The Kendal Corporation begins a $40M construction project to better serve Lexington community.
Press Release –
updated: Feb 20, 2018
LEXINGTON, Virginia, February 20, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– In the picturesque Shenandoah Valley, a vibrant community of nearly 200 independent senior residents, medical and continuing care providers, and their Lexington, Virginia neighbors gathered Thursday for a highly celebrated groundbreaking ceremony that kicked off a $40M renovation and expansion initiative.
The project was designed to make life brighter and more homelike for residents, to make facilities friendlier to those who suffer from cognitive decline and to provide a model work environment for Kendal’s highly skilled staff. When it is complete, the Borden Health Center will be the most up-to-date skilled care nursing facility in the region and will continue to provide care to residents and regional neighbors alike. Currently, 80 percent of Borden admissions come from the general community, 40 percent of those are supported by Medicaid.
We are proud of our long legacy of partnering with, and caring for, both our full-time community residents and our Lexington area neighbors. After the renovations, the residents and staff living and working in the skilled care and assisted living centers will enjoy bright, home-like settings with modern amenities and comforts, and we really want to get the word out that our facility is open to everyone.
Bob Glidden, Kendal at Lexington Board of Directors Chairman
“We are proud of our long legacy of partnering with, and caring for, both our full-time community residents and our Lexington area neighbors,” Board Chair Bob Glidden said. “After the renovations, the residents and staff living and working in the skilled care and assisted living centers will enjoy bright, home-like settings with modern amenities and comforts and, our facilities are open to everyone.”
Additionally, the Webster Assisted Living Center and the Anderson Dining room will both be upgraded to increase Kendal’s legendary neighborhood community feel. The architects have reworked the existing footprint to enhance natural light and remove structural obstacles.
“In each planned renovation, we carefully considered the needs of our residents and seek to meet and exceed model care practices, even as expectations and opportunities for advancement continue to evolve. We work every day to ensure that Kendal at Lexington is the kind of place we would all choose as our home,” Mina Tepper, Executive Director at Kendal at Lexington said.
In addition to the care facility upgrades, the phase three Kendal expansion will produce 30 new independent living cottages, increasing the number of residential living opportunities by 25 percent.
“To see Kendal expand to meet our original vision is truly remarkable,” Dianne Herrick, one of Kendal at Lexington’s original founders and a current full-time resident, said. “There is so much we now know about what it takes to provide a positive aging experience, and Kendal is at the cutting edge, delivering fulfilling experiences to all its residents. I’m just so excited for what comes next.”
More information: http://kalex.kendal.org/expansion/press
Media Contact:
Jennifer Eddy 202-709-7509 (w) | 540-878-9681 (c) j.eddy@eddycommunications.com
Milltown, Wis., February 20, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– When Don Babinski founded the Babinski Foundation in 2010, his goal was to provide a way to give animals – especially dogs and cats – a second chance at a quality life. Through funding from his property business he was able to build his legacy and better the lives of numerous pets. In December of 2016, that effort took a huge leap forward when the Babinski Foundation erected a 26,000 square foot building just outside of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota.
Included in the new facility room is a room dedicated to the training of dogs – either as a form a rehabilitation from surgeries or basic obedience – as a way to make the animals more adoptable. It’s also used as a playroom with adverse weather conditions make it less desirable for the dogs to play outside. In that training room is 1/4 inch thick rubber flooring from Greatmats.
They don’t always have control of themselves, but on that rubber mat it just kind of keeps them nice and stable.
Allison , Parrott
Allison Parrott, an animal care specialist for the Babinski Foundation, often uses the training room and says, ”I’ve trained on linoleum floors. I’ve trained on wood floors and with the animals that I’ve worked with in the past, they’re always kind of slipping and sliding. They don’t always have control of themselves, but on that rubber mat it just kind of keeps them nice and stable.”
She’s also been pleased with the cleaning process.
”Cleaning is super easy,” Allison said. ”We mop in there a couple of times a week and just one easy swipe gets rid of all the mess. It’s really easy to sweep as well. Even if the dogs have accidents, it’s really easy to clean up with some paper towels and stuff. It doesn’t leave any residue or any paper towel mess on there.”
Shelter Manager Donald Snyders, the grandson of Don Babinski, has also been pleased with the addition of rubber flooring to the room.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, February 20, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– AWH, a digital product consulting, user experience, and software development firm, today announced a client partnership with DACA Time, a Columbus social enterprise offering a secure online platform to ease the DACA application process for Dreamers.
According to Chris Slee, founder and Chief Product Officer at AWH, “We are pleased to work with DACA Time on their important social, and meaningful, project.” Slee continued, “Using technology to help others is a core value for AWH and this project highlights just one way we can pursue that value.”
At AWH, Be Great isn’t just a motto; it is important to us that we create products that positively impact people and the community – a mission much like that of the DACA Time team.
Ryan Frederick, Principal, AWH
In 2012, the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program was formed through an executive order by President Obama. This immigration policy allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors to be protected from immediate deportation and to receive work authorization. DACA recipients, known as Dreamers, could request “consideration of deferred action” for a period of two years, which was subject to renewal.
However, for many Dreamers, like DACA Time co-founder, Nathali Bertran, the process is complicated and expensive, requiring applicants to complete complex forms by hand. Determined to eliminate this barrier, Bertran, along with fellow DACA Time co-founder, Brook Kohn, brought their frustration with the DACA application process to GiveBackHack Columbus, a 54-hour hack-a-thon that brings community members together to create and launch sustainable solutions for social impact.
Kohn and Bertran met with other participants and formed a team to transform their idea into a sustainable social enterprise. They were joined, among others, by Derek DeHart, a product manager at Cover-My-Meds, developer Nicholas Tietz, and designer Christopher Barr. Over the course of the weekend, the team was mentored by top social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and venture capitalists, and developed a working prototype. It was there that Ryan Frederick, AWH principal and GiveBackHack Columbus judge, met the DACA Time team. “They were in the early stages of formulating their purpose and solution. As a mentor at the event, I remember how passionate and committed the team was to helping Dreamers,” Frederick stated. DACA Time went on to win crowd favorite, as well as a prize package consisting of initial funding and in-kind services to continue product validation.
The team went on to participate in the SEA Change social enterprise accelerator and was awarded the top prize at the SEA Change pitch event, providing them with additional funding to support the development of the DACA Time product. Shortly after the pitch event, however, the Trump administration announced that it would end DACA and asked Congress to form alternative legislation. Unsure of where to go next, the DACA Time team connected with the Dreamer community to understand how they can best serve them during this time of uncertainty. According to Kohn, “We are advocates for change that will empower Dreamers. If DACA expires, an average of 915 Dreamers will lose protection from deportation every day.” He continued, “There is a huge public outcry for legislation that provides a permanent solution. Whether it’s DACA or a new immigration policy, we will be here for Dreamers looking to gain renewal status.”
With further insight into the needs of the Dreamer community – and a growing waiting list for the product – DACA Time began the search for a technology partner before ultimately selecting AWH to extend and evolve the functionality of the current web application. For both parties, the partnership felt like a natural fit. According to Derek DeHart, DACA Time co-founder and COO, “We have great respect for the work AWH has done in the community and are excited to partner with another Columbus company as we work together to make a nationwide impact.” Frederick echoed DeHart saying, “At AWH, Be Great isn’t just a motto; it is important to us that we create products that positively impact people and the community – a mission much like that of the DACA Time team.”
In addition to developing the DACA Time web application, AWH will build a new component to the existing application known as The Evidence Timeline. This feature will allow Dreamers to easily and securely upload documentation, such as school transcripts or bills, that proves they were in the United States during the time frame required for DACA eligibility. Once the application is completed and payment is processed, users can print out and submit their application and download all information for their records.
The DACA Time project is scheduled to complete in spring 2018. To learn more, please visit https://dacatime.com/.
About AWH
AWH is a 23-year old digital product consulting, user experience, and software development firm located in Dublin, OH. From startups to enterprise, we collaborate with clients to build great digital products through strong product management. Our team of experts helps organizations make product decisions driven and validated by customer/user focus and deliver products that solve high-value problems. Areas of expertise include user experience (UX), application and data architecture, APIs, data and analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence and machine learning. To learn more, please visit http://www.awh.net/.
SalesOps Central is taking the gender gap in management head-on by giving away management training for female leaders.
LOS ANGELES, February 20, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– SalesOps Central is taking steps to tackle the gender equality issues in tech by providing free sales management training and peer support for female leaders in venture-backed SaaS firms.
Sales Ops Central has announced the availability of free SaaS sales management training for emerging female sales leaders. Women accepted into the scholarship program are invited to attend a 2-day bootcamp covering the foundations of sales leadership, followed by participation in an alumni network with hundreds of peers.
2017 was a watershed year for bringing awareness of systemic issues in diversity & inclusion within the tech industry and we decided to do what we can to turn this situation around. We feel we can have impact by supporting women with greater access to peer networks and to accelerate promotions through education.
Matt Cameron, Managing Partner
“2017 was a watershed year for bringing awareness of systemic issues in diversity & inclusion within the tech industry and we decided to do what we can to turn this situation around. We feel we can have impact by supporting women with greater access to peer networks and to accelerate promotions through education,” stated Matt Cameron, Managing Partner, SalesOps Central.
Cameron is one of the Salesforce.com diaspora, an organization where he was inspired by the power of community and inclusion. In 2017 he decided to reserve 10% of all seats in the SaaSy Sales Management ‘Frontline’ training for emerging female leaders as scholarship places. Women are nominated by former program participants and the venture community alike.
“I have enjoyed the good fortune of a broad global network via my time working at Salesforce and Yammer, which is something that I want to provide for emerging female leaders through our SaaSy Sales Management network,” commented Cameron. Operating internationally, the program is coming to Los Angeles for the first time in March, which adds to peer networks in San Francisco, New York, London and Chicago.
Women working in venture-backed SaaS startups who wish to be considered for the scholarship should touch base here. Criteria for selection is working for a firm with fewer than 100 employees and be leading a team of salespeople in a SaaS business.
About SalesOps Central: SalesOps Central works with venture-backed SaaS organizations to design and deploy scalable sales operations. In 2016 we created ‘SaaSy Sales Management’, delivering the world’s premier SaaS sales management bootcamp and development program. Programs are available for all levels of sales leadership and supporting functions who want guidance in best practices and access to an active peer community.
Media contact Matt Cameron 415-349-0326 matt@salesopscentral.com
HOUSTON, February 19, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– Today, Rick Walker, candidate for U.S. Congress in Texas’ 2nd Congressional District, is once again challenging Kathaleen Wall to a live-streamed debate. Walker has previously challenged Wall and others to debates on Dec. 11 and Jan. 1, so this is the third time. There has yet to be a debate in this election; only forums have been held so far.
Republican Candidate Rick Walker said, “With weighty issues facing our nation, it’s worth taking the time to understand the differences between these two candidates who have been polling in the top two for the past several weeks, according to third-party WPAintel. As I said before: I am ready to take a stand!”
I am willing to debate Mrs. Wall any time and any place.
Rick Walker, Candidate for U.S. Congress, Texas CD2
Kingwood resident Rick Walker and Memorial-area resident Kathaleen Wall are both running to replace retiring GOP Congressman Ted Poe for Texas’ 2nd Congressional District of the U.S. Congress.
“Kathaleen Wall has not accepted either of my calls for a series of debates and walked out of the largest forum of the election season. I’m reissuing my challenge to Mrs. Wall, asking her to join me in a one-on-one public debate,” said Rick. “With our values under attack by Democrats nationwide, Texans deserve someone who will not shrink from a fight, who will walk towards the fire. I am willing to debate Mrs. Wall any time and any place.”
Specifics will be released if Walker and his team ever hear back from Mrs. Wall’s campaign. Walker recommends the other seven candidates select the moderator, venue and each submit two questions at the start of the debate, which would then be randomly drawn and answered by both debating candidates. Walker recommends no prior disclosure of the questions to be made before the debate, no note cards and no earpieces allowed.
Alberto Roldán is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker with the Bureau of Ships filmmaking collective. He was a fellow for the 2015 Sundance Latino Screenwriting Project for his screenplay Motherbear. His film everything & everything & everything follows Morgan whose life is transformed when a mystical blue pyramid appears in his apartment and begins producing doorknobs. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by VICE.com.
What attracts you to science fiction and fantasy as genres?
As a viewer, broadly, these genres set my imagination on fire. At their core they provide me a feeling of possibility and mystery and knowledge and adventure in the world that very few genres do. As a creator, in addition to hoping to provide that same sense of wonder for other people, I find these genres provide the most fertile ground for metaphors about our world.
Why do you think sci-fi and fantasy continue to be such popular genres for storytellers?
For some reason talking about the fantastic, the futuristic, allows us to see ourselves more clearly. Ideas and symbols are so much more powerful than reality. They are also a lot of fun.
What inspired you to create everything & everything & everything?
This film is a combination of a bunch of different things. On a basic level, I started out trying to write the most simple story I could think of: a single character, a single day, a single location, no dialogue. But, as it turns out, I also love narrative left turns, and the best time for a narrative left turn is in a story that feels very normal, very average.
More broadly, I think I’ve been troubled by capitalism for a long time, and this project allowed me to put a lot of those thoughts into one place.
Your film’s main conflict is focused–in a way–on door knobs. Do door knobs have any specific significance to you beyond the narrative in the film?
In an early draft of the script, the pyramid produced those little toys you get for a quarter at grocery stores—you know what I mean? Like bouncy balls or little army men. And the toys grew increasingly complex. Anyway, that didn’t really work, and my good friend and close collaborator Alex Knell pointed out that the object itself had to be really mundane — like doorknobs. And the minute she said that I knew that’s what we would use.
I think it works because the things we worship are of so little value — the doorknobs underscore that idea really nicely.
And: doorknobs are funny.
What’s next for you as a filmmaker and an artist?
You know, I’m at an interesting juncture where I’m transitioning from making all my own work—totally independent, on my own—to working with producers and studios to make art and a living at the same time.
In that process I’ve been very troubled by the revelations about how power is abused in this industry—by Weinstein and many others—and it’s been an occasion to think about what I want out of my career. It’s important to me that I can retain some creative control without feeling so beholden to powerful men that I’ll turn a blind eye to sexual impropriety or any other abuse of power. I’m pretty sure I have to decide now that I won’t stand for it, or I’ll get sucked into it, justifying it to myself slowly, bit by bit, until I’m totally underwater.
Anyway, this is a kind of long way of saying that—regardless of what kind of success the future may hold for me—I intend to keep making shorts for a very long time. That’s a product I can control and make excellent all on my own, and I think having that outlet I can control will help me resist the temptation to kowtow in the face of immoral behavior.
everything & everything & everything will be part of the Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival on March 24 at Cinerama Theater.
CHICAGO, February 19, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– Cryptocurrency education platform DNotesEDU has announced a massive upgrade, offering expanded content that provides entry-level educational material focusing on cryptocurrency and personal finance. According to DNotesEDU education director Brandon Cheliak, the changes are an effort to address the cryptocurrency market’s current lack of sound information about investor protection and education.
The DNotesEDU platform is focused on empowering individuals with the knowledge they need to be able to make sound cryptocurrency investments. The additional educational material is designed to fill in the gap between what the average ‘mainstream’ investor finds easy to understand, and what the industry considers “beginner friendly”, with the following guide:
DNotesEDU provides a wide range of FREE educational material consisting of easy to understand guides, explanations, and industry videos. For those wishing to delve deeper into the technology, they can check out the material in the sub-module Cryptocurrency Education: Free Courses. Interesting articles and news briefs are included in the modules to enhance the learning experience. Videos are used to help explain concepts such as blockchain, mining, proof of stake, proof of work, wallets, smart contracts, and more.
The content-rich site is also focused on helping investors assess risks and identify potential red flags. As Cheliak notes, “It’s common for new technology industries to see their fair share of con-artists coming up with clever ways to dupe unsuspecting investors. Among these cons are various forms of paid cryptocurrency ‘education packages’, sometimes with complex tier structures, and often with great promises of wealth. It is very important that people educate themselves.”
Cheliak said that DNotesEDU recognizes the difficulty people will have made the transition to a digital financial world of cryptocurrencies. The platform is committed to providing those people with information about money, the financial system, and other important factors to help them protect themselves against potential financial fraud.
The information has been designed to be entry-level, explaining investment products, strategies, and styles using short videos and other easy-to-understand mediums. The content-packed sections are broken down into modules and sub-modules. An index at the bottom of each page provides a link to material covering different concepts and terms.
Cheliak stressed the important role that education can play in protecting investors. “Critical to investor protection is having sufficient knowledge of the risks associated with various investments, especially cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO),” he said. “ICOs are facing regulatory scrutiny, and investors need to know how these regulations will affect their investment. At present, ICOs represent an extreme level of risk, especially to new investors.”
To protect investors and give them some of the tips and resources needed to evaluate the various cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings, DNotesEDU has prepared a Cryptocurrency & ICO Screening Guide for Investors. The guide is for those who are interested in investing in cryptocurrencies or ICO tokens, understand that it is high risk, but have no idea what to look for in the 1500 coins and tokens available. It is not intended as financial or investment advice.
A Security module has also been included, with a basic introduction to “Online Security & Fraud Protection”. Short beginner level videos will acquaint the reader with the ever-present danger of financial or identity theft that occurs without proper email security, as well as Wifi security, firewalls, anti-virus software, and basic password practices.
Disclosure
DNotes EDU is a self-funded project by certain members of the DNotes team and community. The material on the site is not to be interpreted as investment advice. Any references to specific cryptocurrencies, financial products, or businesses mentioned in any articles or videos are purely for educational purposes. DNotesEDU advises that investors never accept a buy recommendation from anyone at face value, that they educate themselves, and always make their own decisions.
The team takes a conservative, long-term approach to the industry, believing that success will come to the groundbreakers that abide by the law and follow the standards of good business practices. The goal of DNotesEDU is to provide truth and trust in cryptocurrency.
BURNET, Texas, February 19, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– The second annual SkyfireConference for public safety drone operators will be kicking off in Burnet, Texas on February 28, 2018.
The conference, focused on training firefighters, law enforcement officers and other first responders to use drone technology, is turning up the heat for its second year, doing a live-fire burn to demonstrate best practices for fire response.
Small drones have become a critical tool for first responders. Their safe and professional operation can help save lives and protect property. Training and collaboration is the key and I look forward to attending the Skyfire training conference both to speak and to learn from colleagues.
Tim Herlocker, Senior Adviser for Hoverfly Technologies
“We are lucky enough to be hosting the conference at Reveille Peak Ranch this year,” said Matt Sloane, CEO of Skyfire Consulting. “This 1300-acre property allows us to do things we can’t do in an urban or suburban setting – like burning a structure down.”
In addition to the live-burn, responders will train on simulated accident scenes, using drones to map out the area for evidentiary purposes and conduct search and rescue scenarios to find lost hikers.
“These tools can be used in so many different ways,” said Sloane. “This is a chance for the people using the technology to practice all of it in one place.
Many new technologies will be on display, including some from Verizon, who will be on-site to debut the newest addition to its response fleet called Response Innovation.
“This technology enables an agency to expand its response fleet with highly specialized capabilities – off-road vehicles that can deliver emergency communications, autonomous vehicles that deliver medical supplies, and a 4D visualization software that provides a common operating picture between private sector and government agencies,” said Vol Montgomery, Reveille Peak’s owner, who will be hosting the Verizon team.
The conference will also feature classroom sessions, including a presentation from Tim Herlocker, former director of the emergency operations center for FDNY, and the man responsible for the department’s drone program.
“Small drones have become a critical tool for first responders,” said Herlocker. “Their safe and professional operation can help save lives and protect property. Training and collaboration is the key and I look forward to attending the Skyfire training conference both to speak and to learn from colleagues.”
Herlocker, now a senior adviser for Hoverfly Technologies, will also sit on a panel with Rob Topping, Hoverfly’s CEO, and Mr. Sloane to discuss how tethered drones are being used successfully in places like New York City for emergency response.
Additional speakers include Coitt Kessler, program manager for the Austin Fire Department’s Robotic Emergency Deployment (RED) Team, who will discuss drone use during Hurricane Harvey; Gene Robinson and John Buell from DronePilot, who will share best practices from their decades of search and rescue experience; and Jon Wickersham, the emergency response program manager for Colonial Pipeline, talking about how drones are used to help industry and first responders deal with pipeline emergencies.
Rounding out the presenters is Trooper Michael Darrow from Michigan State Police’s aviation wing, who will share his vast experience with large-scale accident scene mapping using UAVs; along with several other responders who use this technology regularly sharing their success stories.
Members of public safety agencies, educational institutions, search and rescue groups and commercial drone operators are invited to register for the conference by going to SkyfireConference.com.
Skyfire Consulting, a division of Atlanta Drone Group, Inc., offers drone equipment, public safety-focused training, FAA consulting, grant assistance and service/repairs to help the country’s first responders develop and maintain in-house drone programs for their departments.
Atlanta Drone Group offers industry-leading drone services, including film and television aerial production, survey-grade mapping and emergency response aerial services.
GoLookUp offers a Phone Lookup Service that allows users to find information about unknown phone numbers and people behind known numbers
Press Release –
updated: Feb 19, 2018
WILMINGTON, Del., February 19, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– Every person that uses a smartphone knows that it can be as useful as it can be a hassle. Getting phone calls from loved ones is one thing, but when the phone starts ringing with mystery phone calls all the time, it can be a nuisance.
GoLookUp offers an advanced Reverse Phone Lookup Service that not only allows users to find information about unknown phone numbers but also about the people behind known phone numbers that arise suspicion.
What is a Reverse Phone Lookup?
The United States government and also the individual governments in each state document and save records about citizens in the country to compile profiles about them. The records collected over the years include arrest records, contact information, criminal records and more.
As much of these records become public records, they can be accessed by those who wish to find information about a certain person. The search can take a great deal of time due to the massive amount of public records available today.
In order to cut the search time much shorter and also allow people to search the most accurate information available about a certain person, GoLookUp is offering users an advanced reverse phone lookup service.
The service allows users to run a thorough background check by entering the phone number of the person or company in question. Once the phone number is entered, GoLookUp’s directory conducts a search through billions of public records and provides important information such as:
1. Full name of caller
2. Address of caller
3. City and state of residence of caller
4. Census data about the address
The website also lets users conduct a reverse email lookup to find out who is sending them emails, and whether they are receiving spam emails. The vital information provided by GoLookUp can help users find out who is calling them from unknown phone numbers, and also whether a person calling from known numbers is telling the truth about themselves and their past.
NEW YORK, February 19, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– The 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, is one reason why this country is making headlines. Known for its economic growth in the years following the Korean War, South Korea has since become a country producing cultural phenomena including K-Pop, dramas and social reform. While foreigners spectate the games, citizens hit the streets to protest recent human rights violations. According to a Cheon-ji News article released on 29 January, protests started about a month ago with over 140,000 participants from all across South Korea calling for justice for the hundreds of victims of Coercive Conversion Education.
On 30 December, 25-year-old woman Ms. Ji-in Goo was found dead at a lodging in Hwasun. The Hwasun Police Department confirmed an investigation is underway. The woman’s parents are being questioned about their involvement in the confinement and death of their daughter. During a call with Cheon-ji Newspaper, the police stated the autopsy showed they “cannot exclude the possibility of suffocation and a high possibility of cardiopulmonary arrest due to oxygen deprivation.” Koreans are now doing what they do best: protesting.
The South Korean people historically have held large-scale demonstrations demanding change. During The Great Workers’ Struggle in 1987, 1.2 million laborers fought for democratization and unionization.
From October to December 2016, hundreds of thousands of people gathered for candlelight vigils weekly to demand the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.
In the last month, another wave of mass protests emerged. The people are petitioning for the protection of religious freedom protected by the Constitution of South Korea, Article 20.
Sunday, 28 January, Cheonji-News reported 120,000 people protested in Seoul to speak against Coercive Conversion Education. The purpose of the demonstrations is to petition for legal framework criminalizing religion-based violence.
According to reports from Human Rights Association for Forced Conversion (HRAFC), a Korean civil society NGO, Coercive Conversion Education was performed on more than 1,000 people by a small group of Korean pastors. Organizations such as the Association of Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (AVCCP) have reached out to international human rights groups to spread awareness.
1 February, 2018, 1,000 people gathered in Pretoria, South Africa, to honor Ms. Ji-in Goo. More than 100 protesters from human rights organizations rallied yesterday 18 February in New York City.
Jennifer Jun 646-207-2504 Protectfreedomofreligion@gmail.com
Brand New Children’s Book Series to Promote Educational Value and Implement Joy in Young Readers
Press Release –
updated: Feb 18, 2018
PHILADELPHIA, February 18, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– Looking for a book to read to your child or students for Earth Day? “Paddy’s Forest Trek” written by Patti Gill is an engaging and informative narrative nonfiction story about a young porcupine and his friend who spend a fun-filled day on a forest adventure, learning fascinating information about trees. The characters develop a genuine friendship as they pursue their quest.
This book is targeted for ages 5-8 or children in pre-kindergarten to second grade. This book creatively introduces scientific concepts about plants and plant growth. The question and answer format along with specific kid-friendly vocabulary is seamless to allow essential information to be delivered in a concise manner to enhance comprehension.
Author Patti Gill strategically formulated this book around the current academic status among elementary schools in both urban and suburban districts. She said, “Due to testing pressures, schools rarely have time to go in-depth at the elementary level with necessary science and history content critical for helping students to become proficient readers. I wanted to provide parents and teachers with a creative solution on how to build background core knowledge, while exposing children to domain-specific language.”
“Paddy’s Forest Trek” is the first book in the new upcoming narrative nonfictional series where Paddy will take adventures around the globe and throughout time learning about different informational topics. The new book, released on Aug. 31, 2017, can be purchased on Amazon, Litfire.com and online at Barnes & Noble.
For more information about the book as well as the upcoming series, check out Patti Gill’s website at www.pattigill.com.
About Patti Gill: With more than 25 years of experience in the teaching field, Patti Gill started out as an elementary school teacher. She expanded her field of expertise as a literacy consultant to confidently help schools achieve their literacy goals. She has been an educator for all levels of schooling, including elementary, middle, high, undergraduate and graduate. Patti Gill founded Personalized Lesson Plans, which provides comprehensive professional development services for grades K-12.
Contact: Kali Gill Email: kalisgill25@gmail.com Telephone: (610) 731-4179
Members of many faiths gathered in fellowship for an evening of Oriental poetry at the Scientology Center
Press Release –
updated: Feb 18, 2018
MOSCOW, February 18, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– The celebration of World Interfaith Harmony Week brought together people of many faiths and cultures February 6 for an evening of friendship and poetry, music and song. The program featured Afghan poet and author Haydar Shah.
Mr. Shah’s program included music, poetry and theater. He was joined by other artists and poets who presented their works. Brief videos on the religious beliefs of many religions were also shown.
Complementing the presentation was a screening of the video ”Respect the Religious Beliefs of Others” that illustrates one of the precepts ofThe Way to Happiness — the nonreligious common-sense moral code written by humanitarian and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
World Interfaith Harmony Week was established to promote dialogue among different faiths and religions to enhance mutual understanding, harmony and cooperation. “All of the world’s great religions share the values of peace, human dignity and respect for others,” said UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson in his World Interfaith Harmony message for 2018.
The Scientology Center, located in Moscow, is a place where people of different beliefs and views can meet and discuss the problems of society and develop and initiate programs of joint action for the benefit of all.
Why It’s Bad: In this case, a longer soak does not equal a more flavorful meal. When a marinade contains lemon, lime or orange juice, the citric acid breaks down the meat over time, making it mushy or mealy when cooked.
Next Time: Marinate for two hours max when citrus is involved. (Remember too, that the acid can react with metal, so refrigerate in plastic storage containers or bags.) Similarly, when chicken is soaked in buttermilk or marinated with yogurt for too long, the tangy lactic acid and enzymes can over-tenderize it. So do this for one day, tops, for the best result.
When it comes to keeping your dog’s brain sharp, nothing works quite as well as teaching him a few new tricks. Not only can obedience training strengthen the bond you share with your pet, but it can also help tackle behavioral problems now and in the future. Here are a few top tricks to teach your pet:
Sit: Because sitting is a simple command to master, it’s a great way to start training your pet and build confidence. Begin by holding a treat near your dog’s nose—but not close enough for him to grab it from your hand. Slowly move your hand up, causing your dog’s head to tilt up to follow the treat and his rear to lower to the ground. If you have trouble, try gently pushing his chest backwards, which should encourage your dog to sit. Once Fido is in the sitting position, reward him with the treat. Repeat this sequence before meals, walks and other activities until he’s mastered the command, which can be used to keep him calm and collected in a variety of situations.
Come: The “come” command can keep your dog out of trouble by bringing him back to you when he gets loose. To teach your dog this command, put on his leash and collar. Walk to the end of the leash and, stooping to your dog’s level, say “come” while giving gentle tugs. When your dog comes, reward him with a treat. Once he’s mastered this command with a leash, remove it and continue practicing with only the verbal cue.
Stay: Once Fido is an expert at “sit,” you can teach him to stay. To begin, have your dog sit and then open your palm in front of you in the “halt” gesture. Take several steps backwards while repeating the “stay” command. If your dog stays put, reward him with a treat and praise. Over time, you can increase the distance you move before rewarding your pet. Once he masters this trick, you can use “stay” to avert behavior problems and keep your dog out of trouble.
Leave it: Teaching your dog to “leave it” can be a literal lifesaver when a curious pet get into something he shouldn’t eat. To teach Fido this command, start by placing a treat in both hands. Close your hands and show him one fist while giving the “leave it” command. Your pet will probably sniff, paw or bark at the treat, but it’s important to ignore these behaviors. Once he has stopped, offer your dog the treat from the other hand. Repeat this process until your pet immediately moves away from the first fist when you said “leave it.” Cement his training by only offering the treat when he moves from the first fist and looks up at you upon hearing the “leave it” command.
Analysis finds SPI well-positioned to be the first new U.S. port of call in a half-century
MIAMI, February 15, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– SPI Cruise Group, a consortium of cruise industry experts retained by South Padre Island, Texas, to evaluate the popular vacation destination’s suitability to become a cruise port of call, has issued its initial findings. Based on a site inspection in December 2017, the group has completed a matrix analysis to evaluate SPI’s fitness on maritime viability, uniqueness and branding, consumer demand and revenue possibilities.
Maritime Viability
An initial desktop study of available meteorological and oceanographic data indicated safe harbor conditions protected from predominant wind and waves due to the location on the eastern shore of the bayside of the world’s largest barrier island. Three potential berthing locations were identified, each requiring a different level of dredging.
Assessment of potential landside cruise guest reception facilities led to the conclusion that they should be limited and temporary, with minimal environmental impact. Considering the plans for the redevelopment of Isla Blanca Park, cruise guest services structures can be limited in scope (and cost). The group ascertained that the greater park area on the south end of the island is one of the best natural cruise ship arrival zones in the Caribbean, as almost no other berth in the region is immediately adjacent to a natural white sand beach.
The preferred berthing site would lend itself to several pier configurations with relatively small environmental footprints and the least amount of dredging required. A Phase 1 stationary pier could be expanded later with a floating structure or additional gangway elements connecting to shore.
Uniqueness and Branding
The group has identified three predominant brand destination themes that would serve South Padre Island well in attracting cruise industry attention:
· Tropical Adventures — National Geographic listed South Padre Island among the world’s top 13 beaches for kiteboarding, and Canadian Traveller says it’s a great place to learn to surf or paddleboard. With 34 miles of enticing beach, SPI offers a wealth of watersports and pastimes that are well-suited to today’s more active cruise guests. Whether it’s deep-sea fishing or a dolphin-watching tour, there is an array of tropical adventures — from horseback riding on the beach to scuba diving, jet skiing, and deep-sea fishing — all available within 4 to 5 miles of the ship.
· Eco-Tourism — As the world’s largest barrier island, SPI is a world-class destination in terms of biodiversity. With existing attractions such as the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, Sea Turtle Inc. or dolphin-watching tours, there are plenty of sustainable and eco-friendly facilities and activities to entice cruise passengers. And for those interested in “voluntourism,” there are even organized dune-planting outings. Given the emphasis on sustainability and eco-awareness among travelers, this theme would provide a dynamic mix of attractions and messaging.
· Historical Destination — Padre Island has a long and rich history dating from the early 16th century and has been owned by Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas and, most recently, the United States. Heritage tours could be created starting with the Native American story through the colonial era, including shipwreck maps and trips to the 1830s-era lighthouse at Port Isabel.
Consumer Demand
South Padre Island receives 4.5 million visitors per year, so there already is significant consumer demand for the product as a vacation destination.
While consumers in Texas and the lower Midwest have long known about the charm of South Padre Island, consumer interest in the destination is actually national in scope. The group considered SPI’s “Distribution of Interest” map of the U.S. and found that requests for information about SPI through online and magazine advertising have come in from across the entire country, with significant concentrations in the Northeast, the Great Lakes region, California and even Florida.
Overlaying that map with a map of cruise guest feeder markets showed significant overlap, indicating that interest in SPI as a vacation destination could relatively easily be developed into interest in the island as a cruise port of call.
Revenue Possibilities
A major attractant for cruise lines is the availability of shore excursion opportunities in proximity to a port of call. In this respect, SPI has a diversified and mature tourism infrastructure with a variety of potential shore tours well within distances that could be accommodated on a daylong ship call.
SPI Cruise Group identified several one-of-a-kind attractions:
· A white sand beach within walking distance of the ship.
· Three exciting and different day tours to world-class, unusual and attractive venues: King Ranch, the Gladys Porter Zoo and Nuevo Progreso, Mexico.
· A Schlitterbahn waterpark within walking distance of the ship.
· Two nationally recognized ecological attractions, the SPI Birding & Nature Center and Sea Turtle Inc.
After studying their findings, SPI Cruise Group concluded that South Padre Island has all the attributes necessary to support cruise tourism as a port of call.
“There hasn’t been a new U.S. cruise port of call since Key West hosted its first cruise ship in 1969, and there’s a reason for that,” said Jay Lewis, managing director of MarketScope Global and project leader for the SPI Cruise group. “It takes a very specific combination of attributes for a place to qualify as a cruise port of call. Like Key West, South Padre Island has history, culture, an inviting climate and both waterside and landside attractions in a compact package as well as a safe, navigable harbor and a berthing location just steps from the beach. I can’t think of another American destination that offers a similar combination.”
# # #
About South Padre Island
With 34 miles of white sand and clear emerald water, South Padre Island is Texas’ only tropical island paradise. Calm weather and water and more than 300 days of sunshine make South Padre Island a year-round destination offering a variety of nature tourism attractions, watersports and activities for the entire family. www.sopadre.com
About SPI Cruise Group
The SPI Cruise Group consultancy is composed of experts in marketing, port and destination development, cruise, maritime and hotel operations and communications from MarketScope Global, IDEA, Cruise and Port Advisors, and NewmanPR. The group was formed to develop a strategic vision and action plan to turn South Padre Island into the western Caribbean’s newest cruise ship port of call.
National MAD DADS President, and founder and President of the Minneapolis chapter, V.J. Smith is reclaiming the neighborhoods of Minneapolis with the help of The Way to Happiness
Press Release –
updated: Feb 14, 2018
MINNEAPOLIS, February 14, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– V.J. Smith is on a mission to get men to stand up and take the community back from drugs and crime. He has been described as “a turnaround specialist” — he turned his own life around and now specializes in helping the youth of the community do the same.
MAD DADS stands for Men Against Destruction, Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder, a nonprofit founded in 1989 in Omaha, Nebraska, by men and fathers who were fed up with gang violence and illegal drugs in their community. Smith is national MAD DADS president and founder and president of the group’s Minneapolis chapter.
Happiness is really about something deep inside you and once you understand how that operates, you can be a happier person.
V.J. Smith, National MAD DADS President and Founder and President of Minneapolis MAD DADS
“We want to be that conduit of men making a difference in the jails, in the schools, on the streets, in the churches and all around the community to help transform our families and our fathers,” he says.
He leads his volunteers out onto the streets at night to bring wise counsel and a listening ear to young men and women who have never experienced a relationship with a real caring adult.
And one of the tools he uses is The Way to Happiness, the common-sense moral code written by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. He was introduced to the booklet by members of the Church of Scientology of Twin Cities who work with him on his drug education and prevention activities.
Smith had a custom edition of The Way to Happiness made with the MAD DADS logo on the cover. What he loves about handing the booklet to someone is the difference he knows it can make in their lives. “Just a little bit of information will take a person a long way and help them to have a better quality of life,” he says. “We hear people say, ‘You know I read that book and it changes the way I think about life. It changes how I feel about things.’”
Smith talks about people who really don’t understand what happiness is. “Happiness is not about how much money you have,” he says. “It’s not about what kind of car you drive. Happiness is not about what kind of house you live in or any of that. Happiness is really about something deep inside you and once you understand how that operates, you can be a happier person.”
He describes his purpose as reaching “the least, the last and the lost” — people who are overlooked and often taken advantage of. “Our goal is to help those individuals to be better, to understand what it is like to have a fulfilled life. Understand that, yes, there are challenges but you have the power, you have the power within you to conquer those challenges and come out a winner. We just have to show you how to do it — give you the tools to do it, give you the support to be strong.”
The Way to Happiness was written in 1981. Immensely popular since its first publication, it has been embraced by more than 250,000 groups and individuals, with some 115 million copies distributed in 115 languages in 186 nations. It holds the Guinness World Record as the single most-translated nonreligious book and fills the moral vacuum in an increasingly materialistic society.
The Church of Scientology and its members are proud to share the tools for happier living contained in The Way to Happiness.
From the Commander-in-Chief of the United States to President of the Twelve Colonies, playing the leader of the free world is challenging. In honor of President’s Day, here are our votes for the top ten fictional presidential portrayals in pop culture.
Bill Pullman as Thomas J. Whitmore in Independence Day (1996)—Best. Speech. Ever.
Martin Sheen as Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing (1999–2006)—Arguably the most famous television president.
Jack Nicholson as James Dale in Mars Attacks (1996)—Nicholson and aliens: what more could you ask for?
Luke Wilson as Joe Bauers in Idiocracy (2006) — Wait. Just making sure that this is fiction. Right?
Who are your favorite fictional presidents? Check out a stop-motion alien from Mars Attacks, Zhora’s costume from Blade Runner, and other artifacts from Earth’s fictional futures in Infinite Worlds of Science Fiction.
I can’t believe we’re already in the middle of Sound Off! season (patent pending). Today in our 2018 series, you get the pleasure of meeting the incredible Claudine Magbag.
In her own beautiful words:
“A woman needs a room of her own if she is to realize her creative potential. Claudine Magbag joins a long line of female voices reimagining the intimate as universal. With reverberant beats and layered, sampled vocals, Magbag creates her own company while giving shape to the vivid interiority of teenage life. The yearning to start while still bearing the uncertain weight of the present. Her songs play like the soundtrack to your most cinematic fantasies; the feeling of riding your bike up a hilltop under the perfect purple-pink sunset without going anywhere at all.”
Check out this video with Claudine, and then read the whole interview below!
What does being part of Sound Off! mean to you?
Being part of Sound Off! is my step forward in really recognizing myself as an artist and a musician. And [it’s a way] to put myself out there more than I normally do. All I mainly do right now is upload my music online. I’m here to meet new people, and build a community and get involved in a community. I’m really looking forward to that.
Why do you make music? How does creating make you feel?
Self-expression, really. Being able to put myself out there. And just being me. I don’t know. Growing up you really struggle with finding yourself—that sounds so cliché. But to know who I am as a person, and that’s just a part of me. So that’s what music is: just me.
What do you hope to achieve through your music?
To really just share how I feel with other people. I think that we all feel like we’re alone in certain aspects. I’d say I do write about some pretty sad stuff. But [I want] to be able to connect with people, too.
Describe your music using only emojis.
I feel like the straight-faced one. It’s the one that stares at you like [makes expressionless face]. The sad one. I wouldn’t say that my music is very energetic, but it’s very self-expressive and just honest about how I feel, because it’s coming straight from me.
Claudine Magbag plays Sound Off! Semifinals #3 on Friday, February 23. Don’t miss it. Get your tickets right here.
The campaign invites interest groups and the general public to thank Congress for their service and sacrifices on Valentine’s Day.
Press Release –
updated: Feb 14, 2018
WASHINGTON, February 14, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– One Click Politics, a non-partisan, grassroots advocacy software company announces the launch of their “I Heart Congress” campaign in collaboration with the Grassroots Professional Network. The goal of the campaign is to get interested groups and the general public to send Members of Congress a “thank you” note for Valentine’s Day.
“Congress gets a lot of criticism. We’d like to encourage people to show some love on Valentine’s Day by taking a moment to thank Congress and Hill Staffers for their service and sacrifices,” said Chazz Clevinger, CEO of One Click Politics. “We created the website iheartcongress.com so that citizens can quickly be matched with their legislators in order to send a quick email, Twitter or Facebook post of appreciation in a matter of seconds,” Clevinger continued.
Congress gets a lot of criticism. We’d like to encourage people to show some love on Valentine’s Day by taking a moment to thank Congress and Hill Staffers for their service and sacrifices.
“As citizens, we can sometimes disagree with the way Congress votes on key policy issues, but there is a lot that goes into being an elected official,” states Eric Storey, Executive Director of the Grassroots Professional Network in Washington, D.C. “I’ve seen the impact a few dedicated legislators can make first-hand, so I proudly join One Click Politics in their effort to show gratitude to legislators,” Storey concluded.
About One Click Politics
One Click Politics is a non-partisan, grassroots advocacy technology and consulting company that offers cloud-based software solutions to public affairs and government relations professionals in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Their mission is to provide innovative, affordable, and integrated approaches to advocacy that take into account the fact that technology solutions are often just one piece of a larger public affairs strategy. For more information, please visit: www.oneclickpolitics.com
About Grassroots Professional Network
Founded in the summer of 2015, GPN started as a community of public affairs professionals who wanted a free exchange of innovative ideas. With the common goal of providing professional development and networking opportunities at no cost to members, our core group quickly grew to a few hundred participants. Now with a formal board of industry leading professionals and a membership able to contribute at any level, we offer a comprehensive portfolio of in-person and online information sessions, industry assets, and networking events, free to all those interested. For more information, please visit: http://www.grassrootspros.org
After waaay too much time under development, we’re proud to finally announce version 1.8.0 of the Go Ethereum client: Iceberg! The release fixes a lot of pain points felt by the community and ships a few notable new features, tallying up to ~170 modifications!
Please note, this release introduces a few breaking changes that may affect certain power users! If you are running a production setup, make sure you read the “Breaking changes” section at the end of this blog post!
Client synchronization
A huge amount of work went into this release that isn’t immediately visible, rather they’re under the hood changes to make everybody’s life just a little bit more pleasant. We’ve tried to address many of the issues our users were reporting around syncing and block processing. We’re not quite where we’d like to be, but the experience with v1.8.0 should blow all previous releases out of the water.
Reliable light client
Geth v1.7.3 – released shortly after Devcon3 – was the first release to ship version 2 of the light client protocol. It was meant to be a huge improvement over version 1, finally enabling log filtering from Ethereum contracts. It broke the light client.
The breakage was massive, with multiple experimental protocols (discovery v5, light client v2) playing badly with each other. Geth v1.7.3 tried to advertise both les/1 and les/2, which conflicted in the discovery, breaking both; les/2 servers would crash serving some light client requests; and discovery v5, running behind an undocumented port, didn’t help either.
Geth v1.8.0 tries to pick up all the pieces and make les/2 what it was supposed to be in v1.7.3. We’ve dropped support for les/1 in the discovery, so there should be no more problems finding peers while we iron out the kinks. Light servers have been polished up to be more robust with existing connections, as well as extended to cleanly separate eth and les peers, preventing server side starvation. Version 4 and 5 of the discovery protocols are also running on the same port, and will from now on better avoid issues with firewalls or NAT traversals.
With all of the above changes, the light client in v1.8.0 should find servers within a few seconds from startup, and synchronizing the mainnet should finish within a minute. Since light clients rely on charitable nodes serving them, we ask anyone running non-sensitive full nodes with spare capacity to consider enabling the light server to help people with less capable hardware.
Reliable fast sync
For a long time now we’ve been receiving reports from users experiencing fast sync hangs with a “stalling peer” error message, or that trying to synchronize on an average machine often crashes with an “out of memory” error. These issues have become more and more prevalent as the Ethereum mainnet grew, yet they have been elusive to us due to their rare occurrence.
The heavy internal rewrites allowed us to reliably reproduce and fix these issues. The hang was a very rare race that occurred when state sync restarted; the fix for which is amusing given that it took us a year to catch. The memory issue was also fixed by aggressively capping the amount of memory that sync may consume.
The final result of these optimizations is that fast sync became stable again. From one perspective there are no more hangs, so you don’t have to constantly monitor the sync progress. From the other perspective memory usage is constant, so there’s no need for machines with insane RAM.
The above chart plots the memory usage during mainnet fast sync of two m4.2xlarge Amazon instance types (purple = Geth 1.8, blue = Geth 1.7). At the time of writing, fast sync completes in around 3 hours on these instance types. The exponential growth of Ethereum however resulted in a state trie of around 85 million nodes, the import of which can take even half a day on end-user laptops (with an SSD). Hopefully 1.9 will tackle this issue.
Initial state pruning
Ethereum organizes its state into a gigantic trie data structure. At the bottom – in the leaves we have the accounts – and on top of the accounts we have an 16th order Merkle trie cryptographically guaranteeing forgery resistance. We have one of these giant tries for each and every block, the latest of which weighing at around 85 million nodes. Most of these nodes are common between subsequent blocks, but every new block does add a few thousand new nodes into the trie.
If we would like to know what our balance was years ago, we’d have to maintain every single version of this Merkle trie since the genesis block, which could total to almost 1TB of data currently. In reality almost nobody cares about historical data – as long as it can be recomputed – rather only about the recent state of the network. Fast sync gets you “quickly” to the recent state, but blindly piling blocks on top will forever use more and more disk space.
The important property of the Merkle tries to be aware of is that whilst every new block adds thousands of new nodes, thousands of old ones become obsolete at the same time. If we could easily delete these obsolete ones, disk growth would be significantly capped. However, once the data is on disk, it’s extremely expensive to get rid of them.
Geth v1.8.0 takes an initial stab at the problem by introducing an in-memory cache in which to store the recent trie nodes. As long as the nodes are in memory, they are cheap to reference count and garbage collect. Instead of writing each trie node to disk, we keep it around as long as possible, hoping that a future block will make it obsolete and save us a database write.
Geth v1.8.0 by default will use 25% of the user’s cache allowance (–cache) for trie caching and will flush to disk either if the memory allowance is exceeded, or if block processing time since the last flush exceeds 5 minutes. This doesn’t completely solve database growth just yet, but looking at the disk stats between v1.8 (purple) and v1.7 (blue) in the course of a single week, pruning makes a huge difference.
Transaction tracing
Pretty much since forever, Geth supported tracing transactions by dumping the executed opcodes. These dumps can be invaluable for finding consensus issues among clients, but they aren’t the nicest to look at. Although post-processing these traces is possible, it’s a waste of resources to collect so much data just to throw most of it away.
Custom tracing scripts
The v1.5 release family of Geth introduced a new way to trace transactions by allowing users to write custom JavaScript scripts that run within the node while tracing. Instead of producing pre-defined traces, users could gather whatever data they deemed useful without having to export everything else. Although we did use it internally, the feature never really graduated to a useful and robust enough state for wide spread use.
Geth v1.8.0 however completely revamps the custom tracing support. For starters, we’ve replaced the ottovm we used previously to run the tracers, to duktape, resulting in a 5x speed increase. We no longer require the state upon which a transaction relies to be present to trace it, rather the tracer can reconstruct anything missing from historical states (bearing the cost of re-executing the blocks in memory). Furthermore, when tracing multiple transactions at once (i.e. an entire block), those are executed concurrently, slashing tracing time by the number of available CPU cores.
All said and done, writing a custom tracer is complicated, taking up a significant time even for veteran Ethereum developers. As such, we’ve made the decision to provide a few tracers out of the box for users to use, and potentially improve. We eagerly await any community improvements to these, or even the addition of brand new ones!
The callTracer is a full blown transaction tracer that extracts and reports all the internal calls made by a transaction, along with any information deemed useful.
The prestateTracer outputs sufficient information to create a local execution of the transaction from a custom assembled genesis block.
The 4byteTracer searches for 4byte-identifiers, and collects them for post-processing. It collects the methods identifiers along with the size of the supplied data, so a reversed signature can be matched against the size of the data.
E.g. executing the callTracer against the same transaction linked above gets us a much much friendlier output debug.traceTransaction(“0xhash”, {tracer: “callTracer”}).
Streaming chain tracers
Tracing an entire block of transactions is a lot more optimal than tracing transactions one-by-one, because we don’t need to generate the pre-state for each one individually. This holds true even more strongly if generating the starting state entails re-executing multiple past blocks (pruned state). The same issue however arises when tracing multiple blocks too: if the pre-state was pruned, it’s a waste to throw away regenerated state just to do it all over for the next block.
To cater for tracing multiple subsequent blocks with minimal overhead, Geth v1.8.0 introduces a new API endpoint that can trace chain segments. This endpoint can reuse the computed states in between blocks without rerunning transactions over and over again. What’s more, individual blocks are traced concurrently, so total tracing time gets proportionally lower the more CPU cores you throw at it.
Tracing a transaction or a block takes a relatively short amount of time. Tracing a chain segment however can take arbitrarily long, depending on how long the chain is and what transactions are included in it. It would be very impractical to wait for all the transactions to be traced before starting to return the ones already done. This rules out chain tracing as a simple RPC method. Instead, Geth v1.8.0 implements chain tracing via a subscription (IPC/WebSocket), where the user starts a background tracing process and Geth will stream the results until all transactions are traced:
For about one and a half years now we’ve supported generating Go wrappers for Ethereum contracts. These are extremely useful as they allow calling and transacting with contracts directly using Go. The main benefit is that our abigen tool generates static types for just about everything, ensuring that code interacting with contracts is compile-time type safe. It’s very useful during development too, as any contract ABI change immediately produces compilation errors, eliminating most runtime failures.
That being said, abigen was always lacking support for Ethereum contract log filtering: you couldn’t filter past events, and you couldn’t subscribe to future events. Geth v1.8.0 finally lands event filtering for native dapps! Go wrappers generated by abigen from now on will contain two extra methods for each event, FilterMyEvent and WatchMyEvent. Adhering to abigen‘s strict type safety, both event filters and returned logs are strongly and statically typed. Developers only need to work with Go types, and everything else gets taken care of under the hood.
A nice example is filtering for Akasha posts on the Rinkeby test network. The publishing event is defined as event Publish(address indexed author, bytes32 indexed entryId). Filtering for posts created by addresses 0xAlice or 0xBob would look like:
As many of you probably know, the Rinkeby test network is almost fully managed via puppeth. For those who don’t, puppeth is “a tool to aid you in creating a new Ethereum network down to the genesis block, bootnodes, signers, ethstats server, crypto faucet, wallet browsers, block explorer, dashboard and more; without the hassle that it would normally entail to manually configure all these services one by one”.
Puppeth was an invaluable tool for us in maintaining the Rinkeby network since its creation 10 months ago. It was fit for its purpose – as an internal tool – alas it had a lot of rough edges. We wanted to make this tool useful not just for Rinkeby, rather for all other developer networks out there too, so for Devcon3 we’ve heavily polished it. It became user friendly(-er), it gained support for configuring Parity, C++ Ethereum, pyethapp and Harmony (on ethash consensus) and it could deploy online wallets and basic block explorers too.
It seems to have been ages since Devcon3 and Puppeth being merged on master, but v1.8.0 finally ships the next incarnation of puppeth for those who have been holding out. Go on and deploy your own Ethereum network!
Breaking changes
Discovery v4 and v5 have been merged to use the same UDP port (30303 by default). If you are doing manual peer management and using the light client, you may need to ensure your v1.8.0 clients are pointed to port 30303 and not 30304 as previously.
Trie pruning is enabled on all –syncmode variations (including –syncmode=full). If you are running an archive node where you would like to retain all historical data, you should disable pruning via –gcmode=archive.
Only the latest 128 tries are kept in memory, most tries are garbage collected. If you are running a block explorer or other service relying on transaction tracing without an archive node (–gcmode=archive), you need to trace within this window! Alternatively, specify the reexec: 12345 tracer option to allow regenerating historical state; and ideally switch to chain tracing which amortizes overhead across all traced blocks.
Native events rely on modifications to internal go-ethereum types within generated code. If you are using wrappers generated prior to v1.8.0, you will need to regenerate them to be compatible with the new code base.
The HTTP/WS RPC endpoint was extended with DNS rebind protection. If you are running an RPC endpoint addressed by name rather than IP, run with –rpcvhosts=your.domain to continue accepting remote requests.
Closing remarks
Although we consider Geth 1.8.0 our best release yet, we urge everyone to exercise caution with the upgrade and monitor it closely afterwards as it does contain non-trivial changes. We would also like to emphasize that Geth 1.8.0 introduces state pruning, which is backward incompatible with previous versions of Geth (old versions reject the pruned database).
As with previous large releases, our recommendation for production users it to sync from scratch, and leave the old database backed up until you confirm that the new release works correctly for all your use cases.
Binaries and mobile libraries are available on our download page.
Acknowledgement
As a final note for this release, we’d like to shout out to Ming Chan for all of her insanely hard work as the previous EF Executive Director! Among her multitude of tasks, she always found the time to proof-read our release posts, correcting any lost-in-translation errors; whilst also ensuring clarity for our less technical readers. Thank you for everything you did for the Foundation and the community!
¹ “Because the previous version was un-sync-able” ~Nick Johnson
