Armed Forces and Democratization in Myanmar: Why the U.S. Military Should Engage the Tatmadaw

September 13, 2016

Zoltan Barany is a non-resident Senior Associate, Burke Chair in Strategy; and Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor of Government at the University of Texas. His most recent book is How Armies Respond to Revolutions and Why (Princeton University Press, 2016).

Even after the November 2015 landslide electoral victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy the armed forces of Myanmar (Burma) continue to be the country’s most powerful political institution. This is hardly surprising. The Burmese military—also known as the Tatmadaw—has been the most influential political player since the country’s independence from Britain in 1948, and outright ruled it from 1962 to 2011.

It must be acknowledged, however, that the 2015 election itself was the culmination of a deliberate—if extremely cautious and non-linear—liberalization process, the regime started over a decade earlier. Since the elections, Burmese military leaders have found ways to work together with State Counselor (and de facto government leader) Aung San Suu Kyi and her government.

The United States should recognize and encourage the Tatmadaw’s cooperative role and foster its professionalization and speedy withdrawal from politics. The Pentagon—in close consultation with the State Department and Myanmar’s civilian leadership—should intensify its thus far minimal engagement with the Burmese army. At the same time, the United States must ensure that the government in Yangon retains significant leverage to use against the army if necessary.

Background: The Exceptionality of Burmese Military Rule

Even before General Ne Win mounted a coup d’état in 1962, the Burmese military enjoyed significant political influence.[i] The coup heralded one of the longest periods of uninterrupted military rule in modern times. The Tatmadaw was officially in power until 2011, when it created a pseudo-civilian government—virtually all of its members were former generals—that ruled the country until last November.

Although numerous Asian countries—and, in particular Southeast Asian ones like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand—experienced long stretches of military rule after World War II, the Burmese generals’ dictatorship was extraordinary in several ways.[ii] More than anything, a combination of five factors render the Burmese version of military authoritarianism unique, and uniquely disastrous, in the annals of modern praetorian rule.

The first of these factors is the sheer longevity of military rule in Myanmar. It makes an enormous difference whether a repressive authoritarian regime is in power for seven years (say, the Colonels’ Greece [1967-1974]), sixteen years (Pinochet’s Chile [1973-1990]) or fifty years, as in Burma. In Myanmar, entire generations of people had known nothing but military rule. This prolonged reign permitted the Tadmadaw exceptionally deep penetration of society, culture, and even religious life.

Second, unlike most military regimes elsewhere, the Tatmadaw wrested control of the national economy. General Ne Win (1962-1988) embarked on a comprehensive program, “The Burmese Way to Socialism,” that transformed one of the continent’s richest countries into one of its poorest. One of the many lamentable milestones of this process was comprehensive nationalization in 1964 that caused an exodus of the middle class, destroyed entrepreneurship, and started black markets; a veritable avalanche of decay that the government could do nothing to reverse. Another damaging policy was the government’s demonetization in 1985 and 1987 of various denominations of the Burmese currency, the kyat, without advanced warning. These measures wiped out whatever meager savings ordinary people might have had and were a contributing cause of the 1988 uprising.

Enduring security threats is the third factor that explains the Tatmadaw’s uniquely long rule. Throughout its post-independence history Myanmar has never been entirely at peace. In 1950 Chinese nationalist (Kuomintang) forces fleeing from the People’s Liberation Army invaded Burma and did not withdraw until 1961. The main domestic dimension of the security threat has been the civil war between ethnic minorities (Chins, Kachins, Karens, etc.) and the regime that has lasted with various participants and levels of intensity to the present. Owing to military elites’ economic stakes—involvement in the illegal trade in drugs, gems, lumber, etc.—they had a vested interest in the continuation of hostilities. Furthermore, the generals could use the on-going conflict to further justify their claim to their rule.

The fourth feature that made Myanmar’s military regime exceptional was its comprehensive isolation of the country from the outside world. Burma is situated between two Asian behemoths, India and China, with a combined population of three billion people.[iii] Remaining independent and maintaining full sovereignty was one of the main objectives of the ruling generals. The Tatmadaw often astutely maneuvered between the opposing sides of the Cold War, drawing benefits whenever possible. The regime seemed remarkably unconcerned about international respectability or whether the world had approved of them. The general population was almost totally cut off from the outside world, so much so, that in this former British colony few people, even among the elites, was allowed the opportunity to learn passable English.

Finally, the long and pervasive rule of the Tatmadaw was inadvertently facilitated by an extremely weak political opposition. This weakness had two principal causes. First, the price of resistance was so high—torture, long prison sentences, or death and persecution of the would-be activist’s family—that few people dared to openly challenge the regime. Second, the opposition was deeply divided along several different axes (urban vs. rural, elites vs. students vs. workers, Bamar [ethnic Burmese] vs. ethnic minorities, etc.) and even in major upheavals such as the People Power Uprising of 1988, or the 2007 “Saffron Revolution” protest leaders were unable to bridge the gaps between them.[iv] In sum, the opposition’s shortcomings helped keep the military in power.

Liberalization

On August 30, 2003 Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt announced Burma’s roadmap to democracy (officially, the “Roadmap to Discipline-flourishing Democracy”). The stated objective of the seven-step plan was to restore full democracy to the country. The steps involved reconvening the National Convention, an often sham consultative process involving various ethnic, societal, and political constituencies; drafting a new constitution to be adopted through a national referendum; holding free and fair elections, and building a developed and democratic nation. Importantly, there was no indication how long the process was to take and what societal groups were to work with the military in its implementation.

Why Than Shwe, the junta’s leader in 1992-2011, decided to liberalize remains a bit of a mystery.[v] After all, there was no robust opposition movement forcing his hand and no foreign power threatening the military’s rule. Nonetheless, there are a number of clues. Unlike Ne Win, Than Shwe actually consulted with and listened to some trusted advisers and ministers—especially Admiral Soe Thane, General Aung Min, and Colonel Zaw Min (all retired)—who pushed for liberalization.[vi] Burma’s enduring international isolation and archaic centrally planned economy accentuated its backwardness and poverty especially in sharp contrast with the rapid economic growth of neighboring Thailand and China.

Western sanctions following the 1988 uprising and the junta’s refusal to honor the results of the relatively free 1990 legislative elections—won resoundingly by the National League for Democracy (NLD)—limited the business opportunities of Myanmar’s small entrepreneurial class composed almost exclusively of the generals and their cronies. Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the NLD’s founders who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, had become the focus of Western diplomatic, political, and media attention.[vii] Shunned by the West, the junta reluctantly turned toward China, India, and Thailand for support and much needed economic assistance. Still, China’s increasing international assertiveness worried the generals who were becoming overwhelmed by Beijing’s political and military influence. For a post-colonial country that managed to safeguard its sovereignty throughout the Cold War, becoming a de facto Chinese colony was a detestable prospect.

It is important to recognize that the junta’s conception of liberalization was vague and did not include any specific timetable let alone a sense that power would be turned over to an opposition that, in any case, was not legalized until 2010. Throughout the 2000s, the junta faced multifaceted challenges that included the 2007 uprising—sparked by the unannounced five-fold increase in fuel prices—and Cylone Nargis in the following year that cost nearly 140,000 lives and massive devastation that laid bare the regime’s spectacular ineptness.[viii]

The regime succeeded in negotiating, one by one, cease-fire agreements with at least seventeen armed ethnic groups that included granting different degrees of autonomy.[ix] A side benefit of these pacts was that they allowed the junta to gain control over prized trade routes and made their wholesale export of the country’s riches all the easier. The Tatmadaw began liberalize the economic system that went hand-in-hand with its growing rent-seeking activities. The culture of impunity and the growing temptations boosted by expanding opportunities greatly increased large-scale corruption, something that was unusual during Ne Win’s rule.

In 2008, the generals wrote a constitution that was supposed to ensure their dominant political position for the long-term, even after a democratization process was to begin in earnest. The new basic law is a veritable constitutional bunker for the Tatmadaw, tilting the playing field in its favor by limiting—though not eliminating—the opposition’s prospects to form a government, name a president, and to amend the constitution. Importantly, it also identifies protecting the constitution as one of the armed forces main responsibilities.[x]

The 2010 parliamentary vote, a heavily rigged affair, ended, unsurprisingly, in the massive victory of the regime’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Although some forty parties competed at the polls, the NLD boycotted the bogus elections from which the junta barred international observers. By the end of that year the junta, in a sense, ran out of steam, weary of economic sanctions, was aware of its loss of societal legitimacy, and was ready to embark on more substantive political liberalization. On November 13, 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi—widely known in Burma as “the Lady”—was released from house arrest where she spent fifteen of the previous twenty-one years.[xi] In the following month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met her during a memorable visit to Myanmar that was a clear triumph for U.S. foreign policy.

In the 2012 by-elections the NLD won 43 of the 44 parliamentary seats it contested. Western governments relaxed or lifted some economic sanctions and Myanmar’s isolation began to decrease. The economy had begun to grow rapidly—by about 8% annually—albeit from a dreadfully low base. The regime legalized thousands of new local organizations that engaged in a wide array of cultural, educational, political, and social activities. In addition, hundreds of NGOs from the United States, Europe, and Japan started to work in Burma for causes ranging from democracy promotion to disaster relief. The media, too, became much freer and the number of political prisoners diminished. Nonetheless, rights abuses and daily humiliations by soldiers were still the fact of life in many out-of-the-way rural areas. And corruption remained rampant: Transparency International rated Burma 147th out of 168 countries in its 2015 report.[xii]

Accepting Defeat, Working with the Government

November 8, 2015 will go down in Burmese history as the day democracy was finally given a chance of taking root. Virtually everyone not in uniform predicted a big win for the NLD. But in order to be able to form a government of its own “the Lady” needed a landslide given that the constitution assigned one quarter of the legislative seats to the military’s representatives. Regime officials and Tatmadaw officers were confident that the USDP would do well enough to prevent that from happening and the NLD would not garner enough votes to gain a majority of the seats.

In the end, the NLD showed up all the skeptics and scored a massive win at the polls.[xiii] It gained 135 seats (60.26% of all seats, and 80.35% of the 168 it could compete for) in the 224-seat upper house. The USDP obtained only 12 seats (5.36%), just two more than the ethnic Arakan National Party (10/4.46%); the rest went to smaller ethnic parties, each obtaining 1-3 seats. The elections for the 440-seat lower house yielded similar results: NLD 255 seats (57.95% of all and 77.27% of those contested), USDP 30 seats (6.81%), with ethnic parties dividing up the rest. The turnout was high; slightly more than 80% of the registered voters—more than 32 million people—cast their ballots. At the same time, the USDP had suffered a humiliating defeat and had to realize that in a fair contest it had no chance against the democratic opposition.

Prior to the elections pundits and ordinary people were openly wondering whether the generals would honor the electoral results or reject them as they did a quarter century earlier. Nevertheless, President Thein Sein and Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the two most powerful people in Burma, continued to insist even after the votes were tallied that the results stood and the transition of power would go ahead smoothly. And, to the surprise of many doubters, they kept their word. In late 2015 and early this year Suu Kyi and her advisors conducted talks about the shape of the new government with the Tatmadaw led by Min Aung Hlaing. The Tatmadaw played a neither accommodating nor disruptive role but continued to stand by the constitution that heavily favored the armed forces.

One of the key issues the NLD unsuccessfully tried to find a way around was the constitutional provision that prevented “the Lady” from becoming president. In the end Suu Kyi created the position of “State Counselor,” something akin to prime minister, a post the junta abolished in 2011. She also took several ministerships in the new cabinet: education, electric power and energy, foreign affairs, and minister of the president’s office. Although she gave up the first two after a week, she retains the others, as well as the presidency of her party.

She is, there is no doubt, the government’s de facto leader. Her position as foreign minister allows her to sit on the powerful National Defense and Security Council. The NDSC oversees the armed forces and is responsible for security and defense. Yet even in the new NLD-dominated regime, six of the 11 members of the NDSC come from the military—they are appointed by the Commander-in-Chief—a stark reminder that it is still largely in control.

On March 15, members of the bicameral legislature elected Htin Kyaw, a long-time Suu Kyi confidante, as president. His is a mostly ceremonial office. The legislature also elected two vice presidents: Henry Van Thio, selected by the NLD, and Myint Swe, nominated by the military-appointed delegation. The former is a member of the Chin ethnic minority and is a Christian (notable in a state that is about 90% Buddhist). Myint Swe is a retired lieutenant general and a hard-liner: as the feared chief of military security affairs, he oversaw the repression of the 2007 uprising and was known for his brutal treatment of dissidents. He has recently been the focus of corruption charges and remains on the U.S. sanctions list. Myint Swe is known to be close to Than Shwe who is widely assumed to have maintained an influential role behind the scenes.

Perhaps the most important task for the NLD has been to develop an effective working relationship with the military. Unless the party can persuade at least some of the military-appointed legislators, the NLD will be unable to amend the constitution to allow Suu Kyi to become president or to relax the stipulation requiring a 75% approval to change the basic law.

Most important, although the Tatmadaw’s control of the defense and border affairs ministries does not particularly constrain the NLD at this point in the transition process, its hold over the ministry of home affairs seriously restricts the NLD’s authority. This body oversees not only the entire police and security apparatus but also the General Administration Department (GAD). The GAD is the country’s administrative heart, staffing every regional and state-level government and managing thousands of districts and townships.

Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing has not sabotaged the transition process thus far but there is every reason to believe that he will continue to appoint individuals loyal to the Tatmadaw. He turns 60—the military retirement age—this year, but the army recently announced that it would extend his term in office by another five years because of the transition and his close involvement in an ongoing peace process with ethnic militias. For now, the Tatmadaw does not appear interested in giving up any more of its political influence than it already has by allowing the election results to stand. Nevertheless, the top brass has gradually developed a cooperative atmosphere with the new government since it took office, and has been receptive to and appreciative of the non-confrontational approach “the Lady” and her government so wisely adopted.

The NLD’s governing role notwithstanding, the structure of the state is still very much the same with a politically dominant military whose powers and “guiding role” are guaranteed by the 2008 Constitution. Nevertheless, in the last six months, in particular, there have been several indications the Tatmadaw’s behavioral norms may have begun to change. Several examples illustrate this point.

In the past, military officers and even ordinary soldiers routinely got away with all kinds of crimes committed against the regular population. These included not just the institutional-scale theft or confiscation with little or no compensation of hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, but also violent crimes, such as rape and murder. The victims seldom dared to complain and if they did, they often found out that they were worse off than if they had not. In recent months, however, the Tatmadaw held accountable a number of its members for their criminal deeds and publicized their prosecution.[xiv] This is a major departure from the past.

For decades—and especially during the rapid expansion of the armed forces during the 1990s and 2000s—the regime required village and town leaders to fill recruitment quotas. The army leadership employed various coercive measures that included the deceptive conscription, forced enlisting, or outright kidnapping of thousands of children as young as fifteen.[xv] Western governments and NGOs were vocal critics of this practice for many years and there is evidence that in the past couple of years it has been drastically reduced and, perhaps, entirely eliminated.

Until about a year ago, military leaders seldom if ever submitted to unscripted interviews or explained their policies and actions to genuine interlocutors. This, too, has changed as Tatmadaw elites have seemingly realized that it was to their benefit to respond to queries, outline their positions, grant interviews, hold press conferences, and communicate with the media and through them with the citizenry during the current period of democratic transition.

Perhaps most importantly, after decades of fighting, the military has become more willing to resolve the conflict with ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). Already in October 2015, President Thein Sein convened a major convention of the National Ceasefire Agreement, which was signed by eight and ended fighting in many parts of the country. That effort ultimately failed because a number of the EAOs—including some of the largest and most influential groups, such as the Kachin Independence Organization and the United Wa State Army, the latter is reportedly composed of 30,000 armed men [xvi]—refused to satisfy the regime’s preconditions of participation and would not give up their weapons and renounce resistance. By late summer 2016, however, the Tatmadaw had softened its position making the symbolic but important gesture of encouraging the hold-out EAOs to participate in the peace process even if they only “committed” to disarm.

At the four-day Union Peace Conference (August 31–September 3, 2016) hundreds of representatives of ethnic minorities, EAOs, the government, political parties, and the military met together for the first time since independence, although some groups still stayed away. At the meeting, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing urged the participants to abide by the controversial “six principles for peace,” outlined by then-President Thein Sein in 2011, one of which included the demand that EAOs adhere to the constitution which, as noted above, preserves key roles for the Tatmadaw. [xvii] That said, Min Aung Hlaing, and the top brass in general, have adopted an increasingly pragmatic point approach toward the ethnic peace process—which “the Lady” has identified as her top priority—well aware that the army also stands to gain from ethnic peace.

Why Should the United States Increase Military Engagement?

Min Aung Hlaing has repeatedly stated that his goal was to build a professional military that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the other armies of the region’s states. At present, the Tatmadaw is a large force, keeping 406,000 people in uniform, but its equipment is overwhelmingly obsolete, many of its facilities are decaying, its soldiers are poorly trained and, by all accounts, have low morale. [xviii] The military has long depended on Chinese training and arms, but army leaders would like to break out of their isolation and participate in regional exercises and conferences—but their opportunities have been limited. In particular, Tatmadaw elites, like those of other developing countries such as neighboring Bangladesh, would like to take part in international peacekeeping operations, which provide officers and soldiers with important professional experiences as well as financial benefits.[xix] (At present only four Burmese soldiers are participating in United Nations activities [two each in Liberia and Sudan]).

Not surprisingly given its size, proximity, and economic and military power, China has been the most important foreign player in Myanmar. [xx] For many years the Chinese have armed and provided sanctuary when necessary to numerous ethnic armed groups, some of them predominantly ethnic Chinese, in Burma’s northern frontier.[xxi] During Suu Kyi’s August 2016 state visit to Beijing there were indications that Chinese officials—whose country would benefit from legal cross-border commerce that the on-going armed conflict has stunted—were willing to persuade some of these groups to enter the peace process. [xxii]

They managed to convince some, but all three ethnic groups that would not renounce armed resistance and therefore were prevented from attending the conference—the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the Arakan Army—had ties to China. [xxiii] Notwithstanding Beijing’s decades-long support of Myanmar’s junta, Chinese involvement in Burma’s ethnic conflict and Beijing’s condescending treatment of Yangon as its junior partner hint at the reasons why Tatmadaw elites, to put it politely, are not overly fond of their colleagues north of the border.

Until recently, Western democracies and Japan have had very limited interaction with Myanmar’s armed forces. More recently, ties between the Tatmadaw and democratic states have increased, but these links are still very rudimentary. A number of NGOs like the Japanese Nippon Foundation have held workshops for Tatmadaw officers in Japan focusing on democratic civil-military relations and exposed them to military life in a democratic state. The Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) in Yangon—funded by Norwegian, European Union, Japanese, and UN agencies—aspires to provide technical support and promote and facilitate dialogue for the peace process. Some of these organizations are doing useful work although a number of experts have claimed that others, including the MPC, do more harm than good owing to their lacking understanding of the complex historical and political background of armed non-state ethnic minorities.[xxiv] In recent years a number of Western and Asian armies have started to develop relationships with their Burmese counterpart. Shared activities have included exchange programs, training exercises, and medium- and high-level visits to foster professionalization and enhance international contacts.[xxv]

The United States has done comparatively little military-to-military engagement with the Tatmadaw. There are several important reasons, perhaps most importantly the reluctance to become involved in a U.S.-Myanmar military relationship by some U.S. generals, congressional leaders, and diplomats and by some leading circles of the Burmese military whose top elites are often divided on important issues. Washington’s past reluctance to get involved in military-to-military activities was perfectly reasonable given that the Obama Administration decided early on to take its cues from Aung San Suu Kyi. The U.S. position was, and continues to be, that our key allies in the country are “the Lady” and her government who best understand the intricate nature of domestic political issues.

In June 2012, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced at a meeting of Asian defense leaders that the Obama Administration was open to improving military ties with the Tatmadaw if democratic reforms continued and human rights conditions improved. [xxvi] In fact, prior to the U.S. imposition of sanctions on Burma in the early 1990s when military links were frozen, the two armies cooperated on drug eradication efforts and some Tatmadaw officers even studied in the United States under the International Military Education and Training Program (IMET).

Despite the continuation of the democratization process and the recent change of government, since Panetta’s statement there has been very limited interaction between U.S. and Burmese military personnel that included some dialogue on civil-military relations in democracies, military justice, and other basic issues. The Tatmadaw leadership’s acceptance of the election results, their recent modifications in behavior, and their general willingness to collaborate with Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is certainly not sufficient reason to throw caution to the wind and engage in a full-bore cooperation. The United States should continue to listen to “the Lady’s” advice with regard to the armed forces. That said, given other democratic states’ attention to the Burmese military and China’s long-standing involvement in Myanmar’s military development, it may well be time for Washington to initiate, cautiously to be sure, military-to-military relations with Yangon.

The United States can draw on its proven and ample capacity and decades of experience to assist in the professionalization and democratization of the Tatmadaw. American military colleges and academies are well equipped to train and advise Burmese armed forces personnel on key issues, such as the rule of law, civilian control over the military balanced between the executive and legislative branches, military withdrawal from politics, transparency in budgeting, eschewing involvement in business and commercial ventures, etc. The participation of Tatmadaw officers in the IMET program could be renewed and the very limited scope of current programs expanded.[xxvii] Whatever the particulars, raising the level of American military-to-military engagement with Myanmar ought to be seriously considered. At the same time, this engagement must be leveraged and kept easily reversible. In other words, empowering the Tatmadaw in some inappropriate way must be avoided.

America has been a steadfast supporter of Myanmar’s democratization process since it began in late 2010. Both President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton made historic visits to Yangon. Just as importantly, the United States has sent ambassadors to Myanmar—Derek Mitchell from 2012 to 2016, and now Scot Marciel—who are deeply knowledgeable about the country, Southeast Asia, and democratic transitions from military rule more generally, indicating that Washington takes Myanmar seriously. In a nation that tends to be at best cautious of foreigners’ intentions, the United States is generally held in high regard, in sharp contrast to the suspicious attitudes toward China and India that prevail throughout Myanmar.

The United States should not miss this opportunity. Myanmar occupies a strategic location in Southeast Asia, and its need for political support, developmental aid—everything from infrastructure improvement to educational programs—and targeted investment is acute. There are few societies where democracy promotion efforts could find more fertile ground or where they would be more gratefully accepted. Ultimately, advancing military-to-military engagement may well enhance, promote, and deepen the professionalism and democratic outlook of Myanmar’s officer corps and accelerate their withdrawal from politics.

Notes

[i] See Robert H. Taylor, General Ne Win: A Political Biography (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2015). [ii] See Marcus Mietzner, ed., The Political Resurgence of the Military in Southeast Asia: Conflict and Leadership (New York: Routledge, 2013). [iii] For an excellent analysis of the complex relationships in this region, see Bertil Lintner, Great Game East: China, India, and the Struggle for Asia’s Most Volatile Frontier (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015), especially 171-203. [iv] See Zoltan Barany, How Armies Respond to Revolutions and Why (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016), 74-100. [v] To understand him better, see Benedict Rogers, Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant (Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 2010). [vi] See Nayee Lin Let, “Naypyidaw: No More ‘Military’ Government,” Irrawaddy, 6 May 2010; and more generally, Min Zin, “The New Configuration of Power,” Journal of Democracy, 27:2 (April 2016): 116-131. [vii] See Josef Silverstein, “Aung San Suu Kyi: Is She Burma’s Woman of Destiny?” Asian Survey, 30:10 (October 1990): 1007-1019; and David I. Steinberg, “Aung San Suu Kyi and U.S. Policy toward Burma/Myanmar,” Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 29:3 (2010): 35-59. [viii] On Cyclone Nargis and how the regime dealt with it, read Emma Larkin’s exceptional No Bad News for the King: The True Story of Cyclone Nargis and Its Aftermath in Burma (New York: Penguin, 2010). [ix] For a most informative catalogue and analysis of ethnic armies, see Paul Keenan, By Force of Arms: Armed Ethnic Groups in Burma (New Delhi: Vij Books India, 2014). [x] For perceptive analyses of the constitution, see Susanne Prager Nyein, “Expanding Military, Shrinking Citizenry, and the New Constitution of Burma,” Journal of Contemporary Asia, 39:4 (November 2009): 638-648; and Aurel Croissant and Jil Kamerling, “Why Do Military Regimes Institutionalize? Constitution-making and Elections as Political Survival Strategy in Myanmar,” Asian Journal of Political Science, 21:2 (2013): 105-125. [xi] See Peter Popham, The Lady and the Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s Struggle for Freedom (London: Rider, 2016), [xii] See https://www.transparency.org/country/#MMR. [xiii] For figures and analysis, see Zoltan Barany, “Moving toward Democracy: The 2015 Parliamentary Elections in Myanmar,” Electoral Studies, 42 (June 2016): 76-79. [xiv] See, for instance, “Myanmar Army Admits Villagers Killed During Interrogation,” Bangkok Post, 20 July 2016. [xv] Andrew Selth, Transforming the Tatmadaw: The Burmese Armed Forces since 1988 (Canberra: Australian National University, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, 1996), 50. [xvi] Kyaw Kha, “Govt Invites UWSA, MNDAA to the Peace Table,” Irrawaddy, 8 June 2016. [xvii] Lun Min Mang and Ei Ei Toe Lwin, “Speech Highlights from Panglong Conference Opening Ceremony,” Myanmar Times, 1 September 2016. [xviii] For current figures on manpower and equipment, see The Military Balance 2016 (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2016), 275-277. For valuable studies on the Burmese military’s evolution, consult Andrew Selth, Burma’s Armed Forces: Power without Glory (Norwalk, CT: EastBridge, 2002), and Maung Aung Myoe, Building the Tatmadaw: Myanmar Armed Forces Since 1948 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009). [xix] Vincenzo Bove and Leandro Elia, “Supplying Peace: Participation in and Troop Contribution to Peacekeeping Missions,” Journal of Peace Research, 48:6 (2011): 699-714. [xx] Bertil Lintner, “China Is the Most Important Foreign Player in the Peace Process,” Irrawaddy, 17 August 2016. [xxi] See, for instance, Donald M. Seekins, “Burma-China Relations: Playing with Fire,” Asian Survey, 37:6 (June 1997): 525-539; Kevin Woods, “Ceasefire Capitalism: Military–Private Partnerships, Resource Concessions and Military–State Building in the Burma–China Borderlands,” Journal of Peasant Studies, 38:4 (2011): 747-770; and author’s confidential interviews with recently retired Tatmadaw generals (in Naypyidaw and Yangon, October 2014, August 2015, and May 2016). [xxii] See Jane Perlez and Wai Moe, “China Helps Aung San Suu Kyi with Peace Talks in Myanmar,” New York Times, 20 August 2016; and Shing Jiangtao, “China’s Key Role in Helping Aung San Suu Kyi Reconcile Myanmar’s Decades-long Ethnic Conflicts,” South China Morning Post, 3 September 2016. [xxiii] Stéphanie Giry and Wai Moe, “Myanmar Peace Talks Begin, High in Symbolism and in Skepticism,” New York Times, 31 August 2016. [xxiv] See, for instance, Saw Yan Naing, “Peace Brokers Lack a Mandate: Burma Expert,” and “Where Has the Peace Money Gone,” in Irrawaddy, 18 March 2014 and 1 April 2016, respectively. [xxv] See, for instance, “Thai Armed Commander Visits Myanmar,” Chiangrai Times (Thailand), 15 September 2011; Andrew Selth, “Defence Relations with Burma: Our Future Past,” Interpreter (Australia), 4 March 2013; and Rakesh Krishnan Simha, “Rangoon Realpolitik: Russia, India Courting Myanmar,” Russia & India Report, 31 January 2014. [xxvi] This paragraph draws on Murray Hiebert, “Carpe Diem: U.S. Military Engagement with Myanmar,” Center for Strategic and International Studies Commentary (Washington, DC, CSIS, 8 June 2012). [xxvii] See “The US Should Reach Out to Myanmar’s Military,” Nikkei Asian Review, 3 August 2016 – authored by Col. William C. Dickey (Ret.), the recently retired US Defense Attaché to Yangon.

Photo credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images


This is a great theory to be honest, of why Pacquaio ducked Mosely. Maybe they shop at the same roid store or something. Manny knows something we don't about Mosely. But he can't come out and say it because he would be incriminating himself.


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Eberhard von Zeppelin

Eberhard Moritz Adolph Albert Graf von Zeppelin (22 May 1842 - 30 October 1906) was a German historian, banker, hotelier, author, and ambassador of Württemberg.

Selected publications
His publications include:
 Geschichte der Dampfschifffahrt auf dem Bodensee 1824–1884: Separatabdruck aus dem 14. Hefte der „Schriften des Vereins für Geschichte des Bodensee's und seiner Umgebung“, Verlag Johann Thomas Stettner, Lindau 1885
 Der Konstanzer Vertrag Kaiser Friedrichs I. Barbarossa von 1153, Lindau 1887
 Urkunden-Regesten aus dem Gräfl. Douglas'schen Archiv zu Schloss Langenstein im Hegau, Lindau 1889–90
 Ältere und neuere Bodensee-Forschungen, mit Jakob Hörnlimann und Robert Reber, Verlag Stettner, Lindau 1893
 Bodensee-Forschungen, Verlag Stettner, Lindau 1893
 Geographische Verhältnisse des Bodensees, Verlag Stettner, Lindau 1893
 Die hydrologischen Verhältnisse des Bodensees, Verlag Stettner, Lindau 1893
 Die Schwankungen des Bodensees, mit François-Alphonse Forel, Verlag Stettner, Lindau 1893
 Die Temperatur-Verhältnisse des Bodensees, mit Francois Alphonse Forel, Verlag Stettner, Lindau 1893
 Transparenz und Farbe des Bodenseewassers, mit Francois Alphonse Forel, Verlag Stettner, Lindau 1893
 Das Bad im Bild, illustrierter Führer zur Hebung des Fremdenverkehrs in Städten, Bädern, Kurorten und Heil-Anstalten des In- und Auslandes, Verlag Weltbad, Frankfurt a. M. ca. 1912.

References

Category:1842 births
Category:1906 deaths
Category:German hoteliers
Category:German bankers
Category:German non-fiction writers
Category:Zeppelin family


Investigators in the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute are the general surgeons and general surgical consultants to the entire National Institutes of Health. In this role we see patients in primarily two capacities. Patients are seen in consultation for all general surgical and specialty problems except for the specialties of cardiac and orthopedic surgery. The Surgery Branch answers all emergency, as well as elective surgical consultations and provides 24 hour coverage for surgical emergencies that may arise in the Clinical Center Hospital. Increasing surgery in AIDS patients is being performed. The Surgery Branch also collaborates in the procurement of tissue for studies required by other investigative units. The degree of involvement of the Surgery Branch in the planning and execution of these studies is variable. The Surgery Branch often plays an instrumental role in the design of these studies while in other collaborations, the Surgical Service merely provides tissue. Approximately 40% of the clinical surgical effort of the Surgery Branch is devoted to these consultative and collaborative studies. - Human Subjects


Flash Programming Equipment for S12x

We are using Stand-Alone Programmer such as Cyclone pro for flash programing in factory.Is there another Stand-Alone Programmer besides Cyclone pro?Or Do you know another way to flash programming for mass production?Thank you.


Facing fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line, the Black Screening Tests Are The Most Effective Way Of Catching Colon Cancer Early, Allowing For Improved Chances Of Successful Treatment. | Nice Savannah Young Knights pitched the ball to Jordan Asberry , who cut back against the North Texas defense into the end zone for the first and only touchdown of overtime, as Army defeated North Texas 38-31 on Tuesday in the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl. The Black Knights broke the Heart of Dallas Bowl record for rushing by the third quarter on their way to finishing with 480 yards on the ground. The final three rushing yards, however, were the difference. http://aboutethanbrooks.boxcrack.net/2016/10/23/in-order-to-successfully-treat-this-very-common-skin-condition-an-internal-treatment-must-be-associated-to-the-topic-external-antibioticsJordan Asberry, who scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime, was part of an Army rushing attack that racked up 480 yards and six TDs. Sean Pokorny/USA TODAY Sports Army never trailed against North Texas, but the Black Knights’ inability to convert on extra points and two-point conversions helped allow the Mean Green to hang around. Army’s first extra point was blocked. And having made only six field goals all season, the Black Knights went for two after their next three touchdowns — failing to convert on all three. Kicker Blake Wilson nailed Army’s final two extra point attempts, but with the game on the line in overtime, the Black Knights opted against putting the kicking unit back on the field. Army quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw pitched to Asberry on the fourth-down play, and as North Texas over-pursued the play to the sideline, Asberry cut inside before dashing in for the touchdown. More college football bowl coverage

While some prefer mentioning the new salary structure for the employee in the letter itself, some companies enclose another document regarding the salary structure with the letter. When is the ideal time to put my baby in daycare if I need to get back to work soon? Thus, this may lead to a biased diagnosis and sometimes an innocent parent may be contacted by the Department of Social Services SS to take over their custody of the child. A few of these safety considerations include: √ Whether the Thanking You patient can sustain effect of mild hypoxia and decreased air pressure in the cabin. √ Whether the patient is capable of adopting a brace position in emergency landing. √ The timing of medication for long-haul flights. √ Whether the patient can cope mentally and physically while embarking and disembarking the flight. √ Will the patient’s medical condition have any adverse effect on the comfort and safety of other passengers and the operation of the aircraft. √ Whether the patient is covered under a travel health insurance. The physician is expected to be straightforward and enlist exactly all the risks and complications of a given medical procedure, its alternatives, and the risks of not undergoing the treatment. It should be able to reflect that termination is the only measure left with the organization after repeated warnings’ given. Since the barb intake is almost nil in phase 1, it can lead to a general feeling of fatigue. What are such physicians to do when they are approached by someone for an abortion?

The reality is slightly different [from]how its presented. I mean at the bottom of it is the political function of the press and the broadcasters, and by and large the function of the press, one that they happily embrace, even including The Guardian, is to imply theres no alternative and that this is the way the world is. Its the natural order of things. The free market is the only way we can live. And that is the ultimate political correctness. They think political correctness is actually saying bad things about women or people of color. Actually, the real political correctness is that you cant challenge the idea of the market or free trade. It has come to be accepted that there will be unemployment, there will be casual employment, there will be low wages, there will be low taxes so people wont have public services. Thats the reality that you have to live in. Its a real struggle for [those with] political consciousness to say, No, that isnt the case. We can live differently.

Changes in the heart due to surgery or ageing. ta In severe cases of heart failure, a ventricular assist device may be implanted until a heart transplant is performed. It is lubricated by pericardia fluid. Since it only pumps blood into the next chamber of the heart right ventricle, its walls are not too thick. Often, they ignore this pain and assume it’s due to stress or fatigue. It is an inflammatory disease that can affect not only the heart but the brain, skin and joints. The infection spreads from other parts of the body through blood to the heart. A timely diagnosis will definitely lower the risk of complications such as formation of blood clot, heart murmurs or life-threatening situations such as cardiac cheers arrest or heart failure. These valves are responsible for ensuring that the blood flows in one direction to avoid problems including overflow resulting in backward leakage.


Electronic phase transition and an anomalous ordered phase in Ba2Ti13O22 with 3d1 ions on a triangle-based lattice.
We found that Ba(2)Ti(13)O(22) with Ti(3+) (3d(1)) ions on a triangle-based lattice exhibits a phase transition at T(c)~200 K, below which the increase of electrical resistivity and decrease of magnetic susceptibility were observed. Transmission electron microscopy and optical reflectivity measurements indicate that the low-temperature phase of the present compound shares characteristics in common with a charge-density-wave state with remnant carriers, although a commensurate wave vector of the modulation and a linear temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility below T(c) suggest an exotic ordered state.


RRB Recruitment 2017

Important Dates

Application Fee

General/OBC-Rs.100/-

SC/ST/PH/Women- No Fee

The fee can be paid through online mode

No Fee if submitting the post preference form.

Eligibility

The candidate must possess Bachelor Degree in any discipline with proficiency in Typing. The candidate must have qualified the Online Tier I and Mains examination for filling up the post preference form.


Q:

DOM Not Loading In Chrome App

I have a simple HTML5 Snake game that uses canvas that I want to package as a Chrome App. Here is my normal HTML file:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Snake</title>
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="snake.css">
    </head>
    <body>
        <canvas id="canvas" width="700" height="700"></canvas>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="food.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="snake.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="point.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="game.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript">
            window.onload = function() {
                    var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas"),
                    game = new Game(canvas, new Snake(canvas), new Food(canvas));
                game.init();
                game.run();
            }
        </script>
    </body>
</html>

However the script in the HTML is not allowed. So I removed it and placed it main.js which creates the window. I provide a callback that is the same as window.onload above because my understanding is that this is the chrome app equivalent:
chrome.app.runtime.onLaunched.addListener(function() {
    "use strict";
    chrome.app.window.create('snake.html', {
        bounds: {
            width: 800,
            height: 800
        }
    }, function() {
        var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas"),
            game = new Game(canvas, new Snake(canvas), new Food(canvas));
        game.init();
        game.run();
    });
});

This runs after the DOM appears to have loaded but document.getElementById always returns null. Looking at the document in the developer tools it looks like only the scripts are loaded even though I can see the canvas in the app window (I have a border around the canvas). Can anyone tell me what is going on? Where is the appropriate place to access the DOM from when window.onload doesn't work?

A:

main.js is running on the background / event page and is not in the same context as the newly created window's DOM. You can interact with that context as documented on the create callback, but it's not how I recommend solving this.
Instead, from your main.js simply create the window, and from the HTML file load script code that executes directly.
window.html:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <body>
        <canvas id="canvas" width="700" height="700"></canvas>
        <script ...</script>
        <script type="text/javascript" src="window.js"></script>

window.js:
var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas"),
game = new Game(canvas, new Snake(canvas), new Food(canvas));
game.init();
game.run();


Infomax

Infomax is an optimization principle for artificial neural networks and other information processing systems.  It prescribes that a function that maps a set of input values I to a set of output values O should be chosen or learned so as to maximize the average Shannon mutual information between I and O, subject to a set of specified constraints and/or noise processes.  Infomax algorithms are learning algorithms that perform this optimization process. The principle was described by Linsker in 1988.

Infomax, in its zero-noise limit, is related to the principle of redundancy reduction proposed for biological sensory processing by Horace Barlow in 1961, and applied quantitatively to retinal processing by Atick and Redlich.

One of the applications of infomax has been to an independent component analysis algorithm that finds independent signals by maximizing entropy.  Infomax-based ICA was described by Bell and Sejnowski, and Nadal and Parga in 1995.

See also
 FastICA

References

Category:Artificial neural networks
Category:Computational neuroscience


Early motor developmental milestones and schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia proposes that impaired brain development is a cause of the illness. Early motor developmental milestones, such as learning to walk, are predictors of later schizophrenia but studies have not been systematically reviewed. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to explore the association between early motor developmental milestones and the risk of adult schizophrenia. In addition, we updated a systematic review on motor function and risk of schizophrenia. The PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus databases were searched for original research articles published up to July 2015. Motor milestones were measured between ages 0 and 13years. Random effect meta-analysis calculated effect estimates (Hedges' g) for the association between individual motor milestones and schizophrenia risk. An electronic database and selected articles reference list search identified 5990 articles after removing duplicates. Sixty-nine full text articles were assessed for eligibility of which six were included in the review. Five studies provided sufficient data for meta-analyses. The following motor milestones were significantly associated with adult schizophrenia risk: walking unsupported (g=0.46; 95% CI 0.27-0.64; p<0.001), standing unsupported (g=0.28; 0.16-0.40; p<0.001) and sitting unsupported (g=0.18; 0.05-0.31; p=0.007). Results for the milestones 'holding head up' and 'grabbing object' were not statistically significant. Delayed walking, sitting and standing unsupported were associated with adult onset schizophrenia. The findings emphasise the importance of timely achievement of these motor milestones in childhood and can contribute to the identification of individuals at risk of psychosis.


Middleton Municipal Airport

Middleton Municipal Airport , also known as Morey Field, is a general aviation airport located  northwest of Middleton, a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023, in which it is categorized as a regional general aviation facility.

History
Morey Field was named after founder Howard Morey who started the Middleton airport in 1942. After that management of the airport changed hands to Field Morey, the son of Howard and then to Richard Morey, the son of Field. The airport was sold to the city of Middleton in 1998 and changed its name from Morey Field to Middleton Municipal Airport - Morey Field. Although the airport was sold to the city, Richard Morey still manages the FBO which provides services to airport users.

In July 2005 the city of Middleton completed a $7 million renovation of the airport including land acquisition and construction. The renovation consisted of a new terminal building and a new  long by  wide asphalt runway (10/28), as well as a  long by  wide crosswind turf runway (1/19).Morey Airplane Co. is the airport's fixed-base operator (FBO).

Facilities and aircraft
Middleton Municipal Airport - Morey Field covers an area of  and has two runways:

 10/28: , surface: asphalt
 1/19: , surface: turf

This airport is served by the following IAPs - Instrument Approach Procedures

RNAV (GPS) RWY 10
RNAV (GPS) RWY 28
LOC/DME RWY 10
VOR RWY 28
NOTE: Special Take-Off Minimums apply

For the 12-month period ending June 27, 2017, the airport had 40,510 aircraft operations, an average of 111 per day: 62% local general aviation, 32% transient general aviation, 6% air taxi and less than 1% military. In November 2018, there were 94 aircraft based at this airport: 81 single-engine, 8 multi-engine, 2 jet and 3 helicopter.

Cargo operations

References

External links
 Wisconsin Airport Directory: Middleton Municipal - Morey Field (PDF)

Category:Airports in Wisconsin
Category:Buildings and structures in Dane County, Wisconsin
Category:Airports established in 1942
Category:1942 establishments in Wisconsin


Instagram Special - Logo Foam Trucker - Olive

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We've all been there. Torn by the decision of whether to buy that gas station trucker hat that catches your eye during the 5am fill up. You'll have no regrets with the Yakoda logo foam trucker. It'll fit nicely in your collection, and we bet you'll be grabbing it more often than the gas station buys when you're headed to the water.


LATINOPIA DOCUMENT – A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHICANOS IN THE U.S.

August 3, 2014 by

CONTEXT: The history of Mexican Americans in the United States has been a long and troubled one. Dr. Felipe De Ortego y Gasca puts this history in perspective in this brief history of Chicanos in the United States. While not a historical document in the sense of the other documents in this section of Latinopia, we felt this history important to include as an important document of Latino history.

____________________________________________________

At the outset let me say that as Chicanos we did not get here by turning the other cheek or by rolling over like good lap dogs for the approval of the dominant hegemonic society. With due credit and homage to the Conquest Generation of Mexican Americans (1848-1912) who endured great suffering and iniquities, their sacrifices have made our existence as Mexican Americans of the 21st century (still a colonized people) more bearable though not less harsh. Our travails as an internal U.S. colony of Mexican Americans since 1848 have been punitive, and infamous.

What Mexican Americans of that “conquest generation” faced immediately after the dismemberment of more than half of Mexico’s national territory per the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) was (1) a strikingly different political system, (2) a completely different educational system, and (3) a different national language from their own which was immediately anathematized by mainstream American society and its apodictic strictures.

1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Though the territory of the Mexican Cession was larger than Spain, Italy, and France combined, we don’t really know how many people were on the land. In North From Mexico, Carey McWilliams indicates that there were only 75,000 people (counting Mexicans and Hispanicized Indians). In Occupied America Rudy Acuña suggests 3 million. The Texas historian Arnoldo DeLeon thinks the figure may be somewhere between the two. Whatever the number, inhabitants of the newly acquired territory were not welcomed by mainstream Americans. Much of what was Mexican and Spanish in the territory of the Mexican Cession has been retained by American society but the people themselves—the Indo-Chicanos have been held at arm’s length.

The journey and evolution from Indians to Chicanos started in 1492 when Columbus found himself in the Americas, thinking he had made his way to Cipango (Japan). Columbus called the Indigenous people he encountered in the Caribbean islands “Indians” He could not know that these people and the Spaniards would blend into a population which the Mexican educator and philosopher Jose Vasconcelos in the 20th century would call la raza cosmica—“the cosmic people.”

Who could have foreseen in this diaspora the holocaust engendered by the Spanish encounter of Cortez and Moctezuma in 1519? At first glance that encounter seems like little more than two cultures meeting each other face to face for the first time. But that encounter augured calamity for the Indians and, ultimately, calamity for the Spaniards as well. Despite the historical outcome, if one were to pronounce a “winner” of that encounter, I would pick the Indians who are as much our forebears as are the Spaniards. The descendants of that confluence of encounters have survived in prolific numbers. Regardless of the historicity of that encounter, like the creatures of “The Dark Crystal” (film) we cannot negate the duality of our parentage—somos indios y españoles—Indo-Hispanics. Like Joaquin in Corky Gonzalez’ epic poem, we must forge our future in light of that knowledge.

Our evolution from Indians to Chicanos was turbulent and more often than not brutal. But we survived. Like the Aztecs bewailing their plight in the throes of the Spanish conquest, we survived on dry grass and seeds. In his work on The Forgotten People: A Study of New Mexicans (1940)l, George I. Sanchez remarked how the New Mexicans had expected the U.S. government to help them lift themselves by their bootstraps; instead the government took away their boots. That has pretty much characterized the American government’s response to its colonized Mexican Americans.

Immediately in 1848 the Conquest Generation of Mexicans (now Americans by fiat) faced three considerations that the Mexicans who chose to remove themselves from territory annexed by the U.S. did not: (1) the English language, (2) the American political system, and (3) the American education system. All three considerations were to plague Mexican Americans until the present. To varying degrees, all three considerations have posed for Mexican Americans issues of identity, uncertainty, and representation.

Given the apartheid restrictions pertaining to Mexican Americans in many locales of the Hispanic Southwest during the transition period from 1848 to 1912, Mexican Americans were unsure or undecided if they were Americans or Mexicans. There are no statistics indicating how many (if any) Mexican Americans moved to the newly reconfigured Mexico during the transition period.

During this transition period, the American political system posed numerous barriers for full political participation by Mexican Americans, most barriers exacerbated by the requirements of the English language.

The American education system was by far the most difficult for Mexican Americans to navigate. Still is. In 1970 when my work on “Montezuma’s Children” was published as the cover story of The Center Magazine of the John Maynard Hutchins Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, average education attainment for Mexican American was 3.8 years. And Mexican American children with difficulties in the acquisition of the English language were assigned to classes for the Mentally Retarded. The story so affected Senator Ralph Yarbrough (D-TX) that he read the work into the Congressional Record 116, No. 189 (November 25, 1970, S-18961-S19865) and recommended it for a Pulitzer. The situation was no better when my work with Marta Sotomayor on Chicanos and American Education (Ford Foundation and National Council of La Raza) was undertaken.

The road for Mexican Americans in pursuit of social justice in the United States has been long and winding. For a while we thought that the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 brought into being by Senator Ralph Yarbrough would improve the dismal statistics of Mexican Americans and American Education. At least I thought so as a founding member of the Southwest Council of Foreign Language Teachers (CFLT) which morphed first into the Southwest Council for Bilingual Education in 1968, then into the National Council for Bilingual Education in 1970.

Father Martinez

What moved Mexican Americans forward from where we were to where we are was the awakening need spurred by the Chicano Movement for civic representation and a social presence commensurate with our numbers in the American population. This was not a movement spawned on the coat-tails of the Black Civil Rights Movement. This was a movement born out of the call to Mexican American in 1848 by Father Martinez of New Mexico to resist the American military occupation of the Hispanic Southwest, their homeland.

Not unlike the resistance of the French Maquisards (the Maquis) Freedom Fighters during the World War II German occupation of France, the Mexican American Freedom Fighters arose in various guises and disguises. In some places they were las gorras blancas (the white hats), in other places they were la hermandad (the brotherhood), more ominously they were la mano negra (the black hand). Important to note is that Mexican Americans did not go gently into the role of the vanquished. They were role-models for a later generation of resistance fighters like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. These were the roots of the Chicano struggle for civil rights.

Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales

That struggle continued in many forms both militantly and passively until 1960 when it turned more aggressively with groups like the Brown Berets, La Raza Unida Party, and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) and the Viva Kennedy clubs. Something impalpable was in the air, some ingress of pent-up frustration, a sense of immediacy to claim a place in the American sun. Whatever it was, it birthed the Chicano Movement. Almost immediately the four pillars of the Chicano Movement sprang up: The Crusade for Justice with Corky Gonzalez in Denver, The Farmworkers Movement in California with Cesar Chavez, the Raza Unida Party with Jose Angel Gutierrez in Texas, and the Land Grant Movement with Reies Lopez Tijerina in New Mexico.

To be sure, there were many other groups: inter alia National Council of La Raza, MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund), MAPA (Mexican American Political Action), Southwest Voter Registration Project, Trabajadores de la Raza (Social Workers). Older groups like LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizen) and the American GI Forum (Hispanic Veterans group) were re-energized in la causa (the cause). Groups like Teatro Campesino with Luis Valdez came into being to dramatize the plight of Mexican Americans in American society.

La Causa and the Chicano Movement marshaled significant participation in Chicano civil rights efforts. MALDEF pursued myriad cases in pursuit of social justice for Mexican Americans, particularly in the arena of voter rights. Everywhere, Chicanos were buoyed by hope and aspirations for change and a better future. Out of a sheol of despair, Chicanos forged a philosophy of life and a path to their historical origins.

Resistance can take many forms, from refusing to sit in the back of the bus to prayer. Each engenders an unfathomable power. Armed resistance is perhaps the least desirable—the last resort. For American colonists resisting English oppression, armed resistance at Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775 was the least desirable but seemed to be the most necessary in resolving their struggle with the English crown. Fortune often favors the bold, at times even restraint. It’s hard to determine the outcome of the moment and the matter. Only history ascertains the value of an action at any given time.

Almost 10 years ago in a 2005 piece on this topic I wrote:

The Fighting Medinas

During the Early Mexican American period (1848-1912), Mexican Americans had little choice about their futures. While many Mexicans, now Americans, embraced the presence of Anglo Americans in the territories that had recently been Mexico and prior to the Spanish, many Mexican Americans did not go gently into the good night of American “occupation” as Rodolfo Acuña tells us in Occupied America.Nevertheless, they went into the 20th century with all the baggage they were forced to carry by Jim Crow laws of the Southwest. Interestingly, New Mexico and Arizona did not become states of the Union until 1912 when Senator Albert Beveridge of Indiana saw that the demographics of the territories favored Anglo Americans. This period was essentially one of transition for Mexican Americans, going from being Mexicans to being Americans. Part of that effort began in 1896 with formation of Alianza Hispano Americana in Tucson, Arizona, an organization designed to expedite the transition of Mexicans to becoming Americans.

“Are We There Yet? Mexican Americans in the Age of Hispanicity” Hispanic Vista Weekly Digest, March 17

It appears abundantly clear to me that Mexican Americans have come far in American society but not as far as we should be, given our priority as a conquest people of Manifest Destiny in the American mosaic. There is still a distance ahead of us. Not a sprint, but a steeplechase with obstacles to overcome, obstacles we are now well aware of. Ahora no nos hacen pendejos. We have built a legacy of service and loyalty to this country—we deserve better. Nay, we demand better!
___________________________________________

Written and copyrighted 2014 by Dr. Felipe de Ortego y Gasca, Scholar in Residence (Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Public Policy) Western New Mexico University.

This week Mark Guerrero’s guest on Chicano Music Chronicles is renowned American songwriter, percussionist and guitarist for Los Lobos and Latin Playboys, Louie Pérez. As co-founder of the legendary music group Los Lobos, Louie started primarily playing the Jarana, a small Mexican guitar and singing in the Los Lobos first acoustic album, Just Another […]

Listen to the children… As I write this, young people are in the frontlines of political change. High-school students, survivors of the Feb 14 massacre in Parkland, Fla., are confronting politicians, demanding action regarding gun control, and their fervor has spread nationally. The students’ foundational demand is that weapons like the AR-15 that was used […]

JAMES BALDWIN, RICHARD WRIGHT, THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND CHICANO CONSCIOUSNESS Our paths did not cross often, nor can I say we were friends. I first saw James Baldwin in Paris in the Fall of 1955 at the Café de Flore at the height of his recent success: Beacon Press had just brought out his Notes […]

New On Latinopia

Jalapeño Irish Soda Bread The sweetness of traditional Irish soda bread ingredients—raisins, buttermilk, some sugar—are richly complimented by jalapeño heat. Here’s a soda bread recipe from Ireland brought to the USA from Galway by Mary Patricia Reilly Murray and later transformed with her blessing by her daughter, Bobbi Murray, who added jalapeño chile. A real […]

The effort to organize farm workers under a union contract has been a long and difficult struggle. In 1965, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta created what would become the United Farm Workers Union. From the onset they faced many obstacles, not the least of which was how to get dozens of California grape growers to […]

Robert Francis Kennedy was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968. The brother of President John F. Kennedy, Robert had just been nominated by the California Democratic Party as their choice to run for President of the United States. Dolores Huerta, Vice President of the United Farm […]


PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haitian police took former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier from his hotel Tuesday and headed to the prosecutor’s office, witnesses said Tuesday. The ousted president, who made a surprise return to...


Together for all eternity - Angel Bliss Chapter 4
Rated PG 13 Standard Disclaimers apply.
angel_bliss32@hotmail.com
Ok jes a brief brief authors note, can no one PLEASE never ever mail my
email at melodymail
nemore, this is cuz of tiny problems (e.g. my server REFUSES 2 let me go
there) and so
therefore... cannot check, so if u have RECENTLY emailed there, pleaaase
email it to my
hotmail account. Thnx! =) Also. If you have mailed and i never reply, im SO
sorry!
its one of my bad habvits to read and push things on afterwards,, klets face
it.. im a
procrasinator! Anywaayyyys.... Id also liek to thank ALL of u guyz who gave
me suggestions
to get me unstuck! and sorry 4 takin so long 2 publish this, but seeing
holidays are here...
So enjoy!
and pleeease email me!
__________________________________
Darien must have stood there for a good hour peeking through the doorway
watching his golden
haired angel sobbing. Eventually, her sobs subsided and she fell asleep. Tip
toeing in he
pulled up her blanket. A soft mumble left her mouth "mm.. no.. darien...
stop it" she tossed
before she started giggling. "how would you like another baby?"
He froze. Deja Vu. though he didn't exactly remember it happening. It was
HER dream. her dream
unfulfilled, because everyone knew, dreams and wishes ceased to exist by
this age, dreams
belonged in a winter wonderland, filled with marvellous flowers blooming in
the coldest winter
storm. Dreams belonged in fairytales... Her dream did come true.. in a way..
before it departed
again, leaving her with a broken heart. HE walked quietly out of the room
before making his
way to the carpark and driving off into the dark
__________________________________
am arm stuck itself into the air, before a leg popped out of the blanket and
a yawning blonde
was revealed. Mina groggily stumbled out of bed. It was the best sleep she
had gotten in
ages, and for some reason, she believed serena had a part of this eerie
fuzzy warm feeling she
had inside of her. By the time she arrived in the lounge room she noticed 3
extra suitcases
and her husband chatting away to a blonde. At first she couldn't recognise
who it was
until she had seen the mysterious blonde's face.
"SERENA!" she cried as she ran to hug her old friend. Pulling away she
looked at the
tired blonde. "Geez you look bad.. why are you here anyway?" Mina asked
curiously
"Well.. I felt like I needed a break.. and where better to go than to visit
my bestest
best best best buddy mina! and to see her family" Serena smiled.
After what seemed like an endless hour of chattering, Serena had brought
back her old self,
happy smiling cheery.
"Why duncha stay here with us for a while? stay for a month... I miss you
so much" Mina
died down to a whisper.
"I guess.. it wouldn't hurt... Reeny's enjoying herself" She looked out at
the window to
the small girl playing happily with Mina's children. She took a deep
breath,"besides, all our
stuff is here.. I'm planning to move to Australia."
__________________________________
"RAYE! fpor the lasdt time! WHERE IS SHE?" Darien yelled his hair tossed
messily all
over his face.
"DARIEN! for the goddamn last time! I DONT KNOW!" she cried out in anger.
"HERE!" she
pushed the letter serena had left her into Dariens chest before storming out
of the room.
{{ Raye...
By the time you read this, I'll prolly be somewhere else, I'm not leaving
my
whereabouts with anyone.. coz *he* might find it and come and take the last
thing that's mine
away from me.. He'll want his little girl, and I can't let him do that, so
I'm off again. And
you kno whats strange? He was watching me last night, i could feel it. But
thats probbaly me,
wishing for him to come back. and lets face it. It's not gonna happen soon.
now will it?
hopefully, we'll meet again sometime. Thanks for all the times youy guys
have watched out
for me, sorry for being a burden and all in the past month. I promise I'll
be a stronger
person, and I'll be back.. some day. I promise.
I leave you the shop. Take care of it Raye. and good luck with Chad *wink*
Love Sere xoxo}}
__________________________________
*+*a year later*+*
Serena walked out of her beach front house Lazily she stretched as she
relaxed in the warm
sun. She was back to the magazine business (AN so lets image thats all glam
and money ok?) Now
working for Marie Claire (gee she got around!) Seeing it was school
holidays, Reeny had been
sent off to Mina and Andrew for a week or so. Sitting down at the table, she
grabbed out her
highlighter and started to flick through her pile of papers. Music blared
from her sound
system as she read through the papers
~~when I close my eyes
I break down and cry
its something bout the
way you love me
What part of your kiss
my heart cant resist
its all abotu the way
you love me.
Never thought that i would find
so much piece of mind
and every moment that i share with you
sometimes I dont know why
I fell so deep in Love~~
Dropping the highlighter she headed out onto the small jetty wharf near her
house. Upon
arriving, she dipped her feet in the cool water as she kicked it playfully
watching the
small fish swim around her feet.
In the ditance, A lone figure watched the small blonde kicking the water in
the sunset.
__________________________________
AIII shuddup
i kno its liek *CORNY AS* but im so tired and ive got a huge workload
so this is all ive got 4 now. once agen. soz 4 the short chap. send all
suggestions
comments and flames to me at
angel_bliss32@hotmail.com
luv angeL


using System;
namespace FlyMe.Droid.Renderers
{
    public class FlyShellRenderer
    {
        public FlyShellRenderer()
        {
        }

        //Device.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(() =>
        //    {
        //        var parent = (AppBarLayout)toolbar.Parent;
        //parent.SetElevation(0);
        //    });
    }
}


2017 Harley-Davidson HERITAGE SOFTAIL CLASSIC FLSTC HERITAGE CLASSIC

Our Price $14,495

Down Payment

Estimated Payment: ---

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*This calculator is for informational use only and is based on the information you provide. Actual loan amounts and payments will vary based on additional items such as taxes and fees as well as the actual interest rate available to you from a financial institution.

This 2017 Harley-Davidson HERITAGE SOFTAIL CLASSIC FLSTC HERITAGE CLASSIC features a 103ci V-TWIN 1687cc cyl engine. The vehicle is BLK QRTZ with a BLK QRTZ interior. It is offered with the remaining factory warranty. - 2017 HARLEY-DAVIDSON HERITAGE SOFTAIL CLASSIC FLSTC - This Harley-Davidson is in Excellent overall exterior condition - Cruise Control, ABS, but the look still blazes straight from this machine's authentic dresser past. This is too good to consign to history. The Heritage Softailr Classic is rich with the nostalgia of days gone by, and a High Output Twin Cam 103BT engine. We maintained the classic look and re-invented the ride. - Contact Motorcycle Sales at 888-933-7674 or bob@usedmotorcyclestore.com for more information. -

Let us help you finance your next vehicle. Begin by clicking the "Get Approved" button above and enter your information completely before clicking submit. You can also print and fax us your completed application to 877-862-7872. *NOTE* - When filling out fields requiring a dollar amount, please enter simple numbers only without decimel point or any remaining digits. For example, if you were entering eight hundred dollars as a dollar value for any field, it should be entered as "800" (NOT $800.00 or $800). Only the simple expression is accepted on this form for numeric values. Please print and fax to 877-862-7872 if you have any trouble submitting this form. Our finance team will work to get you the best financing options available. Used Motorcycles And Motorcycle Parts For Sale (877) 862-7872.

It is the customer's sole responsibility to verify the existence and condition of any equipment listed. Neither the dealership nor AutoRevo is responsible for misprints on prices or equipment. It is the customer's sole responsibility to verify the accuracy of the prices with the dealer. Pricing subject to change without notice.


Q:

How to Return a vector to Windows thread function?

I have written a library which comprises of function and two thread functions. From the user program I will call the function inside the library with Drive id as parameter. The function creates threads according to no of Drive Id I have given. Then this thread function will process the drive getting list of folders from the drive and put it in a queue. Once it finishes it will call certain amount of threads (which i initialized with MAX_Threads) and these child threads will process the queue and put list of files inside the drive in their corresponding vector. Now my problem is I have to return these vector to the statement which called the library. I referred through many sites but i didn't got the intended result.
The snippet which I implemented is..
ListFiles(string DriveId)
{
    loop(no of drives)
        create Threads
}
DWORD WINAPI FileList::ParThread(LPVOID s)
{
    //Process Drive
    directories.push_back(path + "\\" + ffd.cFileName); //global queue
    //it will be locked and then inserted and released by each thread

    loop(Max - threads)
        CreateThreads
}
DWORD WINAPI FileList::List(LPVOID s)
{
    //create vector local to each thread
    //create local queue that copies values from global queue and processing occurs in local queue
    //inserts file name into vector

}

Now I want to return these vectors to the statement which called the function ListFiles which is in library.

A:

The library function can create the vector and pass its address in the LPVOID thread parameter. If you need multiple vectors put them all in a struct and pass the address of the struct in the LPVOID thread parameter.


The Sky 973 on Twitter

White House says it values diversity, won't disclose numbers

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the White House values diversity, but she would not say how many black staffers there are in the West Wing.

Pressed by reporters Wednesday for a specific number, Sanders said: "I'm not going to go through and do a count."

The lack of diversity in President Donald Trump's administration has come under fresh scrutiny in the wake of a new tell-all book from former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, who was the highest ranking African-American official on Trump's staff.

Sanders added: "We would love to diversify our staff and continue to do so."


Multiple gestations from in vitro fertilization: successful implantation alone is not associated with subsequent preeclampsia.
Our purpose was to compare the risk for preeclampsia and severe preeclampsia in triplet and twin gestations and to evaluate the effect of successful implantation on the development of preeclampsia and on perinatal outcome in triplet pregnancies conceived by means of in vitro fertilization. A case control study was conducted of triplet pregnancies (n = 38) matched for maternal age, parity, race, and delivery date with twin pregnancies (n = 38) resulting from a single fetal reduction (spontaneously or by means of multifetal pregnancy reduction) after successful implantation of triplets. All pregnancies were conceived by means of in vitro fertilization. Rates of preeclampsia and other maternal complications, factors affecting implantation, and perinatal outcomes were compared. Preeclampsia and severe preeclampsia were defined by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists criteria. The Student t test and the chi(2) test were used for statistical analysis. The triplet group had a higher rate of severe preeclampsia (26.3%) than the twin (reduced triplet) group (7.9%). The prevalence of preeclampsia (mild and severe combined) also was higher among the triplet group (44.7%) than among the twin group (15.8%). There was no difference in other maternal complications of pregnancy or in factors potentially affecting implantation, such as assisted hatching. Mean fetal weight was lower among the triplet group, but gestational age at delivery was not significantly different. The rate of preeclampsia is higher among triplets conceived by means of in vitro fertilization than among triplets conceived by means of in vitro fertilization and reduced to twins. This finding suggests that fetal number, placental mass, or factors unrelated to the success of implantation are more important to the development of preeclampsia than is successful implantation alone.


Lucy Noland to Anchor NBC4's 6 P.M. Weekday Newscast

Published Apr 11, 2013 at 10:46 PM

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Lucy Noland, who recently joined the NBC4 news team, will anchor the station's 6 p.m., weekday newscast, it was announced by Vickie Burns, vice president and news director.

"Lucy is a vibrant anchor with a terrific on-air presence. She is a skilled journalist who will continuously engage viewers and deliver stories that matter. She is a dynamic anchor and reporter who also brings a strong commitment to her local community,” said Burns.

Prior to joining NBC4, Noland worked at the CBS affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas, where she was the co-anchor of the station’s 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts. Noland had been with KHOU since April 2007.

From March 2004 to March 2007, Noland co-hosted "Good Day New York," the morning show at the Fox owned-and-operated station WNYW-TV in New York. She also briefly anchored that station’s midday newscast. Before that, she was a weekday morning anchor and franchise reporter at WJBK-TV, the Fox owned-and-operated station in Detroit, from December 1997 to March 2004.

Noland began her career in broadcasting at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she produced, edited and broadcast news for the college’s radio station and was also a disc jockey. She interned for KATN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Fairbanks, Alaska and eventually became a morning and evening news anchor at the station. She also produced, edited and reported for the station. During this time, she also produced, edited and broadcasted news for KWLF-FM in Fairbanks and additionally was a disc jockey for that radio station.

Noland then joined KIMO-TV, the ABC affiliate in Anchorage, where she held a number of different positions, including producer/editor, general assignment reporter and evening and late news anchor. She was then hired by ABC to join its Minority Management Training Program through San Francisco’s KGO-TV, the ABC-owned station in the Bay Area. Her position included assignments as a general assignment reporter and anchor for KFSN-TV, the ABC-owned station in Fresno, California. Here, she also filed stories for KGO-TV, including reports from the Mexico/California border on immigration. After that, she moved to Fresno’s CBS affiliate KJEO-TV as the evening weekday anchor and reporter.

Noland was born in Saigon, Vietnam and lives in California with her family.

NBC4 (KNBC) is the West Coast flagship of the 10 NBC owned television stations. It produces more than 30 hours each week of local news and information across its multiple platforms, including the main broadcast channel 4, online at WWW.NBCLA.COM and California Nonstop – the 24/7 news and information channel that airs on NBC4 digital channel 4.2. Serving the Los Angeles community since 1949, NBC4 news operation has received nearly every industry award bestowed on local news, including numerous Los Angeles Emmy and Golden Mike Awards, as well as two national Edward R. Murrow Awards and a Peabody Award.


Assessment and detection of pain in noncommunicative severely brain-injured patients.
Detecting pain in severely brain-injured patients recovering from coma represents a real challenge. Patients with disorders of consciousness are unable to consistently or reliably communicate their feelings and potential perception of pain. However, recent studies suggest that patients in a minimally conscious state can experience pain to some extent. Pain monitoring in these patients is hence of medical and ethical importance. In this article, we will focus on the possible use of behavioral scales for the assessment and detection of pain in noncommunicative patients.


LONDON (AFP) — Can G7 leaders on Monday do what their central bankers have failed to, in arresting the pandemic panic gripping global financial markets? Further steep falls on the world’s leading stock indices have exposed the limitations of official action, despite a round of emergency steps announced by central banks on Sunday.

Now it is over to crisis videoconference talks Monday among G7 heads of government including President Trump, and separately of eurozone finance ministers.

“There’s an understanding in markets that a recession is almost guaranteed. Authorities throwing money at it helps but cannot stop it,” said Jasper Lawler, head of research at traders LCG.

Dusting off their playbook from the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and others on Sunday announced emergency measures to try to keep dollars pumping through the arteries of the global economy.

In addition to joining the other central banks in enhancing global liquidity swaps, the Fed slashed its key interest rate to virtually zero, and announced massive asset purchases along with more help to encourage bank lending.

But unlike the banking shock of 2008, which was readily quantifiable, Covid-19 remains an invisible enemy and the global economy could get much worse as national lockdowns take hold.

“A significant downturn is looming over the coming months, the only question is how deep it becomes,” said Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics.

Despite the central banks’ efforts to inject some calm, markets in Asia and Europe resumed their giddying declines on Monday and U.S. futures looked troubled.

“Central banks led by the U.S. shot off a bazooka of lower interest rates and quantitative easing but it has missed (the) target. Markets are back into freefall,” Lawler said.

The scale of the crisis was laid bare as industrial production for January and February in China — ground zero of the pandemic — shrank by 13.5%, the first contraction there in around 30 years.

Shares in airlines crashed after carriers in Europe and the United States announced dramatic cuts to their flight capacity.

Analysts are looking to the G7 and eurozone ministers to announce concerted stimulus plans, again evoking the response to the 2008 crisis.

Unlike then, banks’ balance sheets are healthy, according to Stephen Innes, global chief markets strategist at AxiCorp, a foreign exchange trader.

“But this is a global economic crisis which needs swap lines to airline companies, oil companies and retailers,” he said.

“Airlines might be at the top of the list for directed fiscal help, but virtually every global industry is facing pressure without a government bailout.”

Above all, investors want something governments in Europe and the United States have proved unable to deliver — a fall in new coronavirus cases similar to the trend in China.

“There’s a lot coming globally from central banks but of course now … it’s over to governments to act more aggressively in terms of fiscal stimulus,” said Derek Halpenny, head of research for global markets at MUFG, a Japanese bank holding and financial services company.

“That is going to be the key going forward, obviously along with the Covid-19 daily data, in terms of where we go (for) investor sentiment,” he said in a podcast.

European stock markets went into freefall early Monday despite the massive fresh central banks’ stimulus.

Paris dived 9.0%, Frankfurt plunged 7.8%, London and Milan tumbled 7.6%, while Spain retreated 8.7%.

© Agence France-Presse


How much does a university payroll system cost? $30 million, apparently. - yummyfajitas
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-uwsystempayroll,0,2597575.story
======
edw519
"He also said the subcontractor, Accenture, was playing a limited role and was
well-qualified for the work."

And I'm well-qualified for doing brain surgery.

Like most enterprise debacles, this is NOT a technology problem. It's a
management problem. Or lack thereof.

(Honestly fellow hackers, is there anything _easier_ than payroll? That's what
we used to give the new guys.)

~~~
nradov
You think payroll is a large enterprise is easy? Not a chance. They are
dealing with multiple union contracts, salaried employees with various scales
and benefits, students, etc. The legacy application is probably full of
undocumented special cases that are necessary to get correct results, and have
to be tediously reverse engineered.

For another example, see the (in)famous C3 project.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Comprehensive_Compensa...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Comprehensive_Compensation_System)

That said, I'm sure you're correct that there was some serious management
failures on this project.

~~~
edw519
"You think payroll is a large enterprise is easy?"

Compared to any other enterprise app, absolutely! The easiest, by far.

"They are dealing with multiple union contracts, salaried employees with
various scales and benefits, students, etc"

Oh, you mean you have to do math? It's not like they're launching a rocket. Oh
wait, that doesn't cost $30M either. Sorry.

"...have to be tediously reverse engineered..."

Or "tediously" analyzed and defined. Either way, it's what we do. Digital
blocking and tackling. Relatively easy; that is, unless you don't know what
you're doing and got the gig because your senior partner threatened the
trustees by withholding audit approval.

We hackers don't profess to be experts at accounting. Why do accountants
insist on being experts at building software?

~~~
seldo
To be fair, Accenture don't profess to be experts at accounting either:
they're generalist consultants.

Interestingly, Accenture (then Anderson, DeLany & Co.) apparently built the
first computerized payroll system in the US, back in 1953:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accenture#History>

~~~
menloparkbum
Actually, they do profess to be experts at building accounting systems.
Accenture was spun out of an accounting firm and as you mention they've been
building accounting systems since 1953. Building payroll and other accounting
systems is one of the main things they do.

~~~
moe
So if they're doing it for 56 years then why don't they already have a modular
offering where they can just mix & match the modules as required, akin to SAP?

I know the answer(s) ofcourse, but couldn't resist asking...

------
wallflower
To give you an idea of the scope of the problem, another school dealing with
the same legacy issues:

"The inadequacy of these systems is resulting in operational inefficiencies
that impact people at every level of this institution. It is difficult for
faculty and staff to perform even the most basic functions, such as hiring,
purchasing, tracking and managing multiple budgets, and making accurate budget
projections.

The systems lack basic tools and functionality to help staff do their work,
such as controls to prevent over-spending, visibility into pending financial
transactions, or ability to do financial reporting at the unit or department
level. The systems do not collect the level and detail of data required to
meet the UW’s growing information needs.

As a result, staff must engage in “daily heroics” just to keep business
operations running and get the information they need to do their jobs. They
must make extraordinary efforts to perform basic job duties, employing
numerous manual workarounds and engaging in other cumbersome and time-
consuming processes that take away from higher-level work.

To compensate for missing functionality, departments and units across the
University have created hundreds of shadow systems at considerable cost and
effort. These shadow systems represent a significant security risk to the
University, and maintaining them is costly and inefficient."

[http://www.washington.edu/provost/oim/roadmap/report/replace...](http://www.washington.edu/provost/oim/roadmap/report/replace.html)

------
spoondan
There's no justifying the cost for this project. However, UW has 27
institutions and a central office that this software is supposed to cover.
Dealing with all of the campuses is an astonishingly difficult task.
University systems in general are not simple hierarchical structures, and
state university systems even less so. The challenges of working within that
kind of environment are very different than the challenges of dealing with
most businesses. Not that $12 million for planning is justified (especially
not after a failed $28 million project), but this project isn't quite as cut-
and-dry as you might expect.

------
Dilpil
Interesting, they note that the university has 60,000 employees. I'll leave
the jaw dropping math to you.

~~~
seldo
Why make people do math? It's $500 per employee assuming the $30m figure in
the headline (which doesn't actually appear in the article). They spent $28m
on another system they never used, and are about to spend $12m on the second
attempt, making it $40m in total, or $666 per employee.

Either way, holy cow.

~~~
mkeblx
And the $12m is just for the initial planning stage, no actual implementation,
so the final cost will be much higher. But you get to amortize it over ~35
years.

~~~
Dilpil
Or if your accountants are clever enough, amortize it over 200.

------
dryicerx
At first I thought it was an outrageous cost for a payroll system, but
according to the article, the UW system has 60,000 employees over 27 campuses.
For those 60k employees, getting paid is a _VERY IMPORTANT_ deal... there
can't be any mistakes in this scale. (A single tiny mistake will propegate it
self 60000 times and that won't be fun to fix).

Plus their last system lasted ~35 years (since 1975), so I am guessing their
planning a equally long lasting system.

~~~
seldo
That seems a really charitable guess, given the levels of incompetence that
seem to surround every other aspect of this project.

------
mrduncan
I'm curious where the OP got the $30 million from, it sounds like it's a lot
more than that unless some of these numbers overlap (it's tough to tell).

 _A first attempt to replace it with Lawson Software was scrapped in 2006
after years of work and a cost of $28.4 million._

 _The system's top budget official, Tom Anderes, told the Board of Regents
this month that planning for the project alone is now expected to cost $12
million._

------
makecheck
An I.T. solution for this shouldn't cost more than it would for human beings
to walk around with a checkbook and a pencil.

------
invisible
So basically 400k of this is actually consumed by employees at the university
working on the project (if that), while the other 11.6 million is for paying
off good friends of the board that just so happen to have roles in the
consulting companies that provide services.

------
seldo
I can't help but think there's a big market for new, low-cost, web-based
software in old, boring markets that are ignored, like accounting, payroll and
CRM.

I'm not saying payroll is easy, but the guys who are building payroll systems
aren't facing a lot of competition, because the field is so dull.

~~~
mrtron
Those systems already exist.

The problem is the people in charge of acquiring the system go with someone
like Accenture because it is low risk for them, and people associate spending
more money with a better product.


Computerising the OH department.
Many OH departments within the public and private sectors of industry are considering the need to install computer systems to record and manage their employee medical records. Michael Barton stresses that consideration has to be given to the reasons for computerisation, clarification of the its benefits and also the importance of dispelling any myths about computer systems before embarking on such a course of action.


Q:

Zero divisors in $A[x_1,x_2,\dots,x_r]$

Let $A$ be a commutative ring. I am trying to show that if $f(x_1,x_2,\ldots, x_r) \in A[x_1,x_2,\ldots, x_r]$ is a zero divisor then there exists $a$ in $A-\{0\}$ such that $af=0$ in $A[x_1,x_2,\ldots, x_r]$.

What I have tried so far as following.
I am using induction on $r$ (not fixing the ring). The base case is for $r=1$ which I did assuming the minimal degree of $g$ for which $fg=0$ holds. So my induction assumption is for $r \geq 2$ whenever $f$ is in $A[x_1,x_2,\ldots x_r]$, $n<r$ is a zero divisor there is $a$ in $A-\{0\}$ such that $af=0$. So for the final step I take $f(x_1,x_2,\ldots, x_r) \in A[x_1,x_2,\ldots, x_r]$ is a zero divisor. Now since $A[x_1,x_2,\ldots, x_r]=A[x_1][x_2,x_3,\ldots, x_r]$ by induction hypothesis there is $g$ in $A[x_1]-\{0\}$ such that $fg=0$.
I cannot proceed further. Am I correct so far? Please help me. Thank you.

A:

From your reasoning it follows that $g(x_1)$ annihilates the (non-zero) coefficients of $f$ in $A[x_1]$. All you have to do now is to prove the following extension of the case $r=1$:

Let $f_1,\dots,f_t\in A[X]$ be non-zero polynomials. If there is $g\in A[X]$, $g\ne 0$, such that $gf_1=\cdots=gf_t=0$, then there is $a\in A$, $a\ne 0$, such that $af_1=\cdots=af_t=0$.

We show by induction on $d=\max_{1\le i\le t}\deg f_i$ that there is an element $a$ as before which moreover belongs to the ideal generated by the coefficients of $g$.
If $d=0$ there is nothing to prove. For $d\ge 1$ let's write the polynomials $f_i(X)=\sum_{j=0}^{n_i}a_{ij}X^j$ with $n_i=\deg f_i$, $\max\{n_1,\dots,n_t\}=d$, and $g(x)=\sum_{j=0}^nb_jX^j$, where $n=\deg g$. Suppose that $n\ge 1$. Then $b_na_{in_i}=0$ for $i=1,\dots,t$. Now consider two cases:
(1) If $a_{1n_1}g=\cdots=a_{tn_t}g=0$, then set $f_i'=f_i-a_{in_i}X^{n_i}$. Since $gf_i'=0$ for $i=1,\dots,t$ and $\max_{1\le i\le t}\deg f_i'<d$ we can apply the induction hypothesis and find an element $a\ne 0$ in the ideal generated by the coefficients of $g$ such that $af_1'=\cdots=af_t'=0$. This leads to $af_1=\cdots=af_t=0$.
(2) If there is $1\le i\le t$ such that $a_{in_i}g\ne 0$, then $(a_{in_i}g)f_1=\cdots=(a_{in_i}g)f_t=0$ and $\deg (a_{in_i}g)<\deg g$. An induction argument on $\deg g$ shows that there is $a\ne 0$ in the ideal generated by the coefficients of $a_{in_i}g$ such that $af_1=\cdots=af_t=0$.


Analyzing change at the dyadic level: the common fate growth model.
For the study of growth in dyads, methods have been developed to analyze growth at the level of the dyad members. In this article, we present a novel approach that we call the Common Fate Growth Model (CFGM). This model permits an analysis of growth at the level of the dyads when members are either distinguishable (e.g., heterosexual couples) or indistinguishable (e.g., lesbian couples). To estimate the model, we describe the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) for both distinguishable and indistinguishable members. For indistinguishable members and small groups, such as families, we provide details for the use of multilevel SEM (MSEM). For both SEM and MSEM, we address the issue of measurement invariance (MI) and the estimation of group-level means. The models are illustrated with data from couples collected at seven measurement occasions. To aid the estimation of the models, Mplus code and Amos setups are provided.


tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post856011238804912259..comments2015-07-07T13:15:02.676-04:00Comments on History Is Elementary: In Their Own WordsEHThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17964668210604436937noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post-51889561567449504552007-04-21T21:45:00.000-04:002007-04-21T21:45:00.000-04:00LOVE United Streaming!LOVE United Streaming!kontanhttp://kontansplace.comnoreply@blogger.com