As a result, I've called my mom a dummy and she's called me an idiot. Amazingly, though, the game played pretty quickly, and rules were made to ditch handfuls of cards at a time.Īnother rule also allows players to make fun of other players for asking for rules clarifications. Or play a 0 to end the Throwdown and flush the cards away (because a 0 looks like a hole).Īt its high point, I remember one player having to draw 64 cards into their hand. If you played a Draw 4, the person saddled with that card could defend themselves by playing another Draw 4, forcing the next player to Draw 8. As the night progressed and the games were won and lost, more rules were added.ĭraw cards opened up Throwdowns where 5's became Reverse Draw 2's (because a 5 looks vaguely like an upside down, backwards 2), two 3's became an 8 (because a three mirrored looks like an eight), and those draw cards stacked. "Okay, this time sixes and nines ARE interchangeable." For whatever reason, my friends allowed the delusion and the game began. "Sixes and nines should be interchangeable," I declared, but was quickly shot down.Īfter subsequently losing that game and while dealing out a new hand for the next game, I set the variation. It started because I had a handful of six and nine cards, none of them matching, and I wished I could dump them all in one swoop to win the game. Since then I've never played an "official" game of Uno and we've played it so many times that I can't remember where the official rules end and our crazy rules begin. My younger brother Adam McDowell, my then-girlfriend Chelsea Muench and I, drunk on coffee, began stuffing the rule book with variations. The creation of the game happened one night probably a decade ago (this is back when The Buddha Lounge on North Avenue was still the 24-hour coffee shop Node). It can be played with a standard deck of Uno cards (though, if you want to cut down on shuffling, I recommend getting two). Using the idea of those house rules as inspiration, my family and friends created an off-the-wall variant that we call Uno Throwdown. As he also mentioned, newer versions of the basic deck might come with variant "house" rules included (and, further still, separate expanded versions feature other unique inclusions like automated card flippers). It's easy to learn and fun for kids and adults. Sit back, log into these stories and then log into the real world.Įarlier this week, Jeff Sherman wrote about spending time with the family playing the 45-year old card game Uno. Steinhafels presents OnMilwaukee Unplugged Week, a celebration of all things analog. But there's more to life than being online – even for a digital media company! – so this week we're excited to show you ways to connect with family and friends, even when there's no signal. We're all connected 24/7 to computers, tablets, phones and television.
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These typically cover stenography as well as courtroom procedure and terminology, technical dictation and voice recording technology. The trainingĬourt reporters are trained at specialized schools. If that all sounds Greek to you, read on for a closer look at the particulars of court reporting in Phoenix, AZ. The answer is both simpler and more complex than you’d think: court reporters are trained on highly specialized machines that cut down on typing out full words in favor of sounds. How does anyone keep up with the speed and technicality of the proceedings without sacrificing accuracy? Are they superhuman? Like a tennis match, an examination involves two major players, but the stakes are often far higher. If you’ve ever watched courtroom proceedings, either in person or on television, you might have wondered just how court reporters can type as fast as the people talking. THOUGH THE SDSAB DOES ITS BEST, THESE COLUMNS ARE EDITED BY ED ZOTTI, NOT CECIL, SO ACCURACYWISE YOU'D BETTER KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.Secrets Revealed: How Court Reporters Type So Fast Decem8:19 pm Published by Writer Leave your thoughts Send questions to Cecil via REPORTS ARE WRITTEN BY THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD, CECIL'S ONLINE AUXILIARY. SdStaff VegForLife, Straight Dope Science Advisory Board And if that doesn’t interest you either, maybe you should just stick to Judge Judy. In case a career in court reporting bores you, you might want to look into something called “high speed text entry.” This is a new professional field which uses a shorthand machine to get information into a computer database faster and more efficiently than the keyboard used by traditional word processors. Apparently the different state certification boards have different speeds at which you must be able to write, but none is higher than 225wpm. To be eligible for the state examination, given four times a year in Austin, a student must be able to write at least 225 words per minute at 95% – 98% accuracy and pass all academic courses. Once you’ve completed the course, you’re ready to be licensed by the Court Reporters State Certification Board (if you stay in Texas, that is other states, presumably, have similar bureaucracies). (They don’t mention if the longer stay is due to lesser ability or the necessity of bussing tables at the local Denny’s to earn tuition money). The college notes that a few students have graduated in less than two years, but three-plus years is more typical. The skilled shorthand reporter mentioned above could record 38,880,000 words in that period of time, but there’s probably a learning curve that brings the actual number of words reported down substantially during the actual training time. The Professional Court Reporting College in Dallas, Texas, has a training program that is estimated at 2,700 class hours. A skilled shorthand reporter can handle sustained speech at the rate of four words per second doing the math, that yields a whopping 240 words per minute, which is substantially faster than most people speak.Īs you might expect, this skill is not something one picks up overnight. By touching one or more keys, the reporter captures the sounds of words in a phonetic code with each line of characters representing one sound. It looks something like a small typewriter, but it has only 22 keys, including numerals. The machine to which you refer is known as a stenotype machine. That Judge Judy really gets my heart pumping too. What is this thing? Jonathan P., Lexington, KY Not having spent much time in court myself (not yet, anyway) I have never been able to check this out personally. It looks like an adding machine, and it certainly isn’t a standard typewriter. Dear Straight Dope: I was watching yet another thrilling courtroom drama the other day, and I noticed once again the little machine that the court reporter uses. “And, I have it right over here, it’s just this little backpack. “My tornado bag is what I like to call it,” she said. And she keeps her most important possessions close at hand. But Allie Stout said she still gets anxious when it’s stormy. “We spin around in circles, and we get in a house, and we lie down, and it's blasting off, and we have to lie on the ground,” Allie Stout said at the time.įast forward ten and half years, and the tiny girl caught in an imaginary whirlwind is now a confident, athletic 14-year-old. And, like many children here in the weeks that followed, she relived the storm over and over again. Worse yet, she said, her children lost their innocence. Like more than 9,000 of her fellow citizens, Stout lost most of her belongings. Her husband’s shoulder was dislocated, her dog was missing. Broken gas lines were hissing, downed power lines were sparking. When she crawled from the wreckage covered in mud, splinters and insulation, her neighborhood as she knew it had vanished. “You know you kind of have an out of body experience. And Shane had his arms over us trying to hold us down,” she recalled. And I could feel us coming off the ground. “It was almost instantly the roof came off our house. She was wedged in a hallway with her husband Shane and their two small children. Tiffany Stout, a human resources director here, narrowly survived. “If you're from here and you, and you look at over this landscape, I still see the scars,” Micklethwaite said. But, Micklethwaite said, even all these years later the pain remains fresh. New buildings and small trees are growing between stretches of open space. Ten years ago, heaps of splintered rubble stretched for miles. Micklethwaite was president of Joplin’s school board when an EF5 tornado struck that city of 50,000 people. Check other hardware parts if the issue isn’t caused by new hardware. However, it can still be a possible cause.īecause it might not be compatible with your PC, make sure to remove and replace any recently installed hardware. Hardware is rarely blamed for PROCESS1 INITIALIZATION FAILED and many other BSOD issues. After entering each command, press Enter.Start the command prompt by following the instructions above.It’s important to note that some users were able to resolve this issue by transferring Bootcat.cache files from another computer running an identical operating system, so you might want to give it a shot as well. You may always use Linux from a USB flash drive to identify and remove the file manually if you don’t feel comfortable using Command Prompt. You will need to use Command Prompt to erase the problematic file since this mistake might make Windows 10 unable to start. You may occasionally see Bootcat.cache file corruption will result in the BSOD error PROCESS1 INITIALIZATION FAILED. Windows 10/11 will recreate the Bootcat.cache file after you delete it, which should resolve the PROCESS1 INITIALIZATION FAILED problem. Restart your computer, then attempt the update once more.Choose Settings from the Start menu to check for updates.If you need to restart your device to finish an update, Windows will let you know, and you may schedule the restart for when it’s most convenient for you. Therefore, it is necessary to download all of the updates. Your system will most likely display the error message “Process1 initialization failed” if one of those updates is missing. They provide updated features in addition to several solutions for PC-related issues. Windows needs updates to improve constantly. Update WindowsĪll features for Windows 10/11 are sent to your device through the Windows Update page in Settings regularly. How do I fix the PROCESS1 INITIALIZATION FAILED error in Windows 10/11? 1. However, if this difficulty is hardware-related, a costly replacement of the problematic component may be the only option.īut don’t worry this error number typically means that Windows is the problem, not any of the hardware on your computer. A clean Windows install can frequently fix the problem if it is software-related. Process1 Initialization Failed issue might come from corrupted files and software like other BSOD failures. How critical is the process1 initialization failed error? Now, let’s read the article together to find an answer to your issue. You could still have a few minutes to try the fixes before it stops you in your tracks, depending on how serious the problem is. Due to the PC’s frequent reboots, users won’t be able to do anything. Your computer often restarts when these blue screen faults occur. We have provided a solution for this issue, which you may read below. This BSOD problem might also result in losing crucial files, much like other BSOD failures. This issue most frequently occurs following a hardware or software installation. What should I do if I can’t access my important files because of the PROCESS1 INITIALIZATION FAILED error?Ī blue screen error called “Process1 Initialization Failed” appears when the boot files are damaged. The Chess Armory 15" Wooden Chess Set is a quality option that's made with inlaid walnut and a felt interior with straps to store pawns, bishops, and others. Wooden-crafted chess boards are timeless and provide the feel of a tournament board. Wooden chess sets serve as a great display piece, are highly durable, and typically come with well-crafted pieces. Whether you're a beginner or, like me, you're looking to get back into the game, here are some great chess sets to get started. If the show has piqued your interest in this highly challenging game, or you want a new hobby that stimulates the brain, give chess a try. "I would also recommend the Chess Steps (or Stappemethode) and Coach Jay's workbooks as being excellent for young learners, provided they have an adult to help them." "The best way to help children learn chess right now is from YouTube videos or ," Hartmann said. There are chess academies that teach the game, but one place to get started is actually online. "It's good for learning self-control and the consequences of one's actions and, for those who spend a bit of time learning how to play, there's plenty of beauty and aesthetic pleasure to be found in the game." "Chess is a sport, a science, and an art - you can play it all your life and never exhaust its depths," said John Hartmann, the editor of Chess Life Magazine, part of the US Chess Federation, the governing board of chess tournaments in the US. While I can't relate to Beth Harmon's dysfunctional upbringing in the show, I know exactly what it feels like to fall in love with the game and to get my first chess set. With the recent interest in chess stemming from the Netflix miniseries " Queen's Gambit," I was inspired to look back at the chess-playing days of my youth - at how I got started, and the types of chess sets and boards I played on. My father put his woodworking skills to good use and built a chess table for us to play on, we purchased multiple collectors' sets online, and we even equipped ourselves with a tournament-style chess timer. Another way to remember this is to know that queens always go on the same color as they are (so the white queen is on a light square and the black queen is on a dark one), while it’s the opposite with the kings.I grew up in a chess-playing household. Queens belong on the d-file and kings belong on the e-file. When the board is correctly set up, the horses are next to the towers. People sometimes accidentally swap them with the bishops, which belong on the c- and h-files. Next to them, the knights (b- and g-file). First, the rooks: they go in the two corners (the a- and h-files). No, it’s the placement of the rest of the pieces that can get a bit tricky. This is not the part people tend to have issues with. The pawns are all in the same line, on the second and the seventh rows, respectively. The white pieces belong on the first and second rows and the black pieces go on the seventh and the eighth. Putting your chess pieces in the right places However, since a chessboard is symmetrical, there’s really nothing stopping you from turning it around by 180 degrees. Some chessboards have the rows and the columns etched into their sides, reducing your chances of making a mistake. The first thing you need to pay attention to is to make sure that the bottom right corner (h1) is a light square. This helps you easily find any square on the board. The intersection of the two gives you the coordinate of a square, like b3, c7, e6, or h1. Chessboard coordinates: everything you need to knowĪll of the squares on a chessboard have a designated coordinate comprised of its column and row: the columns go from “a” to “h” and the rows go from one to eight. Things will go wrong very quickly if you don’t know where the pieces belong. Setting up the pieces on the board is the first step towards playing a fun game of chess. It might take a while, but eventually AT rifles can completely blow away a section of sandbags, whereas no matter how many AT rockets you shoot, they simply cannot destroy most types of cover. Another advantage that the AT rifles have over rockets is the ability to pierce and eventually destroy sandbags and other types of cover that the enemy might use. This works better with AT rifles, than AT rockets, as the AT rifles can be used effectively against infantry even at long ranges. The EM-3 is especially useful, because it is effectively a short-ranged artillery rifle, and the StG is the best SMG-class weapon in the game (yes, we all know it’s really a rifle, but the game classifies it as an SMG for…reasons).Īnother way is to purchase a bunch of AT Infantry. German and British Infantry Squads also come with a leader armed with a special weapon, either the StG 44, or the EM-3 Riflegrenade. However, Infantry Squads come armed with a variety of weapons that can be used at both close and long ranges, as well as a medic, and plenty of types of grenades that can be put to good use. Assuming you are conserving points to purchase a unit after your first flag capture, on Hard you can reasonably purchase 3 squads, but on Heroic, only 2. This is more feasible on Hard than Heroic, but purchasing enough Infantry Squads will allow your team to find a more tactical solution to the first flag. Infantry, when used en masse, is one possible way to capture the first flag. Also, the mortar is on average slow to kill its targets which makes the mortar very inefficient, because speed is very important when it comes to capturing the first flag. At 275 points, a single mortar will be costing you nearly half, or more than half of your mp total at mission start. However, on Hard and Heroic you will only receive 600 and 500 points respectively. On Normal difficulty, it is not too big of a deal, as you have 800 mp to spend on units. While this is not a wrong choice, it is a poor choice. All too often players will purchase a mortar as a means to take out the first line of flags. There are many ways to deal with infantry early-game. Additionally, you will also want to conserve roughly 150-200 points so that you can purchase some early reinforcements to help you clear out the rest of the first line in good order. In a standard skirmish, every force needs at least 3 things at the beginning of a match: a medic, a way to deal with large amounts of infantry, and a way to deal with light armor. This being said, certain consderations must be taken in order to capture the first line both quickly and efficiently. These are the units that will be fighting for the first line, and will also have a large influence on setting the pacing for much of the game. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.The initial purchase of units is often the most overlooked, and also one of the most important parts of a skirmish. You can now also get .uk articles sent straight to your device. įollow .uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.įor more stories like this, check our news page. ‘That would be to support an illegal war, and only prolong the war, and support the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia.’ Mr Stoltenberg, who was speaking at the Nato headquarters in Brussels, said: ‘Our message has been that China should not provide lethal aid to Russia. ‘But we have seen some signs that this has been requested from Russia and it is something that is being considered in Beijing by the Chinese authorities.’Ĭhinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Russia for his high-profile visit yesterday, and met President Vladimir Putin soon afterwards.įew details have been released on what the two leaders will discuss, but a 12-point peace plan for the war in Ukraine was published by China less than a month ago. Launching his annual report for 2022, Jens Stoltenberg said: ‘We haven’t seen proof that China is delivering lethal weapons to Russia. Russian officials planned to 'sabotage' Putin while he received chemotherapy Many of Akvelon's team members, family, and friends are still in Ukraine defending their freedom. While it may not be in the news as much as it was last year, the war in Ukraine still continues. #helpukrainenow #helpukraine #standwithukraine We share our sincere condolences for her family and friends who are grieving her loss. We are eternally grateful to Yana for all that she sacrificed to help in the fight for Ukraine’s freedoms. This organization helps Ukrainian medics save more lives, tries to keep Ukrainians on the front lines alive and well, and helps internally displaced people and other most vulnerable groups in Ukraine survive during these unimaginable times. She was an instrumental member of this organization, ensuring that requests were verified, organized, and delivered. Yana was also passionate about helping others through volunteering with the United with Ukraine fund. Even during the invasion, Yana’s love for helping others shone brightly. She risked her life while evacuating and providing emergency treatment to heavily wounded soldiers and civilians. She volunteered to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a paramedic, where she’s been on the front lines of the war helping to save lives for nearly the entire past year, 24/7 with no holidays or weekends. Her devotion to helping others excel in their careers was inspiring, and she had a positive impact on many peoples’ lives.įrom the very first day of the invasion of Ukraine, Yana chose to help in the fight for Ukraine’s freedom. Yana excelled in her career as a Lead IT Recruiter at Akvelon, and she wanted to share her love of Akvelon with as many people as possible, leading to her bringing on so many talented technical professionals to join our team that she became one of our most productive recruiters across our company. She loved animals, especially her cat, who she often brought into our office in Kharkiv, Ukraine to work alongside her. Her friends and colleagues know her as an extremely positive person, with a brilliant energy that touched everyone around her. Please keep Yana’s family, friends, and fellow paramedics in your thoughts as they go through this incredibly difficult time.įor several years, Yana has been a talented and well-loved member of the Akvelon team. At just 29 years old, Yana was killed on Friday, March 3rd while volunteering as a paramedic to help save the lives of her fellow Ukrainians. It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of Yana Rykhlitska. is a diverse community of volunteers and collaborators across the US and Ukraine who are delivering tactical medicine items, hospital supplies, and tech-enabled emergency response supplies. is a local non-profit foundation that collects aid and responds directly to the pressing needs of the Armed Forces and National Guard of Ukraine and other military units. is a non-governmental organization that delivers critical defense aid that often gets overlooked by large organizations to Ukrainian defenders in hot spots. is a Ukrainian non-governmental foundation that collects funds for defense supplies and initiatives, as well as veteran rehabilitation. is a European organization that is currently collecting donations to facilitate evacuations of Ukrainians from the war zones and deliver aid like medical supplies, technical equipment, and protective equipment. is a Ukrainian non-governmental organization that is dedicated to providing comprehensive assistance and humanitarian aid to internally displaced persons and to people affected by the Russian war in Eastern Ukraine. These local organizations deliver aid to Ukraine much faster than international foundations and allocate funds to those who are in the most vital need: I would like to share several trusted Ukrainian organizations that maximize the impact of your donations. On behalf of the Akvelon team, I would like to show our support and admiration for the Ukrainian people, people of many nationalities and backgrounds who fight for their right to choose freedom and democracy, they fight for their lives. Making matters worse, higher interest rates have reduced the market value of banks’ other assets as well. By the end of 2022, US banks’ unrealized losses on securities had reached $620 billion, about 28% of their total capital ($2.2 trillion). The consequences for these investors have been severe. As rising inflation in 2022 led to higher bond yields, ten-year Treasuries lost more value (-20%) than the S&P 500 (-15%), and anyone with long-duration fixed-income assets denominated in dollars or euros was left holding the bag. This basic principle – known as “ duration risk” – seems to have been lost on many bankers, fixed-income investors, and bank regulators. But, at the same time, higher yields on “safe” bonds would imply a fall in their price, too, owing to the inverse relationship between yields and bond prices. Higher inflation would lead to higher bond yields, which in turn would hurt stocks as the discount factor for dividends rose. It does not store any personal data.NEW YORK – In January 2022, when yields on US ten-year Treasury bonds were still roughly 1% and those on German Bunds were -0.5%, I warned that inflation would be bad for both stocks and bonds. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. On the basis of the negotiating mandate agreed today, the Council presidency will start negotiations with the European Parliament to agree on the final wording. In this context, the Commission submitted on 27 April 2022 a legislative proposal aimed at digitalising the visa procedure. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic considerably slowed down visa operations and created the need for more digital procedures.Īt the same time, technological developments provide new security features and opportunities to make procedures smoother and more effective, both for visa applicants and national authorities. Recent migration and security challenges have significantly transformed the context of the EU’s visa policy. This will reduce security risks related to counterfeit and stolen visa stickers. Under the proposed new rules, visas will be issued in digital format, as a 2D barcode, cryptographically signed. However, the applicant will also have the possibility to indicate whether the application needs to be processed by a specific member state according to the purpose of travel. When a person intends to visit several Schengen countries, the platform will automatically determine which one of them is responsible for examining the application on the basis of the duration of stay. In-person appearance at the consulate will only be necessary for first-time applicants, persons whose biometric data are no longer valid and those with a new travel document. They will also be notified of the decisions concerning their visa. On this platform, visa applicants will be able to introduce all relevant data, upload electronic copies of their travel- and supporting documents, and pay their visa fees. All applications for Schengen visas will be made through this platform, a single website, which will forward them to the relevant national visa systems. The proposed new rules will create a visa application platform. Maria Malmer Stenergard, Swedish Minister for Migration At the same time, the digital visa will put an end to the risk of falsification and theft of the visa sticker.” Online applications will reduce the number of trips to the consulate for travellers and make the process smoother for national administrations. “A digital Schengen visa will make it easier for legitimate travellers to apply and will at the same time help make the Schengen area safer. I understand that I’m a user with simple needs, but for me, having a good tool that inspires me to get stuff done will always be priority when it comes to finding the “perfect app”. Its my go-to app for taking notes on my phone. Its simple, stylish, and very easy to use. Bear Platforms: iOS, Mac Bear is probably one of my favorite apps of all time. Little things (like the stunning new Lighthouse theme) or the illustrated Bear welcoming me everytime I open the app in the morning, or the thin progress line on notes with check boxes… all those features combined with a great user experience always bring me back to Bear! Boostnote also uses vscode for its editor. And there’s no app good at it like Bear, in my opinion. I don’t know if it is the beautiful interface (I’m a very visual person and aesthetic are something that matters to me, so it was kinda hard having to look at Craft’s ugly app icon everyday lol), but for a person with my needs, whom have to spend the whole day looking at my laptop and writing for hours, this experience has to be pleasing, friction free and fun. You can find notes quickly by using its universal search feature or restrict your. And after my 2 week trial, even though I was loving the experience, here I am going back to good old Bear. When it comes to organization, Boostnote brings both folders and tagging. Microsoft OneNote, Bear, and SimpleNote all do a remarkable job as streamlined apps for. Lots of features, the cards are fun to use, the backlink for other notes works like magic and the export options are incredible. However, no other competitor is as efficient and straightforward as BN. So I decided to try Craft because it is the Best New Thing that everyone is talking about. It attends all of my needs with a fast and simple input and beautiful layout. And for that I’ve been using Bear for almost 2 years now. It’s great and simple for book writers and the export options are the best part.īut I need a notes app for outlining books, writing my weekly newsletter and blog posts, schedule organization and list making. I am a professional writer and for my workflow I mostly need a good text processor for long writing (books and translations) and for that I’ve been using Ulysses for years. Great to Relax or Sleep Download Download the Online Stopwatch Application for your PC or MAC. With that done its time to start thinking about securing the Temple. You can keep adding and subtracting until you get a time frame that pleases you. Video Timers A Clock or Countdown with a video background. With additional input, Pretirement will also tell you how much more or less time you will need if you spend more or save more. The app uses default assumptions about your investment growth rate, inflation and a safe withdrawal rate of 4 percent, which you can change if you wish. Then it calculates how long you will have to keep working to generate the income you say you will need when you retire - down to the seconds, which keep ticking away. The Destiny 2 raid countdown is now on, with the first raid of the Lightfall expansion-era set to land imminently. Pretirement asks for basic retirement parameters: how much you already have saved, how much more you plan to save on an annual basis and how much you think you will spend when you are retired. Destiny 2 Lightfall is scheduled to be released on February 28th and March 1st, 2023 depending on where you live in the world. Tue 19:12:39 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) Earth Moon Venus Mars Tower Sort by Planet Update Clear Data. “When we are saving money, it’s not obvious that you can’t buy something,” said Danny Murphy, the app’s designer. Visualizing the time left until retirement and seeing how certain spending habits affect your goal are the purpose of the new Pretirement app. An undated handout image of the Pretirement app home screen, showing a countdown clock to retirement. |