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Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

ltstrong stylemsobidifontweight normalgtSYLVESTER MOWRY Sylvester was born in October of 1830 and graduated from West Point in 1852 near the top of the class. As a sparkling new second lieutenant he went west and took part in the su




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Back on the Rancho

Back in the RVAfter a year and a half in a home without wheels Grace and I are back in the RV. We39ve moved to Santa Barbara county while we are shopping for a home in Santa Barbara. We39ve moved into Rancho Oso an old horse ranch




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Rurrenabaque Pink Dolfins Piranha FishingAnaconda hunting

Sept 27Oct 1stIt was really nice seeing John at the airport when I arrived. THe altitude of La Paz considering it is the highest capital in the world didnt affect me like I had assumed it would. I did purchase a coca cola which helps and John and I




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Cusco and the Sacred Valley

We booked our overnight bus to Cusco with CIAL bus company it's a bit cheaper than the others so we decided to try out the cama class. Even though the seats recline back nearly into a bed I couldn't sleep. I think I was fearful the strike wasn't actuall




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Back to Darwin

Monday 4th OctoberWell after the last blog entry I wanted to be a bit more upbeat but we've not had the best of starts today. First port of call was the Darwin Dam Darwin Damn more like as there were barricades preventing any viewings. Never mi




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PACKED

We are packed and ready to go Its only 130am We have to be up at 6am ready for our ride to the airport by 8 or 815am....we should be in Nuremberg by 430am Eastern time on Sunday 103 my birthday....yay.




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Sydney Northern Beaches

Sydney's northern beaches ist ein beliebter Urlaubsort fuer Sydnysiders. Die northern beaches erstrecken sich von Manly bis nach Palm Beach.




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Day 2 Waikiki Beach in Honolulu Hawaii 14 June 2015

Day 2 Waikiki Beach in Honolulu Hawaii 14 June 2015 After a much needed sleep we were ready for the beach holiday. We had a fantastic breakfast at the hotel enjoying the scenes around and in the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The day was spent w




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Time for the emperors-in-waiting who run Facebook to just admit they're evil | Charlie Brooker

Facebook's emotion study reveals it is hopelessly disconnected from emotional reality: that people get upset when people they care about are unhappy

Alex Hern: The final straw for Facebook?

This weekend we learned that Facebook had deliberately manipulated the emotional content of 689,003 users' news feeds as part of an experiment to see what kind of psychological impact it would have. For one week in January 2012, some users saw chiefly positive stories (kitten videos, brownie recipes and assorted LOLs), while others were force-fed despair (breakups, health woes and seal-clubbing holiday snaps). And guess what happened?

"The results show emotional contagion," decided the scientists.

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Want to silence a two-year-old? Try teaching it to ride a motorbike | Charlie Brooker

I decided to introduce my son to video games. We soon found one he liked … and I mean really, really liked

So I decided to introduce my two-year-old son to the world of video games. Before you accuse me of hobbling my offspring's mind, I'd like to point out that a) television is 2,000 times worse, so shove that up your Night Garden and b) I also decided to counterbalance the gaming with exposure to high culture. For every 10 minutes of Fruit Ninja during daylight hours, he'd get 10 pages of a critically acclaimed novel at bedtime. We're currently halfway through The Magus by John Fowles, which he's enjoying immensely. He finds some passages so moving that his protracted sobs drown out my reading completely, and when I return to the beginning of the chapter to start again, he leaps up screaming, trying to snatch the book out of my hands with delight.

Like any self-respecting 2014 toddler, he can swipe, pat and jab at games on a smartphone or tablet, but smartphone games aren't real games. They're interactive dumbshows designed to sedate suicidal commuters. And they're not just basic but insulting, often introducing themselves as free-to-play simply so they can extort money from you later in exchange for more levels or less terrible gameplay. Either that or they fund themselves with pop-up adverts that defile the screen like streaks on a toilet bowl.

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Coronavirus – Gefahr für die Lunge: Worauf Sportler jetzt achten sollten

Nach der Zwangspause wollen nun viele möglichst schnell wieder fit werden. Doch Mediziner warnen davor, es beim Einstieg zu übertreiben - vor allem nach überstandener Krankheit.




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Annalena Baerbock und Robert Habeck fürchten gesellschaftlichen "Rollback" durch Corona

Annalena Baerbock und Robert Habeck warnen vor einem gesellschaftlichen Rückschritt infolge der Coronakrise. Was würden sie tun, wenn sie an der Macht wären?




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"M.O.M - Milf oder Missy" bei Joyn: Suhlen im flachen Plattitüdenbassin

Das Streamingportal Joyn versucht sich an einem Datingformat: "M.O.M - Milf oder Missy" lässt zwei Männer aus Frauen verschiedenen Alters wählen – und versumpft in faden Klischees. 




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Corona-Lockerungen in Italien nach dem Lockdown: "Rom erlebt die Stunde Null"

Sie hatten den europaweit härtesten Corona-Lockdown. Wie sich die erste Woche der "Phase 2" in Italien anfühlt, beschreibt unser SPIEGEL-Korrespondent vor Ort.




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The Relotius Scandal Reaches Fergus Falls in America

Claas Relotius, the DER SPIEGEL journalist outed this week for churning out fraudulent stories, wrote for the magazine about the U.S. town of Fergus Falls. Two locals fact-checked his reporting, and their verdict is devastating -- a perfect example of how DER SPIEGEL's editorial safeguards failed.




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German Ventilator Manufacturer: "Absolutely Mission Impossible"

Drägerwerk is a world leader in the production of ventilators. In an interview, company head Stefan Dräger, 57, discusses the challenges of keeping up with current demand as the corona crisis accelerates.




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Corona Challenge: Germany Reaching the Upper Limit of Testing Capacity

Every day, tens of thousands people in Germany seek to get tested for the novel coronavirus. Often, though, they run up against a lack of testing capacity. And it is likely to only get worse. By DER SPIEGEL Staff




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Global Behaviors and Perceptions at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic -- by Thiemo R. Fetzer, Marc Witte, Lukas Hensel, Jon Jachimowicz, Johannes Haushofer, Andriy Ivchenko, Stefano Caria, Elena Reutskaja, Christopher P. Roth, Stefano Fiorin, Margarita G

We conducted a large-scale survey covering 58 countries and over 100,000 respondents between late March and early April 2020 to study beliefs and attitudes towards citizens’ and governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most respondents reacted strongly to the crisis: they report engaging in social distancing and hygiene behaviors, and believe that strong policy measures, such as shop closures and curfews, are necessary. They also believe that their government and their country’s citizens are not doing enough and underestimate the degree to which others in their country support strong behavioral and policy responses to the pandemic. The perception of a weak government and public response is associated with higher levels of worries and depression. Using both cross-country panel data and an event-study, we additionally show that strong government reactions correct misperceptions, and reduce worries and depression. Our findings highlight that policy-makers not only need to consider how their decisions affect the spread of COVID-19, but also how such choices influence the mental health of their population.




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Generosity Across the Income and Wealth Distributions -- by Jonathan Meer, Benjamin A. Priday

Despite widespread interest, there is little systematic evidence on the relationship between income, wealth, and charitable giving. We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to provide descriptive statistics on this relationship. We find that, irrespective of specifica­tion, donative behavior increases with greater resources.




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Inequality and the Safety Net Throughout the Income Distribution, 1929-1940 -- by James J. Feigenbaum, Price V. Fishback, Keoka Grayson

We explored two measures of inequality that described the full income distribution in cities. One measure is an income gini based on family incomes in 1929 for 33 cities and in 1933 for up to 48 cities in 1933 were spread throughout the country. We also estimated gini coefficients that made use of contract rents for renters and implicit rents for home owners for up to 955 cities throughout the country. We were able to expand to all counties when looking at a top-end inequality measure, the number of taxpayers per family. All three measures varied substantially across the country. We show the correlations between the various measures and also estimate the relationship between the measures and various relief programs developed by governments at all levels during the period.




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Dying in Solitude: First-Hand Accounts of the Coronavirus Horrors in Italy

Family members aren't allowed into hospitals nor can they take part in funerals. Crematoriums are overloaded. The horrors of coronavirus still have a firm hold on northern Italy.




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Euro Bonds or Bust? Europe Struggling to Find a Joint Approach to the Corona Catastrophe

Faced with a growing economic crisis, many European Union member states are clamoring for the introduction of so-called corona bonds. Just like it was in the euro crisis, though, Germany is opposed. In the end, Berlin may not have a choice. By DER SPIEGEL Staff




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Coronavirus: Il rifiuto tedesco degli Eurobond è non solidale, gretto e vigliacco

L'Europa è più di una mera alleanza di egocentrici. Non esistono alternative agli Eurobond in una crisi come questa.





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Should schools adopt "detracking" math teachers

A number of school districts in the US are "detracking" math teachers, which rotates teachers through classes, allowing them  -More




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3 principles of adult learning to guide teacher PD

Three principles of adult learning can help facilitators engage educators in effective professional development, writes Shann -More




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China Eases Back Toward Normality Three Months after Outbreak

Twelve weeks after the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic in China, leaders in Beijing are gradually reopening the country. But how can they be sure their decision won't backfire?




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Ischgl, Austria: A Corona Hotspot in the Alps Spread Virus Across Europe

The Austrian winter-sports mecca of Ischgl is well known for its parties. But after helping spread the virus across Europe, the town's reputation is changing to one of incompetence and greed.




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Corona: How People Around the World Are Supporting Each Other

The coronavirus is forcing us to keep our distance from other people. Yet these extraordinary times have also brought forth moments of warmth and solidarity. People are offering each other words of encouragement and banding together to fight their loneliness.




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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas: I Find It Appropriate that Every Member State First Acted Nationally

In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, 53, criticizes the U.S., China and Hungary for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He also promises not to abandon Italy and explains why he doesn't want to say that he's actually in favor of corona bonds.




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Steering Incentives of Platforms: Evidence from the Telecommunications Industry -- by Brian McManus, Aviv Nevo, Zachary Nolan, Jonathan W. Williams

We study the trade-offs faced by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that serve as platforms through which consumers access both television and internet services. As online streaming video improves, these providers may respond by attempting to steer consumers away from streaming video toward their own TV services, or by attempting to capture surplus from this improved internet content. We augment the standard mixed bundling model to demonstrate the trade-offs the ISP faces when dealing with streaming video, and we show how these trade-offs change with the pricing options available to the ISP. Next, we use unique household-level panel data and the introduction of usage-based pricing (UBP) in a subset of markets to measure consumers' responses and to evaluate quantitatively the ISP's trade-offs. We find that the introduction of UBP led consumers to upgrade their internet service plans and lower overall internet usage. Our findings suggest that while steering consumers towards TV services is possible, it is likely costly for the ISP and therefore unlikely to be profitable. This is especially true if the ISP can offer rich pricing menus that allow it to capture some of the surplus generated by a better internet service. The results suggest that policies like UBP can increase ISPs' incentive to maintain open access to new internet content.




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Changes in Black-White Inequality: Evidence from the Boll Weevil -- by Karen Clay, Ethan J. Schmick, Werner Troesken

This paper investigates the effect of a large negative agricultural shock, the boll weevil, on black-white inequality in the first half of the twentieth century. To do this we use complete count census data to generate a linked sample of fathers and their sons. We find that the boll weevil induced enormous labor market and social disruption as more than half of black and white fathers moved to other counties following the arrival of the weevil. The shock impacted black and white sons differently. We compare sons whose fathers initially resided in the same county and find that white sons born after the boll weevil had similar wages and schooling outcomes to white sons born prior to its arrival. In contrast, black sons born after the boll weevil had significantly higher wages and years of schooling, narrowing the black-white wage and schooling gaps. This decrease appears to have been driven by relative improvements in early life conditions and access to schooling both for sons of black fathers that migrated out of the South and sons of black fathers that stayed in the South.




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A New Method for Estimating Teacher Value-Added -- by Michael Gilraine, Jiaying Gu, Robert McMillan

This paper proposes a new methodology for estimating teacher value-added. Rather than imposing a normality assumption on unobserved teacher quality (as in the standard empirical Bayes approach), our nonparametric estimator permits the underlying distribution to be estimated directly and in a computationally feasible way. The resulting estimates fit the unobserved distribution very well regardless of the form it takes, as we show in Monte Carlo simulations. Implementing the nonparametric approach in practice using two separate large-scale administrative data sets, we find the estimated teacher value-added distributions depart from normality and differ from each other. To draw out the policy implications of our method, we first consider a widely-discussed policy to release teachers at the bottom of the value-added distribution, comparing predicted test score gains under our nonparametric approach with those using parametric empirical Bayes. Here the parametric method predicts similar policy gains in one data set while overestimating those in the other by a substantial margin. We also show the predicted gains from teacher retention policies can be underestimated significantly based on the parametric method. In general, the results highlight the benefit of our nonparametric empirical Bayes approach, given that the unobserved distribution of value-added is likely to be context-specific.




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Pandemic Response: Volkswagen Moving to Suspend Production Across Europe

Just as Volkswagen was undergoing a radical restructuring to focus on e-mobility and driverless cars, the company has announced it is shutting down factories across Europe due to the coronavirus. There is hope in China, however.




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Hell’s Backbone Grill is temporarily closed due to coronavirus, but Utah chefs win nod as finalists for national James Beard award




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Start the movie! Redwood Drive In is open, with COVID-19 safety precautions in place




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University of Utah terminates its contract with Banjo




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What is the real coronavirus toll in each state?




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Gordon Monson: Two twin Utes tricked ex-Utah basketball coach Jim Boylen by switching identities. This is their story.




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Despite coronavirus, antler hunters descend on Jackson Hole




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Stephan Seabury: Teachers must get involved in the legislative process




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After controversial contracts, Utah’s governor says coronavirus purchases will return to normal




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Father, son charged with killing black man Ahmaud Arbery




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Pac-12 to move football media day to virtual format amid COVID-19 pandemic




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Did you order a grocery pickup? Don’t expect that six-pack to be in your bag. In Utah, you have to buy beer inside.




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Ivy Farguheson: The risk of running while black or brown




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New book: War against yellowface in the arts won a victory in Salt Lake City




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As Utah’s national parks reopen, visitors should brace for a ‘new normal’




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Acting National Park Service director talks about what to expect in Utah and why it will vary from park to park




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Man called 911 to report 'a black male running down the street’ before Ahmaud Arbery shooting, audio recordings confirm

Audio recordings of two 911 calls placed moments before Ahmaud Arbery was killed confirm that at least two people were concerned that a black man was running in their Georgia neighborhood.