The Central Committee of German Catholics — the lay body who along with the German Bishops’ Conference organized that country’s Synodal Way from 2019-2023 — is advocating for the formal addition of LGBTQ+ people to the list of protected populations enshrined in the German nation’s constitution, or Basic Law, reports katholisch.de an organizer of the Committee’s effort as a member of the Forum of Catholic Men told katholisch.de that the LGBTQ+ community asked the German Church to support broader efforts to amend the Basic Law Heek said the Forum agreed because they believe “that the basic rights of LGBTIQ people are not sufficiently protected.” Although the Basic Law prohibits discrimination based on gender Heek said that that provision did not take into account gender diversity and that at the time it was instituted male homosexuality was still a criminal offense no constitutional protection of LGBTQ+ people has been implemented such as the Self-Determination Act and “Marriage for All,” provide civil protections to LGBTQ+ Germans Heek notes that these provisions are much more easily revoked than protections enshrined in the constitution because the amendment process is intentionally difficult The theologian wants these protections to be more legally sturdy when LGBTQ+ civil rights are “being questioned by right-wing radicals and sometimes even by left-wing extremist circles.”  “We as a Catholic men’s association feel particularly obliged and encouraged to include this group in the Basic Law because they may be particularly at risk,” Heek added When Heek’s organization originally agreed to advocate for the amendment it was feasible that it might be completed by the current coalition government Heek said that if the amendment is not made during this legislative section it will still be “a demand that a new federal government must also face.” He added that the Central Committee backed the initiative by a “large majority.”  As to why the German Catholic lay community is committed to LGBTQ+ civil rights we have a special responsibility towards LGBTIQ people because in the past we ourselves were involved in discriminating against these people based on church teachings The Church has learned a lot from this and is now learning step by step to show these people a new appreciation We are therefore particularly called upon to take on our responsibility towards these people in order to show that we have learned and that we would like the Church to be a safe place for LGBTIQ people That is why we believe that supporting such a legislative initiative is an important thing.” When asked about the institutional Church’s own position on LGBTQ people and whether there would also need to be an “initiative here [in the Church] to make LGBTQ+ people visible,” Heek said “We try to continually stimulate discussion within the church,” and notes that during the German Church’s Synodal Way “there were clear resolutions that aim to promote the acceptance of gender diversity.” “But we have a wide range of disputes at the global church level and these naturally revolve around the church’s teaching authority,” Heek said “But we must continue to conduct these discussions patiently and rely on the power of conviction It is a long process and I know that it tests the patience of queer people enormously But I am sure that constant dripping will wear away the stone.” It’s good to see those in the German community standing up for the rights of LBGTQ+ people The Catholic Church here in the United States needs to support the Equality Act and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Van Heek and HeggeJenna Marie Van Heek and Evan Reid Hegge were married May 23 Parents of the couple are Dale and Lisa Van Heek Neb.and Pam and Steve Hegge of Dell Rapids Scott Matthiesen,all of Dell Rapids and Peyton a reception was held at the Riverfront Event Center in Yankton with entertainment by Ben Davis Productions The bride has a Bachelor’s of Science in nursing from Mount Marty College and is a registered nurse at Honor Health in Scottsdale The groom has a Master’s degree in professional accountancy from the University of South Dakota and is a certified public accountant at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Phoenix Sign In Subscribe Now The Ah-Sin-Heek generating station in Bella Coola is scheduled for some upgrading in the near future “We are in the early phase of upgrading the Ah-Sin-Heek generating station sub-station equipment which has reached end of service life,” said Dave Mosure public affairs coordinator northern region “The Ah-Sin-Heek cogenerates with the Clayton Falls generating station to provide energy to Bella Coola customers.” A civil construction team plans to be on site in August laying the groundwork for the new sub-station equipment noting main work is intended to be completed by the end of 2024 Interested in the history of the generating stations in Bella Coola Coast Mountain News delved into its archives which include copies of The Valley Echo 1961 edition there was an article about the Clayton Falls project officially placed in operation on Dec coming ahead of schedule and under the estimated cost of $500,000 the oldest member of the family of hereditary chiefs of the Bella Coola Indian Band participated in the commissioning ceremonies He bestowed the name “Ah-Sinheek” on the generating station in a tribal rite,” the article noted “The name means “light from the sun,” in his native language Pootlass actually transferred the name from the 750 horsepower diesel station which he had dedicated in 1955.” BC Hydro first commenced operations in Bella Coola in December 1955 when there were 240 customers READ MORE: Electrification and more needed in all sectors, BC Hydro CEO says READ MORE: BC Hydro was warned vault was dangerous years before 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To learn about our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines German professional dressage rider Kirsten Heek has sold her fabulous farm to Alexander Brenninkmeijer who with his life partner Borja Carrascosa have made the step to total independence to build a future and business of their own Roy Blue Stables was built by Heek's parents Franz- Josef and Elke in Coesfeld  The property is a state-of-the art equestrian facility with all possible amenities and Kirsten ran her dressage and breeding business there the property was listed for sale for 4.7 million euro with the real estate agents a distant heir of the famous Dutch-German Brenninkmeijer family of Cofra Holding and Spanish WEG team rider Borja Carrascosa made an offer on the yard in November 2019 and it has been accepted Borja and Laponia at the 2020 CDI Le MansRoy Blue Stables will now be their step to total independence and to build and develop their business and future The couple met each other while working at Hof Kasselmann in Hagen  In 2015 they decided to start their own business at Gut Auric in Krefeld Between then and now Carrascosa proved his worth as a young horse trainer and Grand Prix rider He was Spain's team reserve for the 2016 Rio Olympics on Wonder and competed at the 2019 European Dressage Championships in Rotterdam with Ein Traum The chestnut Grand Prix horse Laponia (by Stallone Quainton x Ehrenwort) will be Borja's Tokyo Olympic hopeful for 2021 Kirsten Heek was a successful international young rider in the early 1990s on Roy Blue which her parents bought through Bernhard Ix at Egbert Kraak's in The Netherlands She won team gold and individual bronze at the 1993 European Young Riders Championships and was trained by Katrin Bettenworth Heek's next horse was Allegro Assai with whom she competed at national grand Prix level while training with Johann Hinnemann In 2005 construction of Roy Blue Stables completed and Heek had her base there ever since  With the Danish warmblood Maxim (by Mago xx x Alibi) where she rode Morning Star (by Meilenstiefel x Lungau) and Palermo (by Gribaldi x Ferro) Heek only competed nationally since then with her focus shifting also to training students She is the coach of Thailand's two most successful riders Pakira Thongpakdi and Arinadtha Chavatanont who are multiple team and individual medalists at the SEA Games Asian Games and 2019 FEI Asian Championships Kirsten Heek and Seerose in the Louisdor Cup qualifier at the 2016 CDI HagenBecause she wanted to downsize and focus more on training, Roy Blue Stables was sold and Heek is now renting Gestut Weidenhof from the parents of the late Holger Munstermann "I want to keep on going with my work but want to have less horses of my own I had already stopped breeding (at Roy Blue Stables) even though that was one of the most amazing parts," Heek told Eurodressage "I will now have much more time to train my students teach more lesson and clinics and do some online training in the future." In 2019 Heek competed 13-year old Wilco Blue (by Wellcome x Ritterorden) 12-year old Bella Blue (by Briar x Rohdiamant) 9-year old Danny Linn Hope (by Diamond Hit x Fidermark) and 8-year old Definitely (by De Koonig x San Schufro II) at M and S* level "At Gestut Weidenhof there is eveything you need for good training," Kirsten explained "And hopefully next year I`m able to compete in Grand prix again with one of my home bred horses." Stalls for Rent at Durondeau Dressage in Peer, Belgium Exceptionally Well Located Equestrian Facility in Wellington, Florida Well-built Equestrian Estate With Multiple Business Opportunities in Sweden Stable Units for Rent at Lotje Schoots' Equestrian Center in Houten (NED) For Rent: Several Apartments and Stable Wing at High-End Equestrian Facility Stable Wing Available at Reiterhof Wensing on Dutch/German border Real Estate: Well-Appointed Country House with Extensive Equestrian Facility in the U.K. Rémi Blot laser projector innovator Cinionic held a panel discussion on sustainability Cinionic’s director of strategic marketing (CaaS) Accompanying him on the panel were Sam Enoch the vice president of film strategy and business development at Universal Pictures the vice president for engineering and asset management at Ceasar’s Entertainment Coca-Cola’s Away from Home customer’s director the chief executive officer and co-founder of data platform Zira BoxOffice Pro spoke with van Heek following the panel to learn more about Cinionic’s sustainability initiatives and how Cinionic is helping exhibition customers go green What were some of your main takeaways from the conversation today We all agreed that we are part of the bigger chain we all feel responsible for targets set by the United Nations to be carbon neutral by 2050 and to minimize global warming to two degrees We all have our programs and they neatly fit into each other it’s important for us to report on the sustainability numbers it’s important for them that they also have the support of their suppliers They are relying on their suppliers to innovate and help them meet their numbers As long as their supplier keep sending them straws and paper cups it’s difficult for them to come up with their numbers it’s very difficult to reduce the power consumption in order to make the whole industry eventually carbon neutral How does Cinionic fit into the overall chain Cinionic makes technical innovations by going through laser By making products that require less services the projection system only represents 16% of the carbon footprint in terms of energy usage of cinemas if anyone can do something and help exhibitors to reach those targets which has been submitted to Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) they’re going through that process right now you say you’ll become carbon neutral But if you don’t follow up on that year by year it’s 2050 and you didn’t make it.” SBTi is actually founded by the same people They help companies to achieve the net zero by 2050 but they make you very conscious about targets you will be benchmarked against industry peers So if you go and submit your targets through SBTi and you expose yourself to your responsibility on your commitment We have our own targets to lower our own power consumption and our own greenhouse gas emissions and then we have targets on how we can help our customers What do those targets look like for Cinionic You want to reduce your energy that you use in your day-to-day operations in your office or to your production facilities 40-50% of the energy consumption in offices and production is about 69% of cinema greenhouse gas emissions is in HVAC We target to do -35% on our own operations one of the aspects is lowering our energy consumption we put a wind turbine at our headquarters in Kortrijk We have a plant that has 1,250 people working every day That single windmill produces more energy on a yearly basis than we use at that site So that site will be 100% sustainable in terms of energy consumption It doesn’t help you with your energy consumption reduction but it does help with the associated greenhouse gas emissions on that consumption So those are initiatives that we take for ourselves in what ways does Cinionic play a role in sustainability We have developed an eco-score which is accredited by Ernst & Young We design products according to four areas of sustainability: energy efficiency What’s the impact on energy efficiency?’ At the end of the stage with all the efforts that we’ve done with this product but it’s also an A+ rating.’ An example is the SP2K-9S that’s the first cinema product that got the A+ rating it’s one of the most energy efficient machines in the market we know exactly what to do with it at end-of-life Packaging holistic means that when we ship the projector in So we don’t ship a media server and a projector separately so that we have less spare parts for less warehousing space So that all fits into the packaging logistics But the only way to do that is when you think about it in the design process Then there is the end of life optimization I think in the next revision of the eco scoring because it’s not that your product comes out of the factory and we say have fun with it.’ We help you during the lifetime of the product to make sure that it performs like A+ maybe we can squeeze in a little bit extra by upgrading some of the components What kind of upgrades are customers able to make A very good example are the Series 2 projectors We have already upgraded 3,000 projectors with laser light sources Those are machines from 2010 and they’re good for another five years now So lifecycle management is very important for us and that’s also one of the reasons why it’s an A+ we are able to replace very small parts in order to get the brightness on target So I think we do our utmost best to help our customers to achieve their goals What are some of the current goals you’re seeing from your customers and a smaller ecological footprint over the lifetime of the product It has everything to do with making sure that it doesn’t need any consumables also that it is built for an extended lifetime Normally we design a projector for 10 years there are sufficient sensors in the machines We’re not going to promise you can achieve that We’ll give you all the information and the data insights to tell you how to optimize the usage of the projector which usually gives the projector another five years We don’t know what’s going to happen with those projectors but the intention of our customers is to use those projectors for [a total] of 15 years but let’s see together how we can fix that How does the upgrade to laser assist sustainability goals We just talked about the design of the product Laser does not only mean that you gain a lot of energy efficiency it’s about 70% more efficient compared to earlier generation products but it also allows for much less maintenance you don’t need to replace the cooling liquid you can actually put them in the dishwasher A laser machine doesn’t only mean less power consumption but it only also means it is very easy to manage over time And the projector also tells you when it needs to be serviced the manual said replace the filters every three months Then the manual said clean the filters once a year but we’re going to tell you when we deliver the product to you you don’t have to clean it every year it’s going to tell you when it needs to be cleaned What do you think is the next evolution for Cinionic on the sustainability front We want to work with our customers to take responsibility for repair where we retain ownership of the projector and we offer this as a service If you need a projector with 14 foot-lamberts on screen we’re going to make sure you have 14 foot-lamberts on screen The projectors are connected to Cinionic Cloud So we know exactly what’s going on with the projector and make sure that the projector is constantly available for you to use this is the moment to optimize the lifetime we’re going to take the projected back we’re going to re-manufacture it and we’re going to redeploy it elsewhere.’ So it’s not about the hardware anymore It’s about the outcome and what the customer needs If the customer needs a 2D image in 4K on the screen if you need to treat the image in 2K on the screen 14 foot-lamberts—those are the things that we’re going to talk about and those are the things we’re going to deliver We’re not going to deliver products anymore we’re going to deliver outcome and performance We are responsible with what happens to the projector We’re going to optimize the lifecycle When it finally comes to the end of its lifetime We know exactly what to do with every component and we will take care of it That’s our contribution and how we can help our customers to meet their sustainability goals Some moments in cinema history transcend the screen and become part of our moviegoing heritage Few images capture that nostalgic magic quite like the animated dancing snacks that cheerfully invited audiences “Let’s all go to the lobby.” It’s a tune.. Subscribe to our FREE email newsletters to be notified of our latest updates in pre-release tracking every weekend in April has surpassed the $100M mark For two decades Daniel Minahan has quietly shaped the modern television landscape lending a sharp eye and fearless storytelling to HBO series such as Six Feet Under The history of the video game movie is full of hits and misses with the biggest box office success stories only appearing in the last decade The most recent film to join their ranks is Warner Bros.’ Minecraft The Daily Mississippian is publishing dispatches from our staffers about their vacation and study abroad experiences I have been studying Arabic with the UM Arabic Flagship Program in Amman Our trip has been filled with excursions to notable historic sites in Jordan In addition to being a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site Petra is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World an Arab tribe based in the southern Levant region of the Middle East Petra is most notable for its beautiful rock-cut architecture and is often called the Rose City due to the color of the rock in the area Our second excursion took us to the cities of Jerash and Ajloun Ajloun is best known for the Ajloun Castle Jerash is best known for its Greco-Roman ruins The ruins of Jerash are home to two beautiful amphitheaters and the Temple of Artemis Most of Jerash is lined with beautiful Corinthian columns One of the best parts of Jordan is the food which can differ based on who is making it but what really makes mansaf mansaf is the traditional creamy sauce that covers the dish Eid al-Adha is one of the most important holidays in Islam which in religious terms celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son by making a sacrifice – usually a sheep or a lamb Eid al-Adha is celebrated by visiting family and friends we visited the home village of Khalid Al-Gudah head of the Modern Arabic Language International Center This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License you can republish most of The Daily Mississippian’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license Christi and Jan van Heek are no strangers to Down East Maine having visited the region’s postcard-like ports countless times aboard their J/46 sailboat They are also new residents of Rackliff Island just south of Rockland having moved there a year ago from Marblehead Their two adult daughters and their families followed them It’s a late October morning as I pull into a parking spot at Safe Harbor Rockland Marina but I’m wearing a parka because it’s not like boating weather The van Heeks tell me they have just returned from Holland and need to collect their Goldendoodle from their daughter’s home on Isleboro about 25 miles away an outboard-powered pilothouse cruiser that’s practical fast and purpose-built to handle any kind of weather Nimbus calls the C11 its “year-round commuter,” which makes sense as the boat has a bevy of roof hatches side windows and doors at the helm and stern You can open them all up to enjoy the fresh air or close them to crank up the air-conditioning or heat especially when you’re cruising at a brisk 30 knots did I mention the Nimbus C11 is a blast to drive which is powered by two 300-hp Mercury Verados Stern access is a little precarious—you need to be protective gunwales and robust stainless steel handholds on both sides There’s a 2-foot gap in the rail on the starboard side That space is reserved for a faux-teak plank beside the mid-deck cleat; it makes tying off and hopping in or out a breeze for the operator You can straddle it or slide off on your keister sales director for Yachting Solutions in Rockport who affectionately refer to themselves as “crazy people,” also own a Grand Banks Eastbay 55 that they keep in South Florida The snowbirds summer in New England from May to early November and then hightail it to warmer climes They first met Chase at the Rockland Boat Show while looking for a fast boat that could accommodate “either two people or 14,” says Christi we wanted something that we could take anywhere They actually went to the show to see the Axopar 37 but when they toured the C11 it impressed them Christi and Jan stand on the taller side (6-foot-4 and 6-foot-3 respectively) so Christi made sure they could lie down comfortably in the forward berth They took ownership two weeks before my visit and in that time put nearly 40 hours on the engines Jan uses the Mercury joystick to guide us away from the dock The couple lounge in the Grammer suspension helm seats while Chace and I stand around the nicely proportioned salon With the long breakwater and its solitary lighthouse firmly in our rearview I found the sweet spot for the twin 300s to be just under 30 knots the van Heeks reported the Nimble hit 40 knots but the arrow-like C11 slices through them with ease to let him know we might be a little early Nimbus Boats are built in Sweden and have been around for over 30 years Owners include tennis player Björn Borg and Swedish royalty that Yachting Solutions was representing the brand in the Northeast Nimbus made its way across the Atlantic to U.S 22 Nimbus models have already been sold stateside and they’ve ordered 30 more boats for 2022 are being equipped with outboard power over the optional Volvo Penta inboard One of the best features of the C11 is its ability to appear wide or narrow depending on the situation A beam of 11-feet 4-inches is nothing to scoff at but thanks to some incredible sightlines—and four windshield wipers including two on the side windows—you feel like you’re at the helm of a smaller boat And yet you won’t feel like you’re squeezed thanks to a seating arrangement in the salon that easily converts from a C-shaped dining area to two rows of forward-facing bench seats she abandons all decorum and throws herself over the gunwale with Jan assisting and pulling up her hind legs but we don’t feel it inside the pilothouse The van Heeks plan to haul the boat in early November and make their way to Florida when I asked if extending the boating season was on their list of priorities in finding a good powerboat for Maine Christi was resolute in saying it wasn’t critical she also enjoys driving the C11 at 40 knots When I ask if they’re still planning on hauling it in a few days This article was originally published in the July 2022 issue Many products featured on this site were editorially chosen Soundings may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site Copyright © 2025 Firecrown Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited Metrics details Existing weather forecasting models are based on physics and use supercomputers to evolve the atmosphere into the future Better physics-based forecasts require improved atmospheric models which can be difficult to discover and develop or increasing the resolution underlying the simulation An emerging class of weather models based on neural networks overcome these limitations by learning the required transformations from data instead of relying on hand-coded physics and by running efficiently in parallel Here we present a neural network capable of predicting precipitation at a high resolution up to 12 h ahead The model predicts raw precipitation targets and outperforms for up to 12 h of lead time state-of-the-art physics-based models currently operating in the Continental United States The results represent a substantial step towards validating the new class of neural weather models a probabilistic forecast answers the question “What is the current probability of a given amount of precipitation occurring at a location and time in the future?” Computation stages in a physics-based non-probabilistic NWP model (HRRR) MetNet-2 does not rely on atmospheric simulation The observation and assimilation phases prepare a representation of the current state of the atmosphere Evaluation proceeds via categorical metrics such as CSI that require calculating decision thresholds or via probabilistic metrics such as CRPS MetNet-2 features a forecasting range of up to 12 h of lead time at a frequency of 2 min and a spatial resolution of 1 km In order to capture sufficient input context MetNet-2 uses input observations from a 2048 km × 2048 km region and adopts novel neural network architectural elements in order to effectively process the large context Such elements are (a) a context-aggregating module that enables the receptive field of the network to double after every layer (b) a strong lead time conditioning scheme and (c) a model parallel training setup utilizing multiple chips for increased memory and parallel computation We also study the performance of MetNet-2 in a hybrid mode where the physics-based forecast is used as an additional input to MetNet-2 itself We find that Hybrid MetNet-2 is able to outperform a MetNet2-postprocessed HRRR forecast up to the entire range of 12 h This shows the ability of MetNet-2 to extract and relay unique information that is not available in the atmospheric simulation even for longer lead times MetNet-2’s performance represents a step forward towards skillful forecasts with neural networks and suggests that MetNet-2 may be learning to emulate aspects of atmospheric physics We perform an analysis into what MetNet-2 has learnt using state-of-the-art interpretation methods The analysis reveals that MetNet-2 appears to make use of advanced physics principles when making its forecasts which the model learns directly from the data Performance comparison on test dataset A between the probabilistic MetNet-2 and HREF. Non-probabilistic HRRR results as reference. a Evaluation based on probabilistic CRPS that includes all rates of gauge-corrected hourly cumulative precipitation. b Evaluation based on the categorical CSI for the 2 mm/h rate (see Supplement E for other rates). Critical Success Index scores of HRRR, HREF and MetNet-2 for cumulative precipitation on dataset A (first three rows) and of NWP (HRRR) and MetNet-2 variants for instantaneous precipitation of ≥2 mm/h on dataset B (last four rows). Scores are given for each of the 12 h of lead time. The best score for each set of results and each lead time is high-lighted in bold-face. Forecasts for gauge-corrected hourly cumulative precipitation ≥1 mm/h Each contour region corresponds to the band of probability of precipitation ≥1 mm/h that the respective model assigns to that region a Case study for Thu Jan 03 2019 12:00 UTC of the North West coast of the US that caused widespread destruction and economic damage The forecast time is Mon Aug 03 2020 20:00 UTC on the East coast of the United States b Decision boundaries based on thresholds optimally chosen for CSI The numbers in each graphic correspond to the CSI score for the respective rate the amount a single input pixel contributes to a single pixel probability prediction a Attribution of absolute vorticity at pressure levels 50hPa to 1013hPa on the 12 h lead time prediction The solid line is a 100hPa moving average over the attributions b Attribution of absolute vorticity at 250 hPa on 1–12 h lead time predictions MetNet-2’s strong performance for both low and high levels of precipitation and for both instantaneous and cumulative measures its ability to estimate uncertainty and capture variation its independence from atmospheric simulation its design simplicity and the rapid and different nature of MetNet-2’s computation represent a step towards a fundamental shift in forecasting from physics-based models to learning-based ones The results also show how neural networks can learn to emulate complex and large-scale physics paving the way for ever more ambitious applications of neural nets in the physical sciences can likely be used in place of the assimilation state to further reduce MetNet-2’s total latency to essentially just the time required for observing the atmosphere while removing any remaining reliance on NWP’s initial state Though designed for geo-spatial prediction little in MetNet-2’s architecture is specific to precipitation This raises hopes that MetNet-2 could work well for many other weather variables possibly at once and even learn to transfer from one variable to the next and improve overall performance The data for MetNet-2 comes in input-output pairs where the inputs include radar correspond to the radar precipitation estimates The available data spans a period from July 2017 to August 2020 validation and test data sets are generated without overlap from periods in sequence with the two 12 h periods inserted as hiatus the target patches are sampled randomly from intersections on a grid over the CONUS region spaced at .5 degrees in longitude and latitude the former for our main comparison with HREF and the latter to compare the various MetNet-2 variants Test dataset A covers only cumulative precipitation as HREF doesn’t forecast instantaneous precipitation and the available HREF data over CONUS overlaps at 953 timestamps with the rest of the data Test dataset B covers both cumulative and instantaneous precipitation and overlaps with the rest of the data at all timestamps To study MetNet-2’s performance in hybrid settings we consider other training modes for MetNet-2 that make use of the outcome of NWP’s atmospheric simulation MetNet-2 Postprocess takes as an input HRRR’s forecast for a given lead time along with static location and time features and learns to map HRRR’s forecast as closely as possible to the ground truth It also learns to correct for any systematic biases in HRRR’s forecast and makes the forecast probabilistic A probabilistic forecast captures the combined uncertainty of both the measurements and the model: The size of the input context plays a key role in the design of MetNet-2’s architecture Due to fast-changing nature of the atmosphere the longer the lead time of the forecast for a location x,y the more context the model needs around x,y in order to have sufficient information for a skillful forecast The context grows spatially in both dimensions and hence the total number of locations to attend grows quadratically in the length of the lead time For a target patch of size 512 km × 512 km and forecast lead times of up to 12 h MetNet-2 uses an input context size of 2048 km × 2048 km This amounts to between 64 and 85 km of context per hour of lead time in each spatial dimension Besides making a large context available to the network the network must be able to process and attend to the key parts of the context with its architecture It is a special feature of the weather forecasting task that these key parts vary as a function of lead time: for the same input patch of data as lead time increases the network must attend to key parts of an ever-growing potential region These variable range dependencies present a challenge for the design of the neural architecture A stack of convolutional blocks with increasing dilation captures the large context of the embedded input After a center crop corresponding to the target patch area and a tiling operation that restores the 1 km × 1 km resolution a final stack of convolutional blocks produces a distribution over precipitation levels for each target patch position A rich embedding of the lead time index conditions each convolutional layer of the network This ensures that the output of each convolutional layer now depends directly on lead time This scheme that can be scaled further if needed makes it efficient to compute very large contexts for each target position We provide code for the MetNet-2 model and architecture that can be run with dummy inputs at https://colab.research.google.com/github/google/ai-weather-climate/blob/main/metnet2/colab.ipynb. See also pseudocode in Supplement D Alléon, A., Jauvion, G., Quennehen, B. & Lissmyr, D. Plumenet: large-scale air quality forecasting using a convolutional LSTM network. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.09204 (2020) Wind speed prediction using multidimensional convolutional neural networks In 2020 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI) Facets: a proposed next-generation paradigm for high-impact weather forecasting The quiet revolution of numerical weather prediction Scientific challenges of convective-scale numerical weather prediction Machine learning for precipitation nowcasting from radar images In Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences Workshop Sønderby, C. K. et al. Metnet: a neural weather model for precipitation forecasting. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.12140 (2020) A review of radar-based nowcasting of precipitation and applicable machine learning techniques et al Skillful precipitation nowcasting using deep generative models of radar Convolutional lstm network: a machine learning approach for precipitation nowcasting In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems A north American hourly assimilation and model forecast cycle: the rapid refresh In International Conference on Machine Learning Synoptic-Dynamic Meteorology in Midlatitudes: Observations and Theory of Weather Systems MRMS. Multi-radar/multi-sensor system (mrms). https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/mrms/ HRRR. Hrrr state variables. https://home.chpc.utah.edu/~u0553130/BrianBlaylock/HRRRarchive/hrrrprstablef00-f01.html Kalchbrenner, N. et al. Neural machine translation in linear time. arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.10099, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1610.10099.pdf (2017) Film: visual reasoning with a general conditioning layer AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence JAX: composable transformations of Python+NumPy programs GSPMD: general and scalable parallelization for ML computation graphs GOES. Noaa geostationary satellite (goes). https://www.goes.noaa.gov/index.html Download references We would like to thank Amy McGovern and Stephan Hoyer for insightful discussions and comments on the draft of the paper and Daniel Furrer for project and technical contributions These authors contributed equally: Lasse Espeholt Technical advising and domain expertise: J.H. The authors declare no competing interests Nature Communications thanks Luca Massidda, Stephan Rasp and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Reprints and permissions Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32483-x Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article npj Climate and Atmospheric Science (2025) Sign up for the Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics newsletter — what matters in AI and robotics research The dates displayed for an article provide information on when various publication milestones were reached at the journal that has published the article activities on preceding journals at which the article was previously under consideration are not shown (for instance submission All content on this site: Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. A Chilliwack man who participated in protests outside of Sardis elementary school and ignored a letter banning him from school grounds pleaded guilty to a rarely seen charge in the Chilliwack Law Courts Tuesday (April 25) appeared in front of Judge Kristen Mundstock and pleaded guilty to one count of disturb/interrupt school or school function under the B.C He received a $500 fine and one year’s probation with conditions that include not going onto school grounds and not having any contact with a specific teacher at the school Van Heek was one of a handful of parents who stood in front of the building at 45775 Manuel Road holding Canadian flags Crown prosecutor Aaron Burns said they seemed to be most concerned with COVID restrictions and pandemic protocols such as mask-wearing in the school “It was a little unclear about exact messaging,” Burns said “But it appeared to be linked to the trucker convoy (protest) going on at the same time in Ottawa.” RELATED: Chilliwack parent banned from elementary school property for repeated ‘intimidating’ protests Burns said the school received calls from several people concerned about the protesters who set up on the grass very near to the entrance to the school 2 Van Heek got into a heated discussion with his child’s teacher and over the next few days the protests outside the school became disruptive enough that the principal got the RCMP involved 7 all of the protesters were presented a letter banning them from the school grounds under section 177 of the School Act The other protesters accepted the letters and followed the ban The next day he still walked his child to school he ignored several warnings from an RCMP constable as he turned onto school grounds with that moment captured on video by a person Crown believe to be his spouse The video was posted on social media and ended up in the hands of Burns The person filming the arrest on a cellphone can be heard saying in a loud voice ‘This is what happens when you carry a Canadian flag’ and ‘Not all police officers are nice.’ Van Heek’s child can also be heard sobbing in the video which Mundstock called “disturbing” as she delivered her reasons She said the fact that the video starts well before Van Heek gets to the school grounds suggests “he expected something to happen,” and said that causing trauma to the child was an aggravating factor conceded that his client participated in the protests between Feb 8 he suggested he was simply walking his child to school Despite carrying a Canadian flag and being filmed Reveley insisted it “wasn’t an explicitly political act.” Reveley noted that his client hasn’t been to the school since the incident and argued that Van Heek should be allowed to go there to participate in school functions Van Reveley noted that Van Heek hasn’t been a “disruptive element” before or after the incident and has no criminal record “He wants to be involved as a regular parent in the regular course of his child’s schooling,” Reveley noted saying the people at the school “need a break” from Van Heek “The impact of the offence upon the school population and staff was grave and for their protection he will not be permitted to attend the school,” she said Mundstock said the case has nothing to do with his political beliefs and everything to do with his decision to ignore a lawful order to stay away from the school Van Heek is entitled in a free and democratic society to have his own political views Van Heek is not entitled to violate laws to further those political beliefs or to make a political statement,” the judge noted @ProgressSportseric.welsh@theprogress.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter the University of Arizona was already neck deep in its ongoing financial crisis With limited money on hand and dealing with the ever-changing nature of college sports the UA announced it was moving to the Big-12 Conference following the conclusion of the 2023-2024 sports season This move was one that would be a start of a massive string of dominoes for Arizona with success finding its way to the Wildcats’ football team Arizona losing their football coach and the firing of former athletic director This has been a year of embracing change for Wildcat fans and the current focus has been spearheaded by current athletic director Reed-Francois was brought in to try and bring the athletic side of the crisis to a calm The Arizona Board of Regents held a meeting on June 6 to discuss the future of ASU and the UA in the Big-12 Among those in attendance at the meeting was current Big-12 commissioner Brett Yormark to talk about the future in the conference Yormark highlighted different aspects of the Big-12’s future but most importantly spoke about the financial future he hopes to see implemented there is a great financial opportunity for the UA as it enters the conference coming off of its financial crisis Yormark discussed his plans for the next fiscal year for the programs at the UA and ASU emphasizing bringing more eyes to the conference with both the increased pedigree within the football and basketball programs The one issue that has come up with conference realignment is the conglomeration of the top teams into the two biggest conferences of the Big-10 and the SouthEastern Conference Yormark said he understands that this brings an issue towards viewership and revenue This is why he drove such a focus into all spheres of athletics from basketball and football to other Olympic sports Yormark continued to talk about revenue and expense management The expense management focus is essential because of the recent crisis and mismanagement of funds in the athletic program With $55 million in loans given to UA athletics during COVID that has yet to be paid off a focus on expenses and revenue balance is extremely critical for the UA to get out of one facet of their overall debt Yormark ended his section highlighting futures in both the media growth and platform He talked about bringing more focus and viewership to not just mainstream sports the critical piece towards future income at the UA was the desire to strategize games and events to improve the brand identity of the school and allow them greater visibility in more markets This allows the UA to receive more viewership of its games and thus more revenue The final focus of student-athletes’ wants is to bring greater aid to these players from mental and physical health standpoints but also allow these students to be able to voice their issues through a direct Big-12 student group Follow the Daily Wildcat on Instagram and Twitter/X The last time Comme des Garçons had a sample sale was three years ago and the label’s faithful fan base was not going to miss the opportunity when it came around again last weekend thanks to the participation of Dover Street Market the Comme des Garçons-owned multibrand store that carries up-and-coming labels like Craig Green and Gosha Rubchinskiy in addition to Comme’s own collections the sale’s first day (it ran through Sunday) hundreds gathered to wait their turn in a line that snaked around the block These interviews have been edited and condensed It’s kind of like an old-fashion frock that I’ve worn to almost complete obliteration I love how they are always completely original They are to me one of the most fit-focused brands They pay a lot of attention to how something works with the body Even though sometimes it’s not necessarily complimenting the body It’s making a statement rather than just making us all look the same I want to say 6:30 to check out what the line was going to be like and we went to Starbucks to charge our phones for about an hour and a half and came back on line at like 8:30 p.m It was I think 65 degrees last night when we got here and it probably dropped to what felt like 47 degrees Was that your first time waiting in a line overnight I’ve camped for some cellphone drops and some sneakers and stuff like that I am really interested in the Supreme x CDG collab that they have there I am also interested in some Common Projects Achilles sneakers I just started getting into him and his designs Definitely go for the Supreme x Comme des Garçons collab first DM: I’m really out to have a New York experience and find something that might attract me CV: I think Comme des Garçons expresses the real individual Are you wearing any Comme des Garçons today actually everything except my sock and my hat Do you have a budget and specific pieces you are looking for Yesterday I was here and I bought all the impractical things and today I’m going to buy the practical things that I can wear everyday I like bigger pieces I can maybe deconstruct later one of my favorite pieces that I got was a dress I heard you saying you were about to leave There are probably 100 more people in front of me more archive seasons for a couple seasons ago The cardigan with the little heart is like a basic that everyone needs to own Because [the designer] Rei [Kawakubo] doesn’t care about the fashion industry Profession Looking for a job in a nonprofit organization very familiar with the brand Comme des Garçons What I like about it best is the sort unisexuality of their clothes because you have to hike that stuff up to try the clothes on You want to be in comfortable shoes if you have to wait outside for hours like I do Or brands that I don’t like because it’s always interesting to find new small brands which is the case of a lot of new brands here that I don’t know I have to see what they do and see if it’s worth my while it’s more I need to feel like I got to have it and they have already sent me orders on what to get from wallets I called out of work and everything for this Pretty much everything at Dover Street Market I do shop a lot at Assembly and Creatures of Comfort AF: Junya Watanabe and Ganryu or any Comme des Garçons Do you like Comme or are you here for other brands I love Comme des Garçons and all the other brands trying to catch anything while Rei Kawakubo decides to leave the company Do you have specific pieces you are looking for anything undercover for the past four years Probably just going to pick up a handful of pieces is part of a pilot program aimed at enhancing care for LGBTQ+ seniors The Caritas Association for the City of Cologne launched the program in 2022 at St The program involves pastoral care tailored to the needs of LGBTQ+ seniors workshops for staff to promote sensitive care and specialized activities like “Queer Seniors’ Evening,” an opportunity for participants to share their experiences and express their needs According to WorldCrunch an estimated 1.8 million queer people over the age of 60 live in Germany a figure which helped Cologne recognize a growing need for facilities that can provide sensitive care to this population head of care in the Cologne Caritas Association agreed with the city’s assessment: “We said: we see it the same way coordinator of LGBTQ+ pastoral care centers in Germany LGBTQ+ seniors may face unique challenges when living in retirement homes which compounds the discrimination they may have already faced throughout their lives: “‘Older queer people in particular have suffered from marginalization and sometimes criminalization in the past .Many older people have had a difficult journey to be able to live their identity openly today When they enter the new environment of a retirement home they may feel like they have to start all over again that they are on their own…That’s why a special focus on the facilities is enormously helpful.'” If a senior has grown accustomed to only being “out” amongst loved ones within their own home when they make the transition to a retirement home they may fear discrimination from healthcare providers and thus re-enter the closet They may have lost the only community or partner who allowed them to live fully as themselves Residents with dementia may experience great anxiety and fear if they feel transported back to a time when homosexuality was criminalized The pilot program seeks to attend to these unique circumstances through community-building Schwarz hopes to expand the program to all seven Caritas senior homes in Cologne and he reports that there has been “no negative feedback from church circles.” While some non-Catholic retirement facilities have likewise recognized the need for LGBTQ+ senior care “The Berlin Gay Counseling Service awards a quality seal called ‘Lebensort Vielfalt’ including training half of their staff in queer-sensitive care Only 20 senior homes and care services [of approximately 16,000 across Germany] have received the seal so far “For residents like Helmut Baumeister Maternus gives him the opportunity to live fully as himself embracing both his sexual orientation and his faith He sees ‘no contradiction in being Christian and queer’ [stating:] “‘I can’t imagine my life without the church Many people don’t think much of the church and leave But I think you have to have something in life that gives you stability The program improves not only the lives of the residents where many of his colleagues likewise identify as queer Schmitz grew up in a Catholic family but distanced himself when he faced rejection from his family and church community he has found community with his colleagues as well as with residents Whether it be marching with residents in the Christopher Street Day Pride parade or listening to the stories of residents who lost loved ones to AIDS Maternus’ focus on LGBTQ+ elder care has allowed carers like Schmitz and residents like Baumeister to connect and heal together Here is a copy of a research project I was involved in UK https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301682578_The_Last_Outing_exploring_end_of_life_experiences_and_care_needs_in_the_lives_of_older_LGBT_people My husband and I moved to a retirement community in Baltimore 3 years ago There is a very active LGBTQ resident led group here This posting brought home to me how important this group is not only to the LGBTQ community but also to the larger community The plant is a “PurePac” biogas upgrading project with Bio-CO2 liquefaction by the Dutch plant builder Bright Renewables on behalf of three local farmers Organic mass consisting of mainly manure will be used for biogas production The biomass will produce 1,600 Nm³/h of raw biogas which will be upgraded to high-purity biomethane and 1,200 kg/hr Bio-CO2 using Evonik's Sepuran Green hollow-fibre membranes The highly concentrated biomethane will be fed into the local natural gas grid The food-grade Bio-CO2 will be produced on site and will be available as another regenerative raw material source for the regional beverage industry The plant is scheduled to go into operation this November “This project marks a special occasion as Evonik achieved their 1,000th reference showing our joint commitment to excellence “We are looking forward to more biogas plants where our technologies come together.” "There are just twelve years between the first biogas test plant and the 1,000th reference plant with Sepuran Green membranes," says Dr Goetz Baumgarten head of Evonik’s Membranes Innovation Growth Field “The market success of our membrane business is based on Evonik's innovative strength which originates in our polymer expertise.” Evonik has worked with selected partners to develop its membrane technology into a new quality standard in biogas upgrading Germany is home to around 10,000 biogas plants that produce around 95 terawatt hours (TWh) of biogas annually around 85 TWh is converted to electricity and heat on site Biogas upgrading using membranes is another way of utilizing the renewable energy source in its high-purity components biomethane and Bio-CO2 efficiently Sepuran Green membranes are produced at Evonik's site in Schörfling The base material - a high-performance polymer - is produced in neighbouring Lenzing Free access to this content is for qualifying individuals only Corporate and institutional access requires an appropriate license or subscription For more information contact institutions@markallengroup.com To switch back from .heic (pronounced “heek”) simply open up your iPhone’s Settings and hit Camera select Most Compatible instead of High Efficiency High Efficiency makes your camera shoot HEIF and HEVC formats, which can cut your storage in half without sacrificing image quality JPEG is much more universally compatible with popular photo software this is only something we will have to do in the short term,” Cheng writes “An OS-level change this big should encourage major software and service providers to finally support new file types and codecs.” Until things catch up with Apple’s switch you can switch to Most Compatible to continue shooting in JPEG for photos and H.264 for video allowing you to continue using your existing workflow If you’d like to stick with the new efficient formats, there are free programs and websites that can help you convert .heic to .jpeg Update: Apple has a JPEG converter built into iOS 11 photo transferring as well make sure the “Transfer to Mac or PC” option is set to Automatic This should make your iPhone photos transfer to your computer in a compatible format (e.g We’ve reached out to Apple to see why this conversion doesn’t seem to be working properly with certain programs for certain people (e.g Become a PetaPixel Member and access our content ad-free Tom Schmiedeler's browsing through his dad's junk drawer as a kid hooked him decades later to track his father's U.S Army unit across combat-torn World War II Europe The junk drawer contained a German military officer's pin a Purple Heart and service medals," Schmiedeler said 88th Cavalry Recon Squadron Mechanized Unit," which detailed the unit's route through Belgium It was "a child's interest that got me interested," Schmiedeler said during an interview this past week (Schmiedeler's last name is pronounced "Schmeed-ler.") would lead to Tom's trek across Europe for 10 days in June 2012 Father and son had been estranged when Francis Schmiedeler died which was full of excellent descriptions of where Troop B had been was a "real catalyst for doing the trip," Tom said Schmiedeler traced the route during a sabbatical from his post as professor of geography at Washburn University earned a master's degree and a doctorate in geography from The University of Kansas and has taught at Washburn since 1996 The medals earned by his father weren't on display in the family home in Tipton in Mitchell County were cradled on elk antlers mounted on the wall likely were seized from a German hunting lodge you knew those guns came from the war," Schmiedeler said Schmiedeler had mulled over the trip to Europe to trace his father's Army unit for 20 years A brother had copied "The Diary of Troop B," and that was Schmiedeler's blueprint for the trip "The trip was a way of reconnecting with the memory of my father," Schmiedeler said his father's discipline that required Schmiedeler to report for work at the family grocery store the day after he got home from college was rooted in his father's time in the Army the same way the American armies fought as they liberated countries invaded by German armies in the first year of WWII Towns and cities they passed through included Heek and Valkenburg in the Netherlands Wesel in Germany where Troop B crossed the Rhine River Halberstadt in eastern Germany and Pilsen in the Czech Republic Troop B was part of the 88th Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and Francis Schmiedeler at least at times drove an armored car and was a platoon leader Troop B cleared enemy troops out of the valleys they passed through confiscating weapons and destroying enemy equipment finding a courtyard in the town of Berlingsen where Troop B suffered its worst single-day losses in the war a small town in western Germany just east of the border with Luxembourg a platoon in the troop was in a courtyard on April 8 A liberated Polish or Russian prisoner of war who was trying to help the American soldiers was moving one of eight mines in a small building when all of them exploded Troop B lost nine killed throughout the war "Schmiedeler and (a second soldier) drove through the area of exploding ammunition to meet and guide the ambulances to the injured and dying," according to the "The Diary of Troop B." but Francis Schmiedeler drove it away from a fire A brother of Tom’s asked their father why he went back to the explosion site where a business and a home have been built at the explosion site "It became to me a pilgrimage site," he said of the courtyard Tom and Barbara traveled into what used to be East Germany then into the Czech Republic where the 8th Armored was moved after the war in Europe ended in May 1945 Schmiedeler was pleased with tracking his father's unit across Europe "Now I got to know him as a young man," he said Mostly cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon Twenty-five-year employee Harvey Johnson will soon be out of his job as kitchen manager with the closing next week of Cisco's Cafe on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in West Ashley Behind Johnson are Cisco's co-owner Hans Van Heek (left) and Michael Simmons Mexican-style meals as kitchen manager at Cisco's Cafe in West Ashley the 46-year-old husband and father will no longer report for work at the Mexican restaurant on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard Cisco's Cafe is preparing to serve its last chimichanga and blend its final margarita a move that will leave nearly 40 people without a job who started as a dishwasher at the restaurant in 1981 "But it's 100 percent a business decision." Van Heek blamed the closing on the proliferation of other Mexican restaurants and the downward spiral of the economy over the past year "The economy was the nail in the coffin," he said "It started affecting us when gas went to $3 a gallon Van Heek is not alone in the ailing restaurant business Bureau of Labor Statistics show that food-service and drinking establishments shed jobs for five consecutive months through November when the government began tracking such numbers Food-serve and drinking establishments have lost 66,500 jobs employment peaked in the sector in June leaving the industry with 9.76 million jobs "It is and will continue to be harder to find employment opportunities within the restaurant industry," said Hudson Riehle the top researcher for the National Restaurant Association Van Heek said the fun things employees brought to the restaurant are what he will miss most "It's the personal stuff that's the sad part," he said "I've had 30 to 40 employees get married from here." Server Amanda Brandon's husband worked there before they were married this past year "He used his tip money to buy my engagement ring," Brandon said The day he left to take a job at a Home Depot Dave Mooney waits tables part-time at Cisco's to help make ends meet after business slowed down at his other job delivering building materials He's seen the number of workers shrink at his construction materials job from 50 to 14 and considers himself lucky that he has been able to hold onto the second job Now he's losing his part-time job at the restaurant but it's been dead as hell before Christmas," Mooney said "I have no choice but to apply for another job Unemployment is not really an option for me." Ted Bird of Summerville has been eating at the restaurant as often as he could since it first opened even more so this past year for one reason or another "Every time I came over here and there was no business I couldn't understand why they were still open," he said Bird may still be able to find his favorite dish Van Heek said he hopes to transfer three signature favorites just down the street to Sunfire Grill which has close business ties with Cisco's Cafe while Van Heek and the Zuckers are partners in Cisco's And while the dining area of the nearly 6,000-square-foot restaurant will become idle the kitchen and about four employees will remain active until the building is leased with Van Heek's Crazy Dutchman Catering Co. Van Heek estimated that he has hired 2,700 employees since 1981 and seen 43 restaurants come and go in the vicinity of Cisco's Cafe "It's never fun to close a business," Van Heek said It's that long hallway in between that you have to go through." News tips/online questions: newstips@postandcourier.com Delivery/subscription questions: subserve@postandcourier.com Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Independent journalism at the University of Twente The UT celebrates its 60th birthday this year U-Today will travel back in time with eyewitnesses every month This first edition looks at the years 1961-1965 A bit like: let’s make this the best it can be.’ Oldenzaalsestraat 125 in Enschede is a monumental white house The Twente textiles baron Jan Herman van Heek had the Witte Huis (White House) erected in 1907 the front garden features a sign by estate agent Snelder Zijlstra ‘Office space to let.’ As Willem Wilmink wrote: ‘Textielbaronnen van weleer hun jachtgebied bestaat niet meer' ('Textile barons of yore this same White House on the Oldenzaalsestraat was the nerve centre for the construction of the UT - or THT Literally: his parents lived next door to the villa on the Oldenzaalsestraat he regularly took a peek at the drawing board in the villa to see how the transformation of Drienerlo country estate into campus university was progressing We did hear about building materials being stolen from the campus quite often and those are exactly the kind of stories a boy that age would remember.’ History books about the UT teach us that its inaugural year was 1961 the House of Representatives agrees to the establishment of a technical university of applied sciences in Twente This date is chosen as the official start of the UT - still called Technische Hogeschool Twente (Twente Technical University of Applied Sciences) in those days The first sod is turned more than six months later Everything was kept on the right track from the head office on the Oldenzaalsestraat where it was said ‘the lights were always on’ 'I still remember they gathered some frat types from Delft for our initiation into student life' Young Fisscher from Enschede watches as ‘his’ future university of applied sciences take shape: in 1964 he is one of the first 200 students starting their course at THT The freshmen - including four girls - learn about electrical engineering mechanical engineering and chemical engineering ‘These first years have been described as an experiment in the forest they gathered some frat types from Delft for our initiation into student life.’ one of the first 200 students like Fisscher remembers these ‘frat tigers’ from Delft very well and that meant: anything could be any shape We borrowed a 4-man boat from Tubantia rowing club in Hengelo and we asked professor Greiner to be our coach It was the start of rowing club Euros.’ The alumnus says almost all campus residents had the same pioneering spirit 'All these new developments somewhere far away in Twente really appealed to me' Den Herder came to Enschede from the west of the country ‘I was curious about what was happening on campus All these new developments somewhere far away in Twente really appealed to me.’ And he was right: there was no lack of new developments there was the general foundation course and the baccalaureate The general foundation course gave the students a taster of the main technical courses of chemical engineering electrical engineering and mechanical engineering before they had so decide on a final discipline is Fisscher’s verdict almost 60 years later These subjects made up a fundamental part of your study load.’ There was a unique philosophy behind the baccalaureate Den Herder: ‘Companies such as Shell and Unilever really needed technical students Dutch students traditionally stayed in education until they were about twenty-seven: much too long Manpower was needed immediately.’ The Twente baccalaureates had to be educated faster They would join a company after three-and-a-half years of study almost everyone moved on to obtain their engineering degrees after the baccalaureate This meant that even the Twente student became a relatively long-time student The general foundation course and the baccalaureate were complete unique in the Netherlands - and so was the campus it was mandatory for students to live within the university’s grounds ‘You were given a room with a bed and a desk’ The ladies even made sure late risers were jostled out of bed they would say.’ He laughs and says: ‘Something like that would be totally unthinkable nowadays of course.’ it was forbidden for freshmen to leave the campus “You are not allowed to leave the campus after 8 o’clock and you are not to bring any girlfriends.” That type of thing the frat tigers from Delft said: “You don’t really believe that 'Everyone got to practicals on Saturday mornings slightly hungover' There was simply not a lot going on outside the campus They joined us for a beer on Friday nights too and everyone got to practicals on Saturday mornings slightly hungover.’ The short lines between staff and students was beneficial we would approach the professor and the exams would be moved.’ Fisscher feels the small-scale atmosphere is still present at the UT And he should know: after studying at the THT he lectured at the University of Groningen for a while where he became professor of Organisational Behaviour and Business Ethics in 1992 the distance between lecturer and student was very small But I think this is still the case compared to other universities.’ ‘The UT remains a relatively small university Whenever I give advice to young people in my family It’s so much better than being a small fish in a massive pond like Amsterdam.’ The establishment of the first study association at the THT the founding of Isaac Newton (mechanical engineering) and Scintilla (electrical engineering) follows next to Prince Claus) is appointed as the first rector of the THT Minister Jo Cals lays the first stone of a student house on the campus On this day it is announced that the following professors are appointed: Berkhoff Jan Schuijer follows in a double function as professor and campus dean The Dutch House of Representatives approves the establishment of the third Dutch Technical University This date marks the official start of the THT - now UT De UT viert dit jaar haar zestigste verjaardag Daarom gaat U-Today iedere maand terug in de tijd met ooggetuigen In deze tweede aflevering de jaren 1966-1970 ‘Als links-activistische studenten konden we het prima vinden met onze campusburen van het type rechtse corpsbal.’ This second edition looks at the years 1966-1970 we got on well with the right-wing frat boys we shared our campus with.’ In deze eerste aflevering de jaren 1961-1965 In deze tiende aflevering blikken we terug op de jaren 2006-2010 The UT is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year This is why U-Today goes back in time each month with stories of eyewitnesses 'Out with your own little islands and logos In deze negende aflevering blikken we terug op de jaren 2001-2005 ‘We noemden de campus wel eens gekscherend Stanford aan de Dinkel.’ ’We used to jokingly call the campus Stanford on the Dinkel.’ With the magazine ROOTS we want to connect students and companies We do this by bringing stories of starters on the labor market They talk about living and working in the region companies come into the spotlight of students and students get an idea of the life that awaits them and what opportunities there are in the region Digital Signage Expo (DSE) will present new digital educational opportunities designed specifically for airport and transit operators The Transportation-Specific Seminar Programs are part of DSE’s Educational Conference designed to help attendees learn about the newest technologies available how successful digital signage strategies are being implemented and how to best take advantage of them to strengthen passenger relationships through proactive engagement in a variety of applications Registration for additional educational events including Digital Signage Fundamentals, Content University, general application or any of the other DSE 2016 educational conference seminars, which are sponsored by BroadSign International and are eligible for Digital Signage Expert Group (DSEG) certification renewal credits, is available online at www.dse2016.com Grand Prix Special - LVM Championship Finale Stalls for Rent at Durondeau Dressage in Peer, Belgium Exceptionally Well Located Equestrian Facility in Wellington, Florida Well-built Equestrian Estate With Multiple Business Opportunities in Sweden Stable Units for Rent at Lotje Schoots' Equestrian Center in Houten (NED) You might call it the NAFTA house: built by a Canadian, bought by Americans and nestled in the scenic Mexican village of Ajijic (pronounced ahi-HEEK), on Lake Chapala high in the Sierra Madre. Its international character reflects the surrounding area, where more than 8,000 expatriates from the United States, Canada and Europe have landed over the last decade or so, making this community just 35 miles south of Guadalajara a relatively small but remarkably cosmopolitan bubble. Black Desert codes are a handy way to boost your enhancement game while also getting some extra goodies at the same time These codes offer valuable items such as Cron Stones and, in some cases, easier ways to get accessories and weapons in Black Desert Online Considering the heavy emphasis BDO places on enhancement at higher levels these codes are a nice way to bypass some of the grind-heavy and risk-fraught elements so make sure to check back from time to time Black Desert codes are a random assortment of promotions that give you valuable items often ones that help take the risk and grind out of the enhancement process Cron Stones and Valks-themed items are common and help prevent failure or increase your chances of more successful enhancements Some months will also see codes for accessory boxes and special items so it’s worth checking back regularly to see what’s changed then select “Redeem.” Enter your code then you'll be prompted to pick "Available." Do that Your items will appear in the in-game mailbox shortly after and you're free to redeem as many additional codes as you'd like These are the active codes as of August 2021 and All working Black Desert codesCodeRewardADVI-CEOF-HEID-EL21Advice of Valks +150WAVE-OFCR-ONST-ONES500 Cron StonesWAVE-OFEX-CHCO-UPONWeapon Exchange Coupon setKZAR-KASW-AGAL-LDAYGrrrr Hat2021-HEID-ELHA-MMERJ’s Hammer of LoyaltySEEW-HATI-SWRI-TTENLara's Warm Black Tea and an Item Collection ScrollARSH-AJAE-HEEK-GIFT100 Caphras Stones2BSR-ADIO-ENDL-EMO2Collection ScrollsTHE1-00WA-SWOR-THITFine Accessory Box III and a Banana If you’re entering a code and it doesn’t work Expired Black Desert codesCodeRewardHOTT-IMEB-OOST-ER03Advice of Destiny 30 Cron Stones Item Collection Increase ScrollWHOW-ILLB-ENAC-HAMP150 Cron StonesCHAM-PION-OFEU-WHOO100 Caphras StonesSEAS-ONPR-ESEN-T328100 Refined Magical Black Stone 1 Enchanted ScrollWINT-ERSE-ASON-GIFT 200 Tuvala Ore Enchanted Scroll +30BURN-INGT-IMEI-SNOW 300 Time-filled Black Stone 3 Blessed Message ScrollGREE-NTHE-MEBE-AMIN 3 Elion If you take a break from Black Desert and want some free items in other games we've got several more promo code lists to help you on your way No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission VG247 is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited Tyler Flegel is one of three Kitimat apprentices who received $1,000 through the Youth Work in Trades award for sustained and exceptional work as an apprentice who has been working for Kitimat mayor and business owner Phil Germuth registered for the Youth Work in Trades program which is aimed at providing skill development through practical The students enrolled in these courses go to work and attend high school at the same time District Trades Coordinator Brigitta Van Heek thanked Germuth and the other employers in the district who support the program “The school district appreciates the support of employers like Phil who take the time and commitment to sponsor students in apprenticeship Tyler’s trade is Auto Service and he has completed Level 3 already thanks to his head start in high school,” said Van Heek The other two Kitimat students who received the award this year are electrician Evan Bahn (currently working in Vancouver) and Lukas Adams (sponsored by Dollar Automotive) who is undergoing technical training in Prince George Entry to the program means finding students an employer who is willing to take them on and pay them as an apprentice Students that are 15 or older can enroll in this program and school counsellors may be able to offer help with this step Students must also formally register with the Industry Training Authority as Youth Apprentices Successful completion of the program earns students 16 credits towards graduation High school students already working as an apprentice can speak to their school counsellors about signing up for the program A free Barrow exhibition will celebrate the area’s tidal wetlands highlighting the hidden beauty and importance of this often ignored landscape  shines a light on the many vital roles played by saltmarshes and asks people to look again at this misunderstood terrain The exhibition is a collaboration between three international artists – fine art illustrator and installation artist Linde Ex installation and performance artist Dana Olărescu and photographer and filmmaker Oscar Van Heek Art Walk Projects invited the artists to spend time at three notable saltmarsh sites in Aberlady near Edinburgh and on Schiermonikoog one of the Wadden islands in the North Netherlands Leading walks and workshops with local people within the three habitats they then developed a series of works inspired by the tidal ecosystems which will be shown in Barrow for the first time The exhibition hopes to make people look again and find the wonder within these coastal flatlands which have even been described as ‘blandscape’ The artworks on display include larger than life photographic panoramas they invite audiences to take a closer look at the saltmarsh habitat and consider its importance in the fight against climate breakdown A free half day conference at Art Gene on Friday February 28 will give people more opportunity to explore the importance of saltmarshes coastal expert and lead advisor at Natural England environmental scientist and ecologist Jenny Holden Deluge was initiated by Rosy Naylor of Art Walk Projects (Edinburgh) and curated in partnership with Barrow’s Art Gene and Anna-Rosja from University of Groningen It is supported by funding from Creative Scotland (Art Walk Projects) Rosy said: “In this exhibition the saltmarsh is considered as a wasteland a space historically without use; a landscape initially underwhelming in its features engage with and take care of these precious landscapes yet vital transitional zones between land and sea.” said: “Deluge takes its name from a landscape constantly under the threat of water It is a generous habitat that helps to protect our shorelines from erosion and slows down flooding including providing nurseries for fish and hiding places for many mammals “And we are only recently starting to realise their importance in the fight against climate breakdown locking away carbon for millennia if undisturbed and they also play a role in absorbing run-off from farms “We hope this exhibition makes people stop and consider the rare and crucial landscape on their doorstep and start to see the beauty and wonder within it.” Barrow’s coast includes around 130 hectares of mudflats and freshwater marshes within South Walney Nature Reserves as well as the North Walney National Nature reserve These areas are recognised for their ecological significance with large sections designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) The UK only has about 45,000 hectares of natural saltmarsh remaining from Tuesday March 4 to Saturday March 15 from noon to 4pm Subscribe to our mailing list to receive daily updates direct to your inbox *We hate spam as much as you do. 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Van Van Heek-Lund VERMILLION Lisa Lund and Dale Van Heek were married Aug 30 at Trinity Lutheran Church with the Revs Gary Westgard and Emmett Meyer officiating Honor attendants were Lori Kurth and John Van Heek a graduate of South Dakota State University College of Nursing is employed by Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton Parents of the couple are Bob and Marcy Lund McCormick McCormick-Moe Zolly Moe and Gary McCormick were married Sept 13 at Calvary Episcopal Cathedral with the Revs Honor attendants were Karen Maag and Marlin Day Others in the wedding were Cindy Ellenbecker The bride is membership secretary at the YMCA Viereck Viereck-McDowell Lori McDowell and James Viereck were married Oct 11 at the East Side Lutheran Church with the Rev Honor attendants were Lois Helgerson and Bruce Knochenmus Others in the wedding were Chris Adams and Jeff Viereck The couple will live in Sioux Falls where they are employed by Midwest Coast Transportation The bride attended Southeast Area Vo-Tech Institute OERMANN Gannett News Service appears that Lane Brody is the country gal to call for Hollywood connections But virtually all of her career highlights have been in Tinsel Town The singer-songwriter has sung an Oscar-nominated tune propelled a TV theme song to the top of the country charts sung a nationally heard television ad campaign and performed an Emmy-nominated soundtrack song She had a sizable hit in 1984 as the singer of the Oscar-nominated Over You 1 by singing The Yellow Rose television series theme song with Johnny Lee Glazier Glazier-Welbig DELL RAPIDS Barbara Welbig and David Glazier were married Sept Honor attendants were Bonnie Nelson and Michael Others in the wedding were Cheryl Glazier is employed as an accountant at Midland National Life Insurance Co The groom is employed by Corbin-Pykes Electric Iowa Lisa Van Beek and Dave Maassen were married Sept 26 at the Netherlands Reformed Church with the Rev Honor attendants were Glenda Van Roekel and Jim Maassen The bride took the secretarial course at Northwest Iowa Technical College The groom is employed by Quality Pig near Inwood English English-Hanisch Jill Hanisch and Jack English were married Oct 11 at the First Lutheran Church with the Rev Honor attendants were LeAnn Jopke and Brendan English The couple will live in Sioux Falls where they are employed by Citibank singer Brody Lane Brody She recently made her dramatic acting debut on the ABC series Heart of the City a country singer embroiled in a frightening legal case Despite Lane Brody being blessed with a larger-than-life voice Brody has had trouble establishing herself in Nashville she's a country vocalist who is not from the South Tieman Tieman-Jacobsen Deanna Jacobsen and Garry Tieman were married Oct Honor attendants were Melody Tieman and Wendall Gortamaker teaches first grade at the Montrose Public School The groom farms in the Montrose area and works at Banks Masonry in Sioux Falls Peterson Peterson-Cwach Donna Cwach and Gary Peterson were married Oct Honor attendants were Ruth Frank and Al Grant a graduate of the University of is a senior representative with CUNA Mutual Insurance Group Beaumont Beaumont-Kolling Nancy Kolling and Dale Beaumont were married Oct 4 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church with the Rev Honor attendants were Michelle and Paul Griffith Others in the wed ding were Peggy McNamara and Mike Franken The bride is employed by Family Practice Physicians and the groom by Beaumont Construction has Hollywood Although she is now a resident Nashvillian the businessmen of Music Row still think of her as something of an outsider because of her success in other music centers She initially made her mark as a jingle singer in Chicago warbling the praises of products like Kentucky Fried Chicken People in Los Angeles expressed an interest in the woman behind the voice In 1979 she appeared on the TV sitcom Taxi She provided the singing voice for actress Linda Hamilton in the CBS-TV movie Country Gold in 1982 which Brody sang on the soundtrack of the TV movie The Gift of Life Frankenberger Frankenberger-Teslow LOVELAND Pamela Teslow and Larry Frankenberger were married Oct 18 at the First Christian Church with the Rev Honor attendants were Julie Davis and Dale Terrien Parents of the couple are and Sandra Teslow Marti Marti-Reuss Kathleen Reuss and Paul Marti were married Oct Honor attendants were Karen Reuss and Joe Maire a graduate of the University of South Dakota is serving with the Air Force at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Prickett Bosch-Smidt Lou Ann Smidt and John Bosch were married Oct Honor attendants were Deb Pollman and Tim Bosch a graduate of South Dako ta State University The groom also attended SDSU and is employed as a sales representative for C.S.I Parents of the couple are Harry and Joyce Smidt and John and Marie Bosch Bartels Bartels-Buckmier WATERTOWN Deborah Buckmier and Gerard Bartels were married Sept 6 at Holy Name Catholic Church with the Revs Robert Flannery and Thomas Dignan officiating Honor attendants were Ann Lacompte and Joe Bartels The couple will live in Watertown where they are teachers at Watertown Senior High School Kenyon Kenyon-Loudenslager Linda Loudenslager and Michael Kenyon were married Oct Attendants were Kym Loudenslager and Chuck Kenyon The bride is employed by Mom and Dad's nursing home the groom is employed by Ronning Enterprises Anne Murray and Paul Anka are among the other stars who have recorded her compositions Brody could be heard singing the "You've known us all along" Beatrice Foods jingles The male voice on those jingles belongs to country singer-producer Thom Bresh Brody and Bresh have been professional and romantic partners for the past six years Brody believes that her music and her appearance on Heart of the City will get the Nashville record labels to give her a boost it's the love of the country community she really wants Prickett-Kirby BRIDGEWATER Karen Kirby and Scott Prickett were married Oct Honor attendants were Becky Walters and Tim Winckler Others in the wedding were Madelyn and Robin Kirby The bride is employed by LandmanJungman Memorial Hospital as a laboratory technician The groom is employed by Royal Athletic Co Kneip Kneip-Inglis Brenda Inglis and Patrick Kneip were married Sept Honor attendants were Crystal Nordling and Paul Kneip The bride is employed by Citibank and the groom by Nelson Laboratories Parents of the couple are Gary and Marie Inglis and Richard and Nancy Kneip Wevik-Boscaljon BERESFORD Christine Boscaljon and Doug Wevik were married Aug 23 at the Roseni Lutheran Church with the Rev Honor attendants were Brenda Flemmer and Don Lerseth The couple will live near Beresford where the groom is engaged in farming The groom is a graduate of South Dakota State University Fictional Vietnam tale about imprisonment is compelling reading By CHARLIE WALKER Gannett News Service Ron Martin has written an unusual book an American warrior captured by North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War While Martin has captured the grit and sweat of Ramsey's imprisonment the fact that this is a fictional account stayed with me throughout the reading of To Be Free Escape from a North Vietnam Prison (Vanguard and the story unfolds in such a manner the reader believes the author is speaking from experience and his heart Martin tackles a variety of woes associated with the United States' involvement in Vietnam: the lack of support on the home front; the insecurity of the fighting man; the trouble of identifying the enemy and the conflicts within the ranks on our own side Ramsey returns to the states from Review his first tour of duty and finds that he no longer fits in and it is during his second tour that he is captured during an ambush The account of his stay in the North Vietnamese prison camp is shocking in its description and detail interrogations and work details to the cages used to discipline prisoners It is one of these cages that Ramsey plans to escape from during the downpours of monsoon season This man's fight to keep his sanity and find his way back to freedom is well written and haunting I made it through the book in two sittings Martin himself volunteered to join the Marines because he said he felt he owed something to his country He says he wrote the book as a reaction to the negative response that Vietnam veterans were getting from people "who could not separate the war from the warrior."