When EIFS was first introduced to the North American market, there were a lot of questions about its strength.

by Taylor Griggs

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Good morning, Portland! There's rain on the menu for today, but you probably didn't need me to tell you that. Hopefully you know how to layer for November in Portland by now. Anddddd that's all the small talk we have time for this morning, so chop chop. It's news time. 

IN LOCAL NEWS: 

• Portland City Council is set to vote today on a five-year contract renewal for the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe district, as well as a major expansion of the service area it covers and a fee hike. A couple weeks ago, when this item was first brought to the council, many Portlanders testified against the contract renewal. Now, four incoming city councilors (Mitch Green, Sameer Kanal, Tiffany Koyama Lane and Angelita Morillo)—along with community organizations and dozens of residents, have penned a letter to the current City Council asking them to postpone the contract renewal. 

Why the negativity for Clean & Safe? Well, as an excellent new article from our Courtney Vaughn details, the Clean & Safe district is overseen by an organization that has significant overlap in its management with the Portland Metro Chamber, AKA the Portland Business Alliance. The new contract would funnel a good portion of the $58 million contract to the Metro Chamber, which they will spend on lobbying efforts for private business interests. The program is also convoluted and lacks oversight, and it contributes majorly to the criminalization of homeless people in downtown Portland. So there's a lot wrong with it. Read the article for more of the details, and stay tuned for City Council's decision today. 

• The Portland Auditor's Office has released a much-anticipated (by me, at least) report on the Portland Bureau of Transportation's (PBOT) Vision Zero Action Plan, which the city adopted in 2016 in an effort to eliminate traffic crash fatalities and serious injuries. But in the eight years since the Vision Zero plan was adopted (and been updated twice), traffic crash deaths have increased in Portland, especially in the last four years. In 2023, 69 people were killed in traffic crashes on Portland streets. Given the current reality, it's understandable that people are questioning how effective the Vision Zero program is. 

While the Auditor's Office isn't seeking an overhaul of the program, the report recommends PBOT makes several key changes to improve Vision Zero outcomes. The audit report says PBOT should create a better project evaluation system, install more speed cameras, and use more qualitative data to determine the most equitable safety projects. According to PBOT, most of the concerns expressed in the audit report have already been addressed in the most recent Vision Zero update.

PBOT leaders did say they are hopeful more traffic safety improvements will be possible when Portland finally (fully) transitions to its new, less-siloed form of government in January. The report just came out this morning, so there hasn't been much in the way of community response yet, but I'm sure it will spark some Thoughts, capital "T." 

•  On a related note, the World Day of Remembrance of Road Traffic Victims is this Sunday, an annual day to honor the many lives lost prematurely to traffic violence. Community organizations Families for Safe Streets, BikeLoud PDX, and Oregon Walks will join PBOT, elected leaders, and community members for a gathering at Portland City Hall. Find out more about the event here. 

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A post shared by Families for Safe Streets PDX (@fss_pdx)

• Here's a painful fact, courtesy of a new investigation from OPB and ProPublica: Despite President Biden's repeated promises to save old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest, the Bureau of Land Management is allowing timber companies to log such forests now more than in the last 10 years. Biden's BLM is on track to log 47,000 acres of public lands during his four years in office— about the same amount that Trump oversaw during his first term in office. And, get this: This is after Biden made an executive order to protect mature and old-growth forests in 2022! Considering the rare beauty of these forests—and, more importantly, their importance to ecosystems and ability to mitigate carbon emission—this is very unfortunate. The Biden administration hasn't answered for the BLM's actions, or if they're planning to take steps to further protect old growth forests in preparation for the next Trump administration. Let's hope he makes some changes while he still can, because we all know Trump will be a lot worse. 

• Rene Gonzalez, after losing his bid for mayor, is seeking donations of up to $579 because his campaign is in debt. I wonder if anyone will pay him. 

Stealing this from the other site because y’all need to see it. Anyone gonna donate $579 to Rene Gonzalez’s failed campaign for mayor??? @pradapdx.bsky.social

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— Taylor Griggs (@taylorgriggs.bsky.social) November 12, 2024 at 5:11 PM

IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS: 

• President-elect Donald Trump (ouch) has asked Vivek Ramaswamy (ouch again) and Elon Musk (commentary unnecessary here) to lead a new government agency that he plans to create in order to regulate federal spending. The new agency will be called the Department of Government Efficiency, which just happens to create the acronym DOGE, a reference to the Shiba Inu meme of the mid-2010s and the joke cryptocurrency by the same name that Musk promoted. Apparently, a Department of Government Efficiency needs to be run by two people. I hope I am adequately conveying my tone of contempt here. 

As ridiculous as this all is, it's also extremely bad. Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy's plan is to fire thousands of federal employees, cut necessary regulations, and ultimately destroy many of the most crucial components of the federal government. All we can do is hope that SOME Republicans in Congress (we don't need all of them!) will realize how idiotic this is and block Trump's attempt to create a new government agency, which he can't do without congressional approval. Or can he? The limit to this idiocy knows no bounds.

However, given these men's volatility—which is replicated in many others in Trump's sphere—it does seem pretty likely that they'll all be in a huge fight by the time Trump takes office. I do think there are some major catfights on the horizon, if that gives you any comfort in these trying times. 

fundamentally this is what Trump administrations are all about: the guys. there will be new guys every week. they will startle you, you'll be astounded by them, and then as quickly as they appeared they will fade into an indistinguishable mass, leaves on the forest floor.

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— Peter (@notalawyer.bsky.social) November 12, 2024 at 4:39 PM

• Here's something that will NOT give you comfort in these trying times: Despite the hope last year would mark a global carbon dioxide emissions peak, humans are burning more fossil fuels this year than we did last year. The world is on track to put 0.8 percent more carbon into the atmosphere than in 2023. Though this is not surprising, it IS actually crazy behavior from humanity (and let me be clear, it's a tiny minority of humans leading the charge on this, though a substantially larger minority are eagerly/mindlessly participating in burning fossil fuels at a rate incompatible with the future of life on this planet). Good thing we will have strong climate leadership in the White House come January. NOT!!!! 

• One way people are attempting to #resist Elon Musk after he helped Trump get into office and will now seemingly play a key role in his administration? Leaving Twitter, AKA X, the social media site he bought and ruined. Bluesky may be the place to be now. (I am finding it much more pleasant.) 

In the week since the U.S. presidential election, Elon Musk has used X, the social media platform he owns, to reiterate his support for President-elect Donald Trump. Some of X’s users have decided they want to post elsewhere. Among the largest beneficiaries of that desire is Bluesky. nyti.ms/48JtYAt

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— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) November 12, 2024 at 10:46 PM

 

• Okay, here's some actual good news: The U.S. House voted down a bill that would've helped Trump censor and persecute his political opponents. The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act had previously received bipartisan support, but after Trump was elected, some Democratic lawmakers (and The Intercept) raised alarm bells. The bill would give the U.S. Treasury Department complete authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofits it deems are "terrorist supporting organizations," which Trump could use to enable the destruction of nonprofits that the future president doesn't politically align with. WHEW. 

• Finally, please watch this video of a little boy and his crow friend. ???????? Bye bye! 

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A post shared by Dogs | Puppies | Family (@yourpaws.global)

 

 

 

 

The National Science Foundation: Creating knowledge to transform our future

The USGS-NPS partnership meeting at Effigy Mounds National Monument on October 24-30, 2024, united scientists, tribal representatives, and NPS staff for collaborative sampling and discussions. This event emphasized integrating traditional ecological knowledge with scientific practices while honoring tribal protocols in environmental research and strengthening partnerships.

The ASHRAE folks develop most of the standards used in determining the energy requirements of snow- and ice-melt systems.

I talk to people on a daily basis about radiant heating and radiant cooling systems.

Make sure your foremen understand their role in ensuring jobsite safety.

 Many parents avoid any discussion about the facts of life with their children. Are you one of many contractors who have never clearly defined the “facts of wages” with each of your employees? 

The title of one Thursday session at ASSE’s Safety 2013: “Why Every Safety Professional/Manager Must Understand the Ideas of Peter F. Drucker,” presented by Jay C. Brakensiek, CSP, MSIH, EMBA, Claremont University Consortium, Claremont, CA. Brakensiek was a former student of Professor Drucker, considered the “Father of Management.”

KM experts joined KMWorld's latest webinar, Enabling Knowledge-Based AI, to examine key components and best practices for adopting AI-enabled approaches that evolve, extend, and power knowledge systems.

Text analytics and natural language processing are not new concepts. Most knowledge management professionals have been grappling with these technologies for years. From the KM perspective, these technologies share the same fundamental purpose: They help get the right information to employees at the right time.

AI-Powered Search Engines?referred to as "Insight Engines" by Gartner and "Cognitive Search" by Forrester?can deliver significant value to organizations these days, provided certain risks are avoided.

For decades, organizations have tried to unlock the collective knowledge contained within their people and systems. And the challenge is getting harder, since every year, massive amounts of additional information are created for people to share. We've reached a point at which individuals are unable consume, understand, or even find half the information that is available to them.

The consumer has spoken. Forrester Research asked 5,000 of them, "What created the biggest pain when you contacted a business for customer service?" They answered lack and consistency of agent knowledge, followed by the difficulty of finding relevant answers on company websites. So, what is driving this dissatisfaction?

Incident Name: LUCKNOW DR
Territory: CFA
Agency: CFA
Fire District: North Central
Incident No: 189525
Date/Time: 14/11/2024 22:44:00
Type: OTHER
Location: BEVERIDGE
Status: Responding
Size: SMALL
Vehicles: 0
Latitude: -37.4764620871069
Longitude: 144.94403673476685

The gift card draining scam can really ruin your holiday gift-giving plans.

As a Latina mother and marketer, raising bilingual children in today's media landscape is both a joy and a challenge. Growing up, shows like Dora the Explorer didn't just entertain me--they helped me navigate a complex world between two languages. While English wasn't my first language, those shows gave me a sense of belonging in...

Five things to know about Marco Rubio, Trump's pick for secretary of state

Content Warning: Incredibly ugly upcoming U.S. Politics. Stephen Miller and Donald Trump's public promise for a "bloody story" - plans for sweeping raids and mass deportations of 10 to 20 million people living in America are expected to start when Trump assumes office and begins on day one.

People living all across the United States, from farm camps in the backwaters of Florida to the ethnically diverse neighborhoods of major cities will likely be greviously impacted. Currently it is expected that the combined utilization of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), National Guard, local police, trained and armed civilians and possibly even the US Military will take part in the raids to capture legal and illegal immigrants. Sympathetic police departments will have their funding slashed if they don't participate in the raids. Surprisingly, some research suggests a majority of Americans support mass deportations and concentration camps, which was reflected in the election results. Whether the popular support continues after it begins depends on the effectiveness of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security's indoctrination and propaganda programs that they have already been preparing for this moment, as well as the mass media's whitewashing of the proceedings as an "affordable housing program," among other things. So the question is, what can we realistically expect? ICE's "Citizens Academy" program offers up some clues...

The academy trains civilians to operate multiple firearms, use lethal force, perform surveillance on immigrants, and conduct raids while also acting as a public relations initiative to try and sway public opinion about ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the HSI unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "We ran Border Patrol Citizen Academies back when I was an agent as well," Jenn Budd, former Senior Border Patrol Agent, whistleblower, and author of Against the Wall told Unicorn Riot. "The entire goal is to indoctrinate locals into why it's okay for us to violate people's rights." The training materials that show where to strike people with batons to subdue them are but the tip of the iceberg in terms of violence. While the ICE presentation on using force contains the "Monadnock Baton Chart" (presumably named after baton manufacturer Monadnock) showing the degrees of damage inflicted on a suspect based on where they're struck with a baton, the majority of this part of Citizens Academy training covers when to use deadly force.

What could happen to the people swept up? The program is generally portrayed as mass deportations, but already it has become clear that many countries (even Mexico) are expected not to welcome the tidal wave of migrants. Instead, the prison-industrial complex which is being flooded with investment money is gearing up to build large scale prisons and camps to house them. Many of these migrants can be expected to be kept there for years on end, with the Supreme Court supporting indefinite detetion of immigrants, an affirmation of long standing U.S. policy. Slavery in America is still legal in the prison system (even California voter's just reaffirmed) and many companies could stand to make a lot of money off of the cheap workforce. The prior Trump administration focused on breaking families up, but this time they promise to include everyone in the family, no matter the immigration status, even denaturalization of American citizens. How will it be payed for? The operation is projected to cost upwards of $300 billion or much more and this has frequently been cited as a major reason that the invisioned plans will falter. If Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) plans for freeing up $2 trillion of the yearly federal budget succeeds, there appears to be plenty of money to reallocate. Even without these slush funds, Trump has already declared that the operation has "no price tag." Some recent and historical parallels In China, many Uyghurs have been put into forced labor prison camps for decades now, and the Xinjiang region has long been at the technological vanguard of state of the art large scale surveillance and population control research and development. American and Western tech companies can take what they have learned in Xinjiang and finally bring it home for wide spread use domestically. During the Holocaust, many "good Germans" helped to report their neighbors, and already Americans are arguing whether it is ethical to call in ICE on theirs. America has a long history of anti-immigrant campaigns and attacking ethnic communities, including Operation Wetback in 1953-54, the Japanese Internment Camps during WWII and tracing back to events like the Trail of Tears and traditional American slavery, to name a few. Hoping for the best While the years of preparation for Project 2025, combined with the GOP's complete control of all of the branches of the federal government suggests things are going to be harder to stop. It is good to remember that for all intents and purposes this will be an unimaginable kakistocracy and the revolving door of grifters is likely to spin even faster than it did during the first Trump administration. Major logistical questions remain - how fast can they actually scale up, for example, or deal with the massively inflated costs, bribes and outright theft chipping away at the budget. The chaos caused by replacing 50,000 federal employees with largely incompetent hacks while gutting government agencies left and right alone will likely slow down any plans significantly due to the complex and tightly coupled systems that make up the US government. Fortunately the ACLU and many other organizations and Democratic state governments vow to legally fight back against the upcoming operations. And lastly, it is likely that there will be large scale public action. Whether it is in the form of protests, strikes or imaginative work arounds for whatever crackdowns that are coming, there many Americans who will push back.

My desktop computer accesses the internet via cable connection. Years ago, my son connected a router to my desktop computer so that I could use my laptop via the router. My laptop will no longer connect to the internet via the router. The router seems to have died from old age (everything is blinking and it looks okay ... it's like the lights are on but nobody's home), and so I've decided to disconnect it, but I don't know what steps I need to take to do so.


I clicked around on my laptop and encountered a diagram that shows the laptop is active, and the diagram has an arrow that points to a router icon and shows that the router is active, and there is an arrow that points to a globe icon and shows that the worldwide web is NOT active.

I assume that I should assume that the router has died, and so I want to disconnect the router to get it out of the way. How do I do this?

Is it a matter of just unplugging the router and all of the connections? If I do this, will my desktop that is connected to the internet via cable still be able to access the internet without the router, or do I need to somehow tell my desktop that the router is gone and that it needs to start using the cable, instead, now?

I'm usually quite successful finding answers via YouTube tutorials, but I have had not luck with this so far.

Rachel Zegler, the star of Disney's upcoming live-action "Snow White" remake, has a message for the 75.6 million Americans who voted for President-elect Donald Trump this year: may you "never know peace."

The post Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Star Rachel Zegler Hopes Trump Supporters ‘Never Know Peace’ — Are Part of a ‘Deep, Deep Sickness in This Country’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will head an effort, dubbed DOGE, to reduce wasteful federal spending. Here's what it's about.

By Matt Solomon Published: November 13th, 2024

By Matt Solomon Published: November 13th, 2024

After getting eliminated during week six of "The Bachelorette," Grant Ellis will return as the next Bachelor. Here's what to know about season 29.

Banks in the UK make it possible for customers to control their gambling spend, either with a self-imposed spend limit, or, for compulsive gamblers, by means of an app blocking all spend on gambling sites. They are very effective, says Wendy Knowler.

The roughly six-hour flyby in 1986 revealed Uranus' protective magnetic field was strangely empty. Now, researchers say that the data could have been affected by a solar wind event

The Story Of Sushi: From its humble beginnings as a way to save food to becoming a global sensation, sushi has come a long way.

Did you know that soy milk did not originate in the Americas or it is a preferred milk dairy-free option for baking? If you are everything about Soy milk, then you have landed on the right page.

Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels reached a record high in 2024 at 37.4 billion tonnes, up 0.8% from 2023, according to the Global Carbon Project. Despite progress in renewables and climate efforts, fossil fuel use has not yet peaked, raising concerns about reaching global warming limits. With 41.6 billion tonnes of CO2 projected overall, scientists stress immediate and deep emission cuts to meet climate targets and prevent further warming. Key regions show mixed trends, with India’s emissions up 4.6% and the EU’s emissions down 3.8%.

Good morning! Here is today’s summary from Nigerian Newspapers: 1. The Federal Government says it needs $10 billion Public-Private-Partnership investment in the power sector, in the next five to 10 years, to achieve 24 hours power supply. Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu disclosed this when the Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr Jobson Ewalefoh, […]

Nigerian Newspapers: 10 things you need to know Thursday morning

President-elect Trump has chosen South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security. This is what to know about her background.

The Kerala Lottery Result for Karunya Plus KN 547 is set to be drawn today (November 14, 2024). The draw is scheduled to be held at Gorky Bhavan near Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram. The public can view the Winning Number post at 2.55 pm during the Kerala Lottery Today live broadcast.

Following a crushing 10-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka expressed his displeasure and engaged in a heated discussion with the captain on the field.

Dafoe, L T; Dickie, K; Williams, G L. Geological synthesis of Baffin Island (Nunavut) and the Labrador-Baffin Seaway; by Dafoe, L T (ed.); Bingham-Koslowski, N (ed.); Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 608, 2022 p. 219-246, https://doi.org/10.4095/321846
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_321846.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_321846.jpg" title="Geological synthesis of Baffin Island (Nunavut) and the Labrador-Baffin Seaway; by Dafoe, L T (ed.); Bingham-Koslowski, N (ed.); Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 608, 2022 p. 219-246, https://doi.org/10.4095/321846" height="150" border="1" /></a>

I DON'T KNOW DENISE sometimes I feel like we live in a slum

1. WhatsApp Wedding Invitation Scam Sparks Concerns: All You Need to Know  Republic World
2. Police warns: Wedding invites on WhatsApp are taking control of smartphones; stealing money, photos and m  The Times of India
3. All about the 'wedding invitation' scam on WhatsApp that can get your phone hacked  Moneycontrol
4. WhatsApp wedding invitations are the new cyber trap — here's how scammers are stealing your data  CNBCTV18
5. What is wedding invitation scam, how to protect yourself from it?  DNA India

1. NTPC Green Energy's ₹10,000 crore IPO: Date, details, projects, things to know  Hindustan Times
2. NTPC Green Energy fixes dates, price band for ₹10,000 crore IPO — More details here  CNBCTV18
3. Aim for 60-40 ratio, where 40% is green, rest is fossil by 2032: NTPC CMD  Business Standard
4. NTPC Green Energy IPO: Here’s how to apply under the shareholders’ quota and increase chances of allotment  Upstox
5. NTPC Green Energy IPO GMP declines amid buzz of firm preparing to file RHP  Moneycontrol

Study may lead to new treatment for sleep disorders like insomnia, researchers say

1. Coldplay Announces New Concert in Ahmedabad: Know The Date and How To Book Tickets  News18
2. Coldplay announces 4th India show in Ahmedabad: Check out ticket sale details  Hindustan Times
3. Everything You Need to Know About The World's Largest Cricket Stadium In Ahmedabad, Which Will Hold Coldplay's Gujarat Concert  NDTV
4. Coldplay announces fourth show in Ahmedabad after Mumbai due to unprecedented demand  Moneycontrol
5. Coldplay Announces Ahmedabad Concert For 2025 & Here's Why It Will Be a Big Deal  The Times of India