my blood pressure, and it was was about 120 over 80, i.e. pretty much perfect. My pulse was still around 100bpm at rest though, which is a bit on the high side, and the most recent theory was that the Amlodipine was responsible for that, but it now seems like that's not the case.
Note: My twelfth ECP treatment was also my second three-monthly review, hence it was time for another lung function test, where I'd once again be complimented on my ability to breath normally, and a trip to the medication illustration department, where nearly all of my skin, as well as the inside of my mouth, would be photographed. I'm yet to hear the results of those, but I suspect the doctor will say they were fine.
Despite having had six months of ECP treatment now, it's still quite hard to say how much of a difference it alone is making to my skin GVHD. The reason being that the only way to even attempt to determine the answer to that question is to compare how my skin looked and felt six months ago with how it is today, whilst at the same time factoring in the changes that have been made in how the GVHD is being treated.
In other words, once you take everything into account, I've essentially replaced the reduction in my Prednisolone dose with a combination of ECP and various creams. Unfortunately, that leaves the somewhat tricky question of how much the ECP and the various creams are individually contributing to the treatment of my skin GVHD. I did actually ask one of the doctors that very question, but it was clear from the smile and a slight shrugging of the shoulders that I got in response that no-one really knows. All I can say is that I have noticed that if I don't keep frequently applying the creams, it doesn't take all that long before my skin gradually starts to get worse, but at the same time it does seem like it takes longer now than before I started the ECP treatment.
© James Stones, 2012-2014. Powered by Blogger.


Why Did Microsoft Corporation Ditch Its Display Ad and Map Businesses?
In a surprising move, Microsoft hands over its ad business to AOL and its mapping technologies to Uber.
In a new mission statement sent to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) employees, CEO Satya Nadella stated that Microsoft must "innovate in new areas" and "make some tough choices in areas where things are not working". That's probably why the company recently handed over its display ad business to AOL and sold its mapping technologies to Uber.
AOL is a minor player in display advertising today, but its new parent company Verizon (NYSE:VZ) plans to grow that business. As part of the deal, AOL will sell display ads in Skype, Outlook, MSN, Xbox, and other apps, and switch its default search engine from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to Bing. However, Microsoft will retain the search ad business.
Meanwhile, Uber's back-end is currently powered by Google Maps, so acquiring its own mapping technology could help it reduce its dependence on the search giant.
Microsoft's display ads and maps have always been overshadowed by Google's comparable services. But unlike Google, Microsoft doesn't depend on advertising or tracking user movements to generate most of its revenue.
Microsoft's online ad revenue is expected to rise 18.5% annually this year to $3.45 billion, according to research firm eMarketer. However, that's a big slowdown from 48.7% annual growth in 2013 and 33.3% growth in 2013.
Even if Microsoft's total ad revenue hits eMarketer's forecast this year, it would represent less than 4% of its projected companywide revenue for fiscal 2015. Moreover, eMarketer expects Microsoft's share of the U.S. display ad market to drop from 3.9% to 1.7% between 2013 and 2015.
As for Bing Maps, Microsoft will stop gathering first-party mapping data like Google and continue using licensed data from Nokia and other partners. Microsoft will sell most of its in-house mapping technology to Uber, which will offer jobs to 100 Microsoft employees and buy its data center in Colorado. This means that Microsoft will spend less money on mapping streets while still generating revenue from API licensing to companies like Facebook.
Downsizing those two businesses is a smart move, because neither one plays a crucial role in the growth of Microsoft's cloud business, which consists of Office 365, Dynamics CRM, and Azure. Between the fourth quarter of FY14 and the third quarter of FY15, Microsoft's cloud business' annual revenue run rate rose 43% from $4.4 billion to $6.3 billion.
If that run rate hits $7 billion by the end of fiscal 2015 and keeps growing over 40% annually, Microsoft might achieve Nadella's ambitious goal of hitting a $20 billion cloud revenue run rate by 2018.
When Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion last month, it declared its intentions to diversify into display ads. However, eMarketer estimates that AOL controls just 3.5% of the U.S. digital display ad market. With Microsoft's ads included, AOL's U.S. display ad share rises to 5.2%, compared to Facebook and Google's respective shares of 25% and 13%. By combining Microsoft and AOL resources, Verizon can also offer marketers better ad bundles that straddle both companies' networks.
Meanwhile, Uber's investment in Microsoft mapping tech puts Google in an awkward position. Google is one of Uber's top investors, but both companies realize that they're headed into a war regarding driverless vehicles. Google, which directly integrated Uber into Maps last year, reportedly wants to turn its driverless vehicles into autonomous taxis that can be hailed with an app. Uber has the same vision for the future.
Therefore, if Uber doesn't want to become completely dependent on Google's Maps and driverless technology, it needs its own mapping technology. However, matching Google's mapping muscle will be an expensive endeavor.
Microsoft knows that it can't go toe-to-toe against Google or Facebook in display ads, so it's wisely handing those businesses off to companies that can dedicate more time and money to their growth.
In my opinion, that's a win-win-win situation for all three companies involved. Microsoft can focus more on its operating systems, productivity software, and cloud services. Verizon can expand AOL's display ad inventory and generate more revenue, while Uber will take a few baby steps toward declaring independence from Google.


So the Senate took Friday off, wasted Monday in the predictable futility of failing to pass a nonbinding nullity, a resolution expressing constitutionally irrelevant lack of confidence in the attorney general, then debated lowering gasoline prices -- or cooling the planet; or something -- by spending taxpayers' money to raise food prices. It took up legislation to quintuple the mandated use of mostly corn-based ethanol, which already has increased Americans' food bills $14 billion in the last 12 months. For such silliness, Reid scuttled the bipartisan attempt to improve the eminently improvable immigration status quo.
Senators from both parties who are trying to resuscitate the bill surely read last weekend's Rasmussen poll recording public approval of Reid (19 percent) far below the president's pathetic 36 percent. Democrats who control this floundering and roundly disapproved Congress are paying a painful price for the pleasure of defeating everything that could be construed as in any way an achievement by the president.
Granted, Reid is just one reason for the immigration legislation's parlous condition. Another reason is that lessons from 14 years ago have been forgotten.
In his new biography of Hillary Clinton, ``A Woman in Charge,'' Carl Bernstein recalls April 23-25, 1993, the 94th, 95th and 96th days of the Clinton administration, when the president and Mrs. Clinton attended a retreat with Senate Democrats in Williamsburg. It was already clear that the Clintons were not going to fulfill their promise to present ``comprehensive'' health care legislation within their first 100 days. Bernstein reports that two of the most respected and, for Mrs. Clinton's purposes, most important senators, Pat Moynihan and Bill Bradley (both were on the Finance Committee, which would handle her legislation; Moynihan was chairman), were appalled by her highhandedness.
Bradley asked her if the tardiness in delivering her bill would complicate passage by making the bill competitive with other legislative goals, and he suggested that some substantive changes in her proposal might be necessary.
Bradley and Moynihan heard this, Bernstein says, ``with disgust and distrust.'' Her plan never even came to a vote in a Congress controlled by her party.
And, hark! what discord follows.
Third, people skeptical about the legislation were, if not demonized, cast as bigots or, at best, people uninterested in doing ``the right thing for America'' (President Bush).
Perhaps Reid, in his rush to truncate debate, was being chivalrous toward Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Suppose Senate Republicans agree to expedited handling of the legislation so the Senate can get on with whatever folly Reid next considers urgent business. And suppose 60 senators can force a final vote on a bill that retains the most important provisions -- increased border security and electronic identity verification. Many businesses, which profit from being magnets for illegal immigration, think being part of law enforcement is an intolerable nuisance, which is heartening evidence that workplace enforcement might work.
If the Senate passes a bill, immigration then becomes a hot potato for the House, where 61 of Pelosi's Democrats represent Republican-leaning districts (Bush carried them). Hark! what discord will follow. What fun.


Your task is to write an interactive program!
Ask the user for the following information: initial_amount, interest_rate, annual compounding_frequency, time – expressed in years.
We've already prepared the inputs in the Code Editor. Implement the formula and show the sentence.


When something is unnecessarily complex, it is _____.
Example: The statement "That solution is no longer unnecessary" is ______, couldn't we simply say "That solution is now necessary"?
Note that the word's original meaning is literally "twisted" or "coiled", but it is now commonly used (at least in the US) metaphorically to mean confusingly complicated, as attested in the Oxford definition.
I think the connotation of twisting back on itself is quite useful here. Not only does the double negative cause a "reversal" in meaning, but it is likely to make the reader go back and re-read the end of the sentence so that the reader's eyes trace a Z-shaped path across the sentence: it is both figuratively and physically contorted.
A similar word is tortuous, which also has its roots in physical twists and turns (compare contort) but which is now often used figuratively. I'm more reluctant to recommend tortuous as I think it's easily confused with either torturous or tortious, but it would otherwise also work here.
A Rube Goldberg or Goldbergian.
having a fantastically complicated, improvised appearance: a Rube Goldberg arrangement of flasks and test tubes.
deviously complex and impractical: a Goldbergian scheme for reducing taxes.
or bloated: excessive in size or amount.
I think convoluted would work well in this case.
(especially of an argument, story, or sentence) extremely complex and difficult to follow.
(technical) intricately folded, twisted, or coiled.
Similar definitions are available from Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster, and Wiktionary.
In addition, the word convolute (and its conjugations) can be used in at least three different ways.
Convolution (noun): "Bill X has many convolutions designed to hide the politicians' true agenda."
Convoluted (verb): "The politicians intentionally convoluted Bill X in order to hide its meaning"
Convoluted (adjective): "Bill X was written in a very convoluted fashion in order to hide its true meaning."
Heath Robinson is typically used for an over-complex machine or design, but I think you could also use it for a describing a 'convoluted phrase'.
E.g. The statement "That solution is no longer unnecessary" is a Heath Robinson, couldn't we simply say "That solution is now necessary"?
The word you are looking for is cruft.
n. Excess; superfluous junk; used esp. of redundant or superseded code.
If you want an adjective not a noun, the corresponding derived term is crufty.
1.) being more than is sufficient or required; excessive.
3.) Obsolete. possessing or spending more than enough or necessary; extravagant.
Obscure: not clearly expressed or easily understood.
Obfuscated: something that has been purposefully made to be more difficult to understand or decode.
I'd be inclined to use kludgy.
Though the meaning of kludge has shifted somewhat over the decades (and was never particularly clear in the first place), a former coworker who was born and raised in Holland explained to me (ca 1976) that the Dutch word "kluge" (I think that's how he spelled it -- he pronounced it "clue-gay") had the idiomatic meaning "deviously clever" in Dutch.
While most etymologies tend to derive the term from a similar German word, I've always considered this Dutch origin to express the meaning most clearly -- something that's a little "too clever for its own good".
It refers more to wordiness than complexity, but it fits and is a nice Scrabble word.
to make something seem larger, more important, better, or worse than it really is.
"That solution is no longer unnecessary" is exaggerated, couldn't we simply say "That solution is now necessary"?
Searching for a complicated explanation over a simple one?
What's the word to describe this behaviour?
Is there an expression or word to describe a person who does something that is unnecessary?
What is the (single) word for: the art/science of naming a complicated matter in a single word?
single adjective capturing “unnecessary” and with the connotation of “dangerous”/“destructive”?
Verb for replacing common words with unnecessary jargon?


The likely mayoral candidate is accused of backing a black-owned liquor store for political gain, but she says the market has been unfairly targeted.
Pannell has operated the store for more than 35 years.
Rebecca Kaplan's nascent mayoral campaign has barely gotten off the ground. She's holding her first major fund-raising event this week. Yet the Oakland city councilwoman already is embroiled in a dispute involving the city's ongoing racial tensions. The controversy involves a black-owned liquor store in North Oakland that many residents oppose, but which Kaplan voted to support last week.
Because Kaplan didn't explain her vote in favor of Nic Nak Liquors at last week's council meeting, opponents of the store, many of them white, concluded that she was attempting to garner black support for her mayoral bid. Many of the city's black leaders, including Geoffrey Pete of the Oakland Black Caucus, are strong supporters of Nic Nak's owner Ashrious Pannell. "When I heard that Geoffrey Pete would back Kaplan for mayor as long as Ron Dellums doesn't run, I figured she would be voting for the liquor store, too," said Don Link, a liquor store opponent, and chair of the Shattuck Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council. "And she did."
"She's lost a lot of respect in North Oakland because of her decision," added Jeffrey Jensen, head of the East Lorin Neighborhood Association, "particularly because the city attorney came out and said: 'You can't do this. It's indefensible.' But she voted for it anyway."
City Attorney John Russo had issued an opinion last week that the Oakland Planning Commission's approval of the liquor store's permit was in error. But Kaplan, who received her law degree from Stanford, said in an interview that the opinion was deficient, agreeing with black Councilwoman Desley Brooks, who also is a lawyer. Kaplan and Brooks said the opinion did not include legal citations, as they usually do, for why the commission's approval of Nic Nak wouldn't hold up in court. As a result, they said, they couldn't rely on it.
Kaplan's vote has been a hot topic on local web sites and is raising questions as to whether she harmed her chances among some white urban voters fighting to improve city neighborhoods. Some of the same people opposing Nic Nak also are strong backers of the proposed North Oakland gang injunction, which is designed to quell violence in the area, but is opposed by civil libertarians. Gang injunction advocates note that Kaplan has yet to come out in favor of it.
The councilwoman said she made a mistake by not explaining her vote last week. But she laughed off any suggestion that she was pandering for black votes, and said she might have been accused of pandering for white support if she had voted the other way. "This wasn't a quid pro quo" for black support, Kaplan said. "The fact is, I couldn't rule against this gentlemen [Pannell] based on what was in front of us."
Pannell operated the small store at the corner of Shattuck and Alcatraz avenues for about 35 years before running into personal troubles several years ago. He closed the store, but when he reopened it, he learned that he no longer had a city permit to sell booze at that location, even though his state liquor license was still valid.
The reason was a Seventies-era Oakland law that prohibits liquor stores from being within 1,000 feet of each other. The law didn't previously apply to Nic Nak because it had opened before it was enacted. But when Pannell closed the store, and then reopened it, the law kicked in and prohibited him from selling booze because another convenience store, T&K Market, sells beer and wine right across the street.
The controversy over Nic Nak is unusual because it has never been a crime magnet, unlike many liquor stores in Oakland. In fact, city records show that when Nic Nak was closed, crime in the area was about the same as when it was open. Even opponents acknowledge that Nic Nak isn't a crime problem. Pannell, a former longtime deputy for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office who is in his eighties, declined to comment for this story.
Pannell has told city officials that he changed the name of his store to JoJo's Market, although he has yet to replace the Nic Nak signs. Whatever the name, the store has an urban, East Coast vibe to it. When you walk in, everything is behind big plexi-glass windows, and you tell Pannell what you want, and he gets it for you. However, neighborhood activists would rather that a busy corner like Shattuck and Alcatraz not have two stores that sell booze.
Last year, city staff agreed, concluding that Oakland law prohibited Nic Nak from selling liquor at that location. If upheld, that likely would have forced Pannell to close for good and sell the property. But the planning commission overruled the decision, using a novel legal rationale to allow Nic Nak to sell liquor. The commission said that because the store had been in business for so long and because it's one of the last remaining black-owned stores of its kind in the city, its "historical relevance" was important enough to grant it an exception to city law.
At first, Russo's office appeared to agree because it didn't object to the planning commission's decision. But then last week, the office issued a new opinion, saying the "historical relevance" rationale likely wouldn't hold up in court. An excerpt of that opinion argued that exemptions for businesses such as Nic Nak have to be based on "a unique physical or topographic circumstance or conditions of design" to pass legal muster and so "historical relevance" wouldn't come into play. Opponents of the liquor store had made the same argument.
Russo's office, however, would not release the entire opinion, saying it was protected by attorney-client privilege because it was prepared for the council and not the public. According to Brooks and Kaplan, it included no legal citations that pointed to court precedents for why courts would likely strike down the planning commission's finding. Russo's office declined to comment for this story. Ultimately, the council voted 4-3 to overturn the planning commission's decision, with councilwomen Jane Brunner, Pat Kernighan, Nancy Nadel, and Jean Quan voting against Nic Nak, and Kaplan, Brooks, and Councilman Larry Reid, who also is black, voting for it.
However, because the council needed five votes to overturn the planning commission's decision, the store's future is unclear. Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente was absent at last week's meeting. He told Full Disclosure that he intends to watch the video of the meeting before deciding how he will vote. Kaplan, who has not made a final decision as to whether she will run for mayor this year, said she was working to hammer out a compromise for Nic Nak.
She also said she understands why North Oakland residents are frustrated about the proliferation of liquor stores. Eighteen outlets within a one-mile radius of Nic Nak sell booze. But Kaplan contended that the anger focused on the store is misdirected because it hasn't attracted crime. And she pointed out that the only reason Nic Nak's permit is up for a vote is because Pannell closed the store for a time. If he hadn't, neighbors effectively would have no recourse to close it down permanently.
Kaplan also said its understandable why Pannell himself believes race is at play in the controversy. "Think about it," she said. "If you run a store that hasn't caused crime and people are trying to take away your permit, might not you wonder whether your race is an issue? And wouldn't you feel that's unfair?"


Grasp a more nuanced definition of "compensation"
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers over 130 million workers in over 7 million worksites in the United States. Passed in 1938 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's efforts to end the Great Depression, the law was designed to encourage employers to provide as many jobs as possible at wages an average family could live on. The FLSA created a minimum wage and stipulated overtime pay, encouraging employers to hire more workers, rather than have fewer employees work for longer hours.
Lately, the U.S. Department of Labor has strengthened its enforcement of the FLSA. In fact, FLSA claims numbered 5,393 in 2008, a 49% increase from 2004 figures. By early 2010, FLSA claims had surpassed other private-class actions in employment-related issues. To date, the DOL has recovered millions of dollars in back wages, including an $85-million settlement in 2010.
This training was developed to help organizations address this compliance trend. In particular, the program reviews a key element of the FLSA that DOL investigators are keen on: misclassification of employees (exempt versus non-exempt) and the corresponding miscalculation of wages.


How Do Chinese Games Compare to Games Around the Globe?
1 How Do Chinese Games Compare to Games Around the Globe?
2 The history of China is endlessly fascinating, and many old Chinese traditions are still carried out to this day.
The history of China is endlessly fascinating, and many old Chinese traditions are still carried out to this day.
1 The history of China is endlessly fascinating, and many old Chinese traditions are still carried out to this day.
Similarly, many Chinese games are still played regularly and draw lots of similarities to other board and card games played all around the world. Let’s look at some of the most famous Chinese games and their counterparts from across the globe.
Go is a board game which appears aesthetically similar to checkers and was invented in Ancient China over 2,500 years ago. It is thought to be the oldest board game to still be continuously played.
The rules of this two-player game are very simple – occupy as much space on the board as possible with pieces called ‘stones’ to beat your opponent.
The strategy of it is however much more complex, as the board is quite big and the range of possible moves is enormous.
There are similarities to Go and chess as chess uses a similar board, if only a little smaller, and rather than take up more space on the board, the aim of chess is to checkmate the opponent’s king while taking their other pieces along the way.
Both are intense strategy games, and people from all backgrounds have been trying to perfect their strategies for centuries.
Pai Gow means ‘Make Nine’, and is a seven-player game played with 32 domino-style tiles. Tiles are shuffled and arranged into eight face-down piles of four tiles. The woodpile can be rearranged, and then the players make their bets.
The highest score each player can get is nine, and the value of each hand is determined by adding the total number of dots on each tile and removing the ten digits.
There are over 35,960 possible ways to select the tiles. This game has become very popular with casinos worldwide and even online. Those who play casino online at William Hill will see Pai Gow is highly popular even in virtual casinos.
It has been adapted into a card game like poker but with some elements of the original game.
It uses 53 cards; a regular 52 card deck with a wild card thrown in – usually a joker, which can only be played as an ace card to complete a straight or a flush. Additionally, players can request to be the banker, meaning that players will compare their hands to the banker’s hand rather than the dealer’s.
The origins of Mahjong date back to 800AD although the modern version played today was played in 1800s. It was originally played with cards but is now played with tiles, and requires four players.
There are 136 tiles, which include 36 characters, 36 bamboos, and 36 circles, which are divided into four sets of numbers 1-9 in each suit. The goal is to get your 14 tiles into four sets and one pair of identical sets.
The game has been so popular around the world as a computer game, so much so that many computers come with it automatically installed.
The game is very similar to the European game rummy, a six-player game which also requires players to get sets of cards to win.
These are some of the oldest and most popular games in the world, so whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie, it’s time to have some fun and play!


JUST as summer's vegetable crop inspires the salad maker, the fruits suit the baker. Fresh ripe peaches, plums, nectarines and berries become tarts, cakes, quickbreads, pies and pancakes. These are seasonal delights that can be enjoyed for at least another month.
Look for ripe, unblemished fruit for baking just as you would for eating out of hand. But if you have the time, you can allow peaches to ripen at home so they can still be quite firm, a day or two from being ready, when you buy them. And some blemishes are acceptable, too, if the fruits are to be peeled and cut up and pureed, mixed with a cake batter or used in a two-crust pie.
Summer fruits are suitable as uncooked toppings for pies and cakes, as in the cheese-tart recipe that follows. But if peaches or nectarines are to be used in this fashion, they must be tossed with lemon juice to prevent browning and the dessert should be served without delay. Otherwise it is advisable to poach the fruit lightly.
After the earliest part of the season the peaches are freestone and simple to pit. Peeling a peach or nectarine is like peeling a tomato - plunge it into boiling water for about 15 seconds, rinse in cold water and the skin will slip off. The best plums to use for baking are the small Italian ''prune'' plums just coming onto the market. Blueberry Cheese Tart 1 3/4 cup granola or other sweetened health-food cereal without raisins or fruit. 6 tablespoons butter, melted 12 ounces cream cheese at room temperature 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries 1/2 cup red-current jelly.
2. Grind the granola in a blender or a food processor to make crumbs. Mix crumbs with butter and press into the bottom and sides of a nine-inch straight-sided tart pan or springform. The sides should come about one-and-a-fourth-inches high. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
3. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the sugar, beat eggs one at a time, the cream and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the prepared crumb-lined pan and bake for 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate at least two hours.
4. Before serving spread the blueberries over the top of the cheese filling. Heat the jelly in a saucepan until dissolved, then spoon or brush it evenly over the berries to glaze them. Chill before serving.
Yield: 8 servings. Fresh Peach Tart Pastry for one-crust, 9-inch tart #4 to 5 ripe peaches (about 1Y pounds), peeled and pitted Juice of 1 lemon 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans Y cup brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 tablespoon flour 1 tablespoon butter 3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped.
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out pastry and line a nine-inch tart pan. Prick the bottom, line with foil and weight with dry beans or pastry weights. Bake for about six minutes, until the pastry looks dry but has not begun to color. Remove foil and continue baking about six minutes longer, until the pastry is pale gold. Remove from oven and lower to 375 degrees.
2. Slice peaches uniformly about one-half-inch thick and toss in a bowl with lemon juice.
3. Combine pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix half this mixture with the flour and spread on the bottom of the tart shell. Arrange the peaches slightly overlapping in a pattern over the pecan mixture. Sprinkle with the other half of the pecan mixture and dot with butter.
4. Bake about 30 minutes, until the filling begins to bubble. Allow to cool until barely warm and serve with whipped cream.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings. Open-Face Crumb Cake 10 tablespoons sweet butter, at room temperature 1 cup light-brown sugar 2 eggs 1 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 pounds Italian ''prune'' plums, pitted and sliced Confectioners' sugar 3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a nine-inch springform pan.
2. Cream eight tablespoons of the butter with three-fourths cup of the sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to batter, stirring lightly, and stir in vanilla.
4. Spread batter in prepared pan and arrange sliced plums on top. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and dot with remaining butter.
5. Bake one hour. Cool slightly before removing sides of pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream.
Sunday, Late City Final Edition Because of a transmission error, the name of a recipe appearing in the Aug. 31 Food column should have read Open-Face Plum Cake.


I do a daily devotional from a book called "Sparkling Gems from the Greek." It is a book written by a man who has studied Greek, and each day there is one or two verses that he analyzes. He gives context to the verse and gives a better translation of it. Since Easter is usually in April, the author devoted that whole month to studying verses about what went on between the Final Supper and the Resurrection. This week it specifically looks at what Jesus went through before going to the cross. I didn't realize exactly what he went through, and the more I thought about it the more it amazed me, and that's what I want to share with you this week.
As I mentioned in last week's post, The Power of Christ In You, the group that came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was between 300 and 600 men. This is no small force, this is an army! These soldiers were aware of the power of Christ, and he showed it that night! But of course, he knew that it was the Father's will for him to die for us. So he gave himself up. The soldiers took him and brought him to the elders and the chief priests (Matthew 26:57).
At the time, the elders and the chief priests were trying to find some false witnesses to testify against Jesus (v. 59). They find many who will, and then they ask Jesus if he is the Son of God. Then he confirms, and they find Jesus guilty of blasphemy. Then, they started to spit in his face. In the devotion, it talks about how this was the most disrespectful thing you could possibly do to someone. It was meant to humiliate the person completely. And it also says specifically that in the Greek, the text says that EVERY one of the leaders spit in his face! There were up to 100 religious leaders in that room, and every single one of them walked up to him and spit on his face. How is this deserved? How is this right?
After this, each one of them began to beat Him with their fists. The devotional says, "Not only was this brutal -- It was sadistic! Humiliating Jesus with their spit and curses didn't satisfy the hatred of these men; they wouldn't be satisfied until they knew He had been physically maltreated." How insane is this? The religious leaders of Jerusalem are taking a man guilty of no wrong and are giving Him the ultimate humiliation, and violently beating Him!
After the religious leaders were done, it was the Roman guards' turn. They came up and also began mocking Jesus. Then, they blindfolded him, began taking turns delivering violent blows to Jesus' head and saying "Prophesy to us! Who is it that hit you?" (Matthew 26:68). The word used in the Greek for how they treated him was the word "dero", which refers to the grueling and barbaric practice of beating a slave.
Even after this, Jesus still didn't get a break! Now, the scribes and elders came up and gave Jesus his third straight beating. Then, they began slandering Him and cursing Him, including using profanity! Can you imagine? In this one night, Jesus is being spit on and beaten by HUNDREDS of people. People are screaming at Him and cursing Him. Even before the cross, Jesus had endured so much!
And imagine what it must have been like ON the cross! Jesus took the weight of every single sin of his followers in the entire history of the world. I mean, seriously, we sin multiple times a day. Who can say how many times exactly! But the average person lives 28,000 days. Jesus paid the price for every sin of every day of your life, along with the other billions and billions of followers Jesus has had! Not only did Jesus have a crown of thorns and nails driven into his hands and feet, he had the wrath of God for the countless sins of BILLIONS of people! The suffering that he must have gone through is unbelievable. Reading about this has made me sick, and to truly marvel about how much Jesus went through just to save and forgive me! And he did that for you as well! If you choose to follow Him, he has paid the price for every sin you have made and will ever make.
When you feel unloved, remember this: Jesus really does love you! He suffered not only great suffering at the hands of man, but he suffered the wrath of God against all the sins in the history of mankind, to save YOU! Ask God to help you to never forget the great sacrifices he has made for you!


Is this filter parfocal with the high speed narrowband set?
Yes. The Baader UHC-S / L-Booster is parfocal with the high speed narrowband set.
Does the filter work with galaxies and clusters?. I have a 80mm refractor. Will it block too much the light of the objects?
Filters like UHC or OIII work because emission nebula emit light only at specific wavelengths, so that we can try to block all other (artificial) light sources and let only the light of the nebula pass.
Stars and galaxies on the other hand shine in all colours, so their light is also partially blocked. There are no filters for stars and galaxies; you have to move to a darker observation site. Otherwise, the UHC-S will work also with smaller telescopes.
Does this filter work as Luminance?
You can use this filter as Luminance filter when you fight with light pollution. In other cases, when the sky is very dark and clear, our clear filters are the perfect solution.
My ZWO filter wheel takes 31mm unmounted filters. Can a 1-1/4" be unmounted and fit?
Mounted 1.25" filters have got an external diameter of ca. 31mm *including* the housing, the free aperture is a little bit smaller, as well as the filter glass itself (ca. 28mm). So, it will not work with a 1.25"-filter which was removed from the filter cell.
But the filterwheel should have a ca. M28.5-thread (the standard 1.25"-filterthread), so that you can insert the mounted filter, anyway.
Thanks for the detailed answer. Looking back as to why ZWO offered 31mm filters, the reason is the ASI1600 camera I'm using at f2 has vignetting with 1.25 filters. Post will fix that, just preferred 31mm.
Planeoptically polished for the highest images quality. Produces a much brighter image with superb contrast than a conventional Nebula filter. Excellent for openings from 100mm.
A new class of LPR Nebula filters finally delivering the happy medium, with enough light for smaller telescope openings at the same time with the high contrast of classical UHC filter.


Consider the recursive relation fn = afn-1 + bfn-2.
Given f0, f1, n and X, you must find positive integers a and b such that fn = X.
There are multiple test cases in the input. Each test case is a line with four integers f0, f1, n, and (1 <= f0, f1, X <= 109 and 4 <= n <= 109). The input terminates with a line of the form "0 0 0 0" (without quotation marks) which should not be processed as a test case.
For each test case, write a single line containing the two required integers a and b. If there are multiple solutions, write the one with the minimum value of a. If there is no solution, print "No solution" (without quotation marks).


Let M be R-module, and A,N submodules such that $A \subset N$ Let $f:M/A \to M/N$ be defined by $f(mA)=mN$ for $m\in M$.
I'm having trouble seeing why exactly this map is well-defined (It should be). This should be quite trivial... Please help. Thanks.
You are mapping $m+A$ to $m+N$ and have to show that this is independent of the representing element of the equivalence class $mA$. So let $m=n\in M/A$. In other words, $m-n=a\in A$. You have to show that $f(m)-f(n)\in N$. So consider $$f(m)-f(n)=f(m-n)=f(a)=a\in A\subset N.$$ So your map is independent of the representing element and well-defined.
Show mapping involving tensor product is well defined.
How is the action of scalar ring $S$ on $M\otimes_R N$ well-defined?
How is this map a well-defined homomorphism?
A homomorphism that is an $R$-module homomorphism but is not a ring homomorphism.


With the announcement of the Screen Actors Guild nominations this morning, it's time to look at the Oscar race in a new light.
The big news is, of course, the unexpected dominance of Into the Wild, which led the pack with 4 nominations for Best Ensemble, Best Actor (Emile Hirsch), Best Supporting Actor (Hal Holbrook), and Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Keener). This is a major and richly deserved Oscar boost for the film, although I am still not 100% sold on its chances of being in the top 5. But as AwardDaily's Sasha Stone pointed out - support at the SAGs indicates a large support from actors, the Academy's biggest voting block. Could this be this year's Crash, a smaller, actor-supported film released earlier in the year (in this case September) that rides a wave of last minute support to a nomination? It was nearly universally ignored by the Golden Globes, but then again so was Crash.
Of course, No Country for Old Men continues its awards season juggernaut, and has officially swiped the front-runner status from Atonement (which was soundly ignored by SAG), with 3 nominations including Best Ensemble, and a well deserved nod for Tommy Lee Jones, who has been widely missing from this years kudos for this and for In the Valley of Elah. No Country's Best Picture nomination is assured, but its win is still shaky.
Another question has arisen about Atonement, which may have fallen victim to its front-runner status, a la Dreamgirls. It has been the pre-ordained front-runner from the word go, but its snubbing by the SAGs could indicate a chink in the chain.
Juno, widely considered to be this year's Little Miss Sunshine, proved that theory to be false by scoring only one nomination - Best Actress for Ellen Page. Sunshine won Best Ensemble last year, showing that it had wider support and stronger buzz overall. That doesn't mean that Juno stands no chance of being nominated, it just doesn't seem to be as widely beloved as Sunshine.
Also missing from the nomination list was Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which according to Stone is because of late screeners, much like Atonement and There Will Be Blood.
The ensemble nominations included two surprises - 3:10 to Yuma and Hairspray. I doubt this means anything significant Oscar-wise, but it's worth noting. Their inclusion meant the exclusion of two of the year's best ensembles, Michael Clayton and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Clayton is especially surprising considering that it got 3 nominations - Best Actor (George Clooney), Supporting Actor (Tom Wilkinson), and Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton), while Yuma and Hairspray got no individual nominations.
This is the first major notice for Yuma, however, and could indicate some previously unseen support, especially among actors. But I think this year is just too strong for it to be a factor in the Oscar race.


Inside the Dutch election after-parties Jump to media player One of the politicians picked a trendy music venue.
Dutch election explained in tulips Jump to media player Politics is a complicated affair in the Netherlands' multi-party system as Anna Holligan explains.
'They say Islam isn't normal' Jump to media player When Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders accused young Moroccans of making the streets unsafe, they were thrust into the centre of his election campaign.
Political pets: where the virtual life of a politician is in your hands Jump to media player Dutch voters can now keep politicians as virtual pets before the general election in March.
Dutch election: Where did Rutte, Wilders and Klaver party?
The BBC's Anne Holligan takes a look inside the politicians' after-parties following the Dutch parliamentary elections.


And why is the wren "the king"? According to the book above, the appellation goes back to a fable apparently current in several cultures and in Greece and Roman tradition ascribed to Aesop: various birds vied with the eagle for the title of the king of birds. One by one, the eagle out-soared them. But the wren–the wren concealed itself in the eagle's feathers, and as it sensed the eagle was tiring, flew up and away, farther than the eagle could reach.
"…They were cut to the heart: and they gnashed with their teeth at him. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. And they, crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears and with one accord ran violently upon him. And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge: And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord…."
A few years ago, I was in Paris and after wandering through the Latin Quarter and up toward the Pantheon, landed in front of a church where the denouement of this story is depicted above the entrance. I only slowly put the name of the church, St. Etienne du Mont, together with the story of St. Stephen (Stephen=Etienne en français). I stand by my earlier description of the scene (picture below): "Immediately above the doorway … Stephen is about to earn his way onto the church calendar despite the presence of an angel who, though appearing benificent, doesn't seem the least inclined to stay the hands of a bunch of guys who look not at all hesitant to cast the first stone." One detail of this image I didn't notice before: The sculpture was done in 1863, a good 240 years after the church was dedicated.
The charm and allure of travel: visiting new places, seeing new things, meeting new people, and perhaps choosing not to eat at a chain or “American cuisine restaurant when you’re in unfamiliar territory (that assumes of course that you’re motel stop for the night is within hailing distance of that non-chain eatery, but I digress).
Today we hit the road in Butte about half past 8 in the morning and got off the road–the same Interstate 90 on which we’d been pounding our way eastward all day–at about half past 8 in the evening. Our major stop during that 12 hours: the Little Bighorn battlefield, a little more than 60 road miles east and south of Billings. I’d been there before; Eamon and Sakura never had been, but were game.
I believe that around the year we visited, some Lakota or other Native American activists had caused a stir by daring to stage a parallel event and place their own memorial marker on the battle’s anniversary days, June 25 and 26. That was probably not the first time, but it was a prelude to something serious and enduring. I saw several red granite markers on the field–red, one assumes, in contrast to the white marble markers placed in 1890 to mark the locations of where members of Custer’s command had fallen–that noted the location where Lakota and Cheyenne fighters died “defending their homeland and their way of life (see photos below, and click for larger versions). And in an apparent answer to the red stones, several new white headstones have appeared noting the deaths of several of Custer’s Arikara scouts; these stones note the scouts died defending their way of life. (American history: It’s too new to be over.) Beyond the stone wars, there are other signs, too: Native American guides conducting tourists through the battle sites and a beautiful memorial to the tribes present at the battle on both sides and the losses they suffered there (bottom photo).
Anyway, we spent a couple of hours driving and strolling sections of the battlefield. I made my companions wait while I tried to record sound and take pictures and visit just one more thing over there I’ll be right back! When I finally returned to the car, I apologized and said I hope it didn’t seem to be a repeat of a long ago (1988, too) trip to the Antietam battlefield with Eamon and my brother John. Eamon was going on 9 and didn’t quite grasp what was so interesting in the landscape that every 90 seconds or so we had to pull over and start pointing and jabbering. His moment came when we made it to a famous bridge on the battlefield. Eamon climbed up on one of the sides and walked across Antietam Creek while I held my breath–it was a long way down.
After Little Bighorn, we got back on I-90 for the drive southeast into Wyoming (the route I hoped to take, U.S. 212, is closed about 50 miles east of the battlefield because of a big slide). We whirred past Sheridan and Gillette, the distant Devil’s Tower, and within sight of the Black Hills. We decided to call it quits in Spearfish instead of going on to Deadwood: cheaper motel (I got my room for fifty dollars cash paid to a Hungarian tourist. True story), earlier night.
Tomorrow, we’re looking to make Omaha. What’s between here and there?
From top: On Interstate 90, looking back from Big Timber to the Absaroka Mountains. Three photo panel from left: a stone marking the death of a civilian member of Custer’s regiment on the Little Bighorn battlefield; a stone marking the death of a Sans Arc Sioux warrior at the southern end of the battlefield, and stones for three Arikara scouts who died fighting with Custer’s command. Bottom: Sculpture at Native American memorial at battlefield, on the northern slope of “Last Stand Hill.” Click for larger images.
From “Bang the Drum Slowly,” by Mark Harris.
One thing he knew was north from south and east from west, which I myself barely ever know outside a ball park. We drove without a map, nights as well as days when we felt like driving nights, probably not going by the fastest roads but anyhow going mostly south and east. “Stay with the river,” he said.
“You are with it,” he said, and I guess we must of been. He traveled according to rivers. He never knew their name, but he knew which way they went by the way they flowed, and he knew how they flowed even if they weren’t flowing, if you know what I mean, even if they were froze, which they were for a ways, knowing by the way the bank was cut or the ice piled or the clutter tossed up along the sides when we ever got close enough to see the sides, which we sometimes did because he liked to stop by the river and urinate in it. He would rather urinate in the river than in a gas station. Once a couple years ago I caught him urinating in the washbowl in the hotel in Cleveland. I bawled the daylight out of him. “I wash it out,” he said. Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. For a long time I kept an eye on him.
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off — then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs — commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme down-town is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.
Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall northward. What do you see? — Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster — tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?
A day late and almost moreso, let me say "happy birthday" to one of the billions of our fellow earthlings who can no longer appreciate it. But unlike nearly all of those, this one — Brian O’Nolan/Flann O’Brien/Myles na gCopaleen (note to judy b: that gC combo is, for once, not a typo) — has occasioned uncounted hours of literary fun and amazement to uncounted masses, but most importantly to me and my friends.
He — Brian O’Nolan, who later became those other fellows — was born 94 years ago yesterday in Ireland somewhere. Through the usual peculiar circumstances of genius and screwed-up upbringing and abusive strait-laced education, he produced many thousands, or hundreds of thousands of pleasing words. In his mid-20s, he produced a novel that was a send-up of Joyce, modernist fiction and literary experimentation, Irish mythology and classic poetry, and, probably, people like me. The novel is called "At Swim-Two-Birds," and has gained enough currency that, well, it’s still in print. His second novel, "The Third Policeman," has built enough of a reputation that no less than the University of California at Berkeley, my current and no doubt temporary paycheck provider, has placed it more than once on its unofficial summer reading list. (For O’Nolan/O’Brien’s part, he reportedly became so upset by early rejection of this manuscript that, in reflecting on the nature of his story, he attempted to destroy it as sacrilegious).
Do not let us forget that I have to buy “Die Harzreise.” Do not let us forget that.
“Harzreise,” said Brinsley. There is a house in Dalkey called Heartrise.
Brinsley then put his dark chin on the cup of a palm and leaned in thought on the counter, overlooking his drink, gazing beyond the frontier of the world.
What about another jar? said Kelly.
Let them be endless as the stars at night, that stare upon the lovers in a ditch–so often would love-crazed Catullus bite your burning lips, that prying eyes should not have power to count, nor evil tongues bewitch, the frenzied kisses that you gave and got.
Before we die of thirst, called Kelly, will you bring us three more stouts. God, he said to me, it’s in the desert you’d think we were.
That’s good stuff, you know, I said to Brinsley. A picture came before my mind of the lovers at their hedge-pleasure in the pale starlight, no sound from them, his fierce mouth burying into hers.
Bloody good stuff, I said.
Kelly, invisible to my left, made a slapping noise.
The best I ever drank, he said.
Buy a scapular or a stud, Sir.
This interruption I did not understand. Afterwards, near Lad Lane police station a small man in black fell in with us and tapping me often about the chest, talked to me earnestly on the subject of Rousseau, a member of the French nation. He was animated, his pale features striking in the starlight and his voice going up and falling in the lilt of his argumentum. I did not understand his talk and was personally unacquainted with him. But Kelly was taking in all he said, for he stood near him, his taller head inclined in an attitude of close attention. Kelly then made a low noise and opened his mouth and covered the small man from shoulder to knee with a coating of unpleasant buff-colored puke. Many other things happened on that night now imperfectly recorded in my memory but that incident is still very clear to me in my mind. Afterwards the small man was some distance from us in the lane, shaking his divested coat and rubbing it along the wall. He is a little man that the name of Rousseau will always recall to me. …"


How to reload InvokeScriptedProcessor with automated deployment?
To reproduce issue easily, I have added es-isp.zip, which now contains auto deployment with NiPyAPI.
Question: How to reload InvokeScriptedProcessor (ISP) so that it could refer to the variable values of the target environment instead of the old variable value defined when it is committed into the Registry?
I'm sure that the Groovy scripts have been deployed to the target NiFi node. In the example, the variable value changed from /tmp/ directory to C:/tmp/demo/ directory after deployment. ExecuteScript (ES) could refer to the script at the new directory, but InvokeScriptedProcessor (ISP) still refers to the script at the old directory.
Workaround to solve this is: I manually change ISP properties to point to another path, and then change it back to point to the correct path. Thus triggering ISP reload. Of course I can't do manual ISP reload in production environment.
Not sure to understand the process you're following. Are you using the NiFi Registry? If yes, then when deploying a registered flow, it'll use the variables as defined when you committed the version in the Registry. After the import, in the target NiFi, you'd have to update the variables with the values of the target environment. Makes sense?
Yes, I'm using NiFi Registry. After import, I've updated the variables with the values of the target environment as expected. And InvokeScriptedProcessor (ISP) still refers to the variable value as defined when I committed the version in the Registry instead of the values of the target environment.


Am I a student? No.
Am I a city employee? No.
I just like to take tours.
Fortunately, Hyperion Treatment Plant - one of four wastewater treatment plants in the city of LA, and the largest west of the Mississippi in terms of volume of wastewater processed (300 million gallons per day) - allowed me to come and take some photos of their facility, something you can only do during the day, during the week.
Fortunately, I'm available during the day, during the week right now.
The plant was originally built in 1925 - a boom decade for Los Angeles - as a screening facility, and opened as a full-fledged secondary treatment plant in 1950. The Clean Water Act of 1972 required Hyperion to make some drastic improvements and modifications to its facility, which took over two decades to complete, and, with varying architecture and industrial design elements, gives the campus a feeling of being three plants in one.
They try to treat the air to maintain its quality but it still stinks.
The Hyperion plant was probably one of the oddest attractions I've visited so far in LA, but it's one of the most integral to our everyday life. And visiting it reminds you that nothing just "goes away" - everything you flush down the toilet or run down the drain ends up somewhere, and depending on where you live, it's likely it ends up at Hyperion, where it's sorted out, chopped up, and sent to a landfill.
Hyperion only processes and treats wastewater, so stormwater is a different matter. What goes into the sewer (sometimes through manholes, which accounts for some of the more bizarre, larger objects they've collected like bowling balls, 2x4s and body parts) goes to Hyperion, gets sorted and treated twice, and once clean, gets pumped out into the ocean, five miles out. What goes in the storm drain goes directly into the ocean, untreated, often right at the shoreline.
So when you throw a candy wrapper out your car window or down the drain, you'll be swimming with it soon enough.


For ethnic Chinese, regardless of nationality or political affiliation, see Han Chinese.
Chinese people are the various individuals or ethnic groups associated with China, usually through ancestry, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship or other affiliation. Han Chinese, the largest ethnic group in China, at about 92% of the population, are often referred to as "Chinese" or "ethnic Chinese" in English, however there are dozens of other related and unrelated ethnic groups in China.
Woman wearing yellow and green hanfu, a traditional dress of the Han Chinese.
A number of ethnic groups within China, as well as people elsewhere with ancestry in the region, may be referred to as Chinese people.
Han Chinese people, the largest ethnic group in China, are often referred to as "Chinese" or "ethnic Chinese" in English. The ethnic Chinese also form a majority or notable minority in other countries, and may comprise as much as 19% of the global human population.
Other ethnic groups in China include the related Hui people or "Chinese Muslims", the Zhuang, Manchu, Uyghurs and Miao, who make up the five largest ethnic minorities in mainland China with populations exceeding 10 million. In addition, the Yi, Tujia, Tibetans and Mongols each number populations between six and nine million.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, many of whom live in the special administrative regions of the country. However, there exists several smaller ethnicities who are "unrecognized" or subsumed as part another ethnic group. The Republic of China (ROC or commonly Taiwan) officially recognizes 14 tribes of Taiwanese aborigines, who together with unrecognized tribes comprise about 2% of the country's population.
During the Qing dynasty the term "Chinese people" (Chinese: 中國之人 Zhōngguó zhī rén; Manchu: Dulimbai gurun i niyalma) was used by the Qing government to refer to all subjects of the empire, including Han, Manchu, and Mongols.
Zhonghua minzu (simplified Chinese: 中华民族; traditional Chinese: 中華民族; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínzú), the "Chinese nation", is a supra-ethnic concept which includes all 56 ethnic groups living in China that are officially recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China. It includes established ethnic groups who have lived within the borders of China since at least the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). The term zhonghua minzu was used during the Republic of China from 1911–1949 to refer to a subset of five ethnic groups in China. The term zhongguo renmin (Chinese: 中国人民), "Chinese people", was the government's preferred term during the life of Mao Zedong; zhonghua minzu is more common in recent decades.
The Nationality law of the People's Republic of China regulates nationality within the PRC. A person obtains nationality either by birth when at least one parent is of Chinese nationality or by naturalization. All people holding nationality of the People's Republic of China are citizens of the Republic. The Resident Identity Card is the official form of identification for residents of the People's Republic of China.
Within the People's Republic of China, a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport or Macao Special Administrative Region passport may be issued to permanent residents of Hong Kong or Macao, respectively.
The Nationality law of the Republic of China regulates nationality within the Republic of China (Taiwan). A person obtains nationality either by birth or by naturalization. A person with at least one parent who is a national of the Republic of China, or born in the ROC to stateless parents qualifies for nationality by birth.
The National Identification Card is an identity document issued to people who have household registration in Taiwan. The Resident Certificate is an identification card issued to residents of the Republic of China who do not hold a National Identification Card.
Overseas Chinese refers to people of Chinese ethnicity or national heritage who live outside the People's Republic of China or Taiwan as the result of the continuing diaspora. People with one or more Chinese ancestors may consider themselves overseas Chinese. Such people vary widely in terms of cultural assimilation. In some areas throughout the world ethnic enclaves known as Chinatowns are home to populations of Chinese ancestry.
In Southeast Asia, Chinese people call themselves 華人 (Huárén), which is distinguished from (中國人) (Zhōngguórén) or the citizens of the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China. This is especially so in the Chinese communities of Southeast Asia. The term Zhongguoren has a more political or ideological aspect in its use; while many in China may use Zhongguoren to mean the Chinese ethnicity, some in Taiwan would refuse to be called Zhongguoren.
^ a b Who are the Chinese people? (in Chinese). Huayuqiao.org. Retrieved on 2013-04-26.
^ "World's Most Typical Person: Han Chinese Man". China Real Time. Wall Street Journal. March 4, 2011. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
^ "Brief Introduction Chinese nationality". Chinatraveldepot.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
^ Jenner, W.J.F. (2004). "Race and history in China". In Alan Lawrance. China Since 1919: Revolution and Reform: a Sourcebook. Psychology Press. pp. 252–255. ISBN 978-0-415-25141-9.
^ "Constitution of the People's Republic of China (Article 33)". People's Daily Online. May 2, 1982. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
^ "Nationality Act". Laws & Regulations Database of the Republic of China. 2006-01-27. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
^ "Nationality Act". National Immigration Agency, immigration.gov.tw. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.